Chapter Twenty: In

3:15, p.m. November 13.

"My God, Sheriff, this must be the worst cave in I've ever come across."

The old man's raspy voice echoed through the darkness and cut through the bitter cold air and into a person's spirit like a knife. The miner known as Joe has been standing in front of the collapsed tunnel caused by the monster. He just stared at the rocks, he could burn holes through the giant mess of rubble like Superman by the way he kept his eyes locked and steady in the same spot. If he had such a power, we would have gotten through the tunnel, find the girl and end this psychopaths slaughter. The entire situation makes feel like I could shoot hot lasers out of my own eyes with how much rage and fire is behind them and inside of me. For the next ten minutes, my deputies, the miner and I stood in the darkness with only our flashlights shining any kind of light in the empty void of the cave. Joe would occasionally nudge at a rock to see what would happen or would try to find a hole or opening to peek through. After a while, he finally gave us his observation.

"It's just As I have feared Sheriff. There's no way in Hell you're getting through this cave in."

His words shot me through the heart and crushes my spirit. He continued to speak.

"With this much rock and rubble blocking the passage and without the proper tool or manpower to move them, it'll take two or three weeks to clear it all."

That was the final blow for me. After hearing Joe's assessment, I finally boiled over and exploded with rage.

"THREE WEEKS! WE DON'T HAVE THREE WEEKS! A KILLER IS ON THE LOOSE IN THIS CAVE AND HE'S SKINNING PEOPLE LIKE ANIMAL TROPHIES! THE WHOLE TOWN OF SAFE HAVEN IS ON RED ALERT BECAUSE OF THIS MONSTER! WE DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF TIME TO JUST DIG! WE NEED TO FIND THIS THING AND KILL IT NOW BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE BECOMES ITS NEXT VICTIM! AND ON TOP OF THAT, A YOUNG GIRL IS TRAPPED WITH IT OR WORSE! wE NEED TO GET IN NOW! YOU HEAR ME OLD MAN?"

My hands were balled up. I was ready to punch anything. I was fuming mad by the whole nightmare of a killer creature on the loose. I know I shouldn't take it out on Joe. I wasn't really yelling at him, I was yelling more at myself. I was yelling at myself for putting everybody; especially Miss Canmore, in grave danger. When I was done with my ranting, I took a deep breath and un-clenched my fists.

"Sorry Joe."

The old man was unfazed by my outburst and remained focused on the wall of rubble. He's such an old geezer. He had no hair left on his head and had liver spot adorning his arms and neck. He wore big, thick glasses because of his failing eyesight. I even wonder how he's going to find his own hand, let alone a way inside the tunnel with those old eye. When Joe spoke, his voice was so raspy and jagged from the years of breathing in dust and coal fumes while mining. After a few seconds of silence, the old man spoke again.

"Don't apologize to me, I understand Sheriff. We might not be able to get through this carnage, but there might be another way if we look for it."

He turned away from the rubble and walked past me and my deputies with surprising speed for a sixty-seven year old man. The deputies and I were stunned by the old man's sudden and speedy exit out of the caverns and just left us standing in the dark tunnel alone. We stood there for almost a minute. My youngest deputy, Tanner was the only one to speak up in the group.

"Sheriff, Sir, should we see what he's up to?"

Before I could even answer, Joe's shouts echoed and rumbled through the tunnel.

"Sheriff, you coming or what?"

With that, the deputies and I shuffled our way through the dark cave to follow the old man. Our small flashlights were our only guide through the blackness of the cave tunnel. When we all made it out of the pitch black surroundings of the caverns, we were nearly blinded by the sudden brightness of the outside world. Even with heavy dark clouds forming over head and blocking the sun, it was still bright after being in darkness for a long time. After a few adjustments to the light, I looked for Joe. It didn't take long to spot him. He was walking along the left side of the cave opening and kept moving further down until the rocky walls of the outer cave became so short, it seemed to dive back into the ground from which it came. Looking at the cave mouth, I wondered how anybody was able to spot the cave at all. With miles of grassy fields to the south and even more miles of woodlands to the north, the cave was hidden from the nearest persons view. The cave itself was the size of a one story building and looked like a miniature mountain. The outer cave walls only reached thirty feet across and curved like a horse shoe. The rest of the cave went beneath the ground and was covered and hidden by the woods on each side. Knowing this, finding a new way in or the exit to the cave seemed bleak to me. Joe, on the other hand, seemed undeterred by the lack of another way in. He looks as if he wasn't gonna quit looking for a new way to get inside the tunnels. His energy and excitement was endearing, but with his new age, I'm afraid of him breaking a hip or having a heart attack.

"Joe, slow down, I don't want you to hurt yourself."

I said as I trailed behind him with my deputies trailing behind me.

"Don't worry sheriff, this old body still has some juice left in it. We'll find what you're looking for soon enough."

The old man's so optimistic, he even managed to bring up my clouded mood a little. I wonder if this was enough to keep him going though. After we walked around the cave opening which was the only visible proof the cave existed and went to the part where the walls dove into the earth. To me, there was nothing to even give us a clue to where the underground tunnels of the cave weaved through below our feet. Joe, on the other hand, seemed pulled by some invisible force by how he zigzagged through the trees and brush of the forest. We only walked for a few moments before Joe stopped in his tracts. He seemed to be seeming at some embedded rocks sticking out of the ground. For a few moments, Joe stood quietly frozen in thought looking at the large stony wall like rocks while my men and I just stood behind him confused and quiet to not break his concentration. It wasn't until Deputy Tanner spoke up that the irritating silence was finally broken. Tanner walked up and stood right next to Joe and began to talk.

