Mercy Point

by Anna Snoekstra

  He shrugged. ‘I just want to keep moving.’

  Fabian opened his eyes and looked towards Emma. She still had her head down, and he couldn’t see her eyes.

  ‘I agree, mate,’ Sam said, ‘let’s go back. I can lead if you want? Unless you remember the way, Emma?’

  ‘Yeah, I do.’

  ‘Fabian?’ Tessie asked.

  ‘I don’t know. I mean, what if Emma is right and there is another way out?’

  ‘It’s a big if,’ Michael said. He didn’t sound angry anymore, just tired.

  Fabian looked at his phone. It was only two am. No one would notice their absence for another four or five hours. That was a long time before they’d even start searching for them. Looking at his screen, he noticed something else. He felt colder. Right down to his toes.

  ‘Our batteries are going to run out,’ he whispered. ‘The torch is sucking up mine. It’s already on just fifty per cent.’

  ‘Oh God,’ Emma whispered, and looked at her own.

  ‘Come on, then, let’s decide.’ Michael’s voice cracked a little.

  Emma didn’t offer an opinion, and Fabian knew better than to push her to give one. He didn’t want the others to start fighting again. That would only slow them down even more.

  Fabian looked down the two dark entrances in front of him. He couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to go deeper, to get totally lost in complete blackness. He didn’t want that. But what if it was their only hope? It was likely that their parents would never think to look at the caves. There was really no reason to think they would. By the time the search extended that far, or someone thought of it, days would have gone by. It would be too late. It was always possible someone would come sooner, but by no means definite. Just like it was possible but not definite they would find the exit. He swallowed.

  ‘You’d have thought that I’d seen enough movies to know this is a bad idea, but the smartest thing might be to do both.’

  Emma’s head snapped up. ‘What? You mean split up?’

  He nodded. ‘It’s hedging our bets. It gives us the biggest chance of getting out of here, one way or the other.’

  Tessie nodded. ‘Alright, let’s just do it. The longer we talk about it, the more battery power we use just standing here.’

  Sam shrugged, and Michael said nothing, but Emma was looking panicked.

  ‘Wait, who would go with whom? And shouldn’t we have some kind of way of communicating or something?’

  ‘There’s no way,’ Michael explained. ‘I think Fabian and Tess are going that way, and three of us are going back. You and Sam seem to know the way between you, and I’ll just come along for the ride.’

  Fabian looked to Tessie. If he was going to be trapped here with anyone, he would pick her. She turned to him and nodded.

  ‘Okay.’ Emma looked between the two of them as if she might cry. ‘Be careful, guys.’

  She looked as though she might be about to say something. An apology maybe, or a goodbye. Fabian didn’t want to hear either. He had to be strong. He was a man, and that was supposed to mean being brave. If he let himself feel anything now, he was sure he would crumble.

  ‘We’ll see you soon,’ he said, and before he could stop her, Emma had flung herself forward and pulled both him and Tessie into a hug.

  ‘You guys are amazing,’ she whispered. ‘Make sure you get out quickly and save me from having to hang out with these two bozos for too long.’

  He laughed, though it sounded hollow, then gave her a squeeze and pulled back. When he did, he saw that Michael was staring at him. He looked away. A few days ago, maybe even a few hours ago, he would have wanted to see Michael impressed. Now, it didn’t seem to matter.

  ‘Come on,’ he said to Tessie.

  ‘See you, guys.’ Tessie smiled, but it looked thin. He wondered whether her heart was beating as fast as his was. But it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter how scared they were. They had to do it. They had to do something. Because if they didn’t, they might never see sunlight again.

  He looked to Tessie, and she nodded. He took one last look at the others. At Emma, who looked so sad, and Michael, who was staring at Emma, and Sam, who had already turned away. Together, he and Tessie began walking into the dark of the closest entranceway. It felt so wrong. To be going away from other people, as well as away from a path they knew led somewhere. Once they were out of earshot, he grabbed Tessie’s hand.

  ‘Do you think this is the right decision?’

