A Mile Below
Chapter 14: Cassie's Second Plunge
Rae couldn't stand the fact that Jack wasn't going to let her climb because he thought that he could do her job better than her. She was waiting until everyone was distracted to make her move.
Men, she huffed, tossing the last bundle from her gear to the ground. I should have stayed in Miami with Murphy. Then Greer would still be alive but did I do that, no. I had to come out here with a man I swore I would never come back to and now I'm trapped a mile below the earth's surface. In the middle of the fuckin Carpathian Mountains in Romania. Perfect. Just fuckin' perfect.
Rae put her ear piece into her ear and shook her head.
Jack and Tyler walked up beside her shining their lights up the wall.
"See that," Jack said, shining his light up to the opening. "That's where we're going."
"I'll route the left. Let's do it," Tyler said, walking over to Rae. "Hey Skip."
"Alright," Jack murmured.
Tyler walked over and picked up one of the bundles that Rae just got done re-wrapping for climbing. He looked over at her, she was totally focused on what she was doing. "Hey."
She looked up at him.
"Don't take offense, Rae. Jack just doesn't want you to get hurt."
She snorted. "Sure."
Jack walked over to them. He put his hands on his hips. "Cassie, come on. Stop acting like this. The next expedition, you'll get the first big climb, I promise."
Rae looked over at him, as she tied her bandanna around her hair. She sighed heavily. "Jack, this is our last expedition. Together at least anyway."
Jack was about to reply when Alex and Top came over. "A little insurance for you guys," Alex said.
"Yeah," Top said agreed. "We bore out these propane valves to give you a flame to give you a nice flame for about four or five feet."
"Yeah?" Tyler said.
"Should scare the hell out of anything that tries to get close," Top added. "There's enough for a couple of blasts."
Rae shouldered a bundle of rope and looked at the torch, it was a really a brilliant idea. Only Top.
Top and Alex walked away to tie up a few loose ends.
Jack turned to leave but not before giving her one last good up and down. The hurt was evident on his face but he didn't say anything as he and Tyler walked away.
Rae waited until everyone was completely distracted and oblivious to what she was up to before she made her move.
She got her rig on and made a brief stop to grab the homemade flame thrower from Jack's gear.
Greer was gone and he wasn't coming back. But that was not what was driving her and she didn't need to prove a damn thing to Jack or anyone else. She just knew that she was more capable of doing this than anyone else.
She untied the rope and hooked one end to her harness, dropping the rest to the ground.
After carefully examining the wall she picked the perfect place to start and began to climbing in the general direction of the opening she and Jack found earlier.
Jack was looking down at his gear. Rae could be so stubborn sometimes and it drove him to the brink of insanity. He never doubted her abilities as a climber. She was after all the best in her field but he couldn't risk losing her again. When he could just as easily do it himself.
Rae had a nasty habit of letting her emotions rule her mind. She wasn't thinking clearly. She just lost her best friend since birth in the blink of an eye.
He could hear everyone murmuring in conversation around him. Kathryn, Briggs and Alex were talking about an alternative route out of here. By way of the river. Stupid.
Top, Tyler and Charlie were talking about Rae and weather or not she was emotionally stable enough to help them get out.
Jack looked over at them and sighed. He was wondering the same thing himself. He loved Riley to death but her emotions were ruling her decision making skills, that was one of the main reasoning for not wanting her to climb.
"Where the hell is Rae anyway?" Charlie asked. That caught Jack's attention. "I mean surely she wouldn't climb without authorization, right?"
"No, she wouldn't-" Tyler started.
Top was suddenly on his feet. "Yes she fuckin' would! Cassie!"
Jack's head shot up in the direction of the wall. "Cassie!" he yelled, jumping to his feet as well and running to the base of the wall. "I TOLD YOU NO!"
Briggs was at the base of the wall with Top. "Get the rope Top!"
"I got it. I got it," he replied. "On belay."
Briggs worked at getting the rope untangled. "Get your ass back down here, Cassie!"
"I'll be alright, Briggs," she called back down.
Jack ran his hands through his damp hair as he watched her work. His heart was up in his throat. Not again. This can't be happening again. What the hell was she thinking?
"Cassie!" he yelled up. "Goddamn it! Come back down here!"
