Wheeler grunted grudging assent. “There should be a toolbox in one of those cupboards.”
* * *
Nora stuck the flashlight in as far as she could but there was nothing to see apart from flat, grey metal surfaces covered with a thick layer of sticky dust. She wriggled back out of the vent and groaned at the state of her clothes.
“It’s a filthy stink hole but it’s big enough for me to crawl through.”
Typical Nora bluntness made me grin despite my misgivings. I wasn’t sure that she could do this. What happened if she got stuck halfway? I had to stop this quick.
“If the other end’s sealed, how are you going to get out?”
Wheeler answered. “It’s only a wire grill behind a wood panel, so that it looks like the rest of the wall. A good shove will break it.”
“I’ll bring a hammer from the toolbox,” Nora added.
“Won’t they hear that?” I persisted. I didn’t like this idea one bit.
“Only if they’re right beside the vent,” Wheeler countered, “If they stay on the other side of this door they won’t hear a thing. And remember, we can watch them.”
He pointed to the big screen. It showed Sanders still trying to smash open the steel door, while the others stood perfectly motionless behind him. All six faces held exactly the same expression; an eerie look of total concentration on the job at hand. The sort of look that told you they’d never stop till they succeeded or died trying. It sent a chill down my spine and I suddenly felt like a rat caught in a trap. I wanted out of this tiny room quickly.
Toby sighed loudly. “I think we have to let Nora try this,” he said, “We can’t stay here till they get in, or until we become mummies in a tomb.”
“Okay,” Nora said, “Let’s get on with it. Don’t worry; I’ll get out the other end. If it’s blocked, I’ll backpedal – it’ll just take me a bit longer.”
“But–” I pleaded, still not wanting her to risk it.
“Hand me that hammer, Nick. And stop worrying. I’m a gymnast; I know what I’m doing.”
I gave her the stubby, heavy-headed hammer. Yes, she was on the school gymnastics team, that’s true. She’d competed at national level. Didn’t mean this couldn’t go wrong. “If only we had a rope to tie around you,” I said, “I’d be happier.”
She gave me a consoling pat on the shoulder. “Well, we don’t.” She took a last look around. “If all goes well, I’ll be back soon, head first.”
Wheeler and Toby helped her into the vent. Moments later her legs disappeared from view and Toby turned to me.
“Try not to worry, Nick; she can inch her way back if she has to,” he said.
I still wasn’t convinced. “I hope you’re right,” I replied, “I really hope you’re right.”
* * *
Time slowed down and minutes took hours, or so it seemed. I kept close to the vent and heard distant thuds followed by more silence. With the ventilation system now lying on the floor, the air in the room became stale and sticky. I wiped sweat off my face and tried not to let the waiting overwhelm me. Another age passed and by now I was really anxious about Nora. What was keeping her so long? Was there someone out in the darkness waiting for her? I studied the screen again and counted six people. It made me feel slightly better.
I got up and peered into the vent but saw only pitch black emptiness. No sound of Nora either. Or was there? I strained to listen and thought I heard a faint scraping deep inside. Then it was gone; just my imagination, probably.
No! There it was again. It gradually grew louder and I knew she must be getting close. A grimy face appeared out of the darkness and a great slash of white-toothed grin spread across it when she saw me waiting. I helped her down to the floor, where she lay panting. Toby brought her water and she drank deeply.
“Need to get the dust and grime out of my throat,” she said breathlessly.
When she recovered, she propped her back against the wall and gave us the lowdown.
“That was pretty tiring,” she said, “It’s harder than it looks. It’s also really disgusting in there, full of dead bugs, and live ones too. Not like those gleaming ventilation shafts you see in movies.”
“Do you think the rest of us can manage it?” I asked.
“It’s a tight squeeze but I think so. You just keep your arms out in front of you, pull with your hands and push with your feet. Take it slow and don’t panic.”
I took a sideways look at Toby and had my doubts but said nothing. “Any problems at the other end?” he asked.
