by T. M. Catron
Alice passed one of the men on her way to the hole. He scowled at her, so she didn’t ask him about Ray. It didn’t matter anyway, she knew where he’d be.
Without the continuous miner in front of it to dwarf it, the hole looked much bigger than it had the day before. She searched the rooms to the side, walking between a few pillars, keeping the bigger room within sight.
“Ray?”
The question bounced off the walls. In the distance, she heard the sound of the conveyor being stopped, then started again as the next shift started.
“Ray!”
***
Through a haze of pain, Ray heard someone calling his name. He struggled to open his eyes. His head hurt, and he was lying on cold stone. Where though? The complete darkness around him gave him no sense of place. He tried to think, to remember.
“Ray?”
Alice. Why was she down here? Why was he down here?
He’d come back to the hole to do something. Was it important? Ray couldn’t remember. He put his hand to his head. It came away wet; he was bleeding. All he remembered was stepping down into the new tunnel. Then . . .
Pain. Something had hit him across the head.
***
Alice peeked into the hole, shining her light toward both ends of the tunnel. Nothing. The engineers had left some tall electric lights on the floor, but they were already turned off for the evening.
The room felt empty, lonely, even, without the mining machine. Alice turned to leave, but her light caught the reflection of something just inside the tunnel, near a wall. She jumped down to investigate.
It was a hardhat. The top was cracked, the lamp smashed. Had there been an accident she hadn’t heard about? She turned it around in her own light, trying to determine who it belonged to. But it could be anybody’s hat—they were all the same.
“Ray? Hello?”
A stirring of the air. Alice listened, her ears straining. She turned to look behind her. The air could have come from anywhere, she told herself. The hairs on the back of her neck tingled. Like she was being watched.
***
Ray’s right leg felt like it was caught in a huge pair of pliers. And the pliers were pulling him, dragging him. To where, he didn’t know.
“Ray!”
“I’m here!” His voice sounded muffled, strange. He kicked at the pliers with his free leg. But this only caused his left leg to be pinned to his right. He was being dragged faster now, across a smooth stone floor. He flattened his palms on the floor, trying to stop himself from being pulled farther into the darkness. But he couldn’t get a grip on anything. He clawed the stone, pawing at it, gritting his teeth as a nail gave way.
“Ray?” Alice’s voice was farther away now, almost gone.
“No!” he said. His cry was soundless, useless. “Let go of me!” He struggled some more, twisting his body off the ground in desperation.
In answer, the pliers picked him up and slammed him back to the ground. His leg snapped.
Ray hollered. Pinpricks of light ran through his vision. But they must have been in his mind because the blackness around him was complete.
With his last conscious breath, he prayed to God that Alice didn’t come down the tunnel.
***
“Hey!” Alice called. “You don’t scare me, whoever you are!”
That’s silly, she thought. No one’s here. The wind could have come from anywhere.
If she hadn’t needed to talk to Ray, she might have taken the opportunity to go see the cave everybody was talking about. Instead, she climbed back into the mine, taking the hat with her. Ray must have already walked out, or he would have answered her. She just missed him somewhere, is all.
With the hat in her hand, she walked toward the entrance herself, turning to look one last time at the hole. Why she was drawn to it, she didn’t know. It reminded her of Daddy, maybe. After he’d died, the hole he’d left behind had been meaningless and empty and endless. Alice shook off her thoughts and kept walking.
At the entrance, she blinked in the fading sun and went to gather with the other crew members at the trailer that served as a mine office. She unhooked her tag from her work shirt and turned it in, her eyes automatically sweeping over the tag board. All of them were accounted for, except Ray’s.
“Hey,” she called to Loggins. “Ray didn’t turn in his tag.”
“That’s because he ain’t back yet.” Loggins muttered something else under his breath that Alice didn’t quite catch.
“No, I was just at the hole. He’s not there.”
