29| Panicked

                                    

                                          
As the flashlight lit up the well floor, I never expected to see what I did. There in front of me, was the decomposing body of a woman. Her skin was withering away and her mouth was wide open. Shocked and in a panic, I backed up, tripping over something else and landing on something sharp that stabbed into my arm. 
                          
I shined the light up with shakey hands to reveal that I had fallen into the lap of another body. This was the body of a male. His shirt was bloodied, and there was a hole in it as if he had been shot in the chest. I quickly scrambled up, realizing that what had stabbed my arm, was this man's broken femur sticking straight through the decomposing flesh on his leg.
                          
Horrified, I let out a scream. 
                          
"Cassie! Are you okay?" Nathan called down.
                          
"What's going on?" Jake yelled, concern very evident in his voice. 
                          
I got to my feet, shining the light around once more to make sure there wasn't anything else down here we could use. I saw there were two additional backpacks, so I grabbed them and secured them to my body. I shined the light around trying to find the rope, where I discovered there were two more bodies, decomposed to the point of not being able to tell the gender, and bent and piled on top of each other like they had been thrown down here from the top.
                          
I took a step toward the rope when a nauseating crunch echoed in the well. I had stepped on the arm of a 5th body, snapping it and tripping forward into the two twisted bodies. The guys were shouting down to me, but I was too panicked to register what they were saying. 
                          
"Oh my god," I cried. I had never seen anything like this. I felt death everywhere. All I wanted to do, was get out of here and allow the guys to comfort me. I wanted to scrub off the flesh of the dead strangers, and keep scrubbing until the images of what I saw down here were erased from my mind. 
                          
I fumbled with the rope, getting into position. "Pull me up! Hurry! Please!" I screamed. The rope started moving instantly. I felt relieved that I was getting out of there, but I couldn't stop picturing the face of the woman at the bottom; The man's shattered leg that pierced the flesh on my arm, and the gunshot wound in his chest; The crumpled decomposing bodies of the other two strangers, and the sickening crunch of the last body as I broke the bone. Tears flowed freely from my eyes while my trembling body was rising to the surface.
                          
"Cassie please talk to us! Are you okay?" Jake called down. 
                          
"Please just hurry!" I replied. Was I okay? I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get passed what I saw; at least not today. I started getting lightheaded, like I was going to pass out but forced myself to keep hanging on. The guys were pulling as fast as they could, and I'd arrive at the top soon. If I passed out, I would end up back at the bottom with all of the bodies. It wasn't too long before I could hear them grunting as they pulled on the rope, and I knew I was close. 
                          
Finally, I arrived at the top. "Here Cass, hand me the backpacks first so I can grab you easier," Nathan said. I did as I was told, releasing my shaking hand from the rope and passing the backpacks to Nathan one at a time. Jake kept the rope tight and where it should be, although his arms were noticeably shaking. 
                          
"Okay. Come here Cass; put your arm around my neck," Nate instructed. I raised up my arm to do so.
                          
"Holy shit," he said, taking my arm in his hands. "She's bleeding really bad. Cassie what happened?"
                          
I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I couldn't stop crying; as much as I wanted to answer their questions, I just couldn't get myself to say anything.
                          
"Nate. Pull her in first and ask questions later. I don't know how much longer I can hold this," Jake grumbled. 
                          
"Right sorry." Nathan gently placed my bloody arm around his neck, and pulled my body back up onto the edge of the well. Jake pulled the rope off of me and flung it to the ground.