by RM Brewer
"We have to move" Bob said, pointing at the grate.
"What if we can’t get out of there?" Christy’s voice shook.
"I'm sorry, but do you have a better idea?" Bob said. "We’re in the dark here. They must have night vision equipment to be able to spot us so quickly." Covering his face from the exploding dirt around them, Bob called out, "We have no choice. It’s move or die."
Jodie looked back at Bob, knowing what she had to do. She holstered her weapon and crawled over to the vent opening. Looking down into the dim greenish light, she hoped she wasn’t making the wrong choice. She lowered herself into the hole, tucked in her arms and let go.
The four-foot wide vent was made of aluminum and oriented almost vertical for the first twenty feet. As she slid, Jodie picked up speed, losing contact with the side of the shaft at times, falling through mid-air. She was terrified for a moment that she'd made a mistake jumping in the tunnel. Just when she was sure the fall was probably going to kill her, the angle of her descent gradually bent toward horizontal almost fifty feet below the ground surface, and she slid to a stop in and area large enough for several people to stand in.
A dimly illuminated four-foot tall conduit gaped in front of her. She thought her vision was blurred at first, until she realized she was looking into a wall of spider webs. "Yuck," Jodie said as an uncontrollable shiver ran up her spine. Dismissing her fears in consideration of the real danger facing them, Jodie yelled up to the top. "Send them down. Keep your arms tucked in."
She heard a small shriek followed by delivery of Noah to the bottom. Jodie pulled him out of the way and told him to move down the vent. She saw him look up at the webs and walk forward anyway, a determined expression on his face. Leah came next, followed by Mei and Christy. Jodie heard a barrage of gunfire above her and said a silent prayer that everyone would make it down safely. Ten seconds passed, then twenty. Not knowing who might be coming down next, Jodie pulled out her gun and pointed it at the vent. She finally let out a breath as Wending hit the bottom of the vent and landed in an immobile heap. Christy helped her pull him to the side.
Jodie listened and waited. Finally, after a minute, the gunfire stopped and she heard someone sliding into the vent again. Nick came down, holding a terrified Hunter leaving a trail of urine behind him. When the two hit the bottom, Hunter bounded out of Nick’s arms and howled. He ran to Noah, tail tucked between his legs. Bob came last, landing on top of a surprised Nick.
"Sorry, man. I was in a hurry," Bob said. "I don't appreciate what you left behind for me, Hunter." Bob untangled himself from Nick and turned to look at his wet pants.
"Sorry about that," Nick said. "He's just so scared. What’s wrong with Wending?"
"He jumped in front of Jodie when she was getting in the pipe. Besides getting his fingers smashed, I think he was shot."
Jodie had thought he was unconscious as a result of the injuries to his hands. She didn't know he was shot, too. That meant Wending probably saved her life. There seemed to be no end to what the man would do for her.
Nick jumped up and went over to Wending. Mei joined him and they pulled back Wending’s bloody shirt, revealing an exit wound on the left side of his chest.
"Think I’m not gonna be able to go with you guys," Wending said. The illumination of Mei's flashlight lit up his very pale face.
Jodie knelt down so Wending could see her. "First, you shot me, then you saved me. You sure know how to show a girl a good time, Chuck."
Wending smiled. "Jodie, I always wanted to tell you … I want you to know I’m sorry for the way I acted. It’s just that … well--"
"You might want to save that for later, Romeo," Mei said, inspecting the wound. "The bullet went clean through you, I think in a place that didn't do too much damage." Wending, who was focused solely on Jodie, didn't even wince when she dabbed it with gauze and applied a bandage. "We can stop the bleeding for now, but we need to get you somewhere and stitch you up."
"You mean I’m not gonna die?"
"Not at the moment, Chuck," Mei said. She turned to Jodie and spoke quietly. "I’m more worried about his fingers than the gunshot wound." Mei pulled the gauze off Wending’s hands, revealing two severed digits, deep cuts on his palms and two badly broken fingers. Both of his hands were pulverized and bleeding profusely.
