Page 26 of Protecting Kelli
She wanted to ask how long it would take for his friends to find them, but it was a stupid question. Flash didn’t know that. So she kept her mouth shut.
In the eerie silence of their tomb, her stomach suddenly growled loud enough to almost echo off the sides of the metal vehicle they were in. She could feel her cheeks getting hot and was briefly thankful that it was so dark.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t be. I’m hungry too,” Flash told her. “Maybe they left something for us to eat.”
The possibility perked Kelli up, but she quickly sagged again. “I didn’t exactly see crates of supplies before they shut us in.”
“No, but thereisa box in the corner. I saw it…before.”
“A box?” Kelli didn’t remember a box, but then again, she’d been freaking out and looking up at the hole, and then Flash as he’d dropped down next to her.
“Yeah. From what I can tell, we’re in a stripped-down bus. At least that’s what it looked like in the short glimpse I got before they turned out the lights. No seats, just the humps of the wheel wells. Even the steering wheel is gone. They took out the emergency exit in the roof and somehow replaced it with the manhole cover. I think we can probably reach it if I put you on my shoulders, but I want to make sure Heckle and Jeckle are far away from here before we try to mess with it. Just in case they’re up there watching.”
“This bus is much taller than usual, isn’t it?” she asked. “I mean, I don’t remember the bus from middle school being this tall.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too. But if they retrofit the emergency exit with a circular manhole, I guess they could’ve somehow raised the roof too. Making it harder to reach the ceiling, and thus harder to escape.”
His words made Kelli shiver. “Do you think we can just push the lid up? I mean, I know manhole covers are heavy, but it’s not like, welded shut, is it?”
“We would’ve heard them doing that if it was, I think. I want to inspect that box before we do anything else though. Wait here.”
Before she could protest, Flash was gone. Like before, when the cover was put in place and she’d had a small panic attack, the loss of his presence was disconcerting and terrifying.
“Flash?” she called out, unable to stop herself.
In a few seconds, she heard footsteps approach right before she felt Flash’s hand on her knee. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. You’re okay.”
And just like that, Kelli felt stupid. Ofcoursehe wasn’t going anywhere. Neither of them were. They were stuck down here. “Sorry,” she murmured.
“Don’t be. This isn’t a situation you’ve ever been in before. For what it’s worth, I think you’re coping amazingly well. You’re doing great.”
“I’m not,” she protested. Then asked, “Wait, haveyoubeen in a situation like this before? In the dark? Buried underground with no way out?”
“Not exactly. But there was this one time when I was diving. My job was to place an explosive against the hull of a ship that…well, that doesn’t matter. But I was underwater and visibility was shit. Like, I couldn’t see a damn thing, kind of like now. I was fumbling around, trying to feel my way to where I was supposed to attach the explosive. After a while, I decided that I needed to just do it and get the hell out of there. But after I set the timer, I got turned around. I didn’t know which was up and which was down. I couldn’t see the bubbles from my equipment to follow them to the surface. I panicked. It was as if I was in a coffin.”
“What did you do?” Kelli asked with bated breath.
“I got lucky,” Flash told her. “One of my teammates appeared as if out of thin air. He realized I was panicking and got me out of there. We didn’t get the second set of explosives set, so technically the mission was a failure, but I’ll never forget the feeling of being disoriented and not knowing which way was up or down.”
Kelli couldn’t imagine. “I’m glad your friend found you and got you out of there.”
“Me too. And he’ll find us again this time, and get us out of here too.”
For the first time, Kelli understood Flash’s confidence. The things he did, the places he went, he had no choice but to rely on his fellow SEALs to have his back. It was literally a matter of life or death. And if he said they’d be looking for him, and could find him, who was she to disagree or not believe?
“I’m okay now,” she told him as firmly as she could.
“How about we both go and check out that box?” Flash asked.
Kelli liked that idea. A lot. “Yeah.”
Flash took her hand in his and she could feel him stand in front of her. She got to her feet, swayed a little, then got her balance.
“The bus is empty, but stay behind me anyway,” Flash told her. “Against the sides are where the wheel humps are, so if you’re using the walls to guide you in the future, be aware of that.”
Kelli nodded even though he couldn’t see her. It was time to stop being a baby. Sitting around crying wasn’t going to help their situation. Yeah, she was hungry, thirsty, and scared. But she was alive.
