Learning to Stand (31 page)

Bestat smiled. Leaning over, her dark hair
brushing Alex’s face, she kissed Alex’s cheek.

”
Zackery will come to get
you. Look for him. I will keep your brother and your Rasmussen
asleep for a while so you may get set up.”

“
Can you fix our hearing?”
Alex asked.

“
It’s done,” Bestat said
out loud. Like a loving elder, her dark eyes caressed Alex’s face.
Her hand cupped Alex’s chin. “I am saddened that you must suffer
all of this.”

“
But I must?”

“
Yes.”

Bestat stood. Alex watched her walk a few
feet away. In a flash, she transformed into her gleaming serpent
shape. Bestat laughed and fire jumped onto a tidy stack of wooden
boxes. Alex leapt to tend the fire. When the fire burned steady,
Alex looked up. The woman who was a dragon was gone.

Alex touched her headlamp. By some miracle,
the light flickered then came on. She began exploring their
chamber. The main tunnel had collapsed behind them creating a wall
of rock and dirt. She went to the wall to check to see if she could
hear anything or see any light.

Nothing.

They were not going to get out through the
main entrance. Turning in place, she assessed the area they landed
in. The mine had used this area for mine trash. Seventy-year-old
wooden dynamite boxes, broken ore cars, rebar, and general mine
trash littered the space. There were also the piles of newer trash.
The boy’s captors had stored their trash here. The FBI would be so
very happy.

About a hundred yards from where Colin and
Raz lay was another wall of rock, dirt and debris. There was a
hole, no bigger than mail slot near the top of the wall. This was
where Bestat entered the tunnel. Through the hole, she could hear
men yelling. Lights flashed as if vehicle headlights were passing
over the hole.

“
At least, we’re not
completely cut off,” Colin said. “I’d lose it if we
were.”

“
You’re not alone this
time.”

Alex hugged her younger brother. Hearing a
Black Hawk fly over the opening, their head jerked to look for the
helicopter. Shrugging to Alex, Colin turned away to put a piece of
wood on the fire.

“
Nice fire,” he said.
“Matches?”

“
Sure,” she
said.

“
The fire will keep us
toasty in this small space. I found Daniel Joiner over there by
that pillar.”

Alex turned to look.

“
There’s not much to look
at. He had a road ID on his shoe with his name on it.”

“
We should cover him,” Alex
said.

“
I put my jacket over him,”
Colin said.

Alex smiled at her kind, thoughtful
brother.

“
God, Alex, your
arm!”

He took her arm to look more closely.

“
You’ll need surgery,” he
said. “Are you in pain?”

“
I’m all right,” she
said.

“
Your hand is swelling
again. How’s your hip? Abdomen?”

Alex swatted him away from her like he was a
fly. He raised an eyebrow.

“
We don’t have the medical
pack. Do we have anything to use for a sling?”

“
A sling?”

Alex followed Colin back to where Raz
lay.

“
Do we have
meds?”

“
Yep.”

They went through all of their possessions
for something to use for a sling. Finally, Alex agreed to let him
modify her sports bra. She stripped off her long sleeved T-shirt,
tank top, and dragon body armor.

“
It’s not like you need the
support,” he said. “You should see Julie. Ever since she got
pregnant, they’re huge. Now that she’s so close to having the
baby?”

She threw the bra at his face at his gesture
of how large his pregnant wife’s breasts were now. While Alex
dressed, he made a loop out of her sports bra. He hooked her left
wrist through one end of the loop and the other around her
neck.

“
How’s that?”

“
Better.” Alex
smiled.

Looking around their little cavern, Colin
shivered.

“
Anxious?”

Colin nodded.

“
Would you like a
Xanax?”

Alex gave him a pill then reached for her
water bottle.

Fuck.

She’d left her water bottle on the floor of
the mining office. They drank the last of Raz’s water before they
reached the mine. She’d signed that she would ass-ist Raz with her
water.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

“
Do you have
water?”

