32. August 25–26, 2024 #2
“Shine your light on the floor,” Steel told them.
“You’ll be looking for open spaces with a lattice of iron bars across.
They’ll look like drains or hatches. Be careful when you shine your lights down into them.
Start at the top and go slow with the beam down the wall so you don’t blind them.
Light will be incredibly painful, even if they’ve only been down here a couple of days. ”
“Waters, are you here?” Demon called out.
There was no reply at first. When a voice did come from the darkness, it wasn’t their team leader’s. “You guys have shit timing,” the raspy voice said.
The first two hatches they found led to nothing but dark space. The third held the longtime missing Navy SEAL and Mythos contractor, Ka-Bar.
Steel shone his light down along the wall until he came to the man perched on a rocky outcropping within his cell. “Ka-Bar, it’s Steel. Is there anyone else down here?”
“Don’t know who it is, but there’s someone down the way from me. He hasn’t said a word since they dumped him in here,” he warned. “Not even a moan.”
That didn’t bode well. He looked at Demon. “Check the other cells. If they drugged him before dumping him down here, but he’s not making noise, he could have overdosed and not made it. Daleyza and I will handle Ka-Bar.” He switched his focus to her. “We need to find the ladder.”
She began shining her light along the edges of the cavern. “Got it.”
Along the wall was a crude ladder made of what looked like pallet pieces. She dragged it down toward Steel, who was working on opening the hatch.
Demon had wandered down several more oubliettes before he finally called out. “I’ve got him. Can’t tell if he’s alive or not.”
“Midas, we have Ka-Bar and Waters, but we need transport assistance if you can spare it.”
He came over the line, but the signal was choppy. “… TB… out of there—”
“Midas, you’re breaking up.”
Silence met them on the line.
“I don’t like that,” Demon uttered.
“Me either. No time to worry about why it is though.”
He popped the bars open on their hinges, and together, Steel and Daleyza slid the ladder down into the narrow shaft.
“What kinds of injuries do you have? Can you climb out on your own, or do you need help?” he called down.
“My left arm is fucked up. Pretty sure it’s broken, but I can make it.”
Ka-Bar shifted himself around and began to figure out how to climb the primitive ladder with only one good arm. It was very unsteady, so Steel put his weight behind the top rails.
“Daleyza. In my pack, there’s a small bottle of water. Grab that.”
While Ka-Bar grunted and fought his way up the ladder, Demon threw his pack on the ground and began breaking into the oubliette three hatches down. He was calling down to the man, but there was no response.
As soon as Ka-Bar was within arm’s reach, he called to Daleyza. “Belleza, come here and hold the ladder for me on this side.”
She scurried to grasp the far rail so he could anchor himself on the other side and reach with his free arm to help his friend the final few feet up and out of his prison. Once Ka-Bar sat on the edge, his legs dangling into the hole, she handed him the water.
“Daleyza?” His voice was all gravel and rasp. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I look forward to hearing it, but it can wait until we’re out of here.”
Demon appeared out of the gloom and did a quick assessment of his condition. “How long were you down there?”
“Couple days. The other guy was brought down shortly after me.”
Now that he was on the same level as they were, it was easier to see him.
Wearing a button-down shirt that had seen better days, a pair of dress pants, and dress shoes, he looked like he’d been in a natural disaster that destroyed an office building.
His blond hair, cut into a too-long crew cut, was standing up in some places and mashed down in others.
He had a bad gash through his eyebrow that should have been stitched up immediately, but would now scar and forever bisect the brow.
He was covered in a fine sheen of perspiration, but he was clenching his teeth to keep them from chattering. “Other than the arm and the cut above your eye, anything else going on?”
“Withdrawals,” Ka-Bar gritted out through chattering teeth.
Demon continued his quick exam as they talked. “When did they start and how often?”
“Started a day or two after they snatched me. Injected me like clockwork. They gave me my last hit, then threw me into that pit. Probably three days ago? Don’t know for sure.”
“When was the last time you ate or had anything to drink?”
“Longer than we’ve been down here. They brought us here, and we never saw them again.”
“You able to move on your own?” the medic asked.
“Out of here? Yeah. I had it much better than your buddy.”
“How so?”
“They wouldn’t even wait for him to come down before they’d shoot him up again. They had to resuscitate him twice. When they dropped him into his cell, he didn’t even make a sound.”
