Jared and I were silent for several moments as we stared at the wall of water. It was obvious that we were thinking the same thing.

The entrance was flooded. We wouldn’t make it if we tried to swim through as we had coming into the cave. The distance had likely more than doubled due to the rain, and it would be entirely underwater this time. Trying would just result in us drowning about halfway.

We seemed to realize this at the same time. My shoulders slumped in ...