I inhaled, taking as deep of a breath as I could in the tight space. Then I pushed through with my feet, straining. I could not move. I was stuck and I would die right here. For a second, the walls closed in and I thought I was going to black out. I pushed again. At the same time, Sadie pulled harder on the rope and I slid forward a few inches. We repeated this pattern, my pushing, her tugging at the rope twenty, maybe thirty more times, my progress painstakingly slow. My skin burned, rubbed raw by the rough piping. My muscles ached and I wanted to give up. But Sadie coaxed me on, her voice like a beacon. “You can do this. I promise, we’re going to make it through.” In the dark space before me in the tunnel, I saw Krys, imagined him urging me on. Whatever happened, I wanted him to be proud of me and to know that I hadn’t given up.

Sadie’s voice became gradually louder and at last I could see where there was faint light. I was almost there. I gave a mighty shove and squeezed out of the tunnel and fell to the ground on my knees. Sadie stared at me as I stood up. “You’re filthy,” she said. “You look just like me now.” We both laughed.

There was no time for humor, though. “Come,” Sadie said, pulling me down the path on which we now stood. The tunnel was bigger here, and I had to hunch over only slightly to fit. Sadie moved a bit more slowly now, her breathing labored. I wanted to urge her to go more quickly. We had to reach the outside and be well away before daylight. I felt certain that Kara would have done as she promised and rescued Saul and his father by now, if they had made it out. But I did not know if she knew about the other sewer grate and whether she would anticipate and meet us there. I was worried she might leave without us.

The tunnel sloped upward. We were getting closer to the street, I thought, allowing my hopes to rise just a little. We rounded a corner and stepped into a chamber with a deep, water-filled basin, about four meters across, and a high ledge on the far side.

“You have to cross this to get to the grate by the river?” I asked with disbelief. She nodded. The wall on the far side was sheer rock and the ledge we had to reach at least two meters high. I marveled that she had managed it on her own so many times.

“But I’ve never had to do it like this.” She pointed into the basin below. “Usually it’s empty, not filled with water. The explosions must have destroyed one of the levees.” There was a loud rushing sound as water poured into the chamber we had to cross from an unseen source at great speed. In a few minutes, the whole thing would be filled.