In Times to Come - Déjà Vu by Scott B. Williams

Author:Scott B. Williams [Williams, Scott B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Struck Press
Published: 2024-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

TEN

As Alan reached Kaylee’s side and dropped to a crouch next to her to look over the cliff, he saw her entire body shaking uncontrollably. She seemed barely aware of his presence, lost in her own world of shock and disbelief. Like she’d said, Rob was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn’t surprising since Alan knew the cave mouth and the ledge in front of it were hidden from view under a slight overhang formed by the rock face above it. The place where Kaylee had knelt was a couple of yards to one side of the route Alan had led them up when they made the climb from down there yesterday. Still, if Rob had fallen from here, Alan was sure he would have landed on the ledge, not that it would have mattered. The distance was more than enough to almost guarantee certain death, considering the impact upon landing was against unyielding rock.

Alan looked at Kaylee again, hoping for an explanation. When she finally turned to face him, her eyes were unfocused, as if she was looking through him rather than at him. Alan realized that in her current state, he probably seemed as much a stranger as when they’d met less than twenty-four hours ago. Her mouth moved, but no words came out. Tears streamed down her face as she knelt there, trembling. But Alan knew he needed to get through to her, to understand what had happened and verify for certain that Rob had fallen from this spot. He reached out and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

“How did he fall? What happened? Did he get too close to the edge?” Alan assumed that had to be the case, but he had no idea what the two of them were even doing down here at this cliff when he’d instructed them to stay near the camp and gather materials for the ladder.

Kaylee struggled to form the words with which to answer. “No, he… He was trying to… Trying to climb down.”

“What? Climb down? From here?”

She nodded, then leaned out a bit over the edge again, pointing at the rock face.

“He started right there, see that little crack? He said it was a better way than the way we came up. He was going to go first and then tell me where to put my hands and feet so I could follow him.”

Alan was incredulous. The sheer stupidity of such a decision was too baffling to even contemplate. Why? Why would the guy disregard everything he’d told them about the difficulty and danger of climbing down this way and then attempt it first thing this morning? The truth was that Alan knew why. It was the same reason the two of them followed him down to the cave to begin with. They thought they knew it all, and they were going to do what they wanted, how they wanted. Now, one of them had paid the price.

“How far did he climb down before he fell?” Alan asked.

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