1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:05,639 Speaker 1: I'm a cave rescue diver. Most people hear that and 2 00:00:05,719 --> 00:00:10,919 picture some Discovery Channel documentary dramatic music divers swimming gracefully 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,960 through crystal clear water. That's not what it's like, not 4 00:00:16,039 --> 00:00:20,760 even close. What it's really like is crawling through a 5 00:00:20,839 --> 00:00:24,760 stone throat that's barely wide enough for your body, hundreds 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,760 of feet underground, with water pressing on you from every angle. 7 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,479 The ceilings scrape the tank strapped to your back, The 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,840 rock squeezes your shoulders until they bruise, and if your 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,119 light dies, you can't even see your own hands in 10 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:44,399 front of your face. Just black, thick and total, the 11 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:46,799 kind of dark that makes you feel like you've already 12 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:52,759 been buried. We go in because people get stuck down there, amateurs, 13 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:57,439 weakend thrill seekers, sometimes tourists who thought a guided tour 14 00:00:57,560 --> 00:00:59,920 meant they could just keep going once the rope ends. 15 00:01:01,159 --> 00:01:05,560 If they're lucky, they panic and turn back early. If 16 00:01:05,599 --> 00:01:11,920 they're unlucky, I get called in. I've had grown men 17 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,000 craw at my mask in blind terror, ripping out their 18 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,560 own regulators because they swore they were drowning, even while 19 00:01:18,599 --> 00:01:21,560 they still had air. I've had to haul limp bodies 20 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,799 out by the harness, lips, blue lungs full, their faces 21 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,760 so swollen with water, it's like they were trying to 22 00:01:28,799 --> 00:01:32,879 scream the whole time. I've even found one bloated and 23 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,239 wedged in a rock visure so tight it took two 24 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:39,799 hours just to free him, skin peeling under my gloves 25 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:46,319 as I pulled. That's the job, that's the reality. You 26 00:01:46,439 --> 00:01:50,519 breathe slowly, you move slowly, and you pray that nothing 27 00:01:50,599 --> 00:01:55,439 goes wrong, because in those passages, even the smallest mistake 28 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,719 can kill you. But all of that, the panic, the 29 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:05,040 core says, the claustrophobia feels like child's play compared to 30 00:02:05,079 --> 00:02:11,680 what happened last night. The call came just after midnight. 31 00:02:12,479 --> 00:02:15,159 A group of amateurs had gone missing in a limestone 32 00:02:15,199 --> 00:02:19,000 system about thirty miles out of town, a place locals 33 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,400 already whispered about because people had a habit of vanishing there. 34 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,039 Some caves swallow you with depth. This one, they said, 35 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:33,560 moved you around. When we pulled up, the rangers were waiting. 36 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,719 They looked like they had already given up hope, having 37 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:42,080 seen too many unrecoverable missions in the area. One of 38 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,879 them an older guy with a face like dried leather. 39 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,520 Told me the cave was breathing. I laughed at first, 40 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,120 thinking he meant air vents or the usual weird acoustics 41 00:02:53,159 --> 00:02:56,599 you get on the ground. But then he explained it 42 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,919 currents that shifted back and forth like time. It's sucking 43 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:05,159 you in then pushing you out. No river fed it, 44 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:11,719 no sea connected to it. The cave itself exhaled. I'd 45 00:03:11,759 --> 00:03:14,759 never been to this particular system, but it was good 46 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:20,080 to know about the strange flow. We used the dealing 47 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,439 with anomalies, whether it was due to human failure or 48 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,000 natural phenomenon. But the thing that made me pause was 49 00:03:27,039 --> 00:03:32,759 the distress call. They'd managed to patch it through to us. Static, heavy, 50 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:39,240 muffled by stone and water, but unmistakably human. Three static 51 00:03:39,319 --> 00:03:46,159 voices crying, gasping, begging, then a fourth sharper, almost frantic. 52 00:03:47,639 --> 00:03:52,000 I'll never forget the words, don't bring it back out 53 00:03:52,039 --> 00:03:57,439 with you. At the time we thought they were delirious, 54 00:03:58,159 --> 00:04:06,199 Now not so sure. Our crew was smaller that night. 