The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,57

that she didn't need a line but she was feeling a little shaky despite the brave face she put on for her cohorts. "Good plan. I think I'll just sit down for a couple of minutes until you're ready."

Jane stepped up to the dry side of the shaft, stepped up on a rock protruding from the wall and reached up for a handhold.

Mae took Lucy's place at the bottom of the opening. "Be careful."

"Piece of cake," Jane said as she pulled up and started searching with her toe for the next foothold.

Thirty seconds later a rock clattered down toward Mae's upturned face and her world went black.

"Oh shit!" Lucy saw Mae go down a split second before Jane landed on top of her with a sickening crunch.

Are We Dead Yet?

"Triple shit. I hope I didn't kill her," Jane said as she rolled off of Mae and promptly passed out.

Lucy looked from one to the other wondering which one to tend to first.

Think! You have to get it together Now is not the time to turn into a crying wimp.

Mae moaned and stirred a little.

Jane was still. Lucy scooted over to her and put her hand over Jane's mouth. She was breathing thank God. Lucy looked her over and saw her right forearm was bent where it shouldn't be.

The sight made Lucy lightheaded and she saw stars.

Mae moaned again and moved a little more.

Lucy prayed she was coming around so they could deal with Jane together. That arm really didn't look good.

She crawled over to Mae and looked down at her. "Mae! Can you hear me?"

Mae moaned a little more and blinked.

"Mae!" Lucy added a shoulder shake to her urgent calls.

Mae moved her head from side to side before squinting up at Lucy. "Lucy? Did you die too?"

"You're not dead. I wasn't sure there for a minute but you're not dead."

"Then why are you calling me into the light?" Mae said.

"Mae!" Lucy shook her again. "I need you to make sense. We have to help Jane."

"Jane? What's wrong with Jane? Won't she come into the light?"

"Dammit Mae, you're not dead. None of us are dead. A rock fell and hit you on the head and then Jane fell on top of you."

Mae squinted against the glare of Lucy's light. "You're blinding me."

"Oh," Lucy said as she turned her head to the side just a little. "Glad to see you're back in the real world.

Mae sat up wincing at the increased throbbing in her head. "What's wrong with Jane?"

"Thank God you're making sense," Lucy said. "I think she broke her arm."

"Why isn't she saying anything?"

"I don't know. She was coherent when she rolled off of you but then she just passed out."

Mae turned her head in Jane's direction and realized her light wasn't on. "Why is my light out?"

"I think it just fell off," Lucy said. She searched around on the floor with her light and found Mae's headset within a few seconds. "Here," she said, pushing the button to turn it back on and handing it over. "Jane's over there." She swept her light a few feet to the right.

They both crawled over.

Jane looked like she was taking a little nap. Except for one small problem--her right forearm wasn't straight.

The thought of having to move Jane's arm in order to splint it made Lucy's stomach roll and she fought the urge to throw up.

"I'd say she passed out from pain, or fear, or both," Lucy said.

"Well I suppose that's a good thing," Mae said.

"We're going to have to make a splint or something. And then we're going to have to figure out how to get her out of here. Do we have a first aid kit?"

"No," Mae said. "I can't believe we didn't think to bring one. Jane would be reminding us what idiots we are if she was awake."

"Let's see what we've got to work with," Lucy said.

Mae started to dig through their packs. "We can use a rope coil for a splint and tie it on with the bandanas," Mae said.

The rope coil wasn't as stiff as a book or a board, but since they didn't have either of those, the rope would do. "I've got a knife," Lucy said. "We'll use part of one of the space blankets for a sling and to pad the rope."

They knelt next to Jane and took a closer look at her arm. No doubt it was badly broken. The only bright spot was that it wasn't a compound fracture.

"Should we try to