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John Dickey raises his arms in surrender as a man with a machine gun shouts at him to line up next to his rock climbing partners. Just a few hours ago, John and his crew, Jason Singer-Smith, Tommy Caldwell, and Beth Rodden were camped out peacefully, sleeping high up on a rock face in the Pamir Alai mountain range in Kyrgyzstan.
John doesn't know yet why the man is pointing a gun in his face, but he's still hoping that there's been some kind of misunderstanding. He just came on this trip to photograph his friends, the semi-pro climbers. But this morning, they were woken up by gunshots, and a rogue three-man militia demanded that they descend the wall. John even volunteered to go down first and try and clear it all up. But the men forced everyone to climb down.
Now, he's standing in the middle of his trashed campsite at the wrong end of an automatic weapon. John replays his conversation with the men in his head. Is there something he could have said differently when he first descended the cliff face? Some magic combination of words that would have caused all of this to go away? One of the men said his name was Abdul. He introduced the other shorter men as Obed and Suh.
Abdul seems to be the one in charge. He's barking orders to the other men as they search through John's bags. The only thing John thinks he and his friends might have going for them is that the men forced them to take their passports as they packed up the campsite. If they were just going to kill them, would they really need their identification? Plus, the men have taken another man captive too.
He introduced himself as Turat Osmanov. It's clear to John that he's a soldier of some sort in the Kyrgyz army. Maybe they're all just going to be held for ransom and will eventually be returned to safety. John watches as Abdul starts to motion for the Americans to hide their duffel bags and pack up tents in the surrounding bush. John can't help but wonder, who are they hiding this from?
But he complies, shoving his purple duffel bag under a twisted fir tree. Then he glances back at their campsite and notices a yellow square of grass where their dining tent used to be before the men forced them to take it down. It seems obvious to him that there was a campsite here. Maybe another climber will notice and alert the authorities that something's amiss. They were supposed to be camped here for another two weeks.
John sees Abdul get a message over the walkie-talkie he's commandeered from the climbers. Then he starts to freak out. He yells at his fellow rebels and throws a stick at the kidnapped soldier, Turat, but the man hardly moves in response. Then Abdul starts shouting commands that John and his friends don't understand, but it becomes clear when he starts shoving them to the ground. He points wildly, pushing them to hide under the tree.
John can hear the sound of a helicopter approaching. This has to be why Abdul is freaking out. Through the hanging branches of the fir tree, John sees a heavily armored Mi-8 flying 100 feet off the ground, doing a sweep down the river. He holds his breath as it curves around the edge of their camp. Are they going to rescue them? Then, his heart sinks as the helicopter pulls up and disappears over a nearby mountain.
John climbs out from under the tree, brushing the dirt off his knees. Abdul gestures for him and the other captives to put on their backpacks and get going. They're only about 300 yards from their camp when the helicopter comes swooping back over the hill.
Abdul pushes Beth and Tommy into a thorny juniper bush. Then suddenly, Abdul's face is inches from John's, shouting at him, spittle flying, eyes bulging. Before John can move, Abdul points his gun at John's temple. He knows that if he makes any attempts to alert the helicopter, Abdul will put a bullet in his head.
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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. From Wondery, I'm Cassie DePeckel, and this is Against the Odds. On August 12, 2000, four American rock climbers camping in the Karasu region of Kyrgyzstan were kidnapped by rebel militants from the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan. The climbers are just now starting to understand their brutal reality. They're not
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Beth Rodden crawls out from a thorny juniper bush. Her arms are scratched and bleeding. She dusts off her pants and looks up at the sky. It's so still, so quiet here. But just a moment ago, a military helicopter had been roaring overhead. If only they'd seen her, they would have rescued them. She looks over to her fellow climbers as Abdul, the captor, waves them on with his gun.
Go. Move. Walk. By early afternoon, Beth and her fellow climbers have crested a hill that rises between two rivers. She has no idea where they're being taken, but it's clear to her now that they're hostages. The captors eventually signal for Beth to stop walking, so she does, and rests her head on Tommy's shoulder.
