Lila couldn’t help but smile. My child’s too smart for our own good. That’s what I get for telling her not to jump on the bed.
“Honey, let’s put it another way. We have to get off this rope right now. If I let go of the rope, we’ll both fall off and hurt each other. You have to jump first and then I’ll jump right after you.”
“No!”
“Sophie, this is hardly the time for an argument.”
“I said no!”
Rex heard the commotion and tried his best to speed things up. “Lila, every minute you spend on that rope is time that J.J. and Mathis don’t have. You’ve got to make your move now.”
“Dad, we’re jumping together. Like it or not, we’re coming down together.” She focused on her daughter. “Sophie, I’ll say ‘one, two, three’ and then I’m going to let go of the rope and we’re going to fall on the pillows and mattresses. First, you’re going to have to climb around the rope. Here, let me help you.”
Lila guided her daughter around the rope and placed her against her chest. Sophie clung to Lila’s back tightly.
Lila fell backwards off the rope and as she dropped, she turned her body to the left and gently pushed Sophie away from her. In an instant, the two landed and spontaneous applause erupted in the room. The climbed down from the padded material and into the arms of well-wishers.
“Yeah!!!” shouted J.J. He pumped his fist into the air several times.
Mathis released his hold on the rope and wiped the sweat off his brow and his hands.
Old friends swarmed Lila and Sophie, and Rex parted the throng and made his way to them.
He reached his hand out to Sophie.
“Come, my dear. Give your grandfather a great big hug.”
Sophie kept her head tight next to Lila’s body. Lila walked towards her father and they embraced for the first time in years. She broke down in tears as they hugged.
“There will be time to get reacquainted, my daughter, but we have two men up there up there just as anxious as you were to get down here. Let’s get them down too.”
“Same old Dad,” Lila whispered under her breath. It didn’t matter that in this case Rex was correct.
“It’s your turn, J.J.,” said Mathis.
“I’m not going next,” replied J.J.
“Look, don’t argue with me. Get down this rope and go be with your wife and daughter. I’m coming down right behind you.”
In his heart, J.J. didn’t want to be the one left standing on the ledge alone if anything else went awry.
“Why don’t we try to go together?”
“J.J., the rope won’t hold. You must weigh at least 185 pounds and I’m at nearly that myself. No way. One at a time is the only way down.”
“Fine, you win. Tell me, who is going to support the rope by the base of the wall while you climb down?”
“I have an idea. You let me worry about that.”
J.J. inched closer to the ledge and moved into climbing position. He knew two people down there. The rest were strangers. Lila had become a stranger to these people, but she had been born here. J.J. was a true “outsider”.
“Daaaaaddyyyyyyyy…Come down. I need youuuuuu.”
Hearing Sophie’s tiny voice, J.J. knew he had try. His head was even with the base of the tunnel opening.
“Remember, J.J., go slow,” said Mathis with encouragement.
“I’ll see you down there in a minute,” said J.J.
J.J. moved down the ladder. His strong hands gripped on each rung. He was careful to circumvent the first cross bar that Lila had broken. J.J. had to take an unusually long stride to reach his left leg down to the next unbroken chain in the ladder. This awkward angle left his right leg much higher than it should have been, and J.J. saw the rope start to weaken at that point.
He moved his right leg down another notch, and this motion began to make the ladder swing violently to and fro. Mathis was doing his best to secure the rope at the top, and J.J. could feel a slight twisting of the rope.
Lila ran up to Rex with an idea. “Do you have another rope? It doesn’t have to be as long as the first one. Any kind of rope will do. We can throw him that line and that will help steady him. He’s not that high anymore.”
“That’s an outstanding idea. I’m sure we’ve got one. Braham, hurry, what else can we throw him for support? Quickly!”
Braham looked around the big room. Nothing caught his eye at first, and then he saw one of the electric cords that ran from the generator room to the master junction box that sent power to the individual sleeping rooms.
