Maureen uttered a few choice words under her breath as her grip slipped for the second time. Even with a new set of gloves, the colder air and humidity made the mountainside nearly impossible to hold onto. At least the studs were holding securely; she'd worried when she saw the thin, brittle shale shelves that streaked through the denser stone. The studs held fast, though, and her rope was purchased with the gloves. With a yell she reached for the higher knob of rock and grinned savagely as her grip held. She began pulling herself up the extra inches when the cramp ran through her forearm from overextension. Her fingers loosened and she grabbed out to the side for anything, but her fingers flinched back as shale sliced through her glove and her finger pads. The jolt and the weight shift stole her other hand's grip and then she swung out into open space. She watched as the stud held the rope firmly, bringing her back to the mountain's side; then her eyes widened as the rope bent back across the jutting piece of shale below.
The rope snapped clean.
She fell on a descending arc towards the mountainside, where a fissure yawned before her. She fell into its black recess, her head striking something, and then, nothing.
When she woke, Maureen was barely able to sit up. Coughing from the dust that hung in the air around her, she quickly checked her limbs - nothing was broken. Pressing her left side made her wince; two ribs were broken, maybe three. She reached for her side pouch and sighed in relief, opening the clasp and pulling out the small light wand she'd purchased for emergencies. The thin flashlight emitted a piercing blue beam that exploded into a prism of colour as it radiated through the dust cloud. The cavern Maureen had fallen toward - no, in, she realized, looking up to see the shaft in the ceiling where a strip of her shirt still hung - was huge, spreading out in all directions. The dust made it harder to make out solid shapes, but there was a faint dripping sound. That meant water. If her rations held out, Maureen gave herself a few days to figure out a way from the cavern. If a shaft led in, certainly passages led out.
She couldn't be trapped.
The thought sent a shiver through her, and she nervously chuckled. The sound that came out was more of a wheeze. Maureen realized that she had been inhaling the dust while unconscious and tried to stand. Nausea overcame her almost immediately and she managed no more than a crouch that settled to a kneel. She must have struck her head, or perhaps the jarring fall had affected her more than she first suspected. She looked up again. The shaft was about twenty metres overhead. That kind of fall should have killed her...
She felt along the floor for anything that might have cushioned her fall. It was then that she noticed the floor was firm but not hard, not stone...something else...
She shined the light downwards. It looked like stone, but felt...softer?
"What the hell..." she whispered, and the sound was muted by the dust.
It was then that she heard the rustling noise. It was like the whine of her rope when she had fallen, as it was dragged through the eye of the stud. It was a lower pitch, though, and it was getting closer, faster.
