by Melissa Good
”Why?” José disagreed, kicking the one nearest him with a toe.
”Why not this one?”
”Or this one?” Duks was investigating one that went around the perimeter.
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”Look, this one goes directly across to there. It’s closer,” Steven argued. ”That one there goes all the way over to that side and zig zags, and the other one goes around the edges.”
”Well, but wouldn’t they tend to not make the right one the most direct?” Mariana asked, reasonably. ”What would be the challenge, otherwise?” She watched Mary Lou approach yet another path. ”Not that it’s... I mean, we can just try each one until we find the right one, I suppose.”
”Wouldn’t it be faster if we each tried one and whoever figures out the right one first tells everyone, and then everyone else can just get on that path?” Kerry inquired, peering over the paths. Each wooden walkway was suspended over a coral grotto of pits and slopes, filled with impassable bushes and rock walls. ”What is this thing, anyway?”
Dar stepped up behind her, and turned in a full circle. ”My guess is it used to be a lake,” she stated. ”See how the land slopes up around here?” She pointed. ”So that used to be the bottom of it, soft coral and limestone shaped by the water.”
”Would you can the Discovery Channel, please?” Steven rolled his eyes. ”Let’s get this over with.” He stepped out on his chosen path.
”You all can do what you want. I’m heading over there.”
”This is foolish,” Eleanor muttered. ”They’re going to get a huge piece of my mind when I get back to Miami.” She put a hesitant foot on a board. ”Jesu...if I fall off this, I’m suing.”
Dar was the last one to choose. She waited for everyone else to pick a path, then she stood on the edge of the puzzle and gazed across. Kerry was off to her left and she considered it, then picked a path most likely to intersect with the one Kerry was on. It wasn’t particularly hard, the board being eight inches or so across, you just had to be careful of your step. Falling wouldn’t be painful, just embarrassing, unless you were a guy and fell straight down or you chose to take a dive off the planks and hit your head on the coral.
”See? I told you,” Steven yelled in triumph as his path wound closer to the platform. ”You guys better start backtracking.”
Dar bounced on her feet twice and regarded his planks. ”Maybe,”
she was forced to agree, giving Kerry a wry look as the blonde woman glanced her way. ”I don’t...” She stopped as a faint tremor ran through her legs. ”Did you feel that?”
Kerry concentrated. ”Feel what?” She looked puzzled.
”Like a...a shudder or something.” Dar waited, but the feeling wasn’t repeated. ”No? Must be me, then.” She shook her head, then continued on a bit, watching Duks and Eleanor’s paths come close to each other. Then she felt it again. ”There, did you feel that?”
”Feel what?” Mark had circled around away from the perimeter.
”Dar, are you all right?”
The tall, dark haired woman stopped still and concentrated. ”Yeah.
I think I...” Now it was stronger. ”There...tell me you didn’t feel that, Hurricane Watch
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like a truck going by on the freeway.”
”I felt it,” Kerry acknowledged, looking around nervously. ”Is it an earthquake?”
”Earthquake!” Eleanor heard her. ”What are you saying? Don’t be foolish. There are no earthquakes in Florida.”
Dar's brow creased. ”She’s right.
The entire state’s built on
limestone over a water base. There’s nothing to quake. It’d just turn to sand and—” Abruptly her footing lurched under her. ”Hey!”
”What the—” José wavered back and forth. ”This is some piece of shit trick. Goddamn these people.” He flailed his arms for balance.
”Jesu!”
Dar saw the crack. ”Oh shit.” Her eyes went wide in shock. ”Hang on!” Instinctively, she dove in Kerry’s direction as the entire grotto collapsed under them, in a rumble of rock and splintering wood.
She fell, they all did, with dirt and coral and trees tumbling after them, screams going up as the earth dropped out from under their feet, crumbling and diving down into a sudden, gaping, widening well. Dar covered her head as she dropped, trying to fend off branches with her other hand, and she remained upright until a rock hit her mid fall, knocking her sideways and into the collapsing earth rim.
She grabbed at a limb, but the weight of the earth pressed her onward and she found herself slipping down a moving slope, with rocks and sticks pelting her painfully. ”Kerry!” she yelled, just before a sizable chunk of coral smacked her in the head and knocked her into a dark fog for a long, frightening moment. Then she hit bottom and felt the impact of what seemed like half the world dropping on top of her.
