We were in a dark tunnel, 3 of us. Two ledges, on either side of dark rushing water beneath us. We were in an opening about a foot or two above one of the ledges. The ledge on the opposite side was about 6 feet below the one on the near side, and looked very treacherous. Below us, rushing through the water, was a horrible creature, perhaps twelve feet long, and three feet wide, with an alligator-like head riding above the water as it rushed through. The other two were also specialists, one man and one woman. We were carrying a fair amount of heavy gear, and armor that would float. I checked the maps. We had to go to a point downstream first, then back past where we started on the upstream side. It was going to be tricky. I looked down the tunnel a ways, and saw that the ledge on the other side flattened out quite well and would be easy to walk on.

"We'll climb down to this near ledge, make it to that wide corner area, stow some of the equipment, and climb down to the other ledge, and take that the rest of the way if we can," I said. "I'll take the lead, you two follow in my footsteps if they seem safe.

The ledge was just narrow and wet enough to require all of my concentration going down. I made it. I looked back once to see the woman coming down. The man didn't look too good, slightly pale. I yelled back over the water asking if he was all right, and he nodded, so I put my mind back to where my feet were going, finding an outcropping I could use to steady myself while I swung my pack over to the wider section of ledge at the corner. I did it. I looked back. Both were now on the ledge, moving behind me. I looked across the water to the other side, to see a half-eaten corpse of one of the things I had seen earlier. The head above the water was either a second head or a natural decoy, as it actually rode on the neck of a much sleeker set of jaws that would be below the water. I swung myself over to the wide ledge segment, ready to assist the woman with her pack and secure my own own the ledge. She had two packs, a large and a small. She started with the large. I caught it, and guided it down. It made a stable foundation with my own pack to put things on top of. I looked back, ready for her smaller pack, when I realized I could no longer see the man.

Fear swept through me. "Where is he?" I yelled. Startled, she looked back and yelled that she couldn't see him. I shone a light down at the water and saw the back of his armor, and the back of his head, floating in the water, up against the side of the rock.

"Shit!" I yelled, "Your pack, now!" She sent me her smaller pack, which I stowed, then jumped across to the ledge on the other side, ran back up a ways, then jumped into the water to pull him and his equipment onto the low ledge. No pulse.