Hermit’s Horror Story 5 – Deep Dive

CONTENT WARNING: This story features themes of psychological horror, deep waters, darkness, and abandonment.

Set in the same world as: The Darkness That Follows

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Take a deep breath, relax… You are I now.

The suspension creaked and squeaked, and the car rocked side to side as it traversed the bumpy terrain. I hit my head on the window against which I was leaning.

“Ugghh” I groan, waking from my slumber I look around. We’re in a jeep, me and three others, a group of four.

“Ely! Learn to drive” I hear a voice from my left, it’s Lucian.  

 I’m not too familiar with these folks, just saw their post on the cave diver’s forum merely few days ago. I rub my eyes, trying to get the sleepiness out. My cold fingers send a jolt of pleasant freshness throughout my body. I yawn.

“How much further?” But my question is ignored.

“Lucian shut up! Get the bolt cutters, there’s the gate!” She calls out. I peek around the head rest and out the window, indeed, a wire fence gate, with numerous large signs on it. “NO TRESPASSING”  

“RESTRICTED”

“AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY”

“U.S. MILITARY PROPERTY!”

I gasp and swallow audibly at the last one I just read as the car comes to a screeching halt. The ear drum piercing screech of worn out brakes make me wince.

“Uhm..”

“What’s up bud?” Lucian said, pulling a pair of bolt cutters carefully over our heads. “Hang tight, be right back!”  
 

He said, crawling over the somehow still sleeping, dark haired guy who seemingly couldn’t be woken up by a bomb. He leaps out of the car and heads for the gate. I watch him closely. “Property of the US Military?” I inquire, my voice trailing off as I try to swallow the lump of nervousness that has formed in my throat. Ely turns to face me and gives me that annoyed white girl ‘what is your problem’ look. I watch her attentively.

“Don’t worry, it’s abandoned. We scouted it out.”  

‘Ah, yes, don’t worry, it’s fine, famous last words.’ I think to myself as I swallow hard. “You sure?”

A clanking of metal draws her attention back to the gate. Lucian is waving at her to go forward. There’s a 2nd fence, and a 2nd set of gates, I dind’t notice it at first. Almost like an entrance to a prison. “Ye ye, don’t worry about it.” She calls out, throwing a quick glance at the blonde girl beside her who remains silent.

“Alright then.”  
 

My foot is tapping nervously, I slam my hand down on my knee, trying to regain my composure. We come to a halt again, I curiously look over my shoulder out the window to see Lucian wrap the chain back around and hide the cut link, making it seem wrapped and locked up, undisturbed. A few minutes later he opens the 2nd gate for us and we pull through. Same thing again, and soon we’re en route again.  

For a while we drive on the remnants of a ruined road before pulling off into a barely a path that takes us through the woods and up a hill. Off in the distance I see semblance of an old base. Ruined buildings and carcasses of tents.  

“So, how deep is it gonna be?” I inquire, trying to break the awkward silence of anticipation, and discharge the tense atmosphere that has somehow settled down in the car.

“The cave? Nobody knows my man!” Lucian replies. “We’re the first daredevils to dive that cave since it flooded in the 50s.”  

“Gonna take double tank then.” I reply. “And a reserve for decompression, just in case.”

Samantha speaks for the first time. I’ve not heard her voice since we left the city two hours ago. “Ely, don’t leave me behind like last time.” Her voice was filled with concern. “Oh my gosh, Sam! Relax! It’ll be fine, we’ve done this dozens of time. I will stick with you, don’t worry.”

‘Abandon?’ I shudder at the thought.  
 “I uh, hope you guys won’t abandon me either.” I remark with a nervous chuckle.

“Don’t worry man! We gucci!” I look at Lucian nervously and smile. “Y..yea. It’s uhm, it’s only my 3rd time going for a flooded cave…” I admit to my inexperience.

“Ye, we read your post” Ely replies with a hint of annoyance.

I don’t like her very much, but she has over 30 dives on record, they call themselves the ‘Deep Dark’ they’re the most renowned group of cave divers around. 

At last the piercing screech of worn-out brakes jolts my focus back. “And HERE! WE! ARE!” Announces Ely while gesturing with her hands like a maestro.

The car’s engine dies and Lucian’s elbow firmly impacts the sleeping guy in the ribs. A gasp, cough and a “the hell is wrong with you” follows, but I don’t care.

