Chapter 7 #2
Currently he had the wires of the radio exposed, the batteries out, and was going to attempt to make some sparks that maybe, just maybe, they could use to light the candle.
They were using the padding from the Band-Aid to hopefully catch the sparks, which would in turn light the padding on fire, and they could use that to then light the wick.
It was her job to hold the Band-Aid close enough to the battery for the sparks to take hold, which was made more difficult by the complete darkness.
She could only hold the Band-Aid still where Flash directed and hope his plan for light worked.
Her hands shook, with both fear and nervousness, but she was very glad that Flash was letting her help.
If he’d had her sit off to the side and do nothing, it would’ve hurt her feelings.
Which was stupid, because she was definitely out of her element here and this was what Flash did for a living.
Well, not really, but he had more experience at being held captive than she did.
The fact that he saw her as an asset and not a liability meant a lot. No, it meant everything . He didn’t treat her as if she was stupid or “less than.” They were a team. Partners. And that made her feel so much better about the situation.
“All right, here we go. Ready?”
“Ready,” Kelli confirmed, trying to control the shaking of her hands.
The spark that was created when Flash touched the wire to the battery almost hurt her eyes. Going from pitch blackness to that quick flash of light was startling.
“Holy shit, it worked!” Flash said a moment later, giddiness in his tone. “Scoot closer, Kelli, hold that bandage as close as you can.”
Doing as he asked, keeping her gaze where she thought she’d seen the spark, Kelli pressed her lips together in determination. This had to work. It had to.
“Here we go,” he warned.
Kelli was a split-second too late trying to catch the spark on the tiny piece of gauze. They did it again and again, and Kelli missed the spark every time.
After what seemed like the hundredth time, she let out a defeated breath and sat back. “It’s no use. I can’t do it.”
She wanted to cry. She’d been so hopeful that they’d be able to have some sort of light, but it was just too hard to try to catch that tiny spark, get it to land exactly where she needed it, on the miniscule piece of gauze from the Band-Aid.
Tears sprang to her eyes, but it didn’t make her vision go watery because she couldn’t see a damn thing.
“I can’t do it,” she repeated. “I’m sorry. How much air is down here, anyway?” she asked out of the blue. “We’re going to die, aren’t we?”
She heard Flash shuffle, and then his hands were on her. He’d been facing her moments ago, both of them huddled around the radio and the candle, but now he was sitting next to her. Before she knew what he was doing, he’d lifted her, and she was sitting on his lap.
In any other situation, she’d be pissed that a man touched her without her permission. That he’d touched her so intimately. But this was Flash. And this wasn’t any kind of normal situation.
Without a second thought, Kelli turned into him. She was sitting sideways across his lap, much like she’d been while in that tube on the river, which seemed like such a long time ago now. She leaned into him, put her arms around his shoulders and buried her face against his neck.
“I’m sorry.”
That had Kelli frowning. “For what?” she mumbled into his skin, grateful for his warmth. Surprisingly, even though they were in the rainforest and she’d been hot earlier, being buried in the ground, without the sun shining on them, had chilled her to her bones.
“For forgetting that you aren’t used to this. That you aren’t one of my teammates. That you have to be terrified. I think I forgot because you’ve been doing so well. You haven’t lost your cool even once.”
“Inside, I’m a mess,” Kelli admitted.
“And that’s why you impress me so much,” Flash reassured her. He began rocking back and forth a little, and Kelli almost moaned with how good it felt to be held. The tears she’d desperately held back rolled down her face and dripped onto his shoulder.
“Let it out, Kelli. I’ve got you.”
That was all it took for the dam to break.
Kelli cried because she was scared. Because she was sick of the dark.
Because she was hungry. Because, despite Flash’s reassurances, she had no idea how anyone would be able to find them.
Their kidnappers had obviously planned this meticulously.
They’d stripped a bus and buried it in the jungle , for goodness sake.
Then to further torture them, they’d purposely left a box full of ridiculous crap. This sucked!
As she cried, Flash kept rocking. He stayed silent and let her express everything she was feeling through her tears.
When she was all cried out, her head hurt, and she felt dehydrated and kind of sick. Flash shifted under her. Thinking he was getting uncomfortable, Kelli sat up and prepared to get off his lap, until she felt something on her face.
Freezing, she realized Flash was using part of his shirt to dry her face .
“Blow,” he ordered, putting the material over her nose.
In response, Kelli gently pushed his arm away from her. “I’m not blowing my nose into your shirt,” she told him with as much force as she could muster.
He chuckled, and she could feel the rumble all along her body. “I’d give you the cloth we found earlier, but it’s got blood on it now. I wish I had a real tissue for you.”
“Yeah,” Kelli responded, because she wished that too.
If he did, they probably wouldn’t be where they were right now.
Leaning away from him slightly, she brought the hem of her coverup to her face and blew her nose.
In any other situation, she’d be disgusted.
But she felt better afterward, and it wasn’t as if she was as clean and fresh as a daisy anymore.
What was a little snot to add to this already fucked-up situation?
“Better?” Flash asked as she leaned back against him.
“Not really,” she said honestly.
“I know this situation seems hopeless, but it’s not,” he said.
Kelli rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh,” she told him without much conviction.
“It’s not. Let’s go over the positives. I’ll go first, then you. We have water.”
Kelli wanted to counter that with a snarky comment about how, yay, having water would only prolong their deaths, but she took a deep breath and tried not to be a negative Nelly. “We aren’t alone.”
“Good one. This would really suck if you weren’t here,” Flash agreed.
“It’s not as if I’m doing anything,” she felt obligated to say.
“The hell you aren’t. You being here is forcing me to keep my shit together. I probably would’ve gotten shot if you weren’t. I would’ve attacked Jeckle and gotten shot by Heckle.”