"I got this Jack! I'm the best climber here and you know it!" she yelled back. "Now which way am I going?"
Jack shined his light over to her left and saw a opening. He put his fingers to his ear. "Alright Cassie, get a good grip with your left."
She reached up with her left hand and pulled herself up.
"Good. Now keep going left."
"Be careful, Cassie!" Charlie yelled up.
"I'm alright. I'm alright," she panted.
Jack watched her every move with watchful eyes. So far. So good. She was still the fastest climber in the country. She was almost to the opening.
"Good job, Cassie. You're almost there. A few more feet."
"Damn, that girl is fast," Briggs murmured as Cassie disappeared over the hump. "How the hell are we suppose to follow that? I can't even see her anymore."
Jack heaved a sigh of relief. "She's alright," he told Briggs. "She must be over the hump."
"At the top. Safe," came Cassie's exasperated voice came over the radio. "Jack, I can feel a draft."
Jack nodded and put his finger to his ear. "Good job, Cassie. Just sit tight I'm on my way up."
"No arguments here, Jack," she replied breathlessly.
Jack started climbing up, following the line that Cassie laid down.
He was no where near as fast as Rae but he had a bad feeling in the pit of his gut. Something bad was about to happen. That pushed him to go faster than normal.
Jack paused and put his fingers up to his ear. "Cassie, is the line set? We're ready to climb, Cassie." She didn't answer him. "Cassie? Cassie? Are you still safe? Skip?"
Cassie hated it when he used that nickname but he only ever called her that when he was feeling especially sentimental.
"Jack! Coming down! Danger!"
He froze, it felt like Rio all over again. She was in trouble. Again.
Then Rae's screams filled the cavern and he looked up. "Cassie!" She was falling at a high rate of speed.
Top was almost lifted clean off his feet by her momentum. "Cassie!" he yelled up.
Suddenly the anchor snapped out of the wall making her stopped short, smacking her head off the rough surface. She hung there by her harness, motionless.
"Cassie! Talk to me!" Jack yelled up to her desperately. She wasn't moving. She had been knocked out cold. "Cassie! Wake up!"
Cassie felt pebbles hitting her face and Jack's voice from below her but she couldn't make out what he was saying. But he sounded scared.
She groaned and reached up blindly, grabbing a hold of the rope, pulling herself up. She wrapped both of her hands around the knot at the end, holding on tight.
Her head was swimming and she shook it from side to side trying to clear it. "Fuck," she murmured. She could feel blood running down her face from a cut on her forehead.
Then she heard chattering above her at the opening. She looked up and saw one of the creatures, peeking down at her over the edge at her.
"Holy shit!" she screamed, tugging at the rope. It wouldn't move down, no give what so ever. "OH MY GOD! GET ME DOWN! GET ME DOWN! IT'S UP HERE!"
Jack heard her loud and clear, even without the headset. He turned around and looked down at the others. "GET THAT ROPE FREE!"
He looked up and saw Rae looking back down at him. Her face painted in horror.
"Jack!" she cried.
His muscles were screaming in agony as he started to climb faster. "Hang on! I'm almost there!" he yelled up.
"HANGING ON IS NOT THE ISSUE AT THE MOMENT!" she screamed.
He wasn't going fast enough in his mind he was actually going slower. Maybe it was all in his head.
"Jack!"
Cassie looked up at the creature. Oh hell no. I am not about to become this big fuckers dinner.
She got both her feet up and braced them on the wall. Adrenalin pumping through her veins and she took a deep breath. Come on baby give just a little bit of give here.
Using her feet as leverage she started to swing herself back and forth away from the wall. Each time she got a little further away from the wall and out over the others.
Cassie could feel at least two sets of eyes on her. One were Jack's and other belonged to the demon thing above her.
"Cassie!" Jack yelled in concern. "Be careful!"
She was not about to let this guy have a free meal handed to it on a silver platter. He would have to work for it.
Suddenly the creature let out an inhuman scream as she swung out in the air over the others. She looked up just as the cock sucker took flight.
"Oh, you gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me!" she screamed in horror. "They fly! THEY FUCKIN' FLY!"