It's only been a few hours, but they haven't had a sip of water. Beth knows they're not prepared for any kind of long-distance trek. They're all carrying backpacks. There's no way they'll make it much longer without a meal, and the captors ate most of their food already. She looks on as Abdul surveys the ground below them through a pair of binoculars. Beth watches Abdul smile and wave to someone she can't see.
It must mean there are more people like him, more militia out here in the hills. Beth watches as Abdul pans his binoculars down the hill, about 300 yards to a little farmhouse. She strains to listen as he murmurs something under his breath. On the path below them are a cluster of Kyrgyz soldiers. Maybe they'll spot them and this will all be over.
But suddenly, Abdul is agitated again. He points a crooked finger at Beth and then waves hurriedly for the Americans to run up the hill and take cover. Beth looks over to Singer, who says breathlessly, "They're going to start shooting any minute." Beth turns and starts running uphill. But almost immediately, she falls behind the boys. She's carrying half her body weight in her backpack.
She simply can't move as fast. And what if the Kyrgyz army thinks she's one of the militants? She knows her bright orange backpack will be a clear target if anyone starts shooting. Then suddenly, she feels the weight lift off her back. It's Singer. He's taken the backpack off her and carries it up the hill along with his own. When Beth catches up to him and the other boys, she collapses in the tall grass.
Every day when she climbs, she deals with fear, but nothing like this. Beth stares as Abdul appears next to them, yelling at the other captive, Turat. Beth doesn't understand what he's saying, but it feels like he's warning Turat, like he's threatening him to not alert soldiers below. She watches as Abdul quickly brandishes his gun before walking away to peer over the next hill.
Beth looks over at Turret, who points to the next hill over and speaks in broken English. "Over there. They will kill me." Beth's stomach drops. She just looks at Singer, who responds with one of few Russian words he knows. "Niat, niat. You'll be okay." Beth suddenly realizes she's been holding her breath, and now she gasps for air. Are they really going to kill someone in front of her? She won't be able to handle it.
She looks back over to Singer and notes that he's just staring into the distance. No one knows what is coming next, but she prays Turat is wrong. Tommy crosses a log and plank footbridge over the Aksu River. He moves cautiously, aware of the guns trained on him. His two captors, Abdul and Obed, stand on either bank.
John Dickey walks slowly in front of him while his girlfriend, Beth, follows behind. He just wishes he knew where they were being led. Maybe then he'd be able to make some kind of plan to escape. When they get to the other side of the river, instead of following a tidy path that's been cut into the hillside, Abdul forces them to bushwhack up the hill toward a ridgeline. After a few hundred feet of scrambling, Abdul tells Tommy to stop.
Then he points for him to take Beth and Turat up the hill to sit among the low rocks and branches. They're hiding again. Tommy's relieved that he'll get to stay with Beth, but he's curious what will happen to John and Singer. He turns to locate them and watches as they're let up a different part of the hill, behind a tree.
Positioned between the climbers is a small granite boulder. Abdul crouches behind it and aims his gun down the hill. Tommy follows his line of sight and sees roughly 40 Kyrgyz soldiers milling about the edge of the river below. If they cross over the same footbridge they just used, they'll be right in Abdul's line of fire. If only there was a way to warn them. Tommy can hear whispering and branches rustling all around him.
It's suddenly clear that they're in a rebel stronghold. This is an ambush. He looks over to Beth as she curls up against him to rest. Turat, the other prisoner with them, has shockingly managed to fall asleep using a tree stump as a pillow. There's so much adrenaline in Tommy's system. He can't imagine falling asleep. He looks up to the heavens and watches as a hawk circles them and flies away.
Could it be a good omen? The river hums below them, echoing off the stone walls. And then, all of a sudden, it sounds like 40 machine guns are firing at once. Bullets hit the dirt and bounce off the boulder around them. It's clear the Kyrgyz soldiers want the rebels dead.
But don't they know Tommy and his team are captives? The scent of junipers is replaced with smoke and the metallic smell of machine gun fire. Tommy tries to cover Beth with his body, pressing her into the ground. She's crying, and all Tommy can do is keep repeating, I'll protect you. I'll protect you. Suddenly, Tommy feels something very hot on his back.
