thanks mucho to everyone that has reviewed! glad i managed to make a good cliffhanger! anyway, a wee warning for some slight bad language in this chapter...tut tut. but it's like PG rated bad language. hope you enjoy and if you want to complain, comment or just say hey, please leave a review, it's always good to hear what everyone thinks. hope you enjoy!
"John, what the hell just happened?"
His father's booming voice echoed around John as he gazed in horror at the four motionless dots on his GPS, the signals coming from his four brothers. What had just happened? He'd heard Alan shouting and then a huge eruption, drowning out any further communications between them, then nothing. His hands shook uncontrollably as he pushed his chair back from the desk.
"John!" His father's voice brought him back to the terrifying reality.
"We've lost communication with them," John managed to say. "I'm not sure what exactly happened…" But John knew exactly what had happened. The caves had collapsed and his brothers had been inside, but he didn't want to even utter that fact. Somehow it seemed as though everything would be fine if he didn't state the obvious. Unfortunately, his father didn't subscribe to this same train of thought.
"Alan said there was going to be an explosion…" Jeff said slowly. "That sounded like an explosion John. I want you to keep trying to get in touch with any of them down there…any of them. And I don't want to hear anything until you have, understand?"
"Yes Sir," John said in a small voice, knowing the anger in his father's voice was masking a fear he'd always harboured, but until now, had never surfaced. He took a deep breath and began systematically trying to contact each of his brother's. Do anything John, just don't think…
Jeff's head was in his hands, his elbows resting against the solid mahogany desk from behind which he observed every rescue. The steaming coffee cup beside him lay abandoned. As if feeling her presence behind him, Jeff looked up and met Tin Tin's calm eyes. She had prepared herself for this moment from the day she and Alan had said hello to their daughter.
"What's happened?" she asked softly. Jeff run his hands across his hair distractedly and shook his head quickly. Furiously, Tin Tin walked over to the desk and stood in front of him.
"It's Alan, isn't it? He's hurt…or something?"
"It's all of them Tin Tin," he spoke sharply. "And I don't know what is wrong…the last communication I heard between them was that Alan thought there was going to be an explosion and that they needed to get clear of the caves." Tin Tin's eyes filled, but she maintained her composure.
"They were all in the caves?" she asked quietly.
"I don't know…well, if I had to guess at this point, I'd say Scott and Virgil were definitely in there…Gordon and Alan, I really don't know…" Tin Tin pulled up a chair and sat next to Jeff's desk, fixing her eyes on Alan's portrait as if willing him to get in touch.
"Tin Tin, I don't know if you should be here just now…" Jeff began, but Tin Tin interrupted him.
"This is exactly where I should be." Jeff glanced towards the portraits lined up along the wall, but lowered his eyes, preferring the polished grain of his desk, their happy smiles too much of a contrast with his own emotion.
He was cold. And distinctly aware of a trickling sound next to his ear. And wetness on his head and arms. Opening his eyes, he saw a shallow puddle of cloudy water, slowly becoming pink…blood from a cut above his left eye leaking into the water. Gordon sat up and winced at the pain that sliced across his shoulder blades. Looking around his surroundings, he assessed he was in some kind of swallow hole, a narrow hole at the top leading into a tapered cavern, the walls steep and slippery…the water had obviously eroded the hole he had fallen into and was slowly collecting in the bottom. He supposed if he waited long enough, the hole would fill and he could swim out. But, the hole was deep, the water freezing and by the time it had filled, Gordon suspected he'd be long dead from hypothermia.
"Bastard, bastard, bastard!" he yelled, before leaning over and coughing violently.
"Gordon?" a voice reached his ear and it took Gordon a minute to work out from where.
"John! John!" he cried, delighted at hearing someone's voice. "I fell into a swallow hole thing…I lost Alan and Scott and Virgil were deeper in the caverns…"
"It's ok Gordon, I'm scanning the area for them now…how are you?"
"There's water…lots of water…" Gordon's voice was trembling and John closed his eyes, taking a moment to calm himself. Having heard every brother's reaction to the sudden explosion had shocked John, he'd been unable to breathe, trying to stop the rage of emotions and thoughts that rushed through him in the minute or so before he'd managed to raise Gordon.
"John…can you hear me…no one is answering John!" Alan's panicked voice. John grabbed hold of his communicator and took a deep breath.
"Alan, it's me. I've got Gordon…he's stuck with rising waters…I'll patch you guys through so we can all try and work out a way to get you two out of there." There was a short pause before Alan and Gordon yelled with relief at being connected to other while they were trapped separately.
"You got Scott and Virgil yet?" Gordon asked, the soft trickling sound behind his voice causing John some concern.
"Nothing yet…they're probably trying to get through," John replied quickly, trying to keep his youngest brother's optimistic. John tried to contact Scott again, but got nothing. Sighing, he tried Virgil, but again the speaker remained silent.
"Come on guys…" John said, half a plead, half a prayer.
The dust began to settle and Virgil slowly opened one eye, his body jammed uncomfortably in a tiny hollow. He didn't dare move, even breathe as he waited for any more movement from the rocks around him. After a few seconds, he didn't care and crawled into the larger space, circled by massive blocks of limestone. Pressing his earpiece back into his ear, Virgil tried to call Scott.
