Alone in the Crowd (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 3)

by Patrick Stutzman

  “Yes, sir!”

  “What happened?”

  “The stairs dropped into the floor when the trap door opened under Anderson, sir.”

  “Who all is with you?”

  “Just me and Hunter, sir.”

  “Hunter! Go back to camp and get a medic. We have wounded down here. Hicks, uncoil your rope and drop us a line. This time, tack down the other end somewhere at the top of the stairs.”

  Two voices cut through the darkness together. “Yes, sir!”

  Jason suddenly asked, “Anna, what’s that?”

  “What?”

  “That blue glow.”

  She looked down at her shoulder. Her skin was glowing blue beneath her leather top. She pulled the shoulder strap down to expose the radioactive specks. In doing so, she displayed the random pattern of dots to the rest of the group. The light they emitted shone brightly enough to illuminate Anna’s shoulder, neck, and upper arm.

  “Wow!” gasped Cary.

  “What is that?” Jason asked again.

  Anna pulled the strap back in place. “They’re just some specks of dust that stuck to my skin several years ago. I’d almost forgotten that they were there.”

  “You don’t feel any heat from that? Or any radiation sickness?” Cary asked.

  “No, not really.”

  “Amazing!”

  “Great!” Cooper interjected. “Maybe we can use her as a flashlight, too.”

  “Sir!” One of the voices from above returned.

  “Yes, Hicks!” Cooper answered. “What is it?”

  “I’m lowering the rope. Can you see it?”

  “Where’s our light stick?” Cooper asked.

  “Cary,” Anna intervened. “Didn’t you and Tomomi have light sticks, too?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know what happened to mine. I would think it would be down here with us.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Anderson?” Cooper continued. “You awake?”

  No response.

  “Anderson?”

  Again, no response.

  Tomomi gasped. “Oh, god!”

  Anna heard movement in front of her that was quickly interrupted by a painful groan from Cooper. She crawled toward him, until she felt a body on the ground. A second later, a hand brushed against her thigh.

  “Anna?”

  “Yes, Jason. That’s me.”

  “Sorry.” He pulled his hand back.

  “Sergeant, you shouldn’t move. You could aggravate any wounds you may have,” Anna suggested.

  “I can take care of myself.”

  Anna checked the body in front of her. “Anderson? Are you awake?” she whispered.

  “Leave him alone! He’s unconscious!” Cooper moaned.

  Anna searched through Anderson’s pockets until she found what she believed was another light stick. With a snap and a shake, green light returned, restoring their sight. She looked over everyone. While Jason appeared only mussed and dirty, Cary’s arms were wrapped around his ribs, and Tomomi’s arm was swollen halfway between her elbow and wrist. Cooper lay in the dirt next to Anderson, who remained face down and motionless.

  She checked Anderson for a pulse. “Jason, check out the extent of our good sergeant’s wounds.”

  “Don’t touch me, boy!” Cooper brandished his fist as Jason approached.

  “I’m only checking to see where you’re hurt,” Jason said.

  Once he touched Cooper’s injured arm, Cooper reared back his other arm and slugged Jason squarely in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

  “Sergeant!” Anna yelled. “He’s only trying to help you!”

  While Jason sat up and rubbed his jaw, Cooper snapped his head around to stare angrily at Anna. “I don’t need your help! I need that medic Hunter’s getting.”

  “And, what if he can’t get down here? What then? Would you rather succumb to your wounds because of your pride?”

  Cooper fell silent and turned away from her.

  “Speaking of getting down here…” she said as she stood and walked toward the side of the cavern. She looked toward the top of the rocky wall while holding the light stick as high as she could and studied the ceiling for a while.

  Tomomi broke the silence. “Anna, what are you looking for?”

  “The rope that Hicks lowered to us,” Anna replied.

  “Sergeant, how long is the rope in your packs?”

  “Thirty meters.” He grimaced while clutching his arm.

  Anna nodded. “Hicks!”