“
Lime Vodka.” Colin
shrugged.

“
COLIN!”

“
Hey, I’m a civilian on
spring break. I know it’s pretty stupid.” He shrugged. Imitating
his father’s voice, Colin said, “Preparation beats
rescue.”

Alex smiled.

“
I don’t have a fucking
clue what it means to be a civilian,” Colin said.

He washed the Xanax down with a swig of lime
vodka then coughed. Alex laughed at his disgusted face.

Raz groaned. His left arm waved in the air
as he tried to find a way to get up.

“
ALEX! ALEX!” Raz
screamed.

“
I’m right
here.”

Alex and Colin dropped to either side of
Raz. Alex took his left hand. While Colin checked his vitals, Alex
cleared the sand and dirt from his mouth.

“
I can’t move my legs,” Raz
said. “Since the first bomb. Where are we?”

“
We’re stuck in the side
tunnel, Josh,” Alex said.

“
Josh?” Colin
asked.

“
My name is Joshua Peretz,”
Raz grunted.

“
Craig. Joshua Craig
Peretz,” Alex said. “We found an opening and they know we’re here.
We’ll probably be out by morning.”

“
Douglas, that’s my middle
name. Generals. We all have a General’s first name as our middle
name.” Colin continued checking Raz for fractures or injury.
“Ironically, none of us took our confirmation saints as our middle
name. You’d think we were smorgasbord Catholics.”

“
We are smorgasbord
Catholics, Colin,” Alex laughed.

“
Speak for yourself. I’m a
proud member of the C and E Catholic club.”

“
C and E?” Raz laughed then
yelped with pain. “Fuck Colin.”

“
Christmas and Easter,”
Colin said. “Now Alex and Max, they share a middle name but it’s
spelled…”

“
Differently, yes,” Raz
laughed. “STOP DOING THAT.”

“
What?”

“
Making me laugh. It hurts
like hell.”

“
Identity is important, Mr.
Joshua Craig Peretz. Especially to third graders,” Colin said.
“This conversation is a show stopper in my classroom.”

Giving Colin the space to work, Alex began
collecting fist sized stones from around the cavern. She set the
stones along the edge of the fire.

“
We need to get you a
little more situated. Your back is straight but your legs are a
little twisted from when we dragged you,” Colin said. “Alex, can
you grab a leg?”

Together, Colin and Alex straightened out
Raz’s legs. Raz grunted with every movement.

“
How’s your pain?” Colin
asked.

“
Yes, pain.”

“
Well my Daddy always
said...” Colin started.

“
Safety, first aid, warmth,
and water in that order,” Colin and Alex said together.

“
What does that mean?” Raz
asked.

“
We have work to do,” Colin
said.

F

CHAPTER TWENTY-Six

“
Are you hanging in there?”
Alex asked Raz.

“
Yes.” Raz
gasped.

Colin and Alex wandered the area looking for
supplies. Alex continued to pick up rocks while keeping an eye out
for boards. Alex whistled to Colin when she saw a set of ten inch
wide planks tucked behind a support beam. Setting her rocks in the
fire, she went to help Colin with the planks.

“
This must have been some
kind of ramp to the exit. I bet the hole was a trap door of some
kind.” Colin pointed to shatter pieces of what might have been a
trap door. Testing the boards, he nodded. “These are
perfect.”

Alex took one end of the plank and Colin
took the other. One at a time, they carried the planks to where Raz
lay. As they had as children, Colin and Alex fell into the natural
rhythm of setting up camp.

Alex fed the fire and looked for palm sized
stones while Colin put Raz’s back boards together. Using his long
sleeved T-shirt, Colin cut the fabric bottom into long strips.
Colin laid the boards out together.

“
Any wire?” Colin
asked.

“
I didn’t find any,” Alex
said. “Ready?”

“
I need your
shirt.”

