The water climbed another inch up my calves.
"Maybe there's another exit deeper in the cave…?" Charlie's gaze shifted from Doug to me.
At the rear of the cave, dark shadows swallowed our limited light, and it was impossible to tell how deep it went. "Or not," I said flatly. "If we go deeper and there's another surge..." I met her gaze, "we might not claw our way back out."
Charlie's brows scrunched together.
Doug let out a strangled laugh that didn't sound remotely human. "So, we're screwed either way. Is that what you're saying?"
"I'm saying we move. Now." I looked at the cave mouth, then back at them. "Before we can't."
Doug's breathing was shallow gasps that came too fast. "No! I'm not going back in that water." His voice cracked. "I can't."
"Get a hold of yourself," I snapped.
"I nearly drowned out there, you bastard!" He thrust a trembling finger toward the entrance, his whole arm shaking.
"Mitch. Please.” Charlie's wide, pleading eyes found mine. “Let's just see where this cave goes. Maybe it's elevated back there." Her voice trembled, but her expression was a baffling mix of fear and determination.
Behind us, Doug muttered a curse that was a half-sob.
"We don't know what's back there," I said, jerking my chin toward the darkness. "It could be a dead end. When the next surge comes, we could get trapped and drown like rats in a pipe."
I turned back to the cave entrance. "Out by the river, we stay close to the edges and stick together. I'll help you."
Doug spun toward me, eyes wide and glassy. "Help me? Bullshit! That water is three times more powerful than it was before!" His voice pitched higher. "I'm not going out there. I'm not."
The water rose past our knees.
Charlie looked between us, her eyes searching. "He's right, Mitch. We can't go back into that river. It's moving too fast." Her voice rose. "We can't fight that current. It'll kill us."
"Then what?" I snapped. "We stand here and wait for the cave to fill up like a damn bathtub?"
Rain hammered harder outside, each drop an artillery shell against stone.
At the entrance, the flood tore past the cave mouth as savage as a runaway freight train. Brown water foamed and churned so violently that it blurred into a single roaring mass. "At least, we'd have a chance out there," I said, but I was already thinking that was bullshit. That wasn't a river anymore. It was a meat grinder.
"You're not listening!" Doug's scream cracked through the cave. "I'll drown out there! I will!"
"For fuck's sake, you won't drown." I rounded on him. "I'll make damn sure of it."
"Bullshit!" His voice broke. "You won't."
"Mitch." Charlie stepped between us and gripped my arm. "If the cave floor goes up even a little, we might stay above the waterline. We might be okay."
I stared at the black void behind us, every instinct screaming that this cave was a trap. Going deeper meant gambling everything on a maybe.
"Please." Her fingers tightened. "Can we just try?"
Willpower was in her eyes, but there was terror underneath it. She was asking us to take a gamble that could kill us all, and she knew it.
Another surge thundered down the ravine like a charging locomotive.
"Shit! Move!" I grabbed Charlie's arm and spun her toward the darkness.
This better not be the worst decision I ever made.
Drowning was right up there with burning alive on my list of ways I didn't want to die. Slow enough to know it was happening, helpless enough to make it torture.