Drilled

by Cole, Cassie

  Tex, Jason, and Cas were nowhere to be seen.

  “Where are they?” I said. Yelled. Demanded. “Kai?”

  The German took one look at the wall of fire and clenched his eyes shut. Instantly all the color drained from his face. I took his hand—and paused when I realized he was trembling.

  He was afraid.

  This huge, muscular giant of a man was paralyzed with fear. Completely debilitated by it. “Kai,” I said, rubbing his hands with mine. “Kai, what do we do?”

  The workers were shouting louder outside the gate. “Let us in!” and “We need to stop the fire!” I could hear them pounding on the gate, desperate to get inside and do their jobs.

  I looked up at the trailer. If we could open the gate…

  Putting aside my fear for the others over by the wall of fire, I sprinted to the trailer steps, then took them two at a time, my shoes banging on the metal. I was keenly aware that I was still dressed in my work clothes, but at least I was wearing flats instead of heels. Everything was hot and smoky now as the wind sent the black smoke swirling through the site, making it harder and harder to see. I could barely make out the remains of the drill through the haze; the door opened and two men jumped out and began running.

  By the time I reached the trailer, the metal railing on the stairs was hot to the touch. I stepped inside and found a man standing in the corner, looking confused.

  “We have to open the gate,” I said, looking around the trailer. There was a wall of buttons but there were so many, it was overwhelming. “Help me open the gate?”

  “I don’t know…” the man mumbled.

  I turned to the wall. There was a master override switch on the side, but it was already in the Off position. The other switches were labeled: exterior lights, radio, computer network.

  “You’re the woman Bryson called about.”

  I whirled and found the man approaching me, a heavy wrench in one hand.

  “Uhh,” I said.

  “You’re not doing anything,” he rasped. “You’ve caused enough trouble.”

  I put my hands up defensively. “I don’t know what he’s told you…”

  He was backing me into the corner, away from the door. I had no means of escape, unless I could ninja-somersault over him. A stupid thought at a stupid time.

  “Please,” I begged. “Don’t hurt me…”

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” the man moaned. He looked conflicted, but was growing more and more determined.

  “You don’t have to do this!” I said.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He raised the wrench.

  47

  Kai

  I was immediately triggered by the fire.

  The human brain was a curious thing. The explosion itself did not affect me, nor did the sound of the drill engaging. But the flame’s heat on my skin instantly crippled me, the traumatic memory taking control of my mind. Just like that day over a month ago, watching the flames grow out of control at a similar drill site.

  After shielding Lexa’s body with mine, I was completely paralyzed. I fell to the ground and clenched my eyes shut, and wrapped my arms around myself protectively.

  Lexa was shouting at me. Taking my hand in hers and trying to rub life into it. “Kai?” she demanded. “Kai, what do we do?”

  I wanted to talk to her. To tell her it was going to be okay, that she was safe. But I could not form the words because I did not believe them myself! I was completely powerless to do anything but tremble on the ground, a prisoner in my own broken mind.

  Lexa let go of my hand. Her silence at seeing me like this was deafening.

  I wanted to die. I had hated myself for this weakness since that day. Even while doing site visits with Cas for the past week I had to remain by the entrance of the drill sites while Cas entered and performed the inspections. He did so without complaint, but I knew he thought differently of me. I could feel how he believed what I believed: that I was a shell of my former self.

  Eventually I opened my eyes. The wall of fire leaped into view, tall and menacing. I wanted to close my eyes again, to block it all out.

  But Lexa was gone.

  At first I was relieved. She was getting away, getting to safety. I would prefer she leave me rather than remain and potentially die. I was useless.

  But then I saw her skirted shape running up the stairs to the trailer, and disappearing inside. She was not afraid.

  She was trying to do something.

  The warmth I felt for her in that moment was stronger than the flames. She was such a strong person, stronger than me.

  I remembered what she’d said: Bryson was the one who led us here. This was all a set-up.