“We could cut the power, temporarily, and use the cable to—”
“Do it!” said Rex. “We don’t have much time left.”
Braham continued anyway. “Rex, there’s a risk that we won’t be able to re-connect the line perfectly.”
“Do it, I said!”
Braham moved quickly and cut a fifty-foot section of the cable. The last half-inch was persistent and didn’t want to let go. When it released under the force of the blade, it sent Braham flying backwards, causing the Elder to lose his handle on the knife and it flew out his hand and landed precariously close to his own daughter’s foot. She screamed, but wasn’t hurt. Braham gathered the cable and rushed it back to Rex, who handed the cord to Buck. He grabbed the three- inch thick cable and hit J.J. in stride as he held on to the ladder with one hand and made a nifty catch of the cable with the other. The men at the other end of the rope methodically tip-toed backwards, putting tension on the cable from below, and the line snapped at attention all the way up to J.J., who used that force to steady his ladder. Mission accomplished.
J.J. continued down the ladder. Sophie jumped in anticipation of her daddy making it down. As he lowered himself, the men holding the cable continued to step further away, this helped keep the tension on the line and eased J.J.’s descent.
J.J. fell into the bedding material. This caused more celebratory shouting from the crowd and Sophie rushed up to her father and jumped into his arms. “Ah, my sweet Sophie. You know I was scared up there. Then I thought of you and I said to myself that if my little girl can be brave, then so can I.”
“Thanks, Dad. You were great too. But, Dad, I’m not a little girl anymore. Mommy says now I’m a big girl.”
“I better get used to that,” said J.J. with a glint in his eye.
Lila rushed up to her husband and they embraced. Then they turned back to look up at the isolated figure that was Mathis. Lila’s brother had done his part to get them down.
There was no one left to help him.
CHAPTER 47
Rex stood at the bottom of the tunnel and yelled up to him. “What do you think? Will the rope hold on your end?”
“I’m not sure. The constant weight on the line has loosened the connection…I’m going to try and reinforce it before I try to come down. Don’t worry if it takes me a couple of minutes.”
Mathis went back to the spot where the end of the rope had been secured to the rock protruding from the wall. Where there had once been a solid circle of rock that enabled J.J. to tie the rope around, that circle had a small fissure in it. Had it been there all this time? Mathis had no idea. There were small rocks scattered around the base of the wall that held the circular rock. Would the wall hold long enough for one more man to descend down the line?
Mathis retreated back up the path and gathered a few large rocks and used those to build a new support wall that reached from one side of the tunnel to the other. He jammed the rope into this new collection of rocks as tight as he possibly could.
The wall was close to three feet in height when he realized that he had to get on the other side of this wall that he was building or he would completely block himself off from the cave opening. He laughed out loud at his own stupidity and chalked up the faulty choice to exhaustion and stress. Once he realized his error, he moved all the rocks to the other side of his wall and finished loading up the opening with large heavy stones that he trusted wo
uld stop the rope from sliding off the wall and sending him free falling to certain death.
“I think I’ve got it now.” Mathis yelled down.
“Great. What can we do to help?” asked Rex.
“Well…come up with another Plan B?” Mathis said, only half- joking.
There was a lengthy silence. Then Rex said, “I…I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
“That’s a first. Figures, now of all times.” Mathis muttered to himself, then he called, “Okay, then, here I come.”
Lila called up to him. “Mathis, can you throw down my backpack? My computer is in there.”
“It’ll break from this distance.”
“I don’t think you want to carry it down with you from there. Yeah, throw it down. It’s better padded than I am,” said Lila.
Mathis fastened the latches on the backpack and sent it spiraling out over the edge. It tumbled end over end several times before landing on the bedding material with a louder-than-anticipated thwack. The straps of the backpack broke on contact and the force of the fall sent the hinges of Lila’s computer flying off the pile of mattresses and landed a few feet away.