Has he been shot? He turns to look and realizes it's only a sliver of hot metal, a shell casing. He's okay, just a burn, but that was close. To the left of him, a grill returns fire. Tommy looks back out through the branches, and in the middle distance, a Kyrgyz soldier crumples to the ground. Tommy feels like he might throw up. Did he just see someone die?
Tommy wraps his arms around Beth as she begins to hyperventilate. It dawns on him that he's almost just been shot himself. Next time, he might not be so lucky. John Dickey huddles in a shallow rut in the ground, trying to stay out of sight. All around him, bullets whiz by and ricochet off the stone walls.
The shooting has been going on for half an hour already, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. Next to him, Singer hides his head in his hands, but John raises his head for a moment, just in time to watch Abdul fire his long-barreled machine gun at the Kyrgyz soldiers below. It sounds like a cannon. Suddenly, Abdul looks over to John and gestures for him to join him behind the small boulder.
John looks away, not wanting to engage. But out of the corner of his eye, he can see Abdul waving at him, insistently. He can't just ignore him. Who knows what he would do? So John does his best to crouch down and crawl through the dust towards Abdul. A bullet hits the earth a few feet from his head, showering him with dirt. He crawls faster, his feet slipping in the dust.
John is panting when he makes it behind the rock where Abdul is waiting for him. Abdul looks up, grins, and places his long-barreled gun on the ground in front of John. Abdul seems to be encouraging him to take it. John's frozen. He doesn't understand what Abdul wants from him. To see if John might be willing to join the rebel cause? Or is this just a weird test? If John reaches for the weapon, will Abdul shoot him with his sidearm?
Before John can react, a bullet bounces off the boulder they're hiding behind, covering them with rock dust. Abdul picks up the gun and turns back to shooting. He waves for John to go back to his hiding spot. John crawls back to the rut he was hiding in as fast as he can. When he arrives, he gives his friend a bear hug, and Singer almost weeps into his shoulder. "I thought he was going to execute you, John."
John is amazed he's still alive. What if he'd picked up the gun? Should he have acted differently? Next time, if he has an opportunity to hold a gun, he might take it. It's time to start thinking of an escape. Beth's entire body tenses when she sees Abdul approaching their hiding spot. She wipes her tear-stained face with her sleeve and nestles back into Tommy's arms.
There's a lull in the shooting for now. She wonders what's going to happen next. Is it time to move again? When Abdul arrives, he speaks only to the other captive, Turat, in Russian. Beth doesn't know what Abdul is saying, but she knows it can't be good. Abdul points to a car-sized boulder up the hill, signaling for Turat to go there. Beth watches Turat stand and smile sadly at her.
Looking into his eyes, Beth can't help herself. She starts to cry again. Turret reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of hard candy. He presses it into Beth's hand and speaks to her calmly. Please don't cry. I'm about to die and I don't cry. The candy sticks to Beth's palm. She watches as Turret walks up the hill and disappears behind a large boulder.
Abdul follows closely behind him. She looks over at Tommy, unsure of what to say. A minute passes, and then they hear two pistol shots at close range. Beth looks down at the candy in her hand and makes a fist around it. Her earlier panic is replaced with something else. Numbness. Any of them could be next. Suddenly, their Kyrgyz soldiers' shooting seems to be intensifying again.
It sounds like they're getting closer. Shots echo all around them. Maybe they're ascending the hill. Abdul reappears and starts yelling at them to run to the boulder where he just sent Tur at. Beth's heart skips a beat. Where are John and Singer? Is he about to shoot all of them?
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Singer's stomach turns as he notices the dark blood pooling under Turat's head. Their captors have shot him. This is the first dead body Singer's ever seen. He tries his best not to be sick, but his head is spinning. Singer startles as Beth comes running in behind the rock too. He guesses that Abdul is sending all of them further up the hill.
His eyes drift back to Turat's corpse and then turns to Beth, blocking her line of sight. "Listen to me. You're not going to look over here. You're just going to face that way and watch Tommy as he comes in. He'll be here in a second." Singer turns Beth to face away from Turat's body. He looks over her shoulder and watches as Tommy sprints across the open plain, chased by bullets. Singer's relieved when Tommy dives behind the boulder.
