They almost found us.” Chris said. “Yeah there’s gotta be some thing about the rocks or caves around here that they can’t scan through.
I mean when I was in the basement at school they found everyone in the bomb shelter, but they didn’t see me in the furnace.” I said. We stayed in the cave for a while as the water falls roared by for a while longer making absolutely sure that the aliens had left the area.
We got dressed and had lunch in the cave. We found out that Lucky loved cookies since Chris was feeding them to him. Nearly an hour later we decided to chance leaving the cave.
I would go out first with the shout gun then call to Chris to come out if it was safe. I exited the cave and held the gun at the ready sweeping all around looking for any trouble. Once I was satisfied I called to my younger friend.
“Ok Chris come on out its cool.” We decided to get out of the open and into some cover to decrease the chance we might be seen so we left the falls and headed to the trees. We made sure to keep the sun on our left so we didn’t get lost in the woods so we could find our way back to the mine.
We trudged through the brush and trees for about another few hours and decided to turn back. Just as we were about to make a U turn the dog went goofy on us. He nearly pulled me down as he pulled on his leash with all of his strength.
“Damn it Lucky where the hell are you going?” I said getting mad. The dog pulled me further sniffing at the ground seeming hell bent on getting to what he is smelling.
“Chris get your gun ready I don’t know what the fuck he’s dragging us to.” I said. The dog pulled for about another fifty feet then stopped and sniffed around a large hole in the ground.
“Crazy fucking dog. Must be a dead animal down there or something. Come on lucky let’s go!
” I said getting angry. We walked about three steps away and I thought I heard something. “Wait, Chris give me a flashlight.
” I took the light and headed back to the hole. “Anything down there?” I said.
I then heard it again a very faint “Help me” came from the hole. “Holy shit! Some one’s down there!
” Chris said in excitement. “Hello can you hear me? If you can I’m coming down there.
” I yelled into the hole. I took the rope from my pack and tied it off to a tree close to the hole. “Ok Chris I’m going down there.
Keep your eyes and ears open. And keep a tight grip on Lucky.” I said before entering the hole in the ground.
I slowly slid down the rope so not to burn my hands on it. As I neared the bottom I shined the light down to see where I was going. There I saw a boy around 12 yo laying on the ground at the bottom.
I slid the rest of the way down until I was at the bottom. “Can you hear me? Are you ok?
” I asked. “Please get me out of here. I can hardly move.
I fell down here when the things chased me.” The boy said quietly. “Holy shit that’s been days now.
You haven’t eaten or anything?” I asked “No he said lowly. “Are you hurt anywhere?
” I asked. “My ankle hurts bad.” He said not having much strength.
I shined the light down at his leg and I saw that it was swollen severely and very red above his foot. “Dude I think you might have a sprained or broken ankle. We need to get you out of here fast.
What’s your name?” I said. “Josiah” he squeeked out.
“Ok Joe we’re going to get you out of here.” I said. I then yelled up nearly 60 or so feet to Chris o the surface.
“Chris there’s a boy down here and he’s hurt. Tie the other rope to the tree and through it down to me. I’m gonna climb up then we’re gonna have to pull him out.
” I said. A minute later the other rope fell next to me. “Ok Joe I’m gonna tie this rope around your chest under your arms.
I’m gonna climb out and me and Chris are gonna pull you out of here. You have to stay awake and help us get you out. It might hurt but you have to hang in there.
” I told him before I started to climb out. I started m ascent back out of the hole to the surface so we could extract the injured boy from the depths. It took me a few minutes but with Chris’ help I managed to climb out without hurting myself.
“Ok get ready we’re going to start to pull you up.” I yelled into the hole. Lucky was whining in anticipation of what was in the hole to come out.
Chris and I pulled the rope bringing the boy to the surface with little difficulty. Not long after we started to pull we could see a patch of short dirty brown hair on top of the boys head coming into the light of day. A few more tugs and we could see Josiah hanging from rope and trying with all of the strength in his body to help us get him out.
“Ok Joe I’m going to tie this end of the rope off then we’re going to pull you the rest of the way with out it so hang in there.” I told him seeing the definite signs of pain and sadness in his face. Chris and I each grabbed one of his arms as he dangled from the rope and gently began to pull him upward.
As we dragged his torso out of the hole his feet began to drag along the sides of the hole. “OWW! It hurts!
” he cried out softly. We did our best to bring his body the rest of the way out until he was totally free. Now that he was in full day light I inspected his injuries a bit more.
His ankle was definitely swollen but he could still move it so I guessed it wasn’t broken. He had several cuts and scrapes on him that I judged to have happened as he fell into the deep hole. The one injury that definitely stuck out now that I hadn’t noticed was one of his fingers was crooked.
“Holy shit! I think you have a dislocated finger. It’s crooked at the knuckle.
Dude I’m sorry but we definitely have to get it back into its right place. Josiah I’m not going to lie to you, this is probably going to hurt like hell, but it will only get worse if we don’t fix it.” I told him as I prepared to straighten his bent finger.
“Ok Chris I want you to hold him still while I do this. It’s going to hurt bad so we need him to keep still.” I ordered.
Chris moved into position and held the boy by the shoulders as I gently took hold of his hand with one hand and his finger with my other. “Ok I’m going to count to 3, and on 3 I’m going to set it ok.” I said getting a nod from both boys.
I counted “1,2,” then before I said 3 and Josiah tensed his body knowing what was coming I sharply pushed his finger back making the poor boy scream out in agony. He cried as I consoled and apologized for hurting him, he cried nearly to the point of passing out. “Hey keep with us bud.
Don’t fall asleep. You’re going to be ok now.” I said to no help.
He slipped into an exhausted sleep. “C’mon Chris we have to get him back to the mine as fast as we can” I said scooping up my back pack and slipping it on before picking the nearly lifeless boy off the ground up and carrying him away. Poor little Chris definitely had to bare the burden of the hike home.
He had to carry his own back pack, both guns, and manage the dog to. It took almost till sundown to reach our hide away, thanks to getting mildly lost on the way back. All the way back I couldn’t help but to look at the hurt boy I was straining to carry now and admire his beauty through the filth that covered his body.