“Stay calm. We’re going to get you out. I’ll be right back.”
“No. Don’t leave! Please don’t leave.” His tortured moan traveled up the side of the bank.
“Listen, Terrence.” Creed remained calm. He understood how being hurt and trapped could scare even the bravest person. “I know you must be worried, but my brother is here with me and we make it our job to help people. We will get you home to your wife. We just need to make sure anything and everything we do is done safely so we have to go slow.”
“Okay. Okay.” His teeth were chattering. “I can do this, but if I don’t make it—”
“Terrence, you’ll make it out. Hold tight.” Creed crawled off the rock, stood and headed to his pack that he’d dropped on the path.
“What are you doing?” Boone asked. “That cliff is about to crumble.”
“I’m going down after him.” Creed took his rope, harness, carabiners, and leather gloves from the pack. He slid his knife into his boot in case things went awry.
“That’s going to be almost impossible in this rain.”
Creed dragged on his gloves. “What choice do we have?” Finding a sturdy tree, he began securing the aramid rope around the base and at the other end he tied a stopper knot. “When I get down there, I’ll hook him up in the harness and you can help pull him up.”
“Wait, Creed. We could send him down rain gear, warmers and water. It’ll work until the weather lets up some.”
“He’s lost a lot of blood. Radio the medics and have them meet us at the base of the trail.” He patted his brother’s shoulder. “We have to get him out of there. This situation will only get worse and we can’t wait for Mother Nature to appease us. You ready?”
Boone nodded. “I’ll take care of things on my end.
“That’s what I’m counting on. I know you have my back.” Creed crawled back out on the rock and dropped his rope over, hearing it land below. He gave a prayer then positioned himself on the edge and rolled over, keeping his center of gravity close to the wall.
Holding the rope in a tight grip, he repeated the mantra Stay low, go slow.
“You okay?” Boone called out.
“I’m fine.”
Facing the wall, he planted his feet shoulder-width apart and slowly walked several steps, but the unstable rock crumbled, twisting the rope, sending Creed sideways and hitting the wall. “Humph.” His breath rustled out of his lungs. He grabbed the rope snugger in his gloved grip, pressing his boots against the rock to keep from hitting the solid wall again. Pebbles fell around him like a rock shower. He needed to move as quick as possible.
What seemed like hours had only been fifteen minutes when Creed’s boots finally touched ground below. His arms were tired, his knuckles ached, but the relief of making it down took some of the pressure off his shoulders.
Terrence was lying in a twisted posture, obviously with his leg broken. Creed was glad he’d brought the harness with him.
“Thank God you found me.” The man was close to tears.
They weren’t out of the woods yet. “I’m going to get you to safety but it’s important for you to listen to what I tell you to do. Is it your leg that’s only broken?”
“Yes. I think so. A few cuts here and there but nothing major.”
Creed grabbed the flashlight from his belt and made a quick evaluation of Terrence’s condition. His ripped clothes had a faint staining of blood, but the rain had washed most of it away. His hiking shorts exposed his injured left leg that he’d wrapped in a makeshift bandage made from a red handkerchief. He was lucky to be alive because two inches one way and he would have landed in the ravine. Creed was grateful the man remained calm. Panicked rescues could lead to more injuries. He’d come out of a few missions with black eyes.
“Can you handle being lifted up?”
“Yes. I can handle it. I want the hell off this rock,” Terrence rasped, shivering from the cold.
Creed removed his jacket and helped the man pull it on. “Have you repelled before?”
“Yes. A couple of times.”
“Good, then you know how this works. I’ll get the harness on you and we’ll lift you up since you can’t use your leg. It’s going to hurt like hell.”
Terrence nodded. “Let’s do it.”
As careful as he could, Creed secured the harness. “You ready?”
The man gave a weak nod. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Ready, Boone,” Creed said into his radio.
“Roger that,” Boone answered.
The rope jerked and Terrence gasped in pain. “You okay?” Creed asked.
“I’ll be fine once I’m up there.”
Boone lifted him higher and higher, inch by inch. Slow and steady. More rock fell onto the lip.
Once Terrence reached safety, Creed breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the edge of the rock. He then realized the rain had finally stopped. Staring out into the darkness, the moonlight brushed the tops of the trees making them look like a painting. It was quiet here on the mountain. He could have stayed there longer but when the evac rope struck his shoulder, he gathered himself and climbed up the side of the rock wall.
The adrenaline rush of saving a life only lasted the amount of time it took Creed to get home and walk through the front door. His mother had called and left a message telling him that his daughter had snuck out of the house during the night.
Fourteen-year-old Livvy Hawke jumped up from the couch