Demon gathered his belongings, and Steel followed him to the other oubliette.
Flashing his light down into the space, they could see Waters at the bottom—face down and folded into a twisted and awkward position.
It was impossible to tell whether he was conscious or even breathing.
The smell coming from below was stronger than from Ka-Bar’s cell, suggesting he had been alive at some point, as his body voided anything from within it as part of the withdrawals.
But there was no telling if he was still alive until they went down and got him.
A light hit Steel in the eyes from a distance. “You guys need a hand?”
TB. Excellent. Steel could carry Waters out, difficult though it would be, but with TB here, he’d be able to carry him much more easily and be faster.
“Where the hell have you guys been?”
“Midas lost you as soon as you passed into the night of the living dead here. As soon as we lost contact, I broke off from the fun upstairs and started making my way to you. It’s a fucking mess up there.”
“Great. We found Ka-Bar and Waters. K’s injured, but he can move on his own. Waters isn’t responding. We’re going to have to carry him out.”
The giant lumbered into the space, dropping down to one knee at the oubliette’s entrance. “Sometimes I think that’s my primary job description,” TB muttered.
Daleyza had pulled the ladder up out of Ka-Bar’s cell, and the men grabbed it to lower it down into Waters’ space, but they couldn’t put it all the way to the bottom because his body was in the way.
“One of you is going to have to go in there to get him,” TB remarked.
Steel volunteered. “I’m smaller. You guys hold the ladder at an angle. I’ll hang off the side and drop down to him. I’ll throw him over my shoulder, then you’ll be able to maneuver the ladder into a position where I can climb out with him.”
As the two men maneuvered the ladder into position, Steel unshouldered his pack and rifle, handing them both to Daleyza. “You able to handle the extra weight?”
“Does the pope wear a funny hat?”
He grinned at her use of Midas’ words. She truly was Gloriosa. Didn’t matter what they’d thrown at her over the last few days, she’d never wavered. He loved his friends’ women—fighters, every single last one—but Daleyza left them all in her dust.
With the ladder braced by the two men, Steel hopped onto the top of it and began a quick descent down the angle. When he reached the point where he couldn’t go any further, he only had to drop about four feet, but the landing would be awkward as he tried to avoid landing on his friend.
“Waters, can you hear me?”
There was no reply.
Steel slid over the side of the ladder, hung there for a second to get his bearings, then maneuvered to where the man’s feet were.
He leaned over and put two fingers to the man’s throat.
The pulse was barely there. From his pants pocket, he pulled a dental mirror and slid it under Waters’ head, near his nose and mouth.
The glass steamed up.
“He’s breathing,” he called up the shaft. “Pulse is very faint.” He ran his hands over what portions of the body he could to check for wounds or broken bones. “Nothing appears to be broken, but he’s got an open wound on his lower back. Can’t see it well, but it’s festering.”
Demon called down, “Get him up here and to the truck. I can assess him while we drive.”
Gently, he wrapped his arms around his team leader’s shoulders and pulled him upright as best he could. He grabbed the man’s arms, put his wrists together to form a loop, then slid underneath and hoisted Waters’ body onto his back.
“I’m going to slide onto the rail of the ladder, like it’s hanging from a helicopter. I need to hold onto him. You guys think you can pull us up to the top?”
An affirmative from the top, and he was in position.
“Pull us up.”
When they reached the top, Ka-Bar, even with his broken arm, had stumbled over to the opening to help them pull the dead weight. Daleyza also added her weight when TB had to let go and grab Waters’ still form from Steel.
Hoisting himself out of the hole in the ground, he immediately grabbed his rifle and pack from Daleyza. “I can take this since TB’s here.”
Demon completed his quick check of Waters. “All right, boss. Time to check out of this dive hotel.”
Waters gave a sudden cough. “Zero out of five stars.” He inhaled with a gasp. “Do not recommend.” He exhaled, and a rattle accompanied the noise. “Roll me over.”
Without question, Demon leaned him on his side, just in time for Waters to heave violently. Other than a small spot of stomach bile, there was nothing to come up.
Demon put some water into a bottle cap and dribbled it onto Waters’ lips and into his mouth. “Try not to puke that up, yeah?”
His sharp inhales and exhales continued every few words. “Never was very good at following orders.”