Swords, Sorcery, and Sex in the World of Greyhawk - Chapter 2 - Part 2

Chapter 2: Finding Shelter - Part 2

Shaking her head, Erica waved Ashley and Steve on. The two followed the cave as it slanted down, then turned to pass back under the ridgeline. They moved quickly, since the ceiling reached high enough Peter to stand upright, and the floor was free of small rocks and debris. About ten minutes later, the tunnel opened into a chamber big enough that they couldn't see the far wall in the cell phone's meager light, and Erica called a halt.

"Anyone feel the wind?" The others shook their heads.

"How about-" Erica started to ask, then reminded herself to act like a leader. "This is far enough. We'll stop here and take a break."

"And then what?" Peter asked, gladly sinking to the ground, favoring one ankle.

"And then we go home." Steve said firmly.

"Yeah? How?" Ashley asked.

"Well..."

"The old man who got us into this mess is dead. Everyone else we've even seen here is trying to kill us. How the hell do you plan on getting home?!" Maria voice rose."

"Maybe...maybe this is all some kind of dream-" Mickey said in a faint voice.

Ashley snorted.

"-or a trick, some kind of virtual reality?"

The only answer she got was a roll of Ashley's eyes.

"Let's think about this." Erica began. She'd been turning it over in her mind, trying to come up with a plan to show she should be in charge. "We all want to go home, right? First we need food and a place to rest." Peter nodded in agreement. "Then we figure out what's going on and how to get home."

"Before Psycho and his birdmen hunt us down and rip our nuts off too." Steve added.

"We'll wait here until we dry off and the rain stops." Erica continued as if he hadn't spoken. When it's dark we'll go out and take a quick look around. If it's safe we'll go somewhere - hopefully to the valley."

"What are we going to eat?" Peter asked.

"What if he's waiting to catch us as soon as we peek out, like a Tom and Jerry cartoon or something?" Maria worried.

"We know what the valley looks like - we saw it coming in. How is that going to help us?" Ashley looked skeptical.

Erica listened to their complains with a sour face, but it was Steve that answered.

"If we have to we'll eat bugs and seeds. It's just a Survival and Evasion exercise. If we stay positive we'll find a way out of this." He said, forcing calmness into his voice.

"Positive?!" Maria yelled. "Robert's dead, we have no idea where we are, and someone's trying to kill us. How the hell can you be positive?"

"Look, we found a hold-up site, if there's no water in the cave we can collect it outside, there are insects and seeds in the forest outside. We need to relax and generate a sit-rep." Steve explained, trying not to let her upset him.

"Sit-rep?" Mickey looked around, mouthing her confusion.

"So what do we have?" Steve ignored her like the others did, thinking back to the lessons in outdoor survival.

"Have?" Maria asked.

"You know, like supplies." They didn't have much. Six cell phones in various states of charge, Peter's pocket-knife, Erica's and Mickey's watches, and the contents of Ashley's purse, which she'd somehow managed to hold on to. When Erica asked what she had, though, Ashley answered with vague references to "you know, lipstick and stuff."

"Stuff? What kind of 'stuff'?" Steve pressed her.

"My stuff, alright." Ashley rebuffed him. Erica was curious, but she sympathized with Ashley - some things boys didn't need to know.

"That's enough with the cell phones - they'll all be gone before the rain stops if we keep using them." Erica interrupted Steve's questioning, sitting with her back to the wall.

"Hello? It's, like, pitch black in here." Maria rebelled.

"Whatever. If you want to use up your own battery, fine. Don't expect any of us to use ours when yours is gone." Erica said, hugging her knees to his chest for warmth and closing her eyes. The others followed suit, too exhausted for small talk, and still in too much shock from the last few hours' events to be ready to share their feelings with others.

"You know what? I hate caves! I hate the dark, I hate the wet, I hate that there's no food and no showers. Alright?!" Maria's voice rose as she ranted. "I want to go home, damn it!"

"Maria-" Erica began.

"Shut up! Just shut up. This is the worst thing ever!" She growled. Erica recoiled in silence. Maria was right, Erica thought, but that wasn't the point. Maybe this wasn't the best time to argue, though.

The darkness grew still as the six sat, each wrapped in their own thoughts. Even Peter's plugged nose made less sound than usual as he dozed. At first, one person or another would check their cell phone clock every so often, but even that grew old, leaving them in unadulterated darkness. Time passed.

"Hey, you guys. Keep your cell phones off and look around. Anyone else see that light?" Ashley spoke in a whisper.

"Where?" They couldn't see her point.

"Um, out there away from the entrance. It's faint, kind of greenish?" She sounded tentative.

"Hey, yeah, over there." Mickey said.

"Where?" Maria repeated, unable to make it out.

"Here." Mickey took Maria's hand, pointing it to where she saw the light.

"It's like the walls are glowing." Erica said, wonderingly.

"What is it?" Maria asked.

"Let's go see" Ashley responded, crawling towards it on all fours.

"Wait, you don't know what's over there." Steve interjected. He wasn't comfortable moving yet. They didn't have a plan. They hadn't even scouted the area outside. Use your brain first, then move, his instructors had drilled into him.

"Well, duh. That's why I'm going."

"I mean, what if the cave floor is weak, or there's a pit, or something." He protested.

"Then don't come." Erica said, following Ashley. With a sigh, Steve followed them, unwilling to split up.

"Biolumienscent fungi, maybe?" Mickey asked no one in particular.

