It took Earl about ten steps in the cave to feel the strength of the smell. Sure, his nose was used to the smell in town but, in there, it was something different.
He resisted it for another ten steps in the dark by pinching his nose. But, at that point he could smell it when he took breaths from his mouth.
Earl turned around. He had only walked straight ahead after all, so the way out should have been straight back but when he pointed the torch at the entrance to the cave... There was no entrance at all.
He went there, touched it. Earl didn’t feel fear but intrigue. Was this the reason no one had ever come out of the cave?
He went back on his way, bearing the smell. Soon enough, it was nearly an afterthought.
He noticed how light behaved differently down there: while the light beaming from a torch would make its surroundings light up a little, the light down there was straight and sharp - what wasn’t illuminated was invisible.
The straight path ended.
Earl was forced to turn left into another passage, this one was smaller, about 6 feet in height. On his way, he saw side passages, some so small, just a 4-year-old kid would be able to fit in them, others were taller than his torch could point at. Such variety sometimes happened between passages.
Earl had never been in a cave before, but he expected bats or at least some water formations or anything that gave clues to the origin of such an environment. But his expectations weren’t met. Things got more confusing as he descended...
The rock the cave was made of was dark gray, smooth or rough depending on the passage.
Earl entered a cold passage that made him shiver more than he had in years. It was the type of temperature you'd go in with a thick jacket.
After that passage, he entered one where there was no cold at all before going into one in which the walls were warm.
If you'd asked Earl, he might have been in another world, not so different from pulp books he used to read years ago about men travelling to planets called Arcronium or something, where aliens lived underground like moles.
The only thing that stayed constant, no matter where Earl went, was the smell. Since he entered the cave, it didn't get better or worse until he reached a corridor where the smell was strong enough to make him puke.
Then he stepped on something that cracked underneath his feet. Earl pointed the torchlight at it and gasped.
A full skeleton laid on the ground dressed in a uniform.
ns 15.158.61.43da2
