Burrows

by Reavis Z. Wortham

  ***

  Thinking the roof was coming down, Cody and John remained still, faces buried in the trash, until they were sure nothing else was going to fall. Cody’s lungs tightened from the dust. Like Top, he was asthmatic from birth, though his symptoms were usually much less severe.

  Coughing and eyes watering profusely, Cody kept his face buried in his arm and waited until the tension in his neck eased. Several minutes passed before he blinked at the motes floating in their flashlight beams.

  “I swear.” John coughed, dislodging the filth in his short hair.

  “I’ve been in here less than twenty minutes and we’re already trapped.” Cody spat grit, gagging on thick dust. “I don’t believe I’m good at this anymore.” He regained control of his fear and panned his light around the claustrophobic burrow. “We have only one option. It’s pretty clear we aren’t leaving the same way we came in. I suppose we can wait right here until someone digs us out, or we can see about crawling out somewhere else.”

  Heart thumping, he picked up the dropped radio and keyed the thumb switch. “Griffin, can you hear me?”

  The radio crackled, weak, full of static and tinny. “It sounded like a mine caved in behind y’all and a butt-load of dust rolled out. You boys all right?”

  “That depends. What do you see out there?”

  “It’s completely blocked. I have a couple of guys beside me who say it’ll take hours to clear the entrance, and then there might be another collapse. You boys have air?”

  Creaks, pops, and groans told them the Exchange was still settling overhead.

  “Yep, and right now it smells like a garbage can full of dust and stink. The deadfall was around the corner behind us. The whole floor collapsed. We can’t stay right here for long, but I don’t want to chance it if y’all start digging us out.” He released the transmission key.

  “Any suggestions?” Sheriff Griffin and his men huddled over the expanding layout, stabbing fingers at various points. “We have someone here thinks George Hart has more than one way out of that place.”

  Cody and John exchanged glances. “Yeah, we’re about to act like moles and find one of them. I bet we can get out the same way George does. We heard someone moving close by before the cave in. For sure somebody’s in here with us and I bet he has some other way out.”

  “There might be more booby traps, too.”

  “No kidding.”

  “Y’all hold it for a minute. Let me study on it.”

  Cody played his light ahead, pondering their next move in the narrow passageway, and wondering if the Exchange was structurally sound. The entire building was built to support the enormous weight of cotton bales, but even so, if the joists or timbers had rotted, or were open to the elements, the whole thing could be spongy throughout. If that was the case, unimaginable weight loomed precariously overhead.

  Logic dictated the main access tunnel wouldn’t be trapped again until farther ahead. Whoever had created this horror wouldn’t want to trip their own ambushes if they needed to get inside quickly. That would come later, once a pursuer was deep in the burrow and out of his element.

  But then again, there was that one tunnel with one punji pit right after another, he thought. I’m too rusty for this crap, and we just tripped a deadfall at the entrance, so my logic ain’t worth a hill of beans.

  Behind him, Cody heard John puffing as he slithering along on his elbows to get closer. He turned and pressed against the wall to peer back past his feet. The glow of his flashlight illuminated John’s sweating face.

  Cody realized that he was also getting hot. “All right, now listen carefully. As long as you’re with me, you have to do what I tell you. This is not your mission and I am in charge. I don’t intend to die in here.” It felt uncomfortable to speak to his old friend in such a forceful tone. He’d grown up respecting John and the badge he wore. Young men didn’t order their seniors around, even though in their sharply divided world of black and white people, it was completely acceptable.

  John paused. “Yeah.” He wormed closer until Cody’s feet were only inches from his face. “I’m with you on that.”

  “You also don’t question a thing I say, John. Please. And when I tell you to do move, you act instantly, got it? I mean it.”

  “Got it. My people are used to doin’ what we’re told.” John’s weak joke broke the tension.

  “All right.” Now Cody was responsible for the two of them. The knowledge was nearly too much to bear. He had to train John as quickly as possible. “This burrow winds around through here, so try to follow and do exactly what I do. Move exactly the way I do, and don’t touch anything I don’t touch.”

  John played his own beam around Cody’s legs, already feeling claustrophobic. Sweat rolled through his eyebrows and he wiped it away with a bare forearm. “Right.”

  The passageway they followed reminded Cody of a Colorado mountain road. It switched back tightly and wound around ancient piers made of crumbling red bricks. The refuse underneath rose slightly until overhead, the rough, hand hewn bodark joists threatened to bump his skull each time he raised too high.

  After twenty minutes of huffing and crawling, they were completely disoriented. Once, they came to a Y and the right-hand path angled sharply downward into the ground. The black hole reminded Cody of an animal’s burrow leading to a den and woke up the sense of dread that had been revealed by his nightmares. He shivered at the sight and considered his options for a long time before choosing the left fork.

  Cody’s flashlight finally illuminated a wooden trap door set into the floor directly above, recessed in a square of shadow. The burrow itself continued past the overhead access panel and widened into an open thoroughfare, compared to what they’d been in. It ended in a horizontally positioned door.

