She cautiously took another step out onto the bridge. It held her weight fine, so she kept going. The others followed her, but wisely kept their distance from one another. If someone should fall, they could inadvertently drag someone else along for the ride. Zahra’s light struck the bottom of the pit, but there was only blackness to greet it. She paid it no attention and returned her light to the bridge. They were a third of the way across when Zahra stopped.
“That can’t be good.”
Everyone leaned around her to see what she was looking at. A piece of the bridge had broken and collapsed into the pit on the left side of the chamber.
She lifted her foot but placed it right back down. Her light had shifted back to the path, and she noticed something. Only one set of prints continued past the breakage.
“Someone fell in,” she announced softly.
Zahra edged right and shuffled forward, thinking lightweight thoughts. The bridge was still two feet wide where it had failed, giving the group plenty of room to pass. Their speed was good — slow and steady.
And with the next step she took, the bridge crumbled beneath Zahra’s feet.
She worked her arms as she lost her balance, but it was no use.
Zahra fell.
Zahra flailed wildly as she entered the abyss. She was close enough to the bridge that she hit the side of it, then noticed it began to slope outward as it met the floor of the cave. She tumbled end over end, but it was like falling down the edge of a half-pipe.
She’d get a few more bruises, but at least she would live.
Twenty feet later, Zahra’s feet touched down, then her ass. Her momentum sent her tumbling down the embankment. She landed on her stomach, covered in dust and grime. She just laid there and silently assessed the damage. Nothing felt broken, though she was definitely bleeding from several new spots.
“Zahra!” Baahir yelled, finding her with his light. Two more beams landed on her, and she turned over onto her back and lifted a feeble hand, and waved. “Oh my God, you’re alive!”
“Yeah…” she mumbled. “I’m still here.”
A sound like sizzling electricity filled the cavern, echoing all around Zahra. She sat up fast and discovered that she wasn’t alone. There were other bodies with her, and one was fresh and had been picked apart.
She climbed to her feet as the noise grew. She spun and played her light over every surface of the pit but didn’t see anything except dust and bones.
“Zahra, the wall!”
She stopped and directed her light to the outside wall of the pit. It was pocked with hundreds of fist-sized holes.
She knew in an instant how the other man had
Just as her beam passed one of the openings, the first of the man-killer scorpions started pouring free from them. She scrambled back to the base of the landbridge, but knew it would be impossible to climb.
She unraveled her grappling hook. Rabia immediately got the gist of what Zahra was planning, and the woman handed Baahir her flashlight. Zahra gave the folded tip of her hook some slack and held it out to her side, spinning it half a dozen times before launching it skyward.
It fell short by five feet. Zahra’s shoulder ached. It wasn’t letting her get as much behind her toss.
The sea of scorpions was throbbing, growing larger now and starting to advance toward her, looking for space to fill.
Zahra tried again. She spun it faster, then glanced behind her again. This was her last chance. Zahra eyed Rabia and released the nylon cord. The head sailed into the air, right on target.
Rabia caught it!
She shouldered the weight, and together Baahir and Ali secured their hands around the hook and braced themselves, ready to accept Zahra’s weight as well.
Zahra gripped the cord and planted her feet on the curved, half-piped base of the landbridge, and began her ascent. Unfortunately, she didn’t get far.
Her hands slipped, and she fell once more to the floor.
“Zahra!”
On her knees, she looked up, breathing hard. All three of her friends were pointing farther into the cavern.
The incoming scorpion horde was gathering numbers — and speed.
So she ran, trusting Rabia — or anyone above — to look after the grappling hook.
They might just get another chance.
She darted left, avoiding a mass of man-killers.
Zahra leaped over another swarm, barely clearing it with her heels, quickly sidestepping to the right. She jumped, planted a foot on the curved sidewall of the landbridge and vaulted over more of the creatures. She was home free.
…For now. As she moved, Zahra could see more of the scorpions emerging from their underground realm.
Zahra could hear the others running along with her. The plan was… well, there
She had nothing. She was too tired to think
