Words of Love - By Hazel Hunter Page 0,3

he hoped so. They needed to get out of this storm. The path where they lay had turned into a creek.

“We’ve got to go,” he said, as he let her go.

He stood up, a little shaky himself. Then he reached down under both her arms and pulled her up to stand. She wobbled for a moment but straightened her hat and then started looking for something–her suitcase.

They saw it at the same time, lying in the path, almost covered with muddy water. As she turned to fetch it, Brett saw her back. The fabric was singed.

“Oh my god,” he said but she hadn’t heard in the downpour and the wind.

• • • • •

Jesse’s retinas still glowed with the lightning flash but she sloshed to the luggage and found the handle. She heaved it to its wheels and turned.

Brett was staring at her but there was hardly time to notice. Behind him, from upslope, something was coming. Something white, moving fast.

She wanted to say something, scream for him to move, but her throat was frozen. He was reaching out to her now and, as he extended his hand, she grabbed it.

As she dove off the path, she tugged him with her, off balance.

A white wall of boiling water surged past their feet, down the hill, as they fell into the thick foliage of the jungle floor. In moments, Brett was up and screaming something. The ringing in her ears made it impossible to understand the words but the look on his face was enough.

They were in trouble.

CHAPTER THREE

Now or never, he thought, as energy flooded through him.

Run or die.

Jessica had only just got to her feet when he grabbed her arm and took off. He crashed through the soaked thicket to the left of the path that was now a boiling creek. As though nothing weighed him down, he ran upward. The ground cover was making for better traction than the path.

I should have thought of that before!

He felt the weight of Jessica’s arm in his hand and didn’t have to stop to check on her. He drug her along–crashing upward, forward, through and over the thicket.

There it is!

The mouth of the cave was just a dim smudge against the dark mound but there it was!

Lightning flashed above them and he felt Jessica jerk.

He had his arm around her waist now and was running, lifting her off the ground. He had no idea how long he ran like that but finally they were at the mound. His thighs burned but the sensation only propelled him harder. With a final push, he took the narrow, switchback path up to the left, then back right, and then onto the ledge in front of the cave.

Suddenly, they were inside.

Finally he slowed as the darkness of the interior overtook them. He knew without having to see it that the camp was only several yards away. As he doubled over in heaving grunts, trying to get his breath, he let Jessica go. He put his hands on his knees and shut his eyes.

That had been close.

A sudden chill of fear ran through him and he realized he was still wearing the backpack. He quickly stood and shrugged it off. It hit the stone floor with a thud. As he put his hands on his hips, still breathing hard, he looked at Jessica. But it was too dark to make her out.

Feeling in front of him, he found the table with the propane lantern on it. He quickly lit it and the campground appeared in front of them.

The cavern was enormous, fading into black almost immediately. The green canvas tent was next to the wall, off to the right. It was a tall freestanding field tent. He’d gotten tired of hunching over in the little camping domes.

“Home sweet–” he had started to say as he turned to her.

She was standing stock still, a hand pressed down over her mouth as though she were stifling a scream. The other hand–Brett stared at it–the other was still gripping her suitcase. Behind the rain dappled glasses, her eyes were shut tight.

“Jessica?” he said, as he stepped toward her. He looked down at the suitcase and realized that she was gripping the handle so hard her knuckles had turned a pinkish white. “Jessica?” he said, gripping her by the shoulders. “Are you okay?” Stupid question, he thought. She was obviously not okay. “Right,” he said, quietly. “Let’s leave the suitcase.”

Slowly, he pried her fingers loose. One by one, he gently