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Caine stood in darkness as the sound died slowly away.
And now, silence as well as darkness.
Diana. He would never save her now. He might survive, but for the first time in his life, Caine knew that his life, without Diana, would be unbearable.
She had teased him. Abused him. Lied to him. Manipulated him. Betrayed him. Laughed at him.
But she had stuck by him. Even when he had threatened her.
Could what they had really be described as love? He’d blurted it, that word. But were either of them capable of that particular emotion?
Maybe.
But no longer. Not now. Up above, up on the surface, she was dead or close to it. Her blood seeping into the ground.
“Diana,” he whispered.
“Am I still alive?”
At first Caine thought it might be her voice. Impossible.
“Light,” Caine said. “I need light.”
There was no light. For what seemed like an eternity, no light. The voice did not speak again.
Caine sat in the dark, too beaten to move. His brother curled in a ball. Dead, or wishing he was. And Diana…
Quinn fought panic as he descended the irregular shaft Duck had cut. The rope felt thin in his hands. The walls of the vertical shaft scraped his back and sides as he descended. Rocks kept falling on his head.
Quinn knew he was not brave. But there was no one left. Something was wrong with Brianna. She was doubled up on the ground, clutching her stomach and crying.
Quinn didn’t know what was happening down below. But he knew that if Sam and Caine didn’t bring Lana back up out of there, there would be too many deaths for Quinn to even think about.
Had to do this.
Had to.
He reached the bottom of the shaft and felt his legs swing freely. He lost his grip and fell the final few feet.
He landed hard, but without breaking anything.
“Sam?” Quinn whispered, a sound that died within inches of his mouth.
He fumbled for the flashlight in his pocket. He snapped the light on. His eyes had adjusted to the dark. The light seemed blinding. He blinked. He aimed the beam ahead.
There, not a hundred feet away, a human figure in silhouette. Moving.
“Caine?”
Caine turned slowly. His face was stark and white. His eyes rimmed red.
Caine rose slowly, like an arthritic old man.
Quinn rushed to him and shone his light around, sweeping the area. He saw Sam facedown.
And there, standing with her arms at her side, stood Lana.
“Lana,” Quinn said.