Suddenly, a bullet hits the rock they're hiding behind, and a cloud of dust rains down on them. When it clears, Singer looks up to the sky. It's glowing a beautiful pink, but it doesn't calm him. The shooting continues all around. Every couple of minutes, Singer catches the sight of Turat's body out of the corner of his eye. Each time, he looks immediately away.
Just hours ago, Singer had assured Tourette that everything would be fine. But now the man is dead. Suddenly, a rebel he hasn't seen before, a man with a long beard approaches them and introduces himself as Abdullah. He shakes Singer's hand and smiles. A rocket-propelled grenade explodes nearby, and Singer winces. But the man seems completely unfazed. Is he deaf?
Abdullah reaches into his pocket and takes out something the size of a grenade and tosses it to Abdul. Singer flinches. He can't suppress his fear, but it's just an apple. Abdul and Abdullah laugh at Singer's reaction. Abdul crunches into the apple as if he were having a snack while watching TV, not like someone in the middle of a shootout. Abdullah sits down, making himself comfortable against Turat's dead body.
He's treating the corpse like it's a piece of furniture. He picks up Turat's arm and lets it drop limply. For some reason that Singer can't fathom, Abdul finds this hilarious. Singer feels queasy. Abdul tosses the apple core and wipes his hands on his pants. Then he resumes shooting his AK-47.
Singer listens to the bullets discharge and slowly begins to realize that death is going to be all around him. He needs to get used to it. Singer turns and forces himself to stare at Turat's face. A fly is circling. The blood pooling on the ground has congealed. Turat's eyes are open and glassy. Maybe if he stares death in the face, something in him will harden and he will be able to survive.
Maybe like his hands that used to be soft and now are calloused and hard from climbing. He can let this experience harden and protect him. He glances over at his friends, all of them wide-eyed with fear and breathing fast. Singer stares at Turat's body for an hour. He wills himself to feel nothing. And eventually, the sight of the body stops bothering him. Good, Singer thinks.
Now he can get through anything. John huddles against Beth, Tommy, and Singer behind the boulder, their arms and legs splayed across each other's bodies. The sun is setting, and John has no idea if their captors plan to fight through the night. An anti-tank round explodes in front of the rock and shakes the ground like an earthquake.
Abdul and Sue are crouched beside them and shoot blindly over the top of the rock at the Kyrgyz soldiers. Judging from the sound of the gunfire, John is guessing that the soldiers are getting closer. He tries to keep his head as low to the ground as possible. He doesn't want to get caught by a bullet flying over the rock. Suddenly, John feels Abdul pulling them off the ground.
He grabs their rucksacks and starts dumping out the heaviest items. John's stomach rumbles as he watches Abdul throw away all of their food except a dozen power bars and some candy. Then Abdul hands John Turat's sleeping bag and gives Tommy a small duffel with the remaining food in it. Abdul uses his rifle to gesture towards the hills. John understands. They're about to start running again.
John panics. He points to the ground they're standing on and then points to his friends. Then he turns to Abdul and clasps his hands. "Please, Abdul, please leave us here. We'll only slow you down. If you leave us, you'll be able to escape." Tommy, Beth, and Singer join in, begging Abdul to simply abandon them. But their plea only seems to make Abdul angry. He points at the hillside again.
John looks at his friends. It's no use. John and Tommy start running, with Beth and Singer close behind them. They dart from tree to tree. John's legs start cramping immediately, probably dehydration. They haven't had anything to drink since the morning. They run for hours. Bursts of gunfire ring out sometimes. But John thinks it's sounding more faint.
The moon bathes them in an eerie silver glow. From the moon's height in the sky, John estimates that it's not quite yet midnight when they round a ridge crest and Abdul finally lets them stop to rest. A valley laced by a dark blue ribbon of a river stretches out below them. John and the rest of the Americans sit down among the boulders on the ridge.
Their captor, Sue, and the new man, Abdullah, almost immediately fall asleep. Abdul sits against another boulder, scowling. Obed brushes his teeth and then approaches John and Singer. He holds open his palm in front of them, five pieces of hard candy. Obed takes one for himself and gestures for John and the others to take the rest. John sucks on the candy, relishing the moisture in his mouth.
