Chapter Thirty-Seven: An Hour's Walk
Having followed the advice of Mr. Rosewell – or more accurately: having not followed his advice – we arrived before the yawning maw of dirt and stone – the cave's entrance. A maw was exactly how I'd describe it, too; from the sharp jagged teeth jutting forth to the snarling rocky lips and the wet, stony tongue curling out, or the breathy mist swirling forth and pooling around our feet.
I pulled my jacket closed and checked my Pip-boy again. This spooky location had to be the one Rosewell spoke about; a creepy cave entrance that sent chills just for being near. Whether that was from the cold or some sixth sense, I couldn't say. Nor was I inclined to speculate.
With my vision already on my wrist-mount, I had to admit we made some pretty good time. For a supposed two hour walk, it only took us four hours. The sun was near its apex and it was Thursday. At the original pace we were traveling, we'd probably have arrived near sun fall. This change was only due to my insistence that we not stop; whether that was for the best could only be seen later.
My body ached, yet any time I asked for a simple med-x I was refused. All of my med-x had been confiscated so as to "keep me safe." The arrogance it took to take them from me. They could have at not least left me with one, for an emergency situation or when I'm dealing with the actual pain from pushing my body to simply move.
Nevertheless, I just had to come up with some legitimate means of getting some. Asking nicely or with big, sad puppy-like eyes had no effect. And when I tried to steal one they placed them away somewhere I couldn't easily get without them becoming aware. I couldn't give up. The pain would persist until I acquired some relief, and that's why I needed that med-x.
"—ing inside?" I blinked a few times at the question, having just come back to reality, and I saw Kyle staring at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. "You weren't paying attention. Again, right." While it had almost sounded like a question, it was filled with far too much exasperation and matter-of-factly tone to properly be a question. He let out a breath and repeated himself, "This place is creepy, my hairs are standing on end, and it almost feels as though something is watching us. My Pip-boy doesn't even register a proper name for this place, it's only a half-dozen question marks. You don't seriously plan to go inside, right?"
I nodded and stepped toward the cave. The area was cast in the dancing shadows as branches and vines intricately weaved a canopy above, and, outside of the trail leading in, there was a flood of vegetation; various bushes and shrubbery having long since missed their leaves and shivered in the wind. The fog gently seeping from the mouth of the cave rolled and crashed like waves, seeming too thick to be carried away by the air; it even seemed as if it lapped at our legs, biting at any exposed flesh and dampening the fabrics.
I swiftly arrived before the slick stone tongue leading up to the entrance and placed my boot upon it and gave it a little shake, testing out the footing and found that while there was some give, it wouldn't be a problem if we took it slow. In a small lapse of pettiness, I hadn't bothered warning the other two and proceeded to climb toward the sharp teeth.
When I passed through the maw, I felt a chill course through my entire being. Something, somewhere was telling me to run far away from this place. I started down the tunnel. It was surprisingly tall, Kyle would have little trouble with his head meeting stone, and it was wide enough that if we really tried we could walk side-by-side – but only in pairs. The ground was a mixture of stone and moist clay, yet it was never clumped enough that one might lose footing, and the decline had just the right angle that I constantly felt like I was leaning back to keep balanced but never enough so that I might fall if I hadn't.
At some point I clicked on the light for my Pip-boy and Kyle followed suit with his own, and those quickly became our only source of light. Our descent progressed and the tunnel gradually thinned out until the others were hunched over to pass. With the abundant amount of time simply moving down, my mind soon started to churn around the fog; it'd been a constant since the start, yet I couldn't discern where it originated. Had it been crawling out of the cave from below?
Eventually, through the ever-closing tunnel, I pressed through a gap and found the space suddenly break open as I stepped into a cavern of sorts. I looked deeper within the cavernous space; a paper thin layer of water covered the ground, reflecting everything back, and thick pillars rose from ceiling to floor, tapering off in the middle as stalagmite and stalactite met.
Past all of that I could make out... a wooden structure? I splashed closer, keeping my pistol drawn and watching for any sort of movement, but it had been more than a little disorienting to see myself, however vaguely defined, on the floor. At least the ripples caused by my steps messed up the image. Past a column of smooth, damp rock I caught a better view of the structure; it was as if a building had been ripped right out of the ground and placed within the cave through some fantastical means with no regard for the rock and earth around it.
