by Cari Cole
Now this was a plan with possibilities. Lucy wondered why she hadn't thought of it. "Are you sure you have the muscle power to pull it off?"
"I'll find it. Don't they say you can lift cars when someone you love is in danger?"
"We'll make it work," Lucy said. "What do you say?" When she turned to Jane she realized Jane had passed out again. Probably a good thing. "Alright, let's get her bundled up."
Jane came to while Mae and Lucy were maneuvering her onto their last blanket. Mae explained her plan.
"So, all you have to do is sleep through as much of it as possible," Lucy said.
"Good, 'cause I don't think I'm up for any calisthenics."
She helped them by wriggling into the middle of the blanket and straightening everything to make it easier for them to wrap her up.
"We should pull her feet first," Mae said when she and Lucy debated about how to attach the rope.
"So, all we need to do is rig her climbing harness around her feet," Lucy said.
It took them three tries to find a way to wrap and tighten the harness around Jane so that Mae could pull her without shutting off the circulation to her feet.
They clipped a rope to Mae's harness and Jane's and Mae got ready to slither into the hole.
"I'll keep an eye on the rope and make sure it doesn't tangle. Give it a couple of good tugs when you're ready for us to start into the hole." Lucy said.
Mae nodded and smiled. "We're going to pull this off and have her out of here in no time."
Lucy managed a weak smile in return. "Soccer moms rule."
Mae knelt at the hole.
"Wait!"
Mae hesitated. "What?"
"You should take the jar with you in case something happens. We need to make sure it gets out."
"Nothing's going to happen," Mae said.
"Just in case," Lucy said. "Hook your pack on the rope between you and the stretcher."
"Fine but I don't think we should be worrying."
Lucy didn't answer. She felt better knowing the jar would get out no matter what happened behind Mae.
They clipped Mae's pack to the rope with a carabineer.
Jane escaped into fitful sleep. Lucy put a hand on her forehead. She'd been clammy, now she seemed too warm. Could a person get an infection from a broken bone? Would it show up this fast? Or was her body just mobilizing all its defenses?
It didn't really matter. There wasn't anything Lucy could do to help other than get her out of here as soon as possible. If she was capable of helping.
Lucy stared at the hole watching the rope disappear foot by foot while her heart raced and her palms slicked with sweat.
"What happened? On the trip to the treasure?"
Lucy looked at Jane and saw she'd roused herself again. She shrugged.
"Come on. Take my mind of my arm and tell me."
How was she supposed to say no to that?
"The real crack of doom happened. A long crawl on our bellies. I flipped my shit completely and almost didn't make it. Claustrophobia on steroids."
Jane shivered. "I probably would have freaked out with you. Did you know about the claustrophobia?"
Lucy shook her head. "Not really. I guess I've never been in a place where it came up. I remember being a little uncomfortable when I toured Ruby Falls. And there was this little thing when I was a kid."
"What thing?" Jane asked.
"Well, I got trapped in an abandoned sewer during a thunderstorm. It was pretty scary for a while but I made it out okay."
"And you didn't think to tell us that before we came down here?" Jane looked like she would have yelled if she'd been able.
"Honestly, I hadn't thought about it for years until the other day after Gary left. I thought the trauma was way past. And a cave isn't a sewer."
"Was it really bad?"
"It was bad. I thought I was going to die."
"Panic attack. I've heard it's just like having a real heart attack."
"All I know, is I don't ever want to feel like that again."
The tugs on the rope surprised her.
Lucy didn't see how it was possible Mae had made it through so fast.
The tugging came again. "That's our cue. Ready?"
"As I'm going to get," Jane said and closed her eyes. "Tell me when it's over."
Lucy gave a couple of quick jerks on the rope to let Mae know she'd "heard" her and slid Jane on her makeshift stretcher into place at the mouth of the hole before repeating the signal to let Mae know she could start reeling Jane in.
The rope went taut and Jane's feet disappeared into the hole.
Jane made a small pained sound.
Lucy put her hands on Jane's shoulders. "We're in the home stretch," she said. If only she didn't still feel like something was very wrong. Well something besides the fact that they were down in this cave and Jane had a broken arm and Belle was in the hands of some crazy kidnapper.
"Good," Jane said and closed her eyes with a sigh.
As Lucy watched the crack swallow Jane inch by inch an irrational wave of fear washed over her. It was silly. The horror show before the treasure room was way worse than this. She'd gotten through this part with barely a whimper compared to the crack of doom.
A few times in her life she'd had "feelings" or premonitions about things going wrong. She'd always tried to listen to that inner voice.
Right now, her entire being vibrated with the absolute belief that if she followed Jane into that crack she was going to die.
If she didn't crawl in Jane might get stuck, Mae might run out of strength, or maybe both, and she'd be responsible for Jane going into shock and possibly dying.
Jane's head disappeared into the hole.
Lucy dropped onto her hands and knees and directed her light into the crack. The blue plastic of the space blanket moved another couple feet into the tunnel.
Ahead of her, Jane made another small sound of pain.
Shit, Jane might be in trouble already.
