The rope continued pulling at him, lifting him into the air. The pressure on his left ankle, where the rope had settled, was excruciating. His shoulders were still on the ground, but with each passing second, he rose.

They couldn’t hear him. He still had his suit on, and it was muffling his voice.

He had no choice. He knew it might end his life, but he tore his helmet off and shouted as loud as he could, “Stop!”

The reaction, unfortunately, was instantaneous. He fell immediately back to the jagged rock floor. A shock of pain swept through his body. He rolled over, but it made the hurt even worse. He lay still, wishing it would end. For a moment, he thought he would throw up. The nausea passed, and slowly the voice calling down from above came into focus. “Dr. Thomas! Are you all right?”

“Not really,” he mumbled.

“What?” It was Kito, his local guide and interpreter.

“Just… give me a minute,” Millen yelled.

By degrees, he sat up and took stock. The fall had banged him up pretty badly. He had what felt like a bruised rib, and he doubted there was a single part of his body that wasn’t either skinned up or bruised. On the whole, however, he was okay. He would live. He could hike out. He counted himself very, very lucky. The bulky suit had provided some padding.

But the shaft he had fallen into was at least twenty feet deep, and the bruised rib would make it difficult for him to climb.

Thankfully, Kito had called the camp for backup. He had four men with him, and together, they were able to pull Millen up—though the process was far from pain-free.

As soon as he caught his breath, Millen thanked the men at length. They had brought food and water into the cave, and Millen was glad. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he took the first bite. When the MRE was half gone, an idea came to him. He placed his helmet back on and stood.

“Can you hike out?” Kito asked.

“I won’t set any land speed records, but I can manage,” Millen said. “But first, I’m going to finish what I came here for.”

Twenty minutes later, Millen watched the bat land near the open MRE and begin nibbling at it. He took aim, pulled the trigger, and tranquilized the animal. It jerked for a moment or two, then fell limp. Millen scooped it up and placed it in the sack.

“Now we can go.”

When the six men reached the green chemlight, they made radio contact with two more Kenyan soldiers waiting by the SUVs at the entrance to the cave. Kito informed Millen that the two soldiers that had originally driven them here had gone missing—along with the SUV.

“Probably deserted,” Kito said. “They have families too. They’re no doubt worried about the virus reaching them.”