by D Haltinner
Darren wanted to reach into his backpack, pull out a revolver, and show those two exactly how an Arab would respond to them, but he wasn’t a violent person, and he couldn’t convince his arms to move.
Audrey sniffled. “Please Darren,” she whispered into his ear. “Please, let’s go.”
Darren shook her head. He knew she couldn’t see it, but he did it anyways.
“Please,” Audrey said. “You’re scaring me.”
Weren’t terrorists supposed to be scaring people? Perhaps it was fitting that they planned on going on a shooting spree. It was the type of activity that was in his blood. Maybe he’d actually enjoy it and start actually aiming at people.
“Okay, now I know I heard something,” Coleman said.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“Man, that thing is creepy.”
“Fuckin aye it is, just being near it gives me the creeps.”
“Think you heard it?”
“Don’t know, but I vote we get out of here.”
“What? We’re supposed to be keeping watch for the terrorist and his bride.”
“We don’t have to wait right next to the void, do we?”
“I suppose not.”
“Just a little distance between it and us is all I need.”
“Fine, we’ll move away. But only a little.”
“Fine by me.”
There was a scuffing of shoes against the cement.
Darren resisted the urge to step out of the void and follow them. It wasn’t by his own will though, it was because of the light sobs Audrey was making beside him.
He would be no better then those men if he acted on his urges. That wasn’t the kind of person he was. He wasn’t a terrorist. He spent half of his life being stared at and judged just like the men who crashed the airplane on September eleventh, but he never stooped down to their level. He had never even considered it until now.
What was happening to him, thinking like that?
The void.
How could that be?
It eats everyone from the inside out.
Perhaps, but wasn’t Darren a better person then that?
No one escapes the hold of the void. Just look at what it’s done to Audrey.
Audrey’s body shook as she leaned against Darren, trying to stifle her sobs in his arm. “Please Darren, don’t do this, let’s go.”
Darren closed his eyes, trying to think.
But all that came to mind was what those two men said.
Chapter 59
Those weren’t his thoughts. They couldn’t be. Darren had never had the urge to cause any sort of violence before, but if these men thought he was a terrorist just because he was an Arab, then who was he to disappoint?
Audrey’s body shook against Darren’s side. Her hands were pulling his arm tight against her body as her tears soaked into the fabric of his sleeve.
He couldn’t be that person. He couldn’t play the terrorist. Not with Audrey at his side. Not ever. It wasn’t who he was, no matter how much others thought he was, or how much he sometimes wished he was.
“Come on,” Darren said at a whisper. “Let’s go.”
Audrey lifted her face off of Darren’s shoulder, a loud sniffle bursting into the thick air of the void. “What?”
“We can go.”
“You’re not going to-”
“I never would. I never could.”
Audrey sniffled again and pulled Darren’s arm against her again. “I’m sorry they had to say those things.”
“It isn’t the first time,” Darren said. “And it won’t be the last-if we make it out of this.”
“They don’t know you like I do.”
“They know me like the media does.”
“But that’s-”
“Not fair? Doesn’t really matter if it is or isn’t.” Darren shrugged, and then realized she couldn’t see it, only feel the motion of his arm. “It’s the way it is, and always will be.”
“I don’t think I’ll understand all you had to put up with growing up,” Audrey said.
“It wasn’t so bad until nine eleven. Then it went sour real fast.”
“I’m sure it did.”
“Can we get going? We have a lot to do.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Audrey said as she let go of his arm.
“It’s okay,” Darren said. “We just don’t have the time now. We need to go play like terrorists and start a shooting spree.”
“You don’t have to say it like that.”
“No other way to say it. I’m an Arab, going to hold a gun on people and cause enough terror for them to make them run for their lives,” Darren said. “If I’m not proving the stereotype, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“It’s not the same thing,” Audrey said. Her hand found the small of Darren’s back.
“No, but it’s close. Can we go now?”
“Yeah.” Her hand fell away. “What do we do though, with these two blocking the way?”
“They were on this side of the trench?”
“Yeah.”
“So what if we crossed to the other side before coming out of the void?”
“I don’t know, they still might see us.”
“We’d have a good lead on them though.”
“Yeah, but what if-after yesterday-they decided to arm themselves?”
Darren let out a sigh. “I suppose they may have.”
“I didn’t see anything in their hands,” Audrey said. “But I only saw them for a second.”
“I’d rather play it safe.”
“What do we do though?”
“How far up is the tunnel? Another seventy or eighty feet?”
“Probably. It’s hard to tell where we are in this darkness though.”
“If it is that far, I think we can sneak right past them.”
“How’s that?”
“We need to drop into the trench, and walk to the other tunnel down there before we climb back out.”
“I don’t know if I can make it back out.”
“I’ll help you. You can stand on my back if you have to.”
“I guess. It might work.”
“I think it’s our best bet.”
