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“If anyone sees Paige make sure she sticks with the group the rest of the day,” Joel called out to them. “We all know what this area does when it rains, so be sharp and don’t get caught in the creek.”
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“So, what do you think Maggie Mae? Think they’re in there?” she asked staring up at the mountain. Maggie danced as though she agreed, and Paige nodded pulling out a treat for her as the rain began to fall. She hoped they weren’t down in the bottom cavern, getting them out if they were hurt would be impossible on her own and for the first time she regretted her decision to head out by herself. What she wouldn’t give to have someone else with her.
She took out the walkie that she’d been carrying since the mine accident and thought about everything that had happened since that phone call from Neal. Her life was completely different, her feelings for her father were stretched, and she was once again alone, this time completely by her choice, but it still hurt. “Okay Maggie Mae, I’m going to head up that way, you be a good girl and stay here; I don’t want to go searching for you too.”
Maggie barked as she took the treat and found herself a dry place in a small inlet in the base of the mountain.
“Good girl, wish me luck,” she added to herself as she pulled out her gear.
Her harness was on, and she began to climb the rain forcing her to use the rope as it made the handholds slippery. When she reached the top, she tried to remember if it’d always been that high or if it had just seemed easier when she was a kid. She slipped the rope back into her bag and started down the pathways that led deep into the base of the mountain.
There were several she could take and by instinct, she guided herself down the shortest of them, reaching the first of the cliffs she’d need to climb down, the larger of the two and the harder of them. She didn’t want to waste time uncoiling the rope, so she carefully made her way down the rougher side that gave her easier access to multiple feet and hand holes. She saw the flashlight sitting on the flat rock table she, Joel and Sam had played on when they were around Brent and Greg’s ages, and she knew they were down here; the where was the question she had to ask herself.
She could hear a dripping sound coming from further inside the mountain and knew the rain was beginning to come down harder which meant the bottom cavern would be filling up with water and if the boys were down there, they’d be in more danger than they knew. She quickly walked down the pathway checking a few of the smaller areas where they might have snuck into and with each passing moment, she knew the only place she’d find them was in the bottom part of the cavern.
The second cliff took half the time getting down and as she jumped the final twenty some feet to the bottom, she could smell the mustiness of the water that was coming into the cave. She rushed down the final pathways and through the hole that opened into the magnificent cavern that she had always loved.
“Brent, Greg…are you in here? It’s Paige,” she called out scanning the different levels until she saw the flash of red in the far corner.
“Miss Paige?” Greg shouted. “We’re over here…Brent’s hurt and there’s water coming in.”
“It’s okay Greg,” she said calmly, picking her way over as the rocks began to become slippery with the water dripping in from above as well as coming up from the creek that ran below the mountain.
She knelt down in the half-foot of water and checked to see how bad Brent was. His foot was trapped in between a rock and a small crevice and she looked around to see what she could use to get him out with.
“Greg, can you hand me that log over there?”
He nodded and scurried away to get it. She took it and lodged it between the base of the rock and the crevice.
“When I push down on it, I need you to help move your brother out of the way. Brent this might hurt,” she warned gently. “Ready…alright, three, two, go…”
She pushed down with all her strength and the rock wobbled up slightly allowing Greg to help Brent move backwards before she had to lower the rock. She moved Brent back towards the wall and checked his ankle, “I think it’s broken. I’m going to wrap your foot, so it doesn’t move as much. Greg there should be a couple harnesses in my pack; can you help your brother into one and then yourself?”
“Yeah,” he answered as she handed the bag to him. She opened the case of medical items and pulled out an ace bandage to wrap around Brent’s ankle to still it as they made their way out. She took his wet sock off, replaced it with a dry one from her bag, and then broke a few sticks to make a temporary brace. Greg had slipped the harness on his brother and was working on his own when she finished wrapping Brent’s ankle. She pulled out a smaller rope attaching it to her harness and when he had tightened his harness, she attached the other end to it.
“Whatever you do, donotremove that understood?” she ordered. “Alright, Brent, feel like a piggy back ride?”
“Okay,” he said as his eyes widened. “Miss Paige, the water…”
“I know,” she told him easily. “Greg, I’m going to need you to help me attach Brent to my harness, think you can help?”
“Yeah…are we going to be okay?” he whispered showing that his thirteen-year-old bravado was quickly fading.
“We’re going to be fine, I promise,” she replied lifting the smaller eleven-year-old up and making sure he held on tightly as they started back towards the opening, by the time they reached it the water had risen exponentially. It was almost to her waist, and she pushed Greg ahead of her.
They reached the base of the first cliff, and she unhooked Greg from her harness. “Can you manage without the rope?”
“Yeah, we’ve done this tons,” he said, and she let him go ahead as she took out her rope. She wouldn’t be able to pull both of them up without it and she began to slowly make her way up after Greg. Her lungs were burning when she reached the top and she cringed at the strain in her muscles. She was sorely out of shape for this kind of thing.
“Okay, let’s go,” she said after regaining her breath. She checked the water level and knew they were far from safe as the cavern below them began to fill. The light rain must have turned to a downpour and the added runoff was flooding the cave faster than she’d ever seen.
When they reached the base of the second cliff, the water was lapping at their ankles, and she decided to take a chance and have Greg climb beside her leaving him clipped to her harness. They were halfway up when a loud crash sounded below, and she saw water start gushing in from one of the old pathways that had been blocked.
“Greg keep going,” she said when he balked. “Don’t look down.”
“Miss Paige…we’re not going to make it, are we?” he asked, and her heart dropped.