55 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:12,120 That's how it usually is, less people, less risk. My 56 00:04:12,199 --> 00:04:15,439 team lead, Commander Harris, had been in the game longer 57 00:04:15,479 --> 00:04:19,000 than I'd been alive. He was a former military diver 58 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,720 with a thick neck and a square jaw. All bark, 59 00:04:23,079 --> 00:04:25,920 but not as much bite unless you really screwed up. 60 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,160 He had the kind of calm then annoyed you because 61 00:04:29,199 --> 00:04:32,079 it made you realize how rattled you were by comparison. 62 00:04:33,439 --> 00:04:36,439 Then there was Leon. He was a good diver with 63 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,560 plenty of hours logged, but this was one of his 64 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:44,959 first real rescues, and that's a whole different world. Recreational 65 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,920 dives don't prepare you for dragging bodies out of cracks 66 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:50,680 or sharing air with someone coloring a mask off in 67 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:54,639 a blind panic. Leon kept fiddling with his weight belt 68 00:04:54,959 --> 00:04:57,399 and asking for his tank to be adjusted higher or 69 00:04:57,439 --> 00:05:02,040 lower every few minutes. He wouldn't admit it, but I 70 00:05:02,079 --> 00:05:07,439 could see the nerves eating at him. For communication, we 71 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,639 used full face masks fitted with radios, something Leon was 72 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,519 still adjusting to after years diving with a standard regulator. 73 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,160 Each of us also carried a spare mask and an 74 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,839 octopus set up in case we found survivors or had 75 00:05:22,879 --> 00:05:25,079 to share air with someone trying to claw their way 76 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,879 back to the surface. A couple meddics were on stand 77 00:05:28,879 --> 00:05:32,600 by up top. They hovered near the gear crates, whispering 78 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,920 to each other and throwing us uneasy, looks like they 79 00:05:35,959 --> 00:05:38,519 were hoping to never actually have to work. To night. 80 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:42,680 We gathered around Harris while he ran through the plan. 81 00:05:43,759 --> 00:05:47,199 The entrance was tight, barely enough space for one diver 82 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:51,079 at a time, About forty meters in. It opened into 83 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:54,879 a submerged tunnel that twisted like a corkscrew before spilling 84 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:59,680 into a chamber. The locals it nicknamed the Maize that 85 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,839 where the missing group had last been heard. Stay in 86 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:06,480 the line, stay in your body, and keep an eye 87 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:10,399 in your oxygen and depth, Harris said, voice clipped like 88 00:06:10,439 --> 00:06:14,920 it had given this speech a hundred times. If visibility drops, 89 00:06:15,199 --> 00:06:19,800 stop and wait, don't wonder blind. If you lose the guideline, 90 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:25,199 call it and wheel a group. Leon nodded like he 91 00:06:25,319 --> 00:06:30,759 was trying to drill it into his brain. We lowered 92 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:35,399 ourselves into the water. One second, the world is wide open, 93 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:40,839 sky trees voices from the surface, and the next it 94 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:45,839 shrinks to a tunnel of stone. During controlled descent, the 95 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,879 limestone swallowed me fast. My light barely cut ten feet 96 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,360 in front of me, just enough to paint jagged rock walls, 97 00:06:53,759 --> 00:06:56,639 and the swirling cloud of silts stirred up by my fins. 98 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:03,079 The ceiling pressed low enough that my helmets scraped once twice, 99 00:07:03,759 --> 00:07:07,839 the sound grating in my ears. My tank banged against 100 00:07:07,879 --> 00:07:11,560 the rock when I turned too sharply. Every clang was 101 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:16,279 a reminder that there wasn't a centimeter of space to waste. 102 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:22,120 I slowed my breathing, long, careful intakes. If you let 103 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:25,000 your pulse spike down here, you'll empty your tank in 104 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:29,120 half the time. I counted the bubbles as they rose, 105 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:34,040 each silver sphere flashing against my light before vanishing into 106 00:07:34,079 --> 00:07:39,360 the dark above. The guidelines stretched their head taut and 107 00:07:39,439 --> 00:07:44,279 reassuring under my gloved fingers. Leon was behind me, Harris 108 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:50,480 bringing up the rear. We moved like a chain, slow, steady, deliberate. 109 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,480 The entrance funneled down until there's barely enough space for 110 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,800 me to slide through, a slit of rock, sharp and unwelcoming, 111 00:08:00,519 --> 00:08:04,279 just wide enough for my shoulders if I turned sideways. 