The Number 8

Chapter 12

There was a nervous tension permeating the bus. They had no idea what they were in for. Some were peering out of their windows looking for signs that they were nearly there. Others were silent and motionless. But it was clear that all were excited. They had no idea that Black Water Rafting was a combination of abseiling, freezing water and huge eels slithering through the blackness below them. Dante did, so he was just plain excited, but also restless, checking his watch every five seconds. This made Asmir a little uncomfortable. Asmir had continually tried to get Dante to tell him more about what they were about to go through, but Dante had refused. He didn’t want to build it up only for it to disappoint. After all, Dante had never actually done it before, but he had done several virtual tours. So he knew what to expect and he didn’t mind building it up in his own mind.

A couple of minutes rolled by and things began to change. People began to see the signs. The caves were 1km away now and the bus began to audibly awaken. Eyes lit up and smiles appeared. Even Viktor was grinning and boasting about how he was “a pro black water rafter.” Dante was sure he had no idea what it was.

How foolish you’re going to look half an hour from now.

It was that that brought a grin to Dante’s face. He couldn’t wait to see Viktor floundering in the ice-cold, jet-black water.

As Dante could have predicted, Viktor had pushed his way to the front of the queue when the bus finally came to a stop. He was hollering and chanting on his own. This made both Dante and Asmir fall over themselves laughing, because it seemed Viktor was the only one who hadn’t realized that this stop was not for the caves, but for the wetsuits. He was quickly put in his place when Mel said over the loudspeaker, “All the girls please exit first and line up outside the blue building over there to collect your wetsuits. Oh and Viktor…please sit down.”

The whole bus roared with laughter as a dejected Viktor slunk his way back to his seat. A great moment. For the rest of them of course, not for Viktor, who would think twice before making a beeline for the door early again.

Five minutes later all the passengers were back in the bus with their wetsuits on their laps. Dante had taken about ten seconds to pick out his wetsuit. His body type was decisively medium. Height-wise, weight-wise and even his build could only really be described as medium. He was fit and quite toned, but not shredded and definitely not skinny. Asmir on the other hand wasn’t really anything. He had abnormally wide shoulders for someone of 5’11, yet his hips were those more frequently seen on a runway model. With his freakishly large hands and feet, he could’ve made an excellent swimmer.

It was getting warm now. As the driver started up the engine there were shouts for the air conditioning to be turned on. He obliged. With a clunk and a high-pitched whirring, the AC started up and the bus became more bearable. They pulled slowly out of their last pit-stop and began their very short trip to the caves. As they were leaving, Dante saw Asmir turn towards the light blue building and snap a shot of it with his camera.

“Why’d you do that?” Dante asked, as there seemed to be nothing special about the setting at all.

“Sometimes what you think will make a shitty shot proves to be anything but. Check it.”

He swiveled the screen towards Dante so he could see his work and sure enough, it was a beautiful picture. The glare of the sun on the window had sent a strange ethereal haze cascading over the light blue building. It was just a little bit magical. Asmir really was talented. But not wanting to give him a big head, Dante just grunted, “It’s OK.”

Asmir seemed to see right through this and began to show others around him. He had always had a big head, but at least now he could be arrogant about something he was actually good at. He tried to explain to the helpless passengers why the light fell that way or how the lens he was using affected the shot. No one shut him down straight away. They were all very polite about listening to his boring rant, simply because in all other aspects of his life he was so incredibly interesting. Of course, for those that were knowledgeable on the subject of photography, the conversation would have been riveting. But it just so happened that none of those people had booked a tour on bus number 8. One by one he bored the back of the bus to death. They patiently nodded until he finished or simply feigned a headache. Unsurprisingly few actually needed to feign it. But they didn’t have to put up with it for long because less than ten minutes later, they had arrived at the caves.

Ben bellowed from the front, “I hope you all like eels, because they’re huge down there!”

Chapter 13

Most of them hadn’t realized that before they abseiled down into the caves they would of course have to practice, or risk plummeting into the icy waters below. Dante knew this. While the rest of them were stood around waiting for instruction, Dante had dragged Asmir over to the area where they were meant to be. He would’ve told the others too, but he wanted to be in the first group and, preferably, the first to abseil into the darkness.

Two instructors were waiting for them as they rounded the corner into the sloping training area. One was wearing a harness and prepping himself for a demonstration. The other was older and stony-faced. He was clearly the guy in charge.

He spoke first. “Where’s the rest of ya’ then?”

“I’m sure they’ll work it out soon. What you see here is the smart people on the bus,” Asmir replied.

“There’s only two of ya’.”

“Exactly,” Asmir said proudly. Admittedly he had set that up quite well.

Moments later, the other passengers appeared. But when they saw what was waiting for them they quickly forgot about all of that and fell silent. Some out of fear, others out of excitement. The practice area was on an incline with the passengers at the bottom and the two instructors at the top. The younger one was connecting his harness to a rope that extended from their position to the observers. Each end was held to the floor by a system of carabiniers.

“OK, listen up. Jimmy here is gonna show you how to work the equipment. It’s pretty simple really. We’ve only ever had two accidents. Unfortunate really, nice kids, just didn’t listen.”

“What do you mean by accident? Did they die?” Carl shouted from the back.

“I just told you there was an accident. Isn’t that enough for you? You wanna know the gory details? You wanna know that one girl broke her back and never walked again? Or maybe that the other guy fell 40ft and hit his head so hard that he was in a coma for four months? Yeah, you could say they survived. I wouldn’t.”

That was the last thing he said before walking off to one side and letting the young guy take over. All the eyes followed him trying to detect a hint of deception or even hoping that he would turn to them and say “I’m just kidding.” But he was unreadable and clearly it wasn’t a joke to him. There was an uneasy feeling in the air now. Even Dante could not quite believe what he had heard. Two seriously injured and he just admitted to his customers that they could also be in danger. Not a great strategy.

Dante and Asmir were there first so the younger guy brought them up. Dante had been abseiling before and easily completed the training in under two minutes. Asmir was naturally well co-ordinated so for him the training was also easy. Lean back, feed the rope through the carabinier and repeat. Dante was on alert after the older man’s admission, so he carried on until he felt completely comfortable with the action. It took no more than five minutes. After he was released from his harness he felt better. He had the action down pat. But he was still thinking about the two poor souls who had come to see the glowworms and left in an ambulance. The likelihood was that it was someone who was on a similar trip to him. Here from other countries trying to see New Zealand for the first time. The accident would’ve ruined their trip and as the older guy had said, ruined their lives too. Dante wanted to know more, the details of what had happened in each case and what specifically to avoid doing down there, so he edged closer to the older guy. By now he was entirely uninterested with what was happening in front of him. He was clearly there just to oversee the progress of his apprentice. He was glancing at his watch, then at his phone, then back at his watch. A pointless action as every phone has a built-in clock these days. So if he was open to a conversation, this was as good a time as any. But he had to get the opener right.

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