  “Yes?”

  “Have you lowered the rope?”

  “Yes, I have. Can you see it?”

  “No, I can’t. It must be caught on something.”

  “How do you know that?” Jason asked.

  “How long did it take us to fall, Jason?” Anna asked him back.

  He thought for a second. “Probably about two or three seconds.”

  “If that’s the case,” added Tomomi. “Then, we fell about…”

  “Fifty-nine meters,” Cary interrupted. “We should be dead!”

  Anna said, “I don’t think it was that far. Falling for between one and two seconds makes more sense. Considering the extent of the injuries we sustained, it’s probably closer to one.”

  “So, it would be more like ten meters, then,” Cary nodded in agreement.

  “Yes.”

  “If that’s the case,” added Tomomi. “Then, why isn’t Anderson awake?”

  Anna moved back to Anderson’s side.

  “Probably because he landed first and broke the fall for the rest of us,” Cary speculated.

  “Five of us landed on his back?” Jason gave his skeptical comment, while Anna checked for Anderson’s pulse again. “Then, that would mean that he’s…”

  “Probably dead,” Tomomi gasped.

  Cooper interjected, “He ain’t dying! Nobody’s dying on my watch.”

  “I’m afraid you may be too late, sarge,” Anna grimly stated. “I’m not finding a pulse. And, Cary may be right. With five other people landing on his back as quickly as we did, I wouldn’t be surprised if his back is broken at the very least.”

  “Oh, god!” sobbed Tomomi.

  “This is your fault!” The sergeant pointed an accusing finger at Anna. “YOU killed him!”

  “No, the impact from a ten-meter fall followed by five others hitting him from behind killed him.” Anna’s voice remained calm and steady.

  “Weren’t you the one right behind him, sergeant?” Jason accused. “If you landed on him first, it’s likely that you killed him, not Anna.”

  “Wrong, you son-of-a-bitch!” Cooper’s clipped words seethed with rage. “Anna gave us the wrong combination to open the door, so it’s her fault we fell down here!”

  “What if Anna had it right but Anderson put in the combination wrong?” Cary mused.

  “What is this?” Cooper exclaimed. “Now, you’re saying Anderson did this to himself?”

  “I’m only…”

  “You’re an asshole! I’m gonna rip you limb from limb!”

  “Enough!” Anna’s shout echoed off the cavern walls. “Pointing fingers isn’t going to get us out of here!”

  “You’re one to talk,” the squad leader retorted.

  Anna lowered her voice. “All I’ve done was try to help you get through the pyramid to complete your objective. All you’ve done has been to throw insults at me and undermine my ability to complete my job. If anything is to blame for us being down here, it’s your attitude of rushing through the pyramid without spending enough time studying the clues laid before us on our trip, so we could get through that god-damned door! Pointing fingers and laying the blame on each other gets us nowhere closer to returning to the colony! If we’re going to succeed, we need to put aside our differences and work together. Understand?”

  The sergeant did not reply.

  “I said,” she repeated with more intensity. “Do you understand me?”

  “God damn, woman!” Cooper replied.
“Take a breath mint!”

  Anna slapped him across the face. The sound of the impact echoed through the cavern.

  Leaning in to mere centimeters from his face, Anna continued, “I don’t know what it is with you military men, but I really hate the attitude you guys show me. I’ve done nothing but help, and all you do is beat me down. I’m sick of it!”

  “Hey!” Hicks’s voice called from above. “Sir, the trap door is closing!”

  Everyone’s eyes turned toward the source of the announcement.

  “Hicks!” Anna and Cooper yelled simultaneously. Anna stopped and looked at Cooper.

  “Has any help arrived?”

  “Not yet, sir.”

  “Go find Hunter and bring help!”

  “I’ll go find…”

  The sound of stone hitting stone cut off Hicks’ statement.

  “Oh, god!” Tomomi’s voice wavered, bordering on hysterical. “We can’t be trapped down here! What are we going to do?”