Jodie didn’t have time to respond. Noises echoing off the metal walls told them their pursuers were at the top of the vent.
"Sorry, everyone, but we have to move," Bob said. "We're sitting ducks down here."
Jodie wondered how they would survive this situation and, if they did by some miracle, who or what would be meeting them at the end of the tunnel. She feared the worst.
Nick approached Leah. "You know, I can give it a go by myself now that my cane's a little shorter," Leah said, holding up the severely bent stick. "It's a better length for a stroll through a four foot-tall tunnel, don't you think?"
"Looks perfect, Leah," Nick said. "I’ll take good news wherever I can get it. If you change your mind and need help, you let me know."
"Can you walk, Chuck?" Bob asked Wending as he pulled him off the floor.
Sounds of agony from Wending echoed through the vent. Jodie could see the sweat pouring off his face as he stood in a half-crouch. "Yeah. Hurts like a son of a gun, but like you said, we need to get outta here."
"We don't know where we're headed, but it's clear that we're going deeper underground by the slant of this pipe," Jodie said. "Let's move as quickly and quietly as possible and stay together. If one of us stops, we all stop. Hopefully, we'll find friendly faces up ahead, but I think it's safe to say chances of that happening are slim, so if we run into anyone, trust is not an option. Okay, everybody ready?" she asked. She didn't want to show it, but her head was pounding and claustrophobia was beginning to tighten its grip. She hoped no one, including herself, would have an anxiety attack from being in such confined conditions.
"Let's go," Mei said. Everyone responded in the affirmative, including Hunter, whose tail wagged aggressively as Noah stroked his fur.
With that, the group started on their journey with Jodie, Mei and Hunter in the lead, followed by Christy, Noah and Leah. Bob and Nick helped Chuck Wending bring up the tail end of their caravan.
Chapter 20
About three hours into their descent, Jodie overheard Noah describing feeling claustrophobic. Christy and Mei tried to calm him, but she could tell by the tone of their voices, that they were all experiencing the same sense of urgency to get out of the vent. Spider webs covered the walls for the first hour of their descent and Jodie felt her entire body crawling. It was only the terror above them in the woods and the realization that there was one option of where to go that propelled her forward. But the going was getting easier, with the vent height having increased to almost six feet, allowing everyone except the three men to stand without bending. Airflow and a dim illumination penetrated the vent shaft through connecting conduits at regular intervals. Jodie could feel the breeze on her face and the light from below grew brighter with each step, bathing them in an eerie greenish glow.
Jodie stopped frequently to listen for sounds or signs of life. Over two hours ago, they thought they heard something mechanical far below them, but the noise lasted for only a few seconds and was gone. She kept a rough count of her footsteps for a few minutes and used it to estimate the distance they'd traveled. She calculated they'd walked over two miles, but had no idea how deep they were going because the vent seemed to drop at sharp angles and then level off again. The pressure in her ears gave her the sense they must be far below the earth now. Her head remained a source of non-stop pain, throbbing with every step she took.
Jodie held up her hand, signaling to stop. She passed out the small amount of food and water she had in her pack while Mei and Nick checked on Wending. He looked spent. His chest began to bleed again a few moments into their journey and they had already stopped twice to redress his wound. The EMTs didn't have the equipment to stitch i
t, so applied a clear dressing and glue to hold things in place. Wending's face was completely white and he was sweating profusely, even though the vent was cool inside. Jodie hoped they could get out soon and find him some medical help. It was obvious Wending was going to die if he didn't get out of there. She weighed options, thinking she might need to go ahead by herself and find an opening somewhere. If they kept moving as a group, they might never get out of the vent.
"We can't move him," Mei said, interrupting Jodie's thoughts. "He has to rest. I know we're in danger here, but he won't make it if we keep going. He's lost a lot of blood."
