Free Gone Away by Elizabeth Noble Page B

minutes moving along the edge, looking it over. Finally he returned to Riece and pulled his radio from his belt and set it beside his pack. He took some rope and another device out and handed that off to Riece.
    “That’s a personal locator beacon. It has to have exposure to the sky when activated. So it won’t work in a cave or sometimes even in very thick tree cover. To trigger it you press this button here.” Mason pointed it out. “Put it in your pocket. My radio has the same function.” He held his radio in one hand and showed Riece how to operate it as well before clipping it to his belt. “If something happens to one of us, it could be as much as a day before we get help.”
    Next Mason untied the rope he had coiled to the side of his pack. He took it to a tree forty or so feet from where Mason had looked over the edge. “This is a better spot, and we’ll use the rope as a guide,” he explained as he tied the end of the rope to the tree and tugged on it. Next he pulled gloves on and nodded at Riece’s pack.
    Riece had a similar set of gloves, and he extracted his set and put them on. Mason handed their water purification equipment to Riece. “Put those in your camera bag, and I’ll carry the water and my pack. It’s heavier.”
    Riece stood beside Mason, taking in everything he said, all the while nodding and doing as instructed. Mason patted his shoulder. “Don’t look so worried. I’ll get you down there and back up again safely. That’s what I’m here for.”
    “I know you will,” Riece said. He leaned in and kissed Mason’s cheek. Mason responded by slipping one arm around Riece’s waist and pulling them together for a deeper, sexier kiss.
    “Let’s go,” Mason said. He smiled and put his arm around Riece’s shoulders. “I’ll go down first.”
    Getting to the bottom of the gully was arduous. Mason was patient and braced Riece when they stopped partway down for some more pictures. “These are awesome shots. Thank you for helping me.”
    “Get them while we’re here. Remember those people I told you about that went missing? This is the general area some of them vanished from. Now you see why.”
    “Yeah,” Riece said.
    Once they reached the gully floor, it was much easier to move around. Mason followed along while Riece went one way, then the other, aiming his camera in all directions.
    Mason was kicking the leaves with one foot. Riece watched as he picked up a stick, crouched down, and began moving something in the dirt around. He eased his pack off and set it on the ground, opening it.
    Curious, Riece started to move closer to Mason. When his foot landed on something that felt more like wood than dirt, he stopped. He bounced on it a few times before turning back to Mason and said, “Hey, come look at this. Something is buried here.”
    “Buried?” Mason stood up and strode closer.
    Riece thumped his heel down again. He felt whatever was underfoot begin to flex farther. There was a crack and the sound of something splintering.
    Mason paled and sprinted toward Riece, shouting, “No. Riece, don’t. Stop !”
    Riece stared down at his feet and watched in horror as a hole opened up. Mason tackled him and tried to throw him clear, but it was too late.
    The earth opened up, and they went tumbling into the gaping maw below.

Chapter 5
     
     
    MASON PRIED his eyes open and slowly, painfully, pushed off the ground. He groaned, drew in a deep breath, and groaned again.
    He stayed in that position, propped on his elbows, head dropped forward, and simply concentrated on his breathing. Splintered wood was scattered all around him, but he didn’t see any blood in the dirt. A general low ache thrummed through his body. Taking stock, Mason had feeling from head to foot. That was good. Next he examined how he hurt. No sharp pain stood out, nor was one body part in more pain than anywhere else. Also a plus, leading Mason to think he had no broken bones and wasn’t impaled on anything.
    The