Extermination Day (21 page)

Date and Time Unknown

In the Desert Near
Lechuguilla Caverns

Kaahtenay was riding his horse slowly back home, exhausted and sweaty after a full day hunting deer. The ancestors had not blessed him with a gift of meat, although he did see a small herd of deer off in the distance. They’d quickly scattered as they picked up his scent in the warm desert air. Game was becoming more and more scarce as the days and years passed.

In the time of
Kaahtenay’s grandfather, the land was bountiful and the tribe only needed to journey short distances to find food. Times were tough now, and Kaahtenay could sense something ominous coming over the horizon. Something that meant more death and despair for his people, the People of the Mountain Forests, the Mescalero Apache.

He kept his horse moving at a slow and steady trot through the rapidly cooling desert as the sun fell low to the horizon and late afternoon rode in.
Low rocky hills punctuated by dirt, rock, sagebrush, and the occasional prickly lechuguilla bush spread out to the horizon.

As the sun dipped lower, preparing to kiss the crest of the land,
Kaahtenay looked to the sky. No matter how many times he rode at night, he could not help but be in awe of the dazzling array of bright lights that would soon appear. They spoke to Kaahtenay as no person could, beckoning him like the ancient gods of his ancestors. Kaahtenay knew many of the stars by name, and his father had taught him the fine art of star navigation, with no reliance on landmarks to guide him.

As he was staring upward, wondering about the meaning behind the wispy white clouds passing slowly overhead, he noticed something strange. In the distance, a red light cut through the
darkening blue sky, pointing straight up into the roof of Mother Earth, like a blood-tipped spear. It came out of the ground and went directly up into the sky as far as he could see. Or was it coming out of the sky and pointing at the ground? Kaahtenay couldn’t be sure.

What could it be?

It was certainly nothing he had ever seen before.

Against his better judgment,
he turned to investigate. The origin of the strange light was not too far from where he was riding. He was already late getting back and his wife, Inayat, would be no more angry if he took a few minutes more. Besides, he might have an exciting story to tell her.

It wasn’t long before
Kaahtenay was able to find the source, or the destination, of the light. It was a deep cave in the middle of the desert. The local people had named it for the lechuguilla, the little lettuce plant that grew in abundance in the area.

Kaahtenay
hopped off his horse and walked to the cave’s entrance. Were the ancient Gods guiding him to this cave? Was there a message hidden inside, one for him to take back to his people? The red light that penetrated the dark depths of the cave lit the rocky sides so he could see down deep. He didn’t want to go into it too far just before nightfall, though. The terrain was treacherous, and he could easily twist an ankle, lose his balance, and fall to his death.

Kaahtenay
edged his way as close as he could to the drop-off and called out into the abyss.

“Hello, hello, is anyone there?” he yelled. He was scared and his heart pounded. He was out in the middle of the desert alone, with nightfall quickly approaching, standing over a deep cave that emitted an ominous red light. He crouched low, expecting something to lunge out of the cave and attack him, some demon from the depths of the underworld.

He would be brave though. He came from a people of warriors, and their blood ran strong through him, giving him courage. He yelled out again. This time he could hear muffled cries in reply. What were they saying? Was it demon-speak or some strange language from a far distant land?

The cries became louder as he listened. It sounded like two people, a man and a woman. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he could tell they were in distress. He yelled out once more, telling them he was there to help. He wasn’t sure if they could understand him or not.

Kaahtenay flipped his hair behind him as he ran back to his horse.

Well, I guess that’s enough of playing wilderness Indian tonight.

He pulled out his walkie-talkie and called up the park ranger.

“Hey, Tommy. Yeah this is
Kaahtenay out at the entrance to Lechuguilla Cave. I know it’s late, bro, but it looks like some cavers got stuck down here near the first drop. Yeah, I don’t know how they could be that stupid either.” He kicked a boot at the ground. “Well, I don’t know. I guess they snuck out here. So they may be hurt. Maybe you should get off your ass and come out with some rope and climbing gear and help them out. It’ll be a chance for you to save someone and not just tell people to pick up their trash.” He grinned at Tommy’s sputterings.

“Come on, bro, it’s your job. I was out riding and hunting today, so I don’t have any gear with me. Okay, I’ll wait. Bring some Chinese food and a few brews too; we could be in for a long night.”

Kaahtenay clipped his walkie-talkie to his belt and went to sit on one of the boulders near the cave entrance to wait for Tommy.

“Stupid amateur cavers,” he mumbled. He was definitely going to catch it from
Inayat tonight. But at least he’d have an exciting story to tell, and he might just be saving a couple of lives.

“Yeah, right,” he said to the night. Maybe they should just leave them down there a few days so they’d learn their lesson.

Kaahtenay sat watching the sky and thinking again about his ancestors who used to roam this area so many generations ago. It was still beautiful, but the land and the people had changed so much. The world was a drastically different place today from even the time of his grandfather.

He ran his fingers through his long hair and stared at the red light glowing from the bottom of the cave. Strange signal light, like a futuristic laser.
Kaahtenay’s stomach growled and broke up any thoughts he was having about Star Wars light sabers.

He wouldn’t get a home-cooked meal tonight, but he at least he’d get some Kung
Pao chicken.

#

Salvation was at hand! 

Jeff couldn’t believe it. He and Holly had spent the last three days struggling through
Lechuguilla cave trying to escape from the caverns that almost became their tomb, always worried that Chen was going to pop out and attack them again. They were jubilant when they heard the voice from above calling out to them like an angel from heaven.

