As he let his eyes drift closed, again… he heard it.
His body stiffened, he tilted his head to the side. Rain dripped from above and had been all night.
This time when the noise came, he knew what it came from. “Here!” He yelled as he moved Monica’s head from his lap with careful ease. Her head rolled to the side. The pitch black of the cave didn’t allow Trent to see if Monica opened her eyes. “Here! We’re in here!”
He heard a bark. On his hand and knees, he crawled in the direction of the falling water. When he splashed into the pool, he stood and filled the cave with a sharp whistle.
The barking continued, faster… closer.
His stiff hands fisted. “Monica? Monica… someone’s here.”
She didn’t respond.
“Here! Help!” He whistled again, longer, louder. “Help!”
“Trent? Trent?”
He wanted to weep. They’d been found. “In here!”
“Trent?” The voice didn’t sound familiar, but soon there were others.
“Monica?”
“She’s in here.”
Dirt from above rained on him, as did the glow of a flashlight. “Watch out. There’s a hole.”
“Everyone stop,” he heard someone yell. “Back up.”
“Monica? Monica are you in there?” The voice was female and frantic.
“She’s here,” Trent yelled back. “We’re both inside a cave.”
There were shouts of joy followed by the familiar bark of Ginger.
“Monica?”
Trent took a few steps away from the pool, careful he didn’t trip over Monica as he hurried to her side.
“Monica?” The woman’s voice started to edge toward panic.
“She’s here.”
“Why isn’t she answering?”
He hesitated. “She’s sick.” Really f**king sick.
“Trent, it’s Jason.” Hearing his brother’s voice was music to his ears. “Glen and I are here.”
“I can’t tell you how good it is to hear your voice.”
Rocks from above fell again. Trent leaned over Monica’s frame to keep any from falling on top of her.
“Everyone back! Mitch, tie me off. We have no idea how stable this ground is.”
Trent envisioned the chaos above him. Couldn’t help but wonder how long it was going to take to get them out of there. But holy hell they were going to make it out. Alive.
“Trent, my name is Radar. How far down are you?”
“We’re at sea level. There was an opening to the cave on the shore. It collapsed with the last quake.”
“OK. I’m dropping a flashlight down.”
“There’s a pool of water directly under the opening.”
“Got it. One, two, three.” The light hit the ground and lit the cavern. Trent grabbed the light, focused it first on Monica. She moaned, but didn’t wake.
He shone his light toward the opening. “Is there a doctor with you?”
“Yes. Dr. Eddy is with us. We need to set up to bring you out. It’s going to take some time.”
Trent watched as another tremor shook Monica’s body. “Listen, Radar.” He thought of the woman above calling out for Monica. “I need to talk to that doctor. And ah, is that Monica’s sister up there?”
“Yeah. The Morrisons are here. I pushed them back. There’s no telling how stable the ground is up here.”
“I need to talk to the doctor. Monica… she’s not well,” he said again.
“Hold on.”
Trent soaked one of Monica’s shirts and placed it over her head as he waited for the doctor to draw near. “Monica,” he whispered. “We’re going to be OK. They found us.”
“Trent,” she said his name without waking.
A few minutes later, Radar lowered a two-way radio in a basket and told him Dr. Eddy had the other end.
“Damn good to hear your voice,” Walt said.
“You have no idea.”
“Talk to me. How’s Monica?”
“She’s burning up. When the opening collapsed, her right leg was trapped under the rock.”
“Is she still trapped?”
“No. We managed to free her, but her leg is jacked up.”
“Bleeding?”
“Not anymore.”
“Is her foot cold?”
Trent touched her foot. “No. It’s warm.” Hot actually.
“What about where she’s cut? Do you see bone?”
Trent had slid her pants off earlier but kept the wound covered. “No. But it’s bright red, swollen. It’s obviously broken.”
“Above the knee or below?”
“Below.”
“OK. Can you wake her?”
He tried again.
She opened her eyes. “Sleep,” she managed to say.
“She opens her eyes,” Trent reported. “Don’t think she’s aware of what’s going on.”
Walt must have kept his hand on the radio because Trent heard every frantic demand on the other side. “Morrison,” Walt yelled.
“Yeah,” Trent heard Jack Morrison’s voice.
“We’re going to need to get Monica to a hospital as soon as she’s out of there. Get a call to Dr. Klein, have him meet me at the airport.”
The radio turned off, but not before Trent heard the panic in Walt’s voice.
Since when did emergency physicians panic?
“Trent, you there?”
“I’m here.”
“They’re setting up ropes and a retrieving basket for Monica. What have you been eating, drinking?”
He fumbled with the radio, felt his fingers stiffen. “Monica had protein bars, some bagged food. We ran out of bottled water two days ago and have been drinking from the pool. Seems fresh enough.”
“Not salty?”
“Tastes like dirt, not salt.”
“No vomiting, GI issues, cramping?”
“No.”
“What about you? Do you feel sick?”
Trent kept a hand on Monica as he spoke. “Headache, a little stiff, but otherwise fine.” For a guy who’s been stuck in a cave for nearly five days, he was perfect.
“Listen, Trent. When they bring up Monica, fill one of those bottles with the water you’ve been drinking, and send it with her.”
Trent’s gaze fell on the pool. “You think it’s contaminated?”
“Won’t know until I have a lab test it.”