He snatched up the light and banged on it a few times.
It flicked back to life long enough for him to locate extra batteries in a side pocket of his pack.The brief glow revealed limestone walls pressing close.Then it dropped into darkness and he changed the batteries out, his fingers clumsy with cold and pain, muscle memory taking over.
A sense of peace filled the space as the light bloomed back to life—warm and steady.
The darkness has not overcome.
He stood on his leg and winced.The joint felt unstable.It would be a painful walk back.
Noah tried to get his bearings.He was in a parallel tunnel.Deep breath.He couldn’t panic.He needed to trust God not just for the light but also for the way out of here.Okay, God.Let’s do this.
Then his light snagged on a crack.Not more than four feet high, but maybe…He knelt and explored it with his hand.
It just might be the other passage.
He shoved his pack ahead of him, then scooted through the opening.As he stood, he saw it.One of his markers.He turned around and could just make out the light from the shaft to the surface.
Thank You.
He started making his way back down the narrow passage, following the torn fabric he’d left like breadcrumbs—small strips of his shirt clinging to sharp edges.
Each movement was agony.His muscles, exhausted, now trembled with the effort of compensating for his damaged leg.His right knee threatened to buckle with every step.
Come on.Keep moving.Meg needs you.
The thought of her waiting in that chamber alone with an unconscious Alex and water rising somewhere behind her pushed him onward.
He had to get back to Meg.Had to tell her about the shaft, about the flare he’d sent up—that streak of red cutting through the darkness like a prayer.
Someone might have seen it.Help might be coming.
They just had to hold on.
A few more twists and turns of the tunnel and he was back.The chamber opened up around him.
“Meg?”His voice came out rougher than he intended.
“Noah!”She looked up but didn’t move toward him.Her light found his face and blinded him for a moment.“Oh, thank goodness.I thought—” She stopped.Her beam dropped to his leg, the way he was favoring it.“You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine.”A lie.They both knew it.His voice lacked conviction, and his leg was already swelling.“How’s Alex?”
“He was awake, but he just passed out again.”Her light shifted down.She was kneeling beside Alex.Her medical bag was open.Supplies were scattered around her in the grit—white gauze packages, the metal instruments on a plastic sheet, an opened antiseptic wipe.
And in her hand, catching the light, was a scalpel.She was shaking badly, the blade glinting with each movement.
“I have to release the pressure in his leg.”
Noah’s heart lurched.He closed the distance between them as fast as his injured leg would allow and dropped to his knees beside her.
“Meg.Look at me.”
She didn’t.Her eyes were fixed on Alex’s leg.
The skin was mottled purple and black and stretched tight and shiny.
“Meg—”
“I know how.I know the landmarks.It’s textbook.I’ve seen it done.I’ve assisted.”She was talking faster now.Her breathing picked up speed.“I just—” Her voice cracked.