“Thanks. Now you’ve given me a reclamation project down here.”
Mathis replied. “You said you wanted it! You got it! Are you ready for me now? Any more requests?”
“No. Come down.”
“That’s the plan. Have some faith down there.”
Mathis grabbed the rope with both hands, inspecting his handiwork one final time. He couldn’t see the end of the rope. It was wrapped around a potentially broken rock and it would have to bust through several hundred pounds of large rocks to cause disastrous consequences.
The two end pieces of the rope hung out from the wall of rocks Mathis had built and he began to climb down.
The rope felt solid. In fact, the rope held firm for the first twenty feet or so without a hitch. Then, he felt the rope slacken. He was convinced that the end of the rope had broken free of the wall and now only his makeshift pile of rocks was keeping the rope from sliding to him. He had to maneuver another fifteen feet lower before he would avoid serious injury from his fall. He hustled down that rope and with each step, he felt less and less confident that he would make it.
Would this be how it would end? All those years of preparation and countless hours of work and sacrifice and I’m gonna die because an old rope broke free after saving my sister? And worst of all, if I die here and now, it would be a horrific sight to witness. I’ll forever be known as the guy that fell to his death.
As the ground grew closer step by step, he felt the tension on the rope fading. The ropes slid precariously close to busting through his make shift retaining wall.
Come on…come on…hold on, dammit…Thwap!
The rope broke free and began its slow motion chase to catch Mathis and meet him at the floor.
Then two things happened a split second apart. He heard the crowd gasp, and felt the electric pain of making contact. He was vaguely aware he’d landed on the bedding. It only kept him from dying, not being severely injured.
His legs were twisted in a sickening manner. His left foot was turned 90 degrees to the left while his left leg was turned the same degree to the right. He would never run again. Walking would be a minor miracle based on the initial view of his feet as he lay in a crumpled heap atop the pile of various bedding materials.
The crowd of onlookers rushed to his side. Buck was the first to get to him. “Mathis! Mathis! Are you okay?”
Mathis stared up at his older brother and fighting back the pain, he whispered to his sibling.“Do I look okay?”
“No, actually. But that’s what you get trying to impress the ladies with your grand entrance,” Buck joked back.
“Boys, boys, boys, that’s quite enough,” said Rex as he pushed his way through the crowd.
“Heh, Dad, I did it,” said Mathis, each breath filled with searing pain.
“I’d say you did something remarkable. As I knew you would. How are your legs?”
“I didn’t realize they were still attached to my body.”
With that comment, the medical staff rushed in and placed Mathis on a gurney as gently as they could. They took every precaution to keep him safe, using a body board to secure his back and a neck brace to keep his head stable. Then they whisked him to the medical clinic. The doctors in Canamith didn’t have medical degrees from traditional colleges, but their physicians had studied medical books, practiced medicine in the village and were prepared for any emergency. X-ray equipment, gauze, tape, bandages, and anything that the department required. It had all been accumulated throughout Rex’s trips with General Taft.
Doctor Aaron appeared after a tension-filled hour waiting for news. Dr. Aaron was short, thin and his brown hair was flecked with gray at his temples. He didn’t smile much, but he made up for that with a kindly bedside manner that eased his patient’s nerves.
“Heart checks out, lungs are bruised, at least three broken ribs, two broken ankles, a possible fracture of the humerus bone, but his vitals are in surprisingly good condition,” admired the doctor.
Rex, J.J., Lila, Sophie and Buck breathed a sigh of relief hearing the news.
“Don’t get too excited, folks, he took a nasty fall. We’re going to have to give him a few weeks to rest, but he’s going to make a good recovery. Doctor Leber will be here in a minute to talk about the surgery on his ankles. You can come see him for a few minutes,” Dr. Aaron guided the family into the surgical area of the clinic.