112 00:08:04,959 --> 00:08:08,560 I pushed in and immediately felt the cave close around me. 113 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,000 Stone pressed on both sides of my chest, the ceiling 114 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,160 scraping the tank so hard it rang in my ears. 115 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:21,600 My knees dragged my belly ground against the floor. There 116 00:08:21,639 --> 00:08:24,519 was no room for my arms to move, just one 117 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:30,000 hand forward, then the other, pulling myself along the guideline. 118 00:08:30,439 --> 00:08:35,120 Halfway through, my thin caught a sharp tug stopped me cold. 119 00:08:35,879 --> 00:08:38,799 I tried to kick gently, but it only wedged deeper. 120 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:44,039 For a moment, I was pinned. My whole body jerked, 121 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:48,200 and the tank banged against the ceiling. That's when the 122 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,759 panic tried to rise. The thought hit hard and fast. 123 00:08:52,879 --> 00:08:57,600 If I get stuck here, I'll die here. No room 124 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:01,519 to turn, no space to back out, just stone pressing 125 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:07,240 from every direction and a tank slowly running dry. I 126 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:12,799 forced myself to exhale, slow controlled. My chest shrank just 127 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:17,840 enough to wriggle forward, scraping raw skin against the limestone. 128 00:09:18,159 --> 00:09:21,480 My movement caused the silt out. My light vanished in 129 00:09:21,519 --> 00:09:24,759 a choking brown cloud, and the squeeze turned into a 130 00:09:24,799 --> 00:09:29,639 blind coffin no up or down, just black water and 131 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:35,480 rock crushing in. My heartbeat filled the mask, and in 132 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:40,639 that dark, with my body locked tight, something touched me, 133 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:48,399 a smooth drag across my shoulders. It wasn't rock. Something moved. 134 00:09:49,519 --> 00:09:52,360 For a second I thought Leon had caught up, reaching 135 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:56,639 out to steady himself, but Leon was thirty feet behind me. 136 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:02,480 Harris was farther still, no one else could have been there. 137 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,200 The squeeze spat me out into a chamber big enough 138 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,600 that I could finally stretch my arms without scraping bone. 139 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,799 My light cut across black water and pale stone, the 140 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,279 air above just out of reach, trapped in small pockets 141 00:10:20,279 --> 00:10:24,480 that clung to the ceiling. For a moment, I let 142 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:29,320 myself breathe deeper, grateful for the space. My shoulders ached 143 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,559 from grinding through the tunnel, and my mask hissed like 144 00:10:32,639 --> 00:10:36,279 it was mocking the relief. I swept my beam across 145 00:10:36,279 --> 00:10:43,240 the chamber, tracing the walls. That's when I saw them. Gouges, 146 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,440 long curved lines carved deep into the limestone. I thought 147 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:53,080 they were natural striations, erosion maybe, but the edges were 148 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:58,000 too smooth. They looked fresh, marks you'd expect from metal 149 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:04,159 dragged hard against stone. Harris, Leon, I've got marks down here, 150 00:11:04,799 --> 00:11:07,600 I said into the colms, my voice tinny in my 151 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:12,200 own ears static swallowed the channel for a moment before 152 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:17,200 Harris's voice came back, calm as ever, copy that could 153 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:23,120 be old, keep moving, stay sharp. I wanted to believe him, 154 00:11:23,399 --> 00:11:27,399 but the gouges looked too clean. I tried to reason 155 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,000 it out. Maybe old dive gear had scraped against the walls, 156 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:35,559 a careless fin, a tank valve banging around, But we 157 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:39,720 were too far in. Recreational divers never made it this deep. 158 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,279 You don't get gouges like that in a place only 159 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:49,159 rescue teams ever reach. I drifted closer, my fingers brushing 160 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,320 the nearest mark, who was wide enough to fit my 161 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:56,679 thumb inside the stone, cool and strangely polished to the edges. 