by M. P. Wright
I held the torch over the face of the compass until its magnetic needle hit north. It pointed directly towards the opening in the rock. I made my way over, squatted down and shone the beam of the torch inside then stuck my head in to get a closer look. I scanned the tunnel roof and floor with the light, trying to imagine if it was possible to slide my body into the stony hole. Rainwater trickled down the wall next to me, seeping its way through the rock up above, trying to find its way out, just like I was. I took a deep breath then climbed inside. I got onto my belly and began crawling along the slim passage, edging myself slowly along the shaft. Halfway up, directly in front of me, I could see a cleft in the stone wall; I reached up and grabbed hold of it then dragged myself further along the hole for about another twelve feet until I reached an opening.
I stuck my head out, shining the torch’s beam out in front of me. I could make out a very short low-ceilinged passageway that looked as if it led down into what I thought was a larger chamber. I knew Truth and I couldn’t stay where we were; we had to keep moving forward and try and find our way out to the woods Lazarus had spoken about. I shuffled back down the limestone tunnel, crawled out of the entrance, got to my knees then raised myself back on to my feet. That’s when I heard Truth scream.
I heard the sound of stones being trampled by swift-moving feet and I turned just as something came out of the darkness speeding towards me. It was fast, so fast that I nearly missed seeing both the man and his first blow coming out of nowhere. My body seemed to react on its own, without conscious thought; the torch slipped out of my fingers and fell to my feet. I slid to the right then jerked backwards in a desperate attempt to get away from the assailant.
A blow meant for my head or throat whizzed by in a blur of knuckles and steel. From the corner of my eye, I saw the knife in the man’s hand then his other arm raining down towards my face. I ducked down low and lashed out with my right fist, aiming for his gut, but I didn’t connect and my hand continued to shoot upwards, smashing into something hard close to his chest. I heard the sound of metal hitting stone just as my attacker clipped the back of my skull with a heavy blow. My left foot slid on the wet rock; I tried to brace the heel of my shoe against the slippery ground just as another body shot, this one to my ribs, sent ripples of pain through my torso. I saw the man’s other arm begin an upward trajectory towards my face, the knife only inches away. I dipped and weaved to the side, blocking his hand with my arm, then rose in the air and smashed my forehead down onto the man’s face, headbutting him away from me. I heard the knife hit the ground somewhere at our feet and I immediately slammed my foot out towards him in the semi darkness, clipping some part of his body. Then he was gone.
I immediately began to run back towards where Truth was holding the lamp. I took only a couple of paces when a vicious blow glanced off my ribcage, sending a wave of pain through me. I felt my shin hit the leg of the my attacker and the two of us fell to the ground, both sprawled out in either direction across the cave floor. I rolled onto my back, my legs kicking out in front of me, my heels trying to find something to dig into on the wet ground. I panicked and began grappling at the gravel and loose stones underneath the palms of my hands, desperately pushing myself further backwards. I tried to lift myself up as I retreated into the blackness, my hands flailing about as I searched for anything solid to help me to my feet. I began to feel the ground shift and rumble underneath my back as rapidly moving footsteps heading towards me became louder.
In desperation, I twisted my body to my left, and as I did, my fingers hit something metal. I frantically criss-crossed the damp earth around me until my palm felt the familiar grooved grips and guard of a .45 semi-automatic pistol. I grabbed it up in my shaking hand and lurched myself onto my back. I felt a hard rush of air hit my face as the man sprinted out of the pitch-black and screamed towards me. I raised the gun in my outstretched arms and fired. The muzzle flash lit up the murk around me, and for the briefest of moments I saw the shocked and twisted expression on the face of the white man who had been trying to kill me as he was blown backwards across the cave floor. I pulled myself back onto my knees then scrambled to my feet and ran and grabbed the torch that was lying on the ground a few feet away from me.
I looked over towards the lamp glowing behind me and ran back to Truth. I found her pushed up against the rock face, her head buried between her knees, her right arm hooked over the tops of her tightly drawn-in legs, the handle of the kerosene lamp still clasped between her fingers in a vice-like grip.
