Terror gripped me as I fell through the night air toward certain death. My limbs flailed uselessly as my body rotated out of control in the free fall. After what seemed like an eternity I finally hit the water's surface like a ton of bricks and was instantly engulfed by the frigid rapids. The breath was knocked out of me on impact, replaced by mouthfuls of suffocating water. The current carried me downstream at an alarming speed making it impossible to keep my head above the surface.

I barely registered how impossible it was that I was still alive, but the horrid irony of my predicament was all too clear.

As I careened downstream the undertow grabbed hold of my legs and swept me down into the body of the river with tremendous force. It didn't matter that I had chosen life, cruel fate had decided I was going to die here and now.

In what I presumed were my final thoughts, I drifted back to the memory of Maria, laughing behind her mask, paintballs whizzing over our heads as we jumped into the fray sending rounds down range as though our lives depended on it.

Back then we understood something I had since forgotten in my grief. Life wasn't easy. Life was a fight.

What if I had died and Maria had lived that day? What if she was the one who ended up on the bridge? What would she do as she was being dragged down to her death?

"Get to work, John."

Fuck this.

Some deep animalistic urge to survive surged through my body like lightning in response to the primal fear that had me by the throat. A sheer force of will burst out into every fiber of my being and I began to kick out hard reaching for the surface. I swam with every ounce of strength I had until I managed to break the surface. I spluttered gallons of water out and took another breath before my head was forced back under by the pull of the current.

Pulling myself up once more, I broke out of the water and let out a defiant roar against the forces of nature set against me. Numb arms stroking in steady motions and legs kicking hard, I began swimming with the current, angling myself in the direction I knew a shoreline must be. I barely managed to stay afloat as twice I was struck painfully by rocks jutting out from the river bed.

I had no idea how far down the river I was carried before, by the light of a waning moon, I finally saw several tree limbs jutting out over the water's edge. I was exhausted and my arms barely functioned, but I summoned what was left of my strength and grabbed for the branches desperately.

My frozen hands found a bough and I clung to it for dear life, halting my downstream motion while the violent river continued to tear at my body, angry at my attempts to escape. The bough was slick, yet enough bark remained for me to keep a grip and I pulled myself up out of the rapids slowly.

Somehow, miraculously, I managed to climb out of the water and up the side of the muddy river bank, finally collapsing on a patch of dark grass, gasping for air.

I did it, unbelievable.

Dazed and disoriented I tried to collect myself as the adrenaline began to wear off and fatigue set in. Yet as I lay on the grass, the gravity of my situation sunk in. Though I had survived the rapids I was now stranded in the heavily wooded park-way, likely miles away from the city with no indication where I had crawled out. Worse, I was soaking wet in the middle of December with temperatures dipping below 30 degrees. Hypothermia was a sure thing.

I had already begun shivering as I sat up in the grass and tried to take stock of my injuries. But I was so numb, and it was so dark it was difficult to asses my condition. Testing my body slowly, I gingerly got to my feet. Everything hurt, but my limbs worked well enough. There was nothing else for it, I would have to start walking in hopes of finding a trail that might lead me to help. Besides, moving was my only hope of trying to warm up now.

I trudged up the hill and through the thick brush surrounding the river bank. It was pitch black but for the occasional patch of light slipping through the trees from the sliver of moon above me. I had to move slowly for fear of falling, made all the more difficult by my increasing shivering.

I had no idea what I was moving toward, I just knew I couldn't stop. After what seemed like hours, of cautiously stepping between fallen branches and loose ground cover, I saw a flickering light through the trees, faint, but unmistakable. My whole body shook uncontrollably as I moved into the tree line desperate to find its source, hoping beyond hope it was someone who could help me.

As I grew closer to the little light, I clumsily tripped over a root, tumbling to the ground and falling into a small clearing in the brush. My motor function was nearly gone, but I managed to push up on my arms to see where I had landed.

At the edge of the clearing opposite me, the source of the light revealed itself; it was a small campfire, burning in the mouth of a cave nestled at the base of a hill.

A man came hurriedly out of the cave towards me, "Ho boy! You alright son?" he called.

I couldn't focus my eyes. My brain felt like it was shutting down. There was nothing left in me to fight as consciousness slipped away. Blearily I looked up at the hazy silhouette of the man standing above me before I slumped to the ground and passed out.

