“Huh?” Cat replied, presenting a display of fake ignorance that was obvious to Amanda.

Kass looked up thinking Amanda was talking about herself but then she saw where Amanda’s gaze was focused.

Cat had rubbed most of the blood off her skin as they had walked through the bush. Getting it out of her clothes however, had been a little more difficult.

“On your shirt,” Amanda replied, creating a small flame that harmlessly licked the edge of Cat’s singlet, lighting up the wet gleam, barely red-tinged against the dark fabric.

“Oi,” Cat cried indignantly as she made to bat the flames and accidentally hit too close to her bullet wound that she couldn’t help but wince a little. She fixed Amanda with a dark glare.

Amanda met her look with a commanding one of her own. “What happened?” she asked.

Cat shrugged and her air of nonchalance appeared again. “It’s nothing, I walked into a branch, got a scratch.” Cat wasn’t meeting her eyes this time, unusual for Cat. She was a bad liar though and she knew it.

Amanda didn’t believe her so she turned her eyes on Kass who also dodged her gaze, although that was a more normal reaction for Kass.

Eventually Kass looked up. Seeing Amanda was still waiting for an answer she dropped her eyes again, shook her head and replied “She’s fine, we need to get you out of here.” She finished stuffing the bandages in the first aid kit and stood up meeting Amanda’s eyes again briefly before flinching away.

Amanda glanced back up at Cat who did meet Amanda’s eyes this time. She was frowning, already distracted by Kass’s statement. Then Cat looked off toward the tunnel as if torn.

“We need to find Indi first,” Amanda replied still watching Cat. Seeing the clenching of Cat’s jaw and the small almost indiscernible nod, Amanda knew that Cat had been thinking the same.

Kass frowned and shook her short red tinged hair. “It’d be easier to get you up first and before we get too tired.” She sent a worried glance Cat’s way.

Cat rolled her eyes at the concern.

“Fine huh?” Amanda said “What happened to your side?”

Cat met her eyes again and seeing Amanda wasn’t going to let it go she sighed and replied, “We ran into some poachers, there was a little bit of an altercation.”

Kass gave a small cough as if to cover a laugh.

“And?” Amanda invited Cat to continue.

“And I might have been shot,” Cat shrugged her shoulders as if it were nothing.

“You got shot?” Amanda repeated.

“It didn’t hit anything major. Kass gave it a look over.”

“I am hardly a doctor,” Kass objected quietly.

Cat shrugged. “I’m fine.” She gave Amanda a grin as if to prove it. “Now what do we do about Indi?”

Amanda studied Cat for a few moments before turning her attention back to the tunnel. “You might want to use the rope as a hand line, what extra length we’ve got here, just see where it goes, maybe it gets easier.”

When Amanda looked back at Cat again Cat was biting on the edge of her lip.

Kass interrupted their silence. “Don’t you have a sat phone?” she asked Amanda.

“Oh, yeah.” Amanda fumbled through her bag. “It’s worth a shot. It doesn’t have the best signal quality. It depends if you’ve got line of sight to the satellite. I don’t usually in Little Rock, but I do from the house. Sirius has his own one there so if we’ve got a signal here then we should be able to reach him.”

“Further north?” Kass pondered, trying to work out if that gave them a more likely shot of getting signal here. “I suppose we’re up higher here so maybe that’ll help.”

“And surrounded by ranges on two sides,” Amanda reminded her. “See if you can get a hold of Sirius. You’ll have to go outside the cave though, find a reasonably clear spot.” Amanda showed her how to work it.

Kass took the phone and paused a moment to look at the thing. It was much smaller than the ones in the pictures of human satellite phones that she’d seen. She vaguely remembered Indi mentioning that was the case when she’d been rambling on about them a few months back. Kass recalled that there were a grand total of three satellites in the sky surrounding the planet, all relatively new, being less than a decade old. The humans apparently had more in the old world and better service, but their phones were much larger in size.

“You know, I’ve never actually see a satellite phone in real life before,” she remarked. “I thought they were all horrendously expensive.”

“They are horrendously expensive,” Amanda replied, “but they’re useful. Sirius and I use them for communicating while he’s sailing, when we can get a signal. And for coordinating with customers sometimes. For us they’re well worth it. Bringing one out here is just an added benefit.”

Kass nodded. Then she grabbed a hold of the rope to start her climb back up.

“Probably should have just sent that up before you came down,” Cat remarked, although she was kind of happy that Kass had come down, just so that someone other than herself had assessed Amanda’s condition. As far as Cat could judge from a medical perspective, if a person was awake and talking then they were fine. She knew that wasn’t always the case, but to hell if she could tell which was which.

