White Cave Escape (13 page)

“Hobart! Here, boy! Are you hurt?” Tony called. He whistled encouragingly.

“Tony—” said Petra.

“C'mere, boy!” coaxed Tony, picking his way awkwardly over the rocks. “Don't be scared—it's just us.”

There was a chuffing cough from the darkness behind the boulders.

“Sounds like Hobart's suffering from smoke inhalation,” said Tony, worriedly. “We should get him checked out by the vet when we get out of here.”

“Tony—” said Colin. But Tony was already stretching his hand into the dark space behind the rocks.

“Hobie? Where are you, boy? It's okay…you're safe now. Come on out.” Tony craned his head awkwardly around the rock pile. “Ah, there you are. Wow, what big paws you have. And claws. Geez, Petra, don't you ever trim Hobie's nails?” Tony coughed. “Phew! And he needs a bath, too!” He backed out of the dark space and looked up at the others. “What are you guys still doing up there? Don't you want to come down here and see Hobie?”

“Tony,” Craig whispered hoarsely, “I don't think that's Hobart!”

“What are you talking about?” scoffed Tony, turning to look up at his friends. “Of course it's Hobart. Who else do we know that's big and black and shaggy?”

As Tony spoke, a big, black, and shaggy shape slowly emerged from the shadows behind him.

“T-T-T-T-Tony…” stammered Craig.

Petra was opening and closing her mouth, but no sound was coming out. Colin raised his hand and pointed, staring past Tony with horror-filled eyes.

“What the heck is the matter with you guys?” asked Tony, looking up at them. “I never saw anybody act so weird over a dog!”

“N-n-not a d-dog, Tony,” gasped Petra. “B-b-b-b…”

Tony wrinkled his brow in confusion. “Huh?”

“B-b-b-b-
behind you
!”

Tony blinked at Petra. Slowly, he turned—and looked up, up, up at the big and black and shaggy shape towering over him.

“BEAR23!” howled Tony.

The bear opened its jaws, revealing a huge mouthful of gleaming teeth.

RRRRRRROARRRRRRRR!!!!

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

The bear swung a sledgehammer paw at Tony, but Tony was already gone. Quick as a cricket, he went leaping across the cave and ducked behind Petra.

“B-b-b-b…” he quaked. “Not a d-d-d-…”

“We know, Tony,” breathed Petra.

Below them, the bear dropped down on all four paws. It swung its head back and forth, rocking its heavy body from side to side. Clinging together, the four young people backed slowly away until they were wedged against the low roof of the cave at the far end of the cavern. Below them, the bear huffed and snorted. A patch of raw and blistered skin cut a painful-looking stripe across the animal's flank—a souvenir from a burning branch and evidence of the bear's narrow escape from the fire.

“What do we do?” croaked Craig, his eyes fixed on the agitated animal.

“Black bears aren't usually aggressive towards people,” Colin whispered, “unless they're wounded or cornered.”

“You mean like that one down there?” hissed Petra.

Colin nodded, staring wide-eyed as the bear suddenly lashed out furiously at a pile of rubble, sending a bowling ball–sized rock smashing against the cave wall. The bear lifted his head and roared.

“We're invading his space,” whispered Colin. “He doesn't like that.”

“I don't like it either!” Craig whispered back.

“Hey, man, he can
have
his space,” chattered Tony. “I don't want anything to do with his space!”

“He's blocking the only exit,” whispered Petra, nodding to the shadowy tunnel behind the bear. “We need another way out of here.”

Colin nodded. “I thought I felt something in the corner up here…” Cautiously, he edged towards the right. Keeping an eye on the swaying, pacing bear below him, Colin stretched out his hand to reach behind a jagged piece of gypsum jutting out from the wall.

“There's an alcove back here,” he whispered to Petra. He grunted as he stretched his arm farther into the cramped space. “There's a little ledge behind this rock…and there's some space above it. Can't see how high it goes. I—I can feel some tree roots hanging down.”

“How big is the space?” Petra whispered back. “Can we all fit in?”

Colin shook his head.