Dull mustard yellow painted walls of wood, once-white window sills with perfectly intact murky glass panes filling out the frames, yet no hint of a roof as the walls meet the cave's ceiling. Stretching out the front, if it could be called that, was a covered porch with a handful of wooden furniture resting atop its seemingly clean surface.
Crossing the remaining distance wasn't difficult, the path was smooth with the only difficulty coming from not looking down to see my warped self or the heavy vapor atop the water. I placed my foot upon the first step leading up and a sense of trepidation pierced the back of my mind, my foot felt locked in place as I froze.
"This place is rather creepy..." Kyle remarked, his face a little pale.
Anton strode right past him and moved right up to the porch's steps, looking toward one of the corners, "For once I'm inclined to agree." He stepped atop the porch and moved into the edge of the artificial light, and looked around for a few seconds before turning over his shoulder, "Might I ask that one of you move closer with those lights?"
I found myself climbing the steps after him despite myself and I eventually shone a light on what he'd been looking at: a man was casually resting there. The only problem was that this man had no nostrils, mouth, nor any eyes. He was a mannequin, dressed in sun-bleached blue overalls, a plaid red and black long-sleeved shirt underneath it, and a simple straw hat affixed his head. He was posed in such a way that he looked as if he were seated on a chair, but it was positioned in such a way that he was really only about half on the seat.
"I'm glad it isn't a real person," Anton breathed a sigh of relief and turned away as if he had lost all interest, before shifting toward a door.
After staring at it for a few moments, watching to make sure it wouldn't move, I turned away and followed Anton. I passed Kyle as he just stepped atop the porch's deck, and studied the door for a moment as Anton seemingly took a step aside to let me. I gave him a quizzical look, and he only shrugged.
From what I saw, there were two doors layered together, one on the outside and one on the inside with little space between. The outer-door had some kind of mesh screen or some such and didn't look very protective, while the inner-door was of a more solid design and material. I reached for the outer-door and found it had no lock, only a simple press and it was free to swing. I instructed Anton with a look to hold the door while I tried for the other.
The handle looked basic, so I gave it a twist and it jangled in my grip – it was locked. I inwardly groaned and knelt down, setting my pistol beside me and pulling out my screwdriver and a bobby pin from an easy-to-reach spot, I then set to work on getting the thing unlocked.
Within seconds I heard the clack of a thin metal rod snapping and pulled my hand back to see the bobby pin had broken. Was I too hasty? I fished out another pin and set to work once more, yet like the first time it snapped. I glared at the handle as I pulled out a third, but I was no fool. So after the third one broke, I stood up and shook my head.
A nervous chuckle arose from Kyle as he materialized from the side, "I think I prefer it this way. Now we can go," he says with a gulp, "I know I mentioned it before, but this place is very creepy."
"There's no reason to be so nervous, just grow a backbone." I glanced over to see Anton a ways away, standing atop the mirrored floor of the cavern. I couldn't help but cock an eyebrow his way.
Kyle had started down the stairs as he called out, "You're one to talk, look how far you scuttled away in the dark. You're nothing but a coward!"
I started to tune the pair out as I gave the doorknob one last furtive glance before I headed down the steps myself, yet right as I reached the water I heard a soft click. I froze, twisted my upper-body, and leveled my pistol toward the door.
The others must have noticed the oddity in my actions, as a silence fell upon the cavern as their voices came to a halt mid-sentence. I swallowed the saliva that started to build up and slowly stepped toward the door, reaching for it ever-so-slowly with my bad arm until the cold, damp metal was within my grasp and gave it a little twist. The door opened with ease. My breath caught in my throat.
Carefully pushing the door, I peered inside letting my pistol lead and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw a figure. Deciding that it was only polite to see who I was about to shoot, I illuminated the figure and saw a woman. Recognition set in immediately and I relaxed and lowered my gun. She was another mannequin. I pushed the door fully open and saw her posed in just the right way so that the door could freely swing open and shut without knocking into her as she stood nearby.
