by Lexi Post
But it was the same. She was buried alive, again. The calm she’d recognized only minutes earlier evaporated as her gaze swept the sidewalls, instinctually searching for the small hole she’d squeezed through as the Taliban scoured the cave. It had to be here. She must be close. She’d only run for a hundred yards or so. Or did it just feel like that? She listened for sounds of pursuit, but the only sound was her own footsteps and those in front of her.
She halted, but the footsteps continued, taking her light with them. Quickly, she ran forward again, desperate to find the hole. Excited arguing sounded in her ears, back toward the entrance. Maybe they would shoot each other. It had happened before.
Suddenly, a flash of light reflected off the cave walls, and she dove to the ground, covering her dog, protecting it.
Dog? She blinked as the animal licked at her face.
“Are you okay?”
The male voice above her sounded concerned. That wasn’t the voice she’d heard behind her. Releasing the dog, she rolled over to get her face out of the dirt. Quickly, she shaded her eyes from the bright light. “Who?”
A man crouched down next to her. “It’s me, Garrett. Are you hurt? Did you trip?”
Garrett.
Arizona.
Mine.
Shit.
“Yes, I tripped. Help me up.” She lifted her arm.
He stood and helped her stand. “Did you twist an ankle or anything?”
She brushed off her jeans then walked in a small circle to make it more believable. “Nope. I’m good.” She looked around. “Where’s Dog?”
Garrett scanned the area with his phone to find Dog sitting just ahead of them as if he waited for them to go deeper into the darkness. “Come here, boy. I don’t think we need to go further.”
“You don’t?” She crouched down to encourage Dog since he didn’t seem inclined to move. When he trotted over to her, she felt an odd sense of pleasure. That was silly.
“No, I don’t think so. Take a look at what I found.”
She scooped up Dog and moved to where Garrett stood in front of what looked like a small room carved out of the side of the wall.
“It’s an old ore cart. The wood is worthless, but the metal pieces might help with digging.” As Garrett moved the light over the rusted, decaying wooden cart on wheels, a reflection of the light flashed.
She dropped to a crouch out of habit. Shit. She lowered her head as if inspecting the workings beneath the cart. What the hell had caused the flash? All the metal on the cart was rusted over. “I’m not sure we can get this apart.” She rose again.
He looked at her oddly. “I was thinking of these side pieces.” He focused the light on metal bars that made a V on the side of the cart. “If we can get the rivets out, they might work.”
She continued to scan the cart, looking for what caused the flashing. “That would take too much energy. We need to conserve that for digging. Are there any spare parts in here?” She squeezed between the cart and the side walls of the little room. There were old carbide cans, what looked like the sole of a shoe, and a couple small timbers. Now those might come in handy.
When the cart suddenly moved and the light lessened, she plastered herself against the wall, holding Dog close.
Garrett stepped back in. “That should help.”
She relaxed and watched the ground as the light moved over the room going past then coming back to rest on a pile of what looked like metal bars.
“Now these could work.”
“What are they?” She stepped closer to examine the bar in his hand.
“Rail spikes. They used them to anchor the track for the mine cars. It’s not a shovel, but it’s better than using our hands.”
Before using her hands again, she’d sit and wait for death. That was if she didn’t totally lose her mind by then.
“Too bad there’s no old shovel or pick ax in here.” He continued to sweep the room, even shining the light on the ceiling.
Another flash hit her and she crouched again. “What is that?” Irritation flooded her at her involuntary actions.
He moved his gaze to her. “What is what?”
“Those flashes? Your light is reflecting off something.”
“I think it’s a mineral in the stone.”
“Well, stop it.”
He walked over to her. “Do the flashes bring back memories?”
She nodded, hating to admit that she couldn’t control her own body. She could almost see her father laughing at her.
“Then let’s get out of here. I’ll grab some spikes and we can see how they work.”
She rose slowly, thankful he didn’t comment on her weird reactions.
He picked through the stack as he judged each one for its strength and ability to move through dirt. She moved out of the small space, not comfortable with how tight the quarters were with two people in it, though it could make the perfect spot for a bathroom.
The cave she’d been buried in outside Chora had wide tunnels and high vaulted ceilings. The mine tunnels were barely five feet across, and the ceiling in some places was only high enough if she walked in the middle, the rock walls forming an arch.
She shivered, thankful for Dog’s little body warmth. Everything about the space was cold, harsh, and unforgiving. Even in the light, it was nothing but greys and whites with a few brown lines through it to break up the monotony. At least the cave had been all hues of brown, or as they used to call the scenery then, a whole lot of “blah.” Right now, she’d take blah over the mausoleum they were in.
Garrett stepped back into the narrow tunnel just in front of her. “Okay, let’s head back to the entrance and see what damage we can do. According to my phone, we still have a good half a days’ work we can get in.” He started forward, his stride like that of most cowboys set on a particular task.