"Yeah, I thought you would say that. I ..." Jodie's words trailed off as the vent began to shake. At first, it felt like a rumbling vibration. They could hear a noise in the distance, gradually becoming a roar, growing closer. The noise was deafening now. The vent vibrated beneath them violently, increasing in intensity, the sound almost unbearable. Mei grabbed onto Jodie's arm. They were flooded with light. The roar was upon them, the vent bucking. Noah clung onto Christy. Nick held Leah's hand, with Hunter under his arm, his head tucked inside Nick's shirt, hidden. Bob looked at Jodie, his eyes filled with tears. His face held an expression not of fear, but of what she thought was regret and sadness. Again, she was overwhelmed with guilt. He wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me, she thought.
Suddenly, as abruptly as it started, the vibration and noise stopped. They were immersed in total silence and green light. Everyone slammed their hands over their ears as a blast of a horn shook the vent.
At first, the sound didn't register in Jodie's mind. Then, she thought, that's what that was. "It's a train," she whispered. She jumped up, ran toward the light, then stopped and looked down. She was standing on the vent opening. She moved back and pulled on a section of the grate. It came up easily and she slid it to the side as quietly as she could.
Jodie lay flat on the vent floor and slowly stuck her head through the opening, peering into the area below. Directly beneath her sat a three-car train with the number 102 painted on the top. She couldn’t see anyone in the train or the area below her. She strained to get a better view and felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw Bob crouching down next to her, Leah hobbling toward them in the distance and Nick pulling Wending through the vent, followed by the rest of the group. "It's about a six foot drop down to the top of the train. I can't see anyone down there. I'm going through. Cover me."
"Watch your corners, Jodie," Bob said, helping Jodie lower herself through the opening.
Her boots hit the top of the car with a metallic thud. She dropped flat and scanned the area, leaning over the side of the train, looking in the windows and seeing the car empty.
Jodie stood up and walked to the rear of the train, stepping down on the ladder mounted on the back. She crawled down the ladder to a deck and looked in the window. She could see all the way up to the interior of the first car. Each car appeared to be a hollow box with no seats, but with windows on all sides. No one was inside. She pulled out a flashlight and shone it next to the train. The platform it stopped at was empty, too. Jodie called up to Bob as she moved back up the ladder to the top of the car. "I don't see anyone in here. Bring them through. Better be fast. We don’t know how long this thing will be here."
Bob lowered Leah through the opening and Jodie grabbed onto her legs, letting her slide down. Next, Christy jumped down and Bob handed Noah to her. Mei followed and waited for Hunter to jump in her arms. He knocked her off her feet as he landed, bounding to the end of the train car, looking down.
Helping her back to her feet, Jodie asked, "Mei, can you get them down the ladder and into the car while I help the guys with Wending?"
"Sure." Mei addressed the group on top of the car. "Come on, everyone, let's get off of here. Hunter, do try to be more patient, okay, boy?"
"Bob, why don't you go down and I'll pass Wending through?" Nick said.
Bob jumped down and the vent creaked and groaned as Nick lowered a now unconscious Wending through the opening in the grate, holding him underneath his arms. Bob and Jodie grabbed onto him, setting him on the roof. Nick jumped down next to Wending. "Let's get him down fast. He doesn't look good at all." Jodie, Bob and Nick grabbed Wending by his arms and legs, moving as quickly as they could toward the back of the train car.
Jodie crawled down the ladder and Mei helped her with Wending, who was lowered to the deck by Nick and Bob. She and Mei struggled to pull Wending inside the train. They set him down on the floor and Mei opened her backpack.
"He's not breathing," Mei said.
Jodie leaned out the back door and looked up the ladder at Nick. "Nick, you'd better get down here quick. Wending isn't breathing," she said, motioning inside the car.
Ignoring the ladder, Nick jumped down to the back deck and entered the train car, moving to Wending’s side. Bob came down and joined everyone as the EMTs began CPR. Sweat poured from Nick's forehead as he started the third minute of chest compressions. Mei continued blowing breaths into Wending's mouth. Bob took over for Nick as Nick listened for a heartbeat.
The silence of their shared shock was shattered by the blllaaattt of the train's horn. The car jerked violently, knocking everyone off their feet, sending them and the EMT’s equipment cascading across the floor.
