Johnny opened his eyes to the bright light that invaded the sleeping space, and it took him a few minutes to remember where he was. He was somewhat surprised to find someone sharing the space. This thing wasn't exactly built for two.
That someone shifted and let out a little noise, and it all came back to him. Christ, what a night. Now he remembered why he rarely did anything harder than pot. Sure, tripping was a blast while it was happening, but the aftereffects left Johnny feeling fried.
But a pot of coffee and a couple of smokes would set him right, he was sure of that. He had another spot in mind for a climb today, one more before he had to go home and face reality again.
He dressed as best he could in the cramped space and opened the back door of the Rover. The sun was even brighter now, and Johnny glanced at his watch for the time. Nearly noon. No surprise, he supposed, given how long he had stayed up the night before.
Someone was approaching his campsite, and it wasn't long before Johnny recognized one of the guys from the group. "Hey man. Morning." The guy called out.
"Little past that, I think." Johnny answered as he slid down from the back of the Rover.
The guy grinned. "Time's just a construct, man. You doing all right today?"
"Yeah." Johnny was puzzled. "Just a little fried, that's all."
"Good, good." The guy replied. "We were a little worried when you caught fire."
Now Johnny was really confused. If he had caught on fire, he would think he'd remember that. "I what?"
"You don't remember." It was a comment, not a question. "That's cool. Looks like you're none the worse for wear. Hey, is Lisa with you?"
Was that her name? It occurred to Johnny that he hadn't bothered to ask, again. "What's she look like?"
"Kind of tall, blonde, real pretty."
Johnny thought for a minute before nodding. "Yeah, that's her. She's still sleeping."
"Okay, cool." The guy nodded. "We kind of lost track of you two last night. Kind of figured she was with you. Good to know for sure, though."
Johnny nodded absently as he started up his small camp stove and set up the percolator. His hands were itchy, and it was only when he took a good look that he noticed the burn on his palm.
The other guy must have noticed, because he started laughing again. "You wouldn't leave that damn fire alone. Took a couple of us to get you away from it."
The dragon. Johnny suddenly remembered that. He shuddered at the memory. Another thing he would keep to himself.
The guy looked up, and Johnny turned to see Lisa slipping out of the Rover and over to where Johnny had the coffee going. She looked almost as fried as Johnny felt.
"Coffee's ready for whoever wants it." Johnny told them.
Over coffee, he soon found out the guy's name, Jerry. He and Lisa were part of a group that camped and went free climbing all over the state. Johnny merely shook his head at the suggestion that he join them. "Think I'll stick with my equipment."
"You're missing out, man." Jerry told him. "Best feeling on earth. But hey, you can at least join us for our climb, right?"
Johnny debated the idea for a moment before nodding. "Sure, why not?"
"Great." Jerry drained his coffee cup. "Hey babe, we'd best get packed up."
"Right." Lisa replied, finishing her own coffee and giving Johnny a kiss on the cheek. "See you in a little while."
Johnny was a little confused by the interaction but decided that maybe he didn't really need to know. He and Lisa had gotten what they wanted, and apparently Jerry was cool with it, so there wasn't really much to worry about, right?
By the time he set out on the trail with them, his curiosity was starting to get the better of him. He caught up with Lisa and just came right out with it. "What's going on between you and Jerry?"
"Oh, we're kind of off and on." She answered casually. "We spend a lot of time together, but we do our own thing, too."
Johnny let that thought knock around his brain for a moment. "So what happened last night…?"
Lisa smiled broadly. "What happened last night was beautiful. Don't you agree?"
Johnny had to admit that it was. "Yeah. But…"
Lisa tilted her head questioningly. "But what?"
Johnny gave up trying to understand. "But nothing, I guess."
"I know it seems a little weird." Lisa answered. "But it works for us. Don't worry about it."
They soon reached the bottom of the canyon, where Jerry and Lisa started preparing to climb. "You sure you don't want to try it?" Jerry offered.
Johnny thought about it a little more. Suddenly, that little voice spoke up again. What do you have to lose? No one would question this. Accidents happen.
