Aquifer: A Novel (29 page)

“You are now under my control and will obey only the sound of my voice. Do you understand?”

Frankie slowly nodded his head up and down.

Austin proceeded with his ritual, “From now on when I say the words “
Fears Cave
” you will automatically fall into a deep and restful trance.”

Johnny softly giggled, “Whenever you say
Fears Cave
?”

Austin glanced at Johnny and winked a mischievous grin, then continued addressing Frankie in his soft, soothing, low, monotone voice, “Nod your head if you understand my instructions?”

Slowly Frankie nodded his head affirmatively.

“Good. When I count to three you will wake up, but not until I finish counting to three. Until then you will remain in the same relaxed state as you currently are.” Austin glanced at Johnny, flashed a broad, joking smile while slowly nodding his head up and down, then continued his instructions to Frankie. “You are a very wealthy man.” Austin pointed to the ice-cold spring-fed pool of water. “This is your heated indoor swimming pool. It’s time for your daily swim. Get up and dive in.”

Austin and Johnny snickered as they raised the brightness of their Coleman lanterns. Frankie stood, stripped to his shorts, and dove into the cold water. He swam around and appeared to be having a very good time splashing and rollicking in the freezing water.

“How’s the water Frankie?” yelled Austin.

“It’s great, why don’t you guys come in and join me?” Frankie yelled back.

“Thanks but we’ll pass – maybe some other time,” Johnny yelled.

“Aw come on in . . . you don’t know what you’re missing,” yelled Frankie.

“Uh, I think we do. And we have a surprise for you,” yelled Johnny.

“What’s that?” Frankie yelled back.

Frankie was now about twenty feet from shore, almost in the center of the deep, cold pool.

Austin shouted, “1 . . . 2 . . . 3!”

Frankie immediately came out of the trance, screaming at the cold of the water. He thrashed his way back to shore and climbed out shivering uncontrollably. Johnny and Austin were beside themselves with laughter at Frankie’s predicament. Frankie, on the other hand, was extremely angry, confused and freezing.

“How in the heck did I get in there? And how did my clothes get off?” Frankie angrily demanded.

Austin stiffened his back, standing as tall as he possibly could, opened his eyes very wide and raised his eyebrows up and down several times while glaring ominously at Frankie. “Now do you believe in my powers?” he said very seriously in a deeply resonating voice.

Frankie refused to answer as he shot Austin a look of disdain. He quickly dressed and flailed his arms to warm himself as his companions continued to reel with laughter.

Just then something shiny on the ground near the far wall of the cave caught Johnny’s eye. He crossed over to the other side of the passageway, going slightly uphill in the process. Reaching the shiny object he bent down beside a large boulder and picked up a somewhat rusty Bowie knife with a bone handle, protruding halfway from a beat-up leather sheath.

“Wow, look what I just found!” cried Johnny.

The other boys came rushing over and seeing the knife, openly coveted his finding. Austin handled the knife, turning it over and over to give it a careful inspection. The knife blade had a little rust on it but was otherwise in relatively good condition. The sheath, however, had dry-rotted severely. As he tried to put the knife back into the sheath, part of it crumbled and broke off.

“Dude, that’s so cool!” said Austin.

“Man, are you ever lucky,” Frankie added, somewhat covetously. Then, trying to boost his own ego by sounding authoritative he added, “I’ll bet Jesse James lost it. He used to roam these parts you know.”

“No way, man, Jesse couldn’t have lost it. That was over a hundred years ago,” Austin chimed in, bursting Frankie’s bubble. “Besides, even if Jesse’s gang had been here they’d be sure to not leave anything behind that could be traced back to them.”

As they were talking Johnny noticed a small tunnel at floor level, secluded behind the larger boulder. He knelt down and peered through it with his Coleman lantern. “Hey, guys – this room picks up on the other side of the wall. That river must just go under the wall because it picks up again on the other side. There’s a great big room, and there’s a cool light that looks like its coming from underwater. Come on, let’s check it out.”