He sighed with a huge shrug of his shoulders. “Well then, he’s checking the ventilation shafts or somethin’. If you were a real miner, you’d have thought of that.”
Refusing to be cowed, Alice held out the hat she’d found. “This was at the hole. Know who it belongs to?”
Loggins took it from her, turning it over. He frowned. “Must’ve been one of the engineers—threw it against the wall or something. They were pretty upset today.”
He tossed it on the ground and walked away.
Alice went into the office and poured herself a cup of sludgy coffee from the bottom of the carafe. She should go ahead and make more. That was the rule: you drink the last cup, you make more. But she was unwilling for the crew to see her doing something as feminine as making or serving anybody coffee. She didn’t need to remind them she was a woman, that she didn’t belong.
When she walked out, Loggins was on his way in. He glared at Alice, like her standing there offended him. So she left the trailer for the bus.
No one was on it yet. The boys were still milling around. A few followed Loggins into the trailer. He wasn’t being too quiet about the “bad luck” they’d had this week and who he thought was responsible. The other boys openly stared at Alice sitting on the bus. Like Loggins, they probably thought everything was her fault.
Alice chugged down her coffee and climbed off the bus. Loggins came out of the office and spotted her. He moved over to stand between her and the trailer.
“You stay in there,” he said. “Ray’ll be out any second and then we’re gettin’ gone. I’m not waitin’ on you, too.”
“Are you gonna go check on him, then?”
“I already told ya—he’s just doing some last minute checks.” Loggins turned and walked away.
Ignoring his command to get on the bus, Alice went over to sit on a tree stump away from the trailer where the air was cooler. Five minutes later, she saw Loggins grab his tag, put his hat back on, and stroll back into the mine.
An hour later he hadn’t returned. Some of the boys were fidgeting. A few had got on the bus, waited a while, and then got back off. Two more went in to get Ray and Loggins.
“Who didn’t make more coffee?” someone yelled from inside the trailer.
The sun set behind the mountains; the air cooled. Dirt and sweat caked together on Alice’s body so that when she moved, she felt it cracking along her cheeks.
After another thirty minutes, concern grew to alarm—no one could find Ray or Loggins. Alice stood, her stomach trying to escape her body through her throat. Just like Daddy. No, she wouldn’t think like that. It wouldn’t do any good. She paced a while, wearing a path between the trailer and her stump. Everyone ignored her.
Just as second shift was getting involved in the search, Loggins stalked out of the mine. A group gathered around him. Alice walked over to listen, stopping behind the others so no one would notice her.
“Not yet,” Loggins was saying. “We need to organize into teams.” He began barking out orders. The men scattered, hurrying to find their hats and tags.
Alice joined them at the tag board.
Loggins spotted her. He grabbed her wrist when she reached for her tag, his hand covering half her forearm. “Stay out of it,” he said.
Alice blinked. “My uncle’s in there.”
Loggins tightened his grip.
Alice gasped at the sudden pain. “You’re hurtin’ me.”
“You’ve already caused enough trouble. Those boys don’t need you in there, jinxing them, too. You go in there, and I’ll make sure you don’t come back out.”
Loggins let go, pushing her against the trailer.
“Now get on that bus, an’ don’t get off until I tell you, ya hear?”
She nodded, hatred burning through her for the second time that day. But she was no match for Loggins. And he’d probably meant what he said.
Chapter 6
JIMMY GROPED HIS WAY THROUGH the dark trees, too blind to run, too scared to walk. Branches and vines grabbed at his flesh, tearing his skin so that little beads of blood ran down his body. He stumbled and fell face first into the undergrowth.
He had to get up. To warn them. The monster—no, the demon—was after him. All of them. When he pushed off the ground, wet soil and leaves clung to him.
His belly burned, like he’d swallowed a pint of acid. It bubbled up through his throat and he vomited all over himself. It mixed with the dirt on the front of his chest, creating a kind of black ooze. Jimmy ignored it and stood. No rest for the weary. That’s what his mama always said. She was looking for him—she’d called Jimmy’s name, woken him from his dream. And when he’d opened his eyes . . .
