[CupcakeDolly]

Rue followed, ignoring the screaming of her muscles telling her to slow down. After they'd stopped, she watched the man kicking the dirt, wondering if he had gone quite mad before she saw that he was actually trying to unearth something. She wrinkled her nose.

"I suppose." She grabbed the other end with a ridiculously skinny arm and strained against the weight of it, then with a jerk noticed somebody else beside her. She blinked. How had she not sensed the girl's presence? Perhaps in her weakened state she had let her defenses down.

Rue said nothing, allowing the girl to help. She was sure that at the end of it Lev had actually done most of the lifting, but their tiny amount of strength seemed to at least have helped in heaving it aside. She rubbed her arm, soothing the sore muscles, then gestured to the uncovered abyss, eyeing the newcomers warily. "After you."