He crawled into the small offshoot of the tunnel that was just big enough for one man to stretch out and obviously had been used before. Inside the small opening was a carefully placed boulder that could be rolled to hide the opening. He had plenty of water, a safe place to rest, and now enough food for a week. Using all the strength in his good leg, he pushed the boulder into place, totally blocking the small entry. He noticed the boulder rolled easily after he got it started. If this damn hole in me will heal, I have a chance to get back to Katrina.

Yevgeny never heard any sounds from the extensive search a dozen men made of the chamber. He was awake on and off for the first two days and then, with a growing fever, he lost consciousness. The next day he awoke with no awareness that he had been out for another day. He drank deeply of his water supply and later ate some dried smoked meat. He was very weak and his shirt was sticking to his skin over the wounds. He heard no sounds. After resting, he tried to move the boulder blocking off his hidden space. No matter how hard he pushed and pulled at the boulder, it did not move.

He rested again and managed to move the boulder a few inches by using his rifle barrel as a lever. He was drenched with sweat and fell asleep again. Waking hours later, he drank more water and ate again. After a while he felt stronger. His shirt pulled away from his wounds and he could feel that the bleeding had stopped. Inserting the rifle barrel into the small opening he had made earlier, he pulled as hard as he could and the boulder moved enough for him to ease out into the side tunnel that led back to the main cavern.

Moving slowly and using the rifle as a cane, he made his way to the cavern entrance in the flickering light of a candle stub. It must be night. There is no light coming through the entrance. Yevgeny could see the blood spots on the floor but no bodies. They came here and searched for me.

Walking up to entrance tunnel, he squatted and put the candle inside the tunnel. The tunnel was filled with broken rocks.

They must have blown the entrance. God knows how many tons of rock collapsed into the entrance tunnel. More than I’ll ever move as weak as I am and without any tools. Unless I can find another way out of here, I’m trapped. I may never be found in this cave. Johnny Brandon from St. Cloud, Minnesota, you are in a very strange crypt. I’ll rest and then try to find another way out. Don’t panic. At least no one can now make me tell them about Katrina and Maya.

All of Barry Kelly’s novels are available in print in digital formats from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore. Visit www.factsandfictions.com for more by the author.