"Excuse me, Mister . . . uh . . . Joe, I'm just wondering what are you looking for exactly?

It's just that I don't know what we're looking for at all but you do. Can you please tell us what to look for, Sir?"

The way he talks, you would think he was a kid talking to a teacher in sixth grade asking to go to the bathroom. He's so quiet and mousy. Out of all the deputies I've had in all my years as a sheriff, young Jack Tanner was the most nervous, the quietest and the most polite man around. He's also the best deputy around. He'll have to toughen up if he hopes to become a sheriff one day let alone stop this monster. Joe turned around to look at Tanner. He looked almost confused at Tanner for a moment. The curse of old age I guess.. When he realized what he was doing, Joe cleared his throat and began to talk as clearly as his raspy voice could allow.

"Sorry about that, Guess I got too excited there. Almost forgot about you young folk."

He paused to clear his throat again. then he turned around to the stones again.

"You see this bedrock? This is limestone. A lot of caves in Missouri are made of it, including the one we were in earlier. We're looking for outcroppings of these same exact rocks. We find those, we find another opening."

Another of my deputies, thirty one year old Vince Ripley, stepped forward and chimed into the discussion.

"What are outcroppings?'

Joe turned back around to look at Ripley.

"Outcroppings are exposed bedrock caused by erosion or man made excavation. Limestone outcroppings tend to look like a crudely stacked rock wall like the one behind us."

Joe pointed back to the rocks with his right hand.

"If we find more of these limestone outcroppings, a suspicious clump of trees and bushes in one spot or even a sink hole, we can find a new way in."

Now that my men and I have ideas of what we're looking for, my determination to stop this monster and my good spirits began to return to me in a flash. I turned back to my men with renewed hope.

"Okay men, listen carefully. To find the way in faster, we need to split up in two groups. Now that we know what we're looking for, we can search and cover more ground. We need to be on full alert as well if that . . . that thing got out or if the girl got out. If you find anything, call on the radio immediately. Is that clear?"

All my deputies stood as tall as they could and shouted in uni some.

"YES SIR!"

I turned back to Joe.

"Joe, you, deputy Snow and I will head northwest from this spot."

I turned my head to Tanner.

"Tanner, I want you, Ripley and Sanders to head north from this spot. Cover as much ground as you can. Get it?"

He nodded his head with the speed of a hummingbird yes. His eyes almost popped out of his head. The kid is so scared; we're all scared. He needs calm down and to get his fear under control though. We can't let this scare us away from protecting Safe Haven and Miss Canmore. To calm him down, I decided to gently grab his right shoulder and looked him straight in the eyes. He reminds me so much of my late son. I then proceeded to calm him verbally.

"You can do this Jack, I know you can do this. I know you all can do this."

I let go of his shoulder and headed northwest along with Joe and my remaining deputy; Owen Snow. We walked and searched for a very long time. My eyes and feet were sore from the search. When I checked my watch for the time, it was close to 4:15, p.m. With how the weather has been bitter cold and with a snow storm coming in at any moment along with sundown, there wasn't any time to waste. For over an hour, we've been searching for Joe's clues but all we've found were trees, trees and even more trees that looked the same. There was no sign of bedrock let alone a cave opening. On top of this, nobody has reported anything on the radio. With every bodies energy draining, I decided to regroup and figure out another plan. Before I could call up Tanner, Joe began to shout with joy.

"SHERIFF! I FOUND IT!'

With my radio still in hand, I rushed over to see what he found. When I saw it, my own rush of joy overtook my senses. I felt like leaping into the air at the sight of the rock wall with a narrow tunnel almost hidden away by bushes and hanging vines. It's a flat out miracle that anybody; let alone a sixty-seven year old man with fading eyesight, to find such an obscured entrance in an uncharted aria. It was limestone too, it lead into the caverns for sure.

"Yes, alright Joe. You did it!"

I shouted while shaking my fists into the air in victory.

"Now we're getting somewhere."

I then remembered the police radio in my right hand and decided to call Tanner's group and call them back.

"Tanner, this is Winston. Do you read me? Over."

After a second, Jack responded.

"Yes, sir. This is Tanner. I read you. We still haven't found anything, sir. Over."

I had a hard time containing my happiness over finding the tunnel while maintaining a professional law enforcer with this kid.

"That's alright Tanner. We found a tunnel. I need your group to come back. Where is your position? Over."

There was a few seconds of silence on the radio from Jack. Then he answered again.

"Uh . . . about three miles from where we started. Over."

I sighed with relief of how close he was.

"Alright then, we're just fifteen minutes away from your position. Just head west straight from where you are and you'll find us. Hurry. Over."

Another moment of silence, then Jack responded.

"Over and out." By the time Jacks group reached us, it was 4;20, p.m. one hour from sundown.

"We need to hurry before dark."

I begin to shuffle through the brush and pull at the vines to go into the tunnel. Then Joe's raspy coughs caught my attention. He looked at me with his sad old eyes.

"I'm sorry sheriff, I'm just too old to go spelunking into narrow dark caves. I can't go with you." Joe started to cough harder. The cold must be getting to him finally. He must be exhausted after walking through the woods for over an hour and needed to warm up. On top of that, I can't risk another innocent person's life for no reason like I did with the girl. I won't forgive myself for that. I nodded my head in understanding.

"Tanner. Take Joe home now. When he's safe inside his house. Come back to this spot immediately. I'll give you more directions afterwords. Keep him safe, son."

He pulled out his Glock 19 pistol.

"Yes sir."

I pulled out my Smith & Wesson M&P 9 pistol.

"The rest of you are with me, we're going in."

All three deputies pulled out their Glock 19 pistols and followed behind me, further into the nightmare I helped spawn.