Chapter 12
Mitch
Thunder cracked overhead, shaking the cave so hard that dust rained down from the ceiling.
Outside, the river roared like a freight train as another surge of mud and water tore through the ravine.
This storm wasn't easing, it was gaining strength.
And at the edge of the cave, the water was just inches below the rim.
If this rain continued like this, our cave would be part of the river by nightfall.
Doug still had the rifle slung across his chest, finger off the trigger but hovering close enough that I couldn't afford to look away.
I stayed near the edge of the cave, watching the water rise and watching the stupid bastard unravel in real time.
He paced like a caged animal from the cave entrance to twenty feet back, then the same route again, relentlessly.
Each time he passed near me, he'd glance at the floodwater, muttering curses under his breath, then swing his glare in my direction.
His eyes were manic, darting between Charlie and me, as though he was calculating which of us he hated more.
Every move Doug made screamed of a man about to snap.
I'd seen that kind of behavior before, back in Syria.
My teammate, Corporal Barker, had lost his grip during a high-risk extraction.
His eyes had gone wild, like a cornered dog, seeing ghosts that weren't there. Then he’d taken off into the kill zone before any of us could stop him.
We’d never found out what had finally broken Barker. Looking back, the signs had all been there. I just hadn't been paying close enough attention when it had mattered.
I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Doug was teetering on that same edge. Different warzone, same look in his eyes. He was a bomb with a shortened fuse, and if he made a move with that weapon, I'd shut the dickhead down with one punch.
Priority number one was protecting Charlie.
The way she'd grabbed my arm when Doug had reached for that rifle stuck with me.
She hadn't pulled back or hidden behind me.
She'd steadied herself like she'd step between us if she had to.
It was the instinct of someone who'd spent her life fighting to be taken seriously.
She reminded me of my sister, Cassidy. She had the same stubborn set to her jaw, same refusal to be pushed around, same way of looking at the world like she had a point to prove.
Maybe that was why I gave a damn. Because I knew what happened to women when men as fucked up as Doug decided they didn't deserve respect.
Hell, I'd seen my mom shrivel inside herself for years.
Dad's belittling had never been subtle. It made sense that Mom had pissed off and gotten away from him.
But not us kids. She shouldn't have left us behind.
I'd never forgive her for that.
Charlie sat near the mouth of the cave with her legs pulled up to her chest, staring at the raging floodwaters. She appeared calm, but every boom from the sky made her flinch.
Lightning split the sky, igniting the ravine with a flash of blinding white. A deep rumble bellowed from below, as if the damn floodwater had a bellyache.
"What's that?" Charlie's eyes snapped to me.
I peered upstream through the sleeting rain. The rumble got louder.
"What's happening?" Doug's ragged breaths hissed in my ear.
A wall of brown fury exploded around the upstream bend. Debris, logs, and churning mud smashed into the opposite ravine wall before pivoting straight toward us like a charging beast.
"Move!" I yelled, grabbing Charlie's wrist and yanking her to her feet.
Wind slammed into our backs as we ran for the rear of the cave. I turned to the entrance, pulling Charlie behind me just as the surge hit. A solid sheet of muddy water crashed over the rim and exploded across the floor like a battering ram, splattering filth and spray up our legs.
"Get back." I shoved her backward from the surge.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Doug's voice cracked behind us.
Charlie stumbled, her feet slipping out from under her. I caught her arm before she went down, and gripped her against my side.
"Jesus," she gasped, chest heaving. "What do we do?"
"Keep moving!" I pushed her deeper into the cave.
"The cave's flooding!" Doug's voice was pitched high, hysterical.
The stupid bastard stood frozen, staring at the torrent hammering through the cave mouth. "Get back!" I barked.
Another roar erupted from outside the cave. Doug shuffled back two steps.
"Doug! Move your ass!" I yelled.
"Doug, come on!" Charlie screamed.
His head jerked toward us, eyes wide, mouth open. But he was too slow.
Another surge exploded through the opening and swept his legs out from under him. He went down hard, arms windmilling, a choked scream ripping from his throat as the water swallowed him to the waist and dragged him toward the edge.
"Doug!" Charlie reached toward him, but I caught her wrist.
"Don't!" I barked. "He'll drag you down."
"Doug, get your ass up!" I hollered. “Now!”
He scrambled upright, sputtering and cursing, water streaming off him as he stumbled toward us.
