Miles To Go

Chapter Fifteen

"And then as we climbed the ladder I told the little spray tanned midget that I was 108 and he was mighty impressed. He said to me, '108? I thought for sure you were only 87!'. Yes siiiirree! I suppose you want to know my secret, eh? Well tell you what..."

Calvin stopped listening to Peter Bigfoot's ramble and tried to focus on not tripping on the uneven and treacherous cave floor. He was very tired, still extremely thirsty (they did not trust the water, regardless of what Peter Bigfoot said), and now that he had time to think, hurting all over from his injuries.

He looked up at the back of the old man and saw that Daryl, Peter's pet desert night lizard, was now happily doing push-ups on top of the old man's right shoulder.

"How much farther is it?" Jaymz asked, still cradling his broken arm.

"Not far now," the old man replied with a chuckle.

Calvin and Jaymz exchanged looks of worry. Did this old man really have any idea of where he was going?

Suddenly as they came to a "Y" in the cave, Calvin spotted a light flickering down the left path. He gasped and pointed towards it. "Hey look at that!"

They paused in their walking and saw the light growing brighter. "Hello?" a voice called.

"Yes! Hello!" Calvin cried out, finding enough energy to jog towards the light. "It's us!" Finally they found us! Lizzy and the others came to our rescue!

But when he neared the lantern, it was a stranger standing before him.

The man blinked at him in surprise, his blue eyes wide. His blond hair was pulled back into a short ponytail and there was stubble across the lower part of his face. A stack of scarves was wrapped around his neck, almost completely covering the orange jacket he wore. Calvin looked down. His ensemble ended with a pair of cargo pants and hiking boots.

"Who are you?" Calvin asked, confused. He thought he'd lived in the community long enough to know everyone, or at least recognize their faces.

"My name's River," the man said, looking over Calvin with concern. "River Smith. Are you alright? What happened to you?"

"Where you gone Twilight?" Calvin heard Peter Bigfoot say as he approached from behind. "That's not the right way! If you go—" Calvin looked back in time to see Peter Bigfoot freeze, his eyes suddenly wide and intense. "You!"

River's eyes had narrowed. "Well if it isn't the old man of the mountain. Mind telling me what the heck you're doing wandering the caves with children at night?"

"I'm helping these little whipper-snappers." Peter Bigfoot said defensively. "They made her angry and she had a fit."

River looked surprised. "They were in the cave-in? Oh crap." He knelt before the two boys and began studying them more closely. "Are you two okay? What happened to your arm?"

"It got crushed under a rock. I think it might be broken," Jaymz said, his voice tired and weak sounding.

"Let me see." River carefully looked at Jaymz's arm. "Definitely broken." He looked up at Peter Bigfoot with contempt. "Why the heck didn't you fix him up with a sling? Walking around jarring his arm is going to make it worse!" River was shaking his head as put down his backpack and pulled out his hunting knife. He cut the flap that closed his backpack off along with a few straps. "I was at my campsite when I thought I felt the earth shake...just a little. I wondered if there had been a new cave-in on the east mountain." He said as he cradled Jaymz's arm in the flap of cloth and then set to tying it up with the straps. "That's why I headed this way, I wanted to know if I was right, and why there would be a cave-in. I was sure the mountain was settled."