She wandered through, finding no one around, using her phone as a torch to see where she was going and scan each room.
“Lena?” she said, hearing her voice echo back. “Lena, if you’re here, say something so I can find you?” Her phone wasn’t enough but she recalled the torch that hung near every doorway. Shining the light, she found the one closest and switched it on, the room automatically much brighter.
The door, the one she hadn’t been through, that led further into the cave network under the peaks was open. She edged towards it, her heart pounding and her head tightening.
“Lena?”
Still no answer, just the faint sound of running water. Zack had mentioned an underground river, but it didn’t sound loud enough for that, however she had no idea how close it was.
“Lena?” she said again, resolved that if she heard nothing, she would head out, drive down the hill and as soon as she had reception on her phone she’d call Zack. He would move a mountain for her. She knew that, but it was only right now she understood it.
Half lost in a thought about the man waiting for her in town, she almost didn’t hear the slight whimper in the corner.
“Lena?”
“Sorrell?”
Her voice was weak but it was definitely Lena.
Sorrell moved the torch about the chamber and saw Lena almost folded in two, her pallor visible even in the dim light.
“What’s happened? Where is he? We need to get you out of there…” Her next words were obliterated by a loud, heavy thud that seemed to shake the world around them. Rocks started to fall from the ceiling, spraying her head and shoulders with small particles, a larger one catching the side of her head.
Lena shook her head. “He’s gone. He said he was coming back. You need to get out of here!” Her sobs were starting to become hysterical and Sorrell could understand why. They needed to get out.
She half ran to Lena, trying not to shine the torch directly in her face. “Can you tell me where you’re hurt?”
Lena nodded then shook her head. “My head. I got out of the car and he must’ve hit me from behind. And my leg. I think it’s broken. I can’t move it.”
Sorrell shone the torch further down and saw how awkwardly Lena was holding her leg. She was going to have to carry her out.
“Okay. This is going to hurt. But it’s only a five-minute walk back to the entrance.” Five minutes over rocky, uneven ground that was slippery and badly lit.
“I’m too big, you won’t manage it. I’ll be fine here—go phone Zack or Alex…”
Sorrell crouched down. “I don’t know what’s happened, but if I leave you here he may come back. This is going to hurt, but I need you to put your hands on my shoulders and help me get you up.”
Lena reached out, her hands shaking. “Then how will you carry me?”
“A fireman’s lift,” Sorrell said. “But I’ll need you to hold the torch and try to shine it so I can see where I’m going. Hands on?” She looked at Lena, the torch light from the floor just about illuminating her pained expression. “Stand up on three. Keep your weight on your good leg. One, two, three…”
As she stood, there was aloud cracking noise and then the rumbling of rocks as they started to fall through, breaking down the fairy tale formations and leaving a nightmare.
Lena clung onto her, her small frame shaking and tears soaking her face and Sorrell’s shoulder.
Sorrell didn’t say anything, there was no way she’d be heard above the sound of rocks sliding. She guessed it was the chamber next door, the one before the door to get beyond the caves the public would visit. The one they would need to get through to escape.
Present time
Zack took a look at Sorrell’s car as they headed to the entrance to Griff’s Cavern. Or where the entrance was. There was no doubt that this was where she was; her car and Lena’s were parked outside, a fine layer of snow covering them.
“Are you going to be of any use or are we carrying you?” Wes Hackett, the co-ordinator of Severton Search and Rescue looked at him, hard hat on his head with the torch switched on. “If it were me and my girl was in there, I’d need sedating right now. I just need the truth.”
It had taken twenty-five minutes. That was it. No explanations, because there were none at this time. All they knew was that Sorrell and Lena were in the caves.
Or on the hillside.
He wasn’t sure which was worse.
