The

End By: D. Booyer

10
Part 10: Exploration
 The End
Pt. 10:
Exploration
By: D. Booyer

Jim sat in a small, unadorned room amongst his peers.

The room was empty except for the folding chairs that the
fifteen other attendees sat on and the coffee pot that stood on a
folding table near the door. This was his first time at a meeting
like this, and he was unsure what to say. Come to think of it he
had no idea what kind of meeting it was, he had fallen asleep
and found himself sitting here with a cup of coffee in one hand
and a danish in the other. Jim took a sip of the hot liquid, it
was sweetened just right and had the perfect amount of milk.
He drew in the scent of it and luxuriated in its strong aroma.
“Hello,” Ssaid a short balding man with a muscular
build. He sat before them on a tall stool, cup of coffee in hand,
“I am Bob Fundaker, I will be presiding at these little meetings
of ours. Jim, If you would start us off by introducing yourself,
then we will go from there.”
“Um, Hello,” Jim said experimentally, standing up from
his folding chair, “My name is Jim Basset, and I am leading a
group of refugees in a cavern under what was once a rural
community in the central United States.”
“Hello Jim,” the group said in unison.
“Well,” Jim continued, “to tell you the truth I am not
quite sure what I am doing here, or where exactly here is, but I
must say I am proud to be a part of something. The people
under my care are an extraordinary group of twenty eight
people. We have some very talented individuals in our group,
and I am looking forward to guiding them along God's path to
the future.”
The others clapped as Jim sat down, feeling a little
foolish but somehow accepted by the group. The person to his

1
right stood, and to Jim's surprise it was Laura.
“Hello,” Laura said with a smile as she placed a hand
on Jim's shoulder, “I'm Laura, I am Jim's advisor,”
“Hello Laura,” Jim joined the group in greeting his
wife, placing his hand atop hers.
“Well,” Laura continued, “I am currently living
impaired and have been for eleven days now. I realize all of
the advisors are, I just really wanted to say it,” this got a laugh
from the group, “along with being Jim's advisor I am his wife,
we have been married now for twenty five years. Jim has
taken well to leadership, and we look forward to working with
all of you in the future.”
The group applauded as Laura sat down and, to his
surprise, Bobbie stood at his left.
“Hello,” Bobbie said, “My name is Bobbie Hathaway,
and I am Jim's apprentice.”
“Hello Bobbie,” the group intoned.
“Well, yea,” Bobbie said looking as nervous as Jim had
felt when he had stood, “that's about it, I'm Bobbie and I like
to write. Oh, and I am currently unconscious in our medical
clinic, probably will be for a few more days.”
Bobbie sat back down on her seat to the sound of
applause. The formula was repeated for four more group
leaders, each from a different part of the country. Each group
leader was accompanied by a deceased spouse as an advisor,
and a younger apprentice.
From the west coast was a flamboyant man named
Barry Whitman, he was thin with well groomed short hair and
a pair of earrings in his left ear. Jim was surprised when what
looked to be a young boy turned out to be his wife Harriot.
She appeared to be an overly thin young woman with bobbed
hair wearing what looked like biker's leather. They had only
been married five years, but they were very much in love.
Barry's assistant was a young man with medium length hair,

2
and deep black skin who wore loose clothing over his thin
frame. He was only fourteen but had already started his
freshmen year of college.
The leader of the east coast was a severe looking
woman named Saundra Barton with angular features, a long
scar under her right eye, and blond hair in a tight bun. She was
wearing sensible shoes and a dress suit, which she straightened
at every opportunity. She had a sweet smile and a kindly
manner though, and liked to think things through before she
spoke. Her husband Sam was as neatly maintained, he had a
medium build, short hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. He was
dressed in black pants and a polo shirt with dress shoes. He
looked at his wife with a look of pure adoration which she
returned in kind. Saundra's assistant was a young woman with
medium length black hair and a complexion as white as paper
with multiple piercings, a tattoo of a penguin on her neck, and
black clothes. She said little, but seemed to notice everything.
The Northern group was led by a lanky old man with
neatly trimmed white hair named Mark Cooper. He didn't
smile much, except when looking at his plump, motherly
looking wife Ellen who wore a farm wife's dress. Their
daughter Mary Ellen sat on her father's left, watching the
meeting with sharp, observant eyes and an equally sharp mind.
From the south was a beautiful middle aged Hispanic
woman named Margarita Suarez. She looked ready to work in
her garden wearing a loose fitting dress and a sun hat, her long
salt-and-pepper hair in a braid down her back. She was with
her husband Carlos, a muscular looking man with buzzed hair.
His chest was bare and he wore overalls and leather work
boots. When asked why he was dressed the way he was, he
explained that he had come into the country as a migrant
worker. He had worked hard to provide for his wife and
children in clothing like what he now wore. He saw it as a
badge of honor, and besides, Margarita liked the way his chest

