By the time they reached the cable car station they’d been plunged into darkness and the raindrops were like bullets hammering down.
“Fuck.” Levi banged on the locked door.
“It doesn’t look promising.” The building was in darkness, clearly abandoned by the staff. “What are we going to do?” Tia stepped behind a wall to give herself some relief from the driving wind.
“I guess we’ll have to hike down.” He took out his map and shook it. “Shit!” The wind tore it from his hands. “Jesus Christ.” He scrabbled for it, but it was too late. A current of air had claimed it and sucked it upwards.
Tia clenched her fists; her hands were cold, but her body was warm from the exertion.
“Damn it.” Levi stepped behind the wall with her and leaned his head back on the bricks.
“I don’t think we can hike down,” Tia said. “The weather is too bad. We’ll get struck by lightning or slip to our deaths.”
Levi pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. “Damn it. I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Her brain was ticking through their options, which weren’t many.
“For getting you into this situation, it sucks.”
“Hey, I came with you of my own free will. It’s no one’s fault.”
He dropped his hands. “That’s kind of you to say.”
“Damn shame this door isn’t open. We could have just sheltered in there for the night.”
“Shall I go and see if the gift shop or café is open?”
“Yeah, good idea.”
“You wait here.”
“Okay.”
He disappeared around the corner. Tia stared at a bush to her right that shook and shivered in the wind. Another huge clap of thunder made her jump and she pressed her hand over her mouth.
A few minutes later Levi returned. “No luck.” He pushed his fingers through his hair, flattening it on his head. “We’re on our own up here for the night.”
“I know.” Under any other circumstances a night alone with Levi was very appealing, but right now Tia was thinking about survival.
“What have you got in your bag?” he asked.
“Some food and water, not much. A torch, my phone—”
“Phone.” He tutted. “Let’s just call for help.” He scrabbled in his pocket and pulled out his. “Damn it. Out of battery.”
Tia shielded hers from the rain. “No signal.”
He shook his head and sighed. “What else you got?”
“A cap, sun cream and a scarf.”
“Okay, that’s not bad, we’ve got food and water covered, and we’re warm and waterproof.” He looked at her jeans. “Sort of.”
“We have to get out of this, though.”
“Yep. I’ve got a square of tarp in my bag. It’s not huge, but if we find an indent in the rocks we could block ourselves in.”
“Oh, I saw one, not far from here. When you said about wild animals I thought it looked like a small cave, a lair or something.”
Through the darkness she saw hope flash over his eyes. “Great. Lead the way.”
