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Speaker 1: I hadn't touched the guideline or a harness in years,

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not since I left that part of my life behind.

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After what happened in the Cathedral caverns, after I saw

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what a collapse in tunnel could do to a person,

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I'd sworn off cave dive in for good. I thought,

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I meant it. That was before I found the hole.

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It was late afternoon when I first noticed it. I'd

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been exploring the property, familiarizing myself with every hill and

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twist in the creek. I had wandered farther than usual,

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down a slope covered in thick underbrush, with the ground

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dipped into a shallow depression. I thought it was a

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natural dip where the rain had eroded the soil, But

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as I stepped closer, I noticed the rock. The earth

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had crumbled from a limestone ridge, exposing something beneath it.

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It took me a few seconds to understand what I

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was looking at. The rock had collapsed inward. It used

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to be an entrance. I crouched down, brushing away loose dirt.

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What looked like a simple dip in the ground was

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actually a blocked off passageway. Limestone had tumbled down from

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above ceiling, whatever lay beyond a cave. I leaned forward,

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peering through the rubble, a small hole, just barely big

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enough to fit a fist through. The cold air drifted out,

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stagnant and unmoving. I grabbed a handful of loose stones

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and pulled them away, clearing the hole a little more.

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The darkness inside was absolute. I reached for my flashlight

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and flicked it on. The beam cut into the hole,

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but not far. The angle was too tight to see

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anything beyond the first few inches. I sat back at

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my heels. This wasn't on my property map I checked

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before buying the land. The agency had provided detailed topography,

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listing all the significant features, the stream, the rock formations,

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even a few shallow caverns further west. But this was nowhere.

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I pulled out my phone and scrawled through my contacts.

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After a moment, I clicked on the number for the

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real estate office. The line clicked, and after a few rings,

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a woman answered Westward Realty, this is Karen, Hey, this

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is I paused, realizing I hadn't spoke to anyone from

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the office since I bought the place. I bought the

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land off Route twelve last year. The ten acre lot,

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of course. How's it treating you good? Yeah? I hesitated. Listen.

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I was out exploring today and I found something that

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wasn't on the survey. Looks like a cave, or at

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least it was. It's collapsing, but there's still an opening.

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A pause. A cave, yeah, a pretty big one, from

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what I can tell. I expected concern, a legal warning,

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maybe some spiel about liability and state protections. Instead, she

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just sounded confused. Ah, that's strange. We should have that

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in the records. I checked the maps. It's not there. Well,

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sometimes the surveyor has missed things, she sighed. If it

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was collapsed when they did the land inspection, they probably

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didn't think much of it. That made sense. I guess

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is it stable, she asked. Seems like it, then I

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wouldn't worry about it. These lands are full of little

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pockets like that. Nothing dangerous. Her tone was light, unconcerned,

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like this was just another quirk of the landscape. Maybe

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she was right. I pulled my phone from my pocket

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and scrolled through my contacts. There was only one person

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I could call, Ryan. Ryan answered on the second ring, Geez, man,

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I thought you died of something. You're acting so weird.

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After cathedral caverns, I smarked, Nope, still breathing. There was

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a pause. I could hear the clatter of dishes in

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the background. He was probably at the bar he worked at,

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killing time between shifts. He always said he was going

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to move on from that place, but somehow never did.

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So what's up, he asked. I glanced back at the hole.

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You're not gonna believe what I just found. Ryan showed

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up later that evening, grinning like a kid at Christmas.

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The second he saw the collapsed entrance. You're telling me

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this isn't marked, he asked, running his fingers over the

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weathered limestone, not on any of the surveys. He flicked

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his eyes to mine, filled with that familiar, hungry gleam,

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the same one that had dragged me into dozens of

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near death experiences over the years. Then we've got a

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virgin cave, I nodded, and it's ours. We wasted no time.

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With gloved hands and a couple of shovels, we started

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tearing into the rubble. It was slow work. The limestone

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was packed tightly, fused together by time and pressure. Every

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time we loosened a slab, dust blowed up in clouds,

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making the air thick and dry. After about an hour,

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we had widened the opening to the size of a watermelon.