3
looked. Margarita's assistant looked to be fresh out of boot
camp. He wore camo pants and combat boots with an army
shirt, his hair was cut short with a flat top. William Andrews,
as it turned out, was a year out of boot camp and had been on
his way back to base after a three day furlough.
The size of the groups ranged from Jim's twenty eight
to Barry's one hundred fifty two. Where they had taken shelter
was different as well. Barry's group was the only other group
in a cave system, but theirs were in the mountains that
separated California from Nevada. When asked why they had
needed to go so far he made a joke about wishing he had
bought into that ocean front property in Arizona and visiting
Rodeo drive by submarine. Those in the east were in some
bunker deep beneath some government building or other in
Washington DC. The Coopers had their group in the bottom of
a mine, while Margarita's group of one hundred and twenty
four were in an abandoned missile silo.
“Alright,” Bob said once the introductions were
finished, “now that we all know one another we can get down
to business. Um, yes, Laura?”
Laura, who had raised her hand, stood up, “I know this
is a little off subject, but do you think we can change the
seating a bit? Folding chairs are functional and all, but they are
not the most comfortable things.”
“Oh, yea,” Bob said, “Sorry about that.”
The room shifted, and Jim found himself sitting on a
comfortable couch with plump cushions. The room itself
changed as well, the unadorned walls became those of a
comfortable sitting room, complete with shelves of books and
a warm fire roaring in the hearth. The others were more spread
around the room each with their own couches and coffee tables
in front of them to sit their cups on.
“Don't worry about coasters,” Bob said, seeing Mr,
Cooper eying the tables warily, “The cups won't leave a ring.

4
Anyway, on to business. For now, you should all be working
on a way to heat your shelters, and creating a renewable food
supply. Some of you have already started this,” Bob nodded
towards Jim, “Others, however, need to get a move on,” he
glanced in Barry's direction, “Heat and food will be important.
I am sure some of you have enough supplies to last a while, but
they will not last forever.” Bob gave extra emphasis to this last
thought, and paused to take a sip of his coffee.
“Also,” he continued, “as some of you have already
noticed, this black mud is very unpleasant stuff. I would
recommend taking measures to keep it from finding it's way
into your sanctuaries. If you don't believe that it is all that bad,
I suggest you ask young Bobbie here why she is unconscious in
her groups clinic.”
Bobbie gave a sheepish wave and closed her eyes. Her
hair melted away and her skin turned red, marked here and
there with blisters. The living members of the other groups
gasped in horror at the sight, and in some cases faded briefly as
their startled minds tried to wake them and failed.
“Thank you Bobbie,” Bob said, as the health returned to
the young woman's skin and her hair grew back, “Needless to
say it would not be wise to market it for use in health spas.
Finally, before I let you go to your own dreams, you all need to
begin planning for expansion. I would suggest you look
downward for new real estate. We are heading into an ice age
people! Glaciers tend to reshape the landmass, so dig deep. I
will now leave the floor open for you all to exchange ideas.
Jim, I would appreciate it if you would show the others
Joshua's masterpiece. The others could definitely use stoves
like that in their sanctuaries, and there are those amongst us
who could use a hot shower. I will not name names, but there
it is. Any questions before we continue?”
Jim raised his hand and waited to be addressed.
“Um, Jim,” Bob said, “there is really no reason to raise

