by Jay Harez
“The train left New Orleans and derailed while crossing the Atchafalaya Basin,” Lloyd said.
“The what?” Eleanor asked.
Lloyd Jr. remembered Eleanor was from San Antonio and this was probably as far east as she had ever been.
“It’s almost three hundred thousand acres of swamp. Some say it still has panthers,” Pirogue commented.
“It does,” Lloyd Sr. confirmed and then continued. “There were no survivors, most drowned in their cages and everyone assumed gators got the rest. A search was conducted but when no survivors could be found the city decided to just let the swamp claim the train. Within a month all of the cars sank and you couldn’t even tell there had been an accident,” he said.
Lloyd, Sr. stopped and turned toward the entrance of the side shaft listening. Everyone held their breath for moment. He turned back to face the group and continued.
“About five years later when the Civil Rights movement was just gaining momentum some students disappeared on the outskirts of New Orleans. Most folks assumed it was the Klan and the FBI launched an investigation. The case never got solved and to muddy the waters a story about some of the survivors from that wreck living near the swamp began to surface. There’s lots of logging roads and hunting trails in that area. A man proficient in survival could survive in there but it would be one hell of a man. Gators, panthers, moccasins and mosquitos are just a few of the things that can kill you in that swamp. Wild hogs with tusks as big as my thumb live in there along with copper heads, poison ivy and the risk of malaria. A year or so later a young couple on their honeymoon was headed to New Orleans. For some reason they exited I-10 …” Lloyd, Sr. said.
“…probably couldn’t wait,” Eleanor interrupted.
The comment got a muffled chuckle from the group but didn’t relieve the tension that was building as Lloyd, Sr. told his story.
“…according to the bride they saw a child standing alongside the road. It was after dark and they stopped to see if the kid was okay. The bride told state police some things came out of the swamp and took her husband. She panicked and drove away. The incident happened at Grunch Road,”
They all took a moment to consider what that story had to do with them. New Orleans was over one hundred miles from where they were.
Lloyd also thought about all of the ghost stories he had heard about the mines. Stories of people going missing and their vehicles found in the parking lot. It all could make sense but it seemed a little thin to him.
“Well what happened? Did the police go down Grunch Road?” Preet asked.
“They did. They found a camp of sorts, run down lean-to shacks and clothes. There were signs of habitation but no people. It was some sort of community,” Lloyd concluded.
“Pa you think they traveled over one hundred miles through that swamp?” Lloyd, Jr. couldn’t comprehend it.
“It’s been almost twenty years. They could have made it to Canada and back in that time. A cool mine with no interference from outsiders would have looked like the Promised Land after the ordeal those poor creatures had experienced,” Pirogue said.
Tyonne came out of the dark at full speed. Shouting to open the gate. Lloyd, Sr. and Lloyd, Jr. quickly pulled the crates aside and Tyonne fell forward into the small area. He was winded and covered with blood. He had his filet knife in his hand.
“They’re here,” Tyonne said and fell into unconsciousness.
The group moved like an oiled machine. No one have ever seen Tyonne under duress and they took seeing him like this seriously. Lloyd, Sr. and Lloyd, Jr. dragged Tyonne by the arms as far back into the side tunnel as they could.
After some inspection Lloyd, Sr. determined that Tyonne had been bitten in several places. He also found several claw marks. Tyonne started to turn a pale green.
“Shit, poison,” Lloyd, Sr. said. “Saw men go through this over there. Then it was cobras, but here, well there shouldn’t be any snakes this far down,”
The hours passed and no one said a word.
“What the hell…?” Tyonne asked as he began to wake.
“I thought you were going to nap straight through this job,” Lloyd, Sr. said.
“They got Guilbeaux and Sotolongo.” Tyonne said as he tried to sit up. “He got bit by one of ‘em! You believe that? Bit on the neck like a gotdam vampire. The sonsabitches are animals!”
The lights went out. Everyone switched on their headlamps.