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Think we can fit, Ryan asked. I shook my head.

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Not yet. The rock walls squeezed in too tight, like

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a mouth refusing to open. We kept digging. By the

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time the sun was bleeding into the tree line, the

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hole had grown wide enough for a person to squeeze

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through barely. Ryan crouched beside it, wiping sweat from his forehead.

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He grinned at me, then reached into the darkness. Cold

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as hell, he muttered. I crouched him and placed my

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own hand near the opening. He was right. The air

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inside was several degrees cooler. I couldn't stop smiling. Ryan

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clapped me on the shoulder. You ready to get back

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to work. I looked at the entrance, at the blackness

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swallowing the last of the daylight, and I said, let's

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do it. I crouched at the entrance, my head lamp

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casting a weak glow into the hole. We'd spent hours widening.

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Now that we were here, now that we were actually

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about to go in, I felt a twinge of nerves.

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The familiar pulse of adrenaline, the kind that came with

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knowing we were about to step into somewhere completely untouched.

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Ryan exhaled behind me, adjusting the strap on his harness. Man,

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I missed this feeling. I gave him a sideways glance,

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the feeling of what voluntarily wedging yourself into a crack

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in the ground, He laughed, slapping a hand against my shoulder.

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You can take the man out of cave diving, but

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you can't take the cave diving out of a man.

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I just shook my head, taking one last look at

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the sky before lowering myself on to my stomach. The

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entrance was small, even with all the digging. It was

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barely wider than my shoulders, forcing me to extend both

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arms straight as I inched forward. The first few movements

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were easy, gravel and loosened stones shifted under my weight

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as I pushed myself deeper. Then the space tightened. The

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limestone pressed against my ribs, squeezing inward. My chest was

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compressed just enough that I had to time my breathing carefully,

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exhaling as I pushed forward, inhaling only when I gained

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enough ground. I kept my head lamp tilted straight ahead,

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my hands groping for the next available rock to pull

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myself through. The deeper I went, the colder, the air

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became I heard Ryan grunt behind me as he followed.

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Tight fit. Yeah, I muttered. My voice felt too loud

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in the enclosed space. Every breath, every scrape of fabric

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against stone, every shift of weight seemed amplified. Bouncing off

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the rock in muffled echoes. A few feet ahead, the

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tunnel widened slightly, not enough to stand, but enough to

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move a little easier. My heart pounded with excitement as

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I pulled myself forward, my elbows scraping against a rough stone,

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then a drop. The tight squeeze suddenly gave way to

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open space, the ground beneath me sloping downward. I slid

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forward with it, my stomach flipping as I tumbled a

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few feet before catching myself. My boots skidded against stone,

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my hands finding purchased just in time to stop myself

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from going further. Ryan's voice filtered to the tunnel behind me.

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You good. I took a moment to catch my breath,

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then grinned up at him. You're gonna love this. By

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the time Ryan wriggled through and dropped down beside me.

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I had already turned my head lamp outward, scanning the

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space ahead, and what I saw made my breath catch.

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The cavern was huge. The ceiling arched high above us,

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its surface lined with jagged stalactites that shimmered faintly under

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our lights. The walls were textured with ripples of mineral

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deposits patterns left behind by ancient underground water flow. And

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at the center of it all, stretching across uneven rock floor,

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was a pool of crystal clear water. Ryan let at

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a low whistle. Why. We'd explored a lot of caves

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together over the years, but there was something different about

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this one. It was pristine. Finding untouched caves isn't all

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that rare, but one this large. He turned to me,

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grinning wide. Dude, we might have just found something historic.

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I exhaled. Yeah, I couldn't stop looking. The whole place

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was surreal, like a cathedral hidden beneath the earth, frozen

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in time. But there was something else too, something I

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couldn't quite put into words, the weight of the air.

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I shook off the feeling and reached for my guideline.

