by T V Scribner
Finally, after what seemed like an interminably long time, the boots came closer followed by what sounded like a trap door on the floor, being pulled open. It clattered back onto the wooden floor, and they were led down a long, steep flight of squeaky wooden stairs, which deposited them onto a dirt floor.
The air became stale and dank, as they were propelled forward, and stumbled, as they were suddenly on a dirt path, angling downwards. Paisley surmised they’d walked almost ten minutes, until they were finally stopped. A rusty creak emanated from hinges on another unseen door, sounding like something from an episode of the old radio show, Inner Sanctum.
She involuntarily exhaled noisily, as they both received a push hard enough to send them sprawling onto a dirt floor. The men bound their feet, with plastic ties, and at last, the men yanked the hoods from their heads. Their captors, still mute, left the room, clanging the iron door shut and locking it.
Paisley and Boone didn’t move, while their eyes gradually adjusted to the dim light. They remained silent, as they listened to the sound of the plodding footsteps, disappearing in the distance, leaving them alone, in utter silence.
They both laid on the damp earth of the cell, in abject silence, until Boone tentatively said, "Ingles? You okay?"
She uttered a weak, "Yes, I think so. I've landed on my shoulder twice now, and I probably bruised my already injured knee. Are you okay?"
"Ya, I'm all right..."
"What a relief! Since we can finally talk, what the heck is going on?"
Boone answered in couched tones, "Well, the people that we attempted to elude, have captured us."
"Of course! But, now what do we do?"
"The first thing we do, is find a way out."
"Why didn't I think of that?” she said sarcastically. “Obviously, I second the thought, but how do we escape? I sure hope you have a plan, Mr. MacGyver!"
Boone ignored her comments, although it inwardly amused him. "How tightly are your hands bound?"
"Forget it! I can't even move my hands…the bands are cutting into my wrists, and they feel numb, and I'm very tired and cranky."
“I noticed,” he said.
The only illumination in the room, came from a dirt-encrusted, low-watt light bulb, encased in a wire cage, on the other side of the small barred window, in the iron door. The caliginous beam of light only penetrated the area enough for him to visually examine their surroundings. They'd been placed in a cave, approximately twelve feet long, by seven feet wide, with a dirt floor. The ceiling and walls, were dirt also, and bolstered with rough wooden beams.
“I think we're in the Cayuna Region, as witnessed by the large water-filled mine crater, where they captured us. Our situation might be hopeful after all!”
She desperately wanted to believe him, but said, "Good news,” her tone sounding lackluster.
Boone considered this for a moment before informing her, “I believe we’re in an old mine shaft.” Then laying on his side, he rolled to a sitting position and scooted across the dirt floor until his back rested against the far wall. By this time, she managed to sit up, with her back against the metal door, watching Boone and his movements, with interest "
"Now, time for Plan B," he whispered and maneuvered onto his knees, then bent himself back, so his fingers could connect with his boots, which presented the soles. Slowly, with his fingers, he edged out a sharp piece of metal from a camouflaged area, in the side of his boot’s, thick rubber sole.
Once he'd grasped it in his fingers, he asked her to lay on her side, while he scooted towards her, until the metal piece in his fingers, aligned with her bindings. He began to saw, freeing her wrists and ankles. It surprised her when this worked, and relieved to be free, she rubbed her sore wrists for a moment, then used the metal piece to free him.
They both sat for a moment rubbing their wrists and ankles, trying to get the circulation back in their feet, hands and fingers. When the feeling in Boone's hands returned, he put the piece of metal back in the sole of his shoe. Paisley stared at him dumbfounded, then finally spoke.
"I must apologize for calling you MacGyver. How was I to know you really were? I'm so thankful to be free of those plastic cuffs! But how did you just ‘happen' to have, a piece of metal hidden in your boots?" and even though she whispered, he could still detect the ironic tone in her voice.
"Oh, it's one of the things you do when you're in my line of work. I try to be prepared for all circumstances...I used to be a Boy Scout, you know,” he said dismissively.
His answer puzzled her, "What do you mean ‘your kind of work’. I thought we were both in the same business. I knew there must be something you weren't telling me! And in your other line of work," she said sardonically, “do you have more tricks up your sleeve to get us out of here?" His “I’m always prepared, I’m a Boy Scout,” answer, had slightly annoyed her.
"You'll find out,” he said slyly. "First, we need to hurry, before they come back again."
"What if they come back sooner?"
