(Features non-con and plants!)
The camping trip wasn't a complete waste, even if it had been raining all night. Katy left the tent, poking her head out to check the weather. The rain had finally relented, although the sky was still overcast and threatened to downpour again. Her boyfriend, Brandon, still sleeping soundly, he had carried most of the gear, he deserved a few more hours of rest as she didn't wake him. She had pulled on her boots and jacket, as she headed out. The clearing they had set up had almost turned into a puddle at this point. They had been lucky that the rainwater hadn't gotten into the tent while they had slept. The camping trip would have to be cut short, the rain had abated for now but it looked like it would start again any minute. After they had managed to set up the tent last night and dried off it hadn't been the worst trip, they couldn't build a fire or do any hiking, but some alone time with Brandon was never a bad thing, just the two of them and the sound of rain falling in the woods.
Katy wouldn't pass up the small window she had to walk along the trails though. Water still dripped from the leaves above her but at least more wasn't actively falling. She walked along as fast as she could while keeping her footing. It was hardly the most pleasant time to be in the woods, they had been promised clear skies, but being alone and off campus was nice enough. With the weather scaring people off it was probably just the two of them for miles around. She headed up one of the steeper trails, moving slower as she went, there was supposed to be an awesome view over the cliffs, and even with the clouds in the sky, she hoped it would be worth the photo.
It took her another ten minutes to reach it, but it at least did turn out to be worth it. Even with the overcast light she could see for miles, with the forest blanketing the ground. Brandon had been trying to convince her to come out on the trip for weeks, maybe he had been right about it after all. Katy pulled out her phone, snapping a quick picture. She moved to take another one, stepping back to get better framing when her foot caught on something and she tumbled backward. Katy tried to catch herself, swinging her arms in a wild attempt to reclaim her balance. It wasn't over the cliff but instead back and down the steep incline that she had just climbed. She let out a yell as she fell, rolling over and over, losing track of her phone what was happening as the forest spun around. Mud splattered against her as her descent slowly stopped, leaving her at the foot of the hill.
Katy pushed herself up slowly off of the ground, spitting out mud and brushing leaves off of her face. "Great. Just great." Now she was stuck like this until they got back to the hotel. For what she could tell she wasn't injured, just some bruises. She sat up, looking around for her phone but she couldn't see it anywhere. It couldn't have landed too far. Katy kicked some of the leaves at her feet, searching for it. Then she heard a branch snap underneath her and the ground gave way. She tried jumping forward and away from the hole that was suddenly forming beneath her, but all she managed to do was grab a root in front of her and slow her sudden descent slightly. With a crack the root gave way and she fell down several feet onto the muddy rock.
She winced at the pain, but it didn't seem like any skin had been broken. Katy looked around, finally on stable ground but also a dozen or so feet below the surface now. Things just kept getting worse. She didn't even have her phone on her now. She looked around where she had landed, she could make out in the darkness what she assumed were roots from the trees above her, it seemed like she had fallen through the roof of a cave. Given how little light from the overcast sky reached her, she couldn't see much, having to use her hands to feel along the roots on the wall. "Brandon!" She shouted as loud as she could. She called a dozen more times, each more desperate than the last, but didn't get any response. She was pretty far from where they had set up camp, she doubted he'd be able to hear her. That left her on her own.
Katy tried climbing out of the hole, but the roots down by her were too thin to hold her weight and broke before she could reach up to the thicker ones. Even trying to jump up she couldn't get high enough to reach any of them. After trying to climb for half an hour she gave up, completely exhausted, she'd have to find another way. She hadn't explored the entire cave she was in, the light from above barely illuminated the area just around her, so she didn't even know how big it was, fortunately, it didn't sound like there were any animals down here. The thought of falling into some den made her even more nervous. Steeling herself she slowly began moving off in a random direction. As she left the hole behind she was left in total darkness, feeling her way along the wall each step of the way with one hand, the other stretched in front of her, making sure she didn't walk into anything. She couldn't even see either of them as she moved deeper in the darkness. Her movements were slow, she was too concerned with falling again or hurting herself to set a faster pace.
It was impossible for her to track how much time was passing, she had no idea how far she had gone or how long she had been walking, but she needed a break. Katy sat down on what felt like a fairly clean rock, not that she could see if it really was. This was supposed to be a nice short romantic trip to the woods. Now she was a muddy mess, had lost her phone, and the rain had ruined everything. Katy didn't even dare think of what would happen if this stopped in some dead end with now where for her to go, there had to be a way out of here. Sitting here wouldn't get her out of the situation though, she had to find a way out on her own.
Pushing herself up she continued further into the cave, slightly less tired than when she had sat down. It was all faceless featureless rock from what her hands could discern, and if she wasn't walking she wouldn't have thought that it was any different than she had encountered ten minutes ago. Just when Katy thought she might be going mad from the oppressive darkness, not even able to see her own nose, she saw something. There was a faint blue glow ahead of her. The first thought that raced through her head was that it could be her phone. It couldn't possibly have gotten into the cave in, but that didn't stop her from surging forward with hope and quickly moving over to it.