chapter 116
AS THE GRAVE robbers approached the levee, they could now determine that the source of the light they had been following was coming from inside a mound of debris.
“This is crazy,” Yancey said in a whisper. “How can that light just come out of the ground like that?”
“I think that’s the drainpipe for the impoundment. It’s got a bunch of limbs and shit piled around it, probably from beavers.”
The two men were now just ten yards from the pipe. They could hear water flowing down it but nothing else. The light hadn’t flashed in several minutes. They looked at each other, hoping the other had an idea that didn’t include wading.
Finally, Trance yelled, “Hello, can you hear me? Is there anybody out there?”
The only sound was water spilling over the top of the pipe, and it seemed to be getting louder.
This time he screamed, “Hello!”
Not getting any response, Trance shrugged his shoulders and then said, “Well, I guess we should head back.”
Jake couldn’t hear anything but the sound of water rushing into the pipe. He was freezing and becoming disoriented. He was exhausted and thought that if he could sleep for a few hours, he’d be stronger and would be able to get free. He wasn’t aware that his heart was straining to pump blood to his brain. His condition was deteriorating rapidly. Before he went to sleep, he wanted to see if the water volume was increasing or if it was just his imagination. He clicked on the flashlight.
“There! There it is!” Trance yelled. He stripped off his jacket and tossed his cell phone onto it. He immediately waded out into the water.
Yancey, the older of the two, didn’t want to get wet, since their ride wouldn’t arrive for another five hours.
He asked, “How deep is it?”
“I don’t know yet!”
When he reached the pipe, the waves created from his wading splashed more water down the pipe, and the light went out. He climbed up onto the beaver debris, peered over the edge into the darkness, and yelled, “Hey! Can you hear me?” He then turned to his buddy and yelled, “Quick, bring me your flashlight!”
“Here, catch,” Yancey said, still not wanting to plunge into the cold water unless and until he absolutely had to do it. He clicked on the flashlight and tossed it underhand.
Jake thought that he could hear voices, but he couldn’t recognize the words. He thought he might be dreaming.
The grave robber didn’t really know what to expect when he shined the flashlight into the drain. He was shocked to actually see a man in the bottom of the pipe.
“Holy shit! Get over here, quick! There’s a guy trapped in the pipe!” Trance screamed toward Yancey. He turned his head back to the pipe and stuck his head into it. “Hey, man, can you hear me?”
Jake thought he was hearing voices again but opened his eyes and saw light. He initially thought it was coming from his flashlight, but when he realized that he could see his flashlight and it was turned off, he jerked his head back to look up.
Trance turned again to his partner and yelled, “He’s alive! Get your ass over here! We gotta hurry!” He could see the water was almost to the man’s neck. He yelled at Jake, “Hang on, mister! We’re gonna get you out!”
Trance realized he couldn’t reach the man. When Yancey arrived and looked down, he said, “Oh my God, we need ropes. I’ll run back and get ours!”
“No! There’s not enough time. He’s about to drown. We gotta think of another way. Come on, let’s start pushing mud up around the top of this pipe, and maybe we can slow the water down.”
After several minutes, most of the water flowing in had slowed to a trickle. The two guys’ hearts were racing. They were terrified that the man was going to drown and they couldn’t stop it. One of the men shined the flashlight down to survey the situation. The water was at the man’s chin, but it was swirling, so he assumed it was draining. He yelled, “Hang on! We’re gonna get you out!”
Breathing heavily, the men looked at each other and they knew they didn’t have much time.
Trance said, “You’re gonna have to hold my legs, and I’ll go down and grab him and you pull us up.”
Yancey, who was not as physically fit, groaned. He didn’t like that idea because he didn’t think he could pull them both up. In fact, he knew he couldn’t. He said, “If I drop ya, there won’t be any way you can get out, and you’ll drown too!”
“It’s our only chance.”
“I don’t like it. I can’t let you risk your life.”
“It ain’t your choice, it’s mine,” Trance said as he shined the light on Jake. As a former marine, he still believed in the code of not leaving a man behind. He said, “Look, we ain’t got time to waste. I’m goin’ down; grab my legs. You can do this!”
The younger guy knelt over the pipe and yelled, “I’m coming down. Hang in there, buddy.”
The man slowly crawled over the edge, and he could feel his friend holding his legs tightly. He yelled to let him down some more. Water sloshed over the sides, hitting Jake in the face.
“Grab my hands!” Trance yelled and then placed the flashlight in his mouth and reached for Jake, who looked to the rescuer as though he had resigned himself to death. It was sickening to see an expression of complete hopelessness. If Jake didn’t raise his arms, the rescuer wouldn’t have anything to grab.
“Come on, man, don’t give up on me,” Trance screamed. He didn’t have any other way to get the man out. He yelled again, “Grab my hands!”
After what seemed like several minutes to Trance, Jake raised his hands out of the water, but they still couldn’t touch. To Trance’s shock, he noticed that the man’s wrists were bound and realized that he hadn’t fallen in this pipe by accident; someone had dumped him here.
“Hey, we got a vehicle comin’!” Yancey screamed when he saw lights flashing through the trees in the distance.
“What?”
“Here comes a vehicle!”
Trance realized it could be the people who dropped the man into the pipe—probably coming back to admire their handiwork and to see if their victim was dead yet.
“Quick, pull me up!”
“I’m trying!”