“Hey, little soldier, it’s OK, I’m here now.” I knelt down in front of her, prised the lamp from out of her pinched fingers and rested it on the ground next to her. Truth looked up at me. I reached out for her hand and gently held onto her tiny fingers, not knowing what to say to her. I turned around and shone the torch back out into the cave behind me, worried that the man I’d just shot was perhaps only winged or that Paxton and the others would be on their way. As I looked back towards Truth, I heard the sound of rocks being knocked against each other and a human voice moaning in the darkness behind me.
“Truth, I need you to be brave for just a little while longer. Can you do that for me?”
Truth shot me an angry glare then reticently nodded her head. “OK, but only for this long.” She held out her hand in front of me, making a tiny gap between her thumb and forefinger.
I smiled at her. “That doesn’t give me long. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. Just you sit tight.”
I walked across the cave towards where I thought the man and I had just fought. I followed a low silt gully that I knew I had crossed when I had returned to Truth and continued to travel along it in parallel with the cave wall on my left-hand side. The Colt .45 was clenched tightly in my right hand, my left holding the torch at head height, pointing down at my feet. In the near distance I heard more groaning. I scanned the gravelly earth in front of me with the flashlight, shining it down onto the ground, the beam bouncing back and forth over the rocky floor of the cave until it finally caught the head and shoulders of my attacker. He was slowly crawling across the ground, his right arm clawing at the dirt in front of him. When my light encircled his head he came to an abrupt halt and rolled himself onto his back to face me; as he did, he clutched at his stomach and screamed out in agony like a wounded dog.
As I moved in closer, he yelped out again and clutched back at his guts with his hand. I shone the torch at his stomach. His hand and jacket were drenched in blood; it spewed from between his fingers and was beginning to seep into the ground by the top of his thigh. I aimed the pistol at the man’s head as I closed in on him. The man stopped writhing around and stared up into the beam of the torch, his face etched with pain. He looked like a scared rabbit transfixed by the headlights of an oncoming speeding vehicle. I stood over him and he glared back at me. Blood and spittle flew out of his mouth when he spoke; the twang of his southern American accent reverberated around the cave.
“Look what you done to me, you crazy nigger.”
I slowly knelt down next to him, and as I did he tried to edge away from me, pushing at the gravel beneath his feet. “You’re damn lucky we’re in the dark, cos I was aiming for your head.” I rested the Colt underneath the man’s chin.
He looked down at the gun, then at me, then turned his head and spat a globule of blood at my feet.
“How many more of you are coming down here?”
“Go fuck yourself, buddy, you’ll soon find out.”
I pulled back the slide of the .45 and chambered a round then stuffed the muzzle into his abdomen, just above the gunshot wound.
“How many, I said!”
The man screamed out in agony as I forced the barrel deeper into his guts. He gasped in mouthfuls of air as he started to speak. “It’s just me, man . . . but you . . . you still shit outta luck.”
“What you talking ’bout?” I increased the pressure, jamming the pistol harder into the man’s stomach. The man bellowed out another deafening scream
and spat out more blood.
“Paxton . . . knows where you and the kid are heading for, he knows about where you’re heading for down here. He made that old nigger talk. He gave you up when they used a blade on him. If I didn’t get you then they’re gonna be waiting to take you out as soon as you stick your head outta the dirt.”
“Why does Paxton want that child so badly?”
“She’s cargo . . .”
“Cargo, what the hell you talkin’ ’bout?” I grabbed hold of a handful of the man’s matted hair and pulled his head up off the ground then stuffed the gun hard into his belly again. He bawled out, his hands grabbing at the barrel. I pushed harder. He screamed again, his arms falling to the ground either side of him.
“She’s somebody’s property.” The man was becoming breathless, his face pale, about to pass out.
“Property, what you mean she’s somebody’s property?”
“We just gotta deliver the kid, that’s all I know.”
“You’re insane.” I shook my head in disbelief at what I was hearing. I let go of the man’s hair and dropped his skull back onto the ground. The man spat out more blood then began to laugh at me like a jackal as I got to my feet. He looked up at me, his eyes crazed with hate and pain.