Like the previous doll, she had a featureless face, yet a slightly smaller overall frame. She was dressed in a pastel sleeveless dress with some sort of blue flowery pattern on it, and a wide-brimmed hat with a fake flower affixed. One of her arms were outstretched as if to answer the door while her other made it look as if she were using the wall as support, yet like before I could see her base plate and the black rods fixing her pose in place.
Heavy splashes sounded from outside the house as I entered, and Kyle and Anton appeared a moment later with their weapons already drawn. I gave them a little wave and pointed toward the mannequin lady, before putting my attention toward the interior.
The entryway was rather bare, but directly to the left was a kitchen and to the right the wall with one of the mucky windows looking out. Some sort of pot rested in the corner near the window, but the plant inside looked long dead. Ahead was an archway separating the space with a view of a thick oblong wooden table with a heavy coating of dust. Behind it a large dirtied window.
I started with the obvious place to go: the kitchen. The flooring quickly shifted from wooden to tiled, and countertops lined the wall. The glaring problem with this area quickly became apparent as I couldn't help but notice it: the kitchen was swallowed by the rock. It wasn't that the earth had shifted or broken, flooding the space, but rather like the space had been built around the rock. My hand ran along the sink until it hit the stone wall, there was less than half the sink present.
A curious feeling washed over me at the surreal sight, but I tried to ignore it as I bent down to check under the sink only to find the cabinet couldn't open. The side with the hinges was on my side and the handle was clearly in or beneath the rock. I even tried to pry it open to no avail.
The illumination from my Pip-boy revealed that the rest of the kitchen was much like the cabinet: stuck out of reach. There was no stove or oven, and the only hint of a fridge was that one face was barely visible on the opposite wall from the sink. With no luck for the rest of the kitchen, I started to scrounge through some of the drawers and cabinets looking for anything recoverable. Nothing could be found. The drawers were empty and the cabinets held dirt, some even held shredded tin cans.
I shook my head and pulled myself to my feet. A light from past the archway told me where the others had gone, so I moved up to the window near the plant. I looked out, only to find things so obscured I couldn't make out any details, and decided that I didn't want to rub it clean – not when it was brownish-green. Pivoting toward the potted plant, I knelt down and rummaged through it, hoping for some hidden treasure; only to be betrayed.
I let out a disgruntled breath and headed through the archway and into what looked to be a dining area. I had already spotted the table – it was hard to miss – but I hadn't noticed the chairs for some reason. They had an intricate weave on the backs, made of metal and wood, and coated in dust as well. The seats were mostly flat with two minor indents and looked to also be made of wood, unlike the rest of the chair or table, these parts looked muddied – or perhaps the dust had simply gotten wet.
Turning around, I saw that a short distance on the left was a flight of stairs leading up. To the right of the stairs was a mostly empty space with a door lying in the center of a wall that had largely been eaten by the earth. Anton and Kyle were standing before the door trying to open it, but had no luck. I opted to put my focus toward the stairs.
I gazed up and saw a tiny figure and almost drew my pistol, but, with an attempt to fix the Pip-boy's light on it, I perceived another mannequin – a child. It wore a bright red baseball cap with a blue sun visor, a yellow and blue striped t-shirt, and blue shorts. He (?) was standing on the left side at the top of the stairs, the stone a short ways behind.
Headed to the top of the stairs, I found the space leading off to the right to lead deeper within the home while the side the boy (?) was on had been sealed by rock. Squeezing between the walls, I slipped my way through until a door presented itself, leading within a room. But because it pulled out toward this hall, I elected to circle back to it.
The end of the small hall opened up as it bent around the corner headed away from the rock, and I found myself relaxing after having to squeeze and compress myself to move through. A small window showed the outside. The rest of the hall fared much better than the earlier points, and using the extra breathing room I took in my surroundings; ocean blue wallpaper scratched and falling apart revealing the wood beneath, an almost moldy white border running along the bottom, and a handful of lights spread evenly across the ceiling – no switch in sight.