"I think, because it's the middle of the night, we probably have some time. I'm guessing they won't be back until morning, or maybe even later," he said, assuredly.
"I hope you're right! So, what's the plan? I’m mighty uncomfortable in this dungeon.”
"This old mine shaft was probably blocked at the far side over there, opposite the door, so that's where we'll start digging, to see if we can find an opening."
Boone took a piece of metal out of each boot heel this time, and handed one to Paisley. She watched as he moved his hands meticulously over every inch of the far wall, until finally, his hand brushed over a small piece of wood jutting out from the dirt. It was slightly lower on the wall and barely noticeable. He began using the metal piece to scrape dirt away from it, and uncovered more wood. She joined him, and they both scraped at the wall, as a semblance of an upright wooden piece, took shape.
Boone exerted more effort, until he noted a cross piece emerging, closer to the ceiling. "Hey Ingles, maybe there’s something here, come look!"
CHAPTER 29
She leaned over to his side of the wall and saw several old boards uncovered, juxtaposed to a small piece of wood, exposed at the top.
"What do you think it is?" she asked
"I'm hoping these are beams for an opening of some kind? I need your help. Can you use your hands to scoop dirt from under the area where I'm digging? It’ll give me more room to work, as I dig further."
"Done," and invigorated by the prospect of escaping, she knelt and started pulling dirt away from his dig, ignoring her sore shoulder, knee and headache.
Soon, Boone uncovered a crude, rectangular-shaped wooden frame. Ingles stopped to look, and joined him to work in the middle portion, of the frame. They hoped to find an opening, possibly blocked when the mine was abandoned. With fingers crossed, they began frantically clearing dirt—it was worth a try.
Paisley dug, then dragged the dirt away alternately, while Boone concentrated on just the digging. Shortly, his metal piece struck something hard and clearing the surrounding dirt, a broken piece of glass was revealed. It was a shard from what may have been a window pane in a door, with dirt backed up behind it.
He showed it to her, and they both quietly gave each other a high five. There was no dilly-dallying now, because there were no guarantees their captors wouldn't return sooner, rather than later. Boone feverishly continued digging until he pried one of the boards loose and pulled it free.
Pulling a second board free, a deep niche was enlarged in the dirt wall, about a foot deep, where the surface of a large rock appeared. Boone focused on digging dirt from around the rock to determine its size. It was a particularly large rock, about two feet in diameter. Paisley looked over to see why Boone had stopped digging.
"My gosh! What a huge rock!" she whispered. "Why don't we push on it, and maybe we can move the dirt in front of it?"
"Great idea," he said, "worth a try, but I'm pretty sure it weighs a lot!”
"
You must be used to slamming things open with your shoulders or kicking down doors," she said with a slight smile, "but, since this hole is closer to the ground, why don't we both lay down on our backs and push with our feet, to see what happens?"
"Hmmm," he murmured, "I guess we could try?”
He pulled more dirt out from around the rock to expose more of its surface. A moment later, they both laid down on their backs, their legs in the opening, and scooted as close as they could, then pushed with all their might. The rock began to budge slightly, then it gave a little more. With the next hard push, they shoved it out and onto the other side of the dirt wall, thus creating an opening.
Boone stood up, examined their work, and called out excitedly, "Pais! I think if we clear more dirt from the hole, we can make the opening big enough for us, to make our exit!"
She lay on the ground, exhausted from pushing and pondered the fact that he'd dropped the Ingles, and called her, Pais! Only Millie called her Pais. She decided not to call attention to it.
"Oh! Please, please let it be true!" she said with fervor, as relief spread through her body.
Over the next twenty minutes, they labored diligently, to enlarge the space until it was large enough to accommodate Boone! He wriggled in, and determined it was safe, then said, “C’mon, Ingles let me help you through.” Covered with dirt, and with hands and fingers raw from their furious digging, they brushed themselves off, marveling because they were almost able, to stand up-right.
"I don't know where this will take us," he said, "but it's better than staying in that cell awaiting some unknown fate,” and turning, he asked, “…you okay?"
"I am now!" she answered, enthusiastically, "What time is it?"
"They took my watch, so I have no idea. Who cares! Let's get going before they discover we're gone!"
Boone attempted to cover the opening by shoving as much of the dirt as possible, back in the area that they had just crawled through, in hopes that it would delay their captors for a bit, when it was discovered they were gone. When he finished, he grabbed Ingles' hand, leading her through the tunnel as fast as he could.