162 00:11:58,519 --> 00:12:05,720 Then I heard something knock. A sound was sharp, deliberate, 163 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,879 like stone on stone. It echoed across the chamber in 164 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:17,919 a hollow rhythm, knock, knock, knock. I froze my light, 165 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,519 cut circles through the water, searching for Harris or Leon. 166 00:12:22,519 --> 00:12:25,360 The line was still tor to my hand, no sign 167 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:31,360 of movement behind me. The knocking came again, slow even. 168 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,320 It took me a moment to realize the sound wasn't 169 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:39,039 coming from the walls at all. He was coming from 170 00:12:39,039 --> 00:12:44,200 beneath me. I followed the line deeper into the chamber, 171 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,720 the beam of my light cutting narrow cones into the dark. 172 00:12:48,759 --> 00:12:52,200 The water was cold here, still and heavy, where the 173 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:59,120 cave itself was holding its breath. Then I saw him, 174 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:04,279 the first of the missing group. He was jammed half 175 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:10,360 into efesion in the wall, body twisted unnaturally, helmet angled sideways, 176 00:13:10,639 --> 00:13:12,840 as though he tried to force himself into a gap 177 00:13:12,879 --> 00:13:17,720 too small to escape through. I drifted closer, careful not 178 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,320 to stir the silt, and the details hit me all 179 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:26,159 at once. His mask was flooded, his eyes stared white, 180 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:30,600 and swollen, lips peeled back over his teeth. But it 181 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,960 was a suit that froze me. Deep scratches tore across 182 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:40,639 the neoprene, dozens long raging grooves that cut all the 183 00:13:40,639 --> 00:13:45,080 way through the fabric underneath. His helmet, too, was scoured 184 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:48,799 with the same marks carved across the visor in jagged arcs. 185 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:53,600 I've seen panic divers claw themselves bloody trying to escape. 186 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,039 I've even seen the desperate scrape off fingernails on stone 187 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:01,279 where someone tried to wedge themselves free. But these weren't 188 00:14:01,279 --> 00:14:05,600 frantic scratchings. They were too deep, like he'd been seized 189 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:10,120 and dragged backward into the dark. I swallowed hard and 190 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:14,759 forced myself to work. You don't think down here, you 191 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:20,200 just act command. I've got one body, I said into 192 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:25,639 the calm's voice flat static rasped back. Then Harris's voice 193 00:14:25,679 --> 00:14:30,360 cut through, low and measured copy. Secure him if you 194 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:36,440 can otherwise, mark and move survivors. First, I pulled the 195 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,559 body bag from my pack and slid it open, fingers 196 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:42,279 numb inside my gloves. As I maneuvered him out of 197 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:47,720 the feisure. He was limp heavy, one arm floating grotesquely 198 00:14:47,759 --> 00:14:52,360 behind him, like he was waving. That's when I felt it, 199 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,639 a sudden, sharp tug at my fin hard enough to 200 00:14:56,759 --> 00:15:01,639 yank me half around. My lights. Swung wildly across the chamber, 201 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,200 hoping he was leon, not in control of his strength 202 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,200 because of his nerves, but catching only stone and black water. 203 00:15:10,799 --> 00:15:14,960 No one was there, just silt stirred up from movement. 204 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,600 I left the body for the rear to handle. Being lead, 205 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:23,759 I was the one who had to push forward and 206 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:28,120 scout head. The chamber funneled upward into a narrow shaft, 207 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,440 and I followed the guideline until my light caught the 208 00:15:31,519 --> 00:15:36,440 silver shimmer of air above. I rose carefully, breaking the 209 00:15:36,519 --> 00:15:41,159 surface with a hollow splash. The space was barely big 210 00:15:41,279 --> 00:15:45,080 enough to fit me, a bubble chamber no more than 211 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:49,320 four feet across jagged limestone, pressing in from all sides. 212 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,240 The air was foul, sharp with minerals, sour, with a 213 00:15:54,279 --> 00:15:58,759 stench of rot and stagnant water. My headlamp haloed the 214 00:15:58,799 --> 00:16:02,159 low ceiling in a dull set circle, illuminating beads of 215 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:06,840 condensation that trembled with every ripple I made. I hit 216 00:16:06,879 --> 00:16:09,320 the perch valve on my mask and let the stream 217 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:13,200 of bubbles spill into the chamber. The sound echoed in 218 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,159 the cramp pocket like a sigh. My lungs burned from 219 00:16:17,159 --> 00:16:20,480 the squeeze. I let the stale air fill them again, 220 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:26,759 slow and deliberate, before biting the mouthpiece back in. That's 221 00:16:26,919 --> 00:16:33,559 when I heard it breathing, Not mine, not the steady 222 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:36,720 hiss of my tank, but the ragged drawer of lungs 223 00:16:36,759 --> 00:16:42,200 straining for air, soft wet, coming from the dark corner 224 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:47,799 of the bubble, where my light couldn't quite reach. Hello. 