Another potted plant rested in the far corner, but I moved past it as it couldn't possibly hold any loot. The rest of the hallway held two doors and another set of windows, these ones giving a view of the water and cave – at least I assumed as much since I couldn't see out. Looking back toward the doors it was easy to spot that one opened into the hall and the other into a room, so I moved toward the one leading into another space.
The area within was a bedroom; a large queen sized bed with dusty covers pushed against the wall, a dirtied window hanging above it, a nightstand on either side with a lamp atop each, two dressers standing side-by-side against the far wall, and a third potted plant resting in the corner. The wallpaper had lost any semblance of color and had nearly completely fallen from the walls, revealing the wooden structure. Finally, a largely collapsed bookshelf sat beside another door, its shelves largely bare save for a handful of rust-covered medals and dilapidated books.
Pulling open the next door, I found the space leading into a bathroom. Besides the medical emergency box near the door, most of the area had been lost to the earth. I pulled on the box's lid and found it held firmly in place. Fishing out my screwdriver once more and another bobby pin, I set to work on cracking it open. Unlike the front door, this snapped open with little effort, and the contents almost spilled out, but I collected all of it; two stimpack, a half-emptied bottle of whiskey, and a tin of round white... things that carried a funny smell.
Each was placed inside my bag, before I headed back to the bedroom and toward the bed. The maroon blankets didn't fit the rest of the color scheme of the room, but a room in decay likely wouldn't match too many colors. I placed my hand atop it and pushed down, the rough springs gave heavy resistance so I couldn't sink my hand very far. After a third time of pushing in another spot, I let myself fall to the floor on my knees and took a long breath before letting it out as slowly as I could, and allowed my shoulders to relax as the weight of my bag was supported by the floor.
It was pure coincidence, I had wanted to see how comfy the bed might have been to take a breather on and get off my feet, but nonetheless I came face-to-face with a floor safe tucked below the bed. It'd been at just the right point so one wouldn't see it whilst standing. It felt like I stumbled upon some hidden treasure only I would know about, so I wasted no time in reaching for the handle and checking if it was locked.
To my utter surprise, it opened right up. Half crawling under the bed, I got a better look inside... only to find it devoid of substance – it was empty. I could see a very thin layer of dust, likely having gathered from the times it'd been open, but no sign of anything else. Had someone gotten here before us and looted the place clean? But the box in the bathroom had been fine.
"Mm-hmm-hmm~ Hm-mm-hmm~ La-hm-haa~"
A woman humming?
I swallowed and crawled out from under the bed, bringing my pistol to the ready, yet found no one in the room with me. It sounded like it had come from the bathroom. After checking that my pistol was properly loaded and the safety was still in working order, I proceeded toward the bathroom as the humming grew louder. The door had been left open, so it was easy to turn the corner and aim my gun at—
Nothing.
As the tiled room was flooded with my Pip-boy's light, the lovely-sweet voice came to a pitched halt and I was left to stew in the silence. I couldn't have just been imagining things. There was a voice. There had to be someone. I frowned and let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.
Even the ghoul infested compound where I nearly died was... kinder than this place. Perhaps I had taken Ross' advice too lightly.
I marched out the room – bedroom and all – and back into the hall, sparing only a glance at the other door as I stomped past. As I rounded the first bend, a high-pitched giggle echoed down the hall. It was coming from ahead and I could only press on. As my hand touched the stone and I turned, I saw not a small squeeze down the hall leading to the stairs, but a squeeze toward an open door.
It invited me in – taunted me. I wanted to ignore it, to simply turn away and close the door as if nothing had happened, but I could feel it within my bones. I had to answer the call, I needed to respond. It could bring forth salvation. Freedom.
Before I knew it, I stepped through the door. I was greeted with a child's room; a pile of stuffed animals sat in one corner, toys scattered across the floor, and a small bed off in another corner. A small dresser and mirror were pushed up against another wall, and a short-yet-wide bookshelf sat near a small chair and lamp – it was filled with various thin books and a handful more toys, yet one stood out.
It was thick, much thicker than the blank books I used to communicate with. Far taller than my canteen. It rested upon the top of the bookshelf and lacked any hint of a dust covering. It was bound with a black leather cover that looked like it was pulled and stretched to hold the pages, and a rope ran along the spine holding the paper within.