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We had done this hundreds of times before. It was

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second nature. In unfamiliar caves, you always marked your way

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back a thin, unspoiling rope, anchored at the entrance and

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carefully fed through the chambers. We explored a life line

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in case things went south. I tied the first anchor point,

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securing the line to a sturdy rock formation. Ryan double

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checked it, giving the rope a few fern tugs. Satisfied,

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we turned back to the cave ahead. The deeper we went,

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the more alien the cave became. Some of the stalagmites

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rising from the floor were twisted like rope caught in

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a slow motion spiral. Others were hollowed out, punctured with

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small holes, as if something had bored through them, not water, erosion,

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something else. Ryan ran a hand over one. I've never

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seen formations like these. I nodded, tracing a beam of

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light across a nearby column. The rock was smooth in

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some places, almost polished, but in others it was rough

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and cracked, like dried skin. It wasn't natural, not entirely.

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And then I noticed the bones, not whole skeletons, just

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individual pieces. A jaw, bones stripped of teeth, a few

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vertebrae so small I almost mistook them for pebbles. Some

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were tiny, rodent like, some were longer, thicker. Ryan crouched

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beside me, picking one up. He turned it over in

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his palm, running his thumb along the brittle edge. Think

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an animal got trapped down here? I shrugged, but my

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stomach felt tight. I guess so the entrance caved in,

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so it makes sense that something ought trapped in here.

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We felt quiet for a second, inspecting the bones on

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the ground, taking our time to soak in the details

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of this place. As I sat, a particular piece of

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a jaw I had picked up back down, I heard

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a small sound somewhere in our vicinity. I tapped Ryan

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on the shoulder, pointing toward the source of the sound,

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right behind a rock, a soft, hollow sound, like something

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tapping against stone. Ryan swung his flashlight toward the sound,

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and I caught the briefest glimpse of something in the dust.

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Not much, just a shifting of loose sediment, like the

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vibration of something deep beneath the earth. I exhaled, sharply,

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pushing away the thought I'd been in plenty of caves

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with sound bounced strangely, where simple noises walked into something unsettling.

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Ryan let out of breath and grinned, Man, your paranoid's

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self hasn't changed a bit. I shook my head, forcing

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a smirk, just saying something those bones down here. Ryan

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rolled his eyes and stepped ahead. That was when the

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flashlight beam hit some sort of drawings. I had seen

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petroglyphs before, markings carved into rock by early humans. Their

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history preserved and jagged etchings and faded pigments, But those

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had always been where you'd expect them, shallow caves, near

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water sources. Figures with spears, bows, fire. They were carved

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crudely but skillfully, their stick like limbs raised toward animals, deers, birds,

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what looked like bison, the kind of thing you'd seen

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any prehistoric cave art. But then the drawings changed. The

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next few figures were running from something. It was depicted

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as a mess of lines, but the long cry stared

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the clearer it became. A large figure, body distorted. Its

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shape was harder to find, as though whoever it carved

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it had tried and failed to capture what they had seen.

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Ryan traced his fingers over the grooves in the rock.

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He was quiet, his eyes gleaming at the drawings in

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front of us. The images continued. The smaller figures fought it.

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They jabbed at it with spears torches. In some scenes

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the creature was shown bleeding. Dark streets of pigments smeared

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across the stone, but it never fell. And then the

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final series of drawings, the figures were no longer fighting.

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They started fleeing, and they were being chased. The smaller

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figures had been forced into a their forms hunched and terrified,

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and standing at the entrance blocking their way out. Was it?

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And in the final carving, at the very bottom of

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the panel was a single figure, alone, trapped inside the cave.

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I took a step back. Neither of us spoke for

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a few moments. The only sound was our own breathing,

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and somewhere distant, the faintest hint of dripping water. I

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swallowed and turned my light toward Ryan. How old do

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you think this is? He didn't answer right away. When

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he finally did, his voice had lost this cocky edge.

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I'm not too sure. I think our ancestors had a

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few too many of the wrong mushrooms and got themselves

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trapped in a care We put the marker down and

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kept moving. We stopped at the edge of the passage,

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staring into the darkness ahead. The wall in front of

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us had a split in it, not tiny by any means,

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but we'd have to squeeze ourselves through. Before I could respond,

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he was already pushing himself into the passage, head first,

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arms tucked in close, his boots scraped against the stone

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as he wriggled forward, his body quickly swallowed by the tunnel.