Kass didn’t bother with the wall for her climb back up. She climbed straight up the rope making it look easy. She’d reach up high as she could and then she’d place her feet on opposite sides of the rope, twist the rope under one and over the other, locking the latter foot on top of the former to keep the rope in place. Then she’d stand up on that and repeat the process. In no time she was at the lip.

She started to perform a similar movement the rest of the way up but found it a bit more difficult due to the angle of the rock. A metre on and she decided to rotate on to her knees and just use the rope to stop her sliding back down. Even this was not easy. The rock was slick, and by the time she got to the top her arm muscles were burning.

She double checked how the anchor was doing and was pleased to see that it still looked pretty solid. She then moved quickly but carefully out of the cave and into the moonlight. A few clouds drifted by overhead forming patches of lighter and darker areas on the ground.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Kass took out the phone and studied the display. Amanda had told her where to look to see the signal strength. Alas, the result was disappointing.

She glanced around. There was a lot of tree cover here, Maybe she should try walking around? She made for higher ground, but the cliffs to her left went on for what felt like forever, and were too steep to climb. Up above, reaching canopies blocked much of the sky.

She soon gave up heading further south, and instead turned east toward the sea and their old camping site. She found an area with less tree cover but she still had no luck with the signal. Not wanting to leave the others too long in the cave, she gave up and turned around to head back.

When she dropped back down in the cave Amanda took one look at her face and asked, “No luck?”

Kass shook her head.

Cat was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. “We need to find Indi.” She kicked off the wall as if ready for action. But exactly what action? She seemed unsure of that. Her eye line grazed the tunnel then skipped away again as if she didn’t want to think about the obvious direction Indi must have gone.

She was quiet long enough that Kass spoke up. “I really think we should get Amanda out first, then look for Indi. At least if anything else happens while we’re looking there will be someone at the cave entrance when other people come looking for us.”

Cat shook her head. “We’re down here now, besides Amanda’s fire is useful...” Cat trailed off briefly then looked from Amanda to her flame and back again. Once more she asked, “How long have you had that light going?”

Amanda shook her head and gave a shrug “Not long, on and off.”

They stared at each other for a little while before Kass interjected again. “We’re wasting time.” She bent down and picked up the rope. “Alright, I’ll tie into the end of it and go through then. You’re stronger so you can pull me back out if you need to.” She handed Cat the part of the rope that came off the wall.”

Cat took it with a nod.

“Don’t let it tug too hard on the top, I’m not sure how stable that anchor is.”

Cat gave another nod.

Kass turned and tied herself into the other end of the rope.

“We need a system of communication.” Amanda proposed.

Kass nodded. “Morse code in tugs?”

Amanda shook her head, “You might end up with a lot of weight on the other end.”

“Alright, two tugs you pull me back up. Three tugs it’s safe to come through.”

“5 minutes we pull you back out regardless,” Amanda added, knowing Kass could probably hold her breath that long, “I’ll keep count.”

Kass nodded and started toward the water and tunnel.

“Going in with your clothes on?” Cat asked.

“They’re lightweight and they dry quick.” Kass replied. “They offer some protection and they’re not likely to get caught on anything either.” She was dressed in three quarter length black spandex shorts and a white spandex singlet. It had been her spare one. She’d ditched a much bloodier singlet back at the fire, burnt the evidence along with the bodies.

She moved out into the water with the rope tied around her tiny waist.

Cat gripped the other end of the rope, ready in case Kass slipped and got carried away.

“You might want to hold it nearer her and feed it out so she doesn’t get carried to the end of the rope if she slips.” Amanda suggested.

Cat nodded and shifted to holding to Kass, but keeping an eye on how much rope she had fed out.

Kass had gone in to her shoulders and then disappeared into the tunnel. Cat tried to ignore the bad feeling in her stomach or any thoughts of what had happened to Indi.

Kass had gone maybe a metre and a half into the tunnel when she placed a foot down into nothing. The sudden emptiness caught her by surprise and she lost her balance. Next thing she knew she was underwater and moving fast, much faster than she’d expected it to move. She raised her hands up and felt the rock slip by, but no air. Shit. She forced herself to relax. Conserving breath was important. The tunnel continued submerged like that for what was probably a few seconds, but felt much longer, before Kass’s hands broke the surface again. She kicked upward and found air. She took a deep breath and was promptly pulled under again as the rope went tight. She fought upward but the current was strong and the rope pulled her down at an angle. The tunnel was obviously lower than the surface.

