Authors: John James Gregory
“I’ll meet you back up on the ledge.”
“Okay.”
***
Iolana was about fifty feet in front of the others. Platt looked over at Crosley.
“But didn’t we see those females take the baby Bunyips through here in those baskets?”
“Maybe there is a side tunnel or another routed to take other than walking down the middle.”
All of a sudden, the ground all around Iolana broke away. She quickly changed into a bat with one of the straps of her top caught on her wing. She flew back to Tom who slid it off. She then turned and flew toward the far end as the others looked down into the pit. The entire bottom was lined with ‘pongy’ sticks or sharp spears pointing upward. All that remained was a single ledge on the left side. Crosley tested the ledge and then the entire group fell in behind him as one after another crossed the pit on the ledge. Once on the other side, Crosley tried to send a warning message to Chelsea but his radio no longer worked. He turned to the others.
“Stay here. Iolana is going out to examine the next valley and I am going to stay on the other side and wait for Chelsea. I don’t want her with her burst of speed to fall in.”
The others sat down and a few of them either ate or drank part of their portable food supply.
Chelsea returned with Iolana’s lunch and gave it to Crosley.
“Where is Iolana?”
“Out scanning the next valley...”
“Oh, I’ll come back to help her once Hadiya has Shawn’s body in the semi.”
“You know where to find us.”
Tom interrupted Chelsea’s departure.
“Oh Chelsea?”
“Yes?”
“Iolana had to change quickly to avoid falling in this pit.”
Chelsea looked over the edge.
“I understand. I’ll bring her another set of boots and some clothes. Stay where you are until one of us can lead you to the other end.
”
Chelsea could see Iolana’s boots and some of her garments down on the spears below. She could also see the skeleton of some kind of animal that had found the spikes much earlier. Chelsea saw that Tom had Iolana’s emergency day pack.
“Thank you. All I got is her top.”
Chelsea then shot back to help Hadiya with Shawn’s remains. The group would stay at their current location until one of the girls could again take the lead to the far end on the tunnel.
About Twenty minutes later, Chelsea and Hadiya returned. Hadiya had a new top on to replace her gauze and bandage covering made by Elizabeth. They set down a bag of clothes and Chelsea carried a white towel over her shoulder waiting for Iolana to return. Another Hour went by before Iolana as a bat, came in the entrance. Chelsea held up the white towel and Iolana changed back into her female form behind the towel. With her hands on Chelsea’s shoulders, she put on her panties and her top. Hadiya gave her a slip on pair of shoes and her shorts. The men came up to learn what was beyond the light at the end of the tunnel. Iolana was sweating and took the white towel to wipe herself.
Crosley came closest to the women.
“What did you learn?”
Iolana was still trying to catch her breath.
“Another valley… much larger than the last one… The entire valley is covered with those green mushrooms… I flew over the entire area. Far off to the left, there is a rise or a plateau. That is where I think you have to go. There are homes made of what looks to be cinder blocks. In the center is a cooking fire.”
“Did you see any of the Meeratts?”
“Yes. I saw males, females and children. I think that is the end of Tom’s journey… The problem appears to be getting there.”
“What do you mean?”
“There is a waterfall feeding a channel in front of the plateau. It appears deep and between that and the straight up climb to their encampment, I would think that you would have to float out on some type of boat in order to hold the climbing gear to scale up the wall.”
“What about the ground under the mushrooms? Is it passable?”
“I can’t tell, like I said the green top mushrooms cover it completely right up to the edge of the water channel.”
“No stairs or other ways out of the enclosure?”
`
Iolana with the towel wrapped around her shoulders, went and retrieved her blood bag lunch.
“I couldn’t tell, but from what I could see, there is no easy way down to the floor like the other tunnel had.”
Jerrick was thinking as he formulated a question.
“So again, I go back to the female Meeratts and their baskets of Bunyip babies on their backs. How did they cross over this next valley and back to their camp?”
There was no answer from Iolana as she shrugged her shoulders and the plastic blood pouch continued to collapse.
Chelsea chimed in.
“You eat and rest. Hadiya and I will lead them to the tunnel’s end. If there are no more traps, the two of us will try to fly find a way down and then fly below the mushrooms and take a look. Where is Nathan?”