225 00:16:48,559 --> 00:16:52,360 My voices muffled through the mask. I lifted the lampire 226 00:16:52,759 --> 00:16:58,039 being trembling against the rock. For a moment, I swore 227 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,080 I saw it, a thin bloom of fog on the 228 00:17:01,159 --> 00:17:04,759 stone wall, like someone else had exhaled just ahead of me, 229 00:17:05,759 --> 00:17:09,240 A human breath frosting the rock in the stale chamber air, 230 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:16,480 I shifted, heart hammering. Survivors sometimes wedged themselves into pockets 231 00:17:16,519 --> 00:17:20,119 like this. I'd seen it before, Clinging to the last 232 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:24,000 gasp of oxygen, half dead but alive enough to save. 233 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,359 I leaned closer, straining to hear, hoping it was just 234 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:35,440 another lost explorer. But the breathing didn't ender me. It 235 00:17:35,559 --> 00:17:42,279 only grew fainter. Moving away, I followed the line down 236 00:17:42,319 --> 00:17:46,200 from the bubble chamber. The passage widened again, and this 237 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:51,319 time my light struck something huddled against the rock movement. 238 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,759 I kicked closer, breath catching when I saw the pale skin. 239 00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:01,640 The mask pulled half way off, like wheat in the current. 240 00:18:02,839 --> 00:18:08,960 Not another body, this time a man alive. He was 241 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,279 wedged onto a little ledge just beneath a larger air pocket, 242 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,640 his head bobbing weakly in and out of the surface. 243 00:18:16,759 --> 00:18:21,160 His lips were blue, his face chalk white. He trembled 244 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,559 so violently I thought he might shake himself off the ledge, 245 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:30,119 but his eyes were open, wild, staring right at me. 246 00:18:32,079 --> 00:18:34,799 Relief hit me so hard and almost buckled my knees. 247 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,920 This was it, This was the breath I'd heard the 248 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,039 fog and the rock. I'd found him. He was the 249 00:18:43,079 --> 00:18:48,039 reason I'd come down here. I lifted my lampire, signaling, 250 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:52,640 trying to coax him forward. He flinched away from the light, 251 00:18:53,079 --> 00:18:57,359 pressing back against the stone. His teeth chattered so hard 252 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,359 they made a dull, clicking sound against this mass. I 253 00:19:01,519 --> 00:19:06,839 surfaced beside him, mask off. You're right, I said, trying 254 00:19:06,839 --> 00:19:09,920 to sound calm. I've got you, We're getting you out. 255 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:16,279 He shook his head furiously, eyes rolling, his lips moved 256 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,519 at first too soft for me to hear over the dripping. 257 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:27,440 Then I caught his words. It followed us in his 258 00:19:27,599 --> 00:19:31,720 voice was a rasp, broken and wet. It doesn't let go, 259 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:38,039 don't take me back out. A shiver ran through me, 260 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:44,160 half hypothermic, I told myself, delirious, that's what happens when 261 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:48,000 you're starved of warmth and oxygen. The brain eats itself. 262 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,279 You can't take their words at face value. But the 263 00:19:52,319 --> 00:19:55,000 way he stared at the black water below us, the 264 00:19:55,079 --> 00:19:58,279 way his hands scrambled against the rock, as if bracing 265 00:19:58,319 --> 00:20:02,160 against the current only he could feel it was too 266 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,240 much like the scratches I'd seen on the body, too 267 00:20:05,319 --> 00:20:08,400 much like the shape I'd glimpsed, slipping into the dark. 268 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:13,240 I could tell myself he was raving, but I couldn't 269 00:20:13,319 --> 00:20:17,599 leave him there to die. I bowled the octopus and 270 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:21,480 spare mask and handed it to him. His hands trembled 271 00:20:21,519 --> 00:20:25,079 so badly. I had heard just the straps myself tightening 272 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:29,920 them against his skull. His eyes darted everywhere, never meeting mine, 273 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:35,759 fixed always on the water behind me. Breathe steady. I said, 274 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:42,039 we're going back. Follow me. The moment I eased him 275 00:20:42,039 --> 00:20:45,799 into the water, he tried to twist away, kicking weakly 276 00:20:45,839 --> 00:20:48,559 toward the ledge, as if he'd rather starve in that 277 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,319 pocket than leave it. I had to grab his harness 278 00:20:52,319 --> 00:20:56,319 and yank him along the guideline, forcing him forward. He 279 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:03,039 threshed once twice. Then his limbs altered too weak. His 280 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:08,759 movements turned sluggish, exhausted, and at last he floated behind me, 281 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,200 tethered to my grip like a dead weight. I kept 282 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,000 us moving hand over hand on the line, one slow 283 00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:20,680 kick at a time. My breathing sounded too loud in 284 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,640 the mask. Every hissed and exhale, bouncing in my skull. 