Millions of In-Worlds

Chapter 1: Rock Slide

Freck shrieked, "Watch out! The ground's slidin'--help me!"

Ren was closest to her. He hollered, "Freck--quick--grab my hand! Hold on!" She did--then they both went slippin' towards a deep black hole.

I was standin' on a more stable outcroppin' at the time. Ropes connected us, but it warn't enough. The line jerked like a stretched rubber band. It almos' nearly pulled me off my feet. I held on as tightly as my scrawny arms could. My heels sunk into the scrabble. Yikes! The rocks was too loose. My feet slipped. The first thing ta bite it was my butt, elbows next, then my head cracked against hard stone--and then--and then, nothing . . .for a while . . . I don't know how long I was out. It was just sparklin' lights against a midnight backdrop.

"Wishes?...Wishes?" Freck was reachin' out ta me mind-to-mind.

I tried to respond, but couldn't speak. The dust so thick it choked me. Overwhelmin', gaspin' pain surged through me. It was so intense that all that I could eek out was, "Uhhh (cough) . . .uhhh (cough) . . .uhhh."

"Good, you're alive. Hurt, I'm sure, but alive."

"Freck," I cried out telepathically, "It aches so bad...I...think I must have broken somethin'. Maybe everythin'."

"Me too."

"Where are ya?"

"I don't know. I cain't even see my hand in front of my face," she wailed. "I'm wavin' it back and forth in front of my nose. It's so black I feel like I'm buried under a mountain of coal. Wishes, I'm real scart. Where's Ren? Do ya get any sense of him?" Then she went ominously silent.

After a bit, I mind-called, "Freck—are ya still there? Can ya hear me?"

"I was just feelin' my way through my body, ta figure out where the biggest pains are. My right side is the most excruciatin'. I cain't even move my leg. It must still be attached 'cuz it hurts like flamin' swords. If I try ta touch it---Owwwww, yikes, oh, oh, oh!

"Don't worry Freck, I'll come get you as soon as I get myself free from these here rocks." That turned out ta be more difficult than expected. When the rock slide happened, I got swept away by a couple of tons, or more, of pea-sized gravel. I was waist deep in the stuff, and every time I moved, more rocks slipped.

"Freck? Have ya heard anything from Ren yet? I tried to connect, but he didn't answer. Maybe he got knocked out or sumpthin'. Can ya see him from where you are?"

"No. It's totally dark. My flashlight got swept away in the gravel river. He could be right next ta me for all I knows. There ain't even a sliver of light or a glow of a sputterin' candle anywhere's."

She was cryin'. I heard her moanin' sobs, so's she couldn't be that far away. I called out, "Can ya hear him breathing', or movin', or anythin'?"

"No (sob). I'm scart stiff. My leg grieves me so bad I think I might black out, that is, if I don't suffocate first on all the dust in the air." She choked on the dirt. I listened to her tryin' ta spit it out.

"Freck maybe we shouldn't try ta talk out loud. Who knows what gulpin' in this awful crap could do ta us?"

Freck was one of the bravest people I ever knew. It would take a whole passel of yellow-toothed rabid rats ta scare her. I've seen her taunt a lairbeast appearin' as a giant sabertooth tiger, just ta save me. That takes guts. I guess this was enough, prob'ly more than enough. We'd gone to hell in a red-rock hand-basket. 'Course I couldn't see color now, but I did just before my flashlight was tore from my hand.