Chapter 22

I was coughing, coughing badly as consciousness came back to me. Then with it came pain. My head and leg had waves of pain radiating through my body. I tried to move but found that I couldn't move properly, though I was sure I wasn't tied up. I blinked my eyes thinking maybe my eyesight had been damaged because all that I could see was darkness. I was laid on my side with my head on the floor, which was probably why I couldn't move properly, my arm was underneath me. Very slowly I felt around with my hand only to feel small stones and earth around me. Oh god, what had happened? Was I trapped, but where would I be for that to happen? I remembered walking behind Ranger through the tunnel, heading for the steps to get out of the cave. I remember being pushed from behind and then the pain that had come from my head. I moaned in pain as I tried to move my legs, I felt trapped. I was suddenly aware of a dim light nearby and looking over saw someone else half sat against a giant rock.

"Hey, are you awake?"
"Yeah"
I know I groaned as I replied but now with even a dim amount of light I could see some of my surroundings and felt a sudden desperation take hold. There were rocks, stones and earth surrounding us, even over us, which was why I was hurting so much and why I was struggling to move.

"You have to get free"

I tried to focus on where the voice was coming from knowing that they were probably hurt a hell of lot more than me. I closed my eyes trying to block out the pain and started to shift my left arm. I could hear rocks falling, and the weight across it was decreasing. Once my arm was free, I pushed against the ground with it, disturbing debris from my shoulder and back. As I tried to move my hips and legs though, I became so very aware that maybe something really bad had happened to my leg.

"How?"

I could hear the raspy breaths coming from across the void but knew I had to fight through this if I wanted a chance to survive. I know I screamed at the pain as I tried to sit up and was close to passing out again. I closed my eyes trying to hold my tears from falling, trying to find some inner strength to continue. When I opened my eyes, I could see several large boulders that I knew I had to move. The first one rolled away quite easily but the second one was heavier and was definitely responsible for the pain I was feeling.

"Talk to me while I do this, please"
I needed to have something to concentrate on while I started to slowly maneuver the boulder.

"My name's Ali"
"Hi Ali. How you holding up"
"Bad"
I held my breath and gritted my teeth as I slid the boulder from my leg and then tried to stop myself from panicking as I saw a deep gash that had started to bleed badly.

"I'm almost there. So where you from Ali?"
"Around"

I bent forward again and worked at loosening some of the smaller stones until eventually it gave me enough space to push another boulder off me. As I looked at what rocks were remaining, I knew there was no way I could move any of them and I could see that while my boots had protected my feet and ankles they were also trapped under the rocks. I pulled at the laces of the boot on my right foot and just hoped that I had enough leverage to pull my foot out of my boot. I leaned back and pulled with everything I had, feeling some movement even if it came at the cost of hurting so much. A final wrench that caused agony in my other leg finally paid off and I relished the feeling of twisting my ankle and wriggling my toes.

"I'm almost there Ali"

Now that my right leg was free, I had to wriggle backwards in order to pull my left leg out. There was more space now between the rocks but as they moved, I was only too aware every time one fell onto me. I was sweating profusely as I finally freed myself then turned to where Ali was sat. She hadn't spoken to me for a while and now I was beginning to worry just how seriously she was hurt. Looking around, the dim light was enough to see that we were in a small section of a tunnel. But all around us was evidence of a rock fall blocking out any hope of getting out of here. The only way I could move was on my backside, the roof was too low to stand up in and to be honest I wasn't sure I could manage that. It took some effort, but I was finally lent against the boulder next to Ali. It was then I recognized that the light was coming from her phone.

"Ali?"
"Yeah?"
"Is your phone working?"
"No signal"
"Someone will be here soon"
"I don't think so"
I watched as she moved arching her back, and that was when I saw the blood oozing from her side. I took my jacket off and made to cover her wound up, but she slapped my hand out of the way.

"I was only trying to reduce the bleeding"
"No, you can't"
"Why not?"
"I, I'm ill"
"Ali you could die from this"
"Bad illness, no blood on you"
"Are you saying I could get ill from it?"
"Yeah"
That's when it suddenly hit me, shit was this Alejandra, was she carrying the virus?

