Sixty-nine

“You ready?” he asked her.

“Is this going to work?” she sounded worried.

“It should,” he replied. “Trust me, I’m the engineer, right?”

“Okay,” she nodded. “If you say so!”

“Just remember to pull yourself up as soon as you can.”

She nodded in the darkness, “Ready when you are.”

John stepped behind her and took up his position.

It hadn’t taken him long to prepare it all.

He just hoped it would work.

The pine trunks from the verandah looked strong enough, but he worried that if they’d been standing outside as posts for too long, weathered and drying out, they might just snap in two like twigs once some pressure was placed on them.

Not going to happen, he told himself. It can’t! Please, just let this work for us.

The first trunk was wedged down beside Sherrie.

There wasn’t much space to use, but with Sherrie moving to one side and guiding him, he managed to place the end of the trunk as far under the floorboards as possible. He just hoped it was pushed far enough under to lift the crossbeam. The trunk stuck out of the hole at an angle, rising to John’s shoulder in height.

The other trunk he placed on the floorboards behind Sherrie, using it as a brace for his wooden lever.

This has to work…

“Ready?” he asked again.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Sherrie replied.

“I’ll take it nice and slow. Let me know how you’re coming along and whether you can get out.”

He watched the back of her head as she nodded.

“Here goes!”

He placed his feet on the trunk that was the brace, stopping it from moving or sliding away. He grabbed hold of his makeshift lever and pulled down on it, slowly at first.

After a few seconds, the floorboards moaned and moved slightly.

John’s eyes darted from the floorboards to the lever and across to Sherrie.

She had both arms by her sides, pulling herself upwards, shaking side to side as if she were trying to work her way out like a cork in a champagne bottle.

The trunk was bending already as John pulled down on it more.

Keep it steady.

The floorboards moved slowly higher.

Yes, just a bit more!

The wind blew through the night and all around them.

John pulled down harder, his arms straining as the load increased.

The boards creaked and rose higher.

“It’s working,” Sherrie said as she pulled herself further. “I can feel the crossbeam lifting!”

The rain fell harder.

John needed to wipe the rain or sweat from his eyes, but he didn’t have the time. The lever moved closer to the ground. He pulled it to his side, turned around and leaned on it now, pushing it further down, putting all his weight against it.

It inched closer to the ground.

Closer…closer…

The trunk rubbed against the claw marks on his chest. He eyed the bloodstain on his shirt and hoped Zoe’s bite hadn’t done too much damage to his stitches. But now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

I’ll get to Zoe next…

The floorboards lifted more.

A grating sound filled the air.

Thunder struck at the same moment, drowning the noise.

John pushed down harder.

And with a crack, the lever gave way.

Shit!

He heard Sherrie cry out!

No!

The log slammed into the floor with John on top of it. It gouged into his side, kicking the breath from his lungs and sending pain along his damaged arm and shoulder and through his body. His head hit the floor hard. Stars scattered through his vision.

He lay there in the silence.

No! Damn it, no! NO! That was our only hope!

He closed his eyes tight. His hands balled into fists.

The rain continued to fall.

What are we going to do now? There’s nothing else left to try. She’s beaten us. She’s won!

“Are you okay, John?”

It was Sherrie. She was whispering to him.

By his side.

He opened his eyes and turned to look above him.

She was staring down at him, a look of concern on her face.

He stared back.

“You okay?” she said again.

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “You’re…”

“Yep,” she nodded and smiled at him. “I’m out.”

He rolled off the log and sat up to look at the floor.

The trunk hadn’t snapped at all.

The crossbeam had.

From where he sat, he could make out the hole in the floor where Sherrie had been. It was bigger now, a large pile of floorboards strewn all around, and sitting in the middle of the pile, like a broken jagged knife, was the snapped crossbeam.

Yes! It worked!

John brushed himself off as Sherrie held out her hand to him.

He smiled, took her hand, and stood up. He turned to face her and kissed her lightly on the lips.

“How are you?” he asked.

“I’ll live,” she smiled back.

“That’s good to know.”

“I’m just glad to be out of that hole.”

“I’m glad you are too.”

They hugged in the entranceway for a short while as the lightning lit up the night.

“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.

He looked into her green eyes.

“I wasn’t about to leave you here, you know.”

She smiled as she bent over, wiping the moss and splinters from her legs. “I know, I just wanted to say thanks. It was horrible down there. Wet and yucky and really disgusting.”

He nodded. “I love you, you know that. I’d do anything for you.”

She snuggled into his shoulder. “I know,” she replied. “That’s why I love you so much.”

They stood silent as the thunder rolled on by.

“But we have to see this through to the end, don’t we?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “We do.”

“But if Fox isn’t here, where is he?”

Jesus, where do I start?

What can I tell her?

“The answers are back at the church.”

She turned to look at him.

“The church?”

He nodded.

“How can you be so sure?” she looked confused.

John sighed.

“I just know, that’s all.”

“How?”

Damn, I have to tell her.

I have to!

But not here.

Not now.

There’s plenty of time for that.

“I found some things,” he replied. “In that back room…and in the barn. Helen’s back near the church somewhere.”

“We came all this way for nothing?” she asked.

“No,” he shook his head. “By coming here we learnt the truth. Finally.”

She stared at him and he smiled at her.

He turned to be by her side and placed his arm around her.

She noticed the blood on the arm of his shirt.

“You’re injured,” she looked concerned. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, “Must’ve just opened the wound slightly when I fell to the floor.”

“You want me to check it for you?”

He shook his head. He didn’t want to know what damage Zoe’s bite had done. Not yet, anyway.

“Come on, my love. We’ve got unfinished business to take care of.”

They walked out the front door and around the twisted remains of the verandah.

Lightning glowed in the night sky as they walked out into the rain.

“Will Fox be at the church?” she asked as they walked down the muddy driveway.

“Fox is the least of our troubles now,” he replied.