บท 92: The Rescue (Part I)

Kyle had taken some time before starting in order to get adjusted to the weight of the harness on him. The harness had to be one with him, for he would be pushing his body to the limit. If he misjudged anything, he would fall. It wasn't that the harness was heavy, but rather, it did create a sort of imbalance since it was an additional feature upon his body.

The toddler was three floors up and the first thing Kyle did was to scale vertically alongside the wall to be right below the struggling toddler. He wasn't sure how long she would hold and it was best that he was in position should she fall.

Kyle held onto one small hook with one hand and his legs were on some slight ridges along the wall. His mind was racing furiously, calculating the distance between himself and the toddler above. What made this difficult was not the climb itself, but the girl. She was a variable that could actually ruin the rescue, akin to a drowning victim that hung onto his rescuer in a panic, effectively drowning them both in return.

Kyle quickly scaled up the wall like a spider, trying to reach the hysterically crying toddler who was struggling in the fastest time possible. Just then, he heard a sound that he had been dreading and hoping wouldn't occur: a ripping sound.

Gasps and screams were heard as the shirt finally gave way and the toddler started falling again. Kyle reached out and managed to grab the toddler's leg. He could have grabbed hold of the arm but he was worried that the force of the fall would have caused it to pop out of its socket.

What Kyle did was to make the timing perfect. As the toddler fell head down and passed him, he grabbed the toddler's ankle and using the momentum, swung the toddler back to an upright position. Faster than the eye could see, he let go of the leg and quickly wrapped an arm around the waist and held her close to his chest.

At this moment, he was gritting his teeth as he held back the pain that he felt with the sudden additional weight. He was gripping the wall with the strength of his fingers on his left hand alone and had to ensure that the momentum of the swing did not push him backward. If that happened, then both of them would plunge down.

"Ssssh, sssh, Big Brother is here to save you," Kyle said soothingly, quickly making his voice hypnotic as he then pressed a few nerves at the back of her neck. His purpose wasn't to knock her out but to calm her and luckily, it achieved the desired result. Kyle was hesitant to do anything more than that as he had been practicing on adults. A toddler's nerves were smaller and the amount of pressure required would be less. It was highly dangerous to press their pressure points lest it caused irreparable damage.

Right now, Kyle was hanging precariously on the wall with the toddler in his arms. To everybody's eyes, it seemed like a scene out of a movie. How could he stay there, stuck on the wall like Spiderman? No one dared to say a word now, scared and worried that any sound would break his concentration. They watched as he just stood there, one hand on the wall, the other wrapped securely around the toddler and his legs spread out on the wall (seemingly on nothing). Time passed and nothing happened. It seemed like an eternity.

"What's going on?" asked the security officer to Cole.

"He needs to adjust his bearings and calculations," Cole explained, having understood the situation. Utmost physical and mental prowess was needed when one went bouldering. It was just you, and nature, fighting as you scale the wall. You would take your time to calculate and plan the route, and push your body to climb. You would know where to rest and stop while making said calculations. There is no equipment or unnecessary weight.

But Kyle ... What Kyle was doing was at another level entirely. Kyle now had an unpredictable element: a child that would increase his weight, hinder his mobility and choices of route. Could he do it?

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Sarah turned when she heard people screaming and she cried out when she saw the toddler fall. She cried out even more when she saw Kyle grab the toddler. Images of him falling flashed through her mind and she started gripping her arms tightly. She forced herself to watch, her heart beating hard.

Kay silently watched the whole thing, taking long deep breaths and trying very hard not to mindspeak with her brother. She knew that he needed the utmost of concentration now. She saw him steady himself, the grip on his hand strong as he held onto something on the wall and the toddler.

"I'm going down," Kay said resolutely.

Sarah and Beatrice nodded and followed her. Kay was in a rush, so she ran down the staircase instead. Once she reached the ground floor, she found that the area right under the wall where Kyle was, had been cordoned off.

She pushed her way to the front and told the security guy, "Let me through. That is my brother up there," she said politely.

The guy looked at her then used his walkie talkie to call his superiors. They had been wondering about the identity of the wanna-be hero and this was a golden opportunity. Another guy came by and looked at Kay.

"You say that the guy up there is your brother?"

"Yes," Kay responded.

"What's his name?"

"Let me through and I'll answer any questions you have," Kay negotiated.

The guy hesitated then nodded. The security guy that had initially blocked Kay stepped aside and she walked through. Kay looked up, seeing the small dot that was Kyle still on the wall.

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Kyle's fingers were holding on to some sort of hook on the wall, presumably to hang some banners. He silently thanked the architech or whoever it was that designed it that way. It allowed him to have better traction and grip, so that he could actually grab the falling toddler without falling himself.

After the toddler had calmed down, he placed her in the harness in front of him.

"Now, we're going to go down slowly," Kyle said soothingly, patting her head and looking at her squarely in the eye. She appeared to be about two years old, so she should understand what he was saying even though she may not talk properly.

"Be still and brave for Big Brother, okay?"

She was sniffing now, nodded and become more relaxed as she felt her body being enveloped snugly by the harness. It gave her a sense of being held or comforted. Big Brother was also nice.

She liked him.

She couldn't comprehend what was truly happening. All she knew was that she was scared. She had just been looking about like normal, curious about everything. There had been something shiny that caught her eye and she went through this gap to get to it. The next thing she knew, she was falling. Then stopped but she was so high up. She was scared. Where was Mummy?

When she fell the second time, she stopped again but this time, she was warm. She heard a soothing voice, she felt the warmth of body heat and the steady rhythm of the heartbeat. Soon, since she had been crying so much, the sudden sense of security made her feel tired and her eyes felt heavy. It wasn't long before she fell asleep, her head leaning comfortably against the chest that gave her such a sense of safety.

Kyle breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the little girl had fallen asleep. This was far better than he had hoped. The only problem now was to get to safety. He couldn't scale vertically back to the floors as there was hardly any strong grip for him. If he had been alone, it wouldn't have been a problem but he now had this little bundle with him.

So the only way was down.

Scaling down was far more difficult than going down. When one goes up, one can use the arm muscles and push oneself up with the feet - and it was much easier to see the footholds above you. Going down, however, meant he had to go slower and even crouch down in order to get the grip. If he didn't have the girl with him, he could do it easily.

Just then, he heard a shout from above him.

"Kyle! Catch!!"

He looked and saw that Cole and Cathy were several floors above him and had tied some lead rope onto the railing. They were swinging it over to him. It took several swings before it finally gained the momentum to reach him. He grabbed on to it and steadied himself then grinned and shook his head.

Those two didn't know him yet trusted in his skills enough to be able to use the lead rope in the manner that was needed. If he miscalculated, he could actually swing and smash into the wall or railing. It was different if the lead rope had been directly above, and he would simply abseil down. This?

Kyle looked at the length above, the angle of the rope then the height he was at.

There was no way he could do this low-key.

He could already see people from all around staring at him, some with their phones out and obviously recording the whole thing. He didn't know whether they were there to film a rescue or a death scene. Both would garner views!

"Okay, little one," Kyle said as he kissed the top of the girl's head, "Showtime."