She looked up at the lightening sky. They had to find shelter before the sun came up. A hundred metres or so down the hill she could now see the last cable car column they’d passed on the way up. She wanted a direction. A path. Surely no one would go to the trouble of keeping a trail open if it led nowhere? And it was much flatter. She ran back towards Bibi.

“I found a trail!” she shouted. “A real trail. Come, get up, we don’t have much time!”

“A trail to where?”

“I don’t know. But we might as well follow it. We’ll have to run.”

“I can’t run, One. I can’t.”

“Come now! Get up,” She grabbed her mother’s arm and pulled.

“One. I am done. I can’t even shuffle, much less run.”

Sorrel was caught between the approaching dawn and her exhausted mother. She remembered the square hole she’d seen in the hillside. “There’s a dry culvert near the trail. It’ll be cool inside. It’s dry too. Wait there. You can’t stay here in the open. Come on Bibi! It’s hide or run now. No other choice.”

They stood looking up at the culvert. “We should both stay here,” Bibi said. “You don’t know who made that trail or where it leads. It’s reckless, One.”

“We can’t live in a culvert. We’ll drown in a rain bomb, if it falls in the right place. We’ll get no warning. There’s no food. No water, until there’s too much water. We can spend this day here, sweltering underground, but then what? Same choice tomorrow night. Might as well face it now.”

“Daylight is nearly here – how far can you get?”

“I don’t know, Bibi! I don’t know but I want to have a look. I probably have half an hour. Look, there’s no time to argue!” Sorrel cried. “You have to trust me now! Climb on my shoulders, like we did to get into the tank.”

Her mother said nothing more. Sorrel knelt, Bibi stepped between her shoulder blades, and then her weight was gone.

“You take the packs,” Sorrel said, heaving the first one to the culvert’s entrance. “I’ll be able to run faster. The PlAK’s inside this one. See if you can position the charger so it catches a little of the sun. Try to sleep.”

Bibi hauled the packs in. “You have water?” Her mother’s voice sounded hollow and beaten. Sorrel was sure she couldn’t continue up the mountain.

“Yes. Hang in there, Bibi. I’ll be back.”

She left her mother and ran towards the trail. Thirty minutes more and the scorching heat of the day would bear down upon her.

CHAPTER 13 – CENOTE