Creepers

23

The professor stiffened.

"I feel…" He exhaled. "… the stairs shifting."

Creak.

Hesitant, he took another step upward.

Creak.

"Definitely shifting."

"Don't move." Balenger watched the staircase begin to sway.

"I suddenly feel as if I'm on a boat," Conklin said.

Crack. The staircase swayed more discernibly.

"No!"

"Try to take my hand." Rick braced himself at the top of the stairs and reached down. "Cora. Vinnie." His voice was stark. "Grab me from behind so I don't get pulled onto the stairs."

Crack.

"If I reach up," Conklin said, "that'll shift my weight and make the staircase-"

As if anticipating his next words, the staircase wobbled.

Rick extended his arm farther, straining. "Damn it, I can't quite-"

Crack.

"It sounds like it's going to…" Vinnie held Rick tighter. Rick leaned farther down the stairs.

"Even if I stretch my arm, I'm not close enough." Conklin's voice trembled.

Crack.

"We can't just let him…" Cora held Rick with all her might.

"The rope," Balenger demanded. "Who's got it?"

"I do," Vinnie said.

Balenger rushed to him, unzipped his pack, and tugged out the rope. It was bundled in a figure eight. Thin. Made of twisted strands of blue nylon. Climber's rope.

Urgent, Balenger made a loop at one end and tied a slipknot. He hurried next to Rick, his headlamp revealing the professor's frightened features.

"I'm going to throw a loop around you," Balenger told him.

Behind his spectacles, Conklin's eyes were huge with apprehension.

"Raise your arms through the loop," Balenger ordered. "Adjust the rope so it's under your arms."

CRACK.

The professor flinched as the stairs jerked.

"When the rope's under your arms, tighten the slipknot. Make the rope as secure around your chest as possible."

No reply.

"Professor, do you understand me?"

CRACK.

The stairs swayed out of control.

"No!" Balenger swung the rope above his head and hurled it toward Conklin. It fell past the heavy man's shoulders. He swung the rope again, threw it, and felt his heart speed as the loop dropped over the professor's head, catching on his left shoulder.

"Reach through it!"

Conklin pushed his hands under the loop and enfolded it with his arms.

"Under your arms! The slipknot! Tighten it!"

Barely able to control his movements, the professor obeyed.

"Rick! Cora! Vinnie! Grab the rope! We need to anchor it!"

"This post on the balustrade," Rick said. "Wrap the e around it."

"Might not hold. Wrap the rope around each of you!" Balenger said. "Lean back! Hang on! There's going to be a hell of a jolt!" He secured the rope around his chest in a belaying position and braced himself. "Professor, try to walk up!"

"Walk?" Conklin tried to keep his balance on the swaying stairs.

"Maybe they'll hold!"

The professor swallowed. He took a step upward.

The stairway collapsed.