“I don’t imagine they would like all these lights on after being in the dark for so long.” Pirogue said.
“They got them both with hardly a sound. It was as if they were part of the mine, just shadows,” Tyonne said.
“You’re telling me a bunch of circus freaks are living down here?” Eleanor asked.
Tyonne looked at Lloyd, Sr. quizzically.
“You shared that bit of history did you?” Tyonne asked.
“Seemed the right thing to do,” Lloyd Sr. said.
“College you got a first aid kit somewhere?” Lloyd asked.
Pirogue approached holding a dented metal First Aid box.
“Only gauze and Q-tips left,” Pirogue said. “Sorry,”
Lloyd took the supplies and made temporary dressings for Tyonne’s wounds.
“Oh God…Guilbeaux…they, they put him on a spit Lloyd,” Tyonne whispered. “Like some kind of…game animal,”
Preet started quietly sobbing and repeating the phrase “I’m so sorry boss. I’m so sorry,”
“What did he say dad?” Lloyd Jr. asked.
“How the hell did they stay hidden so long?” Eleanor asked.
“Once a mine is abandoned no one has reason to go back,” Pirogue said.
UP TOP
Celia was preparing for the dinner rush. However, as it was Labor Day weekend she wasn’t really anticipating more than two or three customers.
Millie entered the café and took a seat at the counter.
“Millie you still at that mine?” Celia asked rhetorically.
“Probably til I die,” Millie said smiling.
“Yeah I know that’s right,” Celia said as she reached under the bar and produced a bottle of gin.
Millie was prone to having a glass after work. Sometimes she sat with Tyonne and the two whispered and made cow-eyes at each other for a while before they left together. Tyonne was not here today.
Celia knew the perils of being involved with a married man. Everything happened on his timetable and you had to either accept that or move on.
Sometimes she felt sad for Millie. A woman her age alone and willing to put up with whatever scraps she got from a man because he gave her a little attention. Celia reminded herself that she had lived this long due in no small part to her ability to mind her own business and she put the thought out of her mind.
Yvette Leger was twice runner-up in the Ms. Acadiana pageant. She had received a full scholarship to Louisiana State University. Her father had told her that nothing good ever came out of Baton Rouge but she had gone anyway and attended long enough to get her Associate's Degree.
After receiving her diploma, Yvette came home to attend to her father who was succumbing to ‘the sugars’. His sight was nearly gone and the doctors had told him that he was going to probably lose both feet and possibly his legs. He had quit going to the doctor after that.
Yvette spent that entire summer caring for him as best she could. As his condition worsened a bitterness she had never seen came over him. Her father was angry. He was angry at the world, or himself, or diabetes, it didn’t matter. Every day he gave in a little more to the rage. Soon after that he fell into a deep depression. He would sit on the divan day in and day out staring at the ceiling. Not saying a word, not eating just waiting to die. Yvette couldn’t stand it. It was too much for her. She didn’t know how to help. She went to her father’s doctor who said it was best to entrust the matter to God because there was nothing medicine could do for him.
She left the doctor’s office that day and walked int
o Celia’s ordered a double whiskey neat and contemplated what to do.
Tyonne had approached her wearing his dress blues as if she had called to him.
“Ma’am, I noticed you’re alone, mind if I spend some time with you?” Tyonne had asked.
She hadn’t been called ma’am in a long time. Certainly not by those uncouth bastards she had attended college with. She invited him to take the stool next to hers at the counter and from that day forward the two were virtually inseparable.
Tyonne had attended her father’s funeral and stayed with her for the next two weeks. He was just back from Korea and had time and money to spend. It was a perfect storm of two lonely people and opportunity. She had fallen in love with him immediately and he had proposed within three months of meeting her.
That was almost twenty years ago.
Tyonne didn’t know it at the time but he had married into a small fortune. Yvette’s grandmother had inherited a little money and secretly passed it on to Yvette’s mother who in turn put the money into bonds and other no risk investments. By the time Yvette’s father died the money that had made its way through three generations of Southern women and was quite a sum.
