Edwin shook his head violently. “I’m not leaving you. We’ll find another way out.” A silence settled over them, heavy and desperate. Only the faint lapping of water broke it. Elias’s light swept the cave, searching for anything, a tunnel, a crack, even a current that might lead upward.
Elias steadied Edwin’s father as the man fumbled with his harness. His fingers were stiff, his movements slow from exhaustion and dehydration. The old man’s tank was bone-dry, the regulator hissing uselessly when tested.