Chuck Wending slid across the train car and his body slammed into the wall. He sat straight up, spat a garbled, "Who in the hell is making all that noise?" Then, he threw up on his coveralls, fell back to the floor, and passed out. Nick and Mei crawled toward him.
Jodie said a silent thank you that Wending was breathing again. She stayed low when the floor started to vibrate slightly. Within a few seconds, all she could feel was a gentle hum as the train began to move. "Okay, everyone stay down below the windows. We don't know where we're going and who'll be there when we get there. Probably would be best to arrive unannounced."
Nick and Mei quickly pulled Wending’s soiled coveralls down around his waist and re-dressed his wound, which bled profusely because of the pressure from CPR. Once they were finished, they dragged him to the side, underneath the window.
Leah tugged at the neck of her sweat-saturated shirt. "I'm just happy to be out of that vent for now, Jodie. What do you think this train is for? It has no seats."
Pointing upwards at four rows of hand straps, she answered, "Looks like they pack a lot of people in here at once. Maybe they use the train for moving workers or miners. I don’t really know, but what I do know is that we’re moving incredibly fast." The walls of the train tunnel were dimly illuminated by the light in the car, the speed smearing the images passing by into a uniform grey blur. Ahead lay utter darkness.
Jodie and Bob pulled out the last of their food, consisting of trail mix, two bottles of water, and a jar of peanut butter. Nick added beef jerky he’d brought for the dog.
"Better save this for Hunter," Jodie said, handing the beef jerky back to Nick. "He’s one of the family now, too."
Mei searched through the bulging pockets of Wending’s coveralls. "I hit pay dirt here, everybody. Well, at least for the non-vegans," she said, holding up a bag of half-melted Three Musketeers bars. No one seemed interested for the moment, though.
Jodie helped everyone settle in for their ride, doling out the last of their meager rations. Once that was done, she moved over to the wall and stared into space, deep inside her own thoughts, trying to make sense of the last few days, the throbbing in her head still holding her attention.
Bob sat next to her. "What’s on your mind, Jodie? I mean, besides the fact that we’re hurtling through a subterranean tunnel at a speed probably unheard of on the surface of the earth, to an unknown destination, very likely overrun with hostile, armed maniacs?"
Jodie wished she could laugh. "Not much to add to that. Actually, I was thinking about my parents. I wonder if they knew about this place. Nothing, yet everything, is starting to come together in my mind, but each piece is still too fragmented to pull into a cohesive thought."
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"Well, that was more than I bargained for in a response. What would your parents have to do with this place?"
"Not sure, but the way they’ve acted all these years … like they were doing something so big, beyond my or anyone’s comprehension. Like they had no choice. I don't know where we’re headed, but I think it’s safe to say they’ve got something to do with whatever we find. What their role is or was, I don’t know."
"Well, let’s talk about what we do know. We know for sure, I think, that probably everything in Mountain City – the drowned man, the burns, the disappearance of Fester and his family, the woman you hit, and the attack at your cabin – is likely related. Someone’s trying to keep us from finding out what’s going on down here and they’re going to great lengths to do that."
"That’s why my parents keep coming back into my mind. Those guys who attacked us were from Gypsum Aeronautics, where my parents worked. What would they be protecting here? What I'm really wondering about is when we're going to run into the Gypsum guys again. Doesn't it seem odd that no one followed us or met us at this train stop?"
Bob shrugged and leaned back against the wall. For a moment, Jodie thought he was going to say something, but he just closed his eyes. The train moved almost silently, nothing but a gentle hum to indicate they were still moving. Jodie looked around at the battle-weary group. Christy sat with her back against the wall. Noah was sleeping soundly, leaning on her shoulder. Nick and Mei sat next to Wending, Nick dozed, with his chin resting on his chest, and Hunter's head in his lap. Mei looked like she was losing the struggle to keep her eyes open, yet she periodically checked Wending’s vital signs. At one point, she looked over at Jodie and shook her head, indicating that Wending was in bad shape.
Jodie left Bob, who was sleeping soundly, and moved over to her. "What’s going on?"
