Well, look at that,I think bitterly,I’m not afraid of the water, I’m claustrophobic. What a perfect time to discover a new phobia.
One thing at a time. Check my tank. Turn on my dive computer. We’re wearing drysuits, so I won’t freeze to death on this task. See? Already better than last year’s challenges.
“Check your pressure gauges every five minutes,” Lucca tells us, “let’s do everything we can to not get caught by surprise.”
The divemaster gives the signal and we’re in the water, swimming fast to the first marked cave entrance. If I wasn’t exhausted and fighting this new sense of claustrophobia, I would love this dive.
The caves occasionally open into small caverns, the ceilings glittering silver, gold, and purple from minerals in the rock, it’s magical. But right now, my job is to not freak out and keep an eye on my teammates.
I check my gauge. Everything looks right, plenty of air in my tanks.
Lucca turns every few minutes, counting us off. He is a good leader; Dean Christie was right to put him in this major. We’re almost to the halfway mark when I hear a muffled cry behind me. It’s Steve, he holds up his pressure gauge and I see the indicator’s dropped below zero. I pull my regulator to share with him, and we make it around the halfway mark, heading on the home stretch when Luciana circles above her head. She’s out of oxygen too.
Marcel passes his regulator back and forth with her as we swim by one of the observers, who is forcing a thrashing student to put his mask back on, trying to calm him down. What team is he from? I can’t see anyone ahead of us, but it was sloppy to leave their man behind. When my gauge drops to twenty-five percent, I hold it up to Lucca, who nods and gestures to Steve to swim alongside him to share his air.
There’s a darker tunnel in front of us, the blue of the water above us sinking into black near the opening and my heart thumps wildly in my chest. The water’s so murky that I can’t see well enough to gauge how long it is, and it looks narrow enough that I will probably have to pull off my tank and drag it behind me.
I don’t want to do this I don’t I hate this place…
I only have a quarter tank left. I must control my breathing.
Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly as Athena and Steve swim past me. Something grabs my arm and I just barely hold in a scream.
It’s Lucca. He holds my arm, watching me carefully. Pointing at me, holding his thumb up. He’s waiting for me to do the same. I must have the crazy eyes magnified behind my mask, because he looks at me with concern until I nod again holding my thumb up in the “all good!” sign, moving past him into the rock tube.
The light on my mask activates,Slava bogu,thank god. When my tank scrapes across the top of the rock channel, I freeze. It suddenly feels like a fist is squeezing my heart, and I mindlessly pat my chest.
Stop it. You can’t panic. Stop.
I can’t wiggle myself back out. Lucca and at least two others from our team are behind me. Putting my hand on the rock, I try to remember the caverns, the iridescent streaks of gold and silver reflecting from the quartz, the beauty hidden under this island.
Slipping off my tank and gripping it carefully, I pull myself through the tunnel, remembering the colors and how they glowed. It could have been two minutes, it could have been an hour, but I finally crawl out of the dark tunnel and back into one of the main chambers.
Surfacing, I pull my regulator out of my mouth and suck in a deep, grateful breath.
A deep, hollow cough echoes down the channel to my right. I turn in a circle, looking for the observer who’s supposed to be manning this spot. This is the main area where three different cave tunnels merge. There should be a…
Another deep hacking cough and I can just barely hear,“Blyad’...”I know that voice.
Ripping out my regulator, I shout, “Konstantin!”
His cough was wet-sounding and my heart thuds painfully. “Mar…?”
“I’m coming! Coming!” I babble before shoving my regulator back in my mouth and finding I have some energy left after all. I swim for maybe two hundred feet before breaking into his little space.
The tiny cavern Konstantin is in has a small surface space that barely clears his head. There’s a pocket of air, but depending on how long he’s been breathing it, there could be deadly levels of carbon dioxide.
His arm is thrown over a rock outcropping, barely keeping him from slipping under the water, his tanned skin is nearly blue and there’s oh, no no no no- there’s a trickle of blood coming from his mouth, even though there are no cuts or bruising.
“Kon! What happened?” His eyes flutter and he tries to answer me but it’s just a weak rattle.
Checking his pressure gauge, I’m alarmed to see it’s at zero. But the tampered ones dropped well below the empty mark. Did Kon give all the air in his tanks to his team members? Of course, he did.
“Kon?” I lightly slap his cheek,“Dorogoy?Sweetheart? I need you to look at me. I must get you out of here. We’re going to share my regulator. Do you understand me?” I slap him harder, trying to get a response and he finally opens his eyes.
“Pchelka?”he says hoarsely.
“Yes! Yes, I’m here.” I laugh and cry at the same moment, “You are going to share my regulator. We only have to swim two hundred feet or so and we’re out into the main cave, all right?” I look down and there’s a trickle of red seeping from a jagged rip in his dry suit, right over his broken ribs. “Were you attacked?”
