by William Oday
It was the way out of the marketplace and back to the rest of Res Two.
Clouds of impenetrable dust billowed out like smoke and rose toward the roof of the cavern above.
One of Crypto’s apes helped him to his feet, patting his black uniform, igniting puffs of tiny dust clouds. One enveloped Crypto’s head and he began sneezing violently.
He smacked the huge hand away and muttered a curse after the sneezing fit wound down.
The dust took several minutes to settle, but it didn’t take more than a few seconds to realize what had happened.
And what it meant.
The general and his men had collapsed the tunnel.
We were trapped.
35
I pointed at the nearest ape and then at the tunnel. “Go check it out! We need to know what we’re dealing with.”
His lip curled up into a snarl.
“Do it,” Crypto said.
The brute flashed his bared teeth before wrapping a cloth over his nose and mouth. He pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket and headed into the dark tunnel.
“Buried alive! Really?” Crypto said and then spat out dark saliva. “What a pathetic way to go. I’d always imagined something grander.”
I swallowed and the inside of my throat scraped together like it was coated with sandpaper. I hacked a thick glob out and noticed my front side. What had seconds ago been slick with blood was now powder-coated with fine grit. I scraped a finger down my cheek and came away with a brown paste that I flicked away. “Is there another way out?”
He stopped slapping dust out of his clothes and looked up with a frown. “No.”
“Well, then we’re going to have to clear the tunnel.”
He shook his head. “We have no idea how much of the corridor has collapsed. It could takes weeks to clear. And the surrounding rock will have faults in it now. We could clear a section only for it to collapse on our heads!”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
He coughed a few times and then gestured at the layer of smoke hugging the ceiling. It was much lower than before. “The collapse cut off the air circulation. How long will the air in here last? Not long is my guess. Not with all these people and those fires chewing through the oxygen.”
“Then we’d better get started.” I waved to the other survivors nearby. “Gather up what tools you can! We have to get the tunnel cleared out or we’ll all end staying here forever!”
A murmur of somber agreement made the rounds. Several people disappeared down the lane, heading to wherever supplies could be gathered while others remained with the wounded that needed tending.
One of the orange glows in the distance winked out.
Good. One of the fires had been put out.
People began returning carrying shovels and pickaxes and pry bars while others arrived carrying or supporting the wounded.
“Does anyone here have any medical training?”
A man raised a tentative hand. “I’m an orderly. I’ve seen what the nurses and doctors do.”
“Then you’re the best we’ve got. Recruit two assistants and get to work on diagnosing and treating the injured.”
He stood there, eyes wide with fear.
“Do the best you can! Now!”
“Yes, sir,” he stuttered and then got to work.
“Bring everything we can use for digging and hauling over here!” I shouted to those returning with supplies. I pointed at the destroyed battering ram. “Crypto, do you have someone who can take a look at that vehicle?”
“I don’t think there’s enough left to repair.”
“That wasn’t my question. And we don’t need a barricade anymore. We need something that can drag out any rocks too large to carry.”
“I know a guy here. If he’s still alive.”
“Good. Find him. Get him on it ASAP.”
Crypto’s lips pressed together into a tight line. He wasn’t used to taking direction.
And I couldn’t have cared less.
“What are you waiting for, partner? Are we going to make this mean something or not?”
He bit his lip and motioned to the bodyguard standing nearby. “Let’s go.” The two vanished from my thoughts before they’d vanished into the marketplace.
Before I sent anyone in to start digging, potentially sending them to their deaths, I wanted to take a look myself. “We need more buckets and things that can haul out dirt. Keep gathering it all right here.” I pointed at the growing pile of tools and supplies.
“Does anyone have a flashlight?”
A few people raised their hands and I accepted one from the nearest volunteer. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
I yanked my shirt off and tied it around my face to filter the air.
Which was smart because it became apparent within the first twenty feet that while the mouth of the tunnel was clear, further in was choked with dust.
The light of the flashlight bloomed into the particulate fog, making it next to useless. Next to. Not fully.
I continued with squinted eyes and slow, shallow breaths.
It went on like that until my eyes burned and every breath ended with a cough.
Until I nearly ran into Crypto’s ape.
He was half-buried at the top of the pile of rubble blocking the corridor. His legs thrashed about as he wiggled back out. He noticed me with a nod. “I dug a few feet in, but couldn’t see anything but more dirt. Not sure how far it goes.”
I shined the flashlight along the top of the corridor, looking for cracks or faults or anything that might hint at instability. I didn’t see anything.
But that didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Thinking more to myself than anything, I spoke. “We’re going to need to spray it down to get the dust to settle. Also going to need to pump in air to keep from suffocating.”
“Okay.”
What else did I expect from this guy?
“Head back and have people gather water and find some pumps and lines. We need to get started immediately. I’ll be back out in a few. I want to look around a bit more.”