“I head-butted the grill a couple of times” – Nora grinned and rubbed the top of her head – “But soon gave that up. A good hard whack at each corner with the hammer got it loose and then I yanked it right off. The false cover sits out a bit to let air in and has an inside hinge that I propped open.”
“Any sign they’ve done anything round the back?” Wheeler wanted to know.
“Don’t think so. The woodpile is right in front of the vent, so it kept me well hidden. It’s still scary though. They could’ve appeared any second for all I knew.” Nora shivered. She obviously hadn’t hung around.
“I’ll go first and blow those zombies to hell if they get in my way,” Wheeler bragged, “I’m not afraid of them.”
I could almost smell the testosterone coming off the man. Did he think anyone believed him? It irked me that he obviously believed it himself. I checked the monitor again. Still six figures on the other side of the door. An idea formed in my mind. “What if we go out through the shaft then lure them in here?”
Wheeler turned. “How could we do that?”
“The last person opens the door before he goes.” I pretended to think for a moment then looked straight into Wheeler’s eyes. “That should be you.”
It was a glaring challenge to all his bluffing and bragging, and he knew it. I could see doubt play all over his face. He swallowed hard and nodded.
“Sure, I’ll go last. It takes the door several seconds to unlock and start opening. And they know I’m armed so the cowards will take their time coming in.” He said it like he’d won something over me.
“Leave us enough time to get outside before then,” I explained, “We’ll sneak back in through one of the smashed windows and lock them inside here. When you get out the vent, block it up again.”
“They stick a head out that vent and I’ll take it off with the hammer,” Wheeler replied, “It’s what those spaced-out bastards deserve.” He grabbed a pen and a scrap of paper. “Here’s the combination. Punch in these numbers on the keypad and the door closes and locks automatically. I won’t let them out the vent.”
Now it was my turn to have doubts. “You think it’ll work?” I said.
“Why not? But you guys better not chicken out on me and run off into the hills. You got to come inside again and trap them.” He threw it out as a challenge.
I waited for Nora and Toby to respond. “Even if we only got some of them locked up it’d be worth it,” Nora said.
Toby stood up and swayed on unsteady feet. “If I can get through that hole, I’ll do it,” he said, eyeing the vent. “My head’s throbbing and I can’t take this airless place much longer. Ten minutes of hell in that vent and then I’ll be free again.” He looked up at the monitor screen. “Won’t they see us trying to trap them?”
“You can be damned sure I’ll pull the wiring out before I leave,” Wheeler replied.
“Alright,” Nora said impatiently, “Let’s get started.” She stuffed the slip of paper with the room combination deep into her jeans pocket.
Wheeler picked his rifle up off the bed. “Get on with it. I’m tired of sitting around. I want those deadheads caught in here like rats in a trap.”
Chapter Twenty-One
It was pitch black and hellish, and I’d just started. Already I could feel dirt on my tongue and there was nowhere to spit it out. The ventilation shaft was even filthier than I’d imagined. My clothes acted like cleaning cloths, wiping up yea
rs of greasy grime off the metal walls. The stale, warm air was filled with floating dust particles that caught in my throat and irritated my eyes. Wheeler had been suckered by whoever sold him this piece of crap. How Nora had survived it first time around, I had no idea.
My whole body was soon aching, but I was trapped inside this thing and had to keep going. There was barely room to squirm and push forward. Instinctively, my shoulders pressed hard against the walls in a vain attempt to create a little space for myself. My arms were stretched out in front of me, feeling for something to grab and pull. There was nothing except thin ridges where I guessed the panels joined together. Instead, I had to arch my elbows, levering them against the side walls, and make them do the work. At the same time, I pushed with my toes painfully bent almost at right angles. That way, I got an inch or two of forward traction at a time. Every few minutes I had to rest and cool off.