  If that were true, and none of this was an accident, then she was in danger.

  Get up, Kai.

  I berated myself. Called myself every dirty name I could think of. It made me angry, with myself and Bryson and the situation. I could not simply lay here while people perished!

  I narrowed my focus to small tasks. Wiggling only my toes, then moving my leg. Then arms. One muscle at a time I regained control of my body with conscious effort. It took forever. Far too long—everyone else was probably dead or dying by now.

  Yet I persisted. I had to be stronger than my fear.

  “Let us in!” the workers were screaming on the other side of the wall. “Hurry!”

  I pushed myself to my knees, then to my feet. I stood there carefully, still too afraid to do anything. Any movement would take me closer to the flames, not away. My every instinct refused to do such a dangerous thing.

  My eyes caught sight of a red cylinder mounted to the wall to the right: one of the industrial fire extinguishers. My instincts for self-protection were immediately overwritten by the years of training for such an event.

  I grabbed the extinguisher from the wall and unhooked the nozzle and hose.

  I can do this.

  As a test, I pointed the nozzle at the ground and gave the trigger a squeeze.

  Nothing happened.

  I squeezed it again and again, but nothing would come out. And the tank wasn’t empty; I knew my way around these industrial extinguishers, and could feel the weight of the contents.

  “Scheisse!” I muttered, looking at the stairs. Best to get the doors open so the other workers could get inside.

  Slowly, I put one foot in front of the other. One step, then another, then another after that. Then I was walking steadily, then leaning forward into a jog.

  I was stronger than this.

  I reached the stairs of the trailer and climbed, gripping the railing tightly. I kept my eyes directly in front of me, focusing only on the next step, then the next. Small tasks rather than the big action. I could do it if I didn’t allow myself to become overwhelmed.

  Halfway up the stairs the railing became too hot to touch; the flames were licking very close, now. I heard shouting down below: Cas and Jason were on the other side of the wall of flame, searching for a way around. The fire was spreading toward them, blocking them into the corner on the other side of the trailer. Soon they would have nowhere to flee.

  The need to save them was stronger than my fear.

  I reached the trailer. There was a man raising a large wrench into the air, backing Lexa into a corner.

  I lunged at him, grabbing his wrist before he could swing. He spun, confused by my appearance. I yanked the wrench from his hand and then swung my fist, clocking him on the side of the face. He crumpled to the floor.

  “Kai!” Lexa shouted, throwing herself into me in a big hug. “We have to—”

  “Open the gates,” I finished for her, turning to the instrument panel. The master switch had been shut off, so I gripped it with one hand and pushed it into the on position. Instantly the board lit up with lights, and then sirens of alarm.

  “The gate!” Lexa pointed.

  Down below, the front gate was opening sideways. The workers who had been trapped outside now poured into the site, running to
the row of parked machinery. We watched as they readied two earth movers, quickly driving them over to an enormous pile of loose dirt. They filled their massive shovels, then rolled over to the wall of flame and dumped it on top. A wide section of the flame instantly went out.

  “Hurry!” Tex shouted below. Cas and Jason waved and jumped up and down.

  Although their room was quickly diminishing in the corner, the tractors worked speedily. Load by load they dumped dirt on the flames, stamping out huge swath until there was a clear path to our friends. Cas, Jason, and Tex ran across the dirt to safety.

  “Lexa,” I said now that I could think. “I am so sorry. I have failed you in a way that—”

  “Shh,” she said, putting a finger to my lips. “I know what you’ve been through. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

  It’s okay. The words were like a salve on a wound, genuine and heartfelt. She was not merely saying that to make me feel better: she meant it.

  It’s okay.

  I took a deep breath and let it out, my body trembling as I did so. I was still nearly paralyzed with fear of the flames that still raged, but I was in some semblance of control.

  “Come on,” she said, taking me by the hand. “Let’s go check on the others.”

  I followed her down the stairs, my fear diminishing with every step.