He stared at me for a second, deciding on where I stood in the hierarchy now that I was his boss’ partner. “Okay.” And he left without another word.
I’d expected more resistance. More grumbling or threats or something.
But I guess officially being partners with Crypto came with certain advantages. That was a welcome surprise.
I just hoped the partnership didn’t come with other surprises.
Unwelcome ones.
36
Three crews of eighteen dug for two hours each, and twelve shifts had passed and still there was nothing but more rocks and dirt clogging the tunnel. No hint of where it might end. No clue when we might break through to the other side.
Though Crypto and I were the de facto leaders of the escape effort, I didn’t think that meant we should get a free pass on the digging and hauling.
Crypto, not surprisingly, thought differently.
He lounged at one of the local watering holes that hadn’t been touched by the grenades or the resulting fires. Each time he returned to check in on progress, he was drunker than before.
I’d assembled an efficient operation.
Diggers cut the dirt and rocks away from the packed wall blocking the tunnel.
Scoopers behind them filled the buckets.
Carriers took full buckets out and brought empty buckets back.
A guy from the Water department installed a tube that pumped in fresher air from the cavern. A guy from the Power department strung a cable of lights along the side of the corridor so we had light throughout.
The work was filthy and exhausting.
But we kept at it like a hive of orchestrated insects.
At first, no one complained.
Everyone knew their job and did it.
Every hour of effort brought visible progress.
But with every passing hour of continued progress
that led to nowhere, morale began to fail.
This shift, thirteen and counting, had started a few minutes ago and two people hadn’t returned from wherever it was they disappeared to during the break period. Of the sixteen that did show, three were intoxicated if not outright drunk.
Crypto’s drinking buddies, maybe.
I’d been forced to make them leave to maintain order and safety within the tunnel. All of the remaining workers were exhausted and far less effective than when we’d started.
The machine I’d so carefully assembled was falling apart.
I slammed a pickaxe into the wall of rubble and tore out another chunk. Over and over, swing after swing until my shoulders burned.
Breathing hard with my chest heaving like a bellow sucking air into my lungs, my head began to swim. A slight disorientation at first that quickly got stronger.
I stumbled back a few steps and leaned against the wall while I focused on slowing my breathing. My fingers ached from being curled around the shaft of the axe for so long.
Martinez slammed another swing into the wall and tore another chunk free. She looked over her shoulder. “What’s wrong? Can’t keep up with an old lady?”
I laughed. “I said you looked older than twenty-four. That doesn’t mean old lady.”
“You should never comment on a woman’s age. You never know when they’ll take offense.”
“I didn’t figure you for the delicate flower type.”
She laughed and then spit a brown loogie into the dirt. “Yeah, you’ve got a point there.” She turned away and kept digging.
A gray tank top showed off the lean muscles bulging in her shoulders and arms. The shirt hugged the curvature of her breasts each time she lifted the pickaxe for another blow. Soaked with sweat, her pants clung to her hips and backside, revealing curves that had been hidden before.
As tired and beat up as I was, I noticed.
Even having no intention of acting on the observation, I noticed.
Between being tough as nails and undeniably attractive, she was going to make someone happy someday. If only I was ten years younger. Was ten enough?
The realization struck me like a slap to the face.
I had no idea how old I was. Early forties felt right, but I couldn’t dredge up anything more specific.
“Hey,” Martinez said. “Are you going to just sit there looking dumb? Or are you going to help me dig us out of here?”
I blinked out of the daze and found my breathing had slowed and the dizzy spell had passed. “Cut me some slack, Martinez. I got out of brain surgery less than two days ago.”
She snorted. “Excuses, excuses.”
I rolled my sore shoulders a few times and got back to work.
Minutes rolled by as the axes rose and fell. Pecking the dirt away like chickens hitting a bowl full of feed.
I angled my pickaxe sideways to have a swing at a stubbornly lodged rock stuck near the top. An accurate swing split it down the middle.
The two halves tumbled down and a whooshing sound of equalizing air.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Martinez, thinking maybe my delirious exhaustion was making me hear things.
“I heard it! I heard it!”
Adrenaline flooded my limbs and I went after that spot at the top. After another five minutes of furious digging, sweat poured off my chin. I hadn’t uncovered much, but there was a small void that extended into the rubble that was less packed than everything we’d encountered to that point.
Someone whistled behind us.
We turned to find Crypto eyeballing Martinez from top to bottom.
“Marty, you look filthy,” he said as he swayed to the side and caught himself. “And I like it.”
“Did you call me Marty? Tell me that didn’t just happen.”
“Oh, it happened,” he said with a wink, “and I think you liked it.”
Martinez took a threatening step toward him but I intervened.
“Enough! What are you doing here?” I asked him.
He swayed as if responding to an invisible wind. Then pointed at our work with an open hip flask in hand. “There was a rumor that you’d gotten us out. But no, you haven’t.”
I leaned on the pickaxe, trying to catch my breath. “We uncovered something. Might be a start.”
