Page 42 of Disciplining Dana

“No, sir.”

“Can you feel your legs?”

“Yes,” she answered with a bob of her head. “I just can’t move them.”

Mr. Hawkins nodded, then pulled back, standing.

“Okay, this is what we’re going to do. If we start trying to dig her out, it’ll only break more rock loose and fill the void.” He pointed to several pieces of old wood that had long been buried in the original cave-in. “Jagger, Mr. Ellery, I want you to dig out two of those pieces of timbering. Be careful as you’re doing it; if anything starts moving, stop.”

Both Kurt and Jagger nodded.

“While you’re doing that, I’m going to start digging out a pocket on each side of her. Once you’ve got the boards free, what I want you to do is push them into the gaps I’ve created to try and stabilize the pockets so I can take more material out.”

“Side cribbing,” Dana said quietly.

“Yep,” he replied, looking down at her.

“I thought you were in the BDSM resort business, Mr. Hawkins, not mining.”

“I’m a man of many talents,” he replied. “Now let’s get you the hell out of there.”

For several minutes, there was no sound other than that of all three men working.

“Okay, Ms. Aziz.” Mr. Hawkins lay down to face her. “I’m going to start digging along the sides of you. You start to feel anything move, or you’re in pain, you say something, alright?”

“Yes, sir,” she answered softly, “and please, call me Dana.”

He didn’t reply except to nod, and then he began working to pull the loose rock and dirt from where it had her trapped.

Kurt was first to work a board loose, grunting as the earth eventually yielded it to him. He laid it to the side and helped Jagger with freeing his until both lengths were uncovered.

“Okay, you ready?” Jagger looked down to where Derek had cleared two openings parallel to Dana’s body.

“Yeah.” Derek scooted back. “Slip one right in there alongside her.”

Kurt worked with him to wedge the board in the cavity Mr. Hawkins had cleared. They moved to the opposite side and did the same thing.

“You doing okay?” Kurt asked Dana quietly.

“Peachy,” she returned ruefully, and for the first time since they started into the mine, all three men chuckled.

“I’ll work the left side, you work the right,” Derek instructed Kurt, and both began to scrape away more dirt and stone. As they did, Jagger pulled the loose material back and away, keeping it cleared from in front of Dana.

“See if you can work your board in deeper,” Derek ordered, and Kurt pushed against his piece, trying to wedge it in further.

“You feeling any less pressure?” he asked Dana.

“Yeah, a little,” she replied.

“Don’t try and force it,” Mr. Hawkins warned. “Let us get these in a little further for support. If we try and move too fast, we’ll run the risk of bringing more down on top of us.”

They all went back to work, and Kurt wasn’t sure how much time had gone by before Dana said, “Stop.”

Everyone froze.

“I… I can move my left leg.”

“Don’t do anything yet. Let Kurt work a little more on his side, and then we’ll see how things are.” Derek glanced at Kurt, and he went back to work, ignoring the pain of the dirt forcing its way under his fingernails as he dug.

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