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“There is room for two if you want to join me.” He patted the area beside him.
       “You do look very comfortable.” Ramira smiled. She sat down beside him.
       “How are you feeling?” Zaac had noticed her slowing down.
       “I’m exhausted.” She could feel the toll her body was taking. “What a day.”
       “Tell me about it. When the ground opened under me and I went down, I thought that I was a goner.” 
       “Me too. I can’t believe we survived.” With a sudden shudder, she added, “It seemed like my life flashed before my eyes.”
       “I know what you mean. I’ve had one bad experience while climbing but it was nothing like this.” Zaac reached up for the headlamp, “I think we ought to turn off the light. Make it last as long as possible.”
       “Yes I know.” Ramira nodded her head in agreement. “I really don’t care for the darkness, though. It makes me feel a little disoriented and dizzy. It is almost like the total darkness plays tricks on your mind.”
       “I think it does too,” Zaac said. “I told you that I was biking. What were you doing at the lake?”
       “I live a couple of miles away. I love that spot. It’s so peaceful. With my brothers, I need to get away. Today I came up here to study for final exams.”
       “Final exams? You have some textbooks?” he asked with excitement in his voice.
       “Yes I have three textbooks. I’m still lugging these stupid things around.”
       Zaac looked at her. “Do you mind if one of them gets totally trashed?”
       “What do you mean?”
       “I mean ripped apart. We can use the pages to make a fire.”
       “Sure. Anything is better than being in complete darkness. How do you plan on starting a fire? Did you bring some matches?”
       “No. I brought something even better.” He pulled his kit out of his pack.
       “What’s that?”
       “It is a fire starter kit.”
       Zaac extracted a cotton ball smeared with a small layer of petroleum jelly, the flint stick and replica fire steel. “Which textbook do you want me to use?”
       She pulled out her trig book. “I’m glad that we can put this book to good use. It finally serves a purpose.”
       Zaac grinned and took the book. He ripped out a couple of pages then started tearing them into little shreds. Setting the cotton ball on the floor a couple of feet from them, he did a practice stroke on the flint the way he had been instructed. A nice spark jumped from it. He placed the flint over the cotton ball. It took two strokes for a spark to land on the cotton ball, which erupted gratifyingly into flames. He placed a shred of paper over the ball, then another, and they, too, went up in flames. With the remaining shreds, he got a small fire going. He turned off the flashlight.
       “That ought to give us a little light. It will also put out some heat.” He tore out a few more pages and tossed them to the fire one at a time.
       “That was so cool. Where did you learn that little trick?”
       “Boy Scouts. You want to add a few to the fire? It only seems fair considering it’s your book.”
       “Sure.” She reached for the book and commenced tearing out pages and tossing them on the fire. While her attention was focused on the job at hand, Zaac was able to sit back and watch her. Even after a day of crawling through caves, he thought, she is beautiful.
       This would be perfect if it was an outing that lasted a night or two. Hopefully they would find a way out of here tomorrow and then, that’s all it would be. With that thought in mind, his body began to relax and he started to get sleepy.
       “I think I’m about ready to call it a day,” he said, stifling a yawn.
       “Me too. I think I’ll add a few more pages to the fire and then turn in.” Zaac had already closed his eyes. It wasn’t long before his breathing was even and regular. Throwing one last page on the fire, she sat beside him and