“If you think so.”
“I do.”
“Okay, let’s give it a shot.”
Darren fumbled around in the dark for Audrey’s hand, squeezing it tight when he found it. “Stay close, I’ll lead us over to the trench.”
“I’ll stay right behind you.”
Darren reached out for the wall again to regain his bearings, and then started to lead Audrey toward the trench. He shuffled his feet while trying to stay as quiet as he could, so he wouldn’t step into the trench and fall six feet only to land on his face with Audrey crushing his back after he pulled her in behind him. When he got to where he thought he was close to the trench, he would pause with each step and while keeping his balance over his back foot, reach out with his other to see if the trench was within reach.
Just when Darren though he was moving too far and began to think that he was sliding at an angle, his foot found the edge of the trench. “I found it.”
“How far?”
“A couple feet. Hold onto me while you sit down, we’ll slide ourselves over the edge.”
Audrey held onto Darren’s hand as she moved down to sitting position. She didn’t let go as Darren sat himself down either. Darren’s knees protested with a jolt of pain.
“Stay close,” Darren said.
Audrey squeezed his hand and Darren began to scooch his way forward. Every time he moved, Audrey moved a moment later beside him. After a couple of moments, Darren’s feet reached over the edge, and he brought himself to the very brink of the floor, with Audrey beside him. His knees groaning in pain when he stopped, but they were still functional.
“I’m going to drop down in first,” Darren said. “I’ll try to help you down then.”
“What if you twist your ankle?” A
udrey asked.
“Let’s hope I don't.”
“I hope you’re right about how deep it is.”
“I do too.”
Audrey let go of Darren’s hand and Darren pushed himself over the edge and into the trench before he had a chance to chicken out. He hit ground sooner than he expected, but his knees buckled under the burst of pain and he collapsed onto his stomach, holding his breath, trying not to let out the scream fighting its way out. He rolled, clutched at his knee, a sole tear escaping out of his left eye.
“Are you okay?” Audrey asked, her voice quiet and still full of worry.
Darren clenched his teeth. “Yeah,” he said through them.
“You sure?”
Darren managed to control his voice. “Yeah,” he said. “Give me a second and I’ll help you down.”
“Okay.”
Darren tried to climb to his feet with out having to kneel, and after getting a firm grip on the soft walls of the trench, was able to straighten his knees and his back as he stood up. The contents of the backpack shifted back into position with a clink of glass.
“Darren?” Audrey called down from above.
“One sec.” Darren stuck his arms out into the darkness and moved back toward the side of the trench he pushed off from.
Audrey gasped when he found her leg dangling at head height.
“Sorry,” he said.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You just startled me.”
Darren positioned himself between her legs and slid his hands up to her knees. “You’re going to have to push off and I’m going to try catching you.”
“Catching me?”
“Just slide off toward me, I’ll be able to catch you by your butt.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, come on.”
“Okay,” Audrey said. She slid further over the edge. “Ready?”
“Yeah,” Darren said. “Bend forward a bit so you can catch my neck.”
“Got it.”
“Okay, go for it.”
Audrey slid off the edge into Darren’s hands. He had no problem catching her weight in his arms, but his knees screamed and attempted to buckle on him before he was able to lower her to the ground.
She left her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek before letting go. “That was easy.”
“You’re lighter then I thought.”
Audrey smacked him in the chest.
“Sorry,” Darren said as he rubbed the fresh wound. It stung quite a bit for coming from such a small girl.
Darren adjusted the straps of the back pack as Audrey searched for his hand. He took hers in his own, and then started to lead her along the trench’s wall.
“Stay close to the wall,” Darren said.
“I will.”
“When we get out of the void, duck, and don’t say a word.”
“Got it.”
Darren felt along the wall, the dirt and rock crumbling beneath his fingers. He tried not to think about how the trench reminded him of a grave since he was walking more than six feet under ground, but every time he felt a cold rock along the wall, he expected it to be a maggot or worm waiting to eat his flesh.
One instant, Darren was walking through the pitch black with Audrey behind him, the next thing he knew, light appeared as if someone turned on a switch along the wall. It was dim and left Darren and Audrey in a shadow below the tunnel’s level, but it was enough that Darren could make out the top of the trench and the walls around them.
He ducked down. Audrey did too.
They continued to walk further down the trench, being careful to avoid the occasional dip in the ground below them. The men were no longer talking together, but one of them was humming the Andy Griffith theme song which allowed Darren to figure out where they were in relation to their position.
Darren and Audrey passed by the men, crouched low enough that the men wouldn’t be able to see them unless they stood along side the trench. Even then, it was still dark enough that without their flashlight to help them, the men still might not notice them if they didn’t move.
Darren led Audrey away until he thought they were out of the men’s flashlight’s reach, and stood back up straight. The dim light they had walked through was all but gone, but it was still enough to make out the change in darkness that signified the stairs leading back up.
