Free Lost at Running Brook Trail by Sheryl A. Keen

to more caves. Or a water source. Who knows? They’re not very large fissures, so that’s good. There won’t be any large, unfriendly animals coming through any of them. Let’s look on the ground to see where we can make a bed.”
    The ground was rugged and lumpy with formations of small craggy water-formed rocks and stalagmites. It would have to do because, as people said, necessity was the mother of invention.
    “The surface is uneven,” Miriam commented, “but we should try to make the bed in the middle away from the walls and closer to the front of the cave.”
    “You’re really concerned about her, aren’t you?”
    “Yes, but when she gets the way she gets, it’s a little contagious. It gets you to that place where you think about what can really happen. Laughter is contagious, but so are other things. I don’t want her freaking me out.”
    Elaine put the lighter out, leaving only the light of the iPod to cast strange shadows in their soon-to-be room.
    “Turn the iPod off for a sec.”
    “Why?”
    “Let’s just see what it looks like inside here with no lights.”
    Miriam turned the iPod off and plunged the cave in complete darkness. The drip-drop of the water became apparent again.
    “We need to conserve the fuel in the lighter. We may need it for something else,” Elaine said into the blackness. “Hey, try closing your eyes for about ten seconds, and then open them.”
    Ten seconds later, Miriam whispered, “I can see better.”
    “Why are you whispering?”
    “It just seems like that’s what I should do in the dark.”
    With their eyes now adjusted, they could make out obscure shapes and abstract spaces.
    “Okay, bed in the middle to the front,” Elaine agreed. “Let’s take one last look around before we make the bed.”
    The lighter and the iPod came back on. Elaine and Miriam inched closer to the back wall to take a closer look. They heard the squeaking sounds first and then in the glow of the lighter and the iPod they saw what looked like an army of bats coming toward them. They had no idea where they’d come from—maybe the narrow opening or maybe the roof. Neither Elaine nor Miriam stuck around to investigate. With hands over their heads like protective helmets, they ran from the cave with only the two-inch square screen of video iPod flashing as they ran the short distance to the mouth of the cave. Elaine had long ago taken her thumb off the wheel of the lighter.
    Kimberly and Susan, who had been looking toward the mouth of the cave for Elaine and Miriam’s appearance, suddenly saw the two girls bolting from the cave. Over their heads and following them out of the cave a multitude of dark wings rushed up into the darkening burnt-orange sky. Kimberly and Susan were already off the rock with bags on backs by the time Miriam and Elaine were stooping breathlessly in front of them.
    “Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo, why are we running from a flock of birds?” Kimberly asked.
    “Those are not birds,” Elaine said, trying to catch her breath, “those are bats!”
    “What! I told you there might be something in there.” Susan was animated. “And now we know it’s vampire bats. Those things feed on blood.”
    Elaine stood up straight. “Listen, we don’t know what kinds of bats they were. It’s not as if we had time to inspect and scrutinize them. They came at us so fast, the only thing we could do was run. They’re all gone now, so none of us need to let our imagination run wild. Let’s just take the branches inside. It’s good to go.”
    “Then why were they coming at you?” Susan insisted.
    “They weren’t coming at us. They were in their natural habitat, and we disturbed them, and what do things and people do when they are disturbed?” Elaine let the question hang. “Sometimes they run way, get scared and move. That’s all. Let’s not make this anything more than it is.”
    They moved toward the yawning mouth of the cave. Elaine and Miriam were at the front,