"Huh?!" Peter said.

"We talked about this in Mycology class last year. Some mushrooms glow at night. Most of them are green, too. Kind of like that." Curious, she set off after the others.

"Glowing mushrooms. Great. Just great. Next they'll probably tell me to eat them." Grumbling Peter crawled after her. Unhappy, but afraid to be left alone in the dark, Maria followed.

They made their way towards the light, slipping on a sheet of slick flowstone and feeling their way around a stalagmite. When they arrived, Ashley was already running her hand over the glowing surface. It wasn't a solid color, more like veins of green light branching out from central point. The raised veins yielded under her hand.

"It feels like moss." She told the others.

"Lichen, maybe? Weird. Usually this stuff grows on dead trees. What's it got to eat here?" Mickey wondered.

"Eat? How the hell does it eat?" Maria said, finding that thought even more disturbing than the fact that it was glowing.

"Look, it gets stronger down that tunnel." Ashley said, excited about her find. When the others looked, they could see that the veins grew denser the farther in they looked. It wasn't enough light to see by, not yet, but it offered the promise of more.

"Mickey, you're a bio major. What do you think, will get it brighter?" Erica asked.

"Um. I don't know." Mickey said doubtfully.

"Great, some help you are." Maria mocked, and Mickey shrank back.

"Come on." Ashley said, not the first time her curiosity got the better of her caution.

"Woah, hold on." Maria said, unhappy.

"Weren't you the one crying about how dark it was?" Ashley said scornfully. She got to her feet, moving in a low crouch with her hands in front, feet feeling for obstacles.

"Um, Ashley. Are you sure about this?" Steve said. He wasn't scared, but he didn't like the idea of setting off in to the unknown without thinking it over first. How the hell could they make good decisions if Ashley and Erica kept on jumping in to things, he grumbled to himself.

"Hold on." Ashley held up her hand. They could all hear a rustling sound from the tunnel ahead of them, but it was hard to guess how far away in the still cave air. The six stared into the darkness, trying to guess what it might be.

"I hope you're right about this, Ashley." Steve said, wondering if they'd woken a pack of wolves sleeping in the cave's warm interior.

Her rebuttal was drowned out by a cloud of bats that flooded the air around them. Larger than any they'd seen at home, these didn't seem frightened by the humans. The six discovered just how different these bats were when one landed on Erica's back.

"Ow!" She cried, spinning around to dislodge the creature. "It bit me!"

Her words broke the tableau, as the others reacted in fear. Steve crouched low, slapping at any bats that came near. Erica cowered in fear, kneeling on the floor with her hands over her head. Peter turned in slow circles, hands outstretched and fingers spread. Ashley froze as a bat flew straight at her head, until inexplicably, it exploded into a cloud of fur and bone fragments just before contact. When the debris splashed against her face, she crumpled to the ground in a faint. Mickey stood stock still, as if unaware of the bats fluttering over her head.

Maria danced in panic, flailing her arms at the bats circling around her. When one landed on her thigh she hopped up and down and screamed, wanting to slap it off, but afraid to touch it. The others kept moving, trying to make themselves difficult targets.

As suddenly as they came, though, the bats suddenly vanished, flying towards the tunnel opening. The one on Maria's thigh pulled off too, leaving a trail of blood running down her leg as it disappeared down the tunnel. Steve and Erica came out of their crouches, looking around for signs of the bats return. Ashley came around shortly, staring wonderingly at the shredded bat. Maria fell to her knees, holding her head with shaking hands and crying.

Peter looked the worst, with a red patches on shoulder and thigh and blood still dripping from one ear.

"Are you okay?" Erica asked him.

"Sure. They're just big skeeters - I let them land and squish 'em. Like this..." He said, slapping his thigh with a resounding smack.

"Ewww. Do you have any idea how many diseases bats carry? And now you probably have them all." Ashley said. Worry crossed Peter's brow for a moment, then his face cleared.

"Ah, hell. I've been killing skeeters like this all my life. Not gotten sick that way yet, don't plan to now. Heck, these bites don't hurt a bit. They sure do bleed a lot, though."

"Vampire bats." Mickey said vacantly, still looking dazed. "Anti-clotting compound in their saliva."

"Saliva? You mean they drooled on me? Gross." Maria looked up with reddened eyes. She dabbed at her thigh, trying to clean it with the still clean portion of her slacks. "What if they have rabies or something?" She said, scared.

"We'll just have to hope they don't." Erica said, trying to stay positive.

"But what if they do? I can't die of rabies - do you have any idea how awful that would be? Don't just stand there, do something!" Maria's voice cracked as she yelled at the others.

"Oh, get a grip. You're not the only one who got bit." Ashley dismissed her. "But why did they leave?"

"I... I don't know. Anyone?" Erica asked, but no one responded. "Well, they're gone for the moment. I guess we should move on before they return."

"I want to go back. This cave is awful! It's dark and wet and God only knows what other horrible creatures live here." Maria said sullenly, angry that the others didn't care about her getting sick.

"Yeah, maybe we should." Mickey said.

"What happens when the bats come back?" Steve asked.

"Huh?" The others thought that over.

"Seriously. You want to keep going?!" Maria asked in a disbelieving tone.

"I didn't say that. But they're bats; they'll come back the same way they left."

"So what do we do?" Peter asked.

Continued in Chapter 2: Finding Shelter - Part 3

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