Aftermath by Bailey Bradford (most important books of all time txt) 📗

“I’ll figure something out,” Lee assured. “I have enough money that I don’t have to work, but I won’t be able to sit around and do nothing. Maybe I can start working on the house, or help the contractors if that’s the way the owners go with converting it to an elderly activity center.” Lee spotted the turn they needed to take. “We’re almost there.”

The line to get in was short considering the time of the year. Lee pressed the button to roll down the driver’s side window as he pulled up when it was their turn and paid the entrance fee. The blond guy handed Lee his change and some papers before sending them off with a perky, “Y’all enjoy yourselves!”

Lee put the window up and glanced at the papers, a map and information sheet. “Do we need these?”

“No.” Darren took the papers and Lee drove around until he found a parking spot several minutes later.

He shut the car off and unbuckled then caught Darren’s wrist as he reached for his seatbelt. “Stay with me. If you see anything suspicious, tell me.”

Darren looked at him seriously and nodded. “I will.” Lee let him go and Darren unfastened his seatbelt. They grabbed their jackets from the back seat then got out of the car, putting their jackets on once they were outside. Lee wished he could hold Darren’s hand but settled for walking beside him, their hands brushing occasionally as they headed toward Mystic Rock.

Darren pointed to a fissure running down the side of the mound of rock. “That’s the cave the public is allowed to go in. We’re going to a different one.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to fit in that cave,” Lee said. “It was a tight squeeze in places when I was a kid and I’m bigger now. Is the cave you and Stefan found bigger?”

“Not much.” Darren stopped and studied Lee. “You should be able to go part of the way at least but there’s this one narrow passage that I’m not sure even I will fit through now.”

Lee didn’t like the idea of Darren being out of his sight in the caves. “Maybe we should leave. There’s no guarantee we’ll find anything anyway, and I’d rather not risk you getting hurt. Stefan may get better with the communication thing and—”

Darren shook his head and Lee could see the determination in the way Darren held himself, his shoulders going back as he stretched his long body to his full height. “No, I want to do this. I’ll be careful and there’s no drops or anything, not much climbing up—you know Stefan couldn’t have stood that. If the passage I need to get through looks too narrow for me to fit through then we’ll leave, but at least let’s try first.”

“All right, but I’m going with you as far as I can.” Lee gestured for Darren to lead the way. Fifteen minutes later, their cheeks chapped from the cold wind that slapped at them, Darren stopped and pointed to a boulder at the base of Mystic Rock. “It’s behind there, unless it’s been sealed off.”

Lee walked over to the boulder and frowned when he saw the small fissure it hid. “I don’t know if I can even get in.”

“The cave widens as soon as you clear the opening. Go in feet first—watch.” Darren eased past him and squatted then sat on his butt. He grabbed the edges of the opening then began scooting inside as he talked. “Just do it like this, then once you have your legs in, kind of twist—” Darren let go of the opening and maneuvered his torso until one shoulder was on the ground and his other was close to the top of the fissure. “Then you squat as you go in and…”

Darren slipped into the cave. He stuck a hand out and waved. “Gonna have to crawl for several feet, but it opens up a little further in. You coming?”

Tight spaces didn’t bother Lee but he couldn’t keep from feeling anxious about this cave.

“I’m going to get my flashlight out then start moving back so you can try.” Darren’s hand disappeared as he went further into the cave.

Lee took a steadying breath then sat down and started working his wave in after Darren. He felt a moment of panic when his shoulders were caught in the opening. “In or out,” Lee muttered. A slight twist and his shoulders cleared the entrance although not without a few scrapes. Lee squatted in the cave and shielded his eyes when Darren shone the flashlight in them.

“Sorry. These little things are really bright.” Darren aimed the mini-Maglite at the ground.

“No kidding. Lead the way, Dar.”

Lee’s palms and knees were aching by the time they reached the part of the cave where they could do more than crawl. After a few feet of having to walk folded nearly in half, the cave widened enough for them to stand.

“It’s not much further until the part where I think you’re not going to fit. See up here?”

Lee looked over Darren’s shoulder to where the flashlight lit what looked like a solid wall with a dark seam in the middle of it. “That’s an opening? Looks like a cave wall to me.”

Darren chuckled and started moving forward. “It looks that way but it isn’t. That’s actually where two walls converge, one behind the other. There’s a gap between them, though. Once I get past that there’s about five minutes of crawling, a short climb up—not straight up, but an incline that’s rocky enough to make it difficult. After that there’s a small cave. It’ll take me at most fifteen minutes to get there.”

Lee did the math in his head, giving Darren ten minutes to check the cave over once he reached it. “If you’re not back in forty minutes—”

Darren stopped in front of the seam and turned to Lee. “I’ll be back, don’t worry.”

How can I not? Lee pulled Darren to him and crushed his lips to Darren’s,