The irony of his words hit her sideways. “Yes. We want to finish up our work before dinner’s ready. Then we can see what’s on television or stream a movie.”
He halted, and she barely stopped herself from running into him. As it was, she lost her balance and stumbled back a step.
He turned and held up the spikes in his hand. “And if we’re lucky, these will make that possible. Don’t assume the worst.”
She lowered her brows and stared at him. Where the hell did his optimism come from? Did he not understand that they were buried alive with no one to know they were missing for days? Sure, they could last that long, if, and it was a huge “if,” the cave-in could be cleared without the rest of the tunnels imploding. Had he noticed the cracks in the walls and the layers of loose rock in between what looked like solid rock?
“What?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged her shoulders. “If we’re going to do this, we should do it now, while we’re healthy.”
He nodded before turning around and striding forward. “I don’t plan on getting sick anytime soon, but you’re right. While we have the energy, we need to get as much done as possible.”
She followed him in silence until they arrived at the sight of the cave-in.
“Here, hold this.” He handed her his phone and two spikes.
She set Dog on the ground. “Once you get into position, I’m turning off the light.”
He frowned at her. “How am I supposed to see what I’m doing?”
“You’re not. The dirt will follow gravity. It’s more important to save the light for when you need it.” She looked at the phone’s battery life. “You only have about twenty-five percent battery left. You need to use it wisely.”
He didn’t move. “Why do I have the feeling you’ve done this before?”
Because I have. “Just start digging. If you’re lucky, light from outside will let you know when you’re close.”
“I hope that’s sooner rather than later.”
She did too. The opening was much smaller than her cave, but that could mean that the earth would be more compacted and harder to get through. Then again, since it was
n’t sandy, maybe that would help them and it wouldn’t refill in again.
Just thinking about the constant sand caving-in her progress every night had her palms sweating all over again. She’d had the nightmare of being buried in loose sand for months. If she hadn’t been able to use the trickle of water she found in the cave to wet down her own tunnel walls and ceiling to form a harder surface, she would have died. Only thirst had driven her deeper into the caves, but in the end, it had saved her in more than one way. Without that life-giving water, she would have simply disappeared from humanity.
And no one would have known. No one would have cared. Just another military statistic.
Dirt falling down the pile in front of her brought her out of her morose musings. Garrett used the spikes to pull dirt away and down the mound. Since he was in a steady spot, she moved the light toward the ceiling, over the wall behind him to the ground at her feet, letting his eyes slowly adjust. Then without warning, she turned it off.
He didn’t say a word, but the sound of rocks rolling down to lay on the mine floor continued. The sound was familiar yet different. It was odd to hear it and not be the one causing it, but it wouldn’t make sense for both of them to work. They didn’t need a wide opening, just one big enough for a single person to crawl through. When he was tired, she’d do her part.
Slipping his phone in the front pocket of her jeans, she took one spike in each hand. These would have been less helpful in Afghanistan, but still it would have saved her hands. The remembered pain caused her breathing to hitch. This was Arizona. She needed to remember that.
As something brushed against her leg, she jumped back. “What the hell?”
A low whine issued forth.
“Dog, what is it?”
He didn’t say anything else, but she felt his body against her leg as he sat on her foot.
“Really? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dark. You’re the one who ran in here in the first place.”
The drizzle of dirt stopped. “So that’s why you’re in here.”
The sound of Garrett’s disembodied voice startled her. She kept thinking she was alone. “Yes. He saw fit to chase a jack rabbit in here.”
The dirt started to trickle down again. “Did he catch it?”
“No, but he wouldn’t come out. When I found him, he was halfway through an opening into a hole that had been boarded up. After I pulled him out, the wood fell. I don’t think that rabbit is going to get out of here either unless he has some secret burrow that tunnels through the mountain.
“I doubt a critter like that would run into a mine unless he had an alternate exit.”
Garrett’s voice, coming out of the blackness like it did, was soothing. It was a deep baritone with a calm cadence. Had it been like that when he’d dropped Lady off at the ranch? Funny, how she didn’t notice things like that when she had her sight, but the second she’d turned the light off, her other senses slipped into overdrive out of habit. Now if she could just keep her mind focused on her—no their—current situation, she might just make it out without losing her mind.
Yeah right.
Chapter Six
Garrett kept his motions even, hoping he’d make a bigger dent by staying focused in one area. He didn’t have an issue with the dark, but he’d never been in this absolute blackness. It was like having his eyes closed but they were wide open. He could feel himself straining to see something, anything. He couldn’t even be sure he was digging in the same area, relying mostly on the position of his arms to his body.
On one hand, he understood the need to turn off the light. On the other hand, he didn’t want to waste effort by digging wide when he could be digging deep. Now that Riley had stopped talking, he was less sure of his movements. Her voice was a directional beacon.
He stuck the spikes in front of him and paused. “I noticed when I pulled up with Guinness and Blaze that only your truck was at the ranch. Will Cole be back soon?”
