Lightning ripped through the dark clouds, thunder boomed over the mountains and the rain lashed at their bodies as they trudged their way forwards. July shivered as he wiped the water from his goggles and glanced at his compass, and then up at the slope ahead, he remembered it, they were close now.
The group travelled in formation. They wouldn’t take it for granted that bad weather would scare hungry beasts away, thus, July and Tom directed the group while Wade, Alice and Jodie stayed in the middle, and Charlie acted as rear guard. They had been walking for hours, and it would have been nice to use this time to get to know each other a little better, but they were cold and tired, the ground was slippery, and they couldn’t hear each other over the rain anyway.
Stooped over with his hands shielding his face from the rain, July had to drag his legs through thick mud. His hands seemed distant, as if they weren’t part of his body, they were murky in his vision. Time dragged on. A heavy hand fell on his shoulder and he turned to see Thomas leaning against him. Biscuit suddenly stopped walking and crouched low. The air was being sapped from July’s lungs.
“Everyone, gas masks, quickly!” July strapped his mask on and took a deep breath. Tom crouched in front of Biscuit and applied his special dog-sized mask. July became aware of where he was, standing beneath a stone monolith with a carving of a mutant.
“What was that?” said Jodie. She was still adjusting the filter on her mask.
July glanced beyond the monolith at a narrow path sloping up to their right. “There are pockets of radiation all over this area. Sometimes the air can get a little thin.”
Alice pointed at the monolith. “And what about that? It looks a bit scary, doesn’t it?”
July didn’t reply, he wasn’t exactly sure how to. “Just keep your eyes peeled.”
The rocky pass forced the group to travel single-file but also provided some shelter from the wind and rain. The sharp rocks threatened to slash at them if they weren’t careful, however on several occasions they were forced to climb over or around certain obstacles. The Geiger-counters indicated when the radiation was too strong to pass through; these areas were particularly frightening. Wade accidentally stepped in a puddle and the water nearly ate through his boot. Glowing mushrooms surrounded the puddle.
Alice nudged Jodie with her elbow. “Hey sis, I’ll give you my last cigarette if you eat one.”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Jodie laughed.
Charlie leaned closer than the others to the peculiar sight. “What do you suppose would happen if someone did eat one?”
“It’s not just about you now,” Alice said to Jodie. “Come on, do it for science.”
“Fuck science, you eat it!”
“And turn into some kind of mutant, no thanks. Or… but maybe I’ll glow in the dark.”
“Yeah, and I can use you as a night light.”
It was time to return to the task at hand and July wanted to get through this quickly. “Hey, we’re almost there,” he said. “Look. There’s a tunnel up ahead.”
The tunnel was only a crack in the rock-face illuminated by July’s torch, high enough for the group to crouch and walk through. With the dull overcast light from outside it was hard to see in the stuffy antechamber while their masks were on. July had to drag himself through on his belly on account of his leg, he heard Biscuit’s light footsteps up ahead and felt Thomas moving along beside him.
“God, I hope this is the right tunnel,” he whispered.
The tunnel opened up and July climbed to his feet, wiped his mask and looked around with the beam of his torch sliding across the rocky walls. Thomas did the same. It was just a flash in their memories, resting on the edge of the tunnel, using an old screwdriver to carve the image of a mutant on the wall. There, ten years later, they found it. July removed his gas mask.
“How’s the air in here?” Wade cautiously asked.
July sniffed, the air tasted like wet dirt and metal. “It’s a little stale, but breathable.”
Alice made a show of being puffed. “Speaking of breathers, anyone feel like a break?”
They agreed to stop for five minutes. July leaned against the wall and shined his torch into the darkness beyond, where the floor plummeted down and the path continued below, the top of a rotting wooden ladder peered over the edge, reaching up towards dripping stalagmites on the roof of the cave. He closed his eyes. Something echoed through the darkness, a sharp unpleasant sound, but so feint that it was hard to tell if it was real, or just a figment of an exhausted imagination. Only July seemed to hear it. A sudden yelp brought everyone to attention and Wade vigorously shook his hand and stumbled away from the wall.
