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Zoe
Zoe stood up straight, and her back cracked. How much had she just strained herself pushing a teenage boy up out of a basement? She looked at Emma, who looked scared. “It’s okay. We’re okay. I’m so glad that Levi is out of the basement that I don’t mind living here.”
“Well, I do! They’re going to pull us up too, right?”
Zoe wiped the sweat off her upper lip and nodded. “You don’t need them.” She squatted down. “Get on my shoulders.”
Emma looked doubtful. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. I’m serious. You’re a shrimp. If I wasn’t already so tired, I could throw you through the hole. Now do it. I want to get out of here too. I was kidding about the living here part.”
“I’m not a shrimp.” Still looking tentative, Emma climbed onto the stove and grabbed Zoe’s shoulder. Zoe offered her a hand, which Emma quickly grasped.
“Come on, don’t be shy,” Zoe said.
Emma giggled and then swung her right leg over Zoe’s shoulder.
“Good. I got you. The other leg now.”
A shadow was cast over them. Zoe looked up to see that Jason had reappeared.
“Wow, look at you guys.”
Zoe didn’t need to hold tightly to Emma’s hand—Emma had her in a vice grip. Slowly, Zoe stood to her feet. This shrimp was heavier than she looked.
“Good grief, you are strong,” Jason said. His voice was full of admiration, but Zoe wasn’t flattered. She didn’t want him admiring her for her brute strength. “Are you sure you don’t want to play basketball?”
“Really, Jason?” Her voice sounded strained. “Now?”
He chuckled, and Zoe felt him grab Emma. “I got you, kid.”
“I’m not a kid,” Emma said, grunting.
“You can step on my shoulder, Emma. Use it to push off.”
“Really?” Emma asked even as she did just that. Her wet shoe ground into Zoe’s shoulder bone, but it only hurt a little. And then Emma was gone, up and out of the hole, just like that. Zoe let out a long breath, feeling mightily accomplished. Then she looked around her surroundings, which wasn’t easy with the limited light coming through that hole.
Wait. Why was she so happy, exactly? Sure, she’d helped rescue Levi and helped get Emma out of the basement, but now what? She was still in the basement, and there was no other Zoe to help push her out. Her heart thumped faster, and she tried to reel in that panic.
Jason reappeared. “Okay, now what’s the plan?”
“Not sure,” Zoe admitted.
“I can try to pull you up, but without you pushing, I’m not sure I can do it.” She knew this already. She didn’t need to be told. Also, what number weight-comment was this? She’d lost count.
She looked around the basement. “Give me your light.”
Only semi-reluctantly, Jason handed his phone down. She shined it around the basement. There was an ancient five-gallon bucket. She could flip that over. That would give her a few feet. But would it be enough? She saw a second five-gallon bucket. It occurred to her to stack them, but she thought that might be a recipe for disaster. Then her eyes landed on a third bucket. First, what was with all the buckets? Second, could she build a pyramid? She hopped down to grab them.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back.”
“Hurry. Levi doesn’t look so good.”
What did he think she was doing, taking some time for some interior decorating? She grabbed one of the buckets and was delighted to find that the bucket was actually two buckets stuck together. She headed back toward the stove, trying to pull them apart on the way. Of course, she couldn’t. She handed them up to Jason. “Pull these apart, would you?”
He grabbed them. “No, you can’t stack these.”
Annoyed, she jumped down again to grab the others. When she returned with two more slimy buckets, Jason had disappeared. Awesome. “Jason?” she said, and then was embarrassed by how panicky she sounded.
He reappeared. “I couldn’t pull them apart while dangling into a hole, Zoe.” He handed one down to her, which she took wordlessly. Then she built a three-bucket pyramid.
“Oh, like a cheerleader pyramid!” Jason said excitedly.
Zoe pictured a stack of cheerleaders there in front of her and almost laughed. Yes, she would love to step on some skimpy uniforms on her way out of this dungeon. She took the fourth bucket from Jason’s dangling hand and placed it front of the pyramid for a step. She reached up. “Grab me, will ya? In case this doesn’t go as planned.”
Jason removed the light from the situation and then reached back into the hole and groped around for her hand. He found it, and electricity exploded down her arm all the way to her shoulder. She couldn’t believe that even under the circumstances, he still had that effect on her. She stepped onto the extra bucket and then before she could hesitate, stepped onto the top of the pyramid. It made a discouraging cracking sound, to which she answered, “Pull!” She pushed off like she was in a one-legged jumping championship and waved her free hand around, searching for something to grab onto. It found Jason’s other arm, and he dug his fingers into the slippery armpit of her raincoat.
“Pull!” he cried, and at first she thought he meant her, but then she felt someone pulling him, and he started to slide. She hated this feeling: dangling in the air, completely out of control, completely dependent on someone else to make sure she didn’t die.
Her head had just popped out of the hole when she stopped moving. They were still pulling, but she was stuck. “Wait!” she cried. The hood of her coat was snagged on one of the broken boards. They didn’t wait, didn’t stop pulling, and she cried, “Stop!”
They stopped. “Why?” Derek cried, sounding exasperated.
“I’m caught on something.”
“Don’t let go of me!” Jason’s voice made it clear he was straining.
“I have to! I have to free the jacket! And I might be able to pull myself up from here.” She had no idea if this was true.
The hand that held her armpit tightened its grip. The other hand let go, and she thought he was going to allow her to try to free herself, but before she could even start, that arm wrapped around her back as he yelled, “Pull!”
Derek pulled, and her body jerked upward. She opened her mouth to protest, but then she heard a weird crack, and she lurched forward. And then she was sliding. Jason had tried to flop over onto his back, and now lay awkwardly on his side. He threw his arm around her waist and pulled her the rest of the way out of the hole as Derek pulled him across the floor. This last part seemed so easy that it made the previous struggle seem distant, like a bad dream fading fast.
“Okay, I got it.”
Jason let go of her, and she slithered across the floor toward Derek. Derek let go of Jason, and he too started working his way, feet first, toward the door. When Zoe reached unbroken floor, she rolled over and sat up, panting.
“Come on, sport,” Derek said. “Levi needs to move.”
Slowly Jason came to a stand and then held out a hand to Zoe. Zoe accepted his help and came to a stand on violently shaking legs. She was going to be so sore tomorrow. She stepped out onto the porch, where Levi lay. Why had they left him out here in the rain?
Derek sensed her question. “Didn’t want him to fall through the floor again and thought he might be thirsty.”
Well, his thirst might be quenched, but he was also drenched. “Jason, help me get him into the car,” she said because she didn’t feel comfortable bossing Derek around.
But Derek went to Levi and wrapped his arms under Levi’s shoulders. She started to grab Levi’s feet, but then remembered his ankle. She stepped forward and hooked one arm under each knee. Then they started toward the car.
Jason ran by them. “I’ll start the car.” He did, and then he came trotting back to help, but they had him. Derek headed straight for the backseat, and Jason hurried to open the door for them. “Emma! Can you get in the back on the other side, and help us slide him across the seat?”
Emma ran to the car and got in as Derek was placing Levi’s torso into the car. He immediately flopped backward, and Emma sort of caught him. Then she pulled him across the seat, climbing back out of the car in the process. “Okay,” she said with one hand on his back. “I’m going to close the door and then you can lean on it.”
Was Levi even conscious?
Emma yanked her hand away and shut the door before Levi could fall out of the car. And just like that, all of him was in the car—even his badly broken ankle.