5
your hand, all you have to do is ask your question. This is not
like grade school or anything.”
“OK,” Jim said, then cleared his throat, “I was just
wondering, is this it? I mean is this all of us? Just five groups
in the United States?”
“Goodness no,” Bob said, “you are just those that I am
responsible for, there are four more groups in the U.S. alone.
Each country is broken up into groups of four or five, and the
group leaders like me go to periodic meetings like this one then
go on to a meeting by continent and so forth.”
“Oh, OK,” Jim said with a relieved sigh, “It is good to
know we are not alone down here. I mean besides, well, you
know,” Jim gestured toward Laura, who smiled and hugged
him close.
“Hey, no problem,” Bob said, “if there aren't any more
questions we will share ideas then let you all get back to
sleep.”
Jim, with the help of Bobbie and Laura, managed to
show the others Joshua's designs for his stove, his shower, and
even his generator. The others shared ideas they had on
various issues, such as sleeping arrangements and food
distribution. Soon they were dismissed to their own dreams to
sleep the rest of the night in peace.

*****

Bill was awakened by a wet nose behind his ear. He

brushed it away and rolled over, but Rembrandt was persistent.
“OK, OK, I'm up,” Bill said as Rembrandt gave up on
gentler means, and began licking Bill's face, “what time is it
anyway?”
“About half past way too early,” Joshua said, sitting up,
“Your lucky! Me he thumped to death with his tail.”
“Well,” Bill said wiping his face with his blanket, “there

6
is something to be said for a dog big enough to wake both of us
up at the same time without making a noise.”
“Yea,” Joshua yawned, “Where's the snooze button?”
“Don't think he has one,” Bill said with a noise that
appeared to fall somewhere between a laugh and a grunt. He
scratched the large canine behind an ear before getting to his
feet.
“Apparently not,” Joshua rolled up his blanket and sat it
against the wall.
“Wow, what's this?” Bill asked indicating a copy of
Joshua's map drawn on the chamber wall in ink, “Had trouble
sleeping last night?”
“No, not really,” the big man stretched as he got on his
feet, “There seems to be a lot of tunnel intersections near here.
I was thinking we could use this as sort of a base camp as we
explored.”
“Sounds good to me,” Bill said as he scratched his back
side, “I suppose we could leave some of our extra supplies here
while we explore. You know what's odd about this tunnel
system?”
“What?” Joshua asked.
“We haven't run across any dangerous fissures or major
pitfalls,” Bill said, “I heard that caving was dangerous in
unexplored caverns because you never know what you can find
waiting to trip you up in the darkness.”
“Well, we are still in the public section of the cavern,”
Joshua said looking at the map, “There are still unexplored
sections, but most of the dangerous areas have been shored up
or surrounded by safety rails. I just wish we had found a map
of the cavern when we were in the maintenance building.”
“Perhaps we will find one someone dropped or
something,” the idea of finding a full map of the public areas of
the cavern system was a nice one, but Bill knew it was not
likely to happen.

7
 The idea persisted though, it nagged at him throughout
the morning as they made ready to set out. When the three
came to the first fork indicated on their map they turned down
the unexplored tunnel. Bill thought about what Joshua had
said, he wondered why they had not found that many safety
railed ravines or signs that the tunnel had been reinforced. He
supposed that the park service had been careful to hide their
work as best they could, so as not to mar the cavern's natural
beauty.
He was thinking of ways that this could have been done
when the tunnel they were in ended abruptly, falling away into
a small chamber filled with beautiful crystal formations and
natural stone outcroppings. The chamber reminded Bill of a
geode in the way the crystals seemed to be growing out of the
walls and even the ceiling of the chamber. There, to Bills
surprise, paint pealing and rusty, was a safety rail.
“Hey, I guess you were right about this still being the
public area of the cavern,” Bill said, leaning casually on the
rail.
“Bill, I wouldn't...” the rail chose that moment to give
way. With a groan, a popping noise, and a loud PING the rail
suddenly was not there anymore. Bill found himself upside
down, nose inches from the sharp point of one of the chamber's
beautiful crystal formations.
“Don't worry Bill, I got you,” he heard Joshua say from
above.
“I thought you said these were safety rails,” Bill said
with a nervous laugh.
“Yea,” Joshua said, “they are. I just neglected to
mention that they weren't that well maintained.”
“Remind me to file a formal complaint with the park
service when we get out of here,” Bill said, looking up to see
his large friend hanging half over the edge of the overlook
gripping him by the ankle with one massive hand.