She used her money to make her world as right as she could. Yvette was known in certain charitable and political circles as a person who gave quietly and only for a reason. She was credited with the rise and fall of a number of Louisiana politicians. She discreetly rallied the charge for public awareness about the failing school system and women’s health issues. Behind the scenes she was a political force to be reckoned with.
Celia had almost twelve customers between the lunch counter and the three tables. The evening was busier than she had anticipated. Celia was mentally tallying up the profit per table when Yvette Leger walked in.
Millie’s attention was divided between her second gin and the latest issue of Woman’s Day. She didn’t notice Yvette had taken the stool next her until she spoke.
“He’s not here is he?” Yvette asked.
Millie to her credit never looked up from her magazine.
“No he’s not,” Millie said.
“Have you seen him tonight?” Yvette asked.
“Nope, sure haven’t,” Millie said.
Yvette had known he wasn’t there because his truck wasn’t in the parking lot. Cecelia had stepped behind the counter and stood within earshot of the two.
“They had some big government contract and some of the men had to go under today,” Millie added. Both women were aware of that, however the workday should have ended by now. Both women should have received a phone call by now. Tyonne should be at home with his wife or in bed with his mistress by now.
“Yvette you drinking?” Celia asked.
Yvette paused for a moment and looked at Millie. Millie was pretty, almost as pretty as Yvette. The two women had known each other since before Tyonne had married her. They were far from best friends but two girls growing up in a town with one school district pretty much had to at least be aware of the other.
Millie had never been one to cause trouble or draw attention. She was called bookish at times, until her tits showed up around the eighth grade, Yvette thought. Yvette on the other hand had been a supporter of Dr. King and outspoken about inequality even as a child growing up in segregated Louisiana. Yvette had a mischievous streak and it was about to surface.
“Apparently I’ll have what she’s having,” Yvette said.
Celia’s jaw dropped, Millie coughed into her drink and Yvette just smiled devilishly. Then all three women laughed out loud. Millie poured her drink and placed it on a coaster in front of her.
Not to be outdone Millie decided to be bold as well. “You want to ride out to the mine?” she asked.
Yvette was too stunned to think and before she was fully aware of her actions she said “Yeah, let’s.”
The two left Celia in shocked silence until she realized neither had paid for their drinks.
“Them heifers should learn to pay a bill, shit,” Celia said under her breath.
Although she was irritated, the irony of the situation was not lost on her and she smiled as she cleared the two glasses.
Moving On
The group had decided to make a break for it. They were going to see what could be done with what was left of the skip.
The group was gathered at the edge of the gaping shaft when the Grunchers charged led by a trio of Doberman Pinschers. Tyonne had played possum as the three animals charged and at the last minute gutted one as it passed. Lloyd Sr. found a piece of timber and cracked the skull of one while the last jumped on Preet. In a surprising display of dexterity Preet grabbed the leaping animal by the hind legs in mid-flight and tossed it down an open shaft.
The Grunchers barely resembled human beings at all. Each one had a particular deformity unique to itself. One of the Grunchers eyes were on one side of his face, he resembled a flounder. Another had one disproportionately long left arm that terminated in a single curved hook made out of bone. Another had bulging eyes, a hair-lip and was missing a foot. More of the attackers could be heard beyond the range of the miner’s headlamps, they were shouting and growling.
Lloyd Sr. tossed the first of the three improvised explosive devices into the shadows. It struck the stone floor, the accelerant was released, and the ignition fired. The explosion made a whooshing noise and there was a sudden rush of air as the flames blossomed. The brief but intense flame drew the breath from the miner’s lungs. The poor creatures never stood a chance and over a dozen of them lay charred or burning near the epicenter of the explosion. The wounded fled deeper into the mine howling as they went.
