Mattie had never been afraid of the dark. Even as a child, she’d never needed a night-light or the door to her room left ajar. But the utter darkness of the cave was something she had never encountered.
She didn’t know how long they walked. It seemed like hours, but the darkness had a way of skewing one’s sense of time and place. If not for the warmth of Cutter’s hand, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to go on.
“Stop.” His voice broke through the utter silence like a shout.
“What is it?” She squinted, but saw nothing.
A match flared. Relief went through her at the sight of the tiny light. Then she noticed that the flame was flickering wildly.
“We’re close to the opening,” Cutter said.
“I don’t see any light ahead.”
“The opening may be hidden. In fact, we may have to dig our way out of here.”
“I hate to tell you this, but I left my shovel in my other purse.”
He scowled. “Ha, ha.”
“So how do we find the opening?”
“Follow the breeze.”
The match burned out. He immediately lit another. “I’m going to let go of your hand. I want you to stay put.”
Mattie nodded, but already it seemed her hand had grown cold without his. She stood there as he moved along the far side of the cave. He held the match with one hand, ran his other along the stone wall.
The match burned down, once again plunging them into darkness. This time, he didn’t light another. Several minutes passed. Mattie could hear him moving around. She took comfort in that, but the dark and cold were beginning to get to her. She thought she heard the squeak of some type of animal. She detected a faint but foul odor and began to imagine the skeletons of long-dead explorers who’d been unable to find their way out, their bodies eaten by carnivorous rats….
A hand on her shoulder made her jump. She spun, reached out, found her hand on a hard-as- rock bicep. “Don’t sneak up on me like that,” she said.
“I found the opening.”
She wanted to get out of the smelly, dark and damp cave and into the daylight. “Thank God. Let’s get out of here.”
“There’s only one small problem,” Cutter said.
“Believe me, there’s no problem big enough to keep me from leaving this godforsaken cave.”
“I want you to stay calm,” he said.
Mattie got a prickly sensation on the back of her neck. “I’ll be a lot calmer if you’d tell me why you’re telling me to be calm.”
Yellow light flared when Cutter struck a match. His eyes were already on hers. She gazed back at him, wondering why he was wasting time, not to mention matches. Then movement on the ceiling snagged her attention. At first she thought the soil and rock were somehow shifting. Then she realized what she was looking at were thousands of tiny bodies squeezed together to form a single, undulating layer.
Bats.
“Oh my God.”
“Don’t make a sound,” Cutter said.
The logical part of her brain knew bats were harmless for the most part. But their small rodent bodies gave her the creeps nonetheless. “Please tell me they’re not blocking our exit.”
“We’re going to have to walk beneath them.”
Mattie closed her eyes tightly, her imagination conjuring images of sharp bat teeth sinking to skin in search of blood. “Are they vampire bats?”
“They eat insects. And they’re hibernating. We should try not to disturb them.”
“Cutter, I think that’s one thing you’re not going to have to worry about.”
Amusement glinted in his eyes before the match went out. “I want you to stay with me.”
She started when he took her hand. “How far is the opening?”
“Twenty feet. We go past the bats. Then we climb.” He squeezed her hand. “Let’s go.”
The ammonia smell of guano filled her nostrils as they neared the bats. Mattie could hear the intermittent squeaks of the animals. The swish of tiny wings. The occasional spatter of droppings hitting the cave floor. Gooseflesh rose all over her body as they sidled past.
Then she felt a gust of cold, fresh air on her face. Ahead she caught a glimpse of daylight. Relief rippled through her. She let go of Cutter’s hand and quickened her step. The cave narrowed, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was getting out of there.
“Nice and slow,” Cutter said.
But Mattie was already on her hands and knees, crawling toward the light. Sharp rocks cut uncomfortably into her knees, but she barely felt the pain. “I’m almost there,” she said, excitedly.
“I’m right behind you.”
She was so relieved to be out of the cave, she barely noticed when her hands plunged into snow or when cold wind slapped her face. Then the bitter cold began to permeate her clothing as she got to her feet, shivering, blinking at the bright white light.
Cutter scrambled to his feet beside her. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” he muttered.
The lightly falling snow had burgeoned into a blizzard.