  ‘Definitely. I wish it wasn’t.’

  ‘Me too.’

  They kept pushing forward. Him walking behind Tessie, but still holding her hand. His worst fear now, since what he thought was his worst fear had come true, was that they would get separated. If he was alone . . . He swallowed and pushed the thought away. The only thing he should be thinking about was getting through the next minute. Of choosing the right direction. But with this thick, barely penetrable darkness, how was it even possible?

  ‘Do you remember what Sam said? About how we were on a slight decline?’ he asked. When there was sound, his voice and hers, it seemed to penetrate the darkness.

  ‘Yeah. I think we still are. If it keeps going like this, let’s turn back and take the other tunnel, alright?’

  ‘Okay, good idea.’

  ‘How much battery do you have?’

  He looked at his screen. ‘Forty-eight per cent.’

  ‘I’m on thirty,’ she whispered.

  He stopped walking and pulled at her hand so she turned around. She was pale. The brave face from minutes ago was gone.

  ‘Maybe turn off your torch?’ he said. ‘We should preserve it. We can use mine until it runs out, then switch to yours.’

  She nodded, her hands shaking as she did as he suggested. Once it was done, he couldn’t see her hand anymore, but he heard the sound of her putting her phone in her pocket.

  ‘I’ve got chips in my bag,’ he said. ‘Let’s have them later.’

  ‘Alright.’

  He took the lead and tightly gripped her hand. They walked more hastily now, and the cold air began to burn his throat. He wanted to keep talking, but there was nothing to say. The only thing he could think about was holding on, not giving in to his fear. If he said it out loud, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to. His mind kept flicking back to those weird sounds he’d heard. Ones that they’d all said were echoes, but hadn’t sounded quite like echoes to him. Already, things were beginning to feel distorted here. The walls felt like they were pressing in. Their footsteps sounded like the beat of a drum. The coldness was almost itching his skin. He wondered how much worse it would get.

  His torchlight lit up another fork. He stopped, and Tessie squeezed in next to him.

  ‘What do you think?’ he asked.

  ‘I think I might be sick,’ she whispered.

  ‘Me too. Or pee myself.’

  ‘Me too.’ She laughed, and it almost sounded real. Together, they took a step forward and looked at the ground of each pathway, his torchlight skimming carefully over each surface. One of them went down sharply. The other had the very slightest of inclines.

  ‘Well, that makes it an easy choice, I guess,’ she whispered.

  He shook his head. For the first time since they’d set off, the panic subsided slightly. ‘Just imagine, if we actually find it. We’d be the luckiest people ever.’

  ‘Yeah, first the stupidest, then the luckiest.’

  ‘Let’s cross our fingers,’ he said, then began walking again. He squeezed his fingers tightly together — this had to be it. He couldn’t stay down here any longer. The incline increased slightly, and he found himself smiling. Actually smiling. Maybe, they really had done it. They’d walk out into the air, then find their way back to Sterling. They’d open the door to the others and it would be amazing, so amazing. He’d go home and get into bed and stay there all day. Screw school. He’d hug his parents and never wish to be someone or somewhere else again. His feet moved faster, and h
is torch swept in front of them. Thirty-eight per cent battery left. But it was fine. This might just be it. Then his torch picked up a solid wall of rock in front of him. In the same instant, his foot came forward onto nothing. Not solid ground, but air. Almost overbalancing, he threw his weight backwards into Tessie and she grabbed hold of him, hands under his arms.

  ‘Whoa!’ she yelled, and the two of them almost toppled into the wall next to them.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, finding his feet.

  ‘It’s okay. Please tell me that’s not a dead end.’

  Flexing his calf muscles so he felt secure, he shone the torchlight in front of them. The cave wall was solid. No smaller tunnels or passageways coming off it.

  ‘Oh great, that’s just fantastic. We’re going to have to go all the way back to where we left the others. Your battery will probably be dead by then, and we’ll just have mine that won’t even last —’

  ‘Hang on.’ He let the light fall on the ground in front of him. For a moment, it looked like complete blackness. But then, when he angled the torch, he saw there were levels cut into the rock. They almost looked like stairs.