If I can just get my hands on it, everything will be okay.
One step closer.
I just have to reach out for it and it will be mine. Kyle will be safe, Anton will share his secret, and I—
Two steps closer.
And I will accomplish whatever my heart desires?
I froze at three steps.
But what do I desire? To become safe? Be free of pain? But what will that get me?
I spun around and took a step, then another.
No, if I want something, then I should do it myself. I should earn it.
I closed the door behind me and headed for the stairs. As I arrived at the top, Kyle peeked his head around the railing, a long dual-cast shadow hung behind him from our paired light sources, and he sighed when he saw me, "We found something... but I don't think it was there before."
Genuinely intrigued, I stomped down the stairs and followed after him as he showed me the side of the stairwell. Beneath the stairs there had been a shabby little door that only a child could walk through. There were no pastel colors, faded or otherwise, only the grains of the wood stuck out. It was as if someone had cut out a piece of the wall and placed wood to fill the dimensions while leaving a solid gap larger than my fingers between the rest of the wall.
It opened with a creak at the slightest touch and a foul smell permeated the air nearly immediately. Without realizing it, I covered my nose and mouth with my hand. I looked to the men, but they had moved farther away from the door once it had opened. I rolled my eyes and started to crawl through.
The tunnel was long, surprisingly so. It felt like I had to shuffle on my hands and feet for actual minutes, yet when I looked back through from the other side it was only a foot in length. The other side was a dank space with naught room for two. It was surrounded by three walls. The missing face held another set of stairs leading down.
I took a step down the stairs, then two just as Anton climbed to his feet. His hands found his ears as he grimaced at something, "Do you hear that?" I cocked an eyebrow his way and he sent a look my way. "I'm not crazy—I don't think. Just listen for it."
Pushing aside my skepticism, I tried to listen for something, anything, but couldn't notice a thing. Only the thrumming of my own heart in my ears.
As I gave Anton a pointed look, he opened his mouth but before he could say anything, Kyle shouted out from the other side of the wall, "I think I'm good over here. I'll... uh, I'll guard out here."
Anton and I locked eyes and we both knew we were thinking the same thing, so we just shrugged and focused toward the bottom of the stairs. I held out my light to try and get a better view, but it was as if some ways down the darkness swallowed the light. I glanced at the man above me, but his face was twisted up with curiosity and wonder – a half-smile spread across his face (whether because he was too focused to keep up the faux smile or because he genuinely started to smile, I dared not say).
"Well, shall we see where this leads, Ma'am?" he asked. With a nod, I turned and started down the steps, his soft footfalls came in behind me as he kept pace.
It hadn't taken long before the darkness swallowed the top of the stairs, leaving only the wall, steps, and ceiling to our view. The monotony started to get to me, so I began to count each descent, guessing the amount already taken: forty-four steps, forty-five steps... one hundred ten steps... one hundred ninety-eight steps... I lost count some time after that.
The noise had been subtle. At first, I believed it to be my own heartbeat; a steady, careful pounding within my skull. But as we pressed on, headed deeper and deeper it only grew louder and faster. It echoed a cacophony of sound, drowning out my own thoughts with the deep, reverberating pulse until only the noise remained; there were no footsteps, there were no thoughts, only the hastened pounding.
Yet, right as I began to give up hope of ever reaching the bottom, it appeared before my very eyes as it pierced the darkness. The end. We found ourselves standing before a door. It was dark brown and looked to be made out of wood that had long since fossilized. There was no handle, only a keyhole in the center.
I found my hand gravitating toward the keyhole, my screwdriver and bobby pin already in-hand – when had I even pulled those out? – and as I drew nearer, the thrummed heartbeat grew louder and quicker until it began to overlap with itself and meld into a single note, beckoning me forth. My vision glazed over as I felt my body knew exactly what to do, and all I had to do was surrender myself. I just had to open that door.
A smile scratched itself across my lips, twisting and bending like a helix until I was beaming toward the door. My breath caught in my throat, but that hadn't mattered – only the door mattered. Closer and closer my hand glided through the air, the screwdriver's point jammed within, then the bobby pin, and I began to finagle with the lock. My hands instinctively knew exactly where I'd need to move to get that door opened.