He watches as Singer pulls out his passport and shows it to Obed. Singer paints the number 22 in the air and asks Obed how old he is. Obed traces the number 19 in the air. Great, John thinks. He's even younger than we are. We've been kidnapped by teenagers. As he dozes off, John marks the time. One day of being a hostage down.
He wonders how many more are coming. Tommy is shaken awake by Abdul. He wants them to start walking again, this time down the other side of the hill into the valley below. Tommy pulls Beth up to her feet and peers down the hillside. It's steep, covered in rocks and bushy shrubs.
The moon is no longer bright, so in the dark, Tommy finds himself stumbling as they bushwhack down the rocky hill towards a river below. Obed and the apple-toting Abdullah have disappeared. Tommy isn't sure exactly where they went, but he pieces together from Abdul's gestures that they went to find food. Tommy looks at Sue, who's guarding from the back, and then up to the front where Abdul is leading the way.
It's two captors against four hostages now. Abdul stops them suddenly. He points Beth and John to stand together on one side by a boulder and for Sue to stand with Tommy and Singer. Tommy freezes. Why are they splitting up? Tommy grabs Beth's arm. She turns to him and whispers, We're going to be okay. Just do what they ask. Tommy's worried.
But he nods. I will. Promise me nothing stupid, okay? Tommy doesn't know if he can promise this. And what are his promises worth anyway? Earlier in the day, he'd promised to stay with her and protect her. And now he's being separated from her. Abdul raises his gun and points it at them impatiently. I'll see you soon. Tommy tries to sound assured.
Maybe this is something he can give her. False confidence. Tommy watches Abdul lead Beth and Singer towards the rock rubble along the riverbank. He's scared he'll never see Beth again. Beth follows Abdul and John along the river in Bankman. She keeps glancing back at Tommy. Sue is leading him and Singer back up the hillside they just came from.
Abdul has just split them into two groups, forcing her and Tommy to separate for the first time. Tommy has been protecting her, yes, but she has been watching out for him too. Tommy is the nicest person she knows. Beth is worried that without her, Tommy might start to fall apart. Suddenly, Abdul stops at an elbow in the river in front of a small cave that's been carved into the shore.
Beth stares blankly at the small hole, not understanding what Abdul wants. Abdul gestures to them to climb into it. She watches as John takes a step back and crosses his arms. You've got to be kidding me. We won't fit in that small of a hole. The cave is only big enough for a rodent, and Beth can't tell what's living in there. But Abdul is losing his patience. He uses the butt of his rifle to shove John forward.
Then, Beth is next. She shimmies on her belly into the dark opening. Abdul pushes on the bottoms of her feet to force her in deeper, until her head presses into the back wall. At its highest point, the cave can't be more than a foot and a half tall. It's horribly cramped for her, and she's five foot one. She can't imagine how it must feel for John, who is six feet tall.
He lies squished beside her with his knees up at his chest. Then she hears Abdul covering up the cave's opening. It's incredibly claustrophobic, like lying in her own coffin. Beth tries to slow down her breathing. The air in the cave is dank and damp. John spoons his body around her, and she's grateful for the heat from him. Her clothes are too light for this weather.
Her insulated jacket was in the backpack they left behind during the shootout. Laying with her body still, the day she just lived through begins to catch up with her. When she was on the move, it was easier to go numb. But laying in the dark, she keeps seeing Turat's glassy eyes, the pool of blood under his head. In her mind, she replays the last words Turat said to her, asking her not to cry.
And then other thoughts creep in too. She knows they're being hidden from the Kyrgyz soldiers. But what will happen if Abdul has managed to completely escape them? What will Abdul do to her? She'd seen the way he had stared at her. He's clearly capable of murder. What else is he capable of?
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Tommy stretches out and spreads Turrette's sleeping bag over his and Singer's bodies. They're hunkered down in a depression next to the river, underneath an overhang of dirt.