Realising there was no way she was going to be able to stay above the surface she briefly considered cutting herself free with the small knife she kept in a pocket in her shoe. Not knowing what was further downriver or if there was a shore or another tunnel quickly made her squash that idea. Besides they had another plan.

She fought her way to the surface one last time. Then she dove back down grabbing the rope with two hands and gave two hard tugs. Feeling nothing and not sure if Cat had felt that she tried to keep her heart rate steady. Amanda had given her 5 minutes. It was a long time to hold one’s breath but not so long that it was impossible for her, as long as she remained calm. She doubted the others could have done it but she’d been a competitive swimmer at one point and swimming was still her favorite exercise, that and tennis.

She focused on moving slowly. One hand over the other she pulled herself up the rope. A few seconds later and she felt some extra speed being gained as the rope was pulled along the tunnel faster than she could move herself. If she could have she would have breathed a sigh of relief.

She was exhausted by the time they pulled her out. She lay panting on the beach while they asked questions she couldn’t answer with more than a nod or a shake of the head.

Eventually they went quiet and waited for her to recover.

“It goes underwater for a bit then pops up into a cave, I couldn’t see much, it curves down, there’s no light from here that gets through and the water’s very fast moving.”

Amanda frowned. “I could go.”

Kass looked up wide eyed and started to say, “No way...” just as Cat exclaimed “What?!”

Amanda held up her hands. “I’ve got fire and it’s in the water, it’s not like I have to walk.”

Kass shook her head. “It’s quite the swim. Not as calm as it looks. I think we need to hunt for another way around.”

“You’d just end up hurting your leg kicking around,” Cat agreed then added, “I think we should get help.”

“Indi’s been down here a day without food already,” Kass argued. “Who would you suggest gets help?” Now that she’d seen where the tunnel went, she’d changed her stance about heading out.

Cat hesitated as Kass knew she would. Cat wasn’t about the leave them there, she’d see it as abandonment. Kass knew this. But with Cat’s obvious fear of the water and the bullet wound she wasn’t the best suited to hunt for Indi in the cave either. Amanda couldn’t walk. Sending Kass off would mean they had given up on searching for Indi. Sending Cat alone was a risk given her wound, not to mention even at a rapid pace it would still take a few days before help arrived. Cat clenched her jaw. There wasn’t any choice then.

“I don’t think there is another way down,” Amanda replied “Not an obvious one.”

“I think it’s worth a shot looking,” Kass replied. “Otherwise I can go back down...” Kass trailed off suddenly.

“What?” Amanda asked.

“Okay, so Indi can shield right?”

The others nodded with some hesitance.

Kass leaned back on her hands. “Well she’s probably fine as long as she’s not stuck underwater. Since it pops up, she might be okay, just further down river, assuming it doesn’t go under again.”

Kass didn’t miss Cat’s obvious wince at the thought.

Amanda nodded and she seemed to relax slightly. But then her shoulders tightened again and she shook her head. “I’m not sure what force her shield can take or how reliably she can summon it, and the ‘awhile’ bit is definitely in question.”

“She can stop a bullet though right?” Kass asked.

“I’m not sure,” Amanda replied still frowning.

But Cat nodded, then gave a grimace and a half shrug, “Not reliably.”

Kass nodded “Well anyway, I just realised I could have used my powers to pull me out of the water back there, in the other cave I mean. I’d just need a light.”

Amanda thought for a second. “Could you lift the two of us.”

Kass’s eyes widened unsure.

As Kass hesitated Cat shook her head. “I can’t lift you both back out, and I doubt Kass can pull you along that tunnel calmly. Don’t we have a waterproof bag somewhere that we could shove a torch into?”

Kass’s eyes widened even further and she nodded as she reached for her parachute pack. “I’ve something in here somewhere. Not fully waterproof but it’ll do for a short time, enough to get a torch through there, especially if we double it up."

Amanda nodded. “But then what, once you’re through?”

Kass took a breath. “I get a look around. I can do at least another trip, as long as I rest between. With some telekinesis I should be able to lift the rope out of the water enough to come back.”

Amanda studied her for a bit then nodded. “Okay.”

Cat looked doubtful but she didn’t object. She merely remarked, “if you drown I’m not coming in there after you.”

“Noted,” Kass replied as she turned to face the tunnel once more.

“Nor if you throw yourself into a rock.”

“I won’t,” Kass replied but in truth, that was what she was most worried about. She really should practice her telekinesis more.

“Good luck,” Amanda said as she handed her the torch encased within not one, but two ziplock bags. Kass put it in her pack which she then strapped tight to her back.