  48

  Jason

  Oh man, I thought I was fucked.

  Climbing down into the drill hole was terrifying enough even with a safety harness. Hearing the drill engine engage, and the bit itself start spinning? Jesus fucking Christ, I don’t know how I avoided pissing my pants.

  Somehow I scrambled out with Tex’s help, and then we were struggling to unhook my harness and get away. By the time the gas tank exploded and flames blocked our path, I wasn’t even afraid. Fire wasn’t nearly as scary to me as getting drilled to pieces.

  “Grab the extinguisher!” Cas yelled. I saw it mounted to the outer wall and ripped it away, breathing a sigh of relief to have the tank in my hand. Yet when I pointed the nozzle at the fire and squeezed the trigger, nothing happened.

  “Pull the pin!” Tex shouted.

  “Bro, I fucken did that,” I cursed. “It won’t fire…”

  Tex yanked it out of my hands and tried without any better luck. I gave him a no shit, look.

  “What do we do?” Cas said out loud. Then, cupping his hands over his mouth he shouted, “Help! Somebody help us!”

  I saw a familiar shape in overalls climbing the metal stairs above us. Kai, slowly but steadily making his way to the trailer. I couldn’t be certain thanks to the smoke but it looked like his eyes were closed.

  “Yeah Kai!” Tex yelled. “Get help!”

  “Hurry!” I added, as if the giant wall of fire didn’t make our perilous situation obvious.

  He disappeared inside the trailer. For a long time, nothing seemed to happen. The wall of fire encroached on our corner as the gasoline continued spreading, the flames as liquid as the accelerant. Soon we were limited to a triangle of safety the size of half a tennis court.

  “Can we climb?” Cas said, staring up at the wall. Neither Tex nor I answered—it was obvious we couldn’t. The concrete wall had no hand-holds.

  “Fuck!” I said. “God fucking damnit!”

  “I’d agree with that assessment,” Tex drawled.

  The heat from the flames was oppressive, and the wind changed and blew the smoke toward us. I raised my shirt to cover my mouth but the acrid smoke stung my eyes painfully. I walked backwards until my butt hit the concrete wall, with Cas and Tex on either side. Sweat ran down my face in long, hot rivulets.

  I tried to think of something poignant to say to my friends. We’d been through a lot together. We couldn’t just let things end like this.

  Shouting drifted over the roar of the flames, and then the rumble of machinery. Soon we saw the faded yellow shape of tractors approaching the flames, dumping dirt on them. A small section of the fire went out.

  “Hell yeah!” I yelled.

  “Why aren’t they using the extinguishers?” Cas wondered.

  “Who gives a fuck?” I said, but I was wondering the same thing. Maybe our extinguisher wasn’t the only one not functioning.

  Slowly the tractors cleared a path through the flames. As they did I got a better look at the stacks of pallets and PVC pipe which were crackling in the center of the site. “We’re definitely gunna write ‘em up for that,” Tex said.

  “Fucken right we are.”

  The moment the final load of dirt landed on the flames to give us a clear path, Cas sprinted forward. Our path of dirt was maybe 15 feet wide but it felt super tight with the heat from the flames pressing in on all sides. I squinted and ducked my head low and we crouch-ran our way across to safety.

  We were all coughing loudly by the time we reached the sweet, cool air. Tex collapsed to his knees, then laid on his back as if he were going to make a snow angel in the dirt. Cas kept running toward the entrance.

  “Where you going!” I said through coughs. He didn’t answer, so I followed.

  I caught up to him at the entrance. He was shouting to one of the workers.

  “…the hell are they? Doug was the shift manager’s name.”

  The worker raised his hands. “Hell if I know. Today was his first day.”

  “He said he’d been here two weeks,” Cas grumbled.

  “Cas! Jason!”

  Lexa came running toward us. For a brief moment I wondered who she would embrace—surely Cas, since they’d been together longer. But instead she spread her arms wide and wrapped both of us in a single hug.

