Read Online The Demon Conspiracy by R. L. Gemmill - Free Book Online

I’d thought. If we’d fallen all the way to the bottom,
we’d be dead. No, the entire ledge that we’d been standing on at
the time of the quake had slid down and gotten stuck on a rock
shelf that jutted out high above an enormous open cavern. The
cavern itself must have been at least five or six football-fields
long. Thousands of stalactites of varying lengths hung from the
ceiling. On the floor below, a wide, flat rock butted up against
one of the walls, almost like a stage. It even had a larger open
area in front of it where an audience could gather. But, of course,
it had no curtains or seats. The floor of the open area was soaking
wet.
    “I can see rocks and stuff down there that
came from our cave,” I said. “There’s water everywhere, it’s a
mess. I guess sometimes nature makes a mess in order to get things
cleaned up better, you know? Like a forest fire or a flood.”
    “I guess.” Travis crawled up beside me. “See
that big, roundish rock? That’s makin’ it all red. It sorta glows.
It looks smooth, too, like the walls.”
    Jon returned to the ledge above us and
called down. “The main tunnel caved in. I’m not going in without a
light. I found Dr. Parrish’s backpack with the rope. I’m coming
down.”
    “No!” I was afraid the sound of my voice
might cause another quake. “We won’t be able to get back up!”
    “Sure we will. Watch out.”
    I waited anxiously while Jon tied his end of
the rope to something I couldn’t see. Then he threw the other end
below. I caught it and pulled on it several times. I even swung on
it to test its strength. “It’s good.”
    A moment later Jon scampered down the rope
and joined us. When Travis went back to Chris, he found something
under a pile of rubble.
    “My hat!” He dug it out and tested the
headlamp. It still worked, but it flickered again. He spotted
something else. “Mr. Edward’s backpack.” He pulled it from the
debris and dumped everything out. “A first aid kit! Water! And
batteries!” He held up a pack of batteries and passed them to me. I
replaced the batteries in my flashlight and right away the yellow
beam turned bright white again. In the first aid kit Travis took
out seven rolls of tape. “This backpack has a metal frame.”
    I was confused. “It’s aluminum. So?”
    “So I need a splint.”
    I watched our little brother separate the
nylon pack from the metal frame and toss the pack aside. He held up
the frame. “This’ll work. We’ve got plenty of tape.”
    “You sure about this splint?” said Jon.
    “We can’t move him without it.”
    “I don’t think we’re gonna move him as it
is.” Jon looked up the steep ledge. “He weighs more than we do. If
it’s just us, it might be impossible getting him up there. One of
us should go for help.”
    “Not yet,” I said, trying to take charge of
my squeamishness. If I didn’t get over my fears in a hurry I’d be
utterly useless to everyone. Right now we all needed to be alert
and ready to help. “Let’s get this splint on before he wakes up.
What do we need, Travis?”
    “Something kinda soft to wrap around his
leg. Jon, can you break the frame so we can splint his leg on both
sides?”
    “Let me see it.” Jon took the frame and
started twisting it. He fought with it for a while, until finally,
it broke into several pieces. “How’s this?”
    “That’ll work great!”
    Meanwhile, I went through the available
backpacks and brought out some extra clothes. Jon took my
flashlight and shined it on Chris’ broken leg as he videotaped
it.
    “Why are you doing that?” I asked.
    “Because it’s gross. Brandon would want to
use it in a movie.”
    When Jon was done taping I passed his
backpack to him and he carefully placed Brandon’s camcorder inside
it. I held up some clothes. “Travis, will these work?”
    Travis nodded. “Yeah. Lift
his leg, Jon, but be real careful.”
    Jon gently raised Chris’
leg, doing his best to keep it immobile. Even so, Chris