“Insane? You got no idea, nigger.”
I set the hammer back down on the Colt, stuck it into my trouser band and began to walk away from him.
“Hey, where you going, man, you ain’t gonna leave me here?”
I said nothing in reply, just kept on walking back towards Truth and the glowing lantern.
“You can’t just leave me to die down here!”
“No? Just watch me.”
The dying man’s screams and pleading echoed through the cave as I slowly disappeared into the darkness.
25
“Ready?”
Truth quickly shook her head at me and looked down at the hole in the rock face in front of us. “No, I don’t want to go in there.”
I took hold of her hand and crouched down on the ground in front of her. “Truth, it’s the only option we’ve got. If we don’t go through that tunnel we’re gonna be stuck down here for good. We either climb up through the tunnel or we stay and wait for more o’ those damn men to get here. You really wanna do that?”
Truth shook her head at me again.
I got down on my hands and knees, then onto my elbows, and looked in again. The miner’s lamp, now low on kerosene, threw out a small circle of light in front of me. “This is our only way out. Look, I’ve been through here already. I know you can do it too. I’ll be holding your hand, you’re gonna be right behind me.”
Truth knelt down beside me and peered into the darkness of the tunnel entrance. “Is there’s no other way we can go, Joseph?”
“None. I wish there was, but there ain’t.” I pushed the lamp into the tunnel mouth a little further. “It ain’t as long or as bad as it looks. Here, take a look.”
Truth reluctantly lay down on her belly and stared into the dark passageway. “It doesn’t look like a short hole. I’m scared.”
“Me too.”
Truth looked at me in disbelief. “You’re scared?”
“Sure I am. It’s a scary thing, climbin’ into a hole like that. That’s why we gotta be brave for each other. Can you do that for me?”
Truth thought for a moment. “I don’t know.”
I took her hand in mine. “I know you can do it. When we go in there I want you to close your eyes. I’m gonna have a tight grip on you. You just keep shufflin’ your body along with me and push against the rock with your feet, understand?”
Truth gave a short nod of her head, her face filled with anxiety.
“Good. OK, here we go then.”
I got onto my stomach, my left arm outstretched, my hand holding the lamp, my other clasped tight onto Truth’s wrist, and we slowly began to crawl along the limestone tunnel. At first the going wasn’t easy. I wanted to get her out into the next chamber as quickly as I could, but I could feel her holding back, afraid to move further into the blackness. Truth was obviously very frightened.
We slowly shuffled deeper into the tunnel, inch by inch. Any sound we made as we crawled along lingered in the ears, heightening the sense of claustrophobia. My mouth was dry and my voice sounded muffled as I called words of encouragement back to Truth. We edged further into the passageway. I leaned into a cave wall and inched myself sideways a little, pushing the two of us along with my hips and heels, taking my time, constantly aware of the fragility of Truth’s body and how tightly I was grasping at her wrist. I stopped for a moment, the top of my head skimming the tunnel ceiling, and shone the lamp at the side of my face then squeezed at Truth’s wrist.
“You OK back there?”
Truth coughed loudly. When she spoke, it was almost a whisper. “No . . . I want to get out of here, Joseph.”
“It’s not much further, keep those eyes shut, we’re nearly there.” I arched my back away from the wall again and began pushing at the rock with my heels, dragging the two of us forward on my elbow, pushing with my left hip and then my right foot, holding the fading lantern out in front of me, the tunnel growing ever darker around us as we moved forward.
I kept doing that until I felt a cold sensation creep over my face. The tunnel began to widen a little. I pushed at the ground beneath me with my legs until my head finally broke out of the tight passageway into the second chamber. I laid the kerosene lamp on a rock outcrop by my head and pulled myself out up to my waist with my free hand, then dropped onto my buttocks and dragged my legs out, still gripping at Truth’s wrist.
I got to my knees and hauled Truth out next to me. We lay against a wall, Truth collapsed at my feet. I looked back into the hole that we’d just crawled through then out into the cavern behind us, having no idea what lay ahead of us. I felt the weight of the earth above me, probably a mile and a half of solid rock, and wondered for a moment if we’d ever find our way out of the damn place. I stared pathetically out at the inky blackness stretched in front of us, my morale crushed by the leaden cave.