The floodwater slapped our shins, drenching my jeans.
Thunder detonated overhead, and the shockwave rolled through the cave so hard the walls seemed to tremble.
Another flash of lightning turned the torrent at the cave mouth into a sheet of churning, molten copper.
"What do we do?" Charlie's voice cut through the roar.
Water swirled around our legs, dragging sticks and foam and God knew what else in eddies that tugged at my boots.
"We get the hell out of here," I shouted over the thunder, "before the next surge swamps us."
"Get out?" Doug's eyes bulged. "And go where?"
"If we stay here, we're trapped."
"No." Doug shook his head, backing up a step. "Hell no. I'm not going back in that river. I'll drown."
"This water's rising fast," I shot back. "We can't stay here."
The water climbed another inch up my calves.
"Maybe there's another exit deeper in the cave…?" Charlie's gaze shifted from Doug to me.
At the rear of the cave, dark shadows swallowed our limited light, and it was impossible to tell how deep it went. "Or not," I said flatly. "If we go deeper and there's another surge..." I met her gaze, "we might not claw our way back out."
Charlie's brows scrunched together.
Doug let out a strangled laugh that didn't sound remotely human. "So, we're screwed either way. Is that what you're saying?"
"I'm saying we move. Now." I looked at the cave mouth, then back at them. "Before we can't."
Doug's breathing was shallow gasps that came too fast. "No! I'm not going back in that water." His voice cracked. "I can't."
"Get a hold of yourself," I snapped.
"I nearly drowned out there, you bastard!" He thrust a trembling finger toward the entrance, his whole arm shaking.
"Mitch. Please.” Charlie's wide, pleading eyes found mine. “Let's just see where this cave goes. Maybe it's elevated back there." Her voice trembled, but her expression was a baffling mix of fear and determination.
Behind us, Doug muttered a curse that was a half-sob.
"We don't know what's back there," I said, jerking my chin toward the darkness. "It could be a dead end. When the next surge comes, we could get trapped and drown like rats in a pipe."
I turned back to the cave entrance. "Out by the river, we stay close to the edges and stick together. I'll help you."
Doug spun toward me, eyes wide and glassy. "Help me? Bullshit! That water is three times more powerful than it was before!" His voice pitched higher. "I'm not going out there. I'm not."
The water rose past our knees.
Charlie looked between us, her eyes searching. "He's right, Mitch. We can't go back into that river. It's moving too fast." Her voice rose. "We can't fight that current. It'll kill us."
"Then what?" I snapped. "We stand here and wait for the cave to fill up like a damn bathtub?"
Rain hammered harder outside, each drop an artillery shell against stone.
At the entrance, the flood tore past the cave mouth as savage as a runaway freight train.
Brown water foamed and churned so violently that it blurred into a single roaring mass.
"At least, we'd have a chance out there," I said, but I was already thinking that was bullshit.
That wasn't a river anymore. It was a meat grinder.
"You're not listening!" Doug's scream cracked through the cave. "I'll drown out there! I will!"
"For fuck's sake, you won't drown." I rounded on him. "I'll make damn sure of it."
"Bullshit!" His voice broke. "You won't."
"Mitch." Charlie stepped between us and gripped my arm. "If the cave floor goes up even a little, we might stay above the waterline. We might be okay."
I stared at the black void behind us, every instinct screaming that this cave was a trap. Going deeper meant gambling everything on a maybe.
"Please." Her fingers tightened. "Can we just try?"
Willpower was in her eyes, but there was terror underneath it. She was asking us to take a gamble that could kill us all, and she knew it.
Another surge thundered down the ravine like a charging locomotive.
"Shit! Move!" I grabbed Charlie's arm and spun her toward the darkness.
This better not be the worst decision I ever made.
Drowning was right up there with burning alive on my list of ways I didn't want to die. Slow enough to know it was happening, helpless enough to make it torture.
"Doug, come on!" Charlie shouted over her shoulder.
The wave hit, exploding through the cave mouth as loud as a bomb.
Muddy water blasted against the walls and surged around our legs with enough force to nearly knock us sideways. The roar filled the entire cave so loudly it made my ears ring.
Water sloshed around our legs as we ran into the black. The minimal sunlight behind us faded fast and as the passage narrowed, the rough stone walls brushed my elbows.
But no back wall appeared. The cave stretched on, becoming a tunnel.
And the floor sloped upward.