Rex moved closer to his son and grabbed his left hand and gave it squeeze. Mathis managed to give a small amount of pressure back and Rex held his hand until the “Bone Doctor” entered the room. The kids in Canamith gave him that moniker because of all the x-rays he had taken over the years.
“I’ve seen your x-rays. Heck, I think we have x-rays of your whole body. How do you feel, Mathis?” said the balding, middle-aged surgeon.
“Doc, you ever get run over by a herd of elephants?”
“No, can’t say that’s one of my life experiences thus far, but we’ll see what happens when we get out of here someday. Maybe I’ll take that trip where the elephants search for water. I’ve read about that. I’m going to prep for surgery in a minute. You don’t have to memorize the Sanderell Book of Modern Medicine to see you’ve got issues. Dr. Aaron started your pain medication with the IV drip. Rex, if there’s anything you want to talk to your son about, I’d do it now before he goes into surgery. He’ll be in recovery for several hours. I’ll see you in surgery, Mathis. Don’t worry, young man, I’ll take good care of you.”
“Thank you, doctor,” said Rex. Then he looked at Mathis. “You found the original entrance, didn’t you? Very smart, young man. Very good indeed. We’ll have time to talk about that later.”
“Thanks, Dad. I’m getting a little sleepy.”
“What in the world are you thanking me for?” asked Rex.
As Mathis drifted into sleep, he whispered, “Plan B…Plan B.”
CHAPTER 48
While Mathis rested in the recovery room, Lila took this opportunity to re-acquaint with Rex. She found him waiting in the recovery room with Buck. They were thumbing through books trying to pass the time. Rex glanced up and smiled at his daughter. J.J. followed, trying to blend into the background.
“We have a lot of catching up to do,” said her father.
“Yeah, I can’t believe we’re sitting here together.”
“You better have the doctor take a look at your nose. I think it’s broken.”
Rex studied her, and caressed her shoulder-length hair.
“Lila, tell me, why did you come back home?”
“Dad, I’ve studied the stars in the sky. I learned all about the animal world. I read all the books I longed for. I saw mankind do great things, but I ran out of time trying to figure out what’s going on out there and the logical thing to do was to live to fight another day. So here we are.”
Rex shook his head in disagreement. “You won’t figure out it with science. We’re people of faith. We read the ancient scrolls and we adhered to their instructions. When I used to meet with General Taft, he would tell me about the world. He said that people would follow the rules that made their life easier, not better. We obeyed our rules in order to save mankind. And now, sadly, as it was predicted 2,000 years ago, here we sit. We’re simply humble servants carrying out our destiny that was written long ago. When Mathis is stronger, the village will gather to listen to the The Holy Book of Knowledge.”
“What’s that?” asked J.J.
“That is the original message from those who gave us our instructions long ago. It is the most sacred piece of writing in our long history. The text of that book has never been dislodged from its original case. Nobody in the village has ever opened the book.”
Buck grew concerned as the conversation turned to the Holy texts.
“There are certain people in the village insisting that Lila and her family should not hear the sacred words.”
“Then let those people deal with me. For now, I’m in charge and these people are my family. Are they not living here with us?”
Buck had struck a tender nerve and tried to retreat. “Yes, Dad. Don’t be upset with me. I’m simply relaying what I’ve heard. Not everyone is pleased that there will be three more mouths to feed, and clothe, and shelter, and the Elder at the oxygen intake center was concerned about the amount of air.”
“Oh, that’s nonsense. Those are foolish people dealing with petty jealousy. We’ve factored in a safeguard. We have enough supplies to take in another few people if we had to. Now that the doors are sealed, I don’t think three more is a problem. Tell the troublemakers to go drink herbal tea and relax. The people you speak of are probably friends of Ethan White. I’m sure he’s responsible for this nonsensical chatter. I’ll speak to him at a later time.”
Ethan had entered the area and had heard the last few seconds of the conversation. “How about right now? Buck is right. I’m not happy about the recent events that have transpired.”
Escape to Canamith Page 25