Kerry had screamed as the wood disintegrated beneath her feet, but she’d managed to grab hold of the supports as she dropped and swung over to the side of the falling pit, scraping along the edges and trying to get a grip on anything to stop her slide. Around her, she could hear the others screaming and she ducked a branch, then got her feet under her and managed to slow her descent for a moment.
Not long enough, though, as the earth ledge she’d been bracing against collapsed and she found herself tumbling head over heels towards a pile of coral. ”Jesus!” She managed to shove away from them, but got caught by a falling tree which she grabbed and clung to as it rushed downward. She felt a tremendous jolt as it hit bottom and she went flying through the air.
Luck put her down in a pile of earth and small rocks, instead of anything harder and she crawled out of the way of some falling limbs and huddled under a tree trunk as the collapse roared around her. She heard her name called and she lifted her head, peering through the branches towards the sound. She spotted Dar’s falling body, then saw it crumble in mid air and land, with rocks and dirt on top of her. ”Dar!”
Kerry didn’t wait for anything else. She dug out from her hiding spot and dashed across the still moving earth, through clouds of dust 84
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and shredded leaves, dodging the odd rolling boulder. ”D... oh god.”
She saw the arm sticking out from the dirt and scrambled over the last obstacle. Kerry jumped down next to where her lover had fallen and started frantically throwing debris off her. ”Dar? Hey!” She shoved dirt away from Dar’s head and was rewarded by a groan. ”Hey, hey, come on.” ”Okay, okay, take it easy,” Dar mumbled, getting her arms under her and pushing away from the dirt a little. She felt rocks and earth roll off her back, aided by Kerry’s hands ”Whoa, watch that last step.” She managed to joke faintly as she succeeded in sitting up, reaching to rub her head with a wince. ”Goddamn it.”
Kerry got into the dirt next to her and brushed her off gently.
”Jesus. Are you all right?” She checked Dar’s head anxiously. ”What happened? I thought you said there were no earthquakes in Florida?”
”Calm down.” Dar caught her hands and chafed them, feeling the tremors. ”It wasn’t an earthquake.” She looked around them as the rumble eased, and the dust settled, hearing the cries of their companions. ”It’s a sinkhole.”
”A sinkhole?” Kerry sank down next to her and leaned against her shoulder, sliding an arm around Dar’s waist. ”A sinkhole. Okay, so this is not part of the test, right?”
”No.” Dar gazed at her. ”Are you okay?”
”What? Oh sure. I’m fine. Absolutely,” Kerry assured her. ”Just a few bumps.”
”You’re sure?” Her lover gently inquired.
”Yes. I am,” Kerry stated.
”Okay. Well, you might want to let up on my arm, then. I’m losing feeling in my fingers.” Dar’s eyes twinkled a little.
Kerry stared down at her own hand, clenched around Dar’s wrist in a white knuckled death grip. ”Oh.” She loosened her hold. ”Sorry.” She
took several breaths, then studied her companion. ”You’re bleeding.”
Dar glanced at her shoulder ”No. I’m all right. It’s just a scratch.”
A soft, knowing chuckle. ”Where have I heard that before?” Kerry replied as she checked the wound. ”Looks like a branch poked in here.”
She sighed and looked over her shoulder. ”Guess we’d better go find everyone.
”Yeah.” Dar stood, then winced as her weight came down on one knee. ”Oh, shit.” Her face twisted in pain and she sat back down, holding her breath until the jolts of pain subsided. ”Son of a bitch.”
”What?” Kerry grabbed her anxiously. ”Take it easy.” She gently straightened Dar’s leg out. ”What is it?”
”My knee,” Dar exhaled. ”I think the cap is dislocated.” She gingerly felt the front of her leg. ”Yeah, feel that.”
Kerry laid hesitant fingers over the denim covered surface and felt an ominous bulge. ”Ow, Jesus, Dar that must hurt like crazy.”
It was making her nauseous, in fact. ”Yeah...um...” Dar took a deep Hurricane Watch
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breath. ”Listen, could you just, um, kind of twist that, and move it towards the inside of my leg?”
