Page 83 of Enduring Caine
No, instead it was lean down, flex my abs tight to keep my torso up, run fingers along the floor, sit up, move forward on my knees. Lean down. Repeat. All while trying to prevent from my bad arm swinging around and causing more pain.
“Find anything?” hollered Samantha.
“A great deal of sand,” I muttered.
“What was that?”
I rose my volume so she could hear me properly. “Nothing yet. You?”
“I don’t know. There’s… something…”
A muffled boom sounded, and darkness fell upon us.
“Shit!” said Samantha. “What happened?”
“Did you hear the thunder? Maybe the power’s out.”
She groaned loudly, full of irritation. “It’s like this entire house is against me.”
I held onto the casks next to me to stand, laughing. “A little melodramatic today?”
“Very funny, Ferraro.”
Making my way toward her, feeling along the wall of wine barrels, I said, “You didn’t hit a switch or anything, did you?”
“You don’t suppose the security camera can see through this darkness?”
“I don’t think so.” I scanned the space behind me, in the general direction of the door. “There are no lights coming from the intercom panel. Do you remember if there were any?”
A low, rumbling noise sounded, shaking the entire room. Perfetto.
“They don’t have backup power?” she said.
“Where’s your flashlight?”
“I put it down… somewhere.”
I held back my laughter, imagining her glowering around the pitch black room with her hands on her hips. “Are you sitting or standing?”
“What kind of question is that?” Another rumble and the world shuddered. “It feels like the whole place is about to come down.”
“We could take advantage of dark, amore.” I reached the last barrel and felt for the archway leading into the tasting room.
“Whose mind’s in the gutter now?” She chuckled, then cut off immediately. “Hold up. I found… there…”
I paused, waiting for her flashlight to come back on instead of risking damage to a leg in addition to my arm. “Bella?”
“C’mon,” she muttered.
“Samantha, what—”
The sound of stone grinding against stone accompanied a gush of cool air. And Samantha’s excited cry of, “Yes!”
“Bella?”
“Antonio, you’re not going to—Ahh!“ she cried, followed by breaking glass, a loud smash, and another scream from Samantha.
I lunged forward, ramming my knee into one of the casks, making the turn into the tasting room. “Samantha, are you alright?”