“Let’s just all rest while we can. If we want to find away out of here before anyone misses us, we had better hurry.” Billy said.
They all sat down to a sandwich and some soda. Amy explored the heart shaped chamber. Feeling the intricate stones beneath her hands and running her fingers along the engravings. “What do you suppose he used to make these?”
“Don’t know, don’t care as long as I get out of here alive.” David said.
“What say we explore that underground lake before we try and find our way out?” Eddy asked.
“Wouldn’t it be smarter to find a way out, so we know that there is one before we go treasure hunting?” Billy asked.
“He’s right Eddy. Once we know that there’s a way out of here, then we can go back and look at all we want.” Amy said.
“Okay captain, lead the way.” Eddy hoisted his backpack onto his shoulders and pointed to the third cave.
Billy led the group down the third tunnel. It branched off into a few dead ends and they had to turn around. Amy decided that she would leave some of her stuff on the trails they took so they could find their way back. Finally they reached the end of the tunnel.
“Jesus Christ! What the hell is it? Look at all those…bones.” David said.
“It must be a graveyard.” Amy said.
“It’s a bone yard.” Billy looked as if he had been struck by inspiration.
“But why would a moss eating animal have a bone yard?” David asked.
“Maybe to bury its relatives or something.”
Only Amy dared to venture out into the bone yard. “They’re human bones. You can see some skulls over there, and over here, they look live femurs.”
“Okay, I’m a little freaked out here. Why don’t we pick up the pace and find a way out of this hellhole?” Eddy said.
“There is no way out.” Amy said. “He explored all of the other tunnels.”
“Well, maybe he missed one.” David said. “It could happen.”
Amy stayed where she was kneeling looking at the bones. “I don’t think this thing eats moss.”
“I didn’t want to know that, I really didn’t.” David said.
“How can you tell?” Billy asked as he knelt next to her.
“Look here, these bones have been stripped clean. There’s no meat on them at all. No signs of decaying flesh.”
Billy stood up, “Okay, let’s hurry up. Maybe he missed something. Do we want to go to the nest area, or the underground spring?”
“What if this thing’s still alive?” Eddy asked.
Billy looked at Eddy, “How can it be, it’d be over centuries old…”
A low-hungry howl filled the air.
“Underground lake, here we come.” David said.
The four teenagers rushed out of the bone yard and down the tunnel to the heart chamber. Once there they stopped to rest for a minute.
Amy looked over at Billy, “You said that underground spring led out of here right?”
“Yeah. It’s the main creek in town.”
“And it’s fed by the lake in the cavern, right?”
“Right…”
“So if we can get to the lake, maybe there’s a way we can to the spring and we can get out of here.”
“Yeah, but there’s also a chance that we’ll run out of oxygen before we reach the end of the caves. No one knows how far these caverns run, or even how deep.”
“I’ll take my chances with suffocation, rather than be eaten by some beast.” David said.
So, Billy led them onward to the lake. When they reached the cavern they saw the beautiful clear blue water of the lake. It did look deep, but they would take their chances.
“We should probable leave our packs here so they won’t bog us down.” Amy said.
Billy looked intently at Amy. He pulled a gun out of his backpack and aimed it at Amy. “I’m afraid I can’t let you leave. Any of you.”