“Julie! Can you hear me?” He listened intently, not breathing. Finally a sound, barely a sound, the rocks scraping together more than banging, reached his ears. It was from behind a pile of boulders just a few feet to his left, and to him the sound was beautiful. Like the girl making it, he thought with a grin, and started jogging toward it. Two steps later he landed flat on his face. In his haste he had foolishly tripped over a rock. Frustrated by his own carelessness, he kicked angrily at the rock and was shocked when it moved. More shocked by the clanging noise it made. He shone his beam and cried out in surprise. The backpack! He crawled over, and unbuckled it. Both canisters were there and they were both full. His elation of a moment ago turned to agony. Mossy didn’t make it. Shining the light around the area of the backpack only confirmed it: huge piles of boulders were littering this section of the cavern. Fighting back tears, he stood and made his way carefully to where he now knew Julie to be.
She was there behind the last pile of rocks, more under it than behind it. Both of her legs and her left arm were pinned under the rocks. Somehow she had gotten hold of a rock small enough to lift and had been banging it against the very pile that held her captive. Without letting himself think of just how hurt she might be, he began moving the rocks that held her. She was unconscious, probably a good thing, as Denny struggled with some of the rocks and was probably hurting her more. But he had to get her out. He thought of calling for Paul’s help but quickly dismissed it. Even if he could make it over, he was too weak to be of much help. It was up to him alone to save her.
He worked feverishly, moving rocks bigger than he had any right to. He had her arm free and her legs uncovered to her knees, but a huge boulder sat on both her ankles. Denny cringed thinking of what it had done to her bones. He grabbed it, and using his legs and back, tried to stand it up. When it barely moved, he felt panic begin to rise. Now what? Breathing hard, he closed his eyes to think. A soft moan caused his eyes to fly open and he flashed the light on Julie. She wore a mask of bruises and had several cuts that looked ugly but not dangerous. Her eyes widened when they focused on Denny, and amazingly, she smiled.
“I knew you’d come.”
Denny swallowed hard. Her eyes had a strange look. She’s in shock, the Great Oz told him. He had to get her out. “Julie, can you move your arms?”
She looked at him, her eyes not focusing, filled with confusion and fear. Then they closed. You’re on your own, kid, but you can do this. It was his own thought but he chose to believe it sounded like his dad, or maybe Jimmy. He turned his back to the rock that was now his nemesis and bent low. He found handholds and gripped tightly with both hands. He took a couple of deep breaths and focused all his energy on his legs. With a strangled cry, he pushed upward with everything he had. He felt like his body was trying to tear itself apart from the inside, but he kept going. The rock moved, fueling Denny. With one last, great burst, he shot upward and the rock lifted on end. It threatened to tip back onto Julie’s legs so he did the only thing he could think of and threw himself backwards into it.
For a horrifying second, he knew it was going to fall back the way it came, crushing him and Julie. Then he felt it overbalance and went tumbling on top of it as it rolled off of her. He let out another cry as the skin peeled off his bare back during his ride down the rock, and came to rest next to Julie. He turned his head and could see she was free, but now what? How could he get her over the ledge and to safety? He needed Paul. He scrambled to his feet and made his way back to the ledge. “Paul? Can you hear me?” He waited, thinking Paul might have slipped into unconsciousness.
“I’m here, Denny. Should I come over?”
Denny was shocked. His voice sounded stronger and like it was coming from just over the ledge. Maybe he had been at it for longer than he thought. “No, I think I can get her to the ledge if you can pull her over from there.”
“Okay, give it a shot.”
Denny scrambled back to Julie and gently patted her face, reminding Denny of when Mossy fell asleep in the woods by the high school. “Julie, can you hear me?” She stirred a bit but didn’t come around. He went to the lake’s edge and dipped his hands in, hurried back to her and once again slapped her face gently with his wet hands. This time her eyes opened. “Julie, can you hear me? Are you awake?”
She blinked, tried to speak but ended up just nodding.
He grabbed her hand and lifted it so she could see what he was doing. “Can you squeeze my hand?” Even in this situation, he felt himself blushing furiously. He felt her squeeze his hand and quickly hopped to the other side. “This hand now, Julie, can you squeeze again?” Weaker this time, but he definitely felt it. “Julie, I have to get you to the other side of the cave. I have to drag you. It’s going to hurt your legs, I think.” Incredibly, she raised her right hand and made a circle with her thumb and forefinger.
He got behind her and managed to get his hands under her armpits and lift her enough to hook his elbow under her, blushing again when his hands brushed the sides of her breasts. She made no sound but Denny knew he was hurting her. He began to drag her toward the ledge. “I’m sorry Julie, I know it hurts but we have to get you out of here.” He was near tears, partly from exhaustion, partly from sympathy. When her hand reached up and grabbed his arm, he was rejuvenated, dragging her to the ledge and propping her in a sitting position.
“Paul, are you there?”
“Right here, pal. What should I do?”
“I’m going to try to lift her and have her arms up. If you can reach over and get a hold of them and pull, I can help push from this side.”
“Okay, I’m ready whenever you are.”
Paul’s voice had lost some of the strength Denny had heard just a few minutes ago. This frightened Denny to the core. Paul was hurt bad, maybe bleeding to death. Denny was physically exhausted and emotionally numb. How are we ever going to get Julie over the ledge, never mind out of the caves and back to his house? Before the Great Oz or anyone else could offer an answer, Denny’s eyes were drawn toward the water. For a split second he was able to tell himself it was just his imagination, but when he flashed his light over he could see the swirling and he suddenly understood the expression “deer in the headlights.” He couldn’t move. The swirling grew faster and spread into ever-widening circles and Denny stood mesmerized, waiting for the beast to appear.
(106)
Robert Ortiz awoke from his rock-induced nap with his lungs full of dust and hands slapping his face. He had no idea how long he’d been out but he did remember what had put him out. When the cave-in started, he’d kept moving thinking Chris was right behind him. When he called back to him without turning and gotten no response, he stopped and turned. The damage behind him was frightening; the passage looked completely blocked, although the rising dust and still-falling rock made it hard to be sure. He couldn’t leave Chris, so he tried to make his way back. He’d made it exactly one step when a rock fell from above, ricocheted off the wall in front of him, and caught him just above the ear.
“Chris, you’re okay.”
Chris reached toward him and Ortiz was terrified to see his hand disappear into a gray blur to his right. A second later pain erupted on the right side of his head and he felt everything start to slip sideways.
“Robert, stay with me.” Chris sounded a step away from panic.