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I shook my head, muttering under my breath, reckless asshole.

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But I followed. My back scraped against the ceiling, my

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ribs pressed against the cold limestone. The walls were rough,

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biting into my gear as I forward. Ryan's voice drifted

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from upperhead, muffled by the narrow space. Not so bad, right,

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I grunted, says the guy who's not clausophobic. He laughed.

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I tumbled out. The flashlight clipped to my chest swung wildly,

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it's beam dancing across the cavern walls. I took a

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00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:31,200
deep breath, stretching my arms. It felt good to be out.

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Ryan dusted himself off, glancing back at the passage. Tighter

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00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:43,759
than I thought. But hey, we made it. We were

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at yet another massive open space, not too dissimilar from

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the clearing we just come from, but still it was beautiful.

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Our trance was broken by a sharp, hollow sound. It

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echoed through the chamber, faint but distinct, a wheezing noise.

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We both froze. Ryan turned his flashlight toward the passage

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behind us. What was there? I swallowed. Probably just rock shifting.

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00:21:26,279 --> 00:21:29,880
Even as I said it, I didn't believe it. The

256
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,839
cave was silent, no tremors, no signs of movement, nothing

257
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:39,000
to suggest to shift in the stone. The sound had

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come from somewhere. Ryan exhaled through his nose. Yeah. Probably.

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Neither of us moved for a long moment, just listening.

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The sound didn't come again. I forced the breath. Let's

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00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:04,240
keep moving. We spread out, shining our lights along the

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00:22:04,279 --> 00:22:12,200
cavern walls, and then Ryan said, whoa over here? I turned.

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My brain didn't register what I was looking at, just

264
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a collection of pale, broken shapes nestled against the cavern wall.

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00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:28,160
But as I stepped closer the details came into focus.

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It was a skeleton, human in shape, but larger and thicker.

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The skull was broader, the rib cage wider, more robust.

268
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I knelt beside it, brushing away a layer of dust.

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The bones were ancient, and some were snapped clean. Ryan whistled,

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crouching beside him, damn looks like a Neanderthal's skeleton or something.

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I didn't respond. I was staring at the rib cage.

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It was shattered and the entire skeleton was covered in normarks.

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Ryan saw them too. His grin faded something hate this thing.

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My mouth felt dry. Yeah. We both turned our flashlights

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00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:32,640
toward the tunnel behind us, the place where we'd heard

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the wheezing for the first time since we'd entered the cave.

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I felt uneasy. The sound came back, faint at first,

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00:23:44,559 --> 00:23:48,480
barely audible over the steady drip of water somewhere deeper

279
00:23:48,519 --> 00:23:54,240
in the cave, but it was closer this time. Ryan

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stiffened beside me, his flashlight being trembling against the cavern wall.

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I turned my flashlight toward the tunnel we had just

282
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,920
crawled through. It was a black void, barely wider than

283
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:17,720
a person. Nothing moved. Then my light flickered movement, a

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00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,240
blow of motion in the corner of my eye. Something

285
00:24:21,279 --> 00:24:24,319
shifting behind the rock formations at the far end of

286
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:30,680
the cavern. It was fast. Ryan saw it too, he

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00:24:30,759 --> 00:24:38,599
inhald sharply, stepping back. Dude. My flashlight flickered again, the

288
00:24:38,599 --> 00:24:48,279
beams shrinking, dimming. Ryan's did the same, and then it

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00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:54,480
rushed us. It didn't make a sound. One second, the

290
00:24:54,559 --> 00:24:59,680
cavern was empty. The next, something lunged from the darkness,

291
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:05,839
a twisted shape, skittering across the uneven stone. My flashlight

292
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,720
caught a glimpse of it, just a fraction of a

293
00:25:08,799 --> 00:25:13,079
second before it exited, The beams filled of view. Skin

294
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:18,839
stretched too tight, pale, patchy, like something malted but never

295
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:26,440
fully regrew. Ryan screamed. The thing hit him hard, knocking

296
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,720
him sideways. He slammed against the rock, his flashlight spinning

297
00:25:30,799 --> 00:25:35,480
across the cavern floor. I scrambled backward, my boots slipping

298
00:25:35,519 --> 00:25:39,960
on loose gravel. My chest heaved. I was fighting to

299
00:25:40,039 --> 00:25:43,319
process what I had just seen, what I thought I

300
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:48,920
had seen, Ryan groaned, clutching his arm. Blood dripped onto

301
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:54,200
the stone. The creature didn't linger. It was gone in

302
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:59,519
an instant, retreating into the tunnels, disappearing between the rock formations.

