"Okay. Here we go."
Letting off the tension a little at a time from where his fist held the line, he lowered them down about a foot at a time into the expanse below. His extra flashlight was still on, but its beam still found the same, empty space.
Zack was sweating by the time the yellow marking ring came into sight on the rope line.
Ten more feet to the end.
He swallowed hard. This is not looking good. Not at all.
Unwinding his left arm from his rope, he shone the flashlight beam straight down.
Darkness.
All around, darkness.
Moving darkness.
He scrunched up his brow and tried to focus on what he saw in the beam's light. There was something there. A rippling, fluid movement, as if he were looking at—
"Water!" he cried out loud. "Ha! There's water down below us."
Sydney shifted herself on his back just enough to peak down. "Water? How... how far down?"
"Well. Let's not worry about that right now. For now, let's just be happy that this pit isn't bottomless, and we have somewhere to go."
"You want us to go into the water?"
"I want us to live, yes."
"You're crazy! There is no way I'm going to go down th—"
The rest of what she was going to say was lost to a scream as the jagged edge above finally cut through Zack's rope as well.
They fell the rest of the way through space, splashing into the freezing water below.
Chapter Thirteen
OUT OF THE FRYING pan, into the fire.
Zack actually would have preferred the heat to the wet chill of an underground river. The piercing cold drove into his dislocated shoulder like a thousand frozen needles, the pain shooting through his body in waves, but he was grateful just to be alive.
He wasn't sure Sydney shared his sentiment.
Shivering uncontrollably, she clung to him. Their heads bobbing in the rapid current of the water and with every breath she strung sentences together, praying to God for help, and railing about her stupidity for listening to Zack. At least she wasn't too scared to speak anymore.
"Where do you think this river goes?" she asked him after a second or two.
"East."
"You have no idea..." Shivering interrupted her harsh words. "No idea... how much... I hate being here with you...right now. Just a...short jaunt, huh? More like just...just a quick death!"
The current took them down an ever-narrowing tunnel that closed in on them from both sides. The narrowing of the channel caused the river to flow faster and faster.
They needed to get out of the freezing river, and they needed to get out quick. The rock walls were slick, and it is hard to make out any details other than dark-colored stone. Now and again there were flashes of lighter colored veins, minerals or precious metals, or whatever else might be here.
Until he saw it.
"There! Sydney there up ahead, do you see it?"
The flowing river bent sharply not twenty feet from where they were and where it did the tunnel flattened out on the right, creating a flat ledge. The water swirled there in a slow eddy before it continued.
"Can we...can we reach that?" she asked him.
Zack didn't answer. He was already angling closer to the right side, reaching out with his one shivering hand to catch at the rock ledge, his fingers slipping and his body being violently knocked about again and again until...
His hand slipped off entirely, and they were caught in the slow whirlpool.
"No!" Sydney cried out in frustration.
"I know, I know! Hold on. The current is bringing us around again."
He was ready this time. He bent his knees up, bringing his feet out, and when they struck the edge, he pushed up as hard as he could and reaching around with his right arm, heaved Sydney toward the rock ledge. It was enough to get her top half over the edge, even if her legs were still being pulled along by the water. Her hands scrambled for any hold she could find. Finally, between him pushing and her pulling, she climbed up and over.
And the current took him again. He tried to catch any part of the smooth ledge as he was pulled past but with only one hand groping in the dark, there was nothing to grab.
Sydney was still shivering, curled up on her knees, arms crossed over herself, water sluicing from her hair and clothes. She needed his help.
He blinked and shook his head. He was the one still in the water. She was safe on the dry ground. Was he really more worried about her than he was his own life?
He shook his head, wiping water from his eyes. He had to save himself first if he was going to be any help to Sydney. He was coming around again, for the third time, and he didn't know how long the current would hold him in this eddy before kicking him out and sending him shooting farther downstream. He tried the same trick again, raising his feet up, bracing for the impact with the wall.
When it came, he pushed as hard as he could.
One foot slipped on the rock, leaving him floundering.
Some days he wondered if maybe he should just stick to being a software engineer. Safer. Lucrative. Comfortable from the easy chair in his own, safe, home.
Boring.
His head went under, and when he came up again, it was to the sound of Sydney calling his name. The rock ledge hit him hard against his shoulder and his back, and he curled with pain. He had to get out of there. Ignoring the pain he desperately grabbed with his good arm at the smooth, slippery rock, finding nothing to grab onto, nothing to hold.
Nothing...
Until Sydney grabbed him with both hands and tried desperately to hold him against the current.
She was down on her knees still and as he attempted to pull himself up he only succeeded in pulling her down flat on her stomach against the cold, hard rocks. But she pulled, and he pulled, and he got his feet braced, and he was climbing up, climbing out, and then they were both out of the water lying on a rocky ledge, coughing out freezing water.
Zack lay on his back, mortified that he had needed help from her. Of course, if he'd made this trip alone, he wouldn't have gotten into this situation in the first place. He didn't want to have to rescue anyone else, and he certainly didn't want to be rescued himself.