I wasn’t very far along when my right shoulder got stuck. I contorted my body, tried to do a sort of snake shuffle, and the shoulder jammed even tighter into the corner angle. Still no big deal; I’d just squirt back a little and start again. Then I found that I couldn’t budge, forward or back. Sweat trickled down my forehead. Panic began to set in.
The shoulder seemed to swell to massive proportions, like a big round ball attached to me that I wanted to wrench off. I calmed myself a bit and tried to constrict the muscles, make myself narrower. It made no difference; I was already as tightly compressed as I could possibly be. My heart was thumping in my chest, beating against the metal panel below me.
The urge to scream swelled up like a hard lump in my throat. I swallowed it down, closed my eyes in the darkness and counted slowly to twenty. Then I started talking to myself. “There’s no way out except forward. Just get unstuck and keep going. Nothing is caught, nothing is jammed, just relax and start again. If Nora can do it, you can too.”
It didn’t work; not even the potential shame of ruining our plan and letting the others down. I took a bunch more deep breaths and concluded that, whatever I was telling myself in my head, fear was still making my body stiff as a board, the opposite of what I needed to get free. By now the shoulder really was swollen and stuck as tight as superglue. Every time I tried to budge it I felt a sharp stab of pain.
My whole body was soaking with sweat and swollen veins beat a rapid pulse behind my ears. I opened my mouth and ordered myself; “Move on, even if you have to dislocate the fucking thing!” I made a last, supreme effort to get free, pulled my other arm down and back, ignored the searing pain and pushed forward with my toes. The shoulder screamed in protest and I croaked out more curses under my breath. My neck craned like a turtle and I finally made a little forward motion, and a tiny gap opened between shoulder and wall.
An inch, two inches, some more; slowly the wave of agony subsided into dull pain. I was moving again.
* * *
I continued feeling my way along the duct. By now I’d figured out its construction. It was built from short sections of aluminium sheeting and at each sectional join there was a strip of folded-over metal that often stuck up at the corners in sharp, jagged edges. That’s what I’d caught my shoulder on, and I was sure I now had a nice deep, weeping cut to prove it.
The joins weren’t big enough to hold onto to pull myself forward, but they continued to snag my clothes and cut my fingers, making me feel like a slab of cheese being dragged over a grater. I learned the hard way not to press my bare knees against the metal. For the hundredth time my shorts caught on a joint beneath me. I squished my hand down and carefully unhooked myself. Not a single sharp edge had been filed down or cut off. Truly, Wheeler must have hired a bunch of cowboys to build this thing.
I had no idea if Toby was close behind me but, however far along he was, he must have been having a terrible time. He was a lot thicker around the waist than me, and most of it was fat. This shaft would be hell for him. I knew him well enough now though to realise he wouldn’t give up. He was more likely to be right at my heels, quietly waiting for me to get a move on.
Ahead, everything was still jet black with no sign of an exit. The sounds of Nora pushing herself along had faded away ages ago and I had no hope of catching up. Her slim figure and school gymnastics experience made this challenge so much easier for her.
The thought of her waiting alone at the exit hole got me pushing harder than ever. I was about to stop and take another rest when I noticed a hazy, lighter area in the darkness ahead. A little further and the haze sharpened and formed a small grey rectangle. The way out.
Now that the end was in sight, nothing could stop me from charging on. Renewed energy surged through me and, ignoring skinned elbows, leg cramps and aching feet, I propelled myself forward at what I imagined was a lightning spurt. In reality, it was little more than a fast crawl. But it got me there.
A couple more feet, one final effort, and my head emerged from the vent. A cool breeze tickled my face and I filled my lungs with wonderful clean, fresh air. I squirmed like a contortionist and got my shoulders out, my arms dangling in mid air.
Thin moonlight illuminated the ground several feet beneath me. I still had to get myself down to ground level. Suddenly I felt utterly exhausted. I closed my eyes in concentration and prepared myself for yet another effort.