I got to my feet and held up the miner’s lamp, its light finally dying. It faintly picked out chunks of angular rock in front of us, huge limestone blocks tilted or propped against one another, some with knife-sharp ridges and others flat as altars. Even in the poor light it was an overwhelming landscape to behold. I took hold of Truth’s hand and pulled her up onto her feet. She looked beat. Her face, hands and clothing were covered with dust and dirt.
“Come on, little one, let’s keep moving.”
I shone the lamp at my wrist and looked down at my watch face: it was just after midnight. Up above on the surface it would be as dark as it was down here in the cave, and that would serve us well if we could get out. It would give us the chance to push on unseen in the pitch dark, cover more ground, safely, hopefully away from Paxton, Jardine and their mob. I knew I needed to keep us on the move: if we were to get to some place safe by dawn, then we had to push on, all through the night.
Truth in tow behind me, we climbed down a series of two-foot-high stone ledges onto the floor of the chamber then scrambled up a slope in front of us that led to the next tunnel entrance. I hoped that this was the cave system that would lead us back to the surface. I searched around me but could see no other way out. This had to be the passageway Lazarus had told me about. I put the kerosene lamp on to the ground, its light about to fade, and took the torch from my haversack, switched it on and shone it into the tunnel.
“This is our way back up, Truth.”
The little girl nervously looked into the shaft. “Not another tunnel, Joseph?”
“Yeah, ’fraid so, but it’s the tunnel that’s gonna get us outta here.” The hole in the rock face at the foot of the chamber was no more than four feet high. I pulled the haversack out in front of me then got down on my knees and crawled in. I shone the torch beam back at Truth and reached out my hand to hers. “Come on, we can do it. Me an’ you, just l
ike befo’.”
Truth grabbed hold of my fingers and climbed on in next to me. We moved on our hands and knees for the first thirty feet or so until the walls of the passageway began to tighten around us. Truth gripped on to my hand for dear life as I pulled her along behind me. Unlike the previous tunnel crawl, where we had slid downwards, this deep trench was cut vertically into the rock. Thousands of years of water had forced out an uneven and dangerous pathway, which I hoped would lead us back up to the surface. The hole became more hazardous as we progressed through it. As I pushed on, pulling Truth after me, small stones and shards of loose earth fell from the ceiling onto our heads and bodies. As we climbed higher through the hole, more rocky obstacles held us back. After about twenty minutes of scrambling over stone and shale, I came to a sharp curve in the passage where the tunnel reached upwards into the darkness. I pulled the two of us up and started to climb again. The stone walls began to draw in closer, tightening around my back and shoulders. I tried to bend my right leg, as if readying for a sprint, but my knee smashed immediately into the wall. It was as if I was in a full-body straightjacket shoved head first into a too-small casing inside solid stone. Truth’s left arm was stretched above her, her cold tiny hand clasping at mine, her right arm pinned to her side. Her head was turned to the left, close to the rock face. Like me, the two crevice walls must have been squeezing at her body, the whole length of her back, her rear, her knees, her chest all pinned in tight in the small tunnel. I told her to breathe and to keep her eyes closed. I could just about move my head, lift it slightly to look out in front of me. I shone the torch and saw in the crawlspace an opening to the left. It took another ten minutes to finally squeeze into it.
I was too physically drained to speak. I just keep crawling forward, pulling Truth after me. The little girl cried out as I tugged on her arm too sharply. We both lay sideways against the wall then inched forward on our hands and elbows and continued to belly-squirm down the passage. I gripped hold of Truth’s arm even more tightly, until she screamed out in pain. I closed my eyes and breathed, pictured what little air there was around me filling my lungs. I felt my chest expand and then drop; I imagined the exhaled air keeping the walls at bay. I breathed in again, slowly. I tried to focus on the end of the torch beam in front of me. The darkness around me was all-encompassing. It swept wildly through my spirit and body, forcing my energy and spirit to keep pushing on. Then, above my head, I thought I heard the whisper of a familiar woman’s voice.