Flashes of gold burned across his mind, and he shouted in fear. Keep going, don’t look back. For it would be there, that thing he’d left behind. He’d always been told that demons were red. But maybe that wasn’t right. He hadn’t gone to church much. He wished now he had.
He saw the lights of the mine. The cars. Many cars, more than usual. They had to get out. Get out, get out, get out.
“Get away from me!” he shouted over his shoulder.
Jimmy stumbled for the bus, his muddled mind thinking to blow the horn. That would get their attention. And then they would all get on the bus and Jimmy would drive them away.
They couldn’t go to Springwater. No, had to be farther away than that. His belly burned now like it was on fire. Maybe he’d let somebody else drive.
The bus was close. They had to all get out of here, away from the mine. Away from the demon.
***
Overnight, more people had arrived to help search for Ray. Their headlights bounced along the gravel road leading to the mine. Most of them were from Springwater, but a few had come from neighboring towns and farms. Men went in with flashlights. Women stood outside, fetching water and coffee for the rescue parties.
Alice watched them all from the bus. Most of all, she watched Loggins. He had become the unofficial search director, yelling at people who were coming in and out, consulting the maps, and generally keeping people in line. He hated Alice, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from finding Ray.
Finally, Loggins left the trailer to supervise a search party of his own. Alice stood to watch him grab a hat and march into the mine. The bus was parked at the edge of the gravel, its door facing the trees. She’d just put her foot on the first step when a tall, skinny shadow ran past the bus.
The presence there startled her, and she jumped down the last two steps to see who it was. But this side of the bus was too dark to see anything clearly. She groped her way around the front until the lights from the camp lit her way.
Alice avoided the crowded office. No point in trying to get a hard hat, anyway—the pegs were empty. She skirted the crowd, keeping herself out of the light as much as possible. She’d just decided to dash for the mine when a loud shrieking caused her to turn back toward the office. The crowd muttered. A few people gasped. The shrieking turned into crying. More voices raised in alarm.
“NO! No no no no! Tell them to get out!”
The crowd parted, and a young man ran through to the entrance. The spotty lighting and crush of people prevented Alice from seeing exactly who it was. She caught glimpses of a naked body, covered only by some dirty underwear. Mud and leaves clung to him, like he’d been rolling around in a creek. Something foamy coated his chest.
“Grab him!” someone shouted. A man jumped in front of the stranger, blocking his way into the mine.
The man shrieked again, a long note that ended in a high-pitched squeal.
Alice peered closer. Jimmy?
Yes, she could tell now that people moved out of his path.
Jimmy saw her, his eyes locking onto hers. He ran straight for Alice. But the man blocking the entrance leaped for him, tackling him and holding him to the ground.
Everyone was talking. No one was being heard. Jimmy burst into sobs. “No, they can’t.”
The crowd stopped talking, pressing closer to hear.
“Get away from me, demon!” Jimmy screamed and struggled against the man holding him down. “Tell them they CAN’T!”
“What can’t, son?” asked the man pinning him down.
Jimmy spotted Alice again. His eyes grew wide with fear. “Demon!” he screamed.
Several people stole glances at Alice. Then Jimmy began writhing, his body convulsing so violently he threw off his warden. Alice watched in horror as he began foaming at the mouth.
“He’s possessed,” someone said.
The man pinning Jimmy down recoiled and let go. “Get the reverend,” he said.
With no one holding him, Jimmy flopped around even more. His screams had stopped, but his body looked like it was trying to fight itself. After a moment where everyone stood looking stunned, Deputy Coolidge hurried forward to hold Jimmy down again.
“He’s not possessed!” he said. “He’s having a seizure—a fit. Help me turn him over.”
