Thankfully for him, though, they couldn’t reach him from where he lay on a ledge. The Pests keep trying to climb to him, but their shaky bodies won’t hold still long enough making them lose their grips and tumble back down. Peering down into it, the hole looks almost big enough to be considered a canyon. “Are you okay?” She hollers down to the man. He doesn’t respond. She studies him. He’s lying half on his right side with his arm bent behind him in a sickly angle. His face is mostly buried in the mud and dark dry blood is pooled under his mouth. Pip comes to the conclusion that he fell down into the hole, probably during the storm. If he didn’t fall down during the storm, then that means he’s been down there for two days or more and he’s probably dead. Pip thinks logically about the situation. If he was dead, the Pests wouldn’t be trying to get to him, so he must just be hurt. She remembers her decision to make a difference, so she won’t leave him here. She takes her heavy backpack off her shoulders feeling lighter than air as her backpack weighed more than fifty pounds. At least it felt that way, she hadn’t actually weighed it. Pip doesn’t like to take it off her back unless she’s somewhere safe, like the RV, but it will be impossible to get the man out of the almost canyon with it on. She takes a rope from where she keeps it wrapped around the bag, throws it over her head and sticks her arm through it leaving it to hang from her …show more content…
It’s barely big enough for them to be on it at the same time. She takes a deep breath and begins to climb back out again. It’s easy for the first few feet until the rope grows taut and she has to start lifting the man too. She tries to do it slowly so she doesn’t hurt him any more than he already is, but the ledge cracks more and gives way before she even has him all the way lifted off of it. The rest of the man’s weight nearly drags her down. She has to dig her fingers deep into the rocks so she doesn’t lose her grip. One of her nails, the right ring finger nail, is broken almost all the way off. She grits her teeth to keep from screaming and keeps on climbing before the Pests can grab the man’s feet and start pulling on them. She would definitely fall if that happened. Thankfully the falling ledge slows them down by crushing the unfortunate ones underneath. The rest climb over the dead or dying Pests and reach for the man, their fingers barely reach his untied shoe laces. The rest of the climb is rhythmic. She moves one leg up and pushes then the other. And when her legs need a break, she uses her arms to pull. By the time she reaches the top of the almost canyon, she’s