[ WP ] Free write . Write the first short story that pops into your head .

Hellhole is a cave located high up in the mountains of West Virginia. It ’ s one of the longest caves in the US, and at about 518 feet down, it ’ s one of the deepest in the area too. It's home to one of the largest bat hibernation sites in the world with over 9,000 living inside. That ’ s nearly half the worlds population of that species. 
 
 We loved to explore and photograph the caves and - unlike the name suggests - it's a beautiful place. Mainly, though, we were here for the bats. 
 
 We heard they were *disappearing*. We figured coal drillers were to blame. The money hungry coal companies were always trying to get permits even though this is protected land, so we wanted to get any evidence we could to prove that they had been messing around here. 
 After hiking to the cave's only opening, we descended with our LEDs and began exploring. 
 
 With no real signs of coal drillers in the area, we began the trek back to the entrance when Archie finally spoke, “ I just don ’ t get it. Where the hell are all the bats? We haven ’ t seen a single one in over an hour. ” 
 
 I hesitated, but nerves finally got the better of me, “ It ’ s almost like something scared them away.'' 
 
 “ Not drills. “ Archie said, “ It would take something bigger to scare away that many bats. ” 
 
 When we reached the opening, we realized with horror that the ropes had been cut. 
 
 Two people shouted down, `` Please forgive us - all the bats are gone. Without food it will come for us.'' 
 
 *It*? 
 
 Behind us, we heard something big sliding across the rocks. Desperately scraping and clawing itself toward us from the depths of the cave.