  Despite his gut-wrenching terror, Cody grinned. “You sneaky son-of-a-bitch. That’s your second trap. It’s too comfortable, and someone chasing you would head right for the wider tunnel. You really know how to set up a sucker play.”

  “What do you mean?” John was unable to see past him.

  “This is the trap door I was looking for. We go up. Don’t go any further, understand?”

  “Why not?” John mentally kicked himself for the question.

  Hating what he had to do, Cody twisted to the side and directed the flashlight between his feet and into the other man’s dilated pupils. “Because I said so.”

  John closed his eyes. Bright spots swam before his eyes. “Got it.”

  Cody once again sucked in a deep breath, trying to control his emotions. He sounded like Ned, and it made him sick to speak to John like that. He valued his friendship far more than the big deputy knew.

  “There’s something not right about this tunnel. An external door laid sideways under here ain’t exactly natural, and besides, there’s too much space around it. He wants us to turn that knob up there on top and drop the door toward us. Whatever’s back there, we don’t want to know about.” He twisted onto his back. “I’m going to open this trap door, and my bet is it’ll take us into a closet so we can get inside and maybe out of this mess. Now, you be ready to get out of my way if anything starts to happen.”

  John wiped the sweat from his brow. “There may be more booby traps once you get the door open.”

  “Prob’ly are. You want to sit right here without knowing what’s going on? I wouldn’t doubt more traps, but I don’t think we have a choice.”

  Thankfully, the ground beneath the entry panel was scooped out, providing easier access. The trap door was designed to drop open upon the release of a small wooden slide. Maybe George had left himself a fast, easy, safe way into the building, and this was it.

  Cody grasped the handle, feeling wood polished from much use. “We’re going to have to open this up.”

  “Do what you gotta do.” John forcefully exhaled a lungful of air and watched thick dust motes dance in the beam of his flashlight.

  “All right. Wiggle back down a ways so I ain�
��t directly under this when it falls.”

  He waited as John wormed his way backward until he was safely away from the door.

  Cody yanked the release, praying that he was right.

  Blocked by John who was effectively a cork in a bottle, Cody couldn’t respond when the door dropped with a screech of rusty hinges and Shep’s bloody body fell through the hole. Constable Cody Parker screamed and tried to backpedal. The dead dog hung suspended on the sharpened stakes affixed to the trap door. His limp head swung slowly back and forth, blood and mucus dripping onto the damp cardboard.

  “Son of a bitch!”

  “What! What!”

  I’m getting too old for this.

  Regaining his shattered composure, Cody keyed the mike. “We found your dog.”

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Mr. Milton Williams wasn’t real happy that he had to leave with us kids. We felt the same way. He watched us in his rearview mirror as he drove through the streets of Chisum. “You know where I’m taking y’all?”

  Pepper and I exchanged glances in the back seat of his car. “Sure do.” She pointed. “Turn up there at the corner.”

  “Where are we going?” I whispered. She pointed west. Aunt Neva Lou lived north of the Exchange, not far from the town square.

  “Shut up, ignern’t,” she hissed, then her tone changed to sugar. “Take the next left, please?”

  We didn’t know that neighborhood from a hole in the ground, but I real quick figured out what she was doing.

  She was setting us up for a butt whoopin’.

  Mr. Williams turned left and drove for a while until he slowed down, knowing something was wrong. “Missy, you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  With wide eyes, she looked for a minute like Betty Boop. “Oh, no. I must be turned around.” She gave him a big smile and pointed. “It’s that way.”

  “Are you sure this time?” Mr. Williams sounded frustrated. “I don’t intend to drive all over town tonight.”

  “I am now.”

  He sighed and we passed the Harper House, which was a mansion once owned by one of the richest men in north Texas, and then she had Mr. Williams stop at a much smaller house.

  “Right here on the corner with the lights on the porch. She’s waitin’ on us. She always leaves the light on because she was attacked one time when she went to the door and her husband had to run a feller off with his shotgun.”

  I shot her another glare, because she was laying it on way too thick, even for her. We had no idea who lived there.

  Constable Williams parked at the curb, turned the car off, and gave his door handle a yank. Pepper stopped him. “Oh, you don’t have to get out, Mr. Williams.”

  He hesitated, glancing back toward the searchlights slashing in the sky. I opened the back door and stepped out. The cold wind cut through me like a knife.

  I could tell Mr. Williams was thinking about walking us up to the house.

  “Me and Pepper are fine right here.” I felt a little better that I hadn’t actually lied, but it didn’t help much.

  I went partway up the walk and waited for Pepper. She slammed her door and waved. “Bye now.”

  We waited for a second on the walk, but Mr. Williams sat there without moving. “Well shit fire.” She grabbed my arm and we went on up the porch. I figured we’d get to the door and he’d drive off so we could skedaddle and go back toward the Exchange, but he didn’t.

  Pepper’s next move was completely unexpected, even for her. She reached out and opened the front door like nobody’s business. My mouth fell open when she walked inside like we lived there.

  Still stunned, I turned around, waved, and followed her in. Apparently satisfied, Constable Williams finally started his car and drove off. The warm air felt great, but I expected to be shot at any second. There was no one in the neat living room, but almost every light they owned was burning.