I pull the handle and open my door. It’s time for a stretch, meal, bio, and then packing up. 
 I make quick work of my sandwich, after which I go for a quick warm up jog, get the blood flowing and filled with oxygen. I stop in the bushes to take a leak; my glance wanders the eerily quiet forest. ‘Odd’ I note to myself at the silence that is all around. ‘Might just be due to the nature of this place.’ I try to calm my wandering mind, my gaze travels up to the sky as the sweet pleasure of relief washes over me.  

“Nice place though.” I snapped my attention to the left, where from afar I thought I heard a voice, ‘must’ve been my echo’ I assume and squint my eyes, carefully scanning for movement, but nothing. It’s dead silent. As I finish my business, I opt to cut my jog short and go straight back for the car where I see others already in their wet suits.  

I pop the trunk open and take out my pack. Stacked atop of each other are ten oxygen tanks, one new and the other nine are well worn and loved.

I unzip my pack and pull out my wetsuit, throw my clothes off I begin to pull it onto myself. I pause when I notice a shadow, my gaze wanders from the shadow to its source, it’s Sarah. She has a gentle smirk on her face, biting her lower lip, clearly enjoying the show. “Can I… help you?”

She smirks at me. “Mmmaybe later.”  

I shake my head in disbelief. Here we are, in a restricted area, about to dive an unexplored, flooded cave, and there she is, head in the gutter, thinking about how she wants to spend her evening.

“Checked the reserves?” I continue to pull the tight wetsuit over myself, ignoring her obviously interested stare.

“Ye, all good to go.”  

All dressed up I stand behind Sarah, carefully tracing her tubes, pulling on them, checking the tubes and the straps, the gauges, her octopus, valves and the regulator. Everything looks good. All strapped in; valves open. I tap her shoulder.

“All good,” and turn around. She does the same check for me and then I hear a snap.

“Your reserve quick connect wasn’t all the way.”

I nod, “Thanks.” And then I feel the double tap on my shoulder. Good to go. The moment I was dreading.  

I pull my regulator into my mouth and take a deep breath through it. The familiar hiss of the gaseous mix that was in the tanks brings a smile to my face.

I nod, ready. My gaze wanders from 1 party member to the other. Everybody was prepared. I reach for the orange glowstick on my shoulder and then snap it. Ely takes a few steps past me. “Alright folks. Don’t split up, watch the depth, remember decompression procedures. Do NOT panic no matter what. Check lights.” She said, switching through the light on, high beam, and strobing mode of her shoulder mounted light.  

I nodded. And checked my main light, seemed intact, 90% battery life. Reserve light in my net on hip is good to go. I’m ready, but I do not have a partner. Sarah is going with Ely. Lucian with the other dude. I was told to follow them in case the party splits up. My wandering mind is brought back to focus by a sound of splash. Ely had already leaped into the cave.  

I take one last deep breath and bite down onto the mouthpiece of my regulator, slowly walking up to the rounded edge, smoothed out by the rain. About two meters beneath me is a hole filled with water. She pops her head out of the water and takes the breather out. “Aim further, toward me, the path slopes down here.”  

“Go ahead.” Lucian says, nudging me on the shoulder gently. “You got this!”

I nod, take a step back, and in an awkward half run, with the fins already on, I leap into the cave. My mind seemingly goes blank for a moment while I am falling, and then the splash. Impact on my feet and heels from the water, accompanied by the sudden change in temperature is enough to send an adrenaline rush through my body.  

I look around underwater. The cave gets dark fast. The path down is a steep slope, lined with a conveyor belt on 1 side and stairs on the other. I swim a couple of meters in to get out of the way of others, and wait. Splash after splash and at last we’re all in.

Ely swims past me and gives me the ‘ok’ sign, I respond in kind. My dive monitor estimates I have about 50 minutes of oxygen, with 15 in reserve.  

We spread out to about two meters apart, swimming in line. I am pre last, the dark-haired guy is behind me.

Lucian straight ahead. Each of us chose a different color for glowsticks to mark ourselves with and make it easier to identify one another in the darkness. Mine are orange, Lucian’s are pink, and the guy behind me, I glanced over my shoulder to remind myself of his color. Red. Follow the pink, or red’, I reminded myself and continued to breath steadily, following the group.

Darkness set in quickly, and shortly we found ourselves in what could be described as aphotic zone. It was pitch black, if it wasn’t for the lights and glowsticks, navigating would be impossible. I can’t even see my own hands in front of me. I reach up for my mask and press a button, turning on the integrated light. 

