"Hold on, I'm coming for you no matter what it takes!" Ben shouted, his voice going a bit hoarse. He was filled with fear and rage as he could see his close friend, Riley Poole, staring wide-eyed at him across the chasm.

Riley stood with his back pressed against the rockwall, only a foot away from the cliff's edge. Not much room for maneovering, lest he fall to his death off the side of a cliff. Riley found himself starting to hyperventilate at the thought of his yong life ending in such a gruesome manner. He squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to concentrate on anything but his current situation.

"Alright, calm down." Riley whispered to himself. "Take it easy."

Ben shouted his friend's name, but he received no response. The ancient rope-bridge that had once allowed people to cross the wide river had splintered and snapped as Riley had crossed it. He'd had to jump and clamber up onto the ledge as the rope bridge fell. That left Riley on the tiny ledge that served as a path. Ben was unable to reach him.

"Riley!" Ben tried again, and this time Riley heard him. Riley opened his eyes, his breathing returned to near-normal.

"Yeah." Riley responded, looking at Ben.

"I need to find a way to get to you." Ben yelled, looking around. There were no other hikers around, the place was deserted.

Ben took off his backpack, and dumped out its' contents. Compass, spare clothes, and some food. Blanket, flashlight, coil of rope. Rope!

Ben grabbed the rope, and ran to the edge of the cliff. He laid down and crawled forward on his belly until he could see over the side. The sight of the sheer line of rock ending in ice cold water made him dizzy. It was way too far to safely jump down unless he wanted a few broken bones, if he managed to survive the fall at all.

"Ben, what are you going to do?" Riley asked him.

"I'm working on it." Ben told him, frowning.

The rope bridge was still connected to his side, and he reached down and pulled it up, inching back on his stomach, until he'd pulled the entire bridge over the side of the cliff. As soon as he pulled up the rope, Ben examined the frayed rope. He looked up at Riley, who was watching his every move.

"What? What is it?" Riley shouted, trying to be heard over roar of the water.

The rope had not frayed by accident. Somebody had hacked into it. Ben looked around him, but he still couldn't see any other hikers.

"It looks like somebody cut through this rope." Ben shouted. He looked around, until he found a large rock. He tied one end of his rope around the rock, then came back to talk to Riley.

"I'm going to throw the rope to you," He said. "I need you to secure it on your side."

Riley nodded, as Ben threw the rope to him. He caught it on the third attempt, clutching the rope with both hands. He glanced around him, looking for something to tie it to. Riley tied the rope securely to one of the trees on the side of the path.

"Now what?" Riley asked, standing back against the wall.

"Now I cross the rope." Ben told him. He repacked his backpack, and put it on. Ben picked up the rope ladder in one hand, and stepped out onto the rope. He stuck his arms straight out to balance himself as he started to walk across the chasm. He had a look of fierce determination on his face.

"Ben." Riley said, watching his friend with concern. One mis-step and he'd fall to his death. Luckily, Ben made it safely across the rope and was able to stand beside Riley again.

"You scared the crap outta me!" Riley told him, hugging him.

Ben reattached the rope bridge on their side. It was now sturdy enough that they would be able to walk across it safely. They walked single file across the ledge until the path widened. It was getting dark out, and they knew that they needed to set up camp as soon as they could. It was getting colder out.

"Do you really think somebody purposely broke the rope bridge?" Riley asked him, as they hammered the tent pegs into the ground.

"Yeah, it certainly looked like that." Ben told him.

"Who would do that?"

"I don't know," Ben answered. "We haven't seen any other hikers out here all day."

"Do you think it was Henry Rawlins?" Riley asked.

"I don't know who it was." Ben told him, as they unrolled their sleeping bags.

They started a fire, and sat down to eat their baked beans and toast.

"Wow," Ben commented. " You can really see the stars clearly out here. That's a fantastic view."

"Yeah." Riley answered.

They cleaned up their food and extinguished the campfire.

"What time are we getting up tomorrow?" Riley asked, as they crawled into the tent.

"Early." Ben told him, setting him watch for 5:30 AM. "Tomorrow, we have to do alot of digging, so it's important that we get up as early as we can."