Inhabited

by Ike Hamill

  From one of the tunnels, he heard a drip of water fall into a pool. The sound echoed through the space and faded away. He heard a laugh and tilted his head to try to pin down the direction it had come from. It was impossible to tell. There was too much reverberation as the sound bounced.

  “Shut up,” he heard. Roger spun to his right in the dark. He heard some more conversation, but couldn’t make out the words. They were men’s voices.

  He took a step and then stopped. He could be heading towards one of the other teams. He didn’t necessarily need to find Florida, he just needed to find someone. In fact, maybe it was best if he didn’t find her. She had seemed a little reckless and unstable. Roger turned his light back on and continued down the passage.

  He paused to listen after a few more steps. The voices were still there. There was a higher voice mixed in—maybe a woman. That meant more than two people. All the teams were pairs.

  Roger picked up the pace. His light bounced as he jogged down the tunnel.

  He came to another junction and paused. He cast his light down each choice, one at a time, and tried to catch his breath so he could hear.

  He’d never thought much about mines before that day, but it didn’t take a whole lot of reflection to realize that this mine didn’t make much sense. It was a series of tunnels and shafts in a network through the mountain. Where was the actual mine? Why would someone make all those tunnels instead of just taking material away closer to the exit? It seemed less like a mine and more like the diggers had been looking for something that they couldn’t find.

  From the corner of his eye, Roger saw a spark of light. He turned and heard the woman’s voice. She said something too quiet to hear and then, “Incredible!”

  A man’s voice answered her.

  Roger ran towards the light.

  As he sprinted down the tunnel, the light ahead turned, faded and then went out. Roger kept running until he reached the spot.

  There was nothing.

  The light had been there, accompanied by voices. Now, it was all gone.

  “Hello!” he yelled. “Help!”

  His voiced bounced back and sounded foreign. It sounded like someone was yelling back to him and mocking him.

  “I’m lost!” he yelled. “Please help me!”

  He waited. Nobody answered.

  Chapter Twelve — Control

  AS FLORIDA RAN, HER thoughts settled down. She slipped into her breathing and let the world sort itself back into sense. Sometimes her brain felt like a cluttered room where she tossed all the information of her life. Running was the way she tidied everything up. Running was like housekeeping for her brain.

  When she got to the intersection, she didn’t ponder. She took a left. As long as she had a scheme and didn’t miss any turns, she knew she couldn’t get lost. She would always stick to the left wall. Either she would come back around to her starting position, or she would find her way out. Those were the only two eventualities she could imagine.

  Until she saw the sun over her head, she wouldn’t trust anyone. Strange things had happened—inexplicable things—and someone was to blame. Perhaps they were messing with her. Perhaps she was merely collateral damage to someone else’s scheme. Maybe—it seemed unlikely—there was poison gas down here that was making her hallucinate. Whatever the truth was, she could sort it out when she was back under a blue sky.

  Her tunnel took a right.

  Florida followed it, pointing her finger at the left wall. The tunnel took a left. Florida jogged along, not even slowing when she saw the end of the tunnel up ahead. She ran a tight U and turned back the way she had come. It was no big deal. Florida ran faster to make up the time she’d wasted on that stretch.

  Assuming that nothing sinister was going on in the mine, and assuming that the flag had been picked up by mistake and Dr. Grossman wasn’t conducting some evil experiment, Florida wondered if she would get a decent grade for this lab.

  Florida slowed and conducted a radio check.

  She got back static.

  She sped up again and saw the junction ahead. Florida veered to her right so she could keep her speed through the left turn.

  “Shhh!” someone hissed.

  Florida stopped. She held her breath and cursed the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears. Someone was mumbling in the dark, but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. She couldn’t hold her breath any longer. When she let it out, the sound of released air filled the tunnel. Florida’s head whipped around. She was convinced that the noise must be coming from somewhere else, but she was alone. By the time she caught her breath again, the mumbling had stopped.

  She started jogging again. This time, she ran more cautiously and kept her ears trained for any noises.

  Chapter Thirteen — Split

  “I’M COMPLETELY SERIOUS,” JOY said.

  “Yes,” Miguel said. “I am too, but could you just look at this?”

  “I see it. Yes, it looks like gold—what’s your point? We have to get out of here and notify the authorities that there are human remains in this cave. There’s no debate.”

  “We’re not arguing that,” Justin said. “Of course that’s what we’ll do. All we’re saying is that it looks like Miguel might have legitimately found gold over here.”

  Joy put her hands on her hips.

  “She’s right, guys,” Travis said.

  Justin shot him a look. “You of all people,” Justin said. “You need money more than the rest of us put together. Why don’t we take some time, carve out as much gold as we can carry, and then we’ll go bring all the police in the world here?”

  “I don’t know why you’re fighting me on this,” Joy said. “That’s a person. That person might have been murdered. What if it was someone you loved who was murdered and stashed here. There could be someone right now who is desperate to know what happened to their sister, or wife.”

  “You’re absolutely right,” Miguel said. “But what’s a few hours going to do? Clearly they’ve been there a long time. If someone has been missing for years, maybe even decades, do you think that a few more hours is going to make a huge difference?”