"Look at this!” Boone said, “We're in luck…there’s an old light in here, like the one on the other side of the cave’s iron door—it must be connected to the same wiring!" Another dust-covered, caged light dimly glowed in the distance, allowing them to view almost fifty feet into the tunnel.
"Lucky we have light, because total darkness, would really slow us down!" Paisley said.
Like a giant labyrinth, the tunnel snaked along, with some sections in total darkness where a ceiling bulb may have broken or burned out, slowing their progress as predicted, until the narrow tunnel opened-up, giving them a chance to recover lost ground.
“I feel like we’re going around in circles," Paisley said. “Will there ever be an exit?"
"No one builds a tunnel like this, without an exit,” Boone answered.
"Makes sense...hope you're right. I feel like I’m breathing dead air…” As she said this, a gust of warmer air hit them, when they rounded the corner.
A few more turns, and a small opening appeared, which they squeezed through, finding themselves in a cavern almost fifteen feet high, at its apex, and at least forty feet across, to an exit tunnel. They halted, completely stunned! There were at least a dozen of the caged lights along the walls, although not all of them were working.
"Wow, this is amazing!" She said, dumbfounded by the cavern's expansiveness.
"True, but there’s no time to look around, let’s keep moving!"
Forging ahead into the cavern, they encountered shallow puddles, and as they splashed along, the puddles deepened until they found themselves sloshing, ankle-deep, through a fetid, foul-smelling pond.
Paisley held her nose and groaned, "Please, tell me this won't get any deeper—we've endured enough already," she groused, "and now this? This smell is horrid."
As they reached the opposite side of the cavern, the pond tapered to shallow puddles, and they warily ducked into a narrow tunnel, causing them to bend over, as they proceeded. They worried whether the tunnel would lead to a dead end, but moved ahead in total darkness, on a path, strewn with rocks, of disparate sizes.
Travel was difficult, at best, until the tunnel narrowed again, and caused them to walk with their hands on both sides of the tunnel wall, until all they could do was crawl. This was painful, so they paused to rest a moment.
Magically, Boone produced a wooden match. When it was struck, it illuminated the darkness for a moment, and they could see another sharp turn looming ahead. He lit several more, as they maneuvered through several tricky twists and turns, until finally, after the last turn, there was a faint pinpoint of light in the distance.
Paisley, quiet as they maneuvered their way forward, believed the pinpoint of light, was another tunnel light. “Finally,” she said, “we have light again!”
“I think we’re seeing an exit point!” he countered.
“What?” Thinking her eyes were deceiving her, she realized, as they moved closer, it was real! “I can’t believe it—I’m seeing the proverbial, light at the end of the tunnel!” Paisley’s breathing had became ragged…loud enough for Boone to hear her.
He stepped back, and helped her forward, whispering, "Hang in there, we're almost free,” and with renewed motivation, he pushed through the bushes that blocked its opening. He helped her through, then followed her out, where they could stand up straight, and take deep breaths of the clean, crisp, early morning air.
Paisley spoke first. “Where did the matches come from?"
He laughed, "That's your first concern? Remember—a magician never tells how he does his tricks!”
"I think you enjoy tormenting me," she said and smiled, “anyway, I'm so ecstatic, to be free,!
"Who's been tormenting whom?" he said, throwing it back at her and smiling, "Now… let's not linger, we need to move!”
"Do we have to?" She whined, “I’m still winded!”
"Unfortunately, we do,” he said, and they pushed on.
The sky was cloudy, with a sliver of murky sun, just visible, on the horizon. He guessed it was around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m., not the easiest time to disappear. Using the dawn light as a reference point, Boone calculated which direction to take, and decided to head, in what he believed to be, was northwest.
The two of them set off once more, floundering through the deep brush of the dry riverbed where they now found themselves. It led through a ravine and away from the cave's opening. They clambered up the rocky sides of the ravine and into a dense wooded area. For the next several hours. they struggled through a heavily forested area, in a northwesterly direction.
“At least the dense canopy of giant firs and oak trees, is protecting us from the elements. If only they hadn't taken my watch," Boone lamented, "because it had a compass."
"It must be close to noon, by now,” Paisley said, "because I'm starving—and thirsty!"
Hunger began to dictate the necessity of locating something to eat and drink for them both, and an hour or so later, they came upon a small stream, tumbling over rocks into a small clear pond. Boone knelt, cupping his hands to gather water, and hