Ethan looked around him as if the wood had just suddenly appeared. He kicked some of the debris around until he found a length sturdy enough for a cane. “This might work. Let me work some of the edge off…” He turned the wood over and began working it against the brick wall, sanding it roughly down and into a rounded top. The other side he worked into a flat surface to give it a bit more stability. Satisfied with his work, he offered it to Abby, “Here, try this.”
Abby was able to hobble around well enough for them to continue. The corridor was much like the one above, but this time the floor was dirt instead of the wood planking. The outer end of the passage was also covered in iron plating, and it continued back in the direction from which they had come.
“What do we do about Madison?” Abby asked with the slightest glimmer of hope in her eye.
“We go and get help. We bring the police or the army or whoever, and we take this damn place over until we find her.”
“She is going to be so scared by herself,” Abby said sadly.
“I didn’t even notice she was gone until you said something.”
They started down the passage, no longer holding hands to allow for use of the cane.
“Do you think we will find her again?” Abby sounded on the verge of crying again.
“I think so. Depends on how fast we actually get out of here and bring help back.”
They came to a cross section where they could go left or continue straight as they had above. Ethan looked at Abby and could see the pain on her face, the small beads of sweat collecting on her brow. “Does that hurt now?”
“Yeah,” she huffed. “A little now.”
“Let me see what we have for pain.”
“I could use something to eat and drink. You don’t happen to have that in there, do you, my little Boy Scout?”
He did not answer but offered her an energy bar, the kind that mountain climbers or long distant runners eat for quick energy.
“Are there a lot of calories in this?” she asked him.
He rolled his eyes at her. “They are all good calories; just eat it. I have three bottles of water also, and nine more of those bars. Here we go, and some Tylenol for that ankle.” He offered her a bottle of water and a fist closed around some pills.
She took the pills and they shared the water as Ethan worked his way through the mostly-oat energy bar.
“So, which way you think?” Ethan asked.
“Let’s go left this time; the air that way doesn’t seem so stagnant.”
They continued on, moving much slower than before, but Ethan did not say anything. He could only imagine the pain she was in and did not want to push past her tolerance. The concern for Madison was urging her hard enough, and to push further could cause her worse injury.
“Oh my God! Do you smell that?” Abby asked excitedly.
“What?”
“I smell pine! This is fresh air; we’re close to being outside again! Come on!”
Exhilaration raced through him, riding on a wave of excitement: the darkness was about to end, they were about to be free. He rushed to keep up with Abby, who seemed suddenly unaware of her own pain. There was no light to be seen ahead, but the air was warmer here, fresher.
The passage came to a sharp curve, and then to another. As they rounded that, they could see light, not the blaring warmth of the sun, but the soft subdued glow of the night’s sky.
When Abby caught sight of this, she immediately began to weep again, this time from pure relief that it was about to be over, this tormented journey through this God forsaken dungeon was over, and they could get help for Madison.
As she was about to leap out from inside the passage and into the night air, Ethan grabbed her violently and pulled her back. She revolted, her eyes blinded by the tears, her fists pummeling him. “Let me go! I want out of here!” she screamed desperately, hovering just above sanity.
“Abby! Stop for shit’s sake!” She had caught him in the eye, and he held it now gingerly. “Look out there!”
She wiped away the moisture from her lashes and blinked herself into focus. There before her was the cool but still warmer night air, the stars and moon hidden by the mountain. However, below that was a sheer cliff, smooth but for a few fissures and a drop of some eighty feet or more. She had almost leapt to her death in an attempt to be free.
“We have to think this through, Abby,” Ethan urged.
She began to weep again, her emotions a conflictive surge, she hated and loved, despaired and hoped all at once. She threw her arms around Ethan. “I’m so sorry…” she wept.
“I know… I know…”
“Let’s jump for it anyway, what do you say?”
“Abby, it will kill us…”
“I know!” She shouted, and then began to sob in earnest. “I don’t care anymore, Ethan! We’re going to fucking die in here anyway! Let’s just get it over with! We can die together…” she said this last softly, tenderly.
“Not going to happen, Abs.”
She sagged in his arms and cried, cried for near an hour; all that time, Ethan looked out at the open sky for what he was certain would be the last time and enjoyed his closeness to Abby and the aroma of a wild forest in late autumn.
Chapter 13
After crying for some time, Abby fell into a fitful sleep, comfortable if only for the fresh air and secure feeling of Ethan’s arms. He let her sleep while he struggled with his own guilt and fears, his sorrow and feelings of helplessness. Madison was not his girlfriend, or even really his friend, but he could not convince himself that he was not responsible. His father had taught him early that women were a treasure to cherish, to look after and keep safe. In this, he had failed.
The sun slowly began to rise, almost without Ethan noticing. He wondered if perhaps he had fallen asleep as well. His back had locked long ago in a cramp, and one of his arms had fallen asleep, yet he loathed waking her— she was at least resting and would need her strength, especially with the injury. He would just allow her to wake on her own, something he hoped he would not have to wait for long.
The edge of the sun broke over the horizon and began to pour like hot milk, setting the forest below to blaze. Ethan felt his throat tighten at this, the majesty and wonder of the beauty.
“Isn’t it gorgeous?” Abby asked sleepily.
“Incredible…” he said, waiting patiently for her to rise on her own. After a number of minutes, she did not seem likely to move herself, so he said, “You should sit up and see below.”
She rolled up from him and peeked down the cliff face to a small lake below. The brilliance of the sun had just begun to reach the water, and the ripples of its surface began to toss it about like a glimmering plaything. “It’s dazzling…”
“I knew you would like it,” Ethan said as he began to rub his arm and arch his back. “Aren’t you glad you stuck around to see it?”
She turned on him, her face glowing with infant sunlight, her eyes wet and excited. She suddenly leaned forward and kissed him hard, searchingly, lovingly. “Yes, I am, Ethan.”
“I’m glad you did, too. Hungry?”
“Not as much as thirsty.”
“Me, too, but we are light on the water, just a bit, okay?”
“I know, just a bit,” she repeated and sipped at the bottle of water Ethan offered. “It looks like we are still
