Page 26 of Wired Ghost

Sophie

Sophie blinked,holding steady as she grasped the torch, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the brilliant light after the complete darkness they’d been immersed in for so many hours. Her gaze focused on Jake’s face.

His hair was sprinkled with volcanic dust from the recent earthquake. His eyes were tightly shut, his jaw square and clenched, his mouth tight with repressed pain.

She scanned his body for injuries.

He’d climbed out of the trough of water that had been such a warm spot in which to sleep, but now blood ran down his shoulders, back, and side from the pelting he’d taken with sharp pebbles as they fell from the ceiling of the lava tube. Larger chunks littered the area around them. He’d been damn lucky, and so had she, though his protective embrace had been claustrophobic at the time. “You’re hurt, mykun dii.”

“Cootie. I still like it.” His eyes opened. He squinted against the light, and shrugged. “Surface damage.”

“I should check you over.”

“No time, and no way to patch me up, anyway. We need to get moving and figure a way out of here. Who knows if the lava is going to decide to roll down this tube all over again.”

“That’s a possibility. More likely, a part of the tube might collapse and we could be trapped in here, separated from rescue attempts without a way to communicate,” Sophie said.

“Always so cheerful, babe.” Jake splashed water over himself to rinse off the oozing blood from his cuts.

Sophie touched the clothing they had rinsed out and laid on the rocks before dousing the torches to rest. The garments were still damp, but a good deal of the moisture had evaporated. As Sophie touched the rocks the fabric rested on, she discovered why.

“Jake. Feel these rocks.”

He was kneeling in the trough, rinsing off his bruises and scrapes in the warm water, a distracting sight—he looked like a gladiator in a ritual bath. She must be addled by oxytocin; everything he did, everything he was, looked beautiful to her.

He extended a hand to touch the stone wall nearby. “Holy shit! That’s hot!”

“Seldom is shit holy, even when extruded by the Dalai Lama.” Sophie made an attempt at humor.

Jake glanced at her sharply, then snorted and shook his head. “I see what you’re doing. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

They dressed quickly. There was no way to treat Jake’s wounds, so dark patches of blood soon bloomed on his shirt and pants as the abrasions and cuts opened with movement. That Jake had determined not to show any response to his injuries attested to his steely constitution; he was undoubtedly still hurting from the beating the meth gang had given him, too. But she had to trust that he would let her know if anything really was a problem.

Sophie slipped a smooth, warm pebble from the trough they had slept in into her pocket to remember when they’d made love and were truly together again.Now, if only they could escape alive . . .

Sophie handed Jake the unlit torch, and held the flaming one aloft. “Grab my belt and let’s go.”

* * *

Jake

Sophie ledthe way down the tunnel. The space between the walls grew narrower. Lumpy extrusions of smooth, glassy lava reminded him of water frozen in motion. Intermittently, they encountered patches of rough, lightweight, a?a lava, more like pumice. Scratchy and prickly, those areas were harder to navigate. At times they had to turn to the side, sucking in their bellies to squeeze between obstacles. Jake got caught between a carbuncle on one wall and a protrusion from the ceiling. “Whoa, babe.”

Sophie turned and held the torch aloft. The buttons on Jake’s shirt flew off as he wriggled through the narrow opening. “It’s not only getting hotter, it’s getting tighter through here. I sure hope we find an exit point soon.”

“Me too,” Sophie’s voice was calm, but he heard suppressed anxiety in it.

They navigated through another narrow area and stumbled on.

The dark tunnel seemed endless. Had they made the right call? Maybe they should turn back to where they at least had water . . .

Sophie turned a corner, Jake close behind, and a chamber opened up before them. “Oh, this is good.” Sophie held the torch aloft, but there was already a narrow shaft of light piercing the endless black.

Jake rested his hands on his hips and did a slow survey of the cavern.

The floor was made up of concentric rings of glassy lava, and the ceiling arched above in a bubble-like dome. Fresh air made the torch sputter and bend. A slit of blue sky far above whispered of freedom. Jake walked forward slowly to stand beneath it.

He wasn’t excited yet.

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