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Zoe
Emma scrambled to her feet and jammed her petite frame under Levi’s armpit. She squiggled to adjust her body, and then she had his arm around her shoulders. Zoe wasn’t sure, but she thought Levi had helped make that happen. Zoe moved her own body to his side and got his arm over her shoulder, pleased that Levi was almost as tall as her.
“All right, here we go.” Zoe tried to sound chipper, which didn’t come naturally. “Levi, don’t you dare put that foot on the ground.” Oh great, now she sounded like a power-thirsty vice principal.
Levi bent his knee and lifted his ankle a few inches off the ground. Yes, he was definitely helping. That was great news. He was with it a little, anyway. Zoe stepped forward, and nobody came with her. “Come on, Emma!”
“I’m trying!” Emma cried.
Levi put his good foot down on the ground, and the load lightened. Emma caught up to Zoe.
“Okay. Now we go one more step. Levi, on three, try to hop. I promise not to drop you.” She didn’t know if she could keep this promise, but she would die trying. “One, two, three!” On three, she stepped forward, as did Emma. Levi did try, but his hop fell short, and she and Emma staggered backward—so far backward that she didn’t know if they’d made any forward progress at all.
“You guys okay?” Jason shined his flashlight down on them.
“Yes, and get that light out of my face.” This time Zoe didn’t even feel guilty snapping at him; she was too focused on the weight of the injured human being hanging off her shoulder.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be holding the light,” Derek said. “If you drop it, we don’t have a light.” There was a pause. “Don’t put it there, you imbecile! It’s even more likely to fall!”
“If it falls, Zoe will just pick it up!” Jason said.
Oh awesome. Now she was getting assigned rescue tasks. “You guys need to shut up and let us focus!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Derek said.
“Ready, you two?” Zoe took a deep breath.
Levi didn’t answer.
“Emma, take a smaller step this time. Ready? One, two, three.” Whether Levi was ready or not, the girls stepped forward, and though he didn’t have the strength to hold his head up off his chest, he managed to hop. Zoe was impressed. He was a fighter. She didn’t know how he’d gotten himself into this mess, but she admired how hard he was fighting to get out of it.
“Okay, again. One, two, three!” This was the smoothest step yet, and relief flooded Zoe’s chest. Don’t be relieved yet, she told herself. It was still a long way to that stove. “And again. One, two, three!”
“Awesome, you—” Jason tried.
Zoe didn’t let him finish before counting again. One more step, successful. Her foot splashed down into a puddle, but she barely noticed. One-two-three, and another step. Levi cried out in pain. Zoe flinched, but then thought it was a good sign that he was making noise. “Good job, Levi,” she said softly. “We’re almost there.” This wasn’t exactly true. They still had over ten feet to go, but she was confident they would do it, one step at a time.
And then they did. They reached the stove, and Emma cried out in relief.
“Hey, Levi,” Jason said. “I’ve talked to your mom. She’s back at the church praying. You’re going to be okay. And she’s going to be so excited to see you.”
Levi lifted his head to look at Jason, and they all held their breath. But Levi only let his head fall back to his chest.
For the first time, Zoe wondered how she was going to get Levi onto the stove. “Emma? Can you keep him standing for just a minute?”
Emma looked doubtful.
“Just for a few seconds. I need to climb onto the stove.”
“Can’t he just lean on the stove?”
Oh yeah. That idea wasn’t half bad. Might be good to give Emma a break. “I don’t know. Can you, Levi?” As she asked, she took his arm from behind her neck. He wobbled a bit, but Emma shifted her feet, and he stayed upright. Quickly but gently, Zoe placed his hand on the stove in front of him. “This is a solid wood stove. It’s not going anywhere. You can lean on it.”
On his own, Levi pulled his right arm from around Emma and put it beside his left. He was breathing harder now. Zoe didn’t know what this meant.
Zoe scrambled up onto the stove. Then she squatted down and put her arms under his armpits. She did not know if this was going to work. She didn’t know if she could do this. Slowly, she pushed herself to a stand, pulling with all she had. Levi screamed in pain, right in her face, and for a second she thought she was going to drop him, but then Emma grabbed his good leg and pushed. Then he came with such force that Zoe almost fell back off the other side of the stove.
He wobbled, and she widened her stance to steady him, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist. He stopped wobbling, and she looked up. “Okay, I’ve got him on the stove. Now what?”
Jason’s arms dangled through the hole, right at eye level. “If he lifts his arms up, I can grab them.”
“You’re gonna pull him by his arms?”
“Yeah,” Jason said, not sounding sure. “At the same time, you’ll be pushing, though.”
Zoe didn’t know what it was, but something about this idea was deeply unsettling.
“Do it,” Levi said weakly, and then he slowly lifted his arms above his head. One of them didn’t make it and fell to his side, but he took a deep breath and tried again. Zoe could feel him straining.
“You’ll pull his arms out of their sockets,” Zoe said.
“Okay,” Levi said. “Do it.” The same arm started to slide down again, but Zoe grabbed it and held it over his head.
“He’s ahead of you a little, not right above you.” She pointed his arms in the right direction.
Jason scooted ahead even further, and the floor creaked beneath him. He reached out with one hand and grabbed one of Levi’s arms. Then he reached out and grabbed the other. “I’ve got you, buddy. We’re almost out of this rotten house.”
Weakly, Levi said, “Pull.”
“Push, Zoe!” Jason grunted as he pulled, and Zoe squatted to get her shoulder under Levi’s rump.
Again, he cried out in pain.
Zoe stood, her legs shaking under the weight. She so wished she could push straight up. This angle was killing her. But she could feel Levi moving upward, and she pushed even harder to make that keep happening.
“Yah!” Jason cried.
She didn’t know what that meant, but it emboldened her, and she cried out with effort.
“Grab hold of me!” Jason cried.
Me? Zoe wondered, and then she was standing straight up, and most of Levi’s weight was gone. Jason had taken it. She pushed on Levi’s good leg, which was soaked, and she looked up to see Jason had rolled over, and now had Levi’s head on his stomach.
“Pull us, Derek!”
And then Zoe saw Jason sliding away, and Levi’s legs were lifted out of the hole. Oh wow. They’d actually done it. She looked at Emma and giggled. She bent over and put her hands on her knees, suddenly exhausted.
“We’re still in the basement,” Emma said.
