Page 37 of Explorer's Revenge
AIYARET
It’s silent for a moment before we scramble to the hole, but she’s gone.
“Carter!”
“Maeve!”
We all yell into the chasm, but there’s no answer. Wilder looks at something over the edge and pales, grabbing and pulling us.
“Get away from there.” Wilder yanks us back so we are farther away.
“What the hell was that?” Rick yells, sounding panicked.
Way is wide-eyed and shocked, and Logan is searching around as if Carter will appear.
“Wilder!” Rick yells.
“I don’t know!” Wilder roars. “She’s gone.”
That’s when the shocked bubble seems to burst.
“We have to go down there.”
“We don’t know how far it is or what happened.”
“So, what? We leave her to die?”
“We need to call for help.”
“No, they will take too long to get here. She’ll be dead.”
“If she isn’t already.”
“What if she fell?”
“You saw what we did. She didn’t fall.”
The voices all blend together as I stare at the hole. She was there one second and gone the next. I don’t know what I saw. I don’t feel like I can trust my eyes. All I know is that she’s in there, hurt, alone, and probably terrified.
She was nice to me. Nobody deserves this, but especially not her. We have to help her. That’s what it boils down to.
“Her camera is still recording,” Way says calmly, but I sense the shock in his tone.
“Then let’s look.” They rush over to her camera, but I leave them to it. It won’t change the truth. She’s down there, and she needs help. However she got down there doesn’t matter. Not right now. They are right—assistance will take too long. It would take at least seven days to even get to us. She’d be dead.
I have to believe she’s alive. If anyone could survive a fall into that abyss, it would be Carter, but we can’t leave her there.
We have to help her. She would help us.
Scooting to the edge, I peer in once more.
“Aiy, get away from there!” Way snaps, and I glance back to see him glaring at me, so I step away. He nods before focusing on the camera again.
I know I need to do something. Wilder will argue until he’s blue in the face, wasting time. We can’t do that. Slipping on my bag, I uncoil the ropes we prepared to venture in, slam the hook into a rock, and secure myself into the harness, then I take a running jump into the hole, turning as I do so I repel backwards.
Their yells chase me into the blackness when they realize what I’ve done.
Way’s terrified voice reaches me, making me hesitate before I keep going.