  I heard water running in the bathroom around the corner. A woman’s voice came from the kitchen, along with the rattle of pans. “I’m about finished with the dishes, Larry! I’ll bring you a towel in a minute.”

  I peeked back out and saw the street was dark and empty. I yanked the door open and jerked Pepper back outside to safety. The door slammed way harder than I intended.

  “Wow!” Pepper’s eyes went wide. “That was close…”

  She was interrupted when the door swung back open and a gray-haired woman in a faded house dress stood there with a dish towel in her hand and a surprised expression on her face. “I thought I heard someone out here. Can I help y’all?”

  My brain quit working. “Uh.”

  Pepper put on that stupid big sweet smile of hers. “Is Tammy home?”

  The woman frowned. “I’m sorry hon, but you have the wrong house.”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “Who you trying to find?”

  “Tammy Stafford. I’ve been to her house before, but we must be turned around. Sorry to bother you.”

  Pepper led the way back to the sidewalk as she watched. “You two better hurry on back home and get your coats.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Lands. Them kids out after dark on a night like this, what are folks thinking?” She shut the door behind us and in a flash we ran down the street.

  Pepper shrieked into the wind. “That was neato!”

  I swung at her, missed, and we raced around the corner and ducked behind a pickup parked on the street. It broke the north wind, but didn’t do much to warm us up.

  “Now what are we gonna do, you idiot?” I was scared and cold.

  “We’re going back to watch.”

  “Grandpa will see us and give us a whoopin’ you won’t believe. It won’t be like getting your mouth washed out with soap.”

  “Quit your whining. We’re having an adventure.”

  “A cold adventure. I’m freezing to death and I didn’t want one in the first place. I just wanted a chocolate soda.”

  “Come on. We’ll be warmer if we walk. We ain’t that far from the Exchange.”

  “What are we going to do when we get there?”

  “I haven’t figured that out yet, either.”

  I followed her down the dark sidewalk, wishing we had our coats. Lights from the Cotton Exchange glowed off the low clouds. Pepper led the way and I followed, shivering, hands deep in my pockets.

  Twenty minutes later, we came up to the backside of the Exchange. Two police officers stood beside their cars, bundled up with their hands in their coat pockets.

  It didn’t take but a second before they saw us. They stepped onto the sidewalk to cut us off. “Where do you two think you’re going?”

  Luckily, we didn’t know either one of them. “Home,” Pepper said.

  “Well, y’all can’t go any farther,” the tallest officer said. “We’re sorry missy, but everything around here has been evacuated.”

  “But we’re freezing. We didn’t bring our coats.”

  “I can see that. Where do you live?”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t make any difference to you girl.” The tall officer’s patience was short in the icy wind. “Everybody left, so you’re going to have to go back where you came from until all this gets sorted out.”

  “Is my mama all right?” Pepper asked with wide eyes.

  “I’ll ask you two again. Where do you kids live?”

  She waved vaguely toward the Exchange. “Right over there.”

  “What do you think, Ed?”

  The short one shrugged. “We can’t make them stay out here and freeze to death.”

  With their backs to the Exchange, they didn’t see what caught my eye. Behind them, a dark, huddled figure stepped out from behind a car and quickly walked toward us. I hadn’t seen anyone else with the officers, but I figured it was another cop.

  The two policemen stepped closer. Ed ducked so his hat could break the wind from his eyes. “Which house is yours?”

  Pepper pointed over his should
er. “It’s over there.”

  Ed turned to look. He saw the man walking toward us. “Hey, come here!” He gestured with his hand and jogged across the street to intercept him.

  “Y’all get on back now where you came from before you turn to a chunk of ice.” The tall officer was finished with us. “You can call for somebody to come pick you up there later.”

  Before she could answer, I heard Ed shout. “Hey! Don’t shoot! Herb!” A quick exchange of gunshots echoed through the neighborhood.

  “Run!” Herb shouted at us and fumbled under his coat to free his revolver. “Get him, Ed! He’s a-runnin’ between them houses!”

  “Come on!” Pepper wanted to run toward the action, but for once I wasn’t having any of it.

  I grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked, nearly pulling her backward off her feet. “No! That’s enough. We’re going to Neva Lou’s right now!”

  She hesitated for a moment, and then deflated. “All right, but we’re missing everything.”

  There was another scattering of shots.

  “I hope we miss a whipping.” I ran, leading the way, and dreading the cold, miserable time it would take us to get there.

  The cold was the least of our problems, because we soon learned that Kendal Bowden got away that night, probably because of us.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Broken and cracked dishes in cardboard boxes, broken furniture, Christmas lights, empty wooden file cabinets, drawers full of car parts, ball jars, crates of tractor parts, cigar boxes full of medals and ribbons…

  ***

  “Now what?” John already knew the answer, but dreaded the response that would make it real. The building creaked and popped around them like a live thing.

  Cody swallowed hard and stared at the dog’s impaled corpse. “We got to get out of here.” He moved his flashlight around the claustrophobic burrow.

  John simply nodded.