by Cari Cole
Lucy followed Jane to the hole in the wall, dragging her feet and wishing they were back at the cabin drinking wine and celebrating victory. And if wishes were horses . . .
Bending down to look in the passage, Lucy prayed it wasn't going to be bad. It wasn't.
The water feeding the pool didn't cover the entire floor of the passage. It was a narrow ribbon snaking across the floor and appeared only two or three inches deep. If they were careful, they could stay dry.
The passage itself didn't get any smaller as far as Lucy could see--as far as the light reached--and it might have even gotten slightly larger.
"I'll go first this time," Lucy said.
"Lead on MacDuff," Jane said.
Mae gave Lucy a quizzical look. "Are you sure?"
Lucy nodded. "This section doesn't look so bad." She stooped and waddled into the passage. At least it was a little wider than the crack of doom.
After a five minute waddle with Jane and Mae following behind her, the ceiling disappeared above Lucy's head. The passage turned into a vertical shaft. Water cascaded down one side, more of a runnel than a waterfall, but she had another brief thought about rain. She tilted her head back to see how high they were going to have to climb. It looked to be about fifteen feet of another fairly easy climb.
Jane and Mae crowded in next to Lucy and added their lights to hers.
"You still have enough rope?" Lucy asked.
Jane nodded and her light bobbed along. "Sure. I'll go up first and tie off a line for you and Mae."
Lucy started to protest that she didn't need a line but she was feeling a little shaky despite the brave face she put on for her cohorts. "Good plan. I think I'll just sit down for a couple of minutes until you're ready."
Jane stepped up to the dry side of the shaft, stepped up on a rock protruding from the wall and reached up for a handhold.
Mae took Lucy's place at the bottom of the opening. "Be careful."
"Piece of cake," Jane said as she pulled up and started searching with her toe for the next foothold.
Thirty seconds later a rock clattered down toward Mae's upturned face and her world went black.
"Oh shit!" Lucy saw Mae go down a split second before Jane landed on top of her with a sickening crunch.
Are We Dead Yet?
"Triple shit. I hope I didn't kill her," Jane said as she rolled off of Mae and promptly passed out.
Lucy looked from one to the other wondering which one to tend to first.
Think! You have to get it together Now is not the time to turn into a crying wimp.
Mae moaned and stirred a little.
Jane was still. Lucy scooted over to her and put her hand over Jane's mouth. She was breathing thank God. Lucy looked her over and saw her right forearm was bent where it shouldn't be.
The sight made Lucy lightheaded and she saw stars.
Mae moaned again and moved a little more.
Lucy prayed she was coming around so they could deal with Jane together. That arm really didn't look good.
She crawled over to Mae and looked down at her. "Mae! Can you hear me?"
Mae moaned a little more and blinked.
"Mae!" Lucy added a shoulder shake to her urgent calls.
Mae moved her head from side to side before squinting up at Lucy. "Lucy? Did you die too?"
"You're not dead. I wasn't sure there for a minute but you're not dead."
"Then why are you calling me into the light?" Mae said.
"Mae!" Lucy shook her again. "I need you to make sense. We have to help Jane."
"Jane? What's wrong with Jane? Won't she come into the light?"
"Dammit Mae, you're not dead. None of us are dead. A rock fell and hit you on the head and then Jane fell on top of you."
Mae squinted against the glare of Lucy's light. "You're blinding me."
"Oh," Lucy said as she turned her head to the side just a little. "Glad to see you're back in the real world.
Mae sat up wincing at the increased throbbing in her head. "What's wrong with Jane?"
"Thank God you're making sense," Lucy said. "I think she broke her arm."
"Why isn't she saying anything?"
"I don't know. She was coherent when she rolled off of you but then she just passed out."
Mae turned her head in Jane's direction and realized her light wasn't on. "Why is my light out?"
"I think it just fell off," Lucy said. She searched around on the floor with her light and found Mae's headset within a few seconds. "Here," she said, pushing the button to turn it back on and handing it over. "Jane's over there." She swept her light a few feet to the right.
They both crawled over.
Jane looked like she was taking a little nap. Except for one small problem--her right forearm wasn't straight.
The thought of having to move Jane's arm in order to splint it made Lucy's stomach roll and she fought the urge to throw up.
"I'd say she passed out from pain, or fear, or both," Lucy said.
"Well I suppose that's a good thing," Mae said.
"We're going to have to make a splint or something. And then we're going to have to figure out how to get her out of here. Do we have a first aid kit?"
"No," Mae said. "I can't believe we didn't think to bring one. Jane would be reminding us what idiots we are if she was awake."
"Let's see what we've got to work with," Lucy said.
Mae started to dig through their packs. "We can use a rope coil for a splint and tie it on with the bandanas," Mae said.
The rope coil wasn't as stiff as a book or a board, but since they didn't have either of those, the rope would do. "I've got a knife," Lucy said. "We'll use part of one of the space blankets for a sling and to pad the rope."
They knelt next to Jane and took a closer look at her arm. No doubt it was badly broken. The only bright spot was that it wasn't a compound fracture.
"Should we try to straighten it out before we splint it?"