303
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:05,079
It had never been there. At all. Only one sound remained,

304
00:26:06,599 --> 00:26:13,759
that mocking wheeze. Somewhere, just out of sight, Ryan sat up,

305
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:18,880
teeth gritted in pain. His sleeve was shredded, blood seeping

306
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:23,160
through the fabric. I couldn't tell how deep the cut was,

307
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,960
but the way his arm trembled I could tell he

308
00:26:27,079 --> 00:26:31,160
was definitely rattled. At the very least, I reached for

309
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:39,279
his shoulder. You're okay, he excelled, sharply flexing his fingers. Yeah,

310
00:26:39,599 --> 00:26:47,079
just a scratch. His voice was unsteady. I turned my

311
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:53,079
flashlight back to all the tunnels. Nothing just stone and shadow.

312
00:26:54,799 --> 00:26:58,759
Ryan forced the breath and pushed himself up. We need

313
00:26:58,759 --> 00:27:03,480
to get out now. We turned back toward the tunnel

314
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:08,200
we had crawled through, and somewhere behind us, somewhere in

315
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:19,240
the dark, the wheezing started again. We ran, not in

316
00:27:19,279 --> 00:27:23,799
a frantic way, we simply couldn't. The way the cave

317
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:26,680
was laid out, we could easily slip and fall on

318
00:27:26,759 --> 00:27:31,759
jagged rocks. We had to move carefully, but we moved

319
00:27:31,759 --> 00:27:36,359
as fast as we could. Bryan's breath was ragged beside me,

320
00:27:36,839 --> 00:27:39,480
and his boots scraped loudly against the cavern floor as

321
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,839
he stumbled. I kept her own glances over my shoulder,

322
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:47,480
expecting to see something moving in the dark behind us,

323
00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:52,559
but there was nothing. The wheezing kept echoing from somewhere

324
00:27:52,599 --> 00:27:58,519
deep within the tunnels, distant, then closer than distant. Again

325
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:04,319
who was toying with us? We reached the opening to

326
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,359
the passage we had come through, the narrow gap that

327
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:09,920
would take us back to the chamber where we'd found

328
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:14,359
the drawings. The guideline was still there, keeping us on track.

329
00:28:15,799 --> 00:28:19,519
Relief crashed into me so hard I nearly collapsed against

330
00:28:19,519 --> 00:28:25,759
the wall. We could still get out. Ryan didn't wait.

331
00:28:26,519 --> 00:28:29,960
He grabbed the rope and hauled himself forward, pulling himself

332
00:28:30,039 --> 00:28:34,160
into the narrow space. I followed, keeping my head on

333
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:38,000
a swivel. As I adjusted myself and squeezed back into

334
00:28:38,039 --> 00:28:42,480
the tunnel, the rock closed in on us again, pressing

335
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:47,680
against our backs, our chests. We moved quickly, retracing our

336
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:52,680
steps through the dark, winding passage. Every inch felt tighter

337
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:57,319
than before, The air seemed heavier. I could hear Ryan's

338
00:28:57,359 --> 00:29:01,440
boots scuffling against the walls, his breathing coming faster and harder.