“We left him with the others in the first valley.”
“You might want to call him up here. We could use his scientific input.”
Jerrick started walking back to the entrance trying to get a radio signal to contact Nathan.
Iolana looked up with her fangs in the plastic blood bag and broke off her streams of nourishment
“When you fly low over the mushrooms be careful.”
“Why?”
“I came down close to the surface of several of them and it was almost like they flinched.”
The two women looked at each other and Iolana continued to drink her lunch. Chelsea and Hadiya took off their backpacks and their shoes and began to walk arm and arm farther down the tunnel. Hadiya couldn’t help but feel that the tunnel was not natural. It appeared to her to almost be a carved out passage way. Tom stayed by Iolana as she finished feeding and she wiped her fangs. They retracted and she looked up at Tom.
“No one other than my two friends has ever seen me feed before like this… Still think I am the perfect mate for you?”
Tom squatted down and kissed Iolana on the forehead.
“I love you for you… I would feel honored if you could see your way to loving me with all my faults.”
Iolana smiled and wiped her mouth again and kissed Tom.
“The only fault I can see is about to be cured. I do need to ask you a question.”
“What?”
“Would you let me change you if there was no other way to save you?”
“Only if you promise I won’t hurt you and you will stay with me.”
Iolana smiled.
“I love you.”
Iolana’s two sisters of the night kept slowly leading the others to the end of the passage. Suddenly, a flurry of darts shot out of the walls hitting the two women in the leg just above the knees. More darts flew hitting the floor of the cave and bouncing off the opposite wall.
Both women fell down. Chelsea looked back at the others.
“Freeze! We will take care of this.”
Crosley was concerned.
“Are the two of you alright?”
“We will be just as soon as we pull these out.”
“Want us to help?”
“No stay there.”
The two women were in pain but pulled out the projectiles one by one. They nodded to each other and both staggered up to their feet. Arm in arm they continued on. Chelsea looked back over at the men.
“That trap probably wasn’t meant for you. I think given the low angle of the shots, the Meeratts were probably expecting a Bunyip to somehow make it across the pit and these darts would have hit them broadside.”
Hadiya kept rubbing her leg.
“It will take more than an unscheduled acupuncture session to stop us.”
The two girls reached the edge of the cave and the ground started to shake. The men stopped a few feet back. Chelsea looked over the side with Hadiya as soon as the shaking stopped.
“There is now a set of steps leading down into the valley. It appears that we somehow stepped on some type of pressure plate and they came out. You can come forward now.”
The men came up to the ledge and looked over. This valley was very large and even the far walls of the other side were off in the distance. Scattered throughout the valley were huge pillars of stone reaching from between the tops of the mushrooms all the way up to the ceiling. They all figured it was part of a system to support the earth above the valley. This set of steps was much wider. The two women took off their shoes and set them to the side along with their day packs.
***
Nathan and Jerrick came down the tunnel carrying an inflatable life raft and some mountain equipment. Berdy signaled the men to stop and went back to safely guide them around the traps and to the other end. They watched as the two women transformed and flew out into the mushroom covered valley.
Crosley looked at Nathan as they both continued to examine the valley.
“So how is it going back there?”
“The others cut the bindings on the males and are now making their way back to the entrance of this cave.”
“Are the males still knocked out?”
“Yes, but we felt it was safer if the men set up camp behind the grass rollers and the entrance on this side. I think soon the females might come out hunting and staying in the grass watching the males might get messy.”
Crosley noticed a leech on Nathan’s back and pulled it off. He then turned Nathan around and pulled off two more and brushed off a few ticks.
“Thanks.”
“Is Derrick still up on the other side covering us on the radio?”
“Yes. Henry went up there as well. That leaves us with six men leaning on their grass cutters with their rifles watching the tall grass.”
Iolana came up to the ledge.
“I am going to leave you. I have to go topside for a while. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Tom did not question her nor did anyone else. Tom kissed her and she flew down the passage.
Nathan looked at Tom.
“What was that about?”
“I don’t know.”
The group now waited for the two women to return and report. No one wanted to go down into this valley until they knew what they were facing.