The B Girls (25 page)

"It's sealed. We'd have to break it or at
least break the seal to get it open. We can't open it without Jane. It wouldn't
be fair," Lucy said.

 
"What if there's a clue inside the
jar to another hiding place down here?"

Lucy thought about it for a few seconds. "No.
What would be the point?" She shook her head. "We've got what we came
for and Jane deserves to be included. Besides, we might damage the document if
we aren't careful."

"And we need to get back," Mae said.

They'd left Jane nearly an hour and a half ago.
"We should make better time on the way back."

They started across the room to the crack of doom
and Lucy stopped in her tracks. In the excitement of finding the declaration
and seeing the beautiful part of caving she had forgotten about the crack. She
started shaking and felt the tears come back to her eyes again.

# # #

"I can't. I can't go back in there."

"What?" Mae didn't seem to remember
Lucy's panic attack either.

"That was a one way trip for me. You and Jane
are going to have to figure out a system to keep me supplied with food and
water. Maybe a sun lamp. Blankets. Clothes. Porta Potty. Some good books. I've
been seriously considering a meditation retreat but maybe I won't need to pay
for a weekend. I can get plenty of meditation in while I'm living down
here."

"Very funny," Mae said. "We have to
go. Jane and Belle are counting on us."

Except Lucy wasn't kidding. "I'm not going
back in there. I'd rather become a hermit and live down here than crawl back
into that hole." She was crying again and she couldn't seem to stop
shaking.

Mae, put her arms around Lucy and hugged her hard.
"People pay a lot of money for the kind of therapy you just had."

It took a second for her words to register. Lucy
pulled back and blinded Mae with her headlamp. "Therapy? Are you crazy?
Because I almost was. I think if I'd been in there for another minute I would
have had a psychotic break. A real honest to God psychotic break."

"No, I'm not crazy. I've read about this.
Therapists take people with phobias and expose them to the things they're
afraid of to desensitize them. It's like a magic cure."

"Did you hear me? I almost went insane. I
could've hurt you."

"But you didn't," Mae said. "And I
bet if you think about it you feel better now."

Did she? Lucy tried to think about going back into
the crack.

The opening to the nightmare crawl stared at her
with its unblinking black eye. The eye of death, soulless and flat.

Lucy shivered. Belle needed them to pull this off
and Jane needed medical help. Getting out of here with Jane and the Declaration
was all that mattered.
Forward is the way
out.
"I'll try. Let's pack up this jar."

They spent a few minutes wrapping the jar in one of
the remaining blankets and cushioning it as best they could with water bottles
and bags of gorp.

Mae gave Lucy an unwavering "you can do
this" look before dropping to her stomach and slithering into the hole
pulling the packs behind her again.

Lucy wasn't at all sure she
could
do it. Only the fear that Jane would die of shock or Belle
would be hurt by her kidnapper had Lucy even thinking about going back in
there.

Of course the bigger likelihood was that she would
start crawling, panic, and be no help to anyone--or worse, actually cause a
bigger problem.

Decision time. Panting in fear, Lucy didn't try to
stop the tears still running out of her eyes. Live people cried.

She reached a hand into the opening. As it
disappeared into the shadows, it went numb as though crossing a barrier between
life and death.

Lucy pulled her hand back, almost surprised to find
it still attached.

Surely Mae would find a way to get Jane help. Then
Mae could send the paramedics back to Lucy and they could give her something to
knock her out while they pulled her free on her very own stretcher.

And delay getting Jane to the hospital. Not to
mention further endangering the rescue team.

Her fear was echoed in her pounding heart. She
pushed her hand back into the maw, it tingled and went numb.

This time, she squeezed her eyes shut tight and
pulled her body up to her hand. Her scalp crawled, her hair felt alive as
though it was reaching out to touch the rock and send alarms to the rest of her
body.

She hovered there, arms, head, and shoulders across
the threshold of the underworld, the rest of her still in the land of the
living.

Focusing her light on the disappearing packs, Lucy inched
forward, keeping pace with Mae's jerky slide through the crack. The flush of
heat turned into a cold sweat as soon as she was completely encased in the
rock. She couldn't catch her breath and her heart strained to feed her oxygen
starved body.

Spots danced in front of her eyes and she fought to
maintain her focus on the packs and convince herself there was plenty of air.

The panic rolled over her in a tingling wave.

She clenched her fists to her side to keep from
beating at the walls and watched Mae's head move farther into the tunnel.

Gasping and wheezing, she knew this time she
wouldn't make it through.

"--matter what they say, Jane's gonna want a
whole pitcher of margaritas."

Mae's voice penetrated the screaming darkness in
Lucy's head but she didn't have the breath to respond.

"Lucy? Are you still back there?"

Forcing her eyes open, Lucy saw Mae's light bounce
around the crack as she tried to twist around to get a look at Lucy.

Once again Lucy struggled with the need to raise up
to be able to move freely and expand her lungs. Once again the panic won and
she fought a losing battle against the rock.

This time the sharp pain that brought her back was
in her knee.

Out, she had to get out.

Lucy made a renewed effort to scramble forward and
butted her head against the packs which were acting just like a cork in a
bottle. Behind her the pressure of Lucy's fear was building again.

Some tiny part of Lucy's brain that hadn't gone
feral warned her she was about to hurt her friend.