  I buried my face in her hair. It smelled more like smoke than her normal flowery shampoo but I didn’t care. She felt like safety.

  “I feel like I ought to ask why you’re here,” Cas said with a smile. His face was covered with soot. Mine probably was, too.

  “Bryson,” she said. “This was all a setup by him. The anonymous tip…”

  I cursed to myself. “We were idiots. Too damn obvious.”

  “We were desperate for a smoking gun,” Cas said. “I guess that’s why none of the extinguishers work.”

  “Was wonderin’ that myself,” the site worker said. “When none of them worked, we resorted to the earth movers to put out the fires…”

  Three tractors were still doing exactly that: picking up loads of dirt from the pile in the corner and dumping them on the remaining flames.

  “Whatever gets the job done,” Cas said.

  “It also explains why the emergency shut-off switch was disconnected,” Kai said.

  I laughed and embraced the big German with greater gusto than I’d embraced Lexa. “You saved us, buddy.”

  He smiled awkwardly and rubbed his head. “Oh. It was Lexa…”

  “You saved me from the jerk with the wrench,” she said.

  Cas put a hand on his shoulder. “You holding up okay, buddy?”

  Kai nodded, paused, then shook his head. That’s when I realized his hand was trembling at his side, even when he clenched it in a fist. “I am okay,” he said simply. “No better, no worse.”

  “Glad to see it.” He looked across the site. “Is Tex okay? Tex! Are you okay?”

  Tex remained flat on the ground, exhausted, but raised his hand in a thumbs-up gesture.

  Shouts rang out in the parking area outside the site. Three workers in hard hats were dragging a man out of the driver seat of the black Ford Mustang, then pulling him to his feet. Doug finally stopped fighting as they brought him forward.

  “Here’s the fucker now,” I said, balling my hand into a fist and taking a step forward. Cas blocked my path.

  The workers threw him on the ground in front of us. “Caught him trying to leave. We were already suspicious of him showing up here to replace our normal manager, and not knowing what the hell he was doing. His buddy ran on foot, but Omar chased him down.” He pointed, though we couldn’t see.

  “There’s another up in the trailer,
” Lexa said. “We’d better get him before he wakes up and decides to cause more trouble.”

  “You got it.” The worker hesitated, then said, “Look. I’m no snitch. I just try to put my head down, do my work, get home to my wife. But I’d be happy to serve as a witness for your audit here. This shit? It’s all fucked.”

  I laughed because it was the only thing we could do in such a moment. We’d nearly been killed just moments ago, but had somehow escaped. And it wasn’t merely an accident: it was all intentional.

  “Shit’s fucked,” I agreed as the others laughed with me.

  49

  Lexa

  I wandered outside the site while the others took care of business inside. I reached my car, plopped my butt down on the dirt, and leaned against the driver door.

  Moments later I was crying.

  Everything caught up to me. The lack of sleep, the things I’d done back at Blackrock Energy. Having Bryson accuse me of sleeping with the auditors, and then stealing his laptop from his office. Frantically driving west to help Cas, Kai, Jason, and Tex.

  Nearly watching them die.

  Kai exited the site, and rushed over when he saw me crying. “Lexa! What is wrong?” he asked, sitting next to me.

  “I…” I paused to wipe snot from my nose. “I almost lost you. All of you.”

  “But you did not,” he said. “My mother used to tell me time spent worrying over things which did not happen is time wasted.”

  “I know,” I said. “But I can’t help it.”

  He took my hand in his. “I understand. Sometimes we cannot help how we feel.”

  He didn’t mean it romantically; his hand was still trembling while holding mine. “Are you okay?” I asked. “Honestly?”

  He smiled sadly. “No, Lexa. I am not.”

  “Is it because of the accident? The one over a month ago?”

  “Yes.” He stared off. “I am not the same man anymore. It broke something in my brain.”

  I turned to face him. “You should get help. Professional help, I mean.”