  “Yes. I do. And when the authorities come, they’re going to see that you dug out that spot there. They’re going to make you turn over the gold. Someone owns this mine.”

  “This isn’t part of the mine,” Justin said. “Look around. We’re in a cave.”

  “It’s not like someone doesn’t own the mineral rights of this cave,” Kristin said.

  “But how are they going to know how much we took?” Miguel asked. “If we’re careful and we hide the rocks that we chip away, how are they going to know anything.”

  “Guys,” Carlos said, putting his hands out. “Why don’t you all just shut the fuck up?” He waited until everyone was quiet. “Why do we have to make a decision at all? We split up—three go back and three dig. We split everything six ways.”

  Miguel raised his eyebrows and glanced around to see everyone’s reaction.

  “Sixty-forty,” Justin said. “People who stay split sixty percent, and the people who leave split forty.”

  “What about Ryan?” Travis asked.

  “Fuck Ryan,” Carlos said.

  “I think you guys are wildly overestimating how much money you’re going to make off this gold,” Joy said. “I don’t even want a share. I’m leaving.”

  “Wait,” Travis said. “We don’t know how to refill the lamps.”

  “I know,” Justin said.

  “But what do we do with the stuff we scrape out?” Travis asked.

  “I don’t care,” Joy said. “Good luck. We’ll be back with the authorities soon. You probably don’t want to be in here stealing when they get here.” She turned and started to walk before she’d finished her declaration. Kristin tugged on Carlos’s arm and they followed her towards the exit of the round room.

  “It’s not stealing,” Miguel called after them.

  -o-o-o-o-o-

  �
�Are they going to be able to find their way out?” Kristin asked. She ducked through the hole rimmed with the caustic powder.

  “It’s pretty simple,” Carlos said. “You just go through those two round rooms and then along the ledge, right?”

  Joy didn’t respond. She moved with confidence down the sloping rock. She glanced back to orient herself and then found the path they had taken along the ledge. When she saw the crack on their left, she knew they were on the right path. It was a little harder to navigate into the fissure from this direction. She’d seen this phenomenon before—something that seemed easy and natural from one direction could look harrowing on the return. In this case, it was the way she had to lean out over the crack to prop herself on the far wall in order to start down the ledge.

  Once she had pushed off, it was okay.

  “Oh shit!” she heard from behind.

  She turned to see Carlos falling. He hadn’t leaned out, opting to put all his weight on the ledge. The rock hadn’t stood up to the pressure. A piece of the ledge crumbled under Carlos’s feet and he had nearly slipped right down into the crack.

  Joy put her hand on her chest and held her breath while Kristin hauled her boyfriend back up to safety. From her position, there was nothing she could do but watch. Fortunately, Kristin was strong and coordinated. She pulled Carlos up and they both advanced to safety.

  “We should go back and warn them,” Carlos said. “There’s hardly anything to step on now.”

  Joy shook her head. “No. We keep moving.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Kristin said. “You can’t be that mad. You can’t be so mad that you’d let them risk their lives.”

  “They’re risking their own lives,” Joy said. “That was their decision. Besides, if that ledge is now a serious hazard, then we’d be risking ourselves to go warn them. If it’s not a serious hazard, then they’ll make it just fine. Either way, there’s no sense in us trying to traverse it.”

  She turned and kept walking.

  “What if they don’t see it?” Kristin asked. “What if they stumble on it?”

  “Then they’re fools and they’ll have to wait for us to get back with the authorities,” Joy said. She turned sideways and hunched over to get through the fissure. It was tighter than she remembered, but still easily passable.

  Joy could see where the crack led to the mine tunnel up ahead. She turned at the sound of grinding rock.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  She heard a muffled conversation and had to go back a few steps to hear what they were saying.

  “His helmet is stuck,” Kristin said.

  She heard a grunt and the lights started moving again.

  “Tight,” Carlos said from behind Kristin.

  Joy felt relief in her chest when she stepped through to the mine. With its hand-carved walls and regular floor, it was a more civilized place. Her father would have hated it. He was big on natural caves, and always talked about the caves he had grown up in back east.

  Kristin pulled Carlos through.

  “Why was it so much tighter?” Carlos asked. “Did we take a different route out than in?”

  “No,” Joy said. She shook her head. “Things just look different the opposite direction. There was a cave my father used to have trouble getting out of. He would go in just fine, but his shoulders would always get caught when he tried to come out. It’s just different.”

  Kristin shrugged. “This way, right?” she asked, pointing.

  “Yup,” Joy said. She turned and strode up the tunnel. She didn’t need Miguel’s map—she kept a perfect picture of it in her head. This wasn’t a skill she had ever needed to learn. It had always been a part of her. Joy could imagine a place and then spin it around in her head. She always knew just where to go.

  “Hey,” Carlos said. “When we bring the cops back here, we need to find that hole again. It’s hard to see, you know?”

  Joy stopped and turned around. “I’ll be able to find it.”

  “Yeah, but why not leave something there. We could leave a piece of paper or something just to mark it.”