With a moan, Lucy forced herself to stop, go limp
and just breathe. She managed to croak, "Go."

Mae seemed to get the message because the packs
moved away from Lucy's head.

"Just keep moving and try to breathe,"
Mae said. "We're almost there."

Lucy didn't respond. She was using every bit of her
available rational brain to keep herself moving forward.

###

"Okay," Mae called back. "Hands and
knees. Just a little longer."

Lucy slithered for all she was worth.
Hands and knees!
What the hell was she
doing in a place where crawling on her hands and knees was cause for
celebration?

When she reached the spot and crawled back over the
obstruction she collapsed and sucked in deep lungfuls of air.
 
A few more minutes and she'd be able to
stand up. She hauled herself up to her hands and knees and scurried as fast as
she could.

Popping out of the hellish crack behind Mae was
like Christmas, New Years and the Fourth of July all rolled into one.

She bolted to her feet and this time did a little
dance of joy. "If we make it out of here alive, I don't think I'll ever so
much as go into a basement again." She grabbed Mae's shoulders in her
excitement and practically shouted in Mae's face.
 
"Above ground. I'm going to live
the rest of my life above ground."

Mae chuckled and nodded. "Okay. Sounds like a
plan. Now let's keep moving."

"The rest is cake," Lucy said.
"We'll be back to Jane in no time."

They made it back in record time and without any
further scares.

Lucy dropped back into the passage where they'd
left Jane. "We found the--"

Jane turned to Lucy with dull, pain-glazed eyes.

"Oh my God." Lucy rushed over to her, her
own problems forgotten.

Behind her, she heard Mae unclipping from the rope.

"What's wrong?" Mae asked.

"She's not doing well."

Mae rushed over to see for herself.

Jane managed a wan smile. "I'll have you know
I'm doing okay. I was just finishing a little nap."

Lucy put a hand to Jane's forehead. She felt cold
and a little clammy.

"I'm going right now to get some help,"
Mae said.

Jane gave her head a weak negative shake. "No.
You can't go alone. I've been thinking about getting out of here. Had lots of
time to think about it."

Lucy rolled her eyes. Jane was either delirious or
delusional. "I can't wait to hear this."

"I'll tell you in a minute but first show me
what you found."

"We don't have time for that right now."

Jane pushed herself more upright with her good arm
and winced at the movement. "Of course we do. Can't you see I'm better now
that I'm more awake?"

No, Lucy didn't really see that. She glanced at
Mae.

Mae wasn't convinced either.

"Really, I promise. I think I'm still making
those natural painkillers. Show me," Jane said.

"It's just an old jar," Lucy said.
"If the document's in there we shouldn't open it until we get someplace
clean and safe."

"We can open it once your arm is taken care of
and Belle is safe. We'll have a party. With alcohol," Mae said.

I'm going to drink myself blind tonight," Jane
said.

"I just want to get you out of here,"
Lucy said.

"Party pooper," Jane said.

"We can fight later," Mae said.
"Right now, I'm going for help."

"I have a better idea," Jane said.
"I told you I've been thinking about how to handle this."

"I can't wait to hear this," Lucy said.

"I know I can get all the way back to the
first shaft. With a little help." Jane held up her good hand when Lucy
started to protest. "No, hear me out."

Lucy nodded. Why not let her talk?

"The first section we have to navigate is a
short, walking bent section. I know I can do that. Same with that little bit of
wading. The next climb will be a little tricky but if you all help me through
the tough parts with a rope I can make it."

Lucy wasn't convinced, but she made an encouraging
noise.

"Okay then comes the nightmare crawl."

"We only thought that was a nightmare. Mae and
I found the real nightmare," Lucy shuddered then shook it off. "But I
see your point. There's no way you can pull yourself through there."

"What happened?" Jane asked.

Lucy waved off the question. "Later. What
about that first scary tunnel?"

"If we use one of the space blankets as a sort
of stretcher one of you can pull while the other pushes me through. All I'll
have to do is lay there. And then an almost easy stroll back to the base of the
first shaft."

Lucy wondered if it was possible. Could she and Mae
really maneuver Jane through that crawling section?

As for the rest, with room to maneuver they could
probably get her through. But it was dangerous.

"I still think we should let help come to
you," Lucy finally said.

Jane shook her head. "I have to at least try.
I'm feeling pretty tough right now."

Lucy hesitated. The last thing she wanted to do was
to make things worse.

"What's your vote, Mae?" Jane asked.

Mae shrugged. "I don't know."

Jane looked at them with pleading eyes. "I
have to try. I don't want to lay here like some helpless ninny."

Lucy looked at Mae.

Mae nodded. "Let's try. I don't like the idea
of our splitting up. What if something happens to me on my way out? I think we
have to at least let her try."

"First we need to do a better job of
immobilizing that arm. The less jarring it gets the better," Lucy said.
"And you have to promise to let us know right away if the pain gets to be
too much."

"I swear. But I really think there's some sort
of chemical thing going on to anesthetize the arm."

Lucy had her doubts, but every foot closer to the
entrance would be a good thing. "Let's do it."

Mae and Lucy did what they could to bind Jane's arm
to the front of her body with more of the space blanket. The trick was to get
it tight enough to hold it still without putting so much pressure on the break
that it caused more pain.