Sorry Maria. I tried.

***

In the black, I heard someone crying. They were pleading, begging for help. I couldn't see them, but in the dark, the sound grew closer and louder. I sensed it charging me like a freight train until the noise ran through me in a piercing scream.

"SAVE US!"

With a Jolt through my gut, I sat bolt upright. My befuddled brain churned, trying to muddle through what had happened. The first thing to return to my senses was an ache over my entire body. My head pounded and my blurry eyes strained to cope with a nearby light.

Groggily, I felt around and found myself lying inside an old dirty sleeping bag on the bare earth. For some reason, I was naked but thankfully, dry. My makeshift bed lay several feet away from a blazing fire on the ground amid a ring of stones.

Jumbled memories started to untangle, working themselves back into place. Right, the river, the cave with the fire... As my eyes came into focus it started to make sense.

I was inside the cave, and all around were signs of a camp. Old grocery bags and garbage sat in one corner, while boxes and cans of food sat in another. A bicycle was propped up against the entrance opposite me, And there, sitting in a ratty old folding chair near the fire by the cave's mouth was a man, presumably the camp's occupant.

He was an older man, maybe in his late fifties with broad shoulders and a weather-worn face. His curly hair was completely gray and tangled with dirt and grime. He wore an old dirty bomber jacket and tattered jeans with boots held together with lots of duct tape.

The man sat leaning forward in his chair, warming his hands over the fire with Two skewered hotdogs roasting over the open flames next to him. As I watched, the man became aware of me.

"Hey, there he is!" he said with a grin. "Sorry about the clothes." He nodded over to another set of sticks my garments had been draped over, drying above the fire. "Had to get you out of them to get you warmed up.”

Now it made sense. He took off my wet clothes and set me near the fire to dry me off and keep me warm. He saved me.

"Thank you," I said, my voice raspy and hoarse. "How long have I been out?"

"Oh, a while," said the stranger as he checked his hot dogs. "I was worried you weren't going to make it for a moment there. But getting you warm was a surer bet than trying to move you out of here."

He got up and walked over to me, holding his hand out in greeting. "Names Leo by the way. You hungry?" he nodded to the food cooking over the fire.

I took Leo's hand, "John" I replied. "I'm good, thanks." I couldn't help feeling very aware of my vulnerability. Looking pointedly at my clothes I asked, "You think those are dry?"

Leo walked over and grabbed my shirt. "Yup, looks good enough," he replied, throwing the slightly warm shirt and shorts to me.

I dressed quickly in the sleeping bag.

Leo sat back down and took one of the hot dog skewers off the fire. "Well if you're sure you're not hungry, more for me I suppose." He began eating it right off the skewer. "What were you doing taking a swim out here on a night like this? That's not exactly good for your health!" He grinned good-naturedly as he chewed.

My stomach churned. I didn't exactly want to talk to this stranger about my existential crises. Still cold and exhausted I pulled the sleeping bag up around me, looking into the fire rather than returning Leo's gaze.

"Accident," I said simply, looking to end his inquiry. I changed the subject. "How long have you been staying here?" I asked him awkwardly, unsure what else to say.

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Leo was mostly interested in his food, but he answered as he chewed. "Oh, a good while now," he looked about the cave. "I've been in worse spots," he added thoughtfully. "This one is actually kind of cozy." He kept eating.

Despite myself, I couldn't help noticing how comfortable Leo was. He was completely content with his humble settings, totally unperturbed by his evening being interrupted by a stupid and careless wanderer falling into his home in need of help.

I felt another twinge of guilt thinking of my own home and how I had been living for the past six months. Here was this stranger with nearly nothing who went out of his way to help someone in need. What had I been doing? Wallowing in self-pity.

I scowled at myself as silence stretched between us, which didn't seem to bother Leo. He just started in on the hot dog I had refused while I sat contemplating myself.

I stuck my hands out of the sleeping bag towards the fire trying to warm them further when I heard it.

A low whispering sound like the wind drifting into the cave. Slowly, it grew louder and louder until it burst out in an ear-shattering shriek from directly behind me.

"HELP ME!"

Heart-in-throat, I scrambled to my feet and ran over to the side of the fire near Leo.