“No.”
At the sound of her voice below him, he started moving dirt again.
“Cole’s gone for the weekend. The soonest anyone will be back will be Sunday night, unless Lacey and her mother-in-law get into an argument.”
There went the hope someone would be looking for them. “Damn, Wyatt is going to go off the wall. He probably has already.”
“The grandson?”
He nodded before remembering she couldn’t see him. “Yes. He was maybe an hour behind me. At least I moved the horses into their stalls before looking for you.”
“I don’t care how off the wall he goes as long as he takes care of all the horses. I was going to be the only one at the ranch all weekend. With me here, there’s no one else to feed them. I hope he has enough brains to do that much.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. He’ll probably take care of them and then give us a piece of his mind when we finally get back.”
“If we get back.”
At her soft-spoken words, he paused again. “Of course, we will. Cole will come looking for us. My truck and trailer are sitting in the yard and neither of us is there. They’ll find us eventually if we don’t get out of here before then. I just hope your horse is smart enough to go back to the ranch.” He’d been surprised to see the black and white paint eating grasses nearby, its reins dragging on the ground.
“Oh, Domino is smart, but she won’t go back. She’ll stay outside as long as I’m in here. There’s no water out there.” The concern for her horse came through in her voice.
“All horses return home at feeding time.”
She sighed, the soft sound floating up to him in utter defeat. “No, she won’t. I told her to wait. She won’t leave. She may wander to eat, but she’s very well trained.”
She may think her horse would stay, but he knew from experience, survival would trump training every time. Except when stubbornness got in the way, which just proved he was dumber than a horse.
Shaking off the thought, he focused on his movements, striking the spikes deep into the loose gravel and pulling them toward himself and over to the side. But the quiet didn’t help. She was obviously perfectly happy sitting in pitch blackness with no sound whatsoever. He’d never met a woman like her.
“I rode Black Jack to look for you. I thought you’d be at Cole’s.” He waited to move the dirt, anxious to hear her voice. Not only did it keep his directional focus in place, it also assured him she was still in the present.
“That’s where I would have been if not for Dog here.”
He could almost hear her stroke the dog, but it had to be his imagination. He shoved dirt aside. “If I’d known you were at this old mine, I wouldn’t have saddled Black Jack.”
A soft chuckle came from the darkness below. “He threw you.”
“Not exactly, but he sure as hell tried.” He’d been so focused on the paint standing in the light shade of the Palo Verde tree that he hadn’t seen the entrance to the mine before the horse. Black Jack had reared, almost unseating him. He had to jump off the horse as it came down. “Then he hightailed it back to the ranch.”
“I’ll bet he’s shaking. Whisper will have your head if she discovers you rode him out to the Take a Chance mine.”
He crawled forward about a foot and stabbed the dirt with the spikes. “I’m sure once she knows I came out here to find you, she’ll get over it.”
A snort floated up behind him. “Not likely. If it comes to a decision between a person and an animal, Whisper will choose the animal every time.”
And he always chose lives over homes…until he didn’t and paid for it. “That sounds like her values are a bit mixed up.”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t had the best experience with humans. She’s even friends with a mountain lion.”
The two unrelated statements told him two things. One, the darkness may be getting to her as well, and two, Last Chance may do more than rescue horses. It sounded like it had rescued people, too.
“Are you making progress up there?
Is the sand filling in as soon as you move it?”
Sand? “No, the gravel must be staying because I’ve been able to move forward.” Though it was true, he wasn’t sure it was actually progress. “Why don’t you shine the light up here so I can make sure I’m headed in the right direction.”
The sound of her boots scrapping on the dirt was a clear indication she’d been sitting on the ground. When the light came on, she had it facing away from him. Still, it seemed bright after the pitch blackness. If he had turned on the light, he would have had it shining directly on where he was working and probably blinded himself. Had she done that on purpose or just happened to face it that way?
She directed the light toward the ceiling, brightening the area where he was working without directly shining it on the spot. He’d been right. He had made progress, staying in the right direction, but it was minimal. He’d cleared a space about two feet wide and two feet high and only a foot deep.
She stepped out from directly behind him to view his handwork. “That’s better than I expected. I thought for sure the ceiling would fill in the space you’re creating. The entrance to the mine is so soft, which must be why they used beams for support. Back there,” she pointed back into the mine. “If it caved in, we’d probably just have to remove the rubble and crawl out.”
“Lucky us.” He thought his progress was pitiful, but without a shovel, it was the best he could do.
Almost as if she read his mind, she spoke. “It’s going to be really slow. I can search the mine further to see if there’s anything else we can use.”
That would be a good use of time, since they both would be doing something to get themselves out, but then he wouldn’t have her voice to anchor his direction. Or, they could both explore, but would that be wasting time? Based on the depth of most mines, there should be plenty of air for them, as long as there weren’t multiple cave-ins. And he was still positive Cole would get them out of there before they starved to death.
