MonstrousMay 4. The Cave

Tracy wove her car through the other vehicles on the road. She wouldn't, couldn't, be late. Of course her wife was sick and their son didn't want to get out of the car when they got to school. But that was fine. It had to be. Her boss was very clear she wasn't going to be accepting "excuses" going forward.

As she thought of the day ahead, Tracy's stomach lifted up into her chest. Her car dipped down into the ground. She slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. Tires squealing, her car came to rest on the edge of what was left of the road. The car groaned as it started to tip. Tracy ripped off her seatbelt and made to open the door, but another car careened down the asphalt ramp. It screeched to a halt, but still had enough force to rear-end Tracy and send her car tumbling over the edge.

Although she couldn't be sure how long it had been, Tracy came to on the dashboard, her body crumpled against the shattered windshield. Numb from shock, she drug herself out onto the ground. She was able to stand, but something, lots of things, felt like they had been broken in the fall. She supposed she should be grateful to be alive.

She squinted up into the sunlight. It looked like several cars had gotten onto the patch of broken road, but none of them had fallen in. Just her luck. She wasn't sure if there was anyone up there trying to help. She didn't hear sirens. She dug her phone from her pocket. The screen was broken. Because why wouldn't it be? She managed to poke around enough until the flashlight came on.

The light barely touched the darkness that surrounded her. Tracy limped back towards her car and finally found a wall. She followed it along until she found an opening. Stalagmites and stalactites lined a long hallway that seemed to go on forever.

Tracy knew there were caves all around her town, but hadn't thought they could be right under the road. A sick feeling clutched at her stomach. People got lost in caves. Wasn't there just something on the news about missing hikers? She imagined her wife and child seeing her face on TV. Or maybe worse, what if no one realized she was gone? What if no one thought to ask until it was too late?

She went back to her car, afraid she might miss someone trying to help.

"Hello?" she yelled up into the patch of sky. No one answered. "Is anyone there?" she called out. Her voice echoed all around her.

There was a noise like a gigantic sigh and warm air rushed over her from all sides. It smelled of natural gas, like a stove left on but unlit.

The road rumbled as it began to move. "Wait! I'm down here!" she screamed as loud as she could. She couldn't quite figure out how it was being lifted. One of the cars on the edge squealed as it was crushed by the rising road. Tracy ran from the front half of the car, falling directly towards her. She tripped onto the ground, her phone flying out of her hand and skittering across the stone floor. The sunlight vanished as the rock ceiling sealed shut.

When she looked up, her phone's flashlight was illuminating a man in spelunking gear. He was wan, ghostly pale, clothes that may have fit once now baggy and tattered.

"We missed it," he said, his eyes hollow and his voice not much more than a whisper. Another face floated out of the darkness. This new face began to cry, slumping into the shadows.

"Oh thank God," Tracy said, trying to push herself up off the ground. "I thought no one was coming." Another face appeared next to the man. It looked at her, then up at the roof. Anguish gripped them and they slumped into the shadows, weeping. "Where are we?" Tracy asked.

The man crouched down and picked up Tracy's phone. She squinted as he pointed the light at her. "Whatever you do, don't go down there," he said, pointing the light at the passage she found earlier. He tossed a rock into the mouth. The entire hallway contracted at once, pulverizing the rock in its jagged "teeth". Tracy was stunned into silence. If she had stepped into it just a few minutes ago...

"Seems like we're safe here for now," the man said. He moved the light to shine on the ceiling. "Maybe it'll use this trap again. It actually caught someone else this time."