“No. There's maybe room enough for one person. One
small
person,” he added, nodding significantly towards Craig.

“Oh. Right.” Petra leaned over to Craig.

“Craig,” she said quietly, “I want you to move over by Colin. Do it slowly and quietly. There's a little space behind the rock that you can climb into. The bear won't be able to reach you there.”
I hope
, she thought.

“What about you guys?” Craig whispered back.

“Don't worry about us. We'll find a way to distract the bear. Then we'll all leave together.”

Craig's mouth set in a stubborn line. “No way,” he hissed. “I'm not going to hide while you guys take on a bear!”

“Craig!” Petra pleaded. “Please. Get in there! It's the safest place!”

“
No
!” Craig hissed back.

“Petra,” interrupted Colin. “Let me see the torch for a minute. I want to check something.”

Petra passed him the spluttering, fading torch. Colin took it and held it inside the little alcove. “I still think I can feel something…” He lifted the torch higher into the dark space behind the rock.

A breath of air—a stray breeze—came sighing out of the darkness of the alcove. It curled playfully around the last feeble flames on the torch…and snuffed them out.

“Well,
this
isn't good,” said Tony.

chapter
23
Battle in the White Caves

“
What did you do
?!” exclaimed Petra in a strangled whisper.

“Nothing!” Colin's voice came back out of the darkness. “There was a breeze!”

The darkness was as thick as tar.

“This is bad,” moaned Tony. “Bad, bad, bad…”

“Be quiet,” hissed Craig's voice. “We need to
listen
.”

For a few seconds, they could hear only their rapid breathing and their own hearts pounding in their ears. Petra held her breath, listening.

Even her
skin
seemed to be listening. She could feel the hair on her arms and on the back of her neck rising like tiny radio antennas.

Somewhere in front of them, a pebble rolled and knocked against another pebble. A tiny sound, it was magnified a hundred times by their fear. Was it the bear? Was it coming towards them? There was a low, chuffing cough in the blackness, and then the sound of heavy claws clicking against stone.

“Oh, man. We're playing Blind Man's Bluff with a bear,” Tony moaned quietly. “Except that
everybody's
blind!”

“Not the bear,” Craig whispered. “He has his sense of smell. And he's used to moving around in dark caves.”

“Are you trying to make me feel better?” whispered Tony. “Because it's not working.”

“Colin,” breathed Petra, “can you light the torch again?”

She heard a faint rustling from her right. There was a brief scuffling sound and then something slapped lightly against the rock floor.

“Shoot,” whispered Colin. “I dropped the matches.”

An irritable coughing grunt sounded from the darkness below.

“Shhhh,” said Petra. “Try again.”

There was more rustling, then—

“Found them!” whispered Colin.

Petra heard the sound of the matchbook being folded back. Then a match snapped and flared, sizzling loudly in the thick, black quiet of the cavern. At once, the bear bellowed angrily. In the flickering light, they saw it rear up on its hind legs, pawing viciously at the air.

“I don't think it likes fire!” squeaked Craig.

“Light the torch! Light the torch!” urged Petra.

With a shaking hand, Colin held the match to the small scrap of singed cloth still clinging to the stick.

It went out.

A series of low, angry grunts were now coming from the bear's direction. There was a clatter of stones.

“He's coming this way!” gasped Petra. “Hurry, light the torch!”

“No—you'll only make him angry!” said Craig.

“We have to know where he is,” protested Petra.

“I don't
want
to know where he is!” moaned Tony.

There was another loud snap and a brief flare as Colin struck a second match. The flame flickered and gained strength. In its light, the bear's eyes shone with a ghostly gleam. The animal was now halfway up the sloping floor and coming straight towards them.

Colin held the match to the homemade torch. “Please catch,” he breathed. “Please, please catch!”

A spark chewed reluctantly at the scrap of cloth with a sulky, sullen glow, but it refused to catch.

The match burned down to Colin's fingers. He dropped it. It sizzled against the stone floor and went out. Immediately, Colin struck another and held it again to the branch. This time, the flame licked at the stick aggressively—and caught! The flame bit into the wood, cloning itself into a flickering army of blue-centred soldiers that clawed and stabbed at the darkness.

