Danny blinked his eyes open, the first sensation coming to his mind nothing more than a searing flash of pain. He couldn't tell where the pain stemmed from, or orient himself in any true direction. All he wanted was to go back to the blackness that he had just been yanked from, go back to the numbness, go back to the nothingness that was blissful compared to this agony.
Blinking away the blurriness in his eyes, Danny momentarily expected the darkness to go away, as though he were clearing sleep from his line of sight. Rather, it stayed just as dark, and the floor beneath him just as cold and textured. With his head throbbing, Danny tried to pull himself up from where he lay, remembering where he was.
The cave, that stupid, goddamn cave. He had thought he was making his way back to the main cave, but instead, here he was, lying down shooting pain ricocheting through his skull. Thankfully, the following aches in his back reminded him that the pack he wore had cushioned much of his fall. Once more, Danny tried to prop himself up, and cried out when he put even the smallest amount of weight on his arm. The pain shot through his wrist and up into his arm, and Danny couldn't do any more than lay back with a groan, closing his eyes, not like it made a difference in the blackness.
Aside from the pain, Danny was freezing, which was a totally different kind of pain. His body was damp from the moisture in the cave, and it was soaking his jacket and shirt. The air was cold and Danny was shivering, sending pain through his body as his teeth chattered and body trembled uncontrollably. He had never believed that the caves would be quite so cold, to the point where they were frigid.
Between the cold, so intense that it made it hard to move his fingers, and the pain spreading through his body, there was nothing more tempting to Danny than to fall asleep, to slip back into unconsciousness, forget the discomfort wracking his body. But it wasn't in Danny's nature just to lie down and take a beating- he knew that if he wanted to get out of this mess, he had to get up first.
Taking a deep breath, thankful more than anything that it didn't ache his ribs or spine to inhale. There was no better relief than to know that of the various injuries he had likely sustained, broken ribs weren't one of them. Once again Danny tried to sit up, and felt the pain in his left wrist and arm, severe enough to indicate that there was a serious fracture or break around the wrist and forearm. Outside of the throbbing in his head, the physical injuries appeared to be minimal, aside from scrapes and bruises. The overwhelming cold was something else on his mind, but Danny knew that he could push past that more so than his likely broken wrist.
Rolling to the side, Danny figured that shifting his weight to his right side would spare the pain from his left arm. Unfortunately, as he shifted, he felt his body smack up against a stalactite, strong and damp beside him. Groaning, Danny felt a cold wave wash over him- the thought that had he fallen just inches to the right, he would have been speared, killed instantly.
Fumbling backward, he used his legs to propel himself backwards, quickly smacking up against a wall, thankfully dodging most large stones on the floor until his back came against a cold wall. He eased the backpack off his shoulders, wishing that his eyes could adjust to the dark, but unfortunately, there was no light at all in this cave, nothing for him to compensate for. This was reason enough for him to stick his hand far down into the pack, groping for the other flashlight he had brought along, hoping, praying that it wasn't broken.
It was a miracle when his fingers brushed against the familiar plastic only seconds later, and Danny was able to draw the flashlight out of the pack, fumbling clumsily for the button with a numb and shaking finger. Yet the relief when the light turned on was intense, a bright golden light casting itself along the walls and floor of Danny's prison.
Although initially the brightness made his head throb, Danny was grateful for the relief. The space that he was in was totally enclosed, rock walls slick with water coming up on either side of him, the space surrounding him about ten feet wide and eight feet long, the stone textured beneath him. There were only two noticeable features on the ground, both of which he had avoided striking in his fall, for which he was grateful. Both sharp stones would have surely spelled his demise, had he not been so lucky as to fall in the center of the enclosure.
Taking another deep breath, Danny shone the light upwards, observing that he hand fallen no more than fifteen feet, give or take. The pain in his body let him know that the fall was significant enough to injure, but he was merely grateful that this other factor had not been enough to kill him this time around.
There was another disheartening fact- the walls were all smooth and slick, no texture outside of waves in the rock, water trickling down them gently, pooling at the bottom of the cave where Danny sat. That was another uncomfortable factor that made Danny grossly uncomfortable and increasingly cold- his whole body was growing more damp with each passing second.
Danny set the flashlight on the floor so that the light illuminated the general space in which he sat, and he groped through his backpack one more time. His fingers brushed against cool glass, and his fingers ran over what felt like minute fractures. Biting down on his lip in frustration, Danny drew out his phone from between the other materials, and squinted at it. The screen had a spiderweb of cracks running through it, and as wet as everything was, he was sure it was rendered useless. Besides, the mountain itself had absolutely no cell service- there was no way in hell that the cave would either.
Out of a final flash of hope, Danny pressed the on button, and much to his surprise, the phone came to life in his hand. Tears stung his eyes as he saw the picture, however fractured by the shattered glass, of his beautiful daughter. He couldn't afford to die down here, in this stupid, god forsaken cave, he had far too much to lose. He had his daughter, his team, his whole life ahead of him. He was not going to let one fall in this stupid cave put an end to that, no matter how cold he was, no matter how much he could feel pain radiating through his body. There was no doubt in his mind that he was going to make it out. After all, he had no other choice.
Danny took another good look at his daughter, and couldn't help but bring his lips to the screen, a gesture of affection to nothing more than a digital representation of his greatest love. With as much tender care as Danny could manage, he put the phone in the pocket of his jacket, hoping that it wasn't too wet as to damage the phone any further. Using his good arm once again, Danny dug through the soaked pack, yanking out a tangle of ropes that he had brought along.
There were at least twenty yards of rope carefully bundled and stowed in his pack, not all to climbing standard, but enough to provide a high quality of support if need be. There were a few assorted clips and carabineers in the pack as well, which Danny set on the floor beside him with the rope.
It was no less than frustrating to have one good hand to work with, to both pull the ropes out and sort through the other things in the pack. Everything would be going quite faster had Danny still been able to use both of his arms to their full capabilities. Currently, the left arm was just cradling the pack on his lap so that it wasn't shifting too terribly far as he pulled materials out of it. Danny also knew that if he was going to get out at all, he was going to have to use it at some point. For now, however, he wanted to keep the damage minimal, until he really had to give it his all.
Groaning against the pain, Danny took a moment to let his head rest back on the stone behind his head, and take a breath. His hair was falling in front of his eyes, and the cave was dark enough even with the flashlight on. The throbbing through his body hadn't ceased, nor had the unbearable cold. Danny was filled with dread, but also with hope that he was strong enough to get out of this mess alive.
As he shifted his weight, water sloshed beneath him, cold water on stone. The sound of trickling water hadn't ceased or decreased while he had sat- rather, it was growing in intensity. But Danny hadn't noticed that quite yet- he was still contemplating his misfortune as time continued to pass in his stone walled prison.
Thank you all so much for reading this story! Just so you know, this isn't an excuse for poor writing, but everything I publish here is first draft, no editing, I usually don't even glance over it again before I publish. I write in bits and pieces throughout my day, and often I cannot find the time to sit down and edit- besides, this is just fanfiction I write for the fun of it. I have personal pursuits that I would prefer to spend my time on, as opposed to editing. Once again, I'm not trying to make an excuse- just as for forgiveness for any small mistakes and incontinuty there is in my stories. So most honestly, thank you for reading my story, reviewing, following, and favoriting- I appreciate it more than you could ever imagine.