"Don't they make Girl Scout leaders take first aid courses?" Lucy asked.
"My co-leader was the first aid person."
"Of course she was." Lucy started rummaging through her pack for the knife. "The answer is no. All we can do is immobilize her arm and get her to the hospital."
"We'll never be able to get her out of here," Mae said.
"No, we won't. One of us is going to have to go for help." Lucy found the knife and sat back down next to Jane.
Mae sat on the other side and shuddered a little as she looked at Jane's arm.
They spent a few minutes experimenting with the best way to arrange the rope for maximum support and minimum lumps. In the end, they decided they couldn't improve on the basic wind and wrap configuration of a brand new clothesline.
Lucy cut a piece off one of the space blankets and folded it into a pad hoping to cushion Jane's arm from the rope at least a little.
Jane stirred and moaned when they lifted her arm to slide the splint in place. When they tightened the first of the bandanas around the clumsy contraption, Jane's eyes snapped open and she let out a thin scream.
"Please just pass out again," Lucy said.
"Just shoot me now," Jane said as they tied the next bandana.
"No way. Take a deep breath. We have to put on one more bandana."
"No, you really don't," Jane said.
Mae sniffed back tears. "Yes, we do."
Jane squeezed her eyes shut tears leaked from under her closed lids and streamed down her face. "Fine. Get it over with."
Lucy worked fast with the last bandana and added the sling Mae had fashioned from more of the tarp and a couple of straps she cut off one of the packs. "Better?"
Jane winced. "Yes. Of course better is a relative term."
"Good. Lucy, you stay here and take care of her. I'm going to give Ranger Rick an opportunity to gloat and say 'I told you so'."
###
"No hell you're not," Jane said. "You two are going the rest of the way and getting that piece of histo
ry we came after."
"Don't be ridiculous. We need to get you to a hospital," Lucy said.
"And you will. But first go find the Declaration."
Lucy was shaking her head. "You're nuts. We're all nuts thinking we could pull this off without help. Belle needs professionals on her side not crazy suburban amateurs."
"No. You two are crazy if you think I'm letting you give up now. We've come this far. You keep pointing out we don't have time to go back and start again."
"Hello? Severely broken arm?"
"No one ever died of a broken arm."
"But people do die of shock," Mae said.
"Do I sound like I'm in shock?"
Lucy cocked her head and gave her the eye. "As a matter of fact you do sound a little delirious. Otherwise why would you be suggesting we go treasure hunting instead of getting you rescued?"
"Logic," she said. "We're here. I think my body has started producing natural painkillers. And most important, if we walk out of here without finding that document, Belle is the one who'll pay the price for our failure."
"We can negotiate--come back another time," Mae said.
"Do you really think Ranger Rick is going to let us get within a mile of here after this?" Jane shook her head. "He'll probably post a guard or something until he can build a locked gate over the entrance. And once word gets out why we risked out lives in this fucking hole in the ground Cohutta will probably start to look more like Woodstock. And let's not forget we still don't know for sure that Ranger Rick isn't the kidnapper."
Lucy knew Jane was right about that but they couldn't just leave her here alone. And neither Mae nor Lucy could go on alone and take the chance of making things worse by getting hurt or lost without any backup. No they had to be sensible and go for help.
She'd find a way to make a deal with the kidnapper.
"Stop thinking like a girl," Jane said.
"Excuse me?" Lucy said.
"We wouldn't be having this argument if we were men. Don't you watch all those macho adventure movies? I can put up with a couple of extra hours of pain and swelling. We need to finish this."
Mae was shaking her head.
Lucy was starting to think maybe Jane was right. She knew she should be offended that Jane was using "thinking like a girl" as an insult. It wasn't about gender it was about compassion and caring. But dammit, Lucy would never forgive herself if something happened to Belle.
"Are you sure?" Lucy asked.
Jane nodded. "We can debate sexism in survival situations later."
Lucy frowned.
Jane quirked a brow at her.
Lucy laughed. "You're quoting Jurassic Park? Really?"
Jane managed a little chuckle. "It seemed appropriate."
"Let's do it," Lucy said.
"You can't be serious?" Mae said.
"I think I am. I can't take the chance that Belle's going to get hurt," Lucy said.
Mae frowned.
"What do you say?" Jane asked.
Mae looked from Jane to Lucy and back again. "I must be losing my mind. Okay. If we're going, let's get moving."
They spent the next ten minutes repacking all the important gear. They tucked one space blanket around Jane and folded up another to pad the pack they put under her head as a pillow.
"We'll move as fast as we can," Lucy said. She gave the pack a final pat and made sure Jane had a water bottle in easy reach. "Are you sure about this?"
She smiled, weak and painful though it was. "Just be careful. I'm going to lay here and take a little nap."
Lucy nodded and turned back to Mae. "I'll go up first. You stay away from the opening in case another rock falls."
"Are you sure you're feeling steady enough for this?" Mae asked.
"Oh yeah," Lucy said. And it was true. Maybe she had a mild concussion, or maybe it was seeing Jane acting so brave, but the fear was gone at least temporarily. She was just determined to see this through and get Jane out of here with nothing worse than a broken arm.
