Nen (10 page)

The majestic-looking entrance was of great craftsmanship and it was basically carved out of the stony cave wall by hand. It comprised a semicircular arch with a keystone at the top. The entrance was fairly big. In fact it was big enough for even a military truck to enter but there was only one issue then. The entrance had totally caved in. There were also fragments of explosives scattered around the arched entrance indicating that whoever used to be in that camp site had purposely blown down the entrance or exit point using industrial grade explosives. And since that entire place was a top secret military facility built by the Imperial Japanese army, it was not surprising at all that military explosives were readily available for them to execute such damage.

“Why? Why would they blow down the exit?” Kevin asked.

“Maybe they do not want people to find out about this place.” Wong said. “That’s what the Japanese army did when they lost the war. Destroying all evidence of their war crimes.”

Howard looked at Wong and shrugged his shoulders in disappointment. He bent down, picked up a fragment of explosives from the ground and took a quick sniff on it. “It’s TNT, one of the most common components that make up industrial and military explosives. Seems like we’ve got to find another exit out of here, there’s no way we can burrow through the tons of caved-in rocks with our bare hands.”

“Howard, have you checked that area behind the barrack? Is there a second exit point among the debris?” Paul asked.

“Judging from the asphalt roads leading to the back of the barrack, I believe there should be another exit point over there.” Howard said.

“What if we can’t find that exit point?” Kevin asked.

“We have to, Kevin,” Howard said grimly, “but for the time being, I’m afraid we are trapped here.”

Howard took a few minutes to explain their latest findings to the group but he did not mention a word about the skeletons in the storage facility.

The tourists were deeply saddened after hearing the bad news from Howard but many of them especially Sarah and Mrs. Chan had tried their best to remain or appear to remain hopeful in front of the kids.

“No worries, Uncle Howard and all the uncles here will surely find a way out.” Mrs. Chan told her children.

“Let’s pretend that our hotel tonight is just over there!” Sarah pointed at the creepy barrack and joked, trying to make Pete laugh while she worked hard on Gupta’s wounded leg. Pete was a smart boy and from his half suppressed grin, anyone could tell that deep inside, he was scared.

“Guys, I think we have to hang around here for a while. But I need some help to scout this place; And to quickly find another way out.” Howard said moodily to the group. He appeared to be less enthusiastic as before partly due to some uncomfortable thoughts that were swirling in his mind, thoughts that he’d rather keep to himself than share with the others. These thoughts went through his mind over and over again like playing a broken record-
The human skeletons in the storage room! There were just too many of them. What in God’s name happened here? Was it a mass extermination? Yes, then this is a cursed place where there is no way out! We are all going to die here!
Howard closed his eyes for a moment. He was extremely tired as he had not rested at all since the blackout occurred in the west wing chamber. The other person who was equally exhausted was Wong, the Chinese tour guide who had been looking at Howard with his half-lidded eyes that protruded from a pair of dark-circled eye sockets.

“Need to check those annex blocks behind the barrack. And also the building with the roller shutters. Who’s coming with me?” Howard pointed to the two stories building behind them.

Paul clapped Howard on his back and volunteered, “Howard, let the three of us explore this place. You really need to use some rest brother.” He winked at his pals -Nelson and Johnny who acknowledged in the form of a weird smile appearing across their faces. Maybe in their minds, they were thinking, “Hey Paul, just let the American hero and the Chinese guide do the work. We are tired as well.”

“Thanks Paul.” Howard said. He turned and looked at Kenso-san with his blood shot eyes, “Take Kenso-san with you if he doesn’t mind. He’s the only man who can read Japanese.”

“No problem, Howard. I will go with them.” Kenso and Mami’s eyes met again and they smiled at each other.

“Great, there’s a weapon armory room plus many others that we did not explored in that barrack. As for that two-story building, we can’t get past the bolted roller shutters so maybe there is another way in. See if you guys can find anything that we can use, medical supplies, weapons, maybe some batteries but most importantly food and water. There was some kind of a vegetable garden not far from the western side of the barrack. Be careful.” Howard said to the four ‘volunteers’.

“Here, take this, just in case.” Wong placed his hatchet into Paul’s hand. Then he emptied the duffel bag beside him and handed some shovels and spades to Nelson, Johnny and Kenso.

Howard and Wong walked with the gang of four towards the large army barrack. Pete stayed with his sister and his parents at the parade ground but from afar, he could vaguely see Paul and Nelson’s facial expressions turning from normal to bewilderment after Howard whispered something into their ears. Paul even looked over his shoulder, and had a last glimpse of Pete and the group around the parade ground.

About ten feet away from the door that would lead them into the huge dilapidated barrack, the group of walking adults paused for a moment to exchange some conversations which were totally inaudible to Pete. The last thing Pete saw was Paul, Nelson, Kenso and Johnny nodding their heads at Howard and Wong before the four of them disappeared into the barrack.

“Henry’s family will be devastated…” Gupta sobbed while Sarah and Mami attended to his wounded leg. “We were here for work and he didn’t really want to come for this trip in the first place…and I sort of persuaded him to come along since most of our projects in Shanghai were completed last week. We shouldn’t have come.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Gupta. Strictly speaking, I don’t even know if we can get out of here today. Anyway, if we find the way out, Johnny or one of us will help to carry Henry’s body out of this place.” Howard said grimly.

Mr. Chan overheard that and felt very uncomfortable with what he just picked up from Howard, the unspoken leader of the group who was half squatting beside Gupta and holding a Diet Coke in his hand. He decided to question Howard who was apparently hiding something from the rest of them.

“Howard, what did you really mean when you said you don’t know if we could get out today? This is such a massive establishment. All those soldiers who used to be here with their weapons, their supplies and their trucks, definitely there must be many ways to transport them and their supplies to this place right? So there would surely be at least one way out for us?”