Crypto looked up at the hole I’d created near the roof. His lips pinched to the side. “I can fit in there. I’ll check it out.”
“You’re drunk. Go eat something and get some sleep.”
His eyes flashed. “We’re partners, if you’ll remember. So you’re not my boss!”
“I’m just saying we’ll get through it eventually. We don’t need your help at this point.”
He took a long swig before breathing out incendiary fumes. He screwed the cap on and tucked it into a pocket. “And yet, my help is what you will have. Move aside!”
He marched by, then teetered to the side and smacked into the wall. He steadied himself and winked at us like he’d meant to do that. He scrambled up the pile and started singing as he burrowed into the hole.
The first scoop of dirt shot out and hit me in the eye.
“Watch out below!” he said as he wriggled deeper and then continued on with the song.
I ducked to the side as the next scoop sailed by. I scraped the granules out of my eye and fought the urge to hit him with the shaft of my axe.
“Bend over,” Martinez said with a grimace.
“Why?”
“You’re thingie has dirt in it.”
“My thingie?”
“Your brain pipe or whatever you call it. There’s dirt sticking out the top.”
“Oh.” I crouched and tilted my head forward.
Martinez picked at the drain tube.
“Ouch!” I said as a sharp pain stabbed into my head.
“Sorry. There’s some lodged in it.”
I gritted my teeth as pain spiked every time she jostled the tube.
“There we go. Got it. Mostly. You should probably wash that out. It doesn’t look sanitary.”
“Good point.” I should’ve covered it before we started.
A deep cracking sound in the surrounding rock.
Everyone froze.
The diggers, the scoopers, the carriers. Martinez and I.
Everyone but Crypto.
Another scoop of dirt flew by.
His feet were no longer visible. His voice echoed out as he continued singing like an idiot. I didn’t catch all the words, but the virtues of cold beer and hot women were mentioned a few times.
No one moved. Other than Crypto.
Another cracking sound.
A thunderous, terrifying breaking.
The ceiling nearby cracked open and huge chunks of rock crashed down.
“Everyone out! Now! Run!” I shouted.
Everyone but Martinez took off toward the exit into the cavern.
She grabbed my wrist. “Come on! Let’s go!”
I turned toward the hollow at the top of the rubble and the muffled singing echoing out.
A jagged fissure split across the tunnel above our heads.
CHOICES:
1. Leave Crypto behind and go with Martinez.
2. Tell Martinez to go and try to save Crypto.
3. Get Martinez to help rescue Crypto.
The group chose #3 and this is what happened next…
37
Martinez yanked my wrist so hard she nearly pulled my shoulder out of the socket. “What are you doing? We have to go!”
I shook my head. “No. We have to save him.”
“Save him? Are you crazy? We have to save ourselves!” She tugged my wrist again, but I wasn’t going to be moved.
“We’re in this together now. We’re on the same side.”
She let go with a frown. “That’s what you think. But I’m betting he doesn’t share that view. My bet is that he’s on his own side no matter what happens. And the minute our side doesn’t line up with his side, he’ll
dump us. Or worse.”
“Maybe,” I said with a nod of acceptance. “But his view of the world doesn’t change mine. We have to help him.”
Martinez’ nostrils flared with anger.
The fissure in the rock above our heads jumped another foot across the surface. A shower of dust and pebbles rained down.
Martinez’s jaws clenched tight. “Fine. But if we die, I’m going to kill you.” She elbowed me aside, not gently, and scrambled up the pile of debris. “I’ll grab him and you pull me out.”
“Got it.”
She extended her arms in front of her and wriggled into the hole. It was barely bigger than her body. She inched forward like a worm, and slowly went deeper until only her boots stuck out.
A deep creaking and the tunnel shook.
It was going to come down any second.
I climbed up, grabbed her boots and shoved forward until my shoulders hit the rock surrounding the hole.
“Stop!” she screamed. It came out muffled from the cramped space, but it would’ve been loud and furious at the point of origin.
“Sorry,” I called into the dark crevice.
“Not you!” she said. “Stop kicking, you pint-sized idiot!” Her torso and legs thrashed around and then settled. “Got him! Pull me out!”
I latched onto both boots and heaved with all my strength.
She slid out a few feet and then stopped.
I pulled again, but to no effect.
“Owww! Stop!” she shouted.
I kept pulling as hard as I could.
“I mean you this time! Stop pulling!”
I let go of her boots. “Oh, sorry!”
Crypto’s drunken singing drifted out.
Oh, one hot woman
And two cold beers
Keep ‘em coming like that
Til the morning appears!
All three go down
Is the way to start.
Then the lady gets a turn
Cuz I’m a man with a heart.
“Will you shut up already!” Martinez yelled. “Scout, I’m stuck on something.”
“Can you reach it?” I asked.
“If I could do that, I would’ve already! I can’t bend my arms.”