"I'm sorry," Sydney whispered to him, shivering violently. "I said...some very...mean things to you...in the water."
"Don't worry about it, Sydney, I've heard worse. In several languages."
Zack couldn't stop shivering. It didn't do his shoulder any good. His teeth clacked together when he talked. He figured he probably had the same ice crystals forming in his hair as she did in her damp and tangled brown strands. But he could tell that the frigid temperatures were affecting her more than they were him. The water dripped from her hair and her jacket and her skin. They couldn't stay here. They'd freeze to death if they didn't move.
"I didn't...mean...it," she stuttered.
"Mean what?" He was rubbing her back now, trying to work some comfort into her body.
"That I...hate being...here...with you. I wanted...to come... This was an...accident."
"Don't worry about it," Zack said, trying to move in a way that would ease the pain shooting through his shoulder. "Now the real fun and games begin...finding a way out of here."
"Fantastic idea," Sydney said. "But, how?"
Zack aimed his helmet light back up the river, the way they had come. The current flowed strong, water stirring and churning. "Can't go that way," he decided out loud. And there was no way he was going to chance riding the river any farther. Not in their state.
So he turned the flashlight back and forth around them into the darkness. From where he was standing the rock ledge continued, forming a cavern of sorts. He couldn't see the other end of it. But it went in a direction that was away from the river. Good enough for now.
"Come on," he said to her. "This way."
"Is it the way...out?"
"I don't know. It's away from the water. It's a good start, and
we need to keep moving."
They started out, carefully placing their steps on the rock that was slick with spray from the river and thin patches of ice. The water dripped from Zack's clothes, and the cold bit his skin. Sydney looked colder than he was. This way had to lead them somewhere.
It had to.
Their breath misted in the air. The temperature was well below freezing. The water kept from turning into ice only because of how fast it was moving. If he and Sydney didn't move, they'd be in danger of turning to ice themselves.
The cavern turned into a passage with walls that were tall and curving. The surface was rough and uneven and broken up in places, but they kept going.
"Do you...hear that?" Sydney asked him, freezing in place. "What is it?"
A sound that had started off as a whisper began to grow louder. It was a continuous hissing, a sound of steam escaping through the exhaust pipe, or an angry leviathan.
"Well, I'm betting it's not Mikkel's monster. Come on, let's go see."
After what Zack estimated was at least six or seven minutes, maybe more, the cavern began widening out. The walls that had pressed in on them began to get farther and farther apart, and it was slightly warmer. The ice on their faces turned to water. Zack kept them close to the wall on their right, as a guide.
And then suddenly they entered a vast underground grotto.
It was a huge cave with massive stone pillars that reached from the floor up to the high ceiling, thinner in the middle than at the base or the top: conjoined stalactites and stalagmites. They stood like support columns everywhere, and Zack couldn't see how far back the grotto went because of the pillars being in his way. The hissing noise echoed around the chamber. Everywhere, veins of purple and blue fluorescent minerals streaked through the otherwise black rock.
Zack shut off his helmet light, just to see what would happen. The world they now stood in was lit by a soft purple glow. The crystals radiated light from some inner source, giving plenty of illumination to see still. "Interesting," he said.
"Yes," Sydney chattered, hitting her fist weakly against his back. "It is p-positively incredible. K-keep m-moving."
He could tell she had to be close to the end of whatever incredible reserve she was drawing on. It wasn't freezing anymore, but they were still in danger of hypothermia. He had an idea about what that constant hissing sound they were hearing might be. If he was right, they might just have a chance.
And if he was wrong...
Well, if he was wrong they were most likely going to die here.
He led her on a weaving path through the rock columns, some of them so close together that he and Sydney had to go around them, some so widely spaced a semi-truck could have fit through. Everywhere, the fluorescent rock glowed and gave them light. As they continued the noise got louder and the air noticeably warmer. The grotto showed no signs of ending.
And then, in a space clear of the massive support columns, he found what he had hoped to see.
"Yes!" he whispered.
This was a promise of hope.
"What is that?" Sydney said.
"Our salvation," he said to her.
"Wh-wh-where—"
"Sydney, don't speak. Just trust me, okay?"
She followed along next to him with shuffling steps...
Chapter Fourteen
THEY STEPPED INTO A rock clearing with a ceiling that stretched up even higher than it had before. When Zack turned his light back on and shone it around, it revealed jutting rocks that protruded at every angle. Sydney looked around too and shuddered.
"Looks ominous," she said.
If you looked at it in the right way, it could look pretty gloomy. The purple glow and the jagged edges of the rock and their situation weren't exactly the right settings for a party.
Zack pushed a gloved hand over his nose. The faint aroma of rotten eggs hung in the air, and that could only mean one thing. The smell of hope. "Do you smell that?" he asked.
"I d-don't s-smell anything. What...is it?"
Zack shone his light around the clearing and found what he was looking for. Farther in, toward the back of the clearing, steaming water sparkled and reflected his light across the cavern.