  A couple of seconds of silence passed, until Cooper replied, “Hush, woman! We’re going to stay here until they can rescue us.”

  “No,” Anna interrupted. “We’re going to find our own way out.”

  “Like hell we will!”

  “Did you hear the sound of that trap door closing? That’s heavy stone. It would take some heavy firepower or explosives to blast through that. And, old as this pyramid is, setting off a blast like that in the middle of it would bring the whole thing down. We’re not being rescued. We have to rescue ourselves.”

  Anna sighed. Then, she turned back to the group.

  “Jason, start checking everyone’s injuries. We prepare to move.” Anna pushed away from Anderson and looked for something with which to secure the body.

  Cooper interrupted her thoughts. “You’re making a big mistake.”

  “And, what would you propose?” she inquired.

  “If you insist on going, leave the wounded behind, find help, and bring it back here.”

  “No.” Her reply was firm and resolved. “I’m going to make sure you get out of here with the rest of us. Once we see daylight again, you can rot in hell as far as I’m concerned.”

  Chapter 14

  Hicks and Hunter raced toward the bivouac erected on the edge of the plaza surrounding the pyramid. Many of the soldiers and scientists turned to watch them, disrupting the various activities taking place.

  The captain emerged from his tent and, spotting the approaching soldiers, stood tall and waited for them to reach him. They came to a halt before him and saluted, doing their best catch their breaths.

  The captain returned the salute. “Report?”

  “Captain, sir,” Hicks replied. “The rest of the expedition is trapped within the pyramid, sir.”

  The surrounding officers began to comment amongst themselves, causing a rising buzz. The captain hushed them before turning back to Hicks. “How did this happen?”

  Hunter answered instead. “Sir! We tried opening a door deep inside the structure and set off a trap, sir. Sergeant Cooper, Private Anderson, and the civilians all fell through a trap door in the floor, sir.”

  “Do you know how the trap was set off?”

  “Sir! Yes, sir!” Both soldiers responded.

  The captain turned to the officer next to him. “Commander, assemble a rescue party. Make sure they have digging tools that don’t require electricity.”

  * * * * *

  “There.” Anna said as she tied the last of the knots on the silver thermal sheet under Cooper. “That should just about do it.”

  “You’re going to make things worse by dragging me through these caves.” He had griped during the entire process and seemingly could not resist one last jab before wincing when his broken arm, now held in a sling, moved too much when he shifted.

  “Cooper, I’m growing tired of your pessimism. You either say something helpful or nothing at all.”

  “I can say whatever I want to…”

  Anna glared at him. “And, I can gag you, too.”

  With a frown, Cooper huffed and turned his face away from her.

  “Anderson’s ready to go, Anna,” Jason announced from a few meters away. “I’m glad we checked him again. I’d hate to see him dead.”

  Anna looked up at Jason. He had slung the trooper’s backpack over his shoulders and hefted his own rifle in his hands. The look on his face was a mix of determination and mild fear. She could not hold back her smile.

  “It looks like you’re ready, too. Feel like you could take on the world?”

  A smile appeared on Jason’s face, and he looked away while scratching behind his ear. Though it was hard to tell through the greenish glow from the light stick, Anna believed he was blushing.

  Cary stepped into the light, showcasing the bandages securing his ribs. Tomomi followed behind him, her bandaged left arm secured in a sling.

  “I think we’re ready, too,” Cary said, a hint of confidence in his statement.

  Anna hefted Cooper’s backpack onto her shoulders, then looked and smiled at each of them. “All right, then. Let’s find our way out.”

  “But,” asked Tomomi. “Which way do we go? You said there are two ways to go.”

  Anna glanced toward the far end of the cavern. “We could go up, which is that way. Or, we could go down, which is behind me.”

  “Up would make the most sense,” Jason commented.

  “It does, but that’s not the way to go.”

  Cary furrowed his brow. “Why not?”

  “All the routes that way are dead ends.”