Colin thrust the torch out in front of him like a sword. “YAH!” he hollered. “Get back!!”

The bear bellowed, tossing his head like an angry bull.

“Craig!” yelled Petra. “Get into the alcove.
Now
.”

“But—” started Craig.

The bear bellowed again and gave the stone floor a thunderous slap with a massive paw.

“Well okay, then,” said Craig hastily. “Since you insist!” He turned and scrambled behind the white boulder, disappearing into the alcove.

“This torch isn't going to last,” gasped Colin. “There's barely any cloth left at the top—just the branch itself is burning. I'm going to have to drop it soon.”

“Isn't there anything else we can light?” asked Petra, desperately scanning the ground around her feet. But there was only stone.

They had their backs pressed against the wall now.

In front of them, the bear swayed menacingly and took another step forward. It roared again.

“There has to be another way out of here!” said Tony.

Colin looked at him. A strange expression suddenly crossed his face. “Tony, you're a genius!”

“Huh?” Tony blinked at Colin. “Who?
Me
?”

“You're right—there
does
have to be another way out of here!” Colin said excitedly. “A breeze blew the torch out. A
breeze
! It had to come from somewhere. It had to come from
outside
!” He turned and leaned into the alcove. He called up into the darkness.

“Craig! Feel around with your hands. Is there a hole in the ceiling?”

There was a scuffling and a scrabbling in the shadows behind the stone.

“I don't know,” came Craig's voice. “Hang on…”

“Hang on?
Hang on
? We don't have
time
to hang on!” squawked Tony.

The bear humped its massive body up the stone slab towards them. It stopped a few short metres away, snarling.

“Yes! Yes! There
is
a hole!” came Craig's excited voice. “I think we're under a tree. I can see some light…there's a small hole between the roots!”

“How small, Craig?”

“Pretty small—but I might be able to loosen the earth around it!”

“Then make like a beaver and get busy!” yelped Tony. “We're running out of time down here!”

From the alcove came the sound of scraping and digging. A shower of earth and gravel fell down from the behind the boulder.

“I'm almost through!” came Craig's muffled voice.

“Hurry!
Keep
digging
!” urged Colin, waving the smouldering branch at the advancing bear. The bear flattened its ears furiously against its skull and swatted at the flaming branch. Colin skipped sideways, but the bear was faster. A swipe of its paw sent the boy sprawling across the rocky floor. The torch fell from Colin's limp hand and rolled down the sloped floor until it stopped against a rock at the bottom of the cave. Petra leaped towards Colin, but her movement caught the attention of the bear. The animal whirled towards her with a ferocious snarl.

“Get back, you overgrown rodent!” Tony yelled, bounding to Petra's side and holding up both his fists like a boxer. “Come on!” he cried, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Give me your best shot!”

RRRRRRRROARRRRR!!

The bear's rancid breath ruffled Tony's brush cut.

“Okay, well, maybe not your
best
shot,” gulped Tony.

At that moment a muffled yell came from the alcove.

“Craig?” cried Petra in alarm.

She started to move towards the alcove, but a paw, spiked with lethal-looking claws, slammed into the cave wall beside her, pulling down a mini-landslide of rock and soil. The paw rose again.

Petra shrieked in terror.

“Get back!” Tony yelled. Bouncing forward, he punched the bear squarely in the nose. With a roar of rage, the bear swatted Tony as if he were an annoying insect, knocking him into the shadows.

The bear swivelled back to Petra. Eyes locked on the bear, Petra reached down, fumbling frantically around the floor. Her fingers closed around a small rock. She threw it at the bear. The little stone bounced harmlessly off its thick, black hide. Petra bent to pick up another rock. The bear reared above her. Petra pressed her back against the wall of the cave and shut her eyes.

At that instant, a sound came from the darkness down below. It started as a low, ghostly moan and swelled into a buzzing wail that grew and grew until the entire cave seemed to vibrate with the noise.