"It's a hot spring!" Sydney called out.
They picked up their pace and rushed over. The water was crystal clear. The beam from Zack's flashlight slid all the way to the bottom of the pool, revealing small rocks and a relatively flat bottom, about chest-deep. Larger rocks were strewn around the edge of the pool, almost like they had been seats installed for their leisure.
The water wasn't boiling, so that was a good sign. Zack stepped forward and bent over to touch his fingertips to the edge of the water. Some hot springs were scorching hot, far hotter than was safe for them to get in, but they were in luck. This one was perfect bath temperature. The amount of steam that it gave off wafted around their feet.
"I can't believe this is here," Sydney breathed, kneeling down and feeling the water herself. She played her fingers through the water.
"It's pretty amazing," Zack agreed.
"I didn't know there were active volcanoes in Greenland," Sydney said. Zack knew she was referring to Iceland where an active volcano caused a lot of warmth.
"This is a little different," he said. "The hot springs are kept warm by layers deep in the earth's crust, rubbing against each other."
"Rubbing together? Like earthquakes?"
"Something like that, just not as, you know, lethal."
"Well, this works for me," she said.
Zack was starting to feel the chill of his wet clothes gnaw through every layer of his body like it was piercing into his very marrow. Everywhere, except his limp right arm. They had to get warm.
"Come on, let's get in," he said, and Sydney didn't hesitate for a change. She started fiddling with her harness immediately.
Zack looked down at his wet clothes and the harness. How was he going to do this?
He fiddled with the buckles and managed to undo most of them with his one hand. Some of them were harder to do, but he figured he could pull it off without undoing them. He tugged at the harness and tried to pull it off him, but a sharp pain shot through his shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut, ground his teeth and groaned.
"You okay?" Sydney asked.
"I'm fine," he said.
She stopped what she was doing and scrutinized him. He shifted from one leg to the other. She'd already taken her harness off and unzipped her jacket.
"W-what's wrong?" she asked.
"My shoulder. I think I hurt it pretty bad," he said.
She stepped closer to him looking concerned and touched his hand. His fingers were freezing, but hers were somehow even colder. She pulled his hand up a little bit, but he cried out almost immediately
"This is bad," she said under her breath, and then to him, "I didn't realize you dislocated it."
He just nodded.
"We need to reset it to prevent any permanent nerve damage," she said.
Zack let out a short burst of laughter. "Are you crazy? This isn't like the movies. I can't just bang it against the wall to pop it back in place. I'll injure myself more and die of pain in the process."
"Come on, you big baby. You're in a lot of pain. I can fix it."
"No thanks."
"Then at least l-let me...help you g-get your harness off," she said and started fiddling with the last buckles. He turned his head away. He hated this.
She worked fast and managed to get the harness off without hurting him too much. Then she unzipped his jacket.
"I can do it," he said, sounding harsher than he intended.
She stopped and looked at him, the question in her eyes for a moment before she shook her head. "You c-can't...and we'll f-freeze to death if we d-don't get out of these w-wet clothes."
"I said I could do it," Zack said, but the moment he moved his arm his face twisted into a scowl again.
"I'm sure," she said and made him let her help with his jacket.
Her fingers were as sluggish as Zack was starting to feel. She was still shivering. The cold was taking its toll on them. It was a good thing they'd found this hot spring because any longer and their bodies would be frozen through.
Finally, the harness was off, his bag on the floor, and his jacket in a sad crumpled heap beside all of it.
Sydney turned away and stripped down to her pink polypropylene long underwear. She slipped into the water and swam away from him.
Chapter Fifteen
ZACK FINISHED UNDRESSING DOWN to his thermals and stepped into the hot water. At first, it was too hot for his frozen toes to handle. He waited until they were warm enough for his body to realize it wasn't being scorched to death. Cold did that to you, froze you through, and you had to warm up a little at a time. But Zack was determined. He'd been cold for long enough.
When he finally defrosted enough to step deeper into the pool, he sank onto a rock nearby and slowly stretched his arm, and his legs. The warmth was incredible.
"This is wonderful! How did you know this was here?" Sydney called over the hissing. She was sitting on another rock, not too far off, the hot water lapping up to her chin. She wasn't shivering anymore. It was like her whole body had relaxed.
"I had no idea it was here. I just kept moving, and the smell gave it away."
"It doesn't smell appetizing," Sydney said, crinkling her nose. "But it's a small sacrifice I'm willing to make."
"We just can't stay long."
"Why not?"
"Hydrogen sulfide gas. It produces that rotten egg smell. It's faint so there may be adequate ventilation, but there's no way to be certain. In a confined space like this, it's extremely dangerous."
"You're just full of knowledge, aren't you Professor?"
"Let's just warm up and get out."
As his blood began to flow back into his extremities, his muscles flexed easier, and his fingers and toes began to tingle. This place was like a steam room.
The Codex (An Armour of God Thriller Book 2) Page 5