339
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:07,599
Then the tight squeeze the final passageway that led back

340
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:12,640
to the outside. I dropped onto my stomach, stretching both

341
00:29:12,759 --> 00:29:16,960
arms forward and pulling myself into the tunnel. I focused

342
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,319
on the light ahead, a small sliver of blue gray

343
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,200
at the end of the passage. It had to be

344
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:28,079
just a few more feet behind me. Ryan grunted as

345
00:29:28,079 --> 00:29:31,839
he followed. The tunnel was just barely big enough for

346
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:36,200
us to fit. Pressing against our backs and ribs, we

347
00:29:36,319 --> 00:29:42,640
inched forward, dragging ourselves through the confined space. Then I

348
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:51,000
heard Ryan stop the sharp, sudden inhale. Dude. His voice

349
00:29:51,039 --> 00:29:54,799
sounded strained. I twisted my neck as best as I could,

350
00:29:55,079 --> 00:30:01,519
trying to look back, but couldn't. What a beat of silence,

351
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:09,599
then my hand, it's completely numb. Something in my chest

352
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,880
went cold. I couldn't see him, but I knew what

353
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,559
he meant. We'd barely stop to look at his injury

354
00:30:17,599 --> 00:30:20,759
after the attack, too focused on getting the hell out

355
00:30:20,799 --> 00:30:24,079
of there. But it must have been deeper than we thought.

356
00:30:25,079 --> 00:30:27,839
Maybe it had hit a nerve and he hadn't felt

357
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:32,200
it due to adrenaline. I heard Ryan shift behind me,

358
00:30:32,599 --> 00:30:39,480
trying to pull himself forward. I can't close my fingers.

359
00:30:40,119 --> 00:30:43,960
His flashlight flickered against the stone, walls, making the shadows

360
00:30:44,079 --> 00:30:49,799
stretch and shift. Ryan tried again, dragging himself forward with

361
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:57,119
one functioning hand. His movements sounded awkward, unsteady. He could

362
00:30:57,119 --> 00:31:00,680
still push with his legs, but with one hand commission

363
00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:06,880
his pace slowed. The sound was closer now. I felt

364
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:11,599
my lungs seize. Ryan must have heard it too, because

365
00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:15,519
his breath hitched, his flashlight jerking as he twisted his

366
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:20,440
head back toward the sound. Ryan pushed forward, his boots

367
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:25,480
scraping against the stone, his body jerking with effort, but

368
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:29,119
without his hand to grip and pull, he wasn't moving

369
00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:35,119
fast enough. My heart hammered against my ribs. The sound

370
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,920
was closer now. I could almost feel the air shifting

371
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:43,240
behind me. I turned back toward the exit, toward the

372
00:31:43,279 --> 00:31:48,640
open air just a few feet ahead. Ryan grunted, desperate,

373
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:54,240
now trying to shove himself forward. Then, for the first time,

374
00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:03,920
her breath lo wet just inches behind us. The wheezing

375
00:32:04,039 --> 00:32:11,720
had stopped. Now it was just breathing move Ryan gasped.

376
00:32:12,359 --> 00:32:16,799
His voice was tight with fear. I'm going, I shouted back,

377
00:32:17,079 --> 00:32:21,119
shoving myself forward. My hands scrambled for purchase on the rock,

378
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:27,640
fingers scraping against sharp edges. Ryan grunted, kicking hard as

379
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:31,000
he tried to push himself forward. I could hear the

380
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,559
strain in his voice, the way his body trembled against

381
00:32:34,559 --> 00:32:42,799
the stone he was fighting. And then he gasped, sharp, sudden,

382
00:32:44,359 --> 00:32:52,119
then nothing, silence. A cold pit fawned in my stomach.

383
00:32:53,640 --> 00:33:02,160
Ryan silence, no more grunting, just the faintest shift of air.

384
00:33:03,559 --> 00:33:07,480
I kicked wildly, thrashing my legs, shoving myself forward with

385
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,920
every ounce of strength I had left. My knee banged

386
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:14,640
against a piece of stone, but I didn't care. I

387
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:19,599
had to move. I clawed at the rock, gasping, feeling

388
00:33:19,599 --> 00:33:22,400
my body scrape, and cut through the last few inches

389
00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:28,200
of the tunnel. The exit was right there. One last rush,

390
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:35,440
I threw myself forward, and then I was out. I

391
00:33:35,519 --> 00:33:39,720
hit the ground hard, rolling on to my back. The

392
00:33:39,839 --> 00:33:43,160
night sky was above me, the trees swaying gently in

393
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:47,759
the wind, fresh air flooding my lungs, burning my throat.