8
 “No problem,” Joshua said, carefully inching back onto
the overlook, “while you are at it ask them to put in some soda
machines in our main chamber, I'm dying for a cola.”
“Yea,” Bill replied, “me too.”
Joshua managed to stabilize himself on the overlook
enough that he was able to use both hands to haul his friend to
safety. To Bill it felt like being a rag doll in the hands of a
large child, but he breathed a long sigh of relief when he was
sitting safely against the wall of the overlook with Rembrandt
licking his face.
“Its alright, boy,” Bill laughed, “Joshua saved my butt
once again.”
An hour later Bill found himself upside down once
more, this time dangling half way down a ravine from a safety
rope, “and again.”
Another twenty minutes found Bill being pulled out of
the way just as the roof of a chamber gave way and began
spilling caustic mud onto the floor where he had been standing,
“and again.”
Half an hour later Bill was staring at the snapping jaws
of a wolf that Joshua had pinned to the wall of the cavern.
With a sharp twist and a sickening cracking sound Joshua
deposited the now dead animal on the cavern floor, “and again.
How many times is this now?”
“I don't know, I lost count,” Joshua said with a grin as
he made a note in his book and began sketching an interesting
rock formation.
“Remind me never to question our good fortune again,”
Bill said as he field dressed the wolf, food was far to precious a
commodity to let the meat go to waste.
“Will do,” Joshua said, “What say we make our way
back to our base camp, we should probably take a break for a
while.”
“Good idea,” Bill said as he finished his work with the

9
knife, “It looks like we will be having a hot meal after all.”
“Yea,” Joshua said, “I wonder what wolf tastes like
anyway.”
“We will find out soon enough,” Bill said, regretting the
lack of proper seasonings, salt and pepper would have to
suffice.

*****

Jim sat in his accustomed spot at the table watching the

activity around him, lunch had been filled with pleasant
conversation and talk of progress in the terrarium. The
breakfast meeting had gone well, news of other groups
surviving underground was received with a sort of relieved
excitement. They had all prayed as a group for the continued
safety of the others in their sanctuaries around the world.
Jim sighed and smiled down at the bundle in his arms,
young Shelby stared up at him. Bright blue eyes twinkled as
she chewed happily on her pacifier. Allison had brought
Shelby by as Jim had asked, and he had foolishly offered to
watch her for a few hours. Now he was completely and
hopelessly enamored with the child. Her eyes, that smile, the
way she cooed when she was happy, the way she laughed
when Jim made silly faces at her, it all drew him in leaving Jim
with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Yes, he was completely and
hopelessly in love with the baby girl.
“I'm sorry Laura,” Jim said, looking upward briefly, “It
seems another young lady has stolen my heart. I wish you
were here, I know she would steal yours too.”
Laura, who just happened to be watching, agreed
wholeheartedly as the little girl reached a small hand up to tug
playfully on the collar of Jim's shirt. He and Laura had wanted
to have children of their own, but in their fifteen years of
marriage before she had became ill they had not been so

10
blessed. Jim often wondered what things would be like for
them now if they had been. Children would not have prevented
her mind from slipping away, but he would have at least had a
piece of her to hold on to. Then again, would he have stayed as
close with Joshua? His friendship with the large man had been
a source of comfort for him after Laura no longer recognized
him. He had helped Jim to cope with the loss, and their
friendship had become stronger because of it, but even with the
addition of children Jim was sure that wouldn't have changed.
Joshua loved children as much as he himself did, either way
there was no way to tell. Better to enjoy the blessings he had
now than to worry about what could have happened in the past.
A strong, sickeningly sweet odor brought him out of his
thoughts of the past and back to the present. Holding the
bundle in one hand, Jim reached into the diaper bag with the
other to pull out a cloth diaper and some baby wipes. Alison, it
seemed, had the foresight to grab cloth diapers instead of the
disposable kind, and also some soft rags for when her supply of
wipes ran out. He gently placed Shelby on the table and set to
work.
“Well,” Kelly said coming up behind Jim, “you're pretty
good at that.”
“I got lots of practice with my niece and nephews,” Jim
said as he pinned the diaper in place, “I used to watch my
brother's children once in a while.”
“OK,” Kelly said, tickling Shelby's belly button, “I am
doing my rounds, and I just wanted to check on you and the
little one.”
“So how is Bobbie doing?” Jim asked.
“Well,” Kelly said, consulting her ever present pink
clipboard, “the redness is starting to go down a bit, and her skin
is peeling. That's a good sign, it means her skin is healing
nicely. The blisters are starting to scab over as well. Her
breathing is still a little labored, but with bruised ribs I am not