  From his position on the makeshift stretcher, Cooper asked, “How do you know this?”

  “Because, I’ve been down here before. Remember?”

  “You said you went into the pyramid. You didn’t say anything about this cavern.”

  “I had hoped to avoid it.” Anna was becoming impatient.

  “It looks like you failed, Jane.”

  “One more remark out of you,” she warned, her voice sharp. “And I’ll make sure your journey is a bumpy one.”

  “So, we go down?” interrupted Cary.

  Anna sighed and consciously relaxed. “Yes, we go down.”

  Cary nodded. “Very well, then. Lead the way.”

  Anna and Jason tied the ropes connected to the thermal blankets carrying Cooper and Anderson respectively. Anna would drag Cooper behind her, while Jason hauled the unconscious Anderson. With a nod from the scientists, they began their trek downward into the tunnels.

  Several minutes passed with only the sounds of their footfalls echoing through the cave. The green light Anna held in her left hand cast odd shadows on the wall as they hiked along the damp, rocky trail. The scent of wet mud and clay mixed with the odor of their blood and sweat.

  Cooper broke the thick silence. “So if you went upwards where there are only dead-ends and you didn’t go down, how did you get out?”

  Without missing a beat, Anna replied, “I don’t know.”

  The sergeant did a double-take. “You don’t know?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Then, how do you expect to lead us out of here?”

  The sergeant’s skepticism threw her off guard. “I…I’m not sure.”

  “You’re not giving me a lot of confidence.”

  Anna’s mind was clouded with doubt, and though she sought the answers, she was not getting anywhere. She knew there had to be an exit somewhere. If one did not exist, how did she get out before?

  Cary offered, “Maybe she just doesn’t remember how she got out. It was several years ago. Right?”

  Several seconds passed with no answer.

  “Right?” He repeated the question.

  She turned on her heel to face the group. “Look, it’s true that I haven’t fully explored these caves, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that you can’t get out by going the other way. Logically, the way out has to be that way.”

  “That makes sense.” Tomomi nodded before loo
king at the rest of the group. When she found Cary looking at her, she added, “At least, it does to me.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Cooper interrupted. “We don’t have to go anywhere! As soon as Hicks and Hunter get back, they’re going to find a way to rescue us from where we landed. We can rest and gather our strength until that happens.”

  “If you recall, sergeant,” reminded Anna. “The hole sealed up, and any chances of a speedy rescue got sealed up along with it. We can’t depend on them to pull us out.”

  “This is a military operation.” His harsh tone forced the scientists to flinch. “As such, we need to follow military protocol.”

  “Under normal circumstances, I would agree with you, but the odds of us being rescued from there are pretty slim right now. They can’t use machinery to break through the door because of the EM field. They can’t set off explosives without risking their own lives. They could set off the trap again, but they’d run the risk of trapping more people down here. If we’re going to see daylight again, we need to find our own way out.”

  “What if there is no way out? What if these caves have no natural opening to the surface? And without any means of communication, we could become irrevocably lost and die without ever being found.”

  Anna considered Cooper’s words for a moment, while he continued, “If we are to have any hope of being rescued, we need to stay here.”

  She erupted, “We’re not getting rescued! Staying here is a death sentence!”

  “Hold it!” Jason said. As Anna and Cooper turned to regard him, he added, “What if we send a couple of people to scout through the caves to see if a way out can be found, while the rest remain here? That way, somebody is bound to succeed.”

  “Not an option.” Cooper dismissed the idea.

  Anna shook her head at Cooper’s response. “No, it’s not a bad idea. We could still try finding our own way out. And in case they do manage to find a way to reach us through the trap door without becoming trapped themselves, then we can at least get the injured out.”

  “You’re not going anywhere!”

  Anna smirked, amused at his obstructionism. “You’re not in a position to stop me.”

  Her expression changed when he drew his pistol and aimed it at her.

  “How’s that again, Jane?”

  Jason’s eyes became as wide as saucers. “Sir, is that…”