"Alejandra?"
She looked at me, shock across her face. If she could have got up and run away I'm sure she would have done.

"I know who you are, I'm so sorry"
"For what?"
"Your father dying in the mining accident and then you're mother dying"
"What do you want?"
"Just the truth"
"The truth, what the hell do you know about the truth?"
"That a man I know was nearly killed. That another friend was kidnapped and imprisoned. That I was taken from where I lived by someone who was very desperate. That there's a war on the streets over drugs"
"America?"
"Yeah in America"

"I see it here too"
"Ali why did someone attack us and try to kill us?"
"It was me"
"You, why?"
I waited as her coughing subsided, I was seriously worried about her, but unless she allowed me to help her there was nothing I could do.

"When mama died, I found out she'd been ill. I was away at university and then working here in Bogota. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .It was after that I found out I was carrying a virus as well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I dropped out of university and tried to find out how the hell it had happened"
"What did you find out?"
"Brayan Henao. I suppose being gay wasn't acceptable . . . . . . . . . then. He'd married my mother but when Holman Fertelli came back to the village . . . . . . . . . . . .. it became obvious what they were to each other"
"Do you think it was Fertelli who was the original carrier?"
"Si. I traced some of his previous partners and they were infected"
"What did you do?"
"I went to Fertelli . . . . . . . . . . . . was working for him. . . . . . . . . . . .. .I was so annoyed . . . . . at him, for my mother and for me"
"You were going to kill him?"
"That was the idea"
"But?"
"He knew . . . . . . . . . . . . .who I was, he knew of the deaths . . . . . . . . . . . .that surrounded me. He wasn't sure . . . . . . . . .. who the virus came from, Brayan or him. . . . . . . . . . . . He paid for me to . . . . . . . . . . . .. get the right medicine"
"So you grew to like him?"
"I suppose. He kept me . . . . . . . . . .in the background, no one knew who I was. I left the compound with bad news, it was after . . . . . . that I heard of soldiers"
"And he was killed"
"Si. . . . . . . . . . . .. I came back to Bogota . . . . . . . . . . . . I had enough . . . . . . . . . money he gave me to . . . . . . . . . . . .continue with medicine"
With every breath she was struggling, her voice was getting weaker and the rasping from her breathing was getting louder. The blood that was still seeping from the wound in her chest was bright red. I had an awful idea that maybe the wound had pierced her chest and her lungs were filling up.

"Ali, hold on, we'll get out of here"
"Too late"

"Why you Ali, why is someone trying to kill you?"
"I . . . . . . . . have . . . . I know too much . . . . . . . I put it together"

Her hand went to her chest and she drew out a locket.

"Take . . . . . . find . . . . . him"

She unfastened the chain and then held it out to me, I knew how much that action had caused her, so much pain, both physically and emotionally. I took the chain and held it in my hand.

"Put . . . . .on. . . . . . for me"
I fastened the necklace around my neck and then tucked it inside my T-shirt all the time watching her. She was too weak now to resist so I brought her head to my chest and cradled her as best I could. There were no more words said between us and it wasn't long before she lost consciousness. I cried at the sound of her breathing, cried because I knew she was dying and there was no one there to save her. Cried that no one knew where we were for them to save us. The light started to dim, I knew the battery on her phone was probably running low, but that didn't stop me from holding her tighter to me. As darkness came the only sound was the rasping from Ali's every breath. They were shallow now and coming faster.

My fears turned inward as I truly acknowledged the severity of the situation I was in. My head was throbbing, and my leg was now beyond pain, it was almost numb of any feeling and there was no way I could move it. It was almost ironic where we were. Ali's father had died trapped in a tunnel and that was how Ali and I would die as well. I felt her last gasp for air, her last attempt to breathe and was still holding on to her. The light went out as the phone slid to floor and I was plunged into darkness. I fell apart. Not just tears but a full-blown panic attack. There was nothing I could do to stop it, through my sobs and fast breathing all I could think about was Ranger. At least I'd die knowing that what we had was real, that he really did love me as much as I loved him. He was my last thought as I sank down onto that floor.