Johnny quickly wiggled through the small opening followed by Frankie. However, Frankie was much fatter than Johnny and he got stuck in the opening. He panicked and cried for help. “Hey guys, I’m stuck!”

“Well, if you weren’t such a blubber-gut,” said Austin. He and Johnny laughed.

“That’s not funny guys,” Frankie angrily retorted. “I’m really stuck!”

Johnny grabbed Frankie’s wrists and called to Austin on the other side of the tunnel. “I’ve got his arms, Austin. I’ll pull while you push from that side.”

Austin was convinced that this idea would not work but got down on his knees anyway, placed his shoulder against Frankie’s feet and pushed while Johnny pulled on his arms from the other side of the wall.

“I don’t think this is going to work guys, I’m just getting stuck tighter. Now I’ll never get out,” Frankie lamented.

“I’ve got another idea . . . Let’s pop him out the way he got in,” Johnny yelled to Austin as he sat down on the floor of the cave in front of Frankie. “Extend your arms all the way forward.” Then he yelled to Austin on the other side of the tunnel. “I’m going to put my feet on Frankie’s shoulders and push. You grab his feet and pull hard.”

“You got it, dude.” Austin yelled back as he placed each of Frankie’s feet into his arm pits, dug his heels into the soft clay and awaited Johnny’s command.

Johnny got his feet into position while leaning back on his outstretched arms for support. “Okay, on three – one, two, three.” Johnny pushed hard on Frankie’s shoulders with his feet while from the other side of the tunnel Austin pulled on Frankie’s legs.

“It’s no use. I’m going to die here,” Frankie cried resolutely.

“Don’t be such a crybaby,” Johnny responded. “On three again okay?”

“Ready,” Austin yelled from the other side.

“One, two, three – Pull!” yelled Johnny.

Frankie inched backwards. “It’s working, it’s working. Keep it up guys,” Frankie yelled excitedly.

Slowly Frankie worked his way free and was back in the room with Austin. “Thanks guys – I thought for sure I was a goner,” he confessed.

“Man, now I know what it’s like to wrestle a beached whale,” commented Austin with a big smile, while Johnny snickered from the other side of the tunnel. Frankie mockingly drew back his fist as if to take a punch at Austin, but Austin dropped to the floor and quickly wiggled through the opening, not waiting to learn whether Frankie was bluffing.

“Wait up Johnny, I’m not gettin’ left behind with old blubber-gut,” yelled Austin and again the two boys broke out in laughter.

*

Frankie looked around and realized he was alone, in the dark. The only thing keeping the smothering darkness at bay was the small sphere of light cast by his Coleman lantern. Not wanting to appear afraid, even though in reality he was terrified at being left behind, he timidly yelled back through the tunnel, “You guys go on and explore. I’ll just stay here and stand guard.”

*

“Ew . . . what’s that horrid smell?” asked Austin.

“I don’t know . . . must be something dead in here. Come on, let’s check out where that light’s coming from,” Johnny responded.

The two boys followed the river toward the light. On this side of the wall the river was much deeper and wider than the relatively small stream which flowed from the base of the wall on Frankie’s side of the cave tunnel. About halfway to the lighted portion of the river, they encountered a large pile of dead fish, measuring fifteen feet across, that was stuck together by a sticky mucus mass. The fish ball floated in the water, anchored to the riverbank by the sticky, mucous substance. Hundreds of small amphibious creatures, new hatchlings ranging in size from two inches to ten inches in length, were all feeding upon the dead fish.

“Ew, gross!” exclaimed Austin, referring to the ball of smelly dead fish.

“Yeah, but look at those critters. They’re just like the one we caught at Rymer’s Ranch, only smaller.”

*

Frankie was on his hands and knees peering through the short connective tunnel trying to see what his friends were doing. From behind him, a young alien amphibian about the size of a cocker spaniel approached. As it did so it dislodged some rocks on the cave floor making a slight noise in the otherwise silent room.

