Her back leaning against the rough rock wall, Julia looked calm, serene even, not a care in the world. He didn’t want to look deeper. The flashlight she casually held was a beacon for him to move toward. He kind of hated her right now as he dragged himself forward through the latest cave-in, his stomach and chest scraping across the coarse rock. She looked fresh, and he was just waiting for the rest of the tunnel to crush him and end this. Another twenty-five meters, and he’d be even with her. The AK kept getting caught on his back, so he had to push it ahead as he shimmied through a narrow hole in the rock. If there was a small win, it was Julia taking point. Thinking back, she had seemed giddy to go first. If he’d gone first, they would have turned back at the first cave-in and fought it out with their pursuers.

Right from the start, he’d been amazed at how she moved through the tunnel. She’d squirted through the fallen rock blocking their way as if she didn’t have a care in the world. She only stopped long enough to access what was before her and then move through it all. At least, he thought, she had the courtesy to stop and wait her light showing him the way. She acted like she was made for this.

The guys he sent in the tunnel those years ago didn’t have much to say after they came back up, other than once was enough and no thanks, no more. Now he knew why.

He’d been in caves before, but not like this. The caves he knew were large open things with park rangers who led tourists along a path as they ogled the stalagmites and stalactites. Julia had quickly slid through the cave-ins while he struggled to get through the same holes. It slowed their advance, but he didn’t see how he could go any faster. If he hadn’t worn long pants, his legs would have been a bloody scraped mess from hip to heel.

The light waved up and down. “How’s it going?”

He crawled on his stomach through the last section of the cave-ins the AK pushed through ahead of him. He was sure he’d banged or bruised every part of his body imaginable, including his head, ass, and groin. “This shit sucks,” he growled to himself. He shimmied around a rock with a jagged point, growing madder at each sharp rock or stone that jabbed into him.

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“Yeah, I’m freaking fantastic,” he mumbled to himself.

“What’s that?”

“I’m almost through. I’ll be there in a sec.”

“Need any help?”

“No. No, I’m good.”

His hand gave the AK one more good push. He reached forward and felt sand under his hand. Finally, he thought and dragged himself through the soft sand sticking to his cheek. Finally, on his hands and knees, he made his way forward. “Can’t even stand up,” he grumbled.

“Did you say something?”

“Nope.”

Exhausted, his only effort was to keep the end of the barrel of the AK out of the sand.

He flopped over on his back and looked up at Julia, watching him. She wore a smile of encouragement, but there was a look of concern, too.

“That fucking sucked.”

“Yes.” Her voice cracked. She cleared her throat and turned away.

After a couple of deep breaths, he rolled over and sat up against the opposite side of the tunnel. She wasn’t as fresh as a daisy, but she sure as hell looked a lot better than he felt.

“Decision time.” She flashed her light at the fork ahead.

The tunnel branched and angled ahead left and right. Mike took a breath. “Well…

A distant boom interrupted him.

Julia switched the beam in the direction they’d come from. “I guess they're on their way.”

Mike glanced at her as her eyes followed the beam of light. She didn’t sound worried. She’d said it in a matter-of-fact tone, which impressed him a bit.

“We’ll go right,” he said.

She switched the light to the right branch of the tunnel. “Why, right?”

“I’m right-handed.” He shrugged. “It’s a fifty-fifty shot, so…”

She smirked at him. “That’s some fine analytical decision making.”

“Leadership one-oh-one, make a decision, right or wrong, just make a damn decision. Unless you want to pick a tunnel.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Oh, no. We’ll go with what you got.”

Mike pushed off the wall, landing on his hands and knees. “We should get going. They’ll probably move a lot faster than I could.”

“Alright, slowpoke, let’s get going then.” She flashed a quick smile at him and started down the right tunnel.

She didn’t fool him. There was more dread behind that smile than any humor. This shit was taking a toll on him too. But, with everything she’d been through, Mike saw a level of grit that most people didn’t have. Maybe the courage she was showing him was a facade. At this point, he didn’t care. She was doing everything he could have asked and more. Wearily, he followed, raising his voice behind her. “If I weren’t so damn tired, I’d have some snappy come-back for you.”

All he heard in reply was her shoes, knees, and hands as she crawled away.