11
surprised. I would say that in a few weeks you won't even be
able to tell she had an acid bath, other than the hair and the
scabs anyway.”
“Well, thats good,” Jim said, picking Shelby up and
rubbing noses with her, “She was asking how her body is
getting on. Wasn't she baby girl? Yes she was. You know, I
always expect someone to call me a crazy old kook when I do
that.”
“What talk to the baby?” Kelly asked arching an
eyebrow.
“No,” Jim said with a sigh, “talking about my dreams
like that. I mean, if someone came to me a month ago and said
they were talking to a dead relative in their dreams I would
think they were totally nuts.”
“A month ago I would have recommended a CT scan
and a good therapist,” Kelly said with a laugh, “but with
everything else that had happened,” the young doctor shrugged
and left the thought hanging.
“Now I know I'm going crazy doc, I could swear I
heard you laugh just now,” Jim said with a smile.
“Sadly I don't have access to a CT scan right now,”
Kelly said with a hint of a smile, “but the minute one is
available I will schedule you for a series of scans.”

*****

Bill, Joshua, and Rembrandt began their exploration

again after their lunch break. Bill had cooked the wolf,
seasoning it the best he could with what he had in his pack. It
was stringy, tough, and had an extremely gamey taste that
made it almost unpalatable. Bill thought that with time and the
right seasonings it could make a passable meal, but he had
neither to spare.
The tunnels stretched out before them, dark and

12
foreboding once again. Tempered by Bill's earlier mishaps the
two men and their faithful companion proceeded with more
caution then they had before. It slowed their progress, but it
was better than risking injury or worse through carelessness.
They were once again making their way down an
unexplored stretch of tunnel, Joshua counting steps and taking
careful, meticulous notes in his notebook as they went. He had
already expanded his map quite a bit. Bill had taken to testing
the floor ahead of him with his climbing axe when he was
unsure of his footing or the tunnel floor sloped in an odd
direction as it did now.
The floor was covered with what looked like a form of
underground moss and sloped to the right at a sharp angle. The
two men were forced to brace their feet against the right hand
wall of the tunnel and use their hands to steady themselves
against the slope of the floor. Bill was glad he had decided to
use his climbing axe when it suddenly broke through the
section of rock he had been planning to put his foot on. He
stood there for a moment hearing the sound of loose rock
bouncing on other loose stones as it faded into the distance. He
signaled to Joshua, and they began to make their way back
down the tunnel the way they had come.
“This is a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Bill
said to his large friend as they took the next turn, “Did they
really let tourists run free in here?”
“Well, the tunnels have done a lot of shifting since the
last tour came through,” Joshua said, ducking under a low spot
in the tunnel, “The surface took a real pounding, I'm sure the
shock waves from that probably opened a few unknown
passageways and collapsed others.”
“True,” Bill said with a sigh, “I don't see how you can
keep all this straight, I mean these tunnels twist and turn so
much I have no idea where we are.”
“We really aren't that far from the terrarium,” Joshua