In the perfect silence of a cave even a single drip of water can sound explosively loud, and this noise resounded thunderously loud in Frankie’s ears. He immediately backed out of the tunnel and whirled around to see what had caused the disruption, holding his Coleman lantern high. Surprise crossed his face, then fear. The young creature was quite inquisitive, though, and eyed Frankie curiously, not aggressively.

Frankie, however, was not amused. He kicked rocks at the young creature to keep it at a distance. Becoming more frightened he called through the tunnel to the other boys. “Hey guys, come on back, there’s a critter out here watching me.”

“What kind of a critter? A bat?” Austin yelled back. He and Johnny again broke into laughter.

“No, it’s some kind of a salamander or something. Guy’s, I don’t like this, come on back! – This thing’s a big sucker,” yelled Frankie.

“Well, just play with it for awhile, we’ll be there in a minute,” Austin yelled back.

*

Austin turned to Johnny and disgustingly added, “Afraid of a salamander! Man, I knew we shouldn’t have brought him.”

Johnny nodded in agreement.

The two boys continued to follow the river toward the underwater light which cast eerie shadows on the cave walls. The river curved in a semi-horseshoe bend to the left with an arc of about 120 feet. A little over halfway around the horseshoe they reached the source of the light. They stopped, standing on the opposite bank from the light source, and gazed at the beauty of the radiantly blue light that streamed from a hole in the cave wall, about twenty feet below the surface of the water of the forty foot in diameter subterranean lagoon before them.

“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like that before. How far down do you think that hole is?” asked Austin.

“Probably twenty feet or more. Lots deeper than I can swim. That hole must lead to a spring, or lake, or something,” responded Johnny.

“Yeah, but where?”

“Beats me.”

“Look, there’s another pile of dead fish. I wonder what piled ‘em up like that?” said Austin as he pointed upstream.

“Good question . . . something’s sure gatherin’ ‘em up. And I’ve never seen so many weird little salamanders in my life. They’re sure feeding on ‘em,” said Johnny.

*

Anxiety began to mount in Frankie’s stomach. The young alien was becoming less curious and more aggressive. Frankie yelled through the tunnel “Guys, I mean it! Come on back. This thing looks mean and I’m getting scared.”

“Keep your shirt on, we’ll be there in a minute. Remember, there’s nothing to fear in
Fears Cave
except fear itself. Besides, there’s some really weird stuff in here we’re looking at,” Johnny yelled back.

*

“Maybe we had better leave; this place gives me the creeps,” confessed Johnny.

“Yeah, me too. Let’s cut across the room, it’d be faster than followin’ the river,” Austin suggested.

“The faster the better. Let’s go,” agreed Johnny.

The boys turned from the subterranean lagoon and crossed about one third of the spacious room. Then they suddenly stopped. They found themselves totally surrounded by several dogs, horses, and cows that were lying on the cave floor, their carcasses covered by clusters of gelatinous amphibian eggs.

“This is getting weirder,” said Austin with a little trepidation.

“Yeah . . . Let’s get out of here,” Johnny agreed.

They continued to cross the room hastily, headed for the exit tunnel, spurred on by Frankie’s insistent calling. Rounding a stalagmite they stumbled upon a grizzly sight. The bodies of the picnicking couple, the hunter, and the two fishermen were scattered over a sixty foot area and were covered with the same slimy egg goo. The boys were shocked with disbelief – eyes wide open, mouths dropped, they froze in their tracks.

“Johnny, tell me I’m not seein’ what I think I’m seein’,” blurted Austin.

“I wish I could, man.” Johnny answered with a quivering voice.

Though they were scared they timidly approached the body of Luke Counts. Austin raised his Coleman lantern to see better and as he did so Luke suddenly opened his eyes in a cold, unfocused stare.

The boys shrieked and started to run for the exit tunnel. Before going more than a few feet they were surrounded by twenty or thirty of the young amphibious creatures, about the size of small dogs. The creatures acted aggressively toward the two boys. At first the boys threw rocks at the creatures and waved their Coleman lanterns at them, but the creatures were not frightened away.