Seeking a safer area to begin their exploration, they inched their way around the cavern until they came upon a massive slab of rock leaning inward against the wall surrounded by some rotten timbers and an old rusted lantern.
“Someone’s been down here before,” Ariella said.
“Yeah,” Leo agreed. He ran his hand over one of the rough wood timbers sticking up through the sand. “It looks like someone tunneled down here sometime in the past and then covered it back up.”
John approached the giant rock and peered around it. “Hey, check this out. There’s a tunnel here.”
Ariella looked over his shoulder while Leo squeezed in between them. “Yeah. It’s almost perfectly round, like it was bored out with a machine.”
“Or fire,” John said, running his fingers over the tunnel wall. “The rock here is solid black, like it was melted.”
Leo stopped and considered their next move. The decision was made for him when Ariella switched on her helmet light and brushed past, heading into the tunnel without flinching. The men exchanged glances and took off in pursuit. In her excitement to see what lay ahead, Ariella was quickly leaving the men behind.
“Slow down, Ariella,” John shouted. “We don’t know what’s down here.”
She turned and looked back over her shoulder. “Only one way to find out.”
With their macho image shattered, the men continued to follow her through the tunnel as they snaked their way deeper into the earth.
Before the team had entered the cave, they had forgotten to switch on their radios, so Alon asked everyone to stop and turn them on before they proceeded any farther into the underground labyrinth. Instantly, they were greeted by Lev’s near-hysterical shouting from the surface.
“Ariella! Leo! Can you hear us?”
“Yes, we read you, Lev. Is everything alright?”
“Some kind of large black cloud just formed above us. It came out of nowhere. It’s as dark as night up here. The wind is really starting to pick up, and the sand is blowing so hard we can’t see more than five feet in front of us. Something’s happening, and you all need to get out of there. Now!”
Before they had time to react, Ariella screamed from somewhere ahead of them in the tunnel. The men ran forward, rounding a corner where they came to an abrupt stop. Ariella was standing perfectly still with her back to them. She was facing what appeared to be an old woman dressed in black flowing cloth from head to toe with only a slit at the level of her eyes. The figure was standing in the middle of the tunnel, blocking the way, a gargoyle-like sentinel placed there to keep intruders from passing farther into the cave. Without warning, blood-red light shot from unseen eyes hidden beneath the robes. In an instant, the group realized that this was no old woman. A loud, piercing howl began to emanate from the thing as Leo thought for an instant that he saw it begin to change shape.
“Run!” Alon shouted, grabbing Ariella by the hand and pulling her away from the black-robed figure. They ran, stumbling over the few rocks on the smooth floor, their hearts pounding and their breathing coming in rapid gasps. Reaching the end of the tunnel, the group fell against each other into the open cavern. Looking up, they saw, to their horror, that the sky had turned black, when only minutes before, bright sunlight had flooded the area.
The wind was blowing violently above them, causing dirt and debris to swirl about the circular walls of the cavern. The otherworldly howling was becoming louder and shriller, while the unmistakable smell of sulfur filled the air. John had been the first to exit the tunnel under the mammoth slab of rock, followed by Ariella and Alon, leaving Leo standing between them and the thing in the tunnel.
In the open cavern, the three outside began to make their way to the ropes, feeling their way along the rock wall. The wind was beginning to blow even harder. Loose rocks from above started to tumble down on the backhoe, causing it to roll sideways. It began to slip from its perch, sliding an inch at a time from the ledge. With the screech of metal against rock, it tilted farther and finally dropped straight down into the cavern below. John was the first to see it falling. He turned and shoved Ariella back into Alon under the protection of the thick slab of rock over their heads, but it was too late for him to follow. He hugged the wall and prayed as the backhoe crashed in front of him and a jagged piece of twisted metal slammed into the rock directly beside his head. Slowly, he took in a breath and opened his eyes. He was alive. The backhoe had missed him by inches.
John could feel Ariella’s small hand tugging at his shirt and pulling him back under the rock slab. The three huddled together, bathed in the smoky red light coming from the tunnel. Leo stood his ground in front of the entrance, peering inside at moving shadows beyond the opening. Would the thing, whatever it was, come after them?
He remained standing at the entrance, a human barricade between the tunnel entrance and the others, afraid to blink while staring into the reddish gloom. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. In the haze beyond, he could make out something moving just within his field of vision. His eyes burned as he continued to stare into the void. He saw something move. He focused and then recoiled when he saw what appeared to be the shape of an ancient winged beast silhouetted against the misty red light.
Leo reached into his shirt and pulled out the large golden pectoral cross given to him by Father Morelli. Placing the cross in front of his body at arm’s length, he began to pray loudly. He kept his eyes focused directly ahead at the thing in the tunnel. John could hear Leo praying in Latin and recognized bits and pieces of the prayers; they were directly from the rite of exorcism.
The others backed as far as they could into a space under the rock slab while Father Leo continued to pray. They tried to shout for Leo to move away from the tunnel, but their words were lost in the churning wind and deafening shrieks of the entity. The wreckage of the backhoe blocked their way out, and the thing in the tunnel blocked their way forward.
Leo braced himself before the entity, watching it flicker and change shape like something from another dimension trying to enter the earth plane. A wall of heat struck Leo and the others, causing them to shield their faces with their hands. The howling intensified as the group grew more terrified by the second.
Leo had been frozen by fear with the knowledge that the thing was most likely a demon, but he continued to pray. He was gripped with the Jesuit warrior’s desire to fight in God’s name. The thing was advancing. It was almost in front of him when he pulled a small bottle of holy water from his shirt pocket and began to sprinkle it against the walls of the cave. He then began tossing handfuls of the liquid directly at the thing. The water hissed as it struck the entity, and the howling abruptly stopped. The red light began to fade, and the temperature started to return to normal.
Leo saw that the thing in the tunnel was gone. Whatever it was had disappeared into the gloom beyond. The wind outside began to calm, and the black clouds above evaporated into the dusty blue sky. In the sunlight filtering down from above, only silence surrounded the team at the bottom of the cavern.
“Leo! John! Can anyone hear me?” It was Lev shouting again on the radio. “The clouds just vanished. The wind stopped. Is everyone OK down there?”
Alon spoke into his radio. “We’re all in one piece, Lev. Can you have Nava fire up the helicopter and have them lower a line to us. We’re going to have to dig ourselves out around the backhoe.”
“We’re sending the second team down to help you. Hang on,” Lev shouted.
The four leaned against the wall and tried to steady their breathing. They had all clearly been terrified. Brushing the sand from their hair and clothing, the group paused to examine each other for injuries. There was no doubt in any of their minds that they had just encountered a supernatural being. It was a malevolent force that none of them ever imagined existed in reality. It not only existed, but they had seen it with their own eyes. It had appeared right in front of them and tried to harm them.
Father Leo continued to hold his cross in his outstretched hands, watching the entrance of the tunnel for any sign of a return by the entity. Within minutes, the team from above had reached the cavern floor and had cleared a way around the backhoe to reach the shaken group.
Soon, Nava had the big, gray Blackhawk positioned over the gaping hole. She watched the paramedic begin winching both teams onboard and glanced at the temperature gauges in the cockpit. “Let’s get everyone out of there as soon as possible. I think that sandstorm did something to the engines; they’re starting to overheat.”
The helicopter hovered overhead until both teams had been hoisted out of the cavern. Nava then angled it away and streaked for the camp while keeping a close eye on the gauges.
John grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Ariella. “You’re shaking.”
“So are you … I think we all are,” Ariella replied through chattering teeth. “It’s over a hundred degrees out