Lucy started climbing, slow and steady, testing every hand and foothold before trusting her weight to them. It was an easy climb. Jane must have been unlucky enough to grab the one loose rock in the shaft.
Three minutes and she was at the top. She found a sturdy formation to tie off the rope and tossed it down to Mae with a warning it was on its way.
With the security of the rope to back her up, it only took Mae two minutes to reach the top.
She unclipped her harness and gave Lucy a look. "Are you sure about this?"
"As sure as I'm going to be. Keep an eye on the time. If we get much past an hour, hour and a half and we're still not near the end we'll turn back."
Mae nodded. "Let's move as fast as we can."
###
The passage they'd climbed into was the easiest one they'd encountered since the first rappel. Almost wide enough for outstretched arms and with ceilings well above their heads, even a big man would be able to maneuver without trouble.
Still, Lucy moved with careful deliberation. According to the map there was some sort of shaft or hole in the floor ahead that she didn't want to step into.
They found the hole about twenty yards down the passage. It was filled with water that dripped from a stalactite with a slow, steady, plop.
The hole was about four feet across and looked deep. It wasn't much more than a giant step, just a little jump and they'd be across. But the consequences of not making it or of falling back when landing made the gulf seem larger.
Lucy looked around for someplace to tie off a safety rope. Of course, the walls in this area were smooth because nothing about this could actually be easy. There was a narrow ledge between the right hand wall and the pool, maybe four inches of damp rock that looked slippery.
What to do? Jump? Or edge around the right side?
"What do you think?" Lucy asked Mae.
She pointed to a lip of rock, like a ripple a few feet back from the edge of the hole. "If I sit and brace my feet on that, I can belay you while you tiptoe around the edge. You can find a spot to do the same for me on the other side."
"Do you really think you can hold me if I fall?"
She shrugged. "It's not like you're going off a cliff. The water will give you some buoyancy."
Lucy looked at the hole again. Mae was right, the water would be cold an uncomfortable but Lucy probably wouldn't get hurt and Mae would only have to help haul her out if she couldn't find a hold to pull herself out. "Good thinking."
They set up the rig and Lucy eased out onto the ledge with her face to the wall. Good thing neither of them had more than a C cup.
Lucy edged around the hole to the other side without getting wet and breathed a sigh of relief.
Mae waited while Lucy found a spot to brace her feet and followed her across.
Lucy's heart was pounding a little from the stress and it looked to her like Mae was breathing a little fast but they didn't rest. Knowing Jane was waiting and in pain was good incentive to keep moving.
Lucy checked the map. "That hole seems to be about the halfway point. At least according to this, but who knows?"
The floor sloped slightly down on this side of the hole and it looked like water sometimes flowed along the passage.
"I always thought caves were supposed to be pretty," Mae said. "You know with fool's gold sparkles and colored rocks."
Lucy had been thinking the same thing. Everything in the cave seemed to be variations of muddy brown, Georgia clay red or a dull baby-shit yellow. "I thought so too but I seem to recall having similar thoughts on the Ruby Falls tour. Some of the formations were amazing and of course the falls were beautiful but most of the place was dull brown rock."
"I guess nature is sparing with the amazing parts so we can appreciate them more."
Lucy gave her the eye at that even though Mae couldn't see her. "Aren't you just a little philosopher. Still, I'd love to see a real magical cave."
Mae chuckled. "This from the woman who vowe
d never to go underground again if we get out alive."
Another thirty yards or so brought them to a climb down.
They didn't waste time talking about it. Lucy rigged a rope, clipped in and started to climb down. This was another one of the twisty climbs. "Come on after me as soon as I make the first turn. Just try not to kick any loose rocks on my head."
"I'll yell if something gets loose," Mae said.
Lucy nodded and kept moving down.
They were making really good time. According to the map, at the bottom of this climb they'd find one more passage then a large room with some big stalagmites and stalactites. The X--hopefully--marking the Declaration's hiding spot was on the far side of the lowest hanging stalactite in that room.
The climb was long and narrow but not too dangerous since the shaft twisted often enough to make any fall a short one. It was, however, slow going. About twenty-five minutes of finger, elbow and knee scraping later, Lucy stepped to the floor of what, she hoped, was a short passage leading into the final chamber.
Lucy moved out of the way so Mae wouldn't have to navigate around her and took her first look at the final lap.
No, Really, The Crack Of Doom
Lucy's breath caught in her throat and she decided maybe she should learn to pray.
The light disappeared into a three foot high, two foot wide crack.
It was her worst nightmare.
"That can't be right. There must be another passage. No way we're supposed to go in there,"
Mae swept her light over the walls. No other openings were visible.
"The right opening must be hidden," Lucy said. Please let there be another opening. A bigger opening.
"No. This is it," Mae said.
Lucy shuddered. "What makes you so sure?"
"The map. If there was more than one small passage I'd think it would have been pointed out on the map," Mae said.
Lucy realized Mae was right. If the choice was between a small crack and a large tunnel maybe there wouldn't be any reference on the map but if there was a choice to be made between one or more, small, scary cracks surely Paul Morris would have noted which small, scary crack was the right one.