"Scott?" he tried, coughing the dust from his lungs. "Scott, can you hear me? Are you ok?" Virgil waited for what felt like an eternity, but there was only deafening silence.
"Scott…come on…answer!" Virgil demanded, his voice becoming strained as again there was no answer. Unwilling to be defeated, but feeling completely overwhelmed by the situation, Virgil sat back against a block and closed his eyes, his mind working overtime. How was he going to get out? Where were Gordon and Alan? How was he going to get to Scott? Why was Scott not answering? Perhaps his radio had been damaged, perhaps the reception in the caves was poor, perhaps it was his own radio that was broken…perhaps Scott was dead…Virgil cursed himself before changing channels and began talking. He could only pray that John would hear him.
The tears that Tin Tin had refused to let fall on hearing about Alan were released at once when John informed them that he'd spoken to both Alan and Gordon and were coming up with some idea of how to get them out. Alan could see daylight and had calculated that Gordon's swallow hole was only meters from his present position. Jeff allowed himself a moment, relief flooding through him before looking up at John's portrait, his mouth once again set, his eyes fixing John with a solid look, conveying no emotion.
"And Scott and Virgil?" he asked. The uncertainty in John's eyes said more than any words could have and Jeff rubbed his hand across his chin, desperately trying to keep a professional outlook. Again that guilt flooded through him, as it did every time one of his sons was injured on duty, a duty he sometimes regretted ever offering them.
"Do you know if they are trapped together?"
"Their signals are apart. It looks as though they took cover in separate places."
"If they even got cover," Jeff muttered, startling both himself and John. He glanced around him apologetically before taking a sip of his lukewarm coffee. Working together, Scott and Virgil were unstoppable, both urging the other on. However, apart, Jeff feared Virgil might not hold up as well as his brother. Jeff imaged that the current situation would throw up a lot of memories about the last time he'd been trapped.
"I'll keep trying," John said softly, signing off before Jeff could even acknowledge this. Angrily, Jeff slammed his mug down, coffee splashing over the edges and spattering across the desk. Tin Tin got to her feet and lifted the mug, her gaze lingering on Jeff's harrowed expression.
"I'll get you some fresh coffee," she said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Jeff glanced up at her and nodded, placing his hand over hers.
In Thunderbird 5, the silence enclosed around John, suffocating him. Picking at the flaked skin around his nails, he glanced at the photographs he'd lined up beside his control panel, trying to act as though he were there with his brothers, beside them as they crouched alone waiting for help. Alan and Gordon had chatted between each other, putting out some ideas of what they could do now, but John had remained silent, not wanting to shatter the almost jovial conversation with his doubts. He didn't know what to say to Alan and Gordon; he didn't want to have to put the thought out there that maybe Scott and Virgil were in a bad way and had resolved to the deafening silence around him. Suddenly his speaker crackled.
"I can't get Scott…" Virgil's voice, soft, broken. John closed his eyes, his body deflating as he let out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding. It was only when John became aware of what Virgil was saying that the tension once again flooded him, and he felt his temples beginning to throb as he once again tensed his jaw.
"Virgil, it's John…I've got Alan and Gordon on the radio. I'm patching us together so we are in constant contact, ok?" There was silence from the other end.
"Virgil!"
"Yeah…yeah…are they ok?" He sounded distracted, sluggish almost and John cursed that he couldn't see what condition his immediate younger brother was in. He hoped it was merely shock and concern.
"Gordon's got some water issues, but he thinks he'll be ok for just now. Alan's scared…well, I suppose we all are Virgil."
"What happened?"
"Looks like a major explosion within the centre at the surface caused this rock instability and caused much of it to collapse. Look, I've got to be honest with you, I haven't been able to get anything out of Scott either…" John pressed his lips together, unsure of what Virgil was going to say or do next. Scott needs you Virgil…please hold it together…
"I've gotta go get him John…maybe his radio's broken or something…"
"Of course," John said softly, knowing that he had to keep everyone optimistic at this time. "Virgil…just be careful ok? Here, I'll put you in contact with Gordon and Alan…tell them Scott's radio is out…let's not worry everyone unnecessarily." There were yells from Alan and Gordon when they were put in contact with Virgil.
"Look guys, I have some equipment down here with me," Virgil said slowly. "I'm going to try getting Scott out just now, he's nearest, but I'm coming for you ok?"
"We need to get Gordon out Virg," Alan said quickly. "Gordo, how's the water?"
"Hey, I'll be fine…it's a bit cold, so don't take hours over it Virgil," Gordon said, his tone slightly more optimistic than before.
"How are you Alan?" Virgil asked, his voice strained as though trying to be 'normal Virgil', but cracking slightly.
"Ok…a bit squashed in this space…"
"Al, you've got some equipment on you, try finding Gordon's exact position, maybe you guys could try stopping that water, or getting closer to the surface maybe? John, can you get in touch with people outside, maybe they could move some of the rock from the entrance and pass through some equipment for Alan to use?" There was a moment of shocked silence from the remaining three brothers before Gordon spoke.
"Shit Virgil, you've gone all Scott on us!" he exclaimed through chattering teeth. There was laughter from the four brothers before the mood became sombre once again, a soft rumbling from above them reminding them of how precarious the situation was.
