Page 44 of Nikolai
There was something in the air… She held her hand up.The air was moving!Very faint, but there.Cool air, smelling of must.Aiming her cell at a wall of material, she saw an irregular hole.Putting her hand in front of it, she felt cool air.Moving.There was enough of an opening for her to stick her hand in.Parker hesitated for a moment, remembering every horror movie she’d ever seen where someone stuck their hand into a hole filled with scorpions or spiders.Or snakes.
She pushed her hand through the hole and felt cool moist air and a faint breeze.
She shivered and angled her cell so it would shine into the hole.Somehow, the darkness was not absolute.There was a little light coming from up top.She tried to shine the light up but couldn’t see anything.
It was mainly empty space.She tried to look deeper but couldn’t.But clearly there was some kind of structure that held.And a little light, which meant that there was an opening to the outside world.
“Parker!”
She lifted her head at the sound of Nick’s deep voice.It was dulled, sounded far away.But he was calling her.
“Here!”she called out.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes!”
A fall of dust trickled between stones.No yelling.Instead of screaming out a message, she started crawling her way back.
On the way she pulled out a stone, a brick, a piece of wood, shifted a fall of dirt, to make the passage larger.Eliminated anything that might cut him.Faster than expected, she was back to where they started, under the steel panel.
She stuck her hand through the opening and Nick grasped it, helping her through.
Nick grasped her shoulders.“Are you all right?Where did you go?”
Where did she go?She had no idea.All she knew was that it was away from here, and away from here was good.
“I found a sort of path away from here.It leads to what I think is an opening.It’s tight though.”
“And you came back?Why didn’t you break out?”
Parker’s eyes widened.She couldn’t believe he said that and scowled at him.“Nikolai Garin!Is that what you think of me?That I would find a way out and just…leave you?I can’t believe you’d think that!What’s the matter with you?Would you leave me?”
His eyes fell to the dirt floor.“No,” he confessed.
“Remind me to be really angry with you later.For now, let’s see if I have actually found a way out.Getting there and coming back I widened the path as much as I could.”
“Can I make it through?”
“I tried to clear it some.Open it up.”She tried smiling, though it cost her.She was still mad at him.“I am really good at Jenga.”
She got down on hands and knees.“I’ll go first.I hope I remember the way.If you get stuck, I’ll try to pull away some more rubble and hope I don’t bring the whole thing down on top of us.”
“Okay.”Nick’s face was grim, covered in blood and dirt.It was clear he was unhappy at having her go ahead, but it was the only way.He was extremely chivalrous, but he wasn’t stupid.She had to go ahead.She already knew the way and was smaller.
The going was slow and difficult.It was hard to remember the way in the ever-dimming light of her cell.She’d cleared the way as best she could getting back to Nick and continued trying to clear a path.Once she carefully dislodged a stone and got a stream of dirt and stopped.But the way was too narrow for Nick; she tried again, slowly and carefully, and was able to pick apart a jumble to clear room for him.
Every once in a while, she looked back at Nick following her.Once, she winced when she saw him barely make his way through an opening, a section of brick bearing down on the gash in his shoulder.But he didn’t make a sound.
Ah!Parker recognized a section she’d come through and had been able to make wider.Nick could get through here easily.And they were close!The air felt a little cooler and was moving.
She had to bend low to get though a slight passageway and pulled a section of wood away.Miraculously, it didn’t start an avalanche.She waited for Nick to clear the section, then turned around in the small space.Nick looked awful.He must have been in pain and was white under his tan.He looked like a monster in a horror movie, caked in dirt and blood.She placed her hand on his shoulder, careful of the deep gash.
“We’re close to what I think might be a way out.The air moves, so it must be connected to the outside world, and I think there’s a little bit of light.You doing okay?”
“Am I doing—whoa!”Nick suddenly grinned, flakes of crusted blood falling off his cheek.“You’re rescuingme!”
Parker grinned back.“I am!”