13
said, checking his notes.
“Really?” Bill asked.
“Yep, really,” Joshua said with a grin.
“I'm glad you can keep these tunnels straight,” Bill said,
“I can't make heads or tails of it. I would literally be lost
without you here, seriously.”
“I doubt it,” Joshua laughed.
“Really,” Bill said, “I'm serious. I have like no sense of
direction down here, and to top it off I'm scared senseless. I'm
seriously starting to feel a little claustrophobic, here I am in a
dark hole, with no sense of direction just praying for a sign.”
“Don't worry,” Joshua said reassuringly, “You are doing
fine, besides you have me and Rembrandt to keep you
company.”
“I know,” Bill said after a moment's pause, “I really am
glad to have you here to keep me sane. How do you keep
going?”
“Faith,” Joshua said.
“Faith that your wife will hunt you down if you don't
return?” Bill asked with a smile.
“That and faith that we wouldn't have been sent on this
task if we didn't have a good chance of succeeding. Also faith
in the fact that we were kept alive for a reason, and I don't
think our work is finished yet. Just have faith, and if God sees
fit to send you a sign he will.”
“Sally says the same thing,” Bill said with a laugh.
“Well you are married to the group's spiritual leader,”
Joshua said, “If anyone would know these sort of things she
would.”
“You know,” Bill said, “you're right. But honestly, a
sign would be welcome right about now.”
The three turned a corner and there, hanging by one
screw in the intersection of two passages, was a tarnished sign
with an arrow and the words 'Visitor Center' engraved on it.

14
Bill stood staring at it for a few moments before Joshua
stepped up beside him.
“Well,” Joshua wheezed, laughing as he clapped his
friend on the shoulder, “See what a little prayer can do. It's a
bit literal, but there you go.”
“I guess so,” Bill said, dumbfounded, “I guess we go
right then.”
“Guess so,” Joshua said, still laughing.
Twenty minutes found them at yet another intersection,
this time all four screws had rusted through, and the battered
sign was corroded to the point of illegibility. Joshua carefully
brushed off the green oxidization, trying to read the dented
metal plate. It appeared to have two arrows on it pointing in
either direction, but the words were still impossible to read in
the light available.
“So which way now?” Bill asked.
“I don't know,” Joshua said taking out his water bottle
and taking a drink, “The sign isn't much help. I would guess
left, it leads in the direction of the terrarium.”
“OK,” Bill said, “Left it is. I hope there is a map in the
visitor center.”
“Yea,” Joshua said, “that would be helpful.”

*****

Laura sat with Bobbie in her sitting room watching

Joshua and Bill's progress through the tunnels. They seemed to
be having much better luck then they had before their lunch
break. They had progressed through several of the tunnels
surrounding their base camp, coming ever closer to finding
their way to the exit they were searching for. The two men
were well suited for exploration, each were resourceful in their
own way, and no matter what hardship they seemed to
encounter they countered the stress with a light hearted quip

15
and kept plodding onward. Under the stressful conditions and
weighty oppression of exploring the depths their friendship was
positively flourishing. It warmed Laura's heart to see it
happen, Joshua needed friends, he needed the constant positive
feedback that people like Jim and Bill provided. He had seen
many hard times as a youth growing up in this small rural
community.
Joshua's family had been one of the first colored
families to move into this region, and had been forced to put up
with endless harassment from the other young men in the area.
Even in the late eighties and early nineties this had been an
isolated community, mostly populated by families that had
lived and farmed this land for generations. The old prejudices
had been bred into the bones of the community's leaders and
citizens for so long that it had taken years for them to accept
even the smallest of changes. Luckily, when he became a
freshmen in high school his friendship with Jim had given him
the strength to become the creative and caring person he was
today.
Even before Laura had married Jim, she learned how
important their friendship was. They had supported each other
and took care of one another for so long that they really were
more like brothers than friends. She had gotten to know Joshua
quite well while she was dating Jim, he had been with them
when they met and she had always felt that it was important
that the two men remain close friends. She didn't mind him
hanging out with them at times. He was always considerate
and always seemed to know just when to let them have their
privacy, so it really wasn't that hard to get used to having him
around.
Now Joshua had Jim, Bill, and Sally as friends, and a
beautiful wife who, despite her tough exterior, obviously
adored him. It seemed the man had finally found the happiness
he deserved. She let the viewpoint fade away again and turned