Johnny managed to quell the flash of panic, shaking his head before realizing that Jerry and Lisa were looking at him. "Okay, let's go."
Jerry's face split into a broad grin. "Now that's more like it."
Jerry went over some of the basics, emphasizing the importance of the chalk to make sure Johnny would get a good grip on the rock face. They were doing a more difficult climb today, but one Johnny had done before. He'd just never done it without equipment.
They started up the rock face, and Johnny couldn't help but be impressed with both Jerry's and Lisa's skills. Soon, Johnny found himself relaxing, just a little, carefully finding each foothold and hand hold, the knowledge that one wrong move could send him tumbling down into nothing at the back of his mind.
It didn't help that the stupid little voice wouldn't shut the hell up.
Johnny paused, taking a deep breath before continuing on, and before he knew it, he had joined Jerry and Lisa at the top of the ridge. The two of them were casually sitting with their legs dangling over the edge as Johnny pushed himself up and over.
"Hell of a view, huh?" Jerry asked as he passed an already lit joint to Johnny.
Johnny took a long hit and passed it on to Lisa. "One of my favorite spots."
The three of them talked more after that, and Johnny realized that he had managed to fall in with kindred spirits. He almost wished he could stay with them, but reality was on the verge of intruding, and he knew he'd have to return to work.
But one of these days, he'd be sure to connect with this group again. Maybe he'd even get a little more time in with Lisa, seeing as Jerry didn't seem to mind.
"Guess we'd better start climbing down." Jerry spoke up. "Ready?"
Johnny took a deep breath, somehow more unnerved by the descent than he'd been by the ascent. It's a long way down. The little voice whispered. Don't chicken out now. "Ready as I'll ever be."
He already knew the key to the descent, what he told all those folks he had to rescue from high places. Don't look down.
Well, he'd have to look down every so often to be sure of his foot placement, but generally speaking, looking down wasn't a great idea.
It was somewhat exhilarating, almost as if Johnny were up on a high wire working without a net. And Jerry had been right. There was no greater feeling of freedom than this, coupled with the sheer thrill of clinging to the side of a rock face with nothing but his own hands and feet to keep him there.
Just let go. The voice grew more insistent. Let go and let yourself fall.
He felt one hand slip briefly, but he quickly recovered, continuing his descent. Glancing off to the side, it looked like Lisa was having a little trouble, but Johnny figured that someone with her skills would be able to find her way down.
Maybe it wouldn't hurt just to check in on her. Johnny slowly made his way over to where Lisa appeared to be debating her next move. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She answered sharply. "Done this a thousand times."
"Lisa?" Jerry called out. "Everything cool?"
"Jesus." Lisa muttered. To Jerry she called out, "Yes, I'm fine. I'll meet you at the bottom."
Johnny was less confident, but let it pass, deciding he'd just stay close enough so that he might be of some use should something happen.
Sure, just like that guy you let go.
"Shut up." Johnny hissed as he continued down, trying to concentrate on each move.
A sudden noise broke Johnny's concentration, but it wasn't from the direction he expected. It was Jerry that had missed a foothold, somehow, and Johnny could see him start to slide down the rock face.
Johnny automatically started to leap into action, momentarily forgetting that there was nothing holding him to this rock face but his own hands and feet. He quickly recovered and made his way over to where Jerry was still sliding.
"Jerry!" Lisa screamed.
Johnny cursed under his breath, hoping that the other man had found a way to stop himself before it was too late.
He missed a foothold and tried to regain it, but without success. Before he knew it, Johnny was sliding, unable to find purchase.
Yes, you've done it now. The voice taunted him. See? Told you it'd be easy. Just let go. Let go.
Johnny closed his eyes, doing his best to keep the panic at bay. He'd been so goddamn stupid, doing this free climb. He should have known better.
Let go.
That voice kept echoing, even as Johnny eventually stopped sliding, finding a hand grip again. He stopped, breathing heavily, pushing away the fear and panic and willing himself to calm down.