  ‘Do you see that?’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Tessie, peering down as his torch lit up the sculpted-out steps, ‘it almost could be natural. I think if it was man-made, they would have made it cleaner, and probably put a support rail or something. You couldn’t lead tour groups down like it is now.’

  ‘You’re right.’

  ‘Should we turn around?’

  ‘Wait a sec.’ He squatted down and shone his torch inside the hole. He could see Tessie’s point, but the ledges still looked too close to stairs to be natural. The torch reached another wall. Another dead end, great. But just as he was about to go back, he noticed something strange about the wall. He could only just see it. The wall was so far away that the glow of his torch barely reached. He got down so he was lying on his stomach.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘There’s something down there.’

  He reached out his arm, stretching as far as he could go, and threw the light from the torch onto the wall. He was right.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Tessie said, ‘is that a door?’

  It looked like it. There was a fine line going around like a rectangle, which almost looked like just a crack. But, set into the rock, was a handle.

  ‘What do you think? A storage unit or something?’

  ‘Maybe,’ Tessie said. ‘God, we’re going to have to go find out, aren’t we?’

  He got up into a squat again. ‘Yeah, I guess. We can just sit here for a minute if you like first.’

  She put her hands over her face, but shook her head. He didn’t much want to go down into that black hole either, but then again, waiting would just be killing battery power on nothing.

  ‘I’m going first,’ she said.

  ‘Okay.’ It made sense. Tessie was way more athletic than him. She’d be able to navigate those weird half-stairs better than he could.

  She got down next to him, with her back to the hole, then very carefully lowered herself in. Her fingers gripped the edge of the hole, then slowly she went down. He tried to shine the torch along the surface of the stairs, but her body was blocking the light.

  ‘You alright?’

  ‘Yep,’ she grunted.

  He watched as she navigated her body down, her feet and hands shuffling to find edges to stand on. Within just thirty seconds, she was on the ground. She looked up at him and grinned, rubbing her hands together.

  ‘Should I try to open it?’

  ‘Sure you don’t want to wait for me?’

  She shrugged. ‘May as well try it first.’

  He got down on his stomach again and lit the door. Tessie reached out, then gripped the handle in her hand. For a moment, he was dead certain nothing would happen. It was just a cave wall, just a coincidence that it looked like a door. But the handle twisted in her hand and, without even a creak, the door swung open.

  ‘Should I go in?’ she asked, the fear audible in her voice.

  ‘No, we’ll do it together.’

  Fabian put his phone between his teeth and turned around. If it was a door, it was a good thing, he kept trying to tell himself. But somehow, it didn’t feel like a good thing. He let the weight of his body slowly drop inside. His feet kicked out, feeling for the stairs. They found them, and he let his weight push down on them. He let go of the edge and looked for a handhold. His backpack pressed against the other edge of the hole, and he slowly twisted himself in. He knew he didn’t look nearly as graceful as Tessie had as he slithered, shuffled and slid his way down. His foot missed the last stair, and he slipped the last half-metre, falling hard onto his knees and grazing the palms of his hands as he tried to grip on. He righted himself, then took the phone out of his mouth, rubbing it on his jeans.

  ‘You alright?’ Tessie asked.

  He nodded, then realised she couldn’t even see him. ‘Yep.’

  They linked hands, and they slowly sidled through the door.

  Inside, was a long corridor. He shone the light down it, then onto the walls. Lining them were more doors like the one they’d just come through. They all had symbols carved into them, none of which Fabian could make any sense of. He kept shining his phone around until he reached one of the doors on the right. It didn’t have the strange symbols on it. Instead, it had three English letters: S, A and M.

  They didn’t need to say anything. Fabian knew Tessie had seen it by the way the breath rushed out of her. He could feel every muscle in her hand tighten. He reached forward and turned the handle. It opened. The light glided around inside it, lighting up pieces of paper stuck to the walls. A bed on the floor in the corner. What looked like a computer and keyboard near it. Near Fabian’s face was a thin cord. It almost looked like an old-fashioned light switch. He reached up to it and tugged.