Brush surrounds them, and Tommy guesses that they're fully camouflaged. Sue lies next to them, sleeping. The man can sleep through anything, it seems. Tommy's tongue scrapes the roof of his mouth. He's so thirsty. He's listening to the sound of the river rushing nearby, but he hasn't had a drop to drink in over a day. Obed and Abdullah went off in the night to look for food, but they never came back.
Tommy has no idea what his captors are planning to eat themselves, much less feed the hostages when their power bars run out. Tommy closes his eyes and tries to concentrate on an image of his mother. He pictures her sitting at the counter in their kitchen in Estes Park, Colorado. Her blue eyes, her feathered hair, a bird feeder is visible through the window behind her.
She always used to say that she had a psychic feeling when people she loved were in trouble. Tommy wonders if she knows something has gone terribly wrong. "Mom," he thinks, trying to contact her. "Mom, can you hear me? Please help me. Please. We've made a terrible mistake. Beth and I should never have come here." Then he pictures Beth somewhere nearby, also probably terribly cold and scared.
Tommy opens his eyes and looks over at Singer. Singer's awake now, staring at the sleeping Sue. Sue must be younger than they are. He doesn't have a beard, just a few sparse hairs. Not even enough to grow a mustache. He looks to be the age of a high school senior, but who knows how many people he's kidnapped or killed before. Then Tommy hears Singer's breathing quicken. He looks over at him, wide-eyed.
Singer is staring at Sue's rifle, which he holds loosely in his sleep. Tommy shudders. Is Singer going to grab the gun? If he does anything to Sue, he's sure Abdul will take it out on Beth. Beth tries to kick her feet around to get rid of the sensation of pins and needles. She's been lying in this cramped cave for hours, unable to sit up or move her legs or arms.
Then, all of a sudden, she feels a dampness at her ankles. She looks toward the entrance of the cave and realizes that the water level of the river is rising. Glacial water is starting to trickle into the cave. They're going to drown here or freeze to death. Beth feels John shiver against her. This isn't good, Beth. What are we going to do? Because of his size in this tight spot, John can't really move, but Beth can.
Using dirt and some little rocks, Beth slithers to the opening of the cave and tries to build the dam against the water. It works for a little while, but eventually even more starts to seep in. John reaches over and strokes her forehead. "You don't think they're going to kill us, do you, John? They killed Turat. Turat was an abuse to them. They want us for ransom." Beth nods. "This is what Singer and Tommy had said at various points today, too.
trying to reassure her. But Beth can't wrap her head around how she ended up in this mess, being used as a tool for ransom by a man like Abdul. And this is if she's lucky. If she isn't lucky, she could be raped, forced into marriage, tortured, or killed. And Beth had heard so many times that everything happens for a reason.
She thinks she must have done something wrong, something to deserve this, or else how does the world make any sense? But she can't figure it out. She has never hurt anyone, at least not on purpose. She never lied to her parents. She worked hard at school and got straight A's. But here she was, in a flooding cave, held at gunpoint by a maniac.
The idea that there was no moral cause and effect, and that her suffering could just be random, feels like it's too much to bear.
Tommy breathes deep, taking a lungful of fresh air. He's so relieved to be out of his hiding spot. It's dark now. He guesses around 9 p.m. It's clear to him now that the captors wanted to lay low during the day, out of sight from the Kyrgyz army. Sue leads Tommy and Singer back down to the river to meet up with Abdul.
He guesses that Beth and John have been hiding away as well. Sue stops at a bend in the river a few yards from where they were hiding. Abdul is waiting for them. Then Tommy is shocked to see John crawl out of a small hole in the riverbank. John staggers, unable to stand up fully. He hobbles towards Tommy, moving like an elderly person. Then Beth crawls out of the hole too.
Tommy doesn't care about Abdul and his gun. He rushes to hug her right away. He reaches into his bag and takes out two power bars, gives one to John and Singer to split, and tears the other in half and hands it to Beth. Sue sidles up to Tommy's elbow, points at the power bar. He wants a piece. Tommy waves him off. "Not now." Sue shrugs and walks away. Tommy is surprised that Sue took his no for an answer.