After they got him on his back, Jimmy’s seizing changed. The difference was hard to tell at first, then he noticeably calmed. He panted, his eyes closed. Finally, his limbs stopped twitching. Then he sobbed again.
With the show over, the crowd relaxed. More talking, muttering.
“Never seen anything like it.”
“I still say we need the reverend.”
“Doc’ll know what to do.”
“Where is Dr. Satchel, anyway? Thought he’d be here.”
“He went home for a while,” Coolidge said. “I’ll take him over.”
Alice lost track of everyone who was speaking. She couldn’t see Jimmy anymore because of the people. No one was looking—now was her chance to get into the mine. But she was riveted to the scene before her.
Some searchers came out of the mine, drawn by the noise outside. Jimmy saw them exit. “You’ve gotta get out of there!” he yelled.
Then he shrieked like before.
“It’s starting again!” Coolidge shouted. “Get back.”
This time the shaking was worse. His entire body flopped around in the dirt, even with Coolidge using all of his weight to hold him down. Alice was reminded of a large trout she’d once caught that had tried to escape back into Springwater Creek. But it hadn’t foamed at the mouth, like Jimmy was doing.
The young man choked, air whistling out of his mouth. Afraid of doing more harm than good, Coolidge let go of Jimmy. Once Jimmy was free, his body went still.
No one moved.
The crowd held its breath while Deputy Coolidge checked for a pulse. After a minute of terrible silence, he shook his head.
Jimmy Mans was dead.
Chapter 7
A WOMAN GASPED. SOMEONE STARTED crying. Alice was numb, like she’d stood outside too long in the snow. Jimmy was dead?
Where had he been? Where were his clothes?
More men came out of the mine, including Loggins. They stopped when they sensed the stillness among the camp. A few quick questions, a glance at the body, and they understood.
Loggins spotted Alice near the mine, and his face contorted with rage. “YOU!” Spittle flew from his mouth as he advanced on Alice, who was still standing to the side of the mine.
She shrank back until her body touched rock. “I didn’t do nothing!” She yelled, looking around for someone to help her. For someone with some sense. No one moved. Maybe they were shocked, or afraid, or believed she deserv
ed it. “I don’t know what happened to Jimmy!”
Loggins grabbed her arm and swung her around. He smelled of coal dust and sweat.
“Now just a minute, Loggins,” said Coolidge. “You can’t go grabbing the girl. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“She’s jinxed the entire place! First Joe, then Ray, now Jimmy!”
Alice’s heart pounded. “You—you found Ray?”
“No,” he spat. “And we won’t find him as long as you’re here.”
“Well, if you haven’t found him, keep searching, man!” Coolidge stalked over to Loggins, his hand stretched out toward Alice. “I’ll take the girl.”
“NO! I want to stay!”
“I can arrange that!” Loggins sneered. He twisted Alice’s arm. She glared at him, refusing to let him see he was hurting her.
“Take your hand off that girl, Loggins.” Despite the ring of authority in his voice, Coolidge was no match for the bigger man. Perhaps that’s why his hand went to his gun and rested there.
Loggins turned and spit in Alice’s face. Then he let go. A few bystanders muttered their disapproval, but no one moved to help Alice. She wiped off the spittle with her sleeve and scooted over to stand beside Coolidge.
“Go get in my car,” he told her.
Alice didn’t want to go.
“You hear me?” Coolidge asked, although he didn’t take his eyes off Loggins.
Alice turned and trudged over to the deputy’s car, parked just behind the bus. She climbed in the back seat and slammed the door.
***
Alice sat for hours. The windows were rolled down, so she heard most of what was happening. The mood in the camp shifted from panic to hopelessness. Jimmy was dead, and they still hadn’t found Ray. Loggins had glared at Coolidge a while longer then stomped off again into the mine.
Now and then, someone would walk by the car and peer at Alice through the back window like she was an animal in a zoo. An ambulance came and took Jimmy’s body away. Somebody mentioned an autopsy.