Chapter 1: Entering the Cave

Maria sprinted down the mountain, flailing arms to keep balance and bumping fanny pack to keep time. She opted to keep her backpack on as cushion in case she started to tumble, but the brown paper box full of brushes she was holding had been tossed and had probably been crushed by the rocks by now. Hiking and painting probably would have been fun, she mused, but it didn’t seem like fulfilling the group’s meetup schedule was a priority anymore.

“Focus, Maria,” she thought, propelling her powerful legs.

Even though this was probably the most terrifying moment of her life, running down the mountain like this was beyond freeing. It was exhilarating to feel so much air flowing around her as she leapt around bushes and branches. Rocks kept hitting her backpack, arms, and legs from behind, but she was determined to stay up, at least to experience this near-flying feeling til the end.

Suddenly, she saw flashing pink up ahead. There was a woman dressed head-to-toe in fluorescent pink waving her down. Maria angled her body towards this chance of survival, though now her right side was exposed to the many rocks pelting down the mountain ahead of the slide. They were getting bigger and closer in interval, and Maria struggled to continue forward as each step was marred by rock strikes. She was within five feet of the woman, and she lunged for her outstretched arm, but she lost her footing and fell.

The last thing she remembered was turning her head up the mountain to face the now gargantuan rockslide, which would surely cover her in seconds. She closed her eyes as hands grasped under her armpits. A rock hit her and everything went black.

The next time she opened her eyes, she wasn’t sure if they were open at all. Was she alive? Was this hell? This cold, wet, smelly darkness? She opened and closed her eyes but it made no difference. She took a deep breath and focused on her other senses. The cold, check. Loud sound of rocks, check. Wet, check. In fact, something just dripped on her forehead.

Wanting to at least move out of the drip zone, she lifted her shoulder blades off the ground, wincing with each movement. Slowly but surely she made her way to a seated position. Were her eyes adjusting?

A flash of light gave the answer - there were other people here and a few people turned on their phone flashlights. Individual voices and fragments of conversations began to echo around what she now realized was a cave. Now that she wasn’t about to die, it was easier to hear.

“... the second we get out of here I’m divorcing Terrence. Life is too short to be legally chained to a man who doesn’t want better for himself. The world and humanity will end unless we do something about it. He doesn’t support my coaching business.”

“Donna, we’re trapped in a cave. I would prefer to consider our immediate survival than give whatever problem you are describing my attention.”

There were at least nine people other people in the surrounding area of the phone lights. No one else seemed injured, even though Maria could barely move. Between her embarrassment about being the only person injured and the cacophony of sound, she needed to get away from the crowd. Little by little, she scooched her way towards the closest wall. Stalactites lined the ceilings, so getting out of the drip zone was officially deemed to be an impossible quest. Now all she wanted was back support and solitude.

The sounds of the avalanche slowly diminished, and while that is great news for any living beings that happened to be in the rockslide’s way, it was not great news for our heroine who was counting on the steady tumble of rocks to hide her soft moans of anguish as she scooched away. Luckily, the phone-light people increased their volume as more humans and lights gathered. There were at least 20 people now. Why were they all here? How did they all escape the avalanche? Maria hadn’t seen anyone else running towards the cave. She squinted to see if she could make out any clothing color, but no neon pink caught her eye. Finally, her back made contact with the wall and the coldness of the mud immediately eased her worries and her pain as she pressed firmly into the walls.

She shot up straight. Wait. Where was her backpack? It contained food, water, and first aid supplies… pretty helpful right about now. She looked down at her fanny pack, wishing she chose to put more useful items in there. Phone, keys, wallet… as if those things mattered. She unzipped the fanny and pulled out her phone, not really believing that there was a chance, but feeling a slight gut-punch nonetheless when it declared no service.

Finding her backpack was an impossible task without the help of other people in the cave. For now, she just toggled on her own phone flashlight to do an inspection of her wounds.

Her legs looked nasty - there were a few deep gashes and bruises starting to form, and at least 100 tinier cuts. It seemed the worst at her shins and ankles. Her shoes were still on, though they were a much darker brown than she remembered them being that morning.

She moved the flashlight up her body. There were tears in the tops her leggings and her shirt, but it was her right arm that looked the worst. Most of the blood had coagulated, so there was no immediate danger, but patches of skin were definitely missing.

She twisted her neck over her right shoulder and saw the mud from the cave wall pretty much everywhere. She gingerly wiped off some of the mud, careful not to smear it further into her wounds, but… wait, where were all of the cuts? She kept wiping, but she did not find a single trace of a scrape anywhere there was dirt. As if a line had been drawn, where there was no mud the scratches were as infinite as the ones on her arms and legs.

Tentatively, she raised her right shoulder towards the wall again, then extended her arm and pressed it into the mud.

“Hey there! Are you okay?”

She turned back forward to see a phone light bouncing her way. Someone was coming over. Maria took her arm off the wall and stowed her phone back into the fanny pack, fumbling to turn the light off.

The light approached. It was the girl in pink. She had really curly hair and was somehow smiling while being trapped in a cave.

“Hi, uh, yeah. I think so. Just some scrapes and stuff. What’s going on? Does anyone’s phone work to call for help?”

The girl laughed, which Maria thought was weird. “No, no reception. We’ve set up a system to start clearing away the rocks and try and get out of here as soon as possible. They’re starting to go through backpacks too and potentially ration out the supplies. Where is yours?”

Maria shrugged. “I don’t even remember getting into the cave. I assume someone took it off of me because I woke up flat on my back.”

The girl smacked her forehead. “Yes! I think it was me. Sorry, there’s a lot going on. And sorry for saying sorry. I mean, ugh.” She looked embarrassed. Maria understood. “I’ll find it and bring it over so you can take out any personal items. But let’s move you a little deeper into the cave. They’re about to start clearing rocks and I don’t want you to get caught in a second slide.”

The girl in pink reached forward to help Maria up. “I’m Natalia, by the way. It’s nice to meet you.”

Maria stood up and suppressed every urge to grimace. “I’m Maria. Thank you for saving me.”

The two girls shared a small smile and hobbled their way further back in the cave.