Wide green eyes stared at her. ”What?” Kerry yelped. ”You want me to do what?”
”Kerry, come on, stay with me here,” Dar urged. ”If you just knock it back in place it’s going to hurt a hell of a lot less.”
”I don’t think I can. God, Dar… ”
”Yes, you can,” Dar’s voice dropped. ”Come on now. It’ll just take a second. Grab it and twist.” She took hold of a nearby branch and clenched it as Kerry’s shaking hands fastened over the misplaced bone.
”That’s it, go on.”
Kerry closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, feeling the hard surface moving and slipping under her fingers. She fought down a queasy sensation and took as firm a hold as she could, tentatively twisting the bone out and down, conscious of the unmoving silence from her lover.
”Okay, hold on.”
She held her breath and pushed, then gasped as she felt the part slide into place. ”Did I get it?” Receiving no answer, she forced her eyes open to see a very pale Dar slumped against the debris, out cold. ”Oh shit!”
DAR BECAME GROGGILY aware of a dull, throbbing pain in her leg, and a warm tingling on her lips. She spent a moment deciding the two were probably not related, and let her eyelids drift open to see very concerned, very vibrant green eyes inches from her own. ”Uh.” She blinked and swallowed, running her tongue over her lips tentatively.
”Did you just kiss me?”
Kerry let out a shaky sigh of relief. ”Yes. I was trying to wake you up.”
”Mm. You know, shaking me would have done it too, but I’m not complaining,” Dar advised her wryly. ”Damn, sorry about that.”
”Wow, the pain must have been incredible, Dar, I...”
Her lover sighed. ”No, it wasn’t that. I mean, yes, it hurt, but not enough to knock me out.” She cleared her throat a little and struggled to sit up. ”It was the feeling of my bones grinding together. I used to pass out whenever they had to set something” She gave Kerry an apologetic look ”Should have warned you.” Her lips quirked. ”That, and long needles. Watch out.”
Kerry regarded her in mild surprise. ”Oh.” She sat back, rubbing Dar’s arm gently. ”I never would have guessed. I mean, you’re so, um...” She lifted a hand. ”You know.”
”Tough.” Dar smiled self-deprecatingly, as she eased her arms around her knees. ”I know. It’s a good act,” she acknowledged, straightening her leg carefully. ”That’s better,” she sighed. ”All right, where were we? Going to check for the others, right?”
Kerry sat back. ”Dar, why don’t you stay here? I’ll go check on 86
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everyone.” She got up, ducking under the branch they were sheltering beneath. ”Maybe I can find something for you to wrap around that.”
Dar reached over her head and grabbed the branch, pulling herself to her feet. ”No. I’d better find out now how—ouch.” She sucked in a breath, then exhaled it as she slowly put weight on her leg. It hurt, but it held, and she eased it up, flexed it a few times then put her foot back down again. ”Okay. I think that’s going to be all right.” She glanced out over the rubble. ”Jesus.”
The ground they’d been crossing had turned into a bowl like pit, with walls over thirty feet high all around them. The bottom was littered with rocks and shattered trees and a muddy seeping of water that Dar could feel chilling her soles.
A yell drifted over—her name—and they turned to see Mark climbing up on a half submerged tree trunk, waving at them. ”Come on.” Dar looked around, then picked up a broken limb to use as a support. “This could be our lucky day.”
“Lucky?” Kerry peered at her. “Let me check your head again.”
“Lucky because this pain in the ass exercise is over,” her boss clarified, “and we can go the hell home.”
“Ahh,” Kerry sighed. “Gotcha.”
They slowly made their way across the rubble, with Kerry managing to resist the urge to take Dar’s arm an entire five minutes before she gave in, gently tucking a hand inside Dar’s elbow as they went over uncertain footing. ”I know,” she started talking nervously, as she felt Dar take a breath. ”I know, and I don’t care, Dar. I’ll quit, I just...I don’t care if they know.”
Long pause. ”Um, actually, I was just going to remind you to watch out for those soft, white areas,” Dar replied gently. ”They’re limestone and probably slippery.” She paused, thinking. ”As for whether or not they know, I’m not going to worry about that right now. The important thing is for us to all get out of here.”