Tyonne passed out from his wounds. They weren’t severe but it was obvious infection had set in. He was beginning to hallucinate. He shouted Millie’s and Yvette’s names at intervals. Lloyd Sr. did what he could to comfort his friend but without medical attention or even knowing what type of poison they were dealing with his efforts were all but wasted.
Pirogue sat quietly as if waiting for something.
“Pa? You got any ideas?” Lloyd Jr. asked.
“No son, I don’t,” Lloyd Sr. said.
“How’d they get that way?” Pirogue asked.
“My guess is inbreeding,” Lloyd Sr. said.
“What?” Eleanor asked.
“They been hiding down here for close to two decades, living off the land and avoiding the surface world. Inbreeding,” Lloyd Sr. said.
They all took a moment to consider that.
“That scream we heard when…” Lloyd Jr. looked at Preet for the briefest of instants. “...when the skip went down, you think one of them was living at the bottom of the shaft?”
“Maybe, that certainly would explain why they are so pissed,” Lloyd Sr. said.
“He said they had carcasses,” Eleanor said.
“Yeah, they would have to steal or hunt to eat…” Lloyd Sr. stopped mid-sentence as the light of realization struck him.
“Yeah, they have to hunt,” Lloyd Jr. said smiling as he understood the meaning of it.
“Anyone want to ask them where the exit is?” Pirogue asked.
The group grew quiet again. They realized that there must be another method of easy access and ingress but they also knew that the odds of finding it without getting killed were slim to none. Besides they couldn’t search for an escape route, fight off the Grunchers, and carry Tyonne at the same time. It would be a slaughter but they couldn’t just sit here until Tuesday either.
“We might could make it,” Eleanor said.
The rest of the group looked at her inquisitively.
“I’m a woman,” Eleanor said. The men all looked at each other puzzled. “I’m a woman who spends twelve hours a day five days a week underground with reprobates and miscreants who aren’t too fond of a woman in this job,” Eleanor said.
“Eleanor, you got something to say?” Lloyd Sr. asked.
“I’m saying I have a right to protect myself,” Eleanor said growing increa
singly frustrated.
“Has anyone ever threatened you or done you harm while you were under?” Pirogue asked.
“That’s not the point!” Eleanor said.
Pirogue recoiled.
“What is the point then?” Pirogue asked.
“I’m just saying that I shouldn’t have to worry about my safety. I should be able to fend for myself just like any miner,” she paused. “But I can’t. Lloyd if you wanted to…I wouldn’t stand a chance,” she said.
Lloyd Sr. looked as if he had been struck by stray bullet. He was shocked, hurt, and insulted at the suggestion.
“Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that thought would ever cross your mind. I’m just saying that if it did…I wouldn’t stand a chance against you. You could just take it and drop me down an empty shaft. I’ve heard stories about people being disappeared down here. Maybe they’re true and maybe they ain't but either way, as a woman I can’t take any chances,” Eleanor said.
The group watched her intently as she slowly reached under her shirt and removed a .380 pistol from her waistband.
“Are you out of your goddamned mind?” Lloyd Sr. asked in as angry a voice as Lloyd Jr. had ever heard.
“Like I said I have a right to protect myself,” Eleanor said. “And about now I bet you’re glad I carry this ain't ya?”
“No, you crazy bitch, I am not,” Lloyd Sr. said through clenched teeth.
Lloyd Jr. had never heard his father use the word bitch unless preceded by ‘son-of-a’. For his part Lloyd, Jr. was glad to see the small sidearm, it meant they had a chance, it could buy them some time. But he could not figure out why his father was so angry.
“Oh lord,” Preet muttered from the corner. “Lloyd please take it from her before she kills us all,”
“Shut up Preet,” Lloyd Sr. said. “Nobody is taking anything from anybody,” he concluded looking Eleanor in the eye.
“That is what we need, we just pop a couple of them,” Pirogue started “That will discourage them long enough… at least until Tuesday and then…”