Footsteps sounded on gravel. My eyelids shot open again, but I couldn’t see who it was. A shadowy figure appeared beside me. In my nervous exhaustion I visualised Sanders raising his axe and hacking me in two, half of me still stuck in the vent, half tumbling to the ground. Unable to twist around and look directly at my attacker, I opened my mouth to scream. A hand clamped across my face, pressing my lips tight together. No sound came out. I was mute, helpless.
They must have got Nora, decapitated her and thrown her severed head on the woodpile. I prepared myself for similar execution, praying that one clean, scything cut of the axe would do it.
“Ssssssshhh,” Nora hissed, her mouth close to my ear, “Hurry up and get out of there. Push the wall on either side. Here, I’ll help you.”
Relief and embarrassment quickly gave way to sheer joy at seeing Nora alive and well again. She grabbed my shoulders and yanked me out of the vent. I fell forward and down, and my palms sank into sharp gravel.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have let you go so quickly.” Nora rubbed a bloody hand on the grass beside the gravel. I checked my shoulder and saw that it was indeed bleeding.
“It’s okay,” I told her, “No harm done; just glad to be out of there.”
“I’ve checked around. Coast is clear so far.”
I struggled to my feet, brushed my hands clean, and gave Nora a grateful hug.
* * *
Between the two of us we prised the vent cover completely off and laid it against the woodpile. Removing it enlarged the exit hole but only by about an inch. Still, Toby would need that extra inch.
I stuck my head in the rectangular opening but could see no movement in the blackness.
“Here, try this.”
I took Nora’s flashlight and shone it into the hole. To my relief it showed Toby’s gleaming bald head and two stubby arms flailing around like seal flippers. He was doing well but was still a long way back.
“Toby’s coming; we just have to wait,” I said.
Minutes ticked by and every time I checked Toby’s progress he hadn’t got much further. There wasn’t much we could do apart from keep an eye out for anyone approaching. More time passed. I switched on the flashlight again and looked anxiously into the shaft.
Toby had only crawled a little bit further. I waved the light and he squinted up at me, a look of fear on his face.
“It’s only me,” I hissed at him, “Hurry up!”
“It’s tough going; I haven’t much strength left.”
“You have to make it.”
“I think I’m stuck.”
I shone the flashlight on the dial of my watch. “Wheeler is due into the shaft in about ten minutes. You’d better be out by the
n.”
Toby didn’t reply. He got his head down again and wallowed around like a hippo stuck in quicksand. His stocky frame was jammed into all four corners of the shaft. There wasn’t a millimetre of wriggle room anywhere and it was a miracle he’d got even this far.
I shone the flashlight on the ground around me, looking for a piece of rope, a broom handle, anything I could use to help Toby get out. There was nothing. I closed my eyes and prayed in my head.
“Pssst.”
It came from the shaft. I peered in again and, incredibly, Toby had moved forward half a body length. I grinned at Nora.
“He’s going to make it.”
More minutes crawled by, that seemed like hours. I kept track of Toby’s progress and could tell that he was slowing down again. Time was running out.
“Get a bit closer and I’ll pull you out.”
Toby twisted his head from side to side, stretching his neck like a turtle trying to escape its shell. His face gleamed with sweat and his grunts became louder. It must have taken him a supreme effort to get this far, and now he seemed to have hit complete exhaustion.
Our waiting time was up; Wheeler would be entering the air vent any moment.
Nora gripped my shoulder and pushed me aside. She leaned her head into the vent.
“Toby, I’m getting back into the vent, head first. When I reach you, lock arms. Nick will pull us both out.”
Her face came close to mine in the moonlight. “Pull like crazy, okay? Otherwise two of us get stuck.”
I managed a surprised nod then quickly added, “When you’re ready, wiggle your right foot. That’ll be my signal to start pulling.”
Nora dived into the opening like an Olympic swimmer. I tried not to visualise Wheeler entering the shaft at the other end and what would happen if we couldn’t get Toby out. Wheeler would be trapped too, and Sanders’ mob would have all the time they needed to capture us. It couldn’t end like that.
Uninvited Page 21