Never before have I been in a place so dark in my life. Chills ran up my spine. Water temperature was dropping rapidly too, no wonder they suggested a thicker wetsuit.

I kept my head on a swivel, frequently checking behind me for the dark-haired guy to make sure he was still following. The group came to a halt and formed a circle as we found ourselves at a fork. Ely pointed at Sarah and then with 2 fingers on each hand she gestured ‘follow me.’ Sarah’s ‘ok’ response confirmed.  

She then drew a circle on the palm of her hand with 2 fingers, ‘oxygen check’.

Everybody checked. I had about 35 minutes. She swam off, I watched their glowsticks slowly distance from us. A moment later, the tap on my shoulder reminded me that we had to get a move on too.  

Lucian turned his camera on and took the lead. I followed him. Another boring 10 minutes of nothing but the same walls and darkness. The mine flattened out into a straight, flat path.

‘At last, something new.’ I thought to myself. The conveyor belt came to an end, and the shaft narrowed. We swam along small rails for mine carts deeper in until we reached an opening.  

The mineshaft led to a cliff. I felt currents, for the first time since we entered the cave. I was being pulled. My eyes widened, I gasped, reaching out in search of something to grab onto. That something was Lucian’s shoulder. He grabbed onto me and pulled me back into the shaft out of which I got sucked by the currents, and then proceeded to crack and toss a few glowsticks out into the pitch-black vastness before us.  

They got pulled by the currents. I kept my gaze fixated on one of them as it kept descending lower and lower, barely illuminating the sheer cliff along which it was falling.

I exchanged glances with Lucian who, holding onto a handle in the shaft, bravely swung his body around, and then froze in his place, a shaking finger pointed past me in the direction we came from. He was watching the darkness intently. 

I gulped, taking a deep, shaky breath. My heart sank, fear engulfed me in an instant. I traced along the length of his hand with my eyes and slowly turned myself around. To my surprise there was nothing. And I mean nothing, and no one. At first, relief washed over me, but it was replaced by fear in an instant when my gaze fell upon a single red glowstick on the ground in the distance. ‘There was no one indeed. There should have been someone.’ My body froze in place like a stalactite.  

‘Did he head back? Without alerting us?’

I eye the darkness in hopes of seeing anything, anything at all. But the lights don’t reach far. The darkness is swallowing all. I push myself forth, to head toward where the red glowstick on the floor was, but a grip on my shoulder keeps me in place.  

I glance over my shoulder at Lucian who shook his head.

He released my shoulder and raised his hand, turning it side to side, ‘not okay’ and then he moved his hand up and down slowly, telling me to ‘slow down and relax’. It is at this moment I finally realize that I am in full panic, breathing heavy and gasping for air. The sensation of darkness closing in was only getting worse by the second. I take another breath, slow, steady, controlled. Trying to recollect my composure.  

He continued gesturing for me to calm down for another 30 seconds or so. When at last my breathing returned to normal, he gave me the ‘ok’ and then with two fingers in each hand, he gestured for me to follow.

Pushing himself along the wall and into the shaft, he sat at a pace and swam intently toward the red glowstick. His light switched into a high beam mode, shining into the darkness before us.  

I glance over my shoulder one last time, the darkness had seemingly consumed the glowsticks entirely. A chill runs down my spine, but I keep my composure. I push myself off and match Lucian’s pace, setting my light into high mode as well, I follow him. He gives me the ‘stop’ gesture, I pause, trying to keep my movements to a minimum, and to listen.

Silence, only silence and darkness.

He picks the red glowstick up and examines it, then nervously shines the light around the walls, ceiling and the floor, nothing, no traces, not a single hint on where he had gone.  
Floor, walls, nothing, ceiling, also nothing, until a spot where darkness swallows the light. A round opening, large enough for a person to fit, leading straight up. ‘Ventilation shaft?’ I guessed, having never seen one in a cave before. It seemed straight and smooth. Lucian took one last glance around, seemingly deciding where to go.  

He made a thumbs up, the ‘up’ gesture, we’re swimming up this shaft… I gulp and swim down a little, giving him room to take the lead, I’m not going up that first, no way in hell. He gives me the ‘ok’ again and then pulls out a spare glowstick, cracks it and drops it just beneath the shaft’s entrance to mark the path should anyone to come looking for us.  

