Word: spelunk

 

spelunk

\ spi-LUHNGK \  , verb;

1. to explore caves, especially as a hobby.

*****************************

               Jill hammered in the peg at the top of the narrow hole and secured the thick rope to it before slipping her harness on and tying herself to the other end.  Kyle had already finished with his rope, and was making sure all his equipment was firmly fastened to something on his person.  He leaned over the edge of the long, dark hole in the ground and shone his flashlight down it.  Even with the light of the high end flashlight, he was unable to see the bottom.

                “You did tell someone what we’re doing, right?”  He asked.

                “Sure thing.  I called at least three people, and posted it online.”  Jill said as she checked and double checked her own equipment.  “I think it’s safe to say that if something goes wrong, someone will notice our absence.” 

                “Just making sure.”  He said.  He wanted to be as cautious as possible.  This was a newly discovered cave system, after all.  They would be the first people to explore it, and there might be something dangerous down there.

                “Sure, sure.”  She said.  “Well, I’m ready to go if you are.”

                “Let’s do this.”  He said. 

They swung over the edge of the entrance into the narrow hole.  Taking short, controlled hops, they rappelled down the slick, rough stone surface.  Every so often, they paused to check their progress and to make sure everything was still where it should be.  Neither of them spoke as they descended into the darkness.   

“My god, how deep is this thing.”  Kyle said after an hour going straight down.

“A lot deeper than we thought.”  Jill said as she looked up.  The entrance had all but disappeared, and looked to be nothing but a single star in an otherwise black sky. “Hope we have enough rope.”

“Well, I still can’t see the bottom, so I’m thinking not.”  Kyle said, shining his flashlight into the depths.  “We’d better go back up and come back with more.”

“Right.”  She said.  She sighed, not to happy about the long climb up the slick surface they would now have to endure. 

Suddenly, she felt something happen to her rope, and she dropped a fraction of an inch.  She looked up, but saw nothing.  She brought her flashlight out and cast its bright beam along the length of the thick rope.  It looked like part of it had started to fray and break.  Her eyes widened in fear when she saw that.  Kyle looked up to see what she was looking at.  When he saw the break a pit formed in his stomach.

“Let’s uh, let’s hurry up.”  Jill said.

“Yeah, let’s.”  He said.  Suddenly, he felt the sudden, short drop she had.  His rope had also started to break. 

The two of them immediately started to climb back up.  It was slow going, since the walls of the cave entrance were slick and wet, even though it was jagged enough that there were plenty of hand and foot holds to use.  As they climbed, they did their best to keep their ropes taught, sliding them through their harness straps as they went.  All the while, they were aware of the sounds of their ropes slowly breaking. They tried to get up the walls to the point of the break, but the frayed part of their ropes was simply too high up, and the climb was too difficult for them to make with any real speed. 

Soon enough, the ropes broke.  Both watched in horror as the loose ends of their ropes fell below them.  Jill hugged the wall she was clinging to with a white knuckle grip.  Kyle was paralyzed to his, suddenly unable to move for fear of falling.

“So, what should we do now?”  He asked, looking up at the broken end of the rope and the still distant entrance. 

“Should we still try climbing?”  Jill suggested.  “I mean, we can’t really stay here.” 

“Right.  I guess not.”  Kyle said.  “Ok, here goes.”  His trebling hand left the rock he was holding and slowly made its way up to the next available outcropping.  He carefully pulled himself up inches at a time.  Jill followed suit, going even slower than he was.  “Ok, we can do this.  We just have to reach the other end of the rope, then we’re good.”  Kyle said, trying to reassure himself just as much as Jill.

Suddenly, as if by some kind of intelligence, both of their handholds came loose at the same time.  With nothing to hold onto, there was only one thing they could do.  Fall.  Jill let out an ear piercing scream as she plummeted.  Kyle’s throat was locked up in fear, and so nothing escaped his mouth, no matter how much he wanted to.  He closed his eyes, even though he couldn’t actually see much of anything in the darkness, and waited for the inevitable impact. 

The impact did come, but it was nothing like what either of them thought it would be like.  Instead of the hard, life-ending rock they were expecting, they hit something soft enough to break their fall without lethal force.  It was still not exactly pleasant though.  Jill groaned, her whole body in pain from the sudden stop.  Kyle just lay on the ground, not willing to move his aching body from where he was.  He was lying on what felt like some kind of soft plant life, or something similar.

“What was that?”  Jill asked.

“Simple.  We hit the ground, died, and are now in the afterlife.”  Kyle said without looking up.

“Yeah, that sounds about right.  But then, why does my everything hurt?”  She replied.

“I can think of a reason, but it’s not exactly a pleasant thought.”  He said. 

“Nah, I don’t think so.  It’ not very hot down here, and there’s no smell of sulfur and brimstone.”

“You really think it’s like the books?”

“Got any other ideas about it?”

“A few.  But we can talk about that later.  For now, why don’t we actually move.”

“Yeah, sure.  Just as soon as the feeling in my legs comes back.”  Jill said.  Kyle wholeheartedly agreed.  They lay there, unmoving as they came down off the shock of the impact. 

Once they were able, they slowly got up off the ground.  It was still dark enough that they couldn’t see much of anything.  Kyle got out his flashlight, hoping it would still work.  He let out a sigh of relief when it did.  They were still in the cave, or at least, that’s what it looked like.  What had saved them was a thick matt of what looked to be purple moss.  Kyle took a step on the soft substance, but lost his balance right away, toppling flat on his face.  This fall didn’t hurt at all though, and he was able to get right back up.

“What is this stuff?  It feels like we’re walking on one of those bouncy castle things.”  Jill asked as she jumped in place a bit.

“Some kind of new plant species.  Hold on, I’ll just take some.  Jerry can study it later.”  Kyle said, even as he busied himself collecting a sample of the odd moss.

“If we get out.” Jill said.  She looked up, and saw no signs of the entrance.  “It doesn’t look like we can climb out of here at any rate.”

“Maybe there’s another way out.”

“There’d better be.” 

“Well, we’re not going to get anywhere just standing around talking.  We came here to explore this cave, so come on.  Let’s go exploring.”  Kyle said.

“Sure thing.  Let’s just hope there’s nothing big enough to eat us here.”  Jill said, only half joking.

Carefully, the two of them made their way through the caves, the narrow beams of their two flashlights leading the way into the darkness.

**************************

What do they find?  Who knows.  I sure don't.  Ok, that's a lie.  Kind of.  I have some ideas.  Whether or not I do something with them is another matter entirely.