”Oh.” Kerry glanced down, and nodded a little. ”Okay. Sorry.” She felt a little silly. Of course Dar was right. No one would even be thinking about that now and she shouldn’t either. Duks’ comment had shaken her up a little, that was all.
Then she felt Dar’s arm shift and warm fingers curled around her own as she looked up, startled. Blue eyes gazed steadily back at her, a faint hint of challenge in the lilt of Dar’s eyebrows. Kerry smiled and gave the fingers a squeeze, then turned her attention back to finding a way across the slippery ground.
“HEY, GIVE ME a hand here,” Mark called over to where Duks was standing. ”Hold still, Mary Lou. Let me get this branch off you.” He gave Duks a nod as the Finance VP joined him and put a hand on the heavy limb. ”Thanks.”
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”Take it easy, Mary Lou,” Duks told the young woman as he and Mark pushed against the limb, trying to force it away from her body.
”Argh.” They shoved harder and managed to move the tree off Mary Lou’s trapped leg. ”There you go.”
”Augh.” The young woman crawled free and pulled herself to her feet. ”Thank you, thank you.” She gave Mark a grateful look as he took her arm, leading her over to where the rest of the group was gathering.
Dar was off a little ways, poking in the debris with her stick, while Kerry crouched next to Mariana, who had gotten a nasty cut on her arm.
Other than that and some bangs and bruises, they’d all survived intact, and now were standing or sitting in a rough circle, dazedly looking around them.
”Now what, Sherlock?” Steven came up behind Dar and glared at the walls blocking them in. ”You going to wave your damn broom and fly us all out of here.” He spat disgustedly. ”I can’t believe you got us into this, I think I’m going to—Urp.” The end of Dar’s stick was pinning him to a tree trunk and he struggled to breathe.
”You.” Dar pressed harder. ”Are.” She leaned closer. ”Getting.”
Her voice dropped, but somehow became more penetrating. ”On my nerves!” She paused, glaring. ”So shut up, or I’m gonna shove this stick right up your ass.” A deathly silence. ”Got me?”
Steven nodded once, then slumped as the stick was removed and he could breathe again.
”Bitch.” He rubbed his throat.
The tanned face creased into a feral smile. ”Jackass,” she responded, then turned and resumed her study of the wall.
”Oh, boy,” Mariana whispered as Kerry finished tying a bit of shirt sleeve over her cut. ”DR’s on the ragged edge, I see.”
Kerry glanced up at her boss, then exhaled. ”Yeah, but it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t pushed her. He’s been doing that all weekend. I was sort of surprised she hadn’t said anything before.”
Truculent green eyes regarded Mariana. ”It’s not her fault.”
The Personnel VP allowed a weary smile to cross her face. ”Whose fault it is doesn’t impact the amount of paperwork I’m going to have to do for this little trip.” She nudged Kerry with her knee. ”Go see if you can settle her down a little. We don’t need police reports on top of everything else.”
Kerry blinked. ”Oh, no, Dar wouldn’t...” She paused, remembering Kyle. ”Okay. I see your point.” She stood, buckling her belt pack back around her waist and picked her way over to where Dar was standing.
Steven gave her a cold stare as she passed and she returned it with a charming smile, which seemed to annoy him a lot.
Dar was scanning the wall, her pale blue eyes flicking here and there as she rested her weight on the stick to keep if off her knee.
”That’s a possibility.” She pointed as Kerry came up next to her. ”It’d be tough, but I think we might make it, or at least a few of us would, and then we could go get help.”
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Kerry gazed up. ”You mean where those trees are hanging down?”
”Mm hmm.” Dar’s attention was tightly focused. ”Yeah, we could get a boost up there and use those roots as handholds.”
It was a possibility, Kerry reasoned. ”That might work, yeah.” She put her hand on the stick, covering Dar’s fingers, which brought the ice blue eyes down to fasten on her. ”You doing all right?”
A faint crease showed in Dar’s forehead. ”Hmm? Oh, yeah, my knee aches a little and I’ve got a killer headache, but I’m okay. How about you?”
Kerry let her eyes slide to where Steven was sitting dourly on a log, then move back to Dar’s face. One eyebrow rose in question.