He gently paddled with his feet, inflating his buoyancy compensator a little to help him swim up faster. I do the same, and then suddenly run into his foot.

A blurb of bubbles escapes my regulator as I gasp for air. His sudden stop made my heart pound again. ‘What was it that made him stop? Did we reach a dead end?’ But to my surprise a moment later he moved again, pulling himself up and out of the shaft’s hole, and then I heard a splash. ‘Splash? There’s no way we’re at the surface already.’  

He seemingly pulled himself out of the water and then a hand reached in, beckoning for me to follow.

I take his hand and push myself, surfacing, in a cave. Glancing around a large open room, a man-made room, squared, slightly flooded, with a door leading out of it, and a table standing in the corner. I spat my regulator out. “Whoa!” My voice reverberates throughout the room. “What the hell?”  

Lucian shrugs, shining his light around, scanning the room and taking in the details. Mold in the corners, maps on the walls, projector screen, desk with paperwork around. I gag momentarily, the stale, musty air of this room reeks of rot and mold.

“Wild…” he comments, glancing at the door.

I follow his gaze with mine. The door is firmly shut, does not appear to have been open. “Guess this isn’t where he went.” Lucian pulls up his gauges and reads them.  

“Yeah, but we don’t have much time to search for him.” I wonder what the best course of action is. He’s down there, alone, engulfed in the darkness, maybe lost, maybe drowning, maybe already dead. “I’ll go.” I blur out without a second thought.

“No!” He responds aggressively. “He’s an experienced diver, 2nd most experienced in our group.” He took slow, careful steps toward the door. “Jake’ll be fine. I believe in him.”  

He grasped the rusted handle of the door and turned it, audible ting, ting, ting echoed through the room, and then a snap. I flinched for a moment. The inner mechanism must’ve broken.

As he pulls on the handle, I shine my light on the door, to see what’s behind it. It resists but creaks open. My light shines through onto a narrow, a partly flooded hallway, only halfway up their calves. He cracks another glowstick and drops it, walking out the door and into the hallway.  

“Where the hell are we?” I ask nervously, following him.

“I guess some kind of underground military office, maybe barracks or somesuch?” He shrugs. He shines his light up at an exit sign with an arrow pointing left, just ahead of us. “Let’s see where the exit takes us.”

My heart is pounding, I flinch and jump at echo of a drop of water. We shuffle through the flooded hallways for what feels like hours. Darkness all around, only the beams of our lights guiding us.  

Only the single beam of his light, my light, was left to guide me and to fight off the darkness that engulfed me. I’ve lost my glowstick and spare light. The gauges show another 10 minutes of air remaining. ‘I must surface’, but the mineshaft is different.

I swam the way I presumed we had come, after a current separated me from the group, but the fork that Ely had marked with her glowstick was nowhere to be found. A beep informed me that I have less than 10 minutes remaining.  

The shaft’s slope isn’t going up either. It’s straight, flat. ‘It wasn’t like this when we entered’. I swim onwards. Occasional pops make me flinch. ‘Something is off, something isn’t right.‘ Disoriented and confused I try to find the fork at which our group split up initially. Tracing the right wall with my hand as I swim, faster and faster. ‘Lights, anything? Anybody? Please! Anything! A sign, give me a sign!’ 

I try to remain calm, but I can’t. I no longer have composure left.

I’m running out of oxygen.

The wall I was following with my hand disappeared.

I freak out, push myself away and shine my light at it.

There’s an opening there, a doorway, or a split. I can’t quite tell, but I don’t care either. I pat my thigh, but the net is gone. No glowsticks to mark my path, no chalk either. Just me, and my instincts. I swim through into the darkness.  

Alone, abandoned and lost, another beep, followed by five consecutive beeps. ‘Five minutes remaining… 15 in reserve…’ I paddle, propelling myself forth. The shaft widens, conveyor belt. I gasp, rejoicing, assuming I had finally found the way back. It gradually begins to slope up, I swim onwards.

Another beep, and then three consecutive. ‘Three minutes’.  

Two beeps… I trace the wall, my light dims. Battery is running out.

Suddenly something jerks me to a halt. I let out a heady breath at the sudden pull. I try to push myself forward forcefully out of fear but nothing. I glance around, caught on something. Consecutive frequent beeps, oxygen is out. I reach out for my octopus, spit my mouthpiece out and put octo into my mouth. ‘Reserves… Okay, breathe steady.’ I remind myself and attempt to slowly wiggle myself loose from whatever my tanks got caught on.  

