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.”

”Oh.” Kerry glanced down, and nodded a little. ”Okay. Sorry.” She felt a little silly. Of course Dar was right. No one would even be thinking about that now and she shouldn’t either. Duks’ comment had shaken her up a little, that was all.

Then she felt Dar’s arm shift and warm fingers curled around her own as she looked up, startled. Blue eyes gazed steadily back at her, a faint hint of challenge in the lilt of Dar’s eyebrows. Kerry smiled and gave the fingers a squeeze, then turned her attention back to finding a way across the slippery ground.

“HEY, GIVE ME a hand here,” Mark called over to where Duks was standing. ”Hold still, Mary Lou. Let me get this branch off you.” He gave Duks a nod as the Finance VP joined him and put a hand on the heavy limb. ”Thanks.”


Hurricane Watch

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”Take it easy, Mary Lou,” Duks told the young woman as he and Mark pushed against the limb, trying to force it away from her body.

”Argh.” They shoved harder and managed to move the tree off Mary Lou’s trapped leg. ”There you go.”

”Augh.” The young woman crawled free and pulled herself to her feet. ”Thank you, thank you.” She gave Mark a grateful look as he took her arm, leading her over to where the rest of the group was gathering.

Dar was off a little ways, poking in the debris with her stick, while Kerry crouched next to Mariana, who had gotten a nasty cut on her arm.

Other than that and some bangs and bruises, they’d all survived intact, and now were standing or sitting in a rough circle, dazedly looking around them.

”Now what, Sherlock?” Steven came up behind Dar and glared at the walls blocking them in. ”You going to wave your damn broom and fly us all out of here.” He spat disgustedly. ”I can’t believe you got us into this, I think I’m going to—Urp.” The end of Dar’s stick was pinning him to a tree trunk and he struggled to breathe.

”You.” Dar pressed harder. ”Are.” She leaned closer. ”Getting.”

Her voice dropped, but somehow became more penetrating. ”On my nerves!” She paused, glaring. ”So shut up, or I’m gonna shove this stick right up your ass.” A deathly silence. ”Got me?”

Steven nodded once, then slumped as the stick was removed and he could breathe again. ”Bitch.” He rubbed his throat.

The tanned face creased into a feral smile. ”Jackass,” she responded, then turned and resumed her study of the wall.

”Oh, boy,” Mariana whispered as Kerry finished tying a bit of shirt sleeve over her cut. ”DR’s on the ragged edge, I see.”

Kerry glanced up at her boss, then exhaled. ”Yeah, but it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t pushed her. He’s been doing that all weekend. I was sort of surprised she hadn’t said anything before.”

Truculent green eyes regarded Mariana. ”It’s not her fault.”

The Personnel VP allowed a weary smile to cross her face. ”Whose fault it is doesn’t impact the amount of paperwork I’m going to have to do for this little trip.” She nudged Kerry with her knee. ”Go see if you can settle her down a little. We don’t need police reports on top of everything else.”

Kerry blinked. ”Oh, no, Dar wouldn’t...” She paused, remembering Kyle. ”Okay. I see your point.” She stood, buckling her belt pack back around her waist and picked her way over to where Dar was standing.

Steven gave her a cold stare as she passed and she returned it with a charming smile, which seemed to annoy him a lot.

Dar was scanning the wall, her pale blue eyes flicking here and there as she rested her weight on the stick to keep if off her knee.

”That’s a possibility.” She pointed as Kerry came up next to her. ”It’d be tough, but I think we might make it, or at least a few of us would, and then we could go get help.”


88

Melissa Good

Kerry gazed up. ”You mean where those trees are hanging down?”

”Mm hmm.” Dar’s attention was tightly focused. ”Yeah, we could get a boost up there and use those roots as handholds.”

It was a possibility, Kerry reasoned. ”That might work, yeah.” She put her hand on the stick, covering Dar’s fingers, which brought the ice blue eyes down to fasten on her. ”You doing all right?”

A faint crease showed in Dar’s forehead. ”Hmm? Oh, yeah, my knee aches a little and I’ve got a killer headache, but I’m okay. How about you?”

Kerry let her eyes slide to where Steven was sitting dourly on a log, then move back to Dar’s face. One eyebrow rose in question.

Dar looked puzzled for a moment, then she rolled her eyes. ”Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just let him get to me for a minute.” She dismissed the incident. ”We’d better get started.”

Kerry tightened her fingers on Dar’s hand. ”Maybe we should have our lunches first, give everyone a chance to calm down...hmm?”

Dar considered that. ”Maybe,” she acknowledged. ”Half an hour won’t make much of a difference, I guess.” She allowed Kerry to lead her back to the group. ”Okay.” She got their attention effortlessly. ”We obviously need to get out of here.”

”Yes,” Duks agreed. ”Quickly. This is becoming quite slimy and I suspect water will be making us float shortly.” He tapped his foot in a growing puddle of clear, cold water.

”Jesu.” José dabbed at a raw looking scratch on his head. ”We could have been killed.”

