"Hey... Ker?? Come and look at this.. I think I found something!" The excited
voice of Kerry Zoe Weaver's lover and best friend wavered up, muffled and
echoed from the deep caverns below.
"Finn... I don't think we should.. I mean.. Before we were just trespassing.. Now all these signs.. I think we should go back.." Kerry said nervously, her hands self-conciously sliding down the long braid that hung over her shoulder, her fingers touching every snarl and loose hair.
"Go back?! Kerry!! When I asked you to come with me to, did you actually think we were going to sit around in the rooming house and watch the interesting foreign cable channels and bone up on our Afrikaan??" Finn laughed, his chuckles hearty and full; full of youth and sheer innocence.
"I.. I guess not.. I just figured we'd go down into the more open caves.. The public caverns.. They're lighted and have guides... That's just a pit!" She grumbled, crossing her arms and sighing, knowing full well that in a moment's time she'd be dragged down into that cave and that she'd love it all the same.
"PUBLIC CAVERNS!? GUIDES!? That's no fun!! Come *ON* Kerry." He hooted, his laughter wafting up from the hole in the ground.
"FINNEGAN MCKEE, I WILL NOT BE LAUGHED AT!!" She yelled back at him unhappily before sighing and starting to climb down the hole, her fingers scraping in the dirt as she slipped slightly and fell into the arms of her man and swooned slightly. "That sure is a drop.." Kerry smiled, kissing him on the lips.
"An angel dropped from the heavens.." Finn said with a light chuckle, brushing a lock of his dark hair behind an ear before leaning in and pressing her against the cold wet stone walls and slipping a hand up her shirt.
"Stop that you pervert.." Kerry said laughing.. "I thought we were supposed to be spelunkers.. Not Spelfuckers.."
Finnegan grinned as he laid out the sleeping bag on the ground. "Spelunkers, spelfuckers.. What's the diff!?"
"I thought we were supposed to go exploring!?" Kerry said laughing, as he slipped the shirt down off her smooth shoulders exposing her small but, round and perfect breasts.. The pink nipples stood out, firm and erect from the cool, wet air in the caves and Finnegan ran an admiring finger over one as he kissed her neck.
"I AM exploring... I'm exploring the wonderous curves, mountain ranges, and caverns of the Weaver Territories.." He replied boldly in a lousy Australian accent.
"F-finnnnn.." Kerry squealed, breathless and laughing. "You'd think being a Scot, your Aussie would sound better..."
Finnegan pretended to look wounded, and sighed pitifully. "Aww.. Mate... Don't you want to see me kanga-roo?!" He said grinning as he started to unzip his jeans.
**
The two young lovers fell asleep post-coitus and wrapped in each other's warmth. Finn snoring softly with Kerry's head on his chest, her long hair loose from it's braid and covering him in a long red blanket. It was rippled and kinked from being tied back and braided wet earlier that morning after their communal shower, only to save water, he had assured her with an evil smirk as he'd dragged her into the stall and closed the door with a wet thump. That morning had been very, very, wet, exciting and something Kerry did NOT photograph and log in her travel diary for her mother.
**
Her mum had made her daughter promise to keep a strict diary of where she went and who she met while in. Melinda Weaver was very... Well Kerry described her as anal and overbearing, (not to her face of course) But, she meant well, it wasn't every day your only daughter runs off with her boyfriend to Africa. Who knew what sort of disease or wild animal could harm a poor defenseless young woman, not to mention the evil afrikaans that lay waiting in the bush for beautiful red haired Americans to rape and murder.
Melinda Weaver was certain she'd read this in one of her woman's magazines, and she'd gone searching for the article in an attempt to dissuade Kerry, but somehow the article had gone missing, or it had never existed at all. It only left her one choice... To let her daughter go exploring before buckling down and getting into her studies at med-school.. What harm could a little romp in Africa do anyway? Melinda was just over-reacting.
**
"Finn! Wake up!! What time is it!?" Kerry shook her boyfriend with a sleep-laden hand still heavy with pins and needles. "Finnegan.. Please.. We have to get back.. I'm cold, and I'm wet and I think there's a tarantula climbing in your shorts.." Kerry said worriedly.