He didn't grab the power bars. He didn't insist. Maybe they could figure out a way to use Sue's meekness to their advantage. Abdul, however, is not so meek. He comes over and grabs the bar out of Tommy's hands, then breaks off a piece for Sue. Tommy can tell that Abdul is tense. He's constantly checking the walkie-talkie that he stole from them. He keeps switching it on and listening.
Tommy thinks that he must be waiting to hear from the two rebels who left to get food and never came back. Maybe they were captured by the soldiers and killed. If those two men don't return, it will only be two people guarding them instead of four. Those are better odds. Odds for what, though? Escape? Survival? Tommy doesn't know yet. Abdul gestures for the group to start walking along the river. And begrudgingly, they do.
The roar of the river drowns out any words they could say to each other. In the silver moonlight, the faces of all of Tommy's friends look like they're made of rock, hardened by the ordeals of the last 48 hours. Singer cups the silty river water into his mouth. It leaves a residue of sand against his teeth, but he's so thirsty it doesn't matter.
They've been walking for an hour since Singer and Tommy were reunited with Beth and John. Abdul leads them at gunpoint, while Sue guards them from the rear. They head upstream, looking for a place to cross the river. The moon shines brightly over the rushing water. Singer knows they'll be walking all night.
Singer watches as Abdul and Sue stop and try to drag a large, soggy log with a mass of thick roots. They hold it awkwardly, trying to lift the heaviest part of the log with the root mass and fling it over the water. This seems bizarre. To Singer, the obvious solution is to stand the log upright and let it fall across the river. The way Abdul and Sue are standing is also strange. Like, they're scared to get wet.
Singer exchanges a look with John and the others. It's starting to dawn on him. They're scared of water. They can't swim, and they don't seem very bright. Singer pulls off his shoes and wades into the river. He ignores the look of shock on his friend's faces. He's got a plan. He's waist deep, and the water is freezing.
The current pulls him backwards, and for a moment, he loses his footing on a slippery rock. But then he pulls himself to the log. "Abdul!" Singer calls over the roar of the river. Abdul looks freaked out at the sight of Singer so deep in the water. "Danger, danger," he tries to say. But Singer ignores this. Instead, he wrestles with the log, pulling as hard as he can, finally getting its roots free.
He lets the current do the heavy lifting, bracing himself between the boulder and the log. The log is now a bridge. Using his body to steady it, he motions for everyone to cross. Tommy goes first, carrying Singer's boots. Then Beth. When John crosses, Singer sees his look of confusion.
Singer knows John is wondering why they're helping their captors. But Singer has reasons. When it's Abdul's turn to cross, he wobbles on the slick log, taking slow, furtive steps, clearly afraid. Singer reaches up and offers his hand, and Abdul passes him his automatic weapon.
With Abdul's gun in his possession, Singer thinks, "Should I push him into the river and steal it?" Sue also has a gun. He might shoot the others. Is it worth the risk? Before Singer can decide, the moment passes. "But that's okay," he tells himself. It will lay the groundwork for next time. If he tricks the rebels into trusting him,
They'll let their guard down. And then, at the right moment, he'll strike. This is episode two of our four-part series, Rock Climbers Abducted. A quick note about our scenes. In most cases, we can't know exactly what was said, but everything is based on historical research. If you'd like to learn more about this event, we highly recommend the book Over the Edge by Greg Childe.
I'm your host, Cassie DePeckel. Katia Apikina wrote this episode. Our editors are Matt Wise and Maura Waltz. Our consultant is Greg Child. Our associate producer is Brian White. Our audio engineer is Sergio Enriquez. Sound design is by Joe Richardson. Our senior producer is Andy Herman. Our executive producers are Stephanie Jens and Marshall Louis. For Wondery...
I'm Dan Taberski. In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York. I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad. I'm like, stop f***ing around. She's like, I can't. A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast. It's like doubling and tripling and it's all these girls. With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low. Everybody thought I was holding something back. Well, you were holding something back intentionally. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah.
You know, it's hysteria. It's all in your head. It's not physical. Oh my gosh, you're exaggerating. Is this the largest mass hysteria since The Witches of Salem? Or is it something else entirely? Something's wrong here. Something's not right. Leroy was the new dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder. A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Hysterical.
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