Chapter 5

Tay disappeared from sight, only her voice trailing gave hint of direction. Down. Kea came out of her misery trance and became alive to the moment. The earth had given away under her daughter’s feet as she approached the sink hole, the ceiling she was standing on collapsed and she, too, went down. She fell into water and came up struggling, gasping, orientating. Her daughter connected with her- clutched her neck and she went down again. She had to fight to separate herself from her own daughter. She hit her daughter in the face, stunning her, she undid herself from her the tangle of her daughter’s bag. She surfaced, recovered, and only then did she grab her daughter. She pulled her over to the wall. She struggled to get the pack off of her. She held her daughter, awkwardly, holding the side of the wall. Kea yelled at her daughter. She yelled at all the gods and goddesses.

Tay coughed and then screamed and clutched her mother, grabbing her about the neck.

“You’re choking me!” Kea yelled. “Stop it. Stop! Just stop. I got you. I need you to hold the wall,” Kea said.

“I am scared…”

“Hold the fucking wall!” Kea snapped.

Kea cried, but did not let go. Kea was so mad she wanted to just drown her and climb out. Her anger was renewed by the fact she had held such a thought. She forced herself to breathe.

“Ease up, or I am going to go under,” Kea said. “Ease up. That’s it.” She sang a gentle song. “There we go. We got this. You and I. Together. We are both good swimmers. See. We’re okay. Hold onto this wall so I can find a way out.”

“You’ll leave me,” Tay said.

“I am not leaving you,” Kea said. “I need to get us out of here. I need you to hold onto the wall.”

Kea let go of her mother and clung to the wall. Kea followed the edge of the wall, studying the ceiling and walls for a way out. There was no indication that she would be able to climb out. The hole above was isolated. She smelled something awful and realized her hand was not in mud, but bat poop. She washed it off and swam back to her daughter. A huddle of bats were suddenly visible. There were lots of disinterested bats and sleeping bats and a few watchful bats.

“Fuck, gods, why do you hate us so?” she asked no one.

“I am scared, K’ma,” Tay said.

“I know,” Kea said.

“Why is there light below us?” Tay asked.

Kea looked down. There was a light source below. It puzzled her enough that she told Tay to stay put and swam down to investigate. She swam with eyes open; the water stung her eyes, likely due to bat urine. There was a tunnel and light on the other side, sunlight streaming into the water. She came up for air and held the rock. She was trying to make sense of it, but also trying to resist hope that there was actually a way out.

“I think there is another opening to the surface. Another room. We have to go underwater, swim through a tunnel, and then come up,” Kea said.

“No!” Tay said, firmly.

“It may be a way out,” Kea said.

“No,” Tay said, crying.

“If we stay here, we die,” Kea said.

“I can’t do this,” Tay said.

“You can hold your breath and hold onto me,” Kea said.

“No,” Tay said.

Kea nodded. “Okay. I am going to go check it out.”

“No!” Tay said. “Don’t leave me.”

“You can either come with me, or stay here till I come back,” Kea said.

“No!” Tay said, reaching for her.

Kea slapped her hands. “Hands on the wall.”

Tay cried. The echo of it was too much. Kea took a deep breath and went under. Tay grabbed at her and Kea fought her and put her back on the wall. She came back up.

“You stay put!” Kea snapped.

Kea took another breath and went down again. He daughter’s voice was exchanged for the sound of water. She pushed down towards the tunnel, forced herself into it. She pulled herself along easily enough, but at one point it was so tight that she knew she and her daughter would not fit through at the same time. She barely made it through herself, and for moment she thought she might drown. She slipped through, her clothing and skin torn. She fought hard for the surface and gasped. She found herself suddenly surrounded by people, grabbing her up and pulling her to the shore. She fought and screamed but stopped when she was on shore and there were weapons pointed at her.

“Please. My daughter needs me,” Kea begged.

They lowered their weapons. Two men went into the water. When they returned, they had a terrible fight with a strong willed four year old. Tay went straight to her mother and hit her.

“You left me!” Tay yelled.

Kea grabbed her up and forced her legs into a lap hold positioned. Kea held her tightly, eyes closed for the longest time. When she looked up, the naked people were dressed. They stood there, men and women, waiting, patiently.

“Thank you,” Kea said.

She was silently led to a crude, rope tied ladder, where she convinced Tay to proceed up. Kea went behind her. At the surface, the group led her into the forest. The trees here were impossibly large, and grew larger the deeper they went. She had never been so deep in the forest. They came upon a ladder that went into a tree. All but one of them climbed. They pulled the ladder up. They used it to go higher, and disappeared into the canopy. The man that remained on the ground with Kea and Tay motioned for them to follow. They walked for the better part of the day, taking breaks to relieved themselves, and then continuing on. The man ate leaves from bushes as he walked, and stopped once to gather berries, motioned for them to eat, and they continued on.

They came to a clearing, a circle of trees, and were suddenly surrounded by Walking Bears. Tay screamed. Kea grabbed her up, wanting to retreat, but there was nowhere to go. The man motioned for her to be calm. The Walking Bears were bigger than people, had long ringed tails, and wide people eyes. They gestured with their noses; it looked like a gesture, but could have been scent sampling measure. One wet his hand with a tongue and folded an ear back, cleaning it. Another gestured to the man. The man climbed up on its back.

Kea and Tay were separated and carried by Walking Bears. Kea cursed them and her mouth was covered by a hand that was all too human; human and alien. Black leathery hands, with fur on the back side. Tay’s screams were equally muffled. They sprang through the forests at breakneck speeds, bounding off trees, over felled trees, up into the canopy of leaves and down again, and along paths that were likely not paths, as they folded and closed. The trees became smaller, less densely populated and they came out into a clearing. Kea was set on her feet. Tay was handed to her. The man pointed away from the forest. Walking Bears disappeared into the forest, one by one, each taking a time to touch Kea and Tay before departing.

The man pointed, then he and his Walking Bear disappeared into the forest. The Walking Bears and man were gone for a moment before Kea came to her senses, turned and walked away from the forest. After a while, she put Tay on her feet and they walked hand in hand. They walked silently until almost night fall. They lay in tall grass as night fell and simply looked up at stars, cradled by grass.

“I told you the walking bears were real,” Tay said.

“I told you they didn’t eat people,” Kay said.

They both laughed until Kea started crying. Tay immediately snuggled in closer and tried to reassure her that everything would be okay.