  The room lit up. His vision went white, and he put a hand over his eyes to shield them. Slowly, his sight returned. He could see. Above the bed were photographs. One of Emma. One of Michael. One of Tessie. One of him. The walls were covered in paper. He took a step closer and realised straight away what it was. The message board. All their conversations, printed out and covering the walls. Certain sections underlined, like he’d been studying them.

  ‘Oh my God,’ he said.

  Tessie looked at him. In the light he could see the sweat on her pale face, her scared eyes. ‘The others.’

  CHAPTER 27

  EMMA

  Emma watched as Fabian’s and Tessie’s torchlights disappeared from view. Great. Now she was stuck with Michael, who was furious with her, and Sam, who was acting super weird. She should have spoken up, insisted on going with Fabian and Tessie instead. But she knew why they’d done it this way. She was the one who had led them here. Hopefully she’d be able to at least remember where she’d led them wrong.

  ‘Do you really think you know the way back?’ Michael asked Sam. ‘Because I don’t think I do.’

  ‘Yeah, ’course,’ he said.

  ‘Good. Do you want to lead?’

  ‘Okay.’

  Emma wanted to point out that, since she’d been navigating, she actually was probably the one who knew the way best. She’d taken all lefts, so now they had to just take all rights. But she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. After getting them all lost, they’d never trust her now. Maybe they shouldn’t.

  ‘C’mon.’ Sam turned back the way they’d come, and Michael walked behind him. Reluctantly Emma followed. She turned off the torch on her phone and put it in her pocket. She could see well enough with the light coming from the other ones. Her battery was under fifty per cent now. When the three of them were sitting and waiting at the airlock, they’d be happy that she’d conserved hers.

  Emma wrapped her arms around herself. Her insides were twisting. She looked at the back of Michael’s head, trying to feel angry at him still. Willing herself to feel anything than what she was really feeling now. But she notice
d the way he kept rubbing his arms, the heaviness of his shoulders. He was cold and tired and terrified. They all were. And it was her fault. The guilt twisted again in her gut. She had been so sure she was right, she hadn’t even stopped to think. She should have just admitted it, just apologised, but she couldn’t. Now, she wished she had. At least to Fabian and Tessie. She wished they hadn’t split up.

  The torchlights swung left as they reached the next fork.

  ‘Hang on,’ she called, ‘I’m pretty sure we came from the other one.’

  Michael turned back to her. ‘Pretty sure, or very sure?’

  She stopped and looked down the other corridor. She’d gone left at every turn on the way here, so it must be the right turn. Or was she just getting mixed up now?

  ‘Come on, guys, it’s this one, I’m certain,’ Sam called. He hadn’t even slowed down for them.

  Michael looked at her, and it seemed like a dare. Like he was challenging her to argue with him again. To say that Sam was wrong and she was right.

  ‘Fine,’ she said. He looked back at her like he was going to say something, but she didn’t want him to.

  ‘Go on, we don’t want to lose him.’

  ‘Okay.’ He turned and half-jogged to catch up with Sam. Emma hurried behind him.

  As they continued, things began to look more and more unfamiliar. They were going deeper. The ground was slanting downwards. Had the other two noticed? Surely, they’d felt the slight slope of the rock beneath them. She was now certain they’d gone the wrong way. Positive. But the other two kept powering on ahead.

  ‘Wait,’ she called, ‘hang on a second.’

  Michael stopped. ‘What? Have you found something?’

  Sam stopped too; she could see his back, but he didn’t turn around.

  ‘I really don’t think this is right,’ she said. ‘We are going downwards.’

  ‘It’s right,’ Sam said, but he still wasn’t turning around.

  Michael looked between them. ‘He seems sure.’

  ‘Well, I’m sure too. This is wrong.’

  Michael looked torn. ‘I don’t know, Emma. You were certain before as well.’

  ‘I know, but —’