To her amazement, Kelli found herself giggling. “Heckle and Jeckle. Those names are so stupid, and they sound so funny coming from you.”
“You got better names?”
“No.” She sobered. “They were careful not to say their real names in front of us.”
“I noticed that too. Doesn’t matter. My team’ll figure out who they are.”
“How?”
“No clue. My forte is not computers and ferreting out information. I’m more of a muscle man. A man of action. Of getting physical shit done.”
“I think I’d rather be in this bus right now with someone like you than a computer geek,” Kelli said.
“You haven’t met Tex. From what the ladies say, even with one leg and a couple decades on us, he’s hot.”
Kelli laughed again. Hearing Flash say another man was hot was funny. “One leg?” she asked, when she had herself under control.
“Yup. Okay, what else? Your head isn’t bleeding anymore.”
Oh, they were back to listing positive things about their situation. “Um…we have cans of food? Maybe?” She wasn’t so sure that was a positive, because even though Flash said he could open the cans with the spoon their kidnappers had left, they had no idea what was inside.
“Yup. How about this, we have plenty of space to walk around. We aren’t confined to a tiny room or space.”
Kelli hadn’t thought about that. “Have you ever been confined in a small space?” She felt him shudder under her, and she tightened her arms around him. “Sorry, forget I asked.”
“No, it’s okay. And yes. Trust me, this is much better.”
Kelli didn’t ask him for details. The last thing she wanted to do was bring up bad memories at a time like this. “Um…you can make a weapon out of that shell they left us?”
“I can,” Flash agreed. “See? We have plenty of things to be positive about. After we get some rest, drink some water, and maybe see what’s in those cans they left for us, we’ll check out that manhole cover. See if we can open it.”
Kelli wasn’t sure how they were going to do that, but she nodded anyway.
“Think we can try again to light the candle? Do you still have the Band-Aid?”
To her amazement, Kelli realized she was still clutching the stupid bandage in her hand. “Yeah.”
“Good. And I’m not just saying this to make you feel better—although I hope it does make you feel better.
I once saw MacGyver do exactly what we’re trying to do, use a battery and wires to make sparks to light a fire, and it took him five hundred and twelve attempts making sparks to get a flame.
And he was using a piece of his shirt that had been soaked in a flammable liquid…
something he’d found in the room we were locked in.
No clue what it was, I didn’t ask. But my point is that it took him forever, and he’s MacGyver.
We can do this, Kelli. Besides, what else do we have to do right now? ”
She wasn’t so sure, but he had a good point. Although, she could probably sit on his lap all night and feel content. It wasn’t a hardship to be surrounded by his heat and larger-than-life presence.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
“That’a girl.”
Before she could scoot off his lap, Flash gently grasped her shoulders.
To Kelli’s surprise, his lips brushed hers.
He froze under her, and his muscles tensed. “Fuck. Sorry. Didn’t mean…I was… shit . Sorry.”
“You’re sorry for kissing me?” Kelli asked.
“No. But I was aiming for your forehead. Which is stupid, because I can’t see a damn thing. I just didn’t mean to overstep.”
“Flash, I think we’re past having to apologize for touching each other,” Kelli told him. “Besides…it was nice.”
“Nice.” Humor was back in his tone. “I guess I need to do better next time. Can’t have you thinking my kisses are nice .”
Kelli chortled.
“Love your laugh. It’s much better than your tears. Come on, let’s get this damn candle lit so we can see what kind of food Heckle and Jeckle left, then explore this damn bus and see if we can find anything else to help us.”
He sounded so positive. Truthfully, Kelli was glad for it. The last thing she’d want was to be stuck in this situation with someone who moaned and groaned and bitched nonstop.
They moved back into position, kneeling with their heads nearly touching. Kelli touched Flash’s hands to figure out where exactly to hold the gauze to hopefully catch a spark .
“Here we go,” Flash said.
Kelli had no idea how many times he’d touched the wires to the battery, how many times sparks flew from the current, but she was seeing spots and her arms shook with the effort it took to keep them still and try to catch the falling sparks.
It might’ve taken his friend MacGyver five hundred and twelve times to make fire, but it felt as if they’d tried at least double that.
Just when Kelli was about to give up again, tell Flash that it was impossible…one of the sparks fell directly on the gauze.
Automatically, she leaned forward and blew very gently on the Band-Aid.
“That’s it!” Flash crowed. “Move back a little, let me get the wick in there. Easy…one more little blow… We did it!”
The wick of the candle flared to life—and the sense of relief hit Kelli hard .
She sat back on her butt and stared at the little flame. The candle was fairly large, both thick and tall, and while she had no idea how long it would stay lit, having any light, even for a little while, felt like the most amazing accomplishment ever.
“We did it!” Flash said again, his features lit by the candle he was holding. He had a huge grin on his face, and Kelli couldn’t help but smile back at him.
Then he leaned forward and kissed her again. Not on the forehead either. But purposely on the lips.
“We did it,” he whispered a third time, against her lips.
Kelli wanted to throw her arms around him again. Wanted to feel him under her, around her. But he was already moving back, getting to his feet and looking around.
Moving more slowly, Kelli stood as well.
As naturally as if they’d done it a million times, Flash held his arm up and Kelli slid in next to him, wrapping an arm around his waist as his came down around her shoulders. They fit together perfectly.
“It’s not exactly the Taj Mahal, but we can work with this,” Flash said.
Kelli let out a snort of laughter. “Yeah, right.”
Flash shrugged. “I just…now that we have light, everything seems brighter…literally and figuratively.”
The crazy thing was, Kelli realized he was right. Being able to see had changed her entire perspective as well.
Now all they needed was for his friends to come and get them the hell out of there.