"AUGH!!! WHAT!" Finn leapt back, thumping his head on the wall and staring blearily at Kerry who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Okay.. So I lied about the giant fuzzy spider, but I am cold and wet and I do want to go back to the hotel." Kerry said smiling happily.
"Go back!? But we didn't even get to explore down here!!" Fin protested, stooping up slightly in the tiny cavern and slipping on his jeans.
"No.." Kerry said dryly.. "You wanted to explore Weaver Territories instead.."
"Come on.. I want to go home, Finny.." Kerry pleaded.
He rolled his brown eyes and sighed in frustration. "FINE! We'll go! SEE!! WE'RE GOING!!" Fin growled angrily at her, pulling on his shirt and climbling fast out of the hole.
"Fin!! Wait!" Kerry yelled after him... "I.. I told you to be careful out there.. The signs.." She said feebly before the earth started to shake suddenly and rocks and dirt tumbled in clods from the ceiling of the small cave.
Terrified, she scrambled from the cave, her hands and fingers raw from scraping on rock and dirt, her face stained and red with tears. "FIN!!!???" She screamed as she ran across the abandoned field ignoring the signs that they had ignored on their way in.
She could read them. Kerry knew Afrikaan, which what had made Finn's crack about staying at the hotel and boning up on her's ridiculous. Kerry had gone for the culture, the scenery, the people and for a little exploring and she had done her research and had planned for this trip.. Finn however had come on a whim.. One fight with his father and he'd had his bags packed, his ticket in hand and his car running outside Kerry's house that morning.
Finnegan was impulsive, Kerry was not. She never had the nerve to just run off half-cocked, that's what she loved about him.
"FINN!!!!!!!!!!! Come on!! Please!!" She sobbed, running wildly on the wet sod. "Stop it.. Stop hiding! We can fuck some more in the cave if you want.. I don't care! Ple-" Kerry stopped as she found what she'd been searching for.
Kerry dropped to her knees and knelt over her boyfriend, or rather what was left of him, cradling him to her chest and soaking her lilac shirt to a muddied, scarlet red. "F-fin.. G-god.. Fin.." Her breath hitched in her throat as she rocked him in the mud, running a hand through his long dark hair which he'd been so proud and full of ego about. Her slight hand came back slick and wet with blood and Kerry's eyes widened, looking down at his head, his chestnut locks now redder than her own auburn tresses.
Grey matter spilled onto her fingers from the back of his head and her early morning breakfast of churned in her gut before Kerry could not longer stomach it and Kerry spewed forth on the green grasses.
Finn was now what her classmates in high school had referred to as a dead duck. Vomit rose in her throat again and she swallowed it back, struggling to get a grip of herself and hoist Finn up over her shoulder.
"Come on..." Kerry pleaded with Finn, even though she knew she was talking to herself, and stumbled to her feet.
ĦAarde Myn! The signs said in alarming red and yellow paint and Kerry fought on, walking with the dead weight in her arms and the knapsack over her shoulder. Finally she discarded the knapsack(Which contained the evil travel diary and billion disposable cameras her mother had purchased with the warning of "I don't want you using the excuse of running out of film.. This way you can't!") Kerry smiled grimly as she dumped the backpack in the mud by the fenceline of the field and continued down the road.
She didn't realize the smooth click till she stood on it firmly, frozen with terror and sobbing. Slowly, Kerry kept the full weight still on the mine and lowered herself to her knees, putting down Finn at her feet. With her other leg outstretched behind her and her hand on her knee in a racer's stance, Kerry prayed to god and her track coach, hoping she was fast enough to out run a land-mine.
***
The mine exploded a few feet behind her as she pushed off. A shuddering blast that rumbled with a growing, forceful bang, blowing shrapnel into her leg and sending her flying forward with her hands over her head shielding herself from the shrapnel as it hit her and she plowed head on into the solid, hard packed earth..
It wasn't till a farmer spotted the bloodied trespasser on his mine-filled land that Kerry found herself swathed in bandages and drugged to the gills. The consulate had been called and she was supposed to find two-thousand dollars for two emergency seats from Sierra Leone to Chicago tomorrow night.
The tears started to fall as Kerry blearily tried to make of what was
left of her leg, if anything.. She hoped and prayed to god, that somehow..
Her mum would get her out of this.
********