Before Sam could do more than take the deep breath, Kyle grabbed him and tossed him in the water. He dived in too, grabbed on to Sam's hand and swam towards the opening as fast as he could. His entire body screamed in protest at being resubmerged into what felt very much like ice, but he pushed on, trying to ignore it, focusing on the opening, on Sam's hand clasped in his own.
The moment their heads broke the surface of the water, Kyle turned to Sam. His little brother gasped, his eyes wide with shock and fear.
"Let's get out, let's get out," he panted and Kyle swam towards the bank and crawled out. He only let go of Sam's hand once he was safely on the bank.
Teeth clattering, they both looked around. The cave they had ended up in was very small. The only potential hiding place for the diamond was a small hole in the rock wall which looked like the beginning of a tunnel.
"I'm glad I took you with me." Kyle got to his feet and started pacing as much as thee bank allowed him. "I wouldn't have fitted through that rat hole."
"Yeah, I might have some trouble, too," Sam answered, rubbing his arms, but his entire body was shaking.
Shrugging, he got on his hands and knees and scurried through the opening. Kyle expected him to come back out, not to fit in there entirely and apparently keep going.
"Sam?" he asked cautiously.
"I left without a flashlight," Sam mumbled from inside the wall.
Kyle took the headlamp off, got to his knees and squeezed through the opening. His shoulders barely fit, but he could soon see Sam who was to the right. The tunnel seemed to be really long.
"Here," Kyle said throwing it to him and hitting him in the head with it.
"Ow!" Sam moaned.
"Quit complaining and find that blasted thing," Kyle snapped. "Before we both freeze to death."
"You know, reminding me that we have to go back into the water makes me totally reconsider the perks of living here," Sam said, but his fading voice showed he was on the move again.
Kyle pulled out of the hole and started pacing again, rubbing his arms and sides as fast as he could. Sam had a point. Getting back inside the water was the last thing he wanted to do, but he had no choice. He only hoped it would be over soon and that the others had managed to light a fire. Though the chances were slim. They had no wood and they didn't even have blankets because their camp had probably burned to the ground. Great, now he was thinking longingly about the burning labs outside.
"Kyle, I'm stuck," Sam called out all of a sudden.
Kyle stopped pacing and threw himself on his knees at the opening. "What do you mean you're stuck?"
"I mean I can't get out," Sam said, annoyed. He sounded pretty close to the hole.
"What part of you is stuck?" Kyle asked pushing through the opening.
"Oh, God, you won't believe this," Sam moaned in embarrassment.
"I'm trying to get through. Are you at least in a comfortable position?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
It took Kyle a whole of ten seconds the get stuck too, but he tried to maneuver his shoulders and managed to move another inch. It was not comfortable at all. How could Sam be in a comfortable position? Unless... "What's too big and wouldn't come out?
"My butt, that's what's too big," Sam moaned. "I can't believe it!"
Kyle froze for a second, then he couldn't help it. He started laughing hysterically, because this was just the type of thing that would happen to Sam. Get his ass stuck somewhere. The poor kid. But he couldn't help himself from laughing because her was tired, hungry, cold, extremely uncomfortable and Sam just got his ass stuck in a wall. With inhuman effort, he managed to sober up.
"Kyle?" Sam asked.
Nope, he couldn't do it. He burst out laughing again. "Your butt Sam? Gees, it didn't seem that big too me."
"Can you step on it? My arms are falling asleep."
"It's not my fault your butt's too big. Keep your pants on! Thought I doubt they'll fall off anyway..."
"Kyle!" Sam snapped. "I feel bad enough without you laughing your ass off."
"Sorry, kid. I just don't know how that's even possible. I mean your shoulders are wider and all and they didn't get stuck."
Silence. Then the sound of a slap as Sam probably hit his forehead.
"I'm such an idiot. I stuffed the diamond in my back pocket."
"So you found it?"
"Yeah, it was in a tiny room at the end of this tunnel. I'm telling you, turning around was a bitch."
"Why didn't you just crawl out backwards?"
More silence. "Shut up and move out of the way. I'm coming out."
Kyle yanked himself out of the tunnel. His shoulders and arms were now scratched as well as frozen, but who cared? They got the diamond and would go back to the others and out of those caves somehow and maybe, just maybe, not burn to death outside. Yeah, they still had a long way to go until they reached safety.
Sam finally crawled out and tossed the diamond at Kyle. He caught it and turned it over. It was roundish, just like the ruby and about the size of a large grapefruit. And Orange.
"Why's it orange?"
"Hell if I know." Sam sat next to him and rubbed his arms. "But I guess diamonds come in many colors."
"What if it's not a diamond?" Kyle asked.
"I'm pretty sure it's not. Just like I'm pretty sure the ruby is not a ruby. Sure, it's red, but... the structure seems somehow off."
Kyle turned the jewel in his hand. He'd never held such a large diamond and couldn't possibly compare its structure to one of a smaller diamond. But Sam had a point. It just felt off. It was too heavy for one thing. He crushed it in his hand.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked alarmed.
Kyle loosened his grip and handed the rock back to Sam. "Just testing something. I have a feeling I could change its shape if I tried hard enough. Which doesn't fit with how heavy it is. What is this thing?"
Sam turned the diamond over, too. "I don't know. But being something beyond a precious stone would explain why the agency and Snitch Gravel are chasing each other to get it."
