Lost

Chapter 14

We all sat there, staring at the map, our minds thoroughly blank of ideas.

"Hey..." Bree spoke up, "how do you make invisible ink, visible again?"

"How should we know?" I snapped. My head hurt, I was exhausted, and the horror of Reed's death was intruding into my thoughts.

"Lemon water? I think?" Rachel said, looking around the WWII room as if she expected lemons to be growing out of the walls.

"Yeah." Alex pulled her long hair into a messy ponytail.

"So...we get lemon water and put it on this map to see if the key is written in invisible ink?" Kate lifted an eyebrow, "first, guys, we have to get out of here."

"Good point." I muttered.

A small click sounded behind us and we all whirled around. Will was standing there, an old fashioned rifle pointed at us.

"You've been pranked!" He laughed.

"Will. Seriously. We could die down here. Are you ever serious?!" Jewel grabbed the rifle out of his hand and it fired, the loud report echoing in my ears.

I threw myself on the ground, pulling whoever was next to me down with me. The bullet shot around the room, bouncing off the walls before finally rolling to a stop.

"Is...anyone hurt?" Asked Kate, finally lifting her head.

"Oh my gosh. I did not mean to do that." Jewel had dropped the rifle, her mouth forming a surprised 'O'.

"I'm...kinda hurt." Isaac lifted his leg, showing us the place where the bullet had ripped through his pant leg, grazing his skin. Dark blood soaked into the kaki pants.

"This is all army supplies," Drew gestured to the pile of lost things, "there's probably some bandages in there." We began rooting around, desperately searching for something to quell the unstoppable flow of blood. 

"Found it!" Nadia lifted an old metal first aid kit out of the pile of rubbish. She pulled open the lid, revealing rows of sharp gleaming medical tools. I winced at the sight of a large knife. At the very bottom, strips of white cloth bandages lay, peacefully unaware of the terrifying instruments above them.

Kate took the bandages and tied one as tight as she could, just above the wound, cutting off the circulation. The other one, she tied around the wound, soaking up the blood. Isaac gritted his teeth, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He would get a scar from that, I was sure.

"I...uh...found something." Will lifted a shovel out of the lost pile, his expression guilty. He had good reason to be guilty. It was his fault Isaac was hurt.

"Could we use that to dig our way out of here?" Nadia gestured to the shovel.

Will nodded and picked up the lantern.

"If you're going that way with the lantern, then anyone who doesn't want to be left in the dark, should follow you." I said, pushing my frizzy brown hair out of my face.

Drew helped Isaac to his feet, looping his arm over his shoulders, and they took up the rear of the weary procession. Making his way up the mountain of boulders to the place where the earth had closed in around us, Will lifted his shovel high. Slowly, he began to dig, every scoop ringing in our ears. The dirt rained down, making us duck. A tiny chink of light appeared.

"It's gonna collapse on us! Everyone up!" Will shouted suddenly, throwing down his shovel and pushing away the clods of dirt with his hands. Everyone pulled each other up the boulders and more soil rained down. Drew and Isaac were slower, Isaac wincing at every step, sweat making his bleach blond hair stick to his forehead. I slid down to them and took Isaac's other arm, tugging him up with all of my might. I wasn't very strong or courageous. I don't want you to think that from my story. I could barely stand up myself, I was so exhausted. I was shaking, my pace quickening as the cavern shuddered. Drew was panting on the other side of Isaac, practically carrying him. Everyone had climbed out of the tiny hole. Everyone was staring down at us, their faces framed for by the evening sky. Everyone was shouting at us, their words bouncing around meaninglessly in my head.

"C'mon! You can do it!"

"Almost there!"

"It's gonna collapse! Get out of there!"

"Hurry!"

Drew pushed me up and followed, his hand still grasping Isaac's arm, intending to pull him up.

The cavern gave a great shudder and then groaned, collapsing inward, the ceiling crashing down, the walls buckling. Everyone was screaming. Screaming at Isaac. Screaming at Drew. Screaming wordlessly. And then Isaac was swallowed, nothing but his hand sticking limply out of the dirt.

For a long moment, no one moved. Then Will grabbed his shoved, bearing down on the dirt with all his might. Everyone else gathered around, working feverishly with their hands, trying to free Isaac's head.

My heartbeat rushed in my ears, adrenalin pumping, mind screaming.

We couldn't afford to lose another of our group. Another key member. Another soldier. Another partner in crime. Another acquaintance. Another...friend.

I bit my lip, clawing at the dirt. At that moment, nothing else mattered. Nothing but Isaac's life. Isaac's breath. And I briefly wondered, in the midst of all the chaos. In the midst of the panic. I wondered if I would cry. If Isaac died, would I cry? But the second the thought flew into my mind, it was gone again, forgotten in the frenzied rush. Swept away by the tide of panic that encased us.

All I was left to wonder was

Why?

Why did this have to happen to us?

We were given another chance at life.

Another chance to fix our broken existence. To give meaning to our lives.

But every time a member of our lost crew was hurt. Every time one of us...died, we became more lost then we ever were before.

And I couldn't help but wonder

What was the point?

What was the point in any of this?

Isaac was fading before our eyes, only a tuft of his hair sticking up from the dirt, his breath choked away by the earth. And all I could do was claw away, hopelessly hoping against hope that he would survive.

One word repeated itself in my mind like a broken CD.

Why.

Why.

Why.