CHAPTER 20


   “Wake up,” were the words that kept repeating. They sounded sharp, short, and mildly panicked. Then she heard her name, “come on Danni, wake up girl. Time to go.”
Everything snapped in to place all at once and Danni could make no sense of anything. She felt like she was being squeezed, choked, and entangled. Something very irritating was working it’s way in to her lungs and even after her eyes snapped open she could see very little. Whatever she was breathing was also getting into her eyes and she had to squint so hard that it hurt. She wanted to rub her eyes clear but couldn’t. One hand seemed to be pinned right to her side. The other had very limited range. Something was blocking her elbow and she could not lift her arm as a result.
The only good news, as Danni could figure, was that despite all of the cold and damp surroundings, she was pressed up against something very warm and hot, “Tony? Oh my god. I thought you were.. I thought I was…”
“Calm down,” he told her as his hand gently stroked her cheek and then began clearing away her eyes so she could see. His words sounded so reassuring, “we’re ok for the moment, sort of.”
Danni realized she was almost whimpering and, at the moment, she really didn’t care, “where are we? What’s happening?” Her eyes were slowly adjusting. She could see his face in what little light there was. She let out a sigh of relief and laid her head on his chest, “is this real?”
It was obvious that Tony did not quite understand her meaning because he answered with, “unfortunately.” Danni almost wanted to cry when he said that. She actually liked being this close to him, pressing up against him like this. Then her head started to clear and she realized that the pressing was because they had no choice. Before she could panic again, Tony calmly asked, “I thought I heard shooting?”
“Oh shit,” it all came back very quickly and Danni took another dip on the emotional roller coaster ride, “there was this guy. He had a rifle! He was… “
Once again Tony’s voice was soothing, “calm down. Danni, panicking isn’t going to help. Besides that, I’m pretty sure he’s gone. Somebody was poking around up there but, I haven’t heard it in a while now.”
Up there? What the hell did that mean? If there was an up then that meant there was a down. Were they in a down? Danni was thoroughly confused, “what the hell Tony?”
“We’re in a hole,” he calmly told her.
Danni’s head snapped up and she tried looking at the one and only source of light. It seemed to be mostly covered over and, besides that, the dust that was falling made looking in that direction somewhat problematic. Tony had to wipe her eyes clear again. Then Danni had to ask the obvious, “uh, Tony, how did we get stuck in a hole?”
“Well I was looking for firewood at the base of this tree,” he told her. Now he was a little less calm and slightly flustered. There was also an edge of embarrassment in his voice, “it’s covered pretty good up there. I kind of stepped in the wrong place.”
Danni became furious and started trying to jerk herself free, “I want out!” Again, Tony had to calm her down. She was not doing much more than bringing dirt down on top of them. While it was not enough to risk burying them, since this hole seemed to be mostly comprised of tree roots, it was enough to make breathing difficult. When the little tantrum ended, they were both coughing. Danni finally managed a, “sorry?” She then meekly asked, “can we climb out?”
“Well,” Tony told her, “I was almost out when you dropped in on me.”
Danni looked him in the eyes and told him, “sorry?”
“Not your fault,” he told her. “Don’t sweat it. We just have to figure out how to get out of here now. There was just enough room for me to climb but, with two of us… I don’t know.”
Another thought crossed Danni’s mind, “what if that guy is still up there, waiting on us?”
Tony looked on the bright side, “well the good news is that the hole is pretty concealed so he’s got about no chance of finding us here.”
Danni did not like the up and downside of that, “that means there’s bad. What is it?”
Tony took his time and said, “the bad news is that the hole is pretty concealed and nobody else has much of a chance ether.” Tony knew that somebody would have to get pretty close to the hole in order to hear them. He had heard that guy, with the gun, poking around up there for at least a couple of hours. He had almost stepped on it more than once and passed them right by. He obviously knew exactly where to look and still could not find it. Barbara would most definitely come looking. She might find the chopper but, how would she even know which direction to trek in once she did? It could be days before she could get enough help to actually do a real search!
“I know this much,” Tony told her. “No matter if he’s up there or not, I don’t plan on spending a night down here. Do you?”
“Oh great,” Danni sighed, “our choices are being shot or suffocation. What I always wanted!”
“Actually,” Tony replied, “I think we stand a much better chance of freezing to death once the sun goes down. If that makes you feel any better.”
“I’m just thrilled,” Danni told him with the expected amount of sarcasm. Then Danni thought about it for a minute longer. She got tired of rubbing noses with him and just kissed him instead. At first, Tony kissed her right back but, then he backed off as much as was possible. Danni backed off too and she told him, “I haven’t had the guts to do that.”
“What,” Tony was still a little surprised, “you mean except at the print shop back on Family Day?”
Danni winced, “caught up in the moment?”
“Yeah well,” Tony replied with a heavy sigh, “we’re both kind of caught up at the moment, right now. I just think we had better spend our energy on getting out of here. You know, right now.”
What did he mean by that exactly? Danni understood the obvious but, was Tony saying there was an after the ‘right now’ part? Danni kicked her feet as much as the hole would allow. She was now sure there was not much to stand on beneath her. She wiggled against Tony a little more and, she tried to pull her arms free again. Then she put her nose to his and said, “well this is kind of a cliché if you stop and think about it.”
“Glad you think so,” Tony told her as he used his free hand to shield his eyes as he looked up, “now we need to get un-wedged. I couldn’t do that while you were delirious. You would have just kept falling if I did.” After a moment of pulling on a root, Tony then asked, “by the way. You didn’t hit your head or anything, did you?”
That question threw Danni off. She thought about it for a second and then said, “I don’t think so. I don’t have a headache or anything if that’s what you mean.”
After a grunt from Tony, Danni could feel something, along the wall, move. She jerked violently and found she had a little more room for her arm. Tony’s pulling was causing his body to slide along hers. Danni found it very distracting. Then when he stopped, she had to ask why and he told her, “well believe it or not, Danni. I mean, don’t take this wrong way but, you are a little distracting.”
Danni perked up, “really?” She then wanted to kick herself for the outburst and she tried, “oh, I mean, well, I wouldn’t know what you were talking about.”
He was obviously unconvinced, “yeah right.” Tony kept right on pulling and after another chunk of dirt and debris came falling, followed by another round of coughing, Tony happily proclaimed, “I think I’m loose.” He started sliding higher and Danni suddenly had enough freedom of range to move both of her arms. That did not come too late either. She had to grab something to keep from falling. One hand found a root. The other found Tony’s thigh. He had to stop again and he told her, “ok, that’s very distracting.”
Danni felt embarrassed. She bit her bottom lip and tried to fight back a smile as she meekly replied, “I guess some of us live for distractions, huh?”