She wasn't completely out over the water. But she was close enough and she was out of time. It was now or never. She pulled her knife out of the sheath on her hip. Just before she cut the rope she heard Jack yell from the wall. "Cassie! No!"
Cassie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry Jack!" she yelled back and cut the rope. Please god, if you're listening. Don't let it end like this. Not in front of Jack, please.
As she was falling Rae could hear everyone yelling her name but when she hit the water, it felt like a brick wall, flat on her back. She heard the roar of water in her ears before it all went black.
Jack watched in horror as Rae hit the water. "No!" he yelled. "Cassie! Cassie!"
"Come on!" he heard Top yell. "We gotta get her out of the water!"
Tyler looked up the wall searching for his brother. "Jack!"
"Go!" he roared. "Get her out of there! Goddamn it Cassie!"
His yelling got the creature's attention and it changed its course from Riley to him. Son of a bitch. You son of a bitch.
Jack pulled his knife out from the sheath on his thigh and held it tight in his right hand, he placed an anchor in the wall to support himself. "Come on motherfucker, come and get me."
The creature landed right in front of him, roaring directly in his face. His breath reeked of death.
Jack reared back and stabbed him right between the eyes with the knife. It screamed and fell to the ground.
"Jesus!" Alex yelled. "Is it dead? What the hell!" He looked up the wall. "Jack!"
"Riley!" he yelled and made his way quickly down the wall. He couldn't be concerned about the creature right now. He had to get to Riley.
Top and Tyler were already in the water, pulling Riley out. They had just got her on the ground when he reached the bottom he ran over.
"She's not breathing!" Charlie screamed. "She's not breathing!"
Top was trying desperately to revive her. He pressed both his hands down on her chest, trying to get the water out of her lungs so she could breathe. "Come on, Cassie. Come on," he grunted. "Come on, girl. Don't do this to us. Come on."
Jack pushed Charlie aside and dropped down to his knees beside Cassie's head. He smoothed her hair from her face, tilting her head back in the process. He pinched her nose closed with one head while keeping the other under her chin to keep her head back before covering her with his. He breathed into her. Come on, Cass. Don't do this to me. Not now please.
After a few minutes of mouth to mouth and chest compressions it was starting to look hopeless and Jack was starting to feel hopeless too.
"Guys," Briggs said. "Guys, she's gone. She's gone."
Jack's head shot up and he glared at the younger man, Briggs backed up with his hands in the air. "Alright. Do it your way than, Jack."
Jack leaned back over and rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs. "Come on Cassie! Breathe! Breathe come on," he begged softly, rolling her head around in his hands. "Breathe."
Cassie felt like she was floating and it felt kind of weird. She didn't like it. She heard Jack begging her to breathe.
Wait? She wasn't breathing? Oh no. Not a chance.
Jack was not burying her too.
She felt a sudden rush of air and started coughing up the water in her lungs.
"There she is!" she heard someone she assumed was Top she could never mistake that baritone voice for anyone else. "Turn her over on her side so she doesn't choke on the water."
Cassie felt herself being turned over onto her left side and then a wet, but soothing, hand stroking the side of her face. Then a voice with a slight southern accent drifted past her ear. "Breathe easy. In and out. That's it," he soothed.
Jack.
"That's my girl."
Did he just call me 'his girl'?
Cassie finally opened her eyes and looked up at the person beside her. Jack was on his knees with his hand stroking her face and head. She reached up and grabbed his wrist just for something to hold onto.
She cleared her throat. "Jack?" she asked softly.
A smile crept up on his face. "Yeah, it's me."
Cassie threw her arms up, wrapping them around his neck and pulled herself up to him with a little help from him.
Jack held her tight, running his fingers through her hair. "I thought I lost you."
The gentleness of his tone broke the dam that had been holding her emotions for him in check and she burst into tears. He was actually scared of losing her. The thought of losing her actually scared him.
Her tears ran down the side of his neck and onto his wet suit. His lips were right next to her ear. "Shh, I got you. It's alright."
"Jack," she sobbed softly.
He said nothing but held her tighter, his hand smoothing her hair down. He had forgotten how good she felt in his arms. He had been missing her in more ways than one.
Cassie squeezed his neck, nuzzling the spot just under his ear. He kissed the shell of her ear.
"I got you," he whispered finally.