It wasn't the falling that scared him, Johnny realized. It was the fear of what happened after the fall, the knowledge that death wasn't the only possible outcome.
"Johnny, is Jerry okay?" Lisa's voice cut through the noise and fog in his head.
"I don't know." Johnny told her. "I'm about to go find out."
Johnny continued making his way down until he reached a little outcropping, finding Jerry face down. He feared the worst as he crouched down next to him to check him over as best he could under the circumstances.
He could feel a strong pulse, and he could see the other man's back rise and fall in steady rhythm. All good signs, best as Johnny could tell.
"Jerry?" Johnny asked. "Jerry, are you hurt?"
The other man sighed a little and shifted before Johnny stopped him with a hand. "Just tell me. Don't move around."
Jerry chuckled softly. "Kind of knocked the wind out of myself, that's all. Hurts to breathe."
"You've probably busted a couple ribs." Johnny told him. "Hold on, I'll check you over."
"What are you, a doctor?"
"Paramedic."
"Close enough." Jerry murmured.
Lisa had made it down and crouched down beside Jerry, taking his hand while Johnny continued his examination. Jerry's ribs seemed to be the worst of his injuries so far. If that was the case, he'd gotten damned lucky.
"Lisa, would you help me turn him over?" Johnny asked. "I need to see if he has any other injuries."
Lisa looked worried but nodded.
"Okay, nice and easy now." Johnny guided Lisa, and together they managed to get Jerry on his back, and Johnny started feeling around for other injuries. "Now Jerry, if something hurts, you've gotta tell me, okay?"
Jerry nodded, closing his eyes while Johnny worked. He hissed when Johnny found a spot on his wrist. "Right there."
Johnny took notes in his head. If he and Lisa were able to get Jerry back down to the campsite, he could likely get an ambulance at the park office to get Jerry to a hospital. There wasn't much of anything Johnny could do out here.
"We're going to have to get him back down to camp ourselves." Johnny told Lisa. "I don't have a way to contact anyone up here."
"Just tell me what to do." Lisa replied, a steely tone in her voice.
They were still a good distance from the trail, and Johnny had to think about the best route down from the outcropping. Never mind that all their packs were still down in the canyon.
"We can follow this outcropping to where it meets a little trail." Lisa told him. "It's a little bit of a switchback, but it should take us back down to the canyon."
It wasn't ideal, but what rescue was? Johnny was just handling this one without equipment. He had to believe he'd get Jerry to safety.
The dull static in his brain was growing louder, but he needed to concentrate right now. Somehow he needed to ignore the noise and push on.
"Johnny?" Lisa's voice cut in again. "Are you okay?"
"Fine." Johnny answered sharper than he intended. "We're going to have to go slow. We don't want to make anything worse if we can help it."
Lisa nodded, and with Johnny's nearly constant chatter, they navigated the outcropping and the switchback, finding their way to the bottom of the canyon to pick up the packs. Johnny took both his and Jerry's, while Lisa took her own, and they started up again.
It was a long, slow, painful ascent back up the trail, but they finally managed to make it back to Johnny's campsite. Johnny thought that maybe it would be faster to take Jerry in himself. He could make Jerry relatively comfortable in the back of the Rover, and Lisa could stay back there with him to keep him from moving around too much.
He was still looking at a long drive, but not having to wait for an ambulance would cut down on some of the travel time. Even though Jerry's injuries weren't life threatening on their own, there was still a chance he could go into shock, and Johnny was going to do his best to avoid it.
He told Lisa of his plan, and she helped load Jerry into the Rover. "Are you still with us?" Johnny asked him.
"So far, so good." Jerry answered quietly, giving Johnny a weak thumbs-up.
"I'm going to let the rest of the group know what's going on." Lisa told Johnny.
Johnny nodded and quickly broke camp while Lisa was gone. By the time she returned, he had the Rover loaded up and ready to go.
He started it up and pulled out as gently as he could. This had been the farthest thing from his mind when he had come up here, but life was strange that way. At least he'd been here and available, and soon he'd have Jerry safely delivered to Rampart. Everything was well under control.