285 00:21:25,599 --> 00:21:29,599 The survivor's regulator rattled in his teeth. I wanted to 286 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,279 believe were alone, that I got him out of the 287 00:21:32,319 --> 00:21:39,319 worst of it. Then something hit me, not hard, but 288 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:43,440 a long smooth brush across my side, glancing my tank 289 00:21:43,799 --> 00:21:48,400 and sliding along the survivor tethered to me. It felt rubbery, 290 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:52,599 like the drag of a thick rope pulled across flesh. 291 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:58,160 I whipped my light around, beam, cutting through the MRK Leon. 292 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:03,200 My voice cracked across the combs. Harris, you back here. 293 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:09,200 No answer, no flash of a lamp, just the black 294 00:22:09,279 --> 00:22:13,720 water behind me, empty except the faint shimmer of the line. 295 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,920 I held the survivor tighter, pulling him close. He was 296 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:22,720 shaking so violently he felt like he might tear himself free. 297 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,559 His eyes were wide, white, glaring in the dark. Mask. 298 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:32,160 Bubble was erupting from his mouthpiece, and sharp bursts. There 299 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:40,720 was no current that was something alive. We moved slowly, 300 00:22:41,039 --> 00:22:46,640 following the guideline, our only salvation. Then the water around 301 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:51,279 us irerupted. A surge of silk poured upward, as if 302 00:22:51,319 --> 00:22:54,119 something had raked its hands through the floor of the chamber. 303 00:22:55,319 --> 00:22:59,079 My beam vanished in a storm of brown and black visibility, 304 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:04,680 collapsing to nothing. The survivor thrashed instantly, wrenching his head 305 00:23:04,799 --> 00:23:08,240 side aside. One trembling hand shot up to his mask, 306 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,319 nails raking against the glass as he clawed to pull 307 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,480 it off. I grabbed his rest and pinned it down, 308 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:18,079 shaking my head hard, forcing my lamp into his face 309 00:23:18,279 --> 00:23:21,839 so he could see me. His pupils were blown wide, 310 00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:26,160 white foam bubbling at the corners of his mouthpiece. I 311 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:31,200 dragged him forward, dragging myself forward, each motion blind. My 312 00:23:31,319 --> 00:23:33,640 hand clung to the guideline as if it were the 313 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:38,960 last solid thing in the world. And then light caught motion. 314 00:23:40,599 --> 00:23:44,240 For just a second, my beams sliced through the silt 315 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:50,039 and revealed something sliding across the rock, slick, pale, the 316 00:23:50,079 --> 00:23:53,440 shape of a limb, bending wrong, gone again. Before my 317 00:23:53,519 --> 00:23:56,880 mind could give it a name, I swung my light 318 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:01,960 the other way, another glimpse, farther off, something gliding fast, 319 00:24:02,319 --> 00:24:05,839 skimming the wall, just out of reach, too big to 320 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:09,839 be a fish, too fast to be a diver. My 321 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,000 chest seized. My brain wanted to call it a trick 322 00:24:13,039 --> 00:24:17,039 of the silt, a hallucination born of panic, But the 323 00:24:17,079 --> 00:24:21,279 survivor's muffled scream vibrated through the water, and I knew 324 00:24:22,079 --> 00:24:27,119 he'd seen it too. It wasn't just following us, it 325 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:32,599 was circling us. We pushed forward, hand over hand along 326 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:37,200 the guideline. The survivor sagged heavy in my grip. He 327 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,759 wasn't helping any more, just dead weight, dragged behind me, 328 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,960 shuddering with every breath. That's when my beam caught the 329 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:51,119 white shimmer of another mask ahead. Relief searched through me 330 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:55,759 so sharp it hurt Leon. He must have come in 331 00:24:55,839 --> 00:24:58,960 after me, ready to hauld the first body back. While 332 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:02,559 Harris stayed at the end entrance, his silhouette hovered by 333 00:25:02,559 --> 00:25:05,480 the line, one hand braced against the rock, as if 334 00:25:05,519 --> 00:25:11,319 waiting Leon. My voice cracked across the colms, raw with adrenaline. 