“John, if there is an easy way out, why is it that nobody in the whole of China has ever uncovered this place? What happened in there seems to have stayed buried for more than seventy years, which means no one has ever gotten out of this place alive.” Howard said grimly, his eyes peering at the old bunker barracks that resembled dominoes of gigantic tombstones in an ancient cemetery.

“What do you mean by that? Where are all the soldiers?” Sarah asked as she finished wrapping the bandage around Gupta’s leg.

There was a moment of silence. Wong who was sitting cross-legged beside Howard threw a glimpse at him but did not utter a single word.

“Yes, I thought the Japanese soldiers abandoned this place?” John Chan asked.

“Wong, tell them what we saw. It’s about time.” Howard nodded and he nudged Wong in his elbow.

Wong pointed his skinny forefinger at the direction of the shabby barrack which housed the medical clinic and the storage room and said, “Many soldiers were still there. Howard and I saw their...mutilated bodies…There are skeletons everywhere in that room. They were dead for years.”

“What happened to them?” Kevin Tan asked.

“I don’t know. It’s like a massacre happened. They were all squeezed up in that small storage room. Maybe they were attacked by their enemies. Or maybe it’s harakiri or something.” Howard said, puffing out his chest slightly.

“You’re saying their bodies were...mutilated?” Kevin asked again.

“Yeah, just like the soldier at the tunnel entrance in the crystal cave. Part of their limbs or torsos is missing.” Howard said.

Mami-san gave a strange smile and said, “I don’t think it is hara-kiri or Seppuku, in our tradition, samurai warriors do not mutilate their own bodies when they commit suicide.”

“Well, Mami. What happened there is so bizarre. I would rather believe it was harakiri than something else.” Howard said.

“So you two didn’t tell us the truth about this place! How could you do that?” John Chan raised his voice at Howard and Wong. Appalled by the behavior of her husband, Mrs. Chan stepped forward and tugged at her husband’s right elbow. “John, stop it. You are creating a scene.” John shook his head in disbelief and said bluntly, “We wouldn’t have agreed to cross over and come to this army barracks if we knew about that...that harakiri thing. You just put us all in danger, man.”

“You’re wrong about me, John. In no way am I putting anyone’s life in danger. On the contrary, I cared about the safety of everyone here, including your family.” Howard retorted. “Trust me, if we are to stay alive for the next few days or even the next couple of hours, we’ve got to leave that weird glittering cavernous jungle and hopefully find ourselves some supplies in this place. It’s an old and run down facility, alright, but it would surely give better shelters and protection than the other side.”

“I’m so sorry.” Mrs. Chan pulled her husband away.

“Maybe we will end up like the soldiers.” Gupta muttered to himself and what he said successfully brought fear back into the minds of others.

“Please stop saying that, Gupta. You’ll scare the kids. Those soldiers were dead for a long, long time. I don’t foresee that kind of danger happening to us. I am only worried about food and water, with no water and no way out, we will die here. And I definitely do not favor the consumption of any of those light emitting plants and fishes in that crystal cave.” Howard argued, the veins in his neck seemed to grow in size during that instance.

“I agree with Howard. We don’t know why those plants and even the fish in the streams emit those colorful lights. Unless we are desperate, we shouldn’t even drink the water from there.” Sarah said.

“Do you seriously think we have to stay here for a few days?” Kevin asked, his eyes shifted to the left and interlocked with his fiancée’s gaze.

“I’m afraid so, Kevin, unless Paul and his gang could find a way out in the next few hours. If not, we may need to camp here for the time being and everyone must get some sleep. If the storm outside does not abate and if nobody knows we are here then we must find our means to survive for god knows how many days.” Howard replied in a grave tone.

For a moment, nobody said anything. Howard gulped down his last mouthful of Diet Coke and continued, “When we first came to this place, Wong and I did a quick scan of the messy area behind those bunkers and we just couldn’t find the exit point. As you can see from here, there used to be some annex buildings directly behind the barrack. Only two or three building blocks are still standing strong whereas most of the others had collapsed. I believe either an earthquake or a landslide had torn down those buildings and blocked out all possible entry points into this camp site.”

“Did those building collapse because of the earth quakes that happened today?” Sarah asked.

“No, from the look of it, that event happened a long time ago. There are even creepers growing on the debris.” Howard said.

“Well, when Wong brought us to the arched main entrance, I thought our ordeal was finally coming to an end. But if you guys were there to see those piles of rocks blocking the entrance, your heart would sink to the ground.” Kevin sighed, peering at the far end of the parade ground where the main entrance was.

“Howard, this place is so big and now we dunno where Paul and his friends are. If they find the way out, what makes you so sure that they will come back for us? Maybe they were already gone. Just now we should all have followed them!” Mr. Park bellowed in a loud and forceful voice, as always, he sounded rude and aggressive although he might not have noticed that himself.

“I believe they will come back, Mr. Park.” Howard said, shaking his head.

“Howard, I trust you are a man of conscience but are you so sure about everyone in Paul’s group?” Sarah asked.

“I am not sure but I chose to believe, Sarah.” Howard said, shrugging his broad shoulders and showing a quickly suppressed smile on his worn-out face.

CHAPTER 19

Paul and his buddies moved slowly and methodically down the fluorescents lighted hallway and entered the weapons armory. Kenso-san was the last to step into that shadowy room which was once heavily guarded.

Johnny successfully thumbed the trio of light-switches on the wall after fumbling for quite a while. The overhead fluorescents in the room buzzed on.

“Look at these, man. I can’t believe this. It’s really World War two shit.” Johnny wailed, his eyes flickered and widened at the same time and he was unable to suppress his overwhelming excitement.