16
to look at Bobbie, who had been sipping on a glass of
lemonade while she had watched Rembrandt trail along after
the two men.
“So,” Laura asked Bobbie, a glass of lemonade
appearing in her hand as well, “Did you have a good visit with
your parents today?”
“They brought the baby album,” Bobbie groaned.
“Ouch,” Laura said with a sympathetic look.
“It really wasn't that bad,” Bobbie said with a smile,
“we had a really good time, especially after grandmother
stopped in with mother's baby album. Then, of course, she
called my other grandmother. Yea,it kind of snowballed from
there.”
“Yea, I can imagine,” Laura laughed, “I am glad you
had a good time.”
“It was great,” Bobbie said, “I loved the black and
white photos, some of those old baby outfits were really cute.
My dad actually wore a sailor outfit when he was a kid, it was
hilarious.”
“Sounds like it. My mother has pictures of... hold on a
second.” Laura faded out briefly, “Hey, remember that thing
that we can only do in an emergency?”
“Um, yea,” Bobby said slowly.
“Well, we have an emergency,” Laura said, holding a
hand out to Bobbie, “come stand over here dear.”
Bobbie took Laura's hand and stood next to her. Her
sitting room faded away and was replaced by a dark tunnel.
Down the tunnel in front of her she could see a faint light
coming steadily nearer. She felt the need to look back and saw
Joshua sitting at the end of a blocked passageway sketching a
rock formation that looked like an extremely old man's face.
Bill came into view up the tunnel carrying a water
bottle in one hand an a flashlight in the other. “Hey Joshua, I
found it. You left it at the last intersection. Wait, who?”

17
 “STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE,” Laura said in a
voice that seemed to reverberate in Bobbie's head without
bothering to pass through her ears first.
Joshua's head whipped around in surprise, “Laura?” he
asked in disbelief.
The ground began to shake and the roof of the tunnel
collapsed with a loud rumble where Laura and Bobbie stood.
When the dust began to settle Bobbie found herself standing
half buried in the rubble. She lifted an arm experimentally and
found that, to her great surprise, the rock offered her no
resistance. After a moment's thought she realized that this was
because she wasn't actually there, well, not in body anyway.
“Um, Bobbie?” Bill started.
“Hold on just a second,” Bobbie said, and walked back
through the rubble where she found Laura talking to Joshua in
a low voice, “hey, Laura,” she said, still feeling a little
disoriented, “Bill seems to be OK, but.. well.. what do I say to
him?”
“Just tell him that Joshua isn't hurt,” Laura said with a
smile, “I will be there as soon as I am done with Joshua.”
“OK,” Bobbie said and walked back to where Bill stood
staring at the pile of rubble with his mouth hanging open.
“Um, hello Bill,” she said with a nervous wave, “Joshua
isn't hurt or anything, but I think he is kind of stuck in there.”
“Bobbie?” Bill asked, looking a little scared, “Is that
really you?”
“Yes,” Bobbie said with what she hoped was a
comforting smile.
“So does this mean you are, um you know,” Bill said
letting the words trail off.
“That would be a no,” Bobbie said with the hint of a
smile, “I'm actually just sort of having an extended rest thing.
My body is still alive in the clinic, I just have work I need to do
and I have a lot I need to learn still.”

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 “Oh,” Bill said, with a nervous smile, “OK, good. So
who was the other lady?”
“That would be me,” Laura said walking through the
rubble, giving Bill a warm smile, “Hi, I'm Jim's wife Laura.
Before you ask, yes, I'm currently deceased. We don't have
much time left, so I will make this brief. Joshua is fine for
now, but he has a limited supply of air left. I am told that the
passageway isn't in danger of further collapse, but Joshua will
need help soon. I wish we could help more but,” Laura made a
few swipes at a rock and her hand passed right through.
“I understand,” Bill said with a sad look, “thanks for the
timely warning though.”
Laura smiled as she and Bobbie faded away. Bill
watched the strange apparition fade away, then looked at the
pile of rubble and started digging.

To Be Continued...

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Stories in this series:

Pt. 1: Storm-front
Pt. 2: Madness
Pt. 3: Marked
Pt. 4: Darkness and Light
Pt. 5: Guidance
Pt. 6: Salvation
Pt. 7: Redemption
Pt. 9: Preparations
Pt. 9: Departure
Pt. 10: Exploration

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