”But we weren’t,” Dar told him. ”There’s a spot over there.” She pointed. ”I think we could all make it up there, and if not, those of us who can, will go get help.”

”From who? That idiotic woman?” Eleanor snapped, obviously upset and frightened. ”Don’t be stupid, Dar. We can’t climb up there and I’m not sitting down here in this freezing muck.”

”Come now, El,” Mariana forestalled Dar’s rising ire. ”Either you climb, or you stay here. You can’t say you’re not going to climb, and you don’t want to stay here. Pick one.” She sighed. ”I’m going to be filling out workman’s comps on you people all of next week, aren’t I?”

”We can call for real help when we get up there,” Dar explained.

”But everyone should try to make it. We don’t know how long it’s going to take, and you don’t want to be stuck out here when it gets dark.”

No one looked like they liked the idea, but reluctant nods went around the group.

”It will be lighter if we eat those lunches they gave us first,” Kerry reminded her boss. ”I could use the break.”

”Oh yeah.” Mark pawed at his pouch. ”That’s a good idea.”

Everyone stirred, pulling out their packages with varying levels of enthusiasm. ”What is this?”

Dar had seated herself on a rock, easing her leg out in front of her Hurricane Watch

89

and turning her pack over in her finger. ”They’re called MRE's nowadays” She remarked. ”Military food.” She looked up as Kerry sat down next to her cross legged on a flat piece of limestone. ”They won’t kill you, but I won’t guarantee anything else.”

”Oh, lovely.” Kerry pulled at the package, tugging out small foil wrapped containers. ”How does it work?” She glanced up, then put her hand on Dar's knee. ”Hey.”

Dar had been leaning her head against the rock she was seated against, her eyes closed. Now she forced them open and regarded her friend. ”Yeah?” She felt suddenly exhausted and the throbbing in her head was getting worse.

”Here.” Kerry tucked something into her hand. ”I think you need that more than I do.”

Dar peered at the packet. ”Oh.” She smiled in reflex at the army issue generic Tylenol. ”Yeah.” With a sigh, she put her package on her lap and unwrapped its parts. ”Okay, this is a self-heating pouch.” She picked it up and pulled two lurid tabs on either end. ”Do that and whatever’s inside gets heated up by chemical action.” She glanced up, startled to see the whole group of them, less Steven, gathering around her. ”It’s not that hard, people. We are a technology company. Please remember that.”

”Well, well.” Duks pulled his tabs, then set the large packet aside.

”And what’s this? Do not tell me this is what you give us atheists on Christmas.” He picked up a smaller packet. ”Crackers, graham, 2.”

”Oh my god. Is this that stuff they feed the soldiers?” Eleanor’s eyes widened.

”Mm, yeah, I saw a special on that the other day.” Mark investigated his package. ”Silverware too. Pretty neat.”

Kerry opened her heated package and sniffed it. ”Oh.” She pulled her head back in surprise. ”I think this is lasagna.” She poked a spork in and dug a bit out, tasting it warily. ”Hey, that’s not bad.”

They ate their meals mostly in silence, on top of the soft, limestone rocks which were slowly becoming flooded by water. Dar found herself pushing her food around with her spork. She glanced to one side, then offered the remainder to Kerry. ”Here, you want to finish this?”

Kerry eyed her. ”You don’t like it?”

A shrug. ”It’s not bad. I’m just not that hungry,” Dar admitted. ”Go on. I saw you thinking about licking out that pouch.”

Kerry blushed, but took the offering and finished it off, then passed Dar her container of apple juice. ”Here. I don’t like it. Why don’t you take your aspirin?”

Dar took her advice and swallowed both Kerry’s tablets and her own, washing them down with the juice. Then she regarded the group.

”Well?”

”Right.” Duks slapped his knee. ”Let’s get going. I can’t wait to get back to our charming camp and the peanut butter sandwiches I’m sure 90

Melissa Good

will be there for us.” He stood up, balancing carefully on his rock.

José joined him. ”Son of a bitch. I’m going to have a thing to say when I get back, I’ll tell you that.” He glanced. ”Come on Eleanor, let’s get this over with, eh?”

They moved to the far wall, slipping and sliding over the slick rocks, and started a slow path up. Dar went to the front, discarding her stick as she slowly moved from rock to rock. ”Okay, everyone get up here first.”

”I’m not going that way,”Steven stated. ”I’ll meet you all up at the top.” He turned aside and started his own path up, grabbing on to thick vines which trailed down from half dislodged trees.

”He’s right, it’s easier there.” Eleanor abandoned them and followed Steven’s determined form. ”Come on, José, Charles, no sense in taking the hard way up.”

”Si,” the Sales VP agreed as he edged away from them and followed her. ”I’m coming.” Eleanor's thin assistant followed obediently, pushing his glasses up nervously.

Dar gazed after them as though about to speak, then shrugged and turned back to her task, leaning her head against the cool branches for a moment before she straightened and looked for the next step up. The throbbing was starting to subside, but she felt an odd kind of distance to her thoughts that made her wonder if she hadn’t done more than get her bell rung.