335 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:19,599 I've got one alive, no answer, static. I poured closer, 336 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,519 heart pounding, until my light fell full on his face, 337 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:31,200 and the relief snapped like brittle glass. Leon floated there 338 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:36,400 in the line of my beam, mask, half flooded, eyes, clouded, mouth, 339 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,039 beast slipping from his lips. His suit was raked with 340 00:25:40,079 --> 00:25:42,279 the same gouge as I'd seen on the first body, 341 00:25:43,039 --> 00:25:47,359 long tearing scratches that cut deep across his chest and arms. 342 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,920 He looked fresher, not yet swollen, like it had only 343 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:56,000 just happened. It was reminiscent of the state I found 344 00:25:56,039 --> 00:26:01,480 the first survivor, only more raw. The survivor saw him too, 345 00:26:02,839 --> 00:26:06,359 the moment his gaze landed on Leon's body, he booked 346 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,480 hard against me, thrashing so violently the spare mask nearly 347 00:26:10,519 --> 00:26:14,480 tore free. I clamped down with one hand, cursing into 348 00:26:14,519 --> 00:26:22,880 my combs, and then knock. The sound rolled through the chamber, 349 00:26:23,279 --> 00:26:29,160 sharp and hollow, beating against the stone, knock, knock, knock, 350 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:35,400 each one in perfect rhythm with my pulse. The survivor 351 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:39,640 lost it. He clawed at me, his scream bubbling from 352 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,359 the mask in a high pitched wine that stabbed through 353 00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,640 the water. His panic was like blood in the water. 354 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:53,400 It drew attention. The darkness moved. Something slick and pale 355 00:26:53,519 --> 00:26:57,079 surged past, fast enough that the water shifted around us. 356 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,319 The survivor jerked, suddenly, ranked half out of my grip, 357 00:27:01,559 --> 00:27:05,319 Bubbles exploding from his mouthpiece as his body snapped tart 358 00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:09,920 in the current of something pulling. I lunged, grabbing his harness, 359 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,839 fingers slipping on the wet nylon. My lamp cut wild 360 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:18,440 arcs through the silt, catching only fragments, a curve of flesh, 361 00:27:18,599 --> 00:27:22,720 an armlike shape, bending wrong, long fingers brushing stone as 362 00:27:22,759 --> 00:27:29,079 it circled back. The knocks kept coming louder, closer, hammering 363 00:27:29,079 --> 00:27:31,599 in my chest until I couldn't tell if it was 364 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:35,920 the cave or my own heart about to burst. We 365 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,119 had to move. I kept one hand locked on the 366 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:43,559 guideline and the other gripping the survivor's harness. He fought 367 00:27:43,599 --> 00:27:47,799 me at first, kicking, thrashing, just enough to stir the 368 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,920 water into choking clouds of silt. My light cut through 369 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:56,880 nothing but mud, brown haze. Every beam swallowed whole. We 370 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:01,880 moved blind, one hand, one rope, A thin nylon line 371 00:28:02,279 --> 00:28:05,000 was all that tethered us to the world outside the cave. 372 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:08,839 I forced myself not to think about what would happen 373 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:13,200 if I lost it. The survivor clawed at me again, 374 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:18,759 half pulling free. His eyes were wide, pupils brown, every 375 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:25,079 muscle in his body trembling. Then slowly the fight left him. 376 00:28:25,839 --> 00:28:30,279 His limbs sagged, his kicks softened. By the time I 377 00:28:30,319 --> 00:28:33,480 felt the current shift around us, guiding us toward the 378 00:28:33,519 --> 00:28:37,880 wider entrance shaft, he was limp in my grip, dead weight, 379 00:28:38,079 --> 00:28:42,799 trailing in the gloom. Relief punched through me. When my 380 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,119 head lamp finally caught the shimmer of daylight filtering down, 381 00:28:47,279 --> 00:28:52,720 we were almost out, almost safe. I hauled him along long, 382 00:28:52,839 --> 00:28:57,279 screaming for open air. The line pulled taut toward the exit. 383 00:28:57,799 --> 00:29:02,160 My fingers clung to it like a life line. Then 384 00:29:03,319 --> 00:29:09,079 I glanced back. The silt was still thick behind us, 385 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:15,720 but it wasn't brown anymore. It was red. A cloud 386 00:29:15,759 --> 00:29:19,920 of blood hung in the air, thick and roiling, and 387 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,519 at the center of it, the survivor's body dangled slack 388 00:29:23,599 --> 00:29:27,799 in my grip. His chest and arms were shredded, carved 389 00:29:27,799 --> 00:29:32,279 into ribbons, limbs, missing