While I had been sitting in the small sphere of light created by the campfire, I had presumed my back was up against the cave wall. It wasn't.

Only then did I realize the cave we were inside was much deeper, and mostly obscured in darkness. I had been sitting with my back to a tunnel opening.

"What was that?" I asked in a panic, my heart hammering against my chest.

Leo stared at the back of the cave but never stopped eating. He didn't seem at all upset by the noise. "Nothing I think you want to deal with," he said between mouthfuls.

I blinked. That was unsettling. I backed away from Leo, "Is someone in there?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

Leos's eyes were on the last of his hot dog, "Not your problem." he replied without looking at me.

I heard it again, this time the voice was faint and small from deeper inside the tunnel.

"Help me!"

The bottom dropped out of my gut. Oh God, that was a kid.

Looking around wildly, I saw a large stick on the top of a stack of firewood Leo had gathered. I grabbed it, shifted my stance to face him directly, and lifted it, ready to strike.

"What did you do? Who's back there?"

Leo finished eating. He licked his fingers as he sat back in his chair, finally turning to meet my eyes. Calm and unafraid of my threatening posture he replied, "Not your problem."

I looked between Leo and the deep black depths of the cave. "That's a kid," I said, my voice wavering.

Leo's gaze was steady. "Still," he said, "not your problem."

This was bad. I was alone in the woods with some kind of psychopath kidnapper.

I was pretty sure I could get away. Nothing blocked my exit from the cave, and if I had to I was pretty sure I could take this guy. So why wasn't I making a break for it? My eyes fixated on the dark tunnel...

Back in the day, before Maria died, I never used to run away when people yelled for help, I ran towards them. Damn it.

Seeing a flashlight sitting amongst Leo's debris on the ground, I grabbed it and started moving toward the back of the cave.

Leo made no move to stop me. He jus sat in his chair, hands in his lap, "You sure you want to do that?" He asked.

"Don't you follow me," I said, holding the stick over my head as I turned the flashlight on. "I'm getting that kid out, and we are leaving, understand?"

Leo just shrugged, "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Just stay the fuck back!" I barked.

Moving tentatively into the dark tunnel, I checked periodically to see if Leo would charge at me. He didn't. I turned my attention to the path ahead and began calling out, "I'm coming, where are you?" But no one answered.

With one last look back at Leo, I turned and pushed headlong into the deep, dark, sloping tunnel.

Shortly after entering the tunnel, the path took an abrupt turn, obstructing Leos' fire from View. I was now navigating by the light of the flashlight alone.

The cave walls were damp, water dripped down the sides from an unknown source and algae grew in random patches all around. It was a naturally formed tunnel narrowing and widening at odd spots, and the floor was extremely uneven. I was still exhausted from my swim in the river and several times my bare feet slipped over rough stones.

"Hello?" I called out again as I struggled through the cave, "Where are you?"

Outside my small beam of light was total darkness, but I could feel air stirring, a breeze coming up from the depths of the cave. Another gentle voice, like a whisper just outside my view, spoke out.

"He can't see me if I hide. He can't see me if I stay here."

My nerves were strung wire-tight. I whispered back, as though afraid of an unseen menace close by, "I'm here to get you out, where are you?"

Silence for a moment and then...

"Oh god, my baby, save her! please please PLEASE!"

My heart jumped again. That wasn't the child, it was a woman's voice this time. And she was very close. I moved on ahead as quickly as I could over the rocks. Climbing over a boulder in my path. Sliding over the rock, I went to put my feet on the ground... And missed.

I fell a good five feet and landed with a thud on the stone below. It hurt, a lot. I got up as quickly as I could, scanning the area with my flashlight and found I had landed in a round chamber at the end of the tunnel.

All around the walls were other tunnel openings leading into more blackness beyond. The chamber was huge, like some kind of naturally formed underground cathedral. The floor was strangely flat for something that hadn't been man-made, and the flashlight couldn't reach the ceiling, it was so high. Still, everything outside the beam of my flashlight was total darkness making it difficult to orient to the space.

It was dead quiet now, with no whispers or wind to speak of. A lump in my throat prevented me from speaking like my own body was trying to hide me from some predatory eyes in the dark.

