Dark Island Book 1 (Complete)

Chapter 26

A gaping hole in the mountain, covered with ferns and few sparkling crystals not unlike the stars of the night sky, yet it was so mysterious...
Inside the cave, darkness was eternity. It was like an invisible force, ready to crush your body, ready to squeeze the life out of you. The cave wormed its way half a mile into the mountain. It’s general shape was ovoid, the walls below the ridge smoothly curved to the ground, the walls above arched another few feet up to giant stalactite. I hesitated at the sight before me, my heart thumping, at the boundary between light and dark. From the overhead clumps of moss, cold drops plopped onto my head, a water clock ticking away the precious seconds. The musty smell, was it from bats? On the other hand, was there something more sinister in this cave? I thought.
I took my backpack of, rummaging through it, I found a bottle of oil that we salvaged from the shipwreck. I peered around me, looking for a small tree branch. Upon finding a branch, I turned back to Ronnie. “Do you have something that we can use to make a fire, like a piece of clothing material?” I asked.
“I...don’t think so, wait maybe this-” He tore a piece from his ragged shorts. “Will this do?” he asked, handing the piece of material to me.
“Yeah, it will do just fine,” I said
Now to find something to light it with. I thought to myself. I turned to my backpack again, where I found a matchbox. I gently wrapped the piece of clothing around the top side of the branch, poured some oil over it, and lit it.
As we stepped in, I watched my shadow fusing into the surrounding walls of the cave. It was dank and the only sound we could hear was that of water dripping in a slow intensity. “This place is creepy,” I said as I gazed around the walls. Next moment, my toe caught a rock and I stumbled, dropping the torch, catching myself against the slimy wall. “Dammit,” I shouted.
“Are you alright, Jack?” asked Ronnie.
“Yes, I’m fine” I said, reaching for the torch. It was only then when I noticed that the ground was unnaturally flat, as if someone had painstakingly removed all the topography. There were only a few loose rocks lying around. This is odd. I thought to myself while picking up the torch.
“Jack, did I ever tell you how scared I am of bats?” asked Ronnie with a grin on his face. I wanted to answer back but my mind was too fixated on the unnatural flat ground.
“Ronnie, not now. I do not want to hear your phobia for bats now. Look at the ground. It looks like someone has been here, maybe been staying here, perhaps.” I said to Ronnie, pointing at the ground.
“This is strange,” said Ronnie. “If there is perhaps someone staying here, I hope, whoever they are, they’re not dangerous.”
“You and me both,” I said. “Let’s just keep pushing forward.”
As we moved further into the cave, the ground started to look more natural. The cave forked, and we decided to take the right side.
“It appears that all the rocks from the first part of the cave were moved here,” I said to Ronnie confusingly. What were they planning or better yet what were they up to. I thought to myself. The path was thoroughly blocked, but there was a path.
“Jack, do you see that?” asked Ronnie.
“Yes, I do, there was some sort of path here, or should I say still is. We just need to clear some of these rocks.” I said.
“Do you think it will be safe? I mean with what we experienced so far. I’m just scared that we might be heading into something we can’t handle.”
“I’m not sure. I do not think so. I think if there were something dangerous, we would have encountered something by now. And we do need a place to rest for the night. I’m not taking my chances outside.”
“You’re probably right, Jack,” said Ronnie.
We started clearing the path, throwing the larger rocks back down from the way we came in. After a few long moments, we were finally able to advance all the way through, but noticing that the path In front of us was a dead end.
A large cavern stood before us. Room enough for a small airplane.
“My gosh! Have you ever seen something like this before,” asked Ronnie, mouth opened, and stunned by the sight.
“No Ronnie, I haven’t. It’s... amazing,” I said. “But why was it blocked off with what was clearly a man-made obstacle?” I asked while gazing around.
Somewhere, in the middle, I spotted a pile of wood, some sort of ragged sleeping bag, a burnt out fire, and old cans of what used to be canned food.
“Ronnie! Someone has been living here.”
In the back, I noticed a pile of rocks, tucked snugly in the corner, many of them painted red. I slowly made my way to them, bent down to take a better look. My eyes widened at the sight, followed by a cold chill, running all the way down my spine. It was not paint. No. They were soaked in blood.
I quickly removed the rocks and unearthed whatever was buried beneath it.
Some sort of animal half mutilated some of its flesh and skin removed. Its fur, matted with red blood. I looked away, trying not to throw up. But ran away from the grisly scene and threw up anyway.
“Jack, are you okay? Asked Ronnie as he came motioning toward me.
“I will be. There is a mutilated animal carcass over there in the corner by the rocks. My stomach couldn’t handle the sigh,” I answered.
“I think it will be better if we just get the hell out of here, if something or someone decides to show up,” said Ronnie.
“We will in a moment. I just want to go and check something out first.”
I went back to the ragged sleeping bag, and looked around for anything that could give us a hint of who or what might be staying here. Rummaging through the stuff, I found an old military helmet, a knife, and a backpack. I searched through the backpack, well aware that I shouldn’t be doing this. But my curiosity was way more intense then my fear of being spotted by someone dangerous.
At the very bottom, lay a small pile off letters, wrapped together neatly by a worn-out piece of string. I gently removed the string and started peering through the letters, but couldn’t make out anything. They were smattered together from all the water or something, I thought. I then placed it back into the backpack.
“Okay Ronnie, let go, before whoever this cave belongs to, comes back.” I said. Just as we exited the cavern, my foot got caught in a string. “Ron-” I wanted to continue, but in that very moment before I could complete my sentence, I am pulled upside down, hitting my head in the process.
“Jack! Jack! Are you okay man...”
I heard Ronnie calling out to me, but could not hear properly from all the buzzing in my ears. I could feel my blood rushing to my head, followed by blurry vision and light-headedness. A strange dark figure appeared behind Ronnie, who was busy trying to get me down. A few seconds later, a loud thumping sound struck through the air. In an instant, I saw his motionless body, dropping down to the ground. Frightened, I gazed directly at the shadow, of what looks to be that of a person. Then, only darkness as I lost consciousness.