New Birds

The Climb Down Part 32

There was no pain accompanying her panic this time, but it was quite similar to the panic she experienced whenever Kelly was returning to the facility. She was almost through the cave's exit, when it came on so suddenly, stopping her from moving forward. Her first inclination was to wiggle her bothersome rucksack from her back to fix the strap. It was crooked and irritating her. She felt her panic rising higher.

"You okay?" Marshall asked, trying to turn around in the tight quarters.

"Fine. Go on ahead. I'll catch up in a second. I promise." She held her rucksack close to her chest. Her heart now pounding in her ears. Her breaths coming in small sharp intakes.

Marshall nodded and holding his rucksack in front of him left the cave through the narrow tunnel.

She readjusted the strap with trembling fingers. Feeling dizzy now, she turned looking for a sight of the lake, but she couldn't see it from the tunnel. She then tried to concentrate on her last swim in it. How she had felt strong in its depth. Submerged in its cold quietness and its stillness. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth until her heart rate slowed and her vertigo left her. She slowly slid her arms through the straps of her rucksack, before bringing her hands together and giving a half-twisted nod back towards the lake. She didn't understand why this overwhelming feeling descended on her again, but she was relieved that it was gone. She would remember this lake if it happened again.

* * *

Marshall was waiting for her outside, and she followed him down the pebble pathway to where Farling stood in front of the impassable sheet of sloping rock that blocked their way.

She grabbed Marshall's hand and had to close her eyes as Farling scrambled up onto it. When opening them, she was surprised to see he still stood. That he hadn't yet slid to his death. She watched as he turned around on it as if the rock didn't hold such a slope. It was only his nylon bag, which now hung haphazardly off one shoulder by a single strap, that seemed aware of this vertical predicament. When Farling knelt and reached out to her. She shook her head and backed away from his outstretched hand.

The angle of the rock was not only too sharp, it was without blemish, as smooth as an eggshell. She wasn't sure how Farling managed to stand on it, but she wasn't about to take such a chance. Optically and logically, it made completely no sense.

"We should find another way down," she said.

"This is the only way," Farling said, as he stood again, turned and walked across the rock, ignoring its incredible tilt, to drop his nylon bag over the other side of it, onto a more level section of the mountain. He then crossed back without the slightest difficulty.

The only solution Samantha came up with was that it was an optical illusion. That the rock wasn't as sheer as it appeared, and somehow Farling's own lean lent to this odd illusion, for he appeared slightly parallel with the rock when walking away and almost perpendicular when returning.

"How are you doing that?" Marshall asked, his sight fixated on Farling's stance.

Gunfire erupted, followed by a terrible sound of screeching birds. "The aviary." She gripped Marshal's hand tighter. The terrible sounds went on and on. Unceasingly.

"We have to try to get over it, Samantha," Marshall whispered to her. "They'll spot us soon."

"It's fine. I'll get you across," Farling said.

She reached for Farling's hand this time, and he pulled her easily up beside him. However, as soon as her sneakers touched the rock, she began sliding away from him. His grip on her hand was strong though and he pulled her back up beside him, grabbing her by the elbow with his other hand.