Danny had let his head back to rest, closing his eyes and trying to work past the throbbing that came again and again in his head. It was a steady and uncomfortable pulsing, coming straight from the back of his skull. There was a fair certainty in his mind that he didn't have a concussion- his head was surely not the first thing to strike the ground, and when it had smacked back after impact, it had just been hard enough to knock him out. The pain was not severe enough to indicate a fracture, just a decent knock that had been enough to send him under for some amount of time, which he hadn't yet determined.
It was another solid minute, suffering through the throbbing and stinging and shivering, before Danny opened his eyes and groped for the bundle of ropes that sat beside him. He had already thought out his next plan of action- he was going to climb out using the ropes that he had brought. The item that brought him tumbling down into this abyss was a stalactite that caught his foot, and although he couldn't recall the exact size, it had to be large enough to support some decent weight.
Wincing, Danny pulled the rope into his lap, and turned on the pocket flashlight he had recovered from the fall. With it turned on, he gripped it tightly in his teeth, and stared at the bundle in front of him. He knew already that to tie a successful knot, he would have to use both of his hands- damaged one included. If he could tie a makeshift harness around himself, and secure a rope to the stalagmite that had caused his fall, he could gradually pull himself up over the edge.
It would be a risky, painful, and lengthy maneuver, but as Danny contemplated his options, he knew that this was one of two options. The only other one was to sit and suffer, and potentially die whenever the rest of the hypothermia set in. He knew that rescue wasn't coming for him, as he hadn't told a soul where he was headed, and the only, slightest hint of his escapade was an email to Steve.
Recalling that picture that he had sent to Steve, the cheesy postcard picture, Danny almost wanted to laugh. There was no was that Steve would know what he had meant, there was no way that even Steve would guess that one picture meant he was off, dying in a cave, deep underground in a sopping wet prison.
As much as Danny would have liked to sit and curse Steve, however, he knew that he had to get working soon before his fingers became too cold to move properly. It may have been dark, but Danny had suffered enough Jersey winters to know the feelings of hypothermia when they were setting in. His cold clothes were doing all but helping at this point, same with the water that was somehow starting to accumulate at the bottom of the cave. Thankfully, Danny had noted it wasn't exactly rising, but there was nothing about it that made him too content either.
He drew in a shaking breath, and pushed aside the constant reminders of his dreadful situation. Instead, he grunted, and worked to pull the end of the longest rope free, and secure it around himself. It took the detective a shaky moment to realize that one loop around his waist was hardly the support he needed, so he took another moment to pull it around his legs and waist, trying to model a more traditional harness, like one would use for climbing.
The knots were shakily done, and each motion of his left hand made Danny groan and wince in pain. It also seemed that they took forever- each movement diligent and prolonged by the numbness setting into his extremities. Yet it was done eventually, and at this point Danny allowed himself yet another break, dropping the flashlight from his mouth and into his lap. With his good hand, he groped for his phone, praying that it was still able to turn on.
Once he had fished it from his pocket, it did just that; open to show his lock screen once again, his daugher, his reason to pull himself out of this cave and back into good daylight, spaciousness. Of all the things to focus on, the fact that he was enclosed was the very least of his worries. It wasn't too terribly tight, and there were more severe pains than a mental anxiety that he had to focus on at this moment.
After a few moments, he replaced the phone in his jacket pocket, and moved to grab the other end of the rope. He fastened it into a crude loop, and took a moment to assure himself that it would be enough length of rope to make it up and over the top of the ledge. Soon after that, he knotted thick knots at intervals up the rope so that he would be able to secure himself once he reached each point, allowing him to take a break up his climb.
Danny staggered to his feet, wincing as he shifted his weight and the aches continued to ripple through his body. He returned to flashlight to between his teeth, and shone it up to the ledge from which he had fallen. As Danny stared at the tunel, he realized that there was a steady trickle of water coming from the entrance, and as he inspected it again, it seemed smaller than the tunnel that he had gone through. Confused by this, he turned his head so that the beam was directed around the cave top in all other directions. What he saw distressed him quite deeply.
Aside from the first tunnel that he had observed, and wrongly assumed was the tunnel he had entered through, there were two other gaping holes about the same height. One of them was a bit bigger than the others, which Danny had to assume was the one that he had come tumbling through to arrive in this place. With a quick observation at the other two, Danny noticed that the water he heard rushing was coming from those two entrances, steady now, a small stream coming down the rock face. Taking a step forward, Danny heard the water splashing around his feet.
He had been so cold in his extremities he had hardly noticed the wetness that was now almost to his ankles. There was a steady flow of water into the cavern, it seemed, and that was coming to pool at his feet. The panic rose once again, for it seemed that there was no way for this steady income to leave the rock walls, and by the streams flowing down the soaked walls, it didn't appear the water was going to let up anytime soon. Danny had believed it possible, but suddenly, it was even more urgent for him to get out of this place, as fast as he possibly could.
Reorienting himself so that he was indeed facing the tunnel he was sure that he had fallen out of, and held the loop of rope in his hand as best he could, judging how hard it would be to throw it up to the top, and manage to actually catch the formation that sent him here. Another step forward reminded him that he didn't really have another choice- the water was rising, and hypothermia wasn't too far away. With a loud groan, Danny took the rope, sent a silent prayer to a heaven that seemed too far away, and threw the loop upwards.
It hit the edge of the tunnel entrance, and seemed to stick there for a moment before falling back down, hitting the water with a splash. Danny realized that he was shaking so much, he hadn't been able to bring his arm up as far as he had hoped he could. The loss of dexterity in his fingers was growing increasingly obvious as he hunted for the rope in the water, trying to grip it in fingers that wouldn't bend.
A far away first aid class danced in the back of his mind, and Danny was reminded that the number one way to check for loss of dexterity was to see if you could touch your pinky to your thumb, before the delirious phase of hypothermia dug its claws into your skin. Once the rope was retrieved and looped around his arm, Danny tried with all his might to bring those two fingers together, but found that he could hardly move the numb digits at all.
In nothing more than utter despair, Danny let out a loud chuckle, hearing his pained voice echo on the rocks. It continued to bounce back to him for more seconds than he cared to count, and once the ringing of his own laughter stopped, Danny threw the rope. This time it didn't even make it to the tunnel's entrance. He threw again. Then again. And again.
For minutes he strained, his left arm aching less the colder he got, but at the same time, each attempt got further and further from the rope's preferred destination.
An icy defeat wrapped around Danny, and he grabbed the flashlight from between his teeth, turning it up and sliding back to the ground, his back against the wall. Sitting brought water up to touch his tailbone, and any items that he had brought were now almost all submerged. His mind was beginning to blur as the coldness continued, and the only thing that he could think about was how the water seemed to be rising, and quickly.
Without even meaning to, Danny's eyes slipped shut, and he wrapped his arms around himself as tightly as he could to preserve warmth. Then he fell back to unconsciousness, propped up against the wall, shaking with cold.
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