  “What was that sound?” Kristin asked.

  Joy glanced at her, listened for a second, and then decided it was nothing.

  She turned back to Carlos. “Yeah, okay. I’ve got a little hunk of rope.” She dug in her bag and handed it to Carlos. “Put it on the floor, pointing towards the fissure.”

  He nodded and took the rope. Joy and Kristin watched as his light bobbed back down the tunnel.

  -o-o-o-o-o-

  “What did you hear?” Joy asked.

  “Have you ever been in a plow truck?” Kristin asked.

  “No. Why?”

  “They make this noise when the plow hits pavement. It’s disturbing at first, but after a while you start to like it. It sounded like that—metal on pavement.”

  “From where?” Joy asked.

  “Hey, guys?” Carlos called.

  They started to walk back towards his position.

  “What is it?” Kristin asked.

  “Wasn’t it right here?” Carlos asked.

  Joy ran her hand down the wall. Carlos was looking in the wrong spot. The fissure was farther down than where he was looking. Still, the walls were relatively uniform. It would be easy to misjudge the distance. And for something that they had all easily fit in, the fissure was strangely hard to spot from this direction. They might need to angle their lights differently. The thing was like a weird optical illusion.

  Joy walked beyond Carlos and kept going. Her eyes might be fooled by the rock, but her hand would certainly feel the gap.

  “You’re too far,” Kristin said. “Our footprints are here.”

  Joy turned. There were a bunch of marks on the floor, but she couldn’t trust footprints on the mine floor. There wasn’t enough dust to really make them distinct. Still, it did seem like she’d gone really far. Joy looked up and down the tunnel, trying to orient herself. She walked even farther down and then turned, carefully retracing her steps.

  “Hey, Joy?” Kristin called.

  Joy took her time returning. She examined every inch of the wall as she walked. When she got back to Kristin and Carlos, they waved her in close.

  “Does it look like the mine is shorter in that direction?” Kristin asked, whispering and pointing with a short, jabbing motion.

  Joy straightened up and furrowed her brow. “What are you talking about?”

  “Point your light that way, and then down that way. Does it seem like your light goes the same distance both ways?” Kristin whispered. As she explained, Carlos nodded emphatically.

  Joy slowly complied.

  She turned back to Kristin, starting to get a little angry. “What are you talking about? Why aren’t you focused on helping me find the fissure so we can mark it and go get help?”

  Kristin tried to lean forward and Joy backed away. “It just seems weird. Why are the shadows so close?”

  Joy grunted her frustration and stomped off. This time, she walked way up the tunnel and started a slow and careful scan. This whole thing was impossible. There was no way for the crack in the wall to disappear so thoroughly. All she could think is that she hadn’t gone far enough.

  Carlos and Kristin began to move towards her.

  “Stop!” Joy shouted. “Right now, you two are the only fixed landmarks I have. Stay put.”

  They obliged. Kristin hugged her arms tight around herself. Carlos was whispering something to her. They were starting to lose their cool. Joy didn’t want to be stuck shepherding two people who were starting to panic. She moved a little faster. Once she marked the fissure and got them moving again, they would be fine.

  She walked until Carlos and Kristin were just a circle of light in the distance. She was deep into the area where Kristin had claimed the shadows were too close. Joy had seen it—the effect had been obvious—but it was nonsense. It must have just been a trick of the light or some change in the color of the walls. She was
down here, where the shadow had seemed too deep, and there was nothing different about it.

  She couldn’t find the crack. She turned her light down into the shadows of the tunnel they hadn’t explored yet. The darkness seemed very close. Her light didn’t penetrate the way it should. She would have blamed it on her lamp, but everything looked normal the other direction.

  Joy began to doubt everything. Had they somehow gotten turned around? Was she looking on the wrong wall? She needed to reorient herself. She needed to anchor the map in her head.

  Joy turned back towards Kristin and Carlos. They were just tiny points of light in the distance now. She realized how close to being alone she was. This was not good caving. She knew better than to wander off on her own. Her father had taught her better than that. Joy began to walk quickly back to her friends. She kept her panic in check and didn’t allow herself to run.

  She drew closer, but somehow the lights of Carlos and Kristin didn’t get any brighter. It almost looked like the shadows were encroaching on the pair, muffling their lights.

  Joy had a terrible thought. What if the shadows were actually descending on her? What if she was being swallowed by a fog of blackness.

  Joy began to run.

  In the distance, Kristin saw her and began to take steps towards her. She could almost see the inner debate going on in Kristin’s head—she wanted to come to Joy, but Joy had ordered her to stay put.

  Behind Kristin, Carlos turned away. Joy saw what he saw. His light didn’t penetrate the darkness at all. Joy wanted to yell to him, but she didn’t have the breath. She ran raster. Joy was only five paces away when Carlos reached a hand up to the darkness. His hand jerked back and he clamped it down on his own neck.

  “Are you okay?” Kristin asked as Joy ran to her.

  Joy dodged around Kristin and continued to Carlos. He was slumping to the ground.

  “Carlos?” Kristin asked. “What happened?”