They stood in silence for a few moments, then Sam finally sighed. "I guess we should go back."
Kyle nodded, and got to his feet. "Hold on to the diamond—whatever that thing is, tightly. It going to be short, but painful."
Sam nodded, and once again they jumped in the freezing water, dived under the wall, came out on the other side and swam towards the bank. There was light there, but seeing it was blueish, it was obvious the others couldn't light a fire.
Trying not to be too disappointed, Kyle stumbled out of the water, still dragging Sam after him and dropped into a sitting position. "Towels, clothes, something warm and dry," he said. His body was already trembling violently, and next to him, Sam wasn't doing any better.
A beam of light hurried towards them and Kyle looked up gratefully until he noticed the shotgun pointed at his face by a familiar figure.
"Calla?" he asked shocked.
"I'll take that." She yanked the stone out of Sam's hand.
Sam made to stop her, to grab it back, but his body was terribly uncoordinated because of the tremors running through it. "Just great," he mumbled.
"What happened?" Kyle asked, though he wasn't sure if he was asking Calla or anyone of his group who might hear him.
"I suspected you were here for this," Calla said, waving the stone in front of his face. "Do you think all your lovey dovey stuff got to me?"
"It seemed to." Okay, he hadn't expected her to be using him, but whatever. "How did you know we were here for it?"
She huffed. "Please! A bunch of lost tourists? In this part of the canyon? There's only one reason people come here, and it's this stone. The people in the labs were here for it, too, long ago."
Were they? Now that he stopped to think about it, it was a pretty big coincidence that the labs were built right next to the caves in which the diamond was. But how many people knew about it. "How do you know about it?"
"It belongs to us." Calla waved her hand around the cave. "When you white men first showed up, we thought we could live in peace. It became obvious pretty fast that we couldn't. This cave is a mass graveyard. Many of our ancestors have died here, closed in and betrayed. This stone..." She held it up for all of them to see. "Supposedly guards their souls, keeps them from haunting the place."
Sam shook his head. "Then why do you want it? Shouldn't you be leaving it here to keep doing that?"
She looked at him as if he were crazy. "Did you just ask me why I want an enormous diamond?"
"So no soulstone then?" Sam asked in disbelief.
Calla laughed a cold, high sound. "Do you really believe in that crap?"
Kyle didn't believe in it, but it bothered him that she didn't for some reason. Probably because he needed to believe there was still innocence in the world, not just money and energy sources and people trying to get them killed. But, apparently, they weren't above selling the thing for cash.
"How many?" he called out into the darkness.
"I don't know. It's too dark," Jimmy answered from where three light beams were visible. His answered was followed by a thump. "I swear, if you hit me again, I'll shove that down your throat."
Calla turned her head towards the light. Sam sprung at her and knocked her over. Kyle immediately wrestled the diamond out of her hand and pinned her down.
"How important are you to them?" he asked, pulling his knife out of the sheath strapped to his calf and sticking it to her neck.
Her eyes widened, reflecting the little light coming from the fallen headlamp next to her head.
"Order your men to pull away," Sam said through clattering teeth.
She glared holes into them, but ordered something in a language they couldn't understand. As soon as the words were out, the sounds of a fight broke through the silence. Kyle pushed the knife deeper into her throat.
"What did you say?"
"I gave the correct orders. It's your men who have stirred trouble," she said, her voice strained.
"Are you guys alright?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. It was like six of them. We got 'em," Billy answered.
Kyle pulled the knife away and got off Calla, taking her shotgun in the process. Sam came next to him, still trembling. Jerry hurried to them, his arms laden with clothes and started rubbing Sam up and down. Kyle accepted his own peace of warm dry fabric and started rubbing himself with his free hand.
Jimmy and Tom came forward with Calla's companions who were now disarmed and tied up together.
"How did you get in here?" Sam asked, the moment he could speak without his teeth banging together.
Calla didn't answer, but when Angie nudged her with a shotgun, she seemed to change her mind. "There are tunnels that lead out of this place."
"Point to one," Sam said annoyed.
The girl did, somewhere far right.
"Groovy," Sam said, putting a t-shirt on. "Let's get out of here."
"What about us?" one of the captured men asked.
Sam bit his lip, but shook his head. "We should leave you here." He nodded towards Jimmy, who untied them immediately. "After you." He gestured towards the tunnel. "But if we catch you, we shoot you."
The men hurried out. Calla lingered for a moment, her eyes shooting poisonous arrows at Kyle, then she scurried into the darkness. And Kyle felt much better. Even if his entire thing with her had been one huge lie, he still felt a little used.
"Finally, can we go?" Jerry asked.
"Yeah, let's head out," Sam agreed.
They all started down the new tunnel. It was much shorter than anyone had anticipated and soon they saw the exit bathed in reddish light. Careful not to rush out into flames, they stopped at the entrance. The light came from the setting sun, not fire.
The buildings of the labs sill burned low, but it looked like the fire was about to die down. Beyond the fence, the forest seemed to be intact. Which meant that so was their camp. Finally, something had gone right. Because there was nothing in this world Kyle wanted more at that moment than to eat and sleep.
There we go. They got the diamond or whatever it is! Hurray. And their camp didn't burn down either.
One more chapter to go before we wrap this up neatly. Hope you enjoyed it! If you did, don't forget to vote and comment.