Heat flushed Lucy's skin and she was light-headed when she muttered, "Fuck it," and pushed her body into the crack.
She'd go as far as she could before the panic set in and hope it was enough to see Jane to safety.
The stretcher slid ahead of her in fits and starts as Lucy crawled along wishing it would move faster. No doubt, Mae was doing the best she could and it was pretty amazing she was managing to pull it alone.
For a few minutes they moved at a fairly steady pace with the sound of the blanket scraping over rock, the occasional groan from Jane and her own nervous humming keeping time.
The stretcher stopped moving. Lucy told herself it was just Mae catching her breath. She gave the stretcher a little push to make sure there wasn't a problem and it moved forward a few inches. Okay relax, breathe deep and wait for Mae to go back to work.
It got very quiet without the blanket scraping and humming.
In the deep silence there was a new sound.
"Jane?"
"Well hallelujah. I thought I'd lost you."
"Do you hear that?" Lucy said.
"What?"
"I don't know. A new noise."
"Are you sure? The damn space blanket isn't exactly stealth transportation."
"In case you hadn't noticed we're not moving."
At that moment Lucy recognized the sound. A horrible whining noise came up out of her throat.
"Oh fucking hell," Jane said. "Water. Running water and it's in here with us."
Water Water Everywhere
"Don't panic," Jane said as the sound got louder.
Lucy surged forward reflexively in an attempt to get away from the water coming into the hole behind her. Her right hand made hard contact with Jane's shoulder, jarring her injured arm.
"Ouch! Damn it, I said don't panic."
Jane's cry of pain reached the thinking part of Lucy's brain. Going forward would hurt Jane. Back. She had to go backward. She shoved one foot back the way they'd come and came in contact wit
h her pack. She kicked at it, trying to shove it out of her way. It slid away but not far and she was forced to fight it again. Too slow! The water was going to win.
"Lucy? You have to stay with me," Jane called.
Lucy heard and stopped fighting her pack. Her feeling had been right, she was going to die in this hole but Jane didn't have to. If Lucy didn't let the panic win, she might be able to do her part to shove Jane to safety. If only Mae would hurry.
The makeshift stretcher started inching toward freedom again but not nearly fast enough.
Did Mae even realize it was raining? Was there water running toward her as well?
The first trickle of water slithered up Lucy's leg.
She shrieked like a B horror movie heroine.
"Now what?" Jane asked.
"The water's running this way."
"That doesn't make any sense. There's a much better way for it to go in the last room."
"Unless it's got another way in here with us," Lucy said.
"I think I know how," Jane said. "A few yards back I felt a little breeze on my face. I thought I was imagining it but there must be a small opening to the surface."
The water rolled under Lucy's hands and slid under the stretcher. At this point it was a paper-thin dampness. But that was bound to change.
Lucy blocked out everything except the need to push Jane as close to safety as she could before the water overcame her.
The stretcher picked up speed.
"Mae must have realized what's happening," Jane said.
Lucy didn't hear her. Her world was reduced to the feel of the water soaking more of her coveralls with each passing second and the sight of Jane's head moving ahead of her one painful inch at a time and the sound of water over rocks that would have been pleasantly soothing in a summer garden.
The stretcher continued to slide and Lucy kept pace with it.
The water was now covering her hands and still rising. It was harder to push against the slick floor and Lucy was doing more slithering than crawling.
Lucy saw the water trickle into Jane's ear.
"Whose brilliant idea was it for me to be trussed up like a turkey and shoved into this fucking hole?" Fear tinged Jane's voice.
The stretcher slowed down again. The water poured in faster.
Lucy paused to try and pull her pack in front of her and fell behind.
"What are you doing?" Jane raised her voice over the sound of the water and the blanket sloshing through.
Lucy didn't bother to answer as she continued to struggle with the pack in the small space. Finally through a combination of lifting her body on hands and toes and pushing to one side of the passage, she managed to get the pack in front of her and scramble double fast to catch up to Jane.
The rising water licked at Lucy's shins. It had to be coming in from more than one point to be filling the tunnel so fast.
Lucy put a hand on Jane's left shoulder and tried to shove the backpack under Jane's head as she crawled. The extra effort left her breathless but after a few clumsy tries, Jane figured out what Lucy was trying to do and heaved her head up off the ground. Lucy shoved the pack home, buying Jane a few extra inches above the rising water.
Gasping for air, Lucy crawled along pushing on the pack to keep it in place under Jane's head.
The water reached her stomach. Her abdominal muscles contracted painfully in an attempt to lift away from the cold water.
Jane's face was still above water, propped on the pack, but Lucy was getting tired and the water was still rising.
The stretcher's slide came to an abrupt halt.
Lucy used breath she couldn't spare in a low keening moan and mustered the effort to shove hard at Jane's shoulders.
The stretcher didn't budge but Jane yelped in pain.
"Stuck," Jane said.
Lucy raised her head to try and get a breath past her panic-closed throat. Jane was going to drown in here with her unless she did something. She squeezed her eyes closed, summoned the last shred of rationality left in her brain and forced herself to take just one second to think.
