It was Wendell. He had heard them. He stood and walked over to Jock. “I don’t care for them much, either. Tunnels, I mean. Any kind of hole. Not where I’ve been. Come to think of it, I don’t care for jeeps much, or brass who never been on the front line, or truck beds, or these goddamn coverall fatigues. It’s all a damn prison cell. So let’s just get through this, me and you. Just like up on the line. So? What do you say?”

Kanani looked back to Jock and saw his face shining and his teeth sparkling, finding the dim light. He nodded at Wendell. “Fuck ’em all,” he said.

“That’s right. So buck up, gyrene.”

“All right, dogface,” Jock said. “We go.”

And on they went.

They came to a second lava tube tunnel, branching off theirs.

Now Kanani slowed. The map came rushing back to her, plastered onto her eyeballs like a View-Master. Her heart squeezed up, restricting the blood in her legs, and they felt so heavy.

Jock came over to her, letting Wendell rest with his canteen. “You know the way. What’s wrong? You can’t remember it?”

“No, I can.”

“So?”

“That new tunnel doesn’t go far. It’s one way. A storage cave.”

“For what?”

She shook her head.

“Listen. Whatever it is that’s eating at you, you have to face it.”

“He’s right,” Wendell added from over at his spot.

Kanani whipped around to him. “They go and replace your ears or what?” she snapped. “Give you supersonic hearing?”

“You have to see it,” Wendell said, “so you can choose.”

Kanani growled at him and grabbed Jock’s flashlight from his hand. She marched off into the connecting tunnel.

***

Wendell and Jock followed her, with Jock on his tiptoes now because of the near darkness—only Kanani’s narrow flashlight ahead and one dim bulb above offering any light. It wasn’t far. The tunnel was just a cave. They found her at the end, staring at a boarded-up narrow opening. She was shaking her head at it.

“I don’t want to see,” she muttered.

“Yes, you do,” Jock said.

“You have to,” Wendell added.

She glared at them, her hands on her hips. She handed the flashlight back to Jock. “You’re the big strong Marine guy. Pull one of those boards back.”

Jock nodded, and at Wendell. The opening was no taller than Jock. He stepped up to the boards, just thin slats hammered to a frame like a standing pallet, the wood still new. He reached up and pulled away a slat, bringing a creak of nails coming out. He straightened his shoulders, took a deep breath, and shined the light in. He stole a glance back at Kanani and pulled away a couple more slats, faster each time.

He shined the light in again. He leaned forward, his head inside, the light dancing around.