The last three days hadn’t been easy. They’d walked in circles several times through some parts of the 185-mile cave system, until they began marking their route with yellowish rock crystals. In certain spots the path was narrow and they’d needed to feel their way using
their hands to move around large rock formations. At times Jeff had found the cavern beautiful with its large columns of multicolored stalagmites and giant gypsum crystal formations. Sections of the cavern were so large that the light from his flashlight was lost before hitting the walls.

It was a truly magical place, with sharp, sparkling blue crystal trees jutting out from yellow rocks. But there was also danger
lurking in the darkness. They could’ve easily lost their footing on the scattered, jagged rocks and fallen into a deep abyss, of which there were many. When they came upon those bottomless pits, a sight he’d never expected to seek out, Jeff would point his flashlight down to see if he could see an end. There was never anything but darkness.

When they rested, always with one of them awake to listen in case Chen crawled out of the depths, they talked about their lives. Jeff let Holly in on a great deal more than any other woman in a long time, at least since his divorce from Sarah. Holly was just easy to talk to. They had shared a horrible trauma, something that no one else on the planet had experienced. Jeff was starting to like Holly. She was definitely attractive, even with cave mud and dust all over her face. Jeff tried not to stare at her too much. They were in a crisis, after all.

Finally they happened upon the Chandelier Ballroom, gigantic spiky white-crystal formations that draped down from the ceiling, starting large and then thinning out into many tiny little spikes at their ends. Some were at least twenty feet in length and truly spectacular. From that spot, he’d been able to plot a route to the next discernible landmark, Lake LaBarge, the largest body of water in the western part of the cave. And once there, he’d been able to sync up their location to the map on his portable. After that it was just a short few hours to the entrance. However, when they arrived—weak, shaky, dehydrated, and ravenously hungry—they found no ropes or climbing equipment. Nothing to help them get out.

The 145-foot cliff called Boulder Falls was impossible to climb by hand. Holly had come up with the creative idea of altering her portable and projecting a laser beam into the sky outside the
cavern by using the holographic lasers built into the device. The red beam had to have been what caught the attention of the man above them.

Help would soon be there.

Jeff glanced over at the bio-suit and MedKit. He was always cautious and thinking ahead. They didn't know exactly who was coming to rescue them and having any of that future technology fall into the wrong hands, especially the data drive from future Jeff, could be devastating. The drive was safely sealed away in a pouch of the bio-suit, so Jeff picked everything up and hide the entire package under some rocks in a shadowy corner of the cave. He took off his own portable and asked Holly for hers and tucked them away as well. No one would find any of the gear there, and they could easily come back for it later.

Several hours later another voice
cried out from the darkness above.

“You folks okay down here?” yelled out a man descending down to their position with lights and climbing gear. “I’m a park ranger, Tommy Hicks. You know this cavern is restricted. You need a special permit to be down here. Oh my God, what happened?”

The ranger was a young man in his mid-twenties with long straight dirty blond hair tied back tight behind his ears. He had a look of astonishment on his face as he stared at Holly’s arm. It was hard to see it clearly in the darkness, but the wound was still fresh and although it was sealed and heavily bandaged, it was quite shocking.

“We’re sorry to be here, we know the cave is restricted. My name is Jeff Madison and this is Holly Scarborough. We were hiking near Rattlesnake Canyon Trail and found a small cave entrance over there.”

Jeff was lying, of course, but he'd had time over the last several days to come up with a cover story that would pass muster and not call too much attention to them and their presence in the cave.

“The area was unstable and when we went in, the entrance collapsed behind us. We tried to dig our way out, but couldn’t. And when we moved some rocks, Holly’s arm got reinjured in another small cave-in. That’s why it looks like a fresh wound. You see, she had a bacterial infection a few months ago and had to have it removed. That’s one of the reasons we were out hiking, to try to take her mind off it and brighten her mood a little bit. Little did we know that we would be trapped underground.”

He hugged Holly. “You didn’t think I had to cut it off to free her from being trapped under a rock or something, did you?”  Jeff managed a half smile.

“Oh, no, not at all,” Hicks said, looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry to hear about your arm, Ms. Scarborough. Hiking in this area can definitely be refreshing and brighten your mood. That is, if you don’t get trapped by a cave-in. You say you found another entrance to
Lechuguilla over at Rattlesnake Canyon? Well, I suppose that’s possible; there are a lot of abandoned mines over there. Plus Lechuguilla is only partially explored. This is the only known entrance, but several scientific teams have been down here testing the air and they tell me there has to be another entrance somewhere, based on the air quality and flow. I guess you found it.”

“I suppose we did,” Jeff said. “Of course it’s buried now, and I don’t recall exactly where it was.”

“You folks don’t have any hiking gear?” Hicks asked.

“Light backpacks. We were only going out for the day.
And we lost those, somewhere back there.”  Jeff gestured back toward the cave. "But, Ranger, as you can guess, we’re exhausted, hungry and thirsty. We don’t even know how long we’ve been down here. If you could give us a hand, we’d really appreciate it.”

“Sure thing, t
hat’s what I’m here for. You folks have to be thirsty as hell," Hicks said as he handed Jeff and Holly water bottles from his backpack. "Let me show you how to harness yourself into the climbing apparatus, and my friend Kaahtenay can help pull you up."

The fresh water hit Jeff's parched lips and with each gulp he could feel the life returning to his body.

"It’s amazing that you guys made it this far. And you were damned lucky that Kaahtenay saw your signal when he did. Not many people come out this way, you know. The nearest four-wheel dirt road is about two miles away. That signal light you shined into the air is really a fantastic piece of equipment. Where’d you get it, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Actually, it’s on loan from the military. I have a friend who works in the supply depot, and he’s able to get some of the latest equipment. It may be available to the public eventually, but I’m not sure when.”