Page 33 of Solar Bound
Tears filled her eyes. Dani consulted the map again and looked around. She thought about turning back.
This stream should lead toward the northern exit, if she was reading it correctly. She decided to continue upstream.
The path grew treacherous, forcing her to wade through knee-deep water at points. The cold seeped through her jeans, numbing her legs. Her teeth chattered, but she pushed on.
Another boom echoed through the cave, closer this time. The ground shook violently, throwing Dani off balance. She stumbled, her foot slipping on wet stone. Her ankle twisted painfully as she fell sideways into the stream.
Icy water engulfed her, shocking the breath from her lungs. The current, stronger than it appeared, began dragging her downstream. Her waterlogged backpack pulled her down. The flashlight slipped from her grasp, its beam dancing wildly across the cave ceiling before disappearing.
Darkness swallowed her as the current accelerated. Dani fought against panic, forcing herself to think clearly. She managed to get her feet under her, pushing off the rocky bottom to break the surface. She gasped for air, choking on water that splashed into her mouth.
"Help!" she cried, knowing it was futile. No one could hear her.
The stream curved sharply, sending her crashing into a rock wall. Pain exploded in her shoulder, but adrenaline kept her moving. She grabbed at passing rocks, her fingers scraping against the rough surface until she finally caught hold of a jutting stone.
Clinging to the rock, Dani pulled herself toward the bank, fighting the current. Her muscles screamed with effort as she dragged herself onto a narrow ledge.
She lay there gasping, soaked and shivering in the pitch darkness. The map was gone, along with the flashlight. The soaked backpack pulled heavily against her shoulders.
"Stupid," she berated herself. "So stupid."
Years of martial arts training had taught Dani to respect each opponent, to never underestimate a challenge. She'd disrespected the cave, charged in without proper equipment or knowledge, and now she was paying for it.
Without light, ruined supplies, and no map, she was as good as dead. Every instinct screamed at her to turn back, to try to find her way to the entrance before hypothermia set in. It was the logical choice. The only choice, really.
Only, which way was back? The cave was dark, and the water had tossed her around.
This was how she was going to die.
Here. Alone. Terrified.
“What the fuck am I doing?” Dani pushed herself to a sitting position, wincing at the pain in her ankle and shoulder. "You're not dying in a cave today," she told herself firmly. "And you're not leaving without Solar."
Her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, revealing that it wasn't quite absolute. A faint ambient glow filtered through the cave system, perhaps from cracks in the ceiling or bioluminescent organisms. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make out basic shapes and avoid walking into walls.
She struggled to her feet, testing her injured ankle. It hurt like hell, but it supported her weight. Not broken, then. Just badly sprained.
Dani fumbled in her pocket, finding that her small lighter had survived the dunking. It wouldn't provide much light, but it was better than nothing.
Flicking the lighter, she created a small island of light. The flame revealed she was in a side chamber off the main stream passage. There was no way to tell which direction led out or deeper in.
A sound echoed faintly through the cave. Human voices.
Milano? She couldn’t tell.
Dani extinguished the lighter immediately, pressing herself against the wall. The voices grew louder. There were at least two men, maybe three, their words indistinct but their tone clipped and punctuated by the static pops of walkie-talkies.
A beam of light swept across the chamber entrance. Dani held her breath, willing herself to become one with the shadows. The light paused, then continued on. The voices faded as the men moved away, following the stream.
She exhaled slowly. They were heading the same direction she had been, upstream toward where she thought she'd seen Solar's glow. If Milano was tracking in that direction, it suggested she might have been right about Solar's location.
Dani waited until she was certain they were gone before limping toward the chamber exit. She'd follow them at a distance, using their lights to guide her while staying out of sight.
Moving as quietly as her injured ankle allowed, Dani crept along the passage, keeping the distant flashlight beams in view. The Milano agents moved with purpose, as if following some kind of tracker.
The tunnel widened into another chamber with multiple exits. The men paused, consulting a device that emitted a soft blue glow. One of them pointed toward a passage on the far side, and they moved in that direction.
Dani waited until they disappeared before entering the chamber. Without their lights, the darkness closed in again. She flicked her lighter, revealing petroglyphs of spirals, stars, and humanoid figures with elongated heads on the walls.