“Damn rat just bit me!”
Charlie seemed disappointed. “I’m assuming you’re referring to the smaller variety.”
“Still hurt, man.”
Alice moved over and tried to look at the wound. “Let me help.”
“Oh, you don’t have to,” he said. “I think I’ll live, but I appreciate it.”
Wade peeled off part of his glove and wiped the blood away, and as he did so Charlie caught the slightest glimpse of a tattoo.
Meanwhile, July and Thomas were inspecting the ladder, the wood groaned and creaked when Tom put his weight to it, and in almost complete darkness it was too dangerous to try and scurry down the slope, especially with July’s leg to consider.
July angrily kicked a rock and stormed away from the ladder. “Why did I think I could make it back like this?” He glared at his knee.
“Relax,” said Tom. “Okay, it’s not going to be easy but I know what we can do.”
They sent Biscuit down first, the nimble German Shepard weaved through the rigid slope while Wade tied his rope to a rock and Charlie threaded down following Biscuit, the twins used the rope for balance as they made their descent, then Tom helped July slowly make his way to the bottom.
“There, that wasn’t so bad.” Tom smiled, but it quickly faded. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” said Jodie.
July cocked his ear to the path and listened. He thought he had heard something, but now there was just the water dripping from the ceiling, and maybe that’s what he had heard last time.
“I’m not sure,” Tom eventually replied, rubbing his knee. “I keep thinking I can hear something, but when I try and listen it goes away.”
Alice slouched and rubbed her arms. “Well now I officially have goose-bumps.”
The group spent the next hour in silence as they followed the narrow path, listening carefully and resisting the urge to shine their torches at every nook and cranny on the cave walls. July slowed them down, he often walked with his arms out to either side for balance, and kept his eyes to the ground, trying carefully not to trip or damage the prosthetic leg.
“How’d you do it? If you don’t mind my asking, that is,” said Jodie.
“My leg?” July replied. “Car accident.”
“That’s it? Just ‘car accident’?”
July shrugged. “Not much else to tell. Tom was driving when we lost control, he and Biscuit were thrown from the car, I wasn’t so lucky.”
The area up ahead was strangely alight with a vibrant green glow. The patter of feet on rocks was replaced by the thud of stepping on soft wooden boards, and a rail rose up on either side. A peculiar odour filled the air. Biscuit crouched low, his ears back.
“Gasmasks,” said July. “Quick.”
The wooden bridge carried them through a gulley filled with an assortment of glowing mushrooms and other peculiar things; the mushrooms shined with various shades of green and sprouted around fields of dark purple moss, the bioluminescence penetrated the pools of tranquil blue water down below so that it sparkled wonderfully. The seven of them passed over the bridge in a trance.
“It’s beautiful,” Alice whispered.
Thomas leaned over the railing and shined his torch at the sights below; the garden had grown, but it was impossible for him and July to forget crossing through a sight like this, even if it was ten years ago. Their Geiger-counters started beeping.
“They like the radiation,” Tom said, pointing his torch at the mushrooms.
“Not just them,” Charlie mentioned, drawing their attention to the ceiling where a dozen hairy bats quietly slept.
The bats were a memory Tom and July were not so fond of, and now they looked bigger than before. July shivered. “They’ve started to mutate, just like everything else that lives in here. Ever heard of vampire bats? These are like those but just a little more aggressive. Try not to startle them.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Jodie mumbled.
As they moved beyond the gutter filled with bats and glowing mushrooms July kept an eye on the Geiger-counter and when they were well away from the danger zone he proposed that they should sleep for a few hours. His body was heavy with exhaustion as he sat down and found his Walkman. Wade place a dull orange lantern in the centre of their camp. Tom took the first watch. The absolute silence of the cave helped put July to sleep.
ns 172.69.59.127da2