“It’s okay now,” Darren said.
Audrey straightened back up, her back cracking in a series of three pops. “We did it?”
“So far,” Darren said. “We still have to climb out of here and get up the steps without being seen.”
“I don’t think they’ll notice us this far away.”
“I don’t either, but let’s still be as quick as we can.”
Audrey swung her head to look up out of the trench. Her eyes looked pure black without any light to guide them. “How do we do this?”
“Think you can make it up if you stand on my back while I bend over?”
“Maybe, that’s still pretty far.”
“What about my shoulders if I kneel?”
“Can you balance like that?”
“I can hold onto the wall.”
“That might work better.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
Darren positioned himself before the wall and sank to his knees. They hurt more than they had yet, and he knew the pain was only going to get worse when Audrey’s weight was added to them. “Just be quick.”
“Quick like a bunny,” Audrey said.
She moved behind Darren, reached over him to brace one hand against the wall, then lifted one foot to his shoulder. In one swift motion, she bounced, then lunged herself up onto both of his shoulders.
Darren bit his bottom lip to try and fight the pain in his legs. He held onto the earth in front of him to stay balanced as Audrey’s ankles flexed and twisted as she tried to stay stable.
Audrey lifted one leg, leaving all her weight pressing down on one of Darren’s collar bones, and then eased herself off of him and onto the edge of the trench. She pushed up, lying on her stomach and swung both legs up, rolling out of sight.
Darren hesitated a second, trying to gather the courage to stand back up. He knew that the pain was going to be a hundred times worse as soon as he tried to move, but he didn’t have much of a choice.
Darren pushed as much of his weight against the wall as he could, then straightened his legs. At first his legs wouldn’t respond, and then when they did move, it felt like there was broken glass embedded below his kneecaps. His lungs hitched inside of his chest as he stood straight, and a second later his breath escaped in a whimper.
He had to ignore the pain. It would get better in a minute after his nerves had a moment to calm down. He hoped.
Darren looked up at the edge just above his head. He tried to judge how he could climb up the wall easiest, and then decided to carve himself a foothold in the dirt wall. He dug his fingers into the soft earth, cringing when his nails met the shale hidden within. He peeled out as much as he could while bent over at the waist, then straightened back up when he thought it was enough.
Darren reached up, holding onto the ledge and after a quick sigh, brought his right leg up, and put his foot into the foot hold he made. It didn’t hurt as much lifting his foot up as it did when he pushed his whole body up.
He tried to ignore the pain as best he could, threw his knee over the edge, and pulled himself onto the cement. He got to his feet, trying to ignore his knees, and wobbled toward Audrey’s dim outline standing just inside the stairwell.
“You okay?” Audrey asked when Darren stepped into the section of tunnel.
“Yeah.”
“You look like you’re limping.”
“Just my knees, I’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“I suppose not.”
“Let’s keep moving.”
Audrey’s flashlight blinked on, illuminating the stairs upw
ards. Darren was afraid that the men might see the light, but figured any reflection that made its way back down the stairs would be too dim to notice.
Audrey led the way up the steps and into the stretch of tunnel that headed toward Painter Hall. When they got to the space below the hatch, Audrey stopped and turned back to Darren.
“How do we do this?” she asked.
“Let’s get the hatch open first and see where we are before we decide,” Darren said.
“Do you think it will work?”
“An Arab with a gun? Yeah, of course it will.”
Audrey reached out to Darren’s arm. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”
“Easier said then done.”
“I know, but still.”
“Let’s get this over with as quick as we can.”
Audrey’s hand fell away. “Okay.”
Darren found the footholds in the wall, and ignoring pain in his swelling knees, stepped up them and pushed on the hatch.
Chapter 60
The hatch stopped after lifting a half foot. It was dark beyond.
“Hand me the flashlight,” Darren said.
Audrey did as he asked and vanished into the darkness when Darren swung the light through the gap. The hatch seemed to open into a small janitor’s closet with brooms and empty mop handles along one wall and a stack of rags beside the yellow mop bucket claiming that the floor was wet. Darren looked around the sides of the gap to try and see what may have been stopping the hatch from opening, only to see the metal leg of a snap together shelf a few inches from the hatch.
“What is it?” Audrey asked.
“There’s a shelf over the hatch.”
“Can you get it open any further?”
Darren shoved at the hatch, trying not to put any more strain on his knees then he had to, but still giving enough strength to see if he could open the hatch, or maybe even shift the shelf backwards a bit.
“I don’t think so,” Darren said. “It’s not moving.”
“Can you move the shelf?”
“I doubt it.” He reached out and felt around the leg of the shelf as far as he could reach. “If I slide it forward, it will only block the hatch further, and I think it must be up against the wall the other way.”
“Can you tip it over?”
“I can’t get a high enough grip on it.”