Paradise Thriller

Just An Accident

"Sure."

It made sense, but wasn't her only reason. Alison was hoping while she was down there she could find the carabiner that had flown off, and see if she had missed a defect when she checked the gear, or if it was just one of those freaky things that happens.

"Oh my God, I thought you were dead for sure," Miranda said as soon as Alison was on the ground, throwing her arms around her.

"It looked worse than it was," Alison reassured her. "I must just not have wedged that chock in far enough." Both Travis and Luke were looking at her, and she shook off a prickly feeling on the back of her neck.

"Anyway, it's perfectly safe now. You just climb up slowly and don't look down. Travis's got you with that end of the rope," she said, gesturing, "so there's no way you can fall. Your weight will be on the anchor at the top, and I promise that's not going to give out."

Jolene volunteered to go next, and Alison strapped her into the remaining harness, and coached her on technique.

"Remember to use your legs," she told her. "If you try to haul yourself up using your arm muscles, you'll be exhausted before you make it that first ledge. Use handholds to guide you, but let your legs do most of the work."

Jolene nodded and began climbing. She slipped once, and the group below held their collective breath, but she fell only a foot or so, and Alison was relieved to see that Travis was doing a more than competent job on the belay. Jolene turned and waved reassuringly to them, a cocky grin on her face, then continued up the surface of the rock.

Clarice went next, and Alison was surprised to see that beneath the polished, urban exterior she was really very athletic. In her khaki shorts that stopped at cuffs mid-thigh and her white, brushed cotton t-shirt, she still looked more like participant in a corporate teambuilding retreat than a contestant on a Survivor-style TV show, but at least it was an improvement. And a pleasant contrast to the jean shorts Jolene was wearing, cut off so short that it was a miracle the seam between the legs held together, and a t-shirt with a scoop neckline so low it looked like her breasts could pop out of it at any moment.

If Clarice's clothes were a bit too tailored, at least none of the guys would lose their footing and fall off the rock face trying to get a glimpse down her shirt.

Clarice reached the top, ignored Daryl's extended hand, and pulled herself over the last few feet beyond the anchor.

As Alison strapped Miranda into a harness, she saw that the girl's face had gone from pale to almost green.

"I don't think I can do this," Miranda whispered.

Alison put both hands on her shoulders, and looked directly into her eyes.

"Miranda. You didn't come here to give up on the first challenge." She knew there was no point trying to tell Miranda the climb was easy, or the cliff not that high. The girl was terrified.

"Here's what we're going to do. You see that ledge up there?" Alison pointed to the shelf about one-third of the way up, and Miranda nodded.

"I want you to just try to make it that far. Then you can stop, and if you don't want to go any higher, Travis will just lower you back down. Okay?

"All right." She looked over at Travis. "You'll lower me back down if I don't want to go any higher?"

Travis nodded. "Hell, kid it's just a game. You don't want to go up, just take off the harness right now."

"No, I can do it. I didn't come all the way out here to wimp out."

Miranda turned resolutely and began to climb. Travis kept the rope taut so that her weight would be supported as much as possible.