The Last Descent Page #4

him, and he didn't have any leverage.

SUSIE:

All right, give it a tug.

[Susie grunts]

SUSE:

H's as humid as he down there.

The moisture's constantly working

on the outer layer of rock.

It makes it both slick and soft.

If we can't get those anchors in

far enough, we've got a real problem.

We haven't tried cutting

the rock free from around him.

And there's other options.

Like what,

take out the peanut oil?

What, guys?

Another rescue agency ordered

four gallons of peanut oil,

hope that they could pour it

on him and he'd just slip free.

It's either that or drilling.

The time it'll take to get

the equipment down there,

it's going to take

five times as long

to set up a good pulley system.

We don't have

that kind of time.

Sheriff, it's your call.

Okay.

[III]

No!

No! Stay away from her!

No, stay away from her!

[John jerking violently]

Calm down, John.

-Get away from her!

Calm down, John.

Hey! Hey, it's okay.

Hey, hey, it's okay.

Just, just let it pass.

Okay, just feel it,

and let it pass, okay?

[John coughing]

AARON:

It's gonna be all right.

Look...

I'm not leaving here

without you.

Okay, but when the time comes,

I need every ounce of energy

you've got to help me push.

Can you be with me on that?

- [John coughs]

Yeah.

Man, your job really sucks.

[both chuckle]

You know, I thought that

about everyone else's job.

I get to visit cool places

and help people,

but, granted, fight now,

yeah, this really sucks.

Yeah.

So what's

your track record, anyway?

Like, how many

have you tried to free

and how many

actually made it out?

Like a percentage?

How many?

Well, we all go for 100%.

It just doesn't always go that way.

JOHN:

You know, uh,

I could actually go for

some more Gatorade right now.

[chuckles]

You sure it's not gonna

make matters worse?

That stuff really

isn't that bad anymore.

AARON:
All right.

Hold on. Just a second.

All right.

Comm' down.

Thank you.

AARON:

You got it?

Got it.

Yeah, that stuff

really isn't that bad.

I used to think

it tasted like dish soap, but...

JOHN:

It's becoming my favorite.

AARON:

That's a good sign.

H 6Y-

Hey, Aaron.

-Yeah?

How are you doing?

I'm great, man.

-You good?

AARON:
Hey, don't worry

about me, okay?

You just focus on breathing.

You just breathe.

Very slow. Slow and easy.

[Aaron grunts, exhales]

Well, we've got

a little bit of time here.

Why don't you tell me

about yourself, John.

Where are you from?

Oh, and, uh, make sure

you take a deep breath

before you start talking.

I want you to breathe

slow and easy for now.

Slow and easy.

[III]

JOHN:

I've had a pretty normal life.

Kind of boring

when it all comes down to it.

I'm just your average guy.

-YOUNG JOSH:
Give it back!

AARON".

Oh, come on, John, heh,

there's no such thing as average.

Every/body's got a story.

YOUNG JOSH:

You're so mean.

JOHN:

I'm from St. George.

1 have four brothers

and two sisters.

With my little brother Josh,

1 just did what any

older brother does.

That's mine!

You can't take it!

What, this?

Make life as miserable as possible.

Is that all you got?

You're supposed to be

an example to your brothers.

Take care of them,

teach them stuff.

But! had this idea

that it was my job

to help toughen them up, you know?

Maybe 1 had a little

too much fun doing that pan.

1 still can'! figure out

how my mom and dad did it.

It was nuts.

I look at it now and it's not

"How did you do it, "

but more,

Show me how you did it.

They're amazing.

And, man, we broke everything.

[III]

You know what's funny?

We would fight and tease.

But we were always there

for each other.

Josh is the closest to my age,

so naturally,

we did the most together,

for better or worse.

I'm probably

the most competitive

and crazy one in the family.

I played basketball

and football in high school.

And thanks to my family,

1 had the largest

fan group of them ail.

[III]

Hi.

What the...

Who are you?

JOHN:

Who are you?

YOUNG JOSH:

Give it back!

- [John jerking violently]

-AARON:
I need you to listen!

Come on, hey, hey!

Nothing's changed.

Hey, it's just me and you.

AARON:
lfsjust me

and you. It's okay.

Gosh, I'm so tired of that.

[drill whirring in distance]

What's that sound?

It's just the drills.

They got

the first two into position.

AARON:
Let's get you

more to drink, okay?

JOHN:

Okay.

Comm' down.

Okay.

[chuckles]

Go easy, dude.

[effoning exhale]

That's actually pretty good now.

Try to cast

the cable back right.

Seeing one of those takes me

back into my mission.

I think that's

the first time I used one.

Mission, huh?

V\/here'd you go?

Ecuador.

How about you?

Look at you assuming things.

You know,

not everyone in Utah is Mormon.

That's my bad, man.

You got to ask though, right?

There's just tons out here.

I live in Virginia,

where, I'm just saying,

a mission would throw

most people off.

[exhales]

Yeah, you can't

really assume anymore.

Vegas. Spanish speaking.

Thanks, man.

I thought I killed

the conversation, man.

Nobody wants

to be that guy, you know?

So you had

to suffer through Spanish?

Oh, yeah,

it was pretty rough.

No. No, it just sucked.

Yeah, it sucked.

Do you still speak it?

When I can.

I sound terrible, though.

Did you ever, like,

dream in Spanish?

Yeah.

It's funny, I spent

so much time out there

talking about life and death

with anybody who'll listen.

- [distant drilling continues]

Try to teach about something

we may not truly understand

until we die.

And now...

Boom, here I am.

John?

-I'm pretty sure I literally

have been staring

death in the face.

Hey, John,

promise me you won't

talk like that again.

It's just...

We just don't need

to talk about it.

I'm pretty sure you get

to talk life and death

with people like me

all the time, right?

[sighs]

Well, I try to avoid it.

To be honest with you, man,

I haven't really been into

the church thing for a while.

Really, any kind of church.

Just wasn't your thing or...

I don't know.

I'm just living my life

a day at a time,

just trying to do my job right,

help people.

They can learn about

all that life and death stuff

when they're on the surface,

when we're not involved.

So helping people

Look at that.

You believe

in something, right?

Yeah, sure.

I thought you were gonna start

preaching to me.

[chuckles]

No. To each their own.

It's fun to hear

other people's thoughts

on this stuff, though.

It probably sounds

lame to most,

but to be honest,

it makes me feel at peace.

Yeah, that's the reason

why we do all this

church stuff anyway, right?

To feel good?

-I guess so.

It'd probably be good if

more people treated it like that.

You know,

as long as you find

what makes you happy.

Yeah? I mean, that's kind of

the endless search

for everyone, it seems,

and every time...

[laughs]

Wow!

[John chuckles]

AARON:
Look at you

sneaking that in on me.

Man, you want me

to save you first,

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