On the Hunt

Just short.

He tried again.

Another miss. He slid a few feet toward the yawning crevasse behind him.

He swung his legs out one more time and finally got a foothold on the now twisted railing. He pushed himself up.

He might be able to do this.

He moved his bloody hands across the cable and pulled himself up another few feet.

If he could manage that another couple hundred more times, he might be able to get the hell off this thing.

A voice crackled through his earphones. “Any survivors?”

It was Belson.

“Harlan here. Anyone else?”

Six of the other team members responded. More than he thought possible.

He looked up at what was left of the sloping bridge. Shards of metal and cable fragments rained down on him, some white-hot from the force of their twisting and breaking.

Boom! Boom!

More explosions rocked the bridge’s foundations, and a team member lost his grip and plummeted toward the water. Harlan tried to catch him as he slid past, but the man tumbled away from his grasp in the last instant.

The bridge shook again.

Harlan dodged the falling debris and pulled himself higher, dragging Mack’s leash with him.

Focus. Stay alive. Just fight the hell raining down on him and make it up to the other side.

He moved up five feet, then ten…

The water roared louder in his ears.

He was getting closer.

He could do this.

He crawled over one of the expansion joints, now pulled and twisted almost beyond recognition. Through the gap he could see burning brush along the riverbank below, blazing from the explosions.

He pulled himself higher. Another few feet, and he should be…

A strong hand grabbed his wrist. “Now will you start listening to me?”

Harlan looked up. It was Belson!

“You know, you didn’t have to do all this just to get my attention,” he said.

“Shut up and keep climbing.”

With Belson’s help, Harlan half crawled, half climbed the remaining few feet off the bridge. The five remaining team members were there, most nursing bleeding arms and torsos.

“Are we the only survivors?” Harlan asked as he dragged Mack off the bridge to safety.

“Two more checked in from the riverbank below,” Belson said. “Hopefully there will be more.”