394
00:33:50,559 --> 00:33:56,240
For a moment, I just lay there, dazed, disoriented by

395
00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:00,160
the sheer openness around me. I spun on to my

396
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:06,119
hands and knees, scrambling back towards the hole, reaching inside Ryan,

397
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:12,719
come on. My fingers grasped an empty space. I swung

398
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:16,599
my flashlight down, aiming it into the tunnel, expecting to

399
00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:20,400
see him just inches away, dragging himself toward the exit.

400
00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:26,840
I saw nothing, But I heard a noise so deeply

401
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,719
wrong that my body rejected it before my brain could

402
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:38,280
even process it. A wet, disgusting crunch, the sound of

403
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:44,480
something tearing through muscle, splintering bone, A muffled, sickening, chewing noise.

404
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:50,719
I felt my stomach twist violently. I didn't need to

405
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:58,760
see it. I knew another crunch, then a squelch. Ryan

406
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:07,039
was gone, a low, grinding groan deep beneath the earth.

407
00:35:08,559 --> 00:35:11,719
The creature led out a scream from inside, and the

408
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:15,599
entrance shook as it sounded like it pounded its frame

409
00:35:15,639 --> 00:35:20,480
against the entrance. The ground beneath the entrance trembled. The

410
00:35:20,519 --> 00:35:23,159
stones we had pulled loose earlier shifted on their own,

411
00:35:23,599 --> 00:35:29,760
tumbling back into place. The cave was collapsing again. The

412
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,000
hole we had worked for hours to dig through collapsed

413
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:38,119
inward in a violent rush of stone and dust. I watched,

414
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:45,880
stunned as our entire entranceway disappeared. Within seconds, the hole

415
00:35:46,039 --> 00:35:52,559
was gone, just solid rock. I dropped to my knees

416
00:35:52,639 --> 00:35:56,679
and started digging. I claweded the dirt, heaving the loose

417
00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:00,960
stones aside, throwing them behind me. I could barely see

418
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,639
through the dust. My fingers already scraped raw against the

419
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:10,599
rough limestone. But no matter how much I pulled, pushed, dug,

420
00:36:12,199 --> 00:36:16,440
I couldn't even make a dent. I don't know how

421
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,079
long I sat there before I reached for my phone.

422
00:36:20,119 --> 00:36:23,280
My hands were shaking, my mind still trying to grasp

423
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:27,039
what I had just witnessed. I stared at the screen

424
00:36:27,519 --> 00:36:31,800
at the emergency call option. What the hell was I

425
00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:38,599
supposed to say? I dialed? The operator answered nine one one,

426
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:44,840
what's your emergency? I opened my mouth. My mind was blank.

427
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,679
My throat clenched so tight I could barely force words

428
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:54,760
through it. My friend is missing. We were in a

429
00:36:54,760 --> 00:37:00,000
cave and he's trapped. Sir, can you clarify a cave clap?

430
00:37:00,679 --> 00:37:10,519
Is your friend trapped? I swallowed, yes, it collapsed Another silence,

431
00:37:11,039 --> 00:37:15,639
longer this time. Then stay where you are. We're sending

432
00:37:15,639 --> 00:37:21,840
a unit out now. By the time the police arrived,

433
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:27,400
I'd gone numb. The officers didn't believe me, not really,

434
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:30,920
but They saw the dirt on my clothes, the fresh

435
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:33,199
scrape on my forehead where I must have clipped a

436
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:37,920
rock on my way out. They knew I was distressed, panicked.

437
00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:43,800
They brought search dogs, more people came, more light, The

438
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:49,440
digging started, but they never found Ryan, never found anything.

439
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,639
They questioned me for hours, Where did Ryan go? What

440
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:58,000
exactly happened? How did I get out if he didn't.

441
00:38:00,079 --> 00:38:05,159
I told them the truth. They didn't write it down.

442
00:38:19,679 --> 00:38:19,719
M