chunks, or gone entirely, like he'd 390 00:29:32,319 --> 00:29:37,000 been dragged through a man's size blender. For a second, 391 00:29:37,319 --> 00:29:41,359 shock froze me. I had been so focused on getting out, 392 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:46,039 I hadn't even felt him go. The red cloud shifted, suddenly, 393 00:29:46,519 --> 00:29:51,240 rolling outward, as if stirred by something huge. A slick, 394 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:55,160 pale mass twisted inside the crimson haze, too fast to 395 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,680 catch more than a glimpse. It wheeled sharply, then shot 396 00:29:59,759 --> 00:30:02,240 back into the cave with a force that made the 397 00:30:02,279 --> 00:30:05,599 water around me heave, skimming the edge of the daylight, 398 00:30:06,079 --> 00:30:13,240 slipping back into the cold darkness of the cave gone. 399 00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,400 All I had left was the survivor's ruined body in 400 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,799 my hands and the blood cloud blooming like a warning. 401 00:30:21,359 --> 00:30:25,000 My instincts screamed to kick hard, to bolt for the surface, 402 00:30:26,319 --> 00:30:30,799 but I couldn't. Faster. Scents killed divers as surely as 403 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:36,000 anything in that cave, lungs, overexpand blood foams. The bends 404 00:30:36,079 --> 00:30:40,000 hit you before you even break daylight, so I forced 405 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:45,279 myself to slow down, eyes focused upward. Looking back would 406 00:30:45,319 --> 00:30:49,079 only be a reminder. My hands clamped around the survivor's 407 00:30:49,119 --> 00:30:54,759 shredded harness. I began the climb, inch by inch, breath 408 00:30:54,880 --> 00:31:00,119 by breath. The dead weight dragged behind me, body torn 409 00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:04,240 to ribbons, limp as a doll. His head lolled, bubbles 410 00:31:04,279 --> 00:31:07,480 dribbling from the regulator as if he were still breathing. 411 00:31:08,559 --> 00:31:12,039 My light caught flashes of him with every kick, shredded 412 00:31:12,079 --> 00:31:16,319 near green, pale skinned through the ribs, blood still feathering 413 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:21,440 into the water like smoke. Every pause felt like a punishment. 414 00:31:22,599 --> 00:31:26,200 I counted the seconds, listening to the pounding in my ears, 415 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:30,559 and stared into the black below, half expecting another pale 416 00:31:30,599 --> 00:31:34,359 limb to surge out of it. Only when the depth 417 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,759 gage finally crept into the green did I allow myself 418 00:31:37,799 --> 00:31:42,480 to ascend the last stretch. The lights of command glimmered above, 419 00:31:43,039 --> 00:31:47,319 blurry through the water, close enough to touch. I hold 420 00:31:47,359 --> 00:31:51,599 the ruined body with me, lungs aching and prayed. Nothing 421 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:56,039 followed us the rest of the way. I broke the surface, 422 00:31:56,119 --> 00:32:01,240 screaming into the colms, not calm procedure. Everything at once, 423 00:32:02,079 --> 00:32:05,720 Leon was gone, The survivor was torn apart, another was 424 00:32:05,759 --> 00:32:10,720 already dead. Something in the cave was moving. By the 425 00:32:10,759 --> 00:32:13,839 time Command drags me onto the bank, I was still 426 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:18,839 spitting water, slipping blood from my dive suit. Medicks tried 427 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,359 to hold the survivor's remains away, but there wasn't much 428 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:29,359 left to take. The higher ups didn't believe the details, 429 00:32:30,119 --> 00:32:32,440 not the hand I saw in the dark, not the 430 00:32:32,519 --> 00:32:35,880 knocks that taunted me, or the pale shapes circling us 431 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:41,599 in the silt. But they didn't have to. The blood 432 00:32:41,599 --> 00:32:46,079 cloud and the bodies told their own story. That cave 433 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:52,200 was a death trap. By morning, the order came down 434 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,319 to seal the entrance Every connected shaft in that limestone 435 00:32:56,359 --> 00:33:01,960 system was marked for closure. Too dangerous, they said, too unstable. 436 00:33:03,519 --> 00:33:09,000 I didn't argue the part. I can't explain the part 437 00:33:09,119 --> 00:33:15,079 no one talks about. It's Harris. He followed me in 438 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:19,599 after Leon, but never came back out. No body or signal, 439 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:28,200 just gone swallowed whole. Officially, they've got him listed as MIA. Unofficially, 440 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:35,720 I know better. I still work and gave rescue. It's 441 00:33:35,759 --> 00:33:41,200 all I know. But things changed after that night. In 442 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,160 the future, if I see deep gouges carved into the walls, 443 00:33:45,559 --> 00:33:49,160 if I hear currents shift without reason and knocking, I 444 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:54,559 can't explain. I won't push forward, I won't call for 445 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:58,680 back up. I'll call it in as a lost cause 446 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:05,119 and pray in the dark that the ones inside can 447 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:06,319 find their own way out