The tunnel was mostly straight for the first half hour, and the children proceeded very carefully. Then the walls gradually curved to the right, and began sloping downwards. By this time the two boys on point were getting fairly far ahead of the others. Penelope was the first to feel some fatigue, and as such the first to ask for a rest. William and Leena both looked at each other, and nodded in unison. As the three girls and William started to take off their packs, Leena looked ahead towards her brother and Joshua. All she could see of them by now was the reflection of their lights as it cast a bizarre dance upon the tunnel walls far ahead.
“Tristan!” She called out.
Suddenly, two pin points of light pierced the darkness as the boys looked back. “What?” Came a faint reply.
“We need to stop for a rest.” Leena shouted.
The two lights aimed at each other, illuminating the boys for a moment. “We’ll go on and scout up ahead a little bit.” He yelled back.
“No!” Leena was emphatic. “We have to stick together.”
By the movement of the lights she could tell that they were going on ahead anyway.
“Tristan!” She yelled, “Get back here!”
Still the lights danced away from her. Leena snapped around to face William, “I’m going to get those two jerks right now.”
William calmly responded, “Wait just a minute, and we’ll all go. Let’s get a drink of water first.”
It was a good idea she had to admit to herself, the one that made the most sense. With that she took off her pack, and found the water bottle neatly strapped in a side pouch. It tasted pure and clean. Everybody made the ‘Ahhhh’ sound as each sipped, and this made them all giggle. The boy’s lights were completely out of sight when she looked up again.
“Uh oh.” Came out of her mouth.
“We’d better get going.” Sarah said, and it seemed out of place coming from her. Sarah’s take charge statement almost surprised the others for an instant, but they were supposed to team after all, or at least they were part of one at the moment. After helping each other with the packs, the five kids started out after the rambunctious boys. That’s when a couple of terrified screams echoed from the darkness ahead. This stopped them in their tracks. Leena’s heart began to race as if it were going to explode.
----------
Meanwhile Mr. and Ms. Welsh were enjoying a fine buffet of a wide variety of sumptuous delights. There was grilled stuffed shrimp, baked lobster croquettes, at least half a dozen or so roasted vegetables, and one of the freshest garden salads either had ever tasted. Being pretty much a middle class, average American family, they weren’t accustomed to this sort of fare. The thought that they just might get used to this sort of thing crossed each of their minds, but they didn’t dare say it. About the time they finished lunch, the video of their children’s team being led to the elevator down to the cavern was shown. Jackie observed how adorable the kids looked in their golden Dreamland jumpsuits.
“They both look good in gold.” She remarked.
Michael smiled and hugged his wife.
She gladly let him pull her close, and thought out loud; “I wonder if they’re having fun?”
“Sure they are.” He assured her, “Just look at them.”
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Leena had started running towards the screams before any of the others could react. The reflection of the boys’ lights upon the tunnel walls far ahead could be seen again, and in a quick moment the bright pin pricks of the beams were coming at her directly. The lights were bouncing around madly, and Leena knew they were running fast, so she slowed to a stop.
“Hey!” She tried to shout through labored breath, “What’s the….”
Her words were cut off by the boys yelling, “MONSTER!” Suddenly they were upon her, and they shot right past.
“Tristan screamed at her as he bolted past, “RUN! It’s right behind us!”
Leena almost broke and ran from the urging, but her light was already shining up the tunnel from which they had bounded, and it was quite empty.
She immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was a prank. Normally Tristan wouldn’t do such a thing, but when around friends he would once in a while play similar monkeyshines. They boys had stopped close to the other children, and everyone gazed up the tunnel with anticipation.
“Tristan!” His sister scolded, “It’s not funny.”
“I saw it!” he insisted.
Joshua added his two bits, “It almost got us…really!”
“Yeah” Tristan went on, “It was big and slimy, and real mean looking.”
“And it took a swipe at Tristan!” Joshua added earnestly.
“Yeah, but we out ran that sucker!” Tristan finished.
“Calm down.” William pleaded, “We can hardly understand you.”
By this time Leena had lost her cool. “Really Tristan! This is beyond you.” There was more than just a trace of disgust in her voice.
“I’m not making it up!” Tristan was resolute.
Then a calmer mind interjected. “It was probably a robot from Dreamland.” Becky squarely stated.
After a moment of thought, Leena stared at her brother. Her light shone directly in his face and making him cover his eyes. “Which means we might have just failed our first test. They told us to stay together!” She admonished him. Both of the boys looked truly sullen.
“We only explore as a group.” William said as he gave each of the older boys a pat on their backs.
“Well, let’s go find your monster.” Leena conciliated.
When they rounded the curve in the tunnel ahead, Tristan and Joshua were decidedly the most alert. “It was right up there!” Joshua barked when they had gone only a little way further. He searched intently with Tristan where the terrifying encounter had supposedly taken place, but upon examination; only the two sets of footprints of the boys could be seen in the light coating of rock dust on the tunnel floor.
“Well, it for sure wasn’t a robot.” Penelope quipped.
William offered, “Maybe it was a hologram, or something?”
“Or a stupid joke.” The younger of the two siblings sneered.
They all gathered themselves together for a moment, before pushing on.
Becky moved up by Joshua, “I believe you guys.” She whispered.
“Thanks.” Came a very relieved reply.
Shortly the tunnel branched off into three different passages. To the left it curved away out of sight. The center branch sloped downward at a fairly steep angle, and the passage to the right was straight as far as they could see into it.
After a long quiet interlude Tristan asked, “OK, who’s going to map, and who’s going to choose?”
“I’ll map.” William quickly volunteered.
“OK.” Tristan agreed, but after a moment’s thought added, “Not that I don’t trust you buddy, but let’s have two mappers. So we can double check.”
There wasn’t the slightest hint of disappointment on William’s face.
“How about Penny?” Joshua asked.
“Sure.” Penelope said.
“Why don’t we let Becky keep choosing the way?” Leena asked, and no one dissented.
“Let’s stay to the right.” Becky said with confidence.
Before too long the team had passed through three very similar junctions. Each time Becky had the group stay to the right. It was after the third junction that they came to their first impasse. The last intersection was only a couple hundred yards distant, when the floor of the tunnel dropped away sharply just ahead, into a sheer vertical shaft that completely blocked their way forward. Tristan carefully inched up to the edge.
“I can’t see the bottom.” He stated as he shone his light over the lip.
The opposite side was over ten feet away.
“Time to back track.” Leena said the obvious.
As they entered the last juncti
on of tunnels they had passed through, confusion swept over them like panic. Instead of exiting the right most of three tunnels leading into one, they came out of a single tunnel leading into three more. It was impossible! As if they had been turned around without their knowledge.
“What’s happening here?” The fear was evident in William’s voice.
“Are we…..we ARE lost!” Penelope realized as tears began to well up.
It was several minutes of abstract, nervous hysteria. Then Sarah, Becky, and Penelope began to cry.
“Wait....Wait a minute!” Leena let loose.
They all looked at her in surprise, and the girls tears subsided to mere sobs.
“We’ll just call in for help.” Leena finished.
“Isn’t that giving up?” Joshua asked with regret.
That caused them all to think about it for a long moment.
Tristan broke the silence, “I don’t think so. That man, Mr. Fielder, didn’t say anything about that. He just said if we activate the device meant for the secret chamber early, that we’d be disqualified.”
5: No return