I pushed my shoulders back and lifted my stick over my head, turning in circles with my light. Finally, I managed to call out in a quavering voice. "Whose down here?"

My light went out with a pop.

I froze, standing stock-still and terrified in total darkness. What kind of horrible choices had I made that led me here? Why had I followed the voices? What had I been thinking? Just as I began contemplating how to get back out to Leo's cave, I heard the child's voice again as though he was standing next to my elbow.

"It's my fault. I'm a bad boy. I did it."

I couldn't see an inch past my nose. "Did what?" I said, trying to listen for the sound of footsteps or movement.

The woman's voice was next, this time on my other side.

"They took her, she’s gone!”

I stepped towards the voice, "Who? Listen, we gotta get out of here!" I started hitting the flashlight trying to get it to turn on again.

"They will kill me. They will kill my family."

A third voice from behind me now, a man, shaken and scared. I whirled around on the spot. How many people were down here? Breathing fast, I felt my way to the cave wall, desperately searching for another tunnel that might lead me out.

"My baby, save my baby,” the woman whispers.

"It's because I'm a bad boy," the child chimes in.

"They'll kill us all," Says the man.

"Help me please!" cries a fourth voice.

"Help me."

"Help us."

"God Help us!"

I was drowning in voices. I couldn't tell how many there were now. More and more kept cropping up out of the darkness, some as low whispers others as deafening screams. I slipped down the cave wall and curled up in a ball, covering my ears as the sound of what seemed like hundreds cried out.

My panic was at a fever pitch and I was at my wits end. I didn't know what to do, but I had to do something. With the last of my courage, I shot up to my feet and yelled as loud as I could into the black, over their pleading.

"How do I help you!"

The voices stopped... the cries vanished as mysteriously as they had started and still, I could see nothing. It seemed, however, that I was now alone.

I had no idea what was happening, but one thing I was sure of, I needed to get the hell out of there. I was determined to find my way out, and if I found someone on the way, I would do what I could to bring them with me.

I pushed on along the wall until I finally found another tunnel. I fumbled inside the opening and tripped over a stone.

Catching myself on the way to the ground, I felt something, other than rock beneath my fingers. My right hand had landed on a piece of loose metal, like a small jagged disk. Without thinking, I stood up with the object in hand and pocketed it.

I felt my way back along the tunnel wall, moving slowly in the dark. Trying to keep my breathing steady I steeled myself for the long trek back to the surface. I knew I had been walking on a downward slope from Leo's cave, so my only hope was to find a path with an incline that might lead me back out.

Yet I hadn't begun to walk much further before I followed the tunnel around a bend... And was standing back in Leos' cave.

Dumbfounded, I stood facing the fire, with Leo standing opposite. Only he no longer appeared as the grubby homeless man from before.

His clothes looked wholly new, his bomber jacket free of dirt and grime. His face was clean and he no longer looked as though he had been living in the wilderness for months. The cave was now empty except for the fire burning in the center. I turned to face the cave tunnel behind me and found myself facing solid rock. Slowly I turned to Leo again.

He stood with air importance about him, like what you would expect of some bigshot CEO, his hands held behind his back as he watched me patiently.

"What. The hell. Was that." I asked.

"That?" Leo replied, looking to the ceiling and squinting as though contemplating his answer. "Well, let's call that a Job interview," he said after a pause.

That didn't track in any logical way, so I ignored it. "Who were all those people?"

Leo looked into the fire for a moment and said, "Those were the prayers of the desperate."

I blinked, "Where are they?"

His expression turned somber. He looked up from the flames, his storm-cloud gray eyes locking onto mine as he walked around the fire, stopping inches in front of me. I leaned back in bewilderment, my burnt-out flashlight dangling uselessly in my hand.

"They," he said, his voice low and weighty, "are everywhere."

I shuttered. "What am I doing here," I asked, inexplicably afraid of his answer.

"You, John Morgan," Leo said, "Were called."

Without warning he reached up and swatted me across my forehead like a cat pawing at a mouse. He hit me with enough force to knock me off balance, and I fell backward onto my ass.

"What the hell was - ?"

I looked up from the ground where I landed, shocked for the dozenth time that night. But instead of landing on the floor of Leos's cave, I was sitting on the wooden walking bridge above the river, directly in the beam of my car's headlights.