Stripping to her tank top, Alex threw her
long sleeved T-shirt to him. He cut additional strips of cloth then
began tying them together. In quick, efficient steps, Colin braded
the strips together until he had four tight ropes made out of
T-shirt material. He made a tight knot at the end to hold the ends
together. With Alex’s help, he slipped his ropes under the
planks.

“
Ok Josh,” Alex said. “We’re
ready to roll you over. Are you ready?”

“
Yes,” Raz
grunted.

“
One... Two...
Three...”

With Alex on one side and Colin on the
other, they turned him onto his side. Closing her ears against his
cries of pain, they rolled him onto the planks.

“
Still with us?” she
asked.

“
Barely,” he
gasped.

One at a time, Colin moved Raz’s legs to the
boards then checked for fractures. Raz’s powerful muscles were
flaccid and soft but the bones seemed to be intact. Colin nodded
and Alex tied his legs to the boards. Colin moved to check Raz’s
arms and situate his back. He pointed to Raz’s broken arm. Alex
nodded.

While Colin continued to check Raz, Alex
centered Raz’s head onto the boards. She moved his left arm onto
his chest.

“
I’m going to give you
something for pain,” Alex said. “We don’t have water. Someone
brought vodka.”

“
That’s exactly perfect,”
Raz said.

She placed two Vicadin in his mouth then
gave him a swig of vodka.

“
I feel an addiction
forming,” Raz said.

“
Your right arm is broken,
Josh,” Colin said. “We’ll need to brace it to get you out of here
effectively. Alex, can you find a...”

Alex smashed a wooden dynamite box. She
sorted the pieces into kindling for their fire and to use to brace
Raz’s arm. When she brought the wood to Colin, he held up another
set of shorter T-shirt ropes.

“
You ready?”

“
I think so,” Raz
said.

Raz passed out from pain. One break at a
time, Colin straightened the bones and used the dynamite box as a
splint. To keep his arm stable, Colin tucked it next to his side.
Alex helped Colin tie his T-shirt ropes around Raz’s body and the
injured right arm. Colin used one final strip of T-shirt over his
forehead and tied his head to the board.

Colin stood back to evaluate their work.

When Raz’s eyes opened they looked like
black pieces of coal in the semi-dark. They searched Alex’s face
then ran down her body. He glanced at Colin.

“
Are you in pain?” Alex
asked.

“
Yes, pain… yes,” he
whispered. “I’m cold.”

Alex nodded to Colin. Together, they went to
the fire where Alex’s rocks had been warming. Using what was left
of their T-shirts as gloves, they carried the hot stones to Raz.
They set the stones between his legs, along both sides of his torso
then one in each hand. He squirmed at first then relaxed into the
heat.

“
Col, can you find us some
water?” Alex asked.

“
Water?” Colin’s face
registered relief.

“
You don’t mind?”

“
Better than dealing
with…”

His blue eyes traversed the dark tunnel. He
shook his head as if to keep the nightmares of another dark tight
space, another time from creeping in.

“
Go ahead,” Alex
said.

Colin smiled his thanks then set to work to
find something that would work as a divining rod. She sat down near
Raz’s head. She held his left hand between her hands.

“
What’s he
doing?”

“
He’s going to divine
water,” Alex said. “Dad had a guy teach me, Max and Colin how to do
it when we were kids. He’s really good at it.”

“
I thought that was a Fey
story… a fairy tale.”

“
What was?”

“
The Fey ran out of water
during his Special Forces field training. Rather than allow his
team to go even a day without water, he divined water forming the
‘Fairy Well.’ Colin showed me the well on the map.”

“
The ‘he’ part is the only
lie in the story. You should rest.”

“
I’m too frightened. Alex,
what am I going to do? I have no family. I have nothing and now I
can’t move… I can’t walk… I can’t work… I’m completely
disabled.”

“
Shh… You have me. You have
Max and John too. We’ll care for you… always. There’s no question
that it sucks to be immobile. You’ll get better. You’ll
see.”