It takes a few minutes but at last I’m free to move again. Time’s running short.

The light flickers. ‘No!’ But the answer is yes, it dies on me. Stranded in the pitch dark with nothing but my dive computer for light, a tiny little LCD display that’s showing me that I’m out of air. I hold it in my right hand, shining it at the wall as I push forth.

‘Each breath I take brings me closer to drowning, alone, in a dark cave.’  

Something shimmers in the distance.

A glistening light of sorts, whatever it is I do not care. I aim for it, I push myself to it.

My head breaks the surface, I spit the octo out of my mouth and take a deep, excited breath.

“Ahh! Haaa! Holy… shit…” In that moment I realize that it is night.

My gaze wanders the night sky for a moment. Only an hour should’ve passed. We dove early evening, the sun shouldn’t have set, and yet it did. I glanced around the cave entrance.  

I crawl out of the cave’s entrance and collapse onto the grass soil beneath me, gasping for air, each breath more needy than the last. “Fuck! God! Damn! Fuhh… Phew… Out… Out! Heheh I’m out!” I let out a happy chortle, trying to hold back the tears.

After a few minutes of rest I push myself up and glance around. It’s a different entrance. This isn’t where we entered, not at all in fact.  Scanning the azrea around and taking the scenery in, I come to realize that I am sitting in a small crater of sorts. The entrance to the mine is right at the center of it. My body shivers. I unbuckle my weights and tanks and drop them off, getting up to my feet to take a better look.

I’ve no clue where I am, which way to the other entrance and to the car. I climbed out of the crater to a pleasant surprise, a hill that looked vaguely familiar, I think that’s the hill we drove up to the other entrance.  

Walking toward it fast I realize that our group should probably invest in some kind of communication devices. Long-distance radios, or perhaps waterproof phones. The walk up the hill takes a significant amount of time and effort, but at least, in about thirty or so minutes I summit and then bend over, hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath.  

At last, I can breathe again. My gaze wanders the environment in search of the car, lights, or anything else.

I see a shimmer, water surface reflecting the moon’s light. I recognize the gaping hole, it’s the other entrance, the one we used originally. But the car is gone. I fixate my focus on a few metallic cylinders off in the distance by the hole. “They… left?”  

Realization settles in along with panic. “No! NO! GUYS??? ELY!??? SARAH!?” I shout at the top of my lungs but hear no response, not one I wanted to hear anyhow.

I sprint down the hill toward the entrance, toward the abandoned tanks left behind by the group.

My lungs are burning, my mind is racing, my eyes are scanning the area for clues. They were here; shoes, clothes, tire marks. ‘They seemingly left in a haste.’  

My knees buckle as my body seemingly yearns to give up, but I take a deep breath and turn. “Fucking cunts…” I clench my fist and walk.

The shuffling of the grass, dry leaves, and twigs under my feet is the only sound I hear in this eerily quiet forest. I keep a steady pace, fortunately it doesn’t seem like there are any animals in this forest. ‘It’s a base… The entrance post should have an alarm button. I hope.’ I assume, setting course for the entry gate.  

After a while, an uneasy feeling settles in, a feeling of being watched. Bushes shuffle behind me.

A thought pops up in my mind. ‘Why is this area off limits? Doesn’t seem to be an average military base.’ I jump at the shuffling.

“Wh…who’s there?” a hushed, barely audible voice responds, but it sounds familiar, sounds like that new guy we picked up. “Nice place though.”  

“H..hey? Bro is that you?” I call out nervously.

The voice is barely audible, a figure stands up from behind the bush, illuminated by the dim moon light breaking through the thin canopy over head.

“Who’s there” It responds to me, it, isn’t human. Whatever it is that stands before me, is absolutely not human. My body freezes from fear. I feel warmth running down my legs. It takes a single long step, and suddenly it is in front of me. Its eye-less sockets stare at me. Its boney long fingers trace the side of my face. “Nice place though.” It speaks again, I wish it didn’t. It sounds so calm, so human, but it most certainly isn’t. It’s chiseled jaw line, boney and elongated face would make anyone shit their paints, and it’s tall, really tall, watching my while hunched over.

I think I see something move in a blur before my eyes, and then more warmth… Soothing, calming warmth, is running down my body from my neck.

My jaw trembles in the face of the creature. Its voice grows quieter as coldness engulfs me and darkness swallows me.

“Bro is that y….”