Just as I was about to twist, I felt a rough tug on my shoulders and I was pulled back. "Hey!" The shout flooded my ears, it hurt, but the tone was of someone with a great deal of frustration. I blinked and the world was now quiet, I looked back to see a red faced Anton with his hands on my shoulders. I blinked again and took in a deep breath. Finally, he sighed after he saw my reaction, "What was—no, are you okay?"
My vision danced, and I only returned a reticent look. His hands, still firmly planted on my shoulders, loosed a mighty shake and my head bobbed back and forth until it felt as if the world were about to spin, almost as if he had sensed that he stopped as abruptly as he had started.
I did my best to not look confused, but it had to have been obvious when I started looking around my surroundings. My failure was only compounded when I saw that we were standing at the top of the stairs, and it exponentially grew when I saw that there were only twenty-something steps leading down.
What? But?
"Hey." A hand found my chin and forcefully pulled my focus forward, my eyes meeting the cautious brown eyes of the man before me. He was scanning for something, and I only blinked as I stared back. Finally, after either finding it or giving up, he sighed, "Welcome back to the waking world, Miss."
I thought to press him for what he meant, but that could be saved for later. I needed answers about these stairs. I pointed toward him, then covered my ears and shook my head, pointed back toward him as I cocked an eyebrow. While not my best work, I figured it was enough for him to understand my inquiry.
"You're asking about whether I heard a noise earlier that caused pain in my head and whether I wanted it to go away?" I knew then that I should have kept the gestures much more basic. I waggled a finger, pointed toward him, covered my ears, and pointed back toward him. A moment of realization struck him as he unintentionally let out a little 'ah' and said, "You want to know what I heard."
I nodded. Simple is key, I can't muddle the waters with added confusion.
"I'll tell you about it on the way." I didn't need to raise any sort of question, as he had already started to act; ducking down and crawling through the short passageway leading out. With a click of the tongue, I followed suit. His voice echoed through the tunnel, "After you entered, Kyle said he'd stay behind, and I followed after you."
"You looked like you were standing in a daze." He stopped and managed to finagle a way to look back, "Still do, actually." With that, he climbed to his feet in the middle of the tunnel, his body passing through the stone above; and just like that, his arm reached for me through the stone and pulled me along with him.
I was swallowed by the darkness, I couldn't find my breath through the rock. And then I felt myself being shaken and I blinked. I was standing on the opposite side of the little doorway, Anton's hands clasped tight atop my shoulders, his eyes narrowed as he searched for clarity.
"She good?"
"I'm not so sure... we shouldn't stay here."
With that, I was tugged as the pair rushed for the front door, out both the solid and screen, across the porch, and into the misting water atop the stone. As we crossed the halfway mark between the house and the path leading out, an unsettling grating filled the cavern, and that only seemed to spur my companions forth as they practically dragged me behind.
The pace was exhausting and I found myself huffing and puffing, but my legs shuffled as best I could manage to keep up – not that I was given a choice. I nearly tripped over my own feet, yet I wasn't even allowed to slow as Kyle righted me before I fell and Anton continued to tug at my wrist.
Up and up we flew, until eventually the cave floor yawned out with a rolling tongue and we fell to the dirt and rock, like upchucked bile. The sun cast long shadows over a green-orange sky, night had started to set and one look at my chronometer confirmed what my eyes were seeing. But then my heart skipped a beat.
"What's wrong?" Kyle asked. I pointed toward the screen in answer, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw. "That..." he shook his head in disbelief, looking toward his own Pip-boy.
It was the evening of Sunday, what had been a short romp of no more than three hours had taken three whole days. A somber tone set over the three of us as we regarded one another, each calculating what we had to do. But what happened to our time?
-Transmission Complete-
It wasn't my intent for four months to pass before this chapter released, but life can get in the way. I'm just glad I finally got it all finished, even if there was a little cut content. Assuming nothing gets me too distracted, the next chapter should be out next month. My goal is to finish act one by the end of Summer.