Action. She had to take some action.
Stop being such a fucking wimp. Get it together and act like a grown ass woman instead of some weak-minded twit.
Lucy opened her eyes, did a push-up, and swept her light around the edges of the stretcher looking for the snag. She found the problem. One of the straps they'd used to tighten the blanket around Jane's thighs was caught on a small knob of rock on the left side if the tunnel.
"Hold on," Lucy said.
"Like I have a choice."
With the extra bulk of the helmet, Lucy couldn't find the room to slither over Jane to reach the snag. She yanked the helmet off, propped it on Jane's right shoulder.
Jane was going to have to lower her head to make room for Lucy. "Take a deep breath and don't move."
Lucy took a breath of her own then rolled to the left and inched over Jane. She could feel the water running faster under her legs, climbing higher in the tunnel at an exponential rate.
Reaching as far forward as she could, she managed to slip a finger between the strap and the rock and pop the strap free.
The makeshift stretcher began to move again with more speed, sliding out from under Lucy. The water was now only six inches from the ceiling. She grabbed her helmet and light, shoved it back onto her head and started crawling again.
Every few ghastly feet, Lucy had to stop, tilt her head around toward the ceiling and take a gasping breath. Each time she wondered if the next time she'd find only water.
The stretcher continued to slide through the tunnel just ahead of Lucy's face. In between her own breaths Lucy crowded close to the stretcher and lifted Jane's head up above the water so she could get a breath as well while the stretcher slid forward stretching Lucy's arm to the limit.
Each time it was harder to muster the strength to lift Jane. Each time there was a smaller pocket of air at the top of the tunnel.
Lucy's arm quivered with the strain of letting Jane's head down gently. She'd lost count of how many times she'd repeated the maneuver but said a mental thank you to God and the cosmos that she managed it again.
She pushed the last air out of her lungs and levered herself up for another breath. Her hardhat scraped the top of the tunnel and she turned her head, straining for every fraction of an inch. The corner of her mouth broke the surface and she managed to sip a thin stream of air before the water finished filling the gap.
This was it. The last gasp. The last chance to save her friend.
Praying there was still enough of an air pocket for Jane to get a breath or two, Lucy pushed forward with her toes and her right elbow while she pushed Jane's head up with her left hand.
In seconds her lungs started to burn. She struggled forward a few more inches her left arm trembling with the strain of holding Jane's head up.
Lucy exhaled a puff of air to relieve some of the pressure on her lungs. The maneuver bought her a few seconds. Her toes slipped and Jane started to move away from her.
She let out more air as the stretcher moved out of reach and tried to dig her toes harder into the floor.
She didn't have any strength left.
Going limp, she fought the overwhelming urge to take a breath of water. Her mind and her lungs screamed for relief. Water would be better than the emptiness.
Her toes scraped uselessly on the floor.
She slammed her head into the ceiling searching for an air pocket that wasn't there.
Colored lights danced behind her closed eyelids.
She gave in and risked sucking in just a tiny bit of water. The lights disappeared and the world went dark.
Ryan's face appeared out of the black.
Lucy smiled and reached for him. The one good thing that had come from a life of playing it safe.
This Time I Know I'm Dead
A hand closed around the wrist of her outstretched arm.
Lucy tried to grab on but her hand slid
free.
The hand clasped her wrist again and pulled.
In her struggle to hang on, the need for air beat out the rational part of her brain that screamed no. She sucked in a mouthful of water and Ryan's face disappeared.
A sharp, wet, smack landed between her shoulder blades.
Lucy gasped and choked and fought for air. Air that magically appeared to replace the water she retched up.
Why wasn't she dead?
Mae sat back on her heels. "Thank God. I thought you were dead."
Lucy flopped onto her side, propped herself up on one elbow and proceeded to hack, cough, spit and snort in an effort to finish clearing her lungs and airway of water.
Mae crawled over to check on Jane.
"Don't worry about me," Jane said when Mae came into view. "Make sure Lucy's going to be okay."
Lucy rolled onto her back and wheezed. "This time I know I'm dead."
"Not funny," Mae said. "I thought we lost you."
"I thought so too," Lucy said and let out a shuddering sob.
The water in this wider section of the tunnel was only a few inches deep and didn't appear to be rising.
"Let's get out of this tunnel before this one starts filling up too," Mae said.
"Untruss me," Jane said. "My arm's numb from the cold I can walk the rest."
They shuffle-walked through the last stretch of tunnel and back into the room at the bottom of their first rappel and scrambled back around and over the boulder obstacles. Jane hit a couple of rough patches but kept saying she didn't feel a thing.
They reached the rope dangling from the opening in the ceiling and collapsed, giving themselves five minutes to cry and breathe, get oxygen back to all their vital parts and bleed off some of the horror at what they'd just been through.
"I've never been so scared in my entire life as when I saw that water start to run out of that crack," Mae said.
"You should've tried being in there with the water," Jane said. She looked awfully pale but seemed to be stable and alert. Mae helped her get a little more comfortable and put a pack behind her to prop her up. "Lucy saved my life."
