Kerry didn’t wait for anything else. She dug out from her hiding spot and dashed across the still moving earth, through clouds of dust 84
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and shredded leaves, dodging the odd rolling boulder. ”D... oh god.”
She saw the arm sticking out from the dirt and scrambled over the last obstacle. Kerry jumped down next to where her lover had fallen and started frantically throwing debris off her. ”Dar? Hey!” She shoved dirt away from Dar’s head and was rewarded by a groan. ”Hey, hey, come on.” ”Okay, okay, take it easy,” Dar mumbled, getting her arms under her and pushing away from the dirt a little. She felt rocks and earth roll off her back, aided by Kerry’s hands ”Whoa, watch that last step.” She managed to joke faintly as she succeeded in sitting up, reaching to rub her head with a wince. ”Goddamn it.”
Kerry got into the dirt next to her and brushed her off gently.
”Jesus. Are you all right?” She checked Dar’s head anxiously. ”What happened? I thought you said there were no earthquakes in Florida?”
”Calm down.” Dar caught her hands and chafed them, feeling the tremors. ”It wasn’t an earthquake.” She looked around them as the rumble eased, and the dust settled, hearing the cries of their companions. ”It’s a sinkhole.”
”A sinkhole?” Kerry sank down next to her and leaned against her shoulder, sliding an arm around Dar’s waist. ”A sinkhole. Okay, so this is not part of the test, right?”
”No.” Dar gazed at her. ”Are you okay?”
”What? Oh sure. I’m fine. Absolutely,” Kerry assured her. ”Just a few bumps.”
”You’re sure?” Her lover gently inquired.
”Yes. I am,” Kerry stated.
”Okay. Well, you might want to let up on my arm, then. I’m losing feeling in my fingers.” Dar’s eyes twinkled a little.
Kerry stared down at her own hand, clenched around Dar’s wrist in a white knuckled death grip. ”Oh.” She loosened her hold. ”Sorry.” She took several breaths, then studied her companion. ”You’re bleeding.”
Dar glanced at her shoulder ”No. I’m all right. It’s just a scratch.”
A soft, knowing chuckle. ”Where have I heard that before?” Kerry replied as she checked the wound. ”Looks like a branch poked in here.”
She sighed and looked over her shoulder. ”Guess we’d better go find everyone.
”Yeah.” Dar stood, then winced as her weight came down on one knee. ”Oh, shit.” Her face twisted in pain and she sat back down, holding her breath until the jolts of pain subsided. ”Son of a bitch.”
”What?” Kerry grabbed her anxiously. ”Take it easy.” She gently straightened Dar’s leg out. ”What is it?”
”My knee,” Dar exhaled. ”I think the cap is dislocated.” She gingerly felt the front of her leg. ”Yeah, feel that.”
Kerry laid hesitant fingers over the denim covered surface and felt an ominous bulge. ”Ow, Jesus, Dar that must hurt like crazy.”
It was making her nauseous, in fact. ”Yeah...um...” Dar took a deep Hurricane Watch
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breath. ”Listen, could you just, um, kind of twist that, and move it towards the inside of my leg?”
Wide green eyes stared at her. ”What?” Kerry yelped. ”You want me to do what?”
”Kerry, come on, stay with me here,” Dar urged. ”If you just knock it back in place it’s going to hurt a hell of a lot less.”
”I don’t think I can. God, Dar… ”
”Yes, you can,” Dar’s voice dropped. ”Come on now. It’ll just take a second. Grab it and twist.” She took hold of a nearby branch and clenched it as Kerry’s shaking hands fastened over the misplaced bone.
”That’s it, go on.”
Kerry closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, feeling the hard surface moving and slipping under her fingers. She fought down a queasy sensation and took as firm a hold as she could, tentatively twisting the bone out and down, conscious of the unmoving silence from her lover.
”Okay, hold on.”
She held her breath and pushed, then gasped as she felt the part slide into place. ”Did I get it?” Receiving no answer, she forced her eyes open to see a very pale Dar slumped against the debris, out cold. ”Oh shit!”
DAR BECAME GROGGILY aware of a dull, throbbing pain in her leg, and a warm tingling on her lips. She spent a moment deciding the two were probably not related, and let her eyelids drift open to see very concerned, very vibrant green eyes inches from her own. ”Uh.” She blinked and swallowed, running her tongue over her lips tentatively.
”Did you just kiss me?”
Kerry let out a shaky sigh of relief. ”Yes. I was trying to wake you up.”
”Mm. You know, shaking me would have done it too, but I’m not complaining,” Dar advised her wryly. ”Damn, sorry about that.”
”Wow, the pain must have been incredible, Dar, I...”
Her lover sighed. ”No, it wasn’t that. I mean, yes, it hurt, but not enough to knock me out.” She cleared her throat a little and struggled to sit up. ”It was the feeling of my bones grinding together. I used to pass out whenever they had to set something” She gave Kerry an apologetic look ”Should have warned you.” Her lips quirked. ”That, and long needles. Watch out.”
Kerry regarded her in mild surprise. ”Oh.” She sat back, rubbing Dar’s arm gently. ”I never would have guessed. I mean, you’re so, um...” She lifted a hand. ”You know.”
”Tough.” Dar smiled self-deprecatingly, as she eased her arms around her knees. ”I know. It’s a good act,” she acknowledged, straightening her leg carefully. ”That’s better,” she sighed. ”All right, where were we? Going to check for the others, right?”
Kerry sat back. ”Dar, why don’t you stay here? I’ll go check on 86
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everyone.” She got up, ducking under the branch they were sheltering beneath. ”Maybe I can find something for you to wrap around that.”
Dar reached over her head and grabbed the branch, pulling herself to her feet. ”No. I’d better find out now how—ouch.” She sucked in a breath, then exhaled it as she slowly put weight on her leg. It hurt, but it held, and she eased it up, flexed it a few times then put her foot back down again. ”Okay. I think that’s going to be all right.” She glanced out over the rubble. ”Jesus.”
The ground they’d been crossing had turned into a bowl like pit, with walls over thirty feet high all around them. The bottom was littered with rocks and shattered trees and a muddy seeping of water that Dar could feel chilling her soles.
A yell drifted over—her name—and they turned to see Mark climbing up on a half submerged tree trunk, waving at them. ”Come on.” Dar looked around, then picked up a broken limb to use as a support. “This could be our lucky day.”
“Lucky?” Kerry peered at her. “Let me check your head again.”
“Lucky because this pain in the ass exercise is over,” her boss clarified, “and we can go the hell home.”
“Ahh,” Kerry sighed. “Gotcha.”
They slowly made their way across the rubble, with Kerry managing to resist the urge to take Dar’s arm an entire five minutes before she gave in, gently tucking a hand inside Dar’s elbow as they went over uncertain footing. ”I know,” she started talking nervously, as she felt Dar take a breath. ”I know, and I don’t care, Dar. I’ll quit, I just...I don’t care if they know.”
Long pause. ”Um, actually, I was just going to remind you to watch out for those soft, white areas,” Dar replied gently. ”They’re limestone and probably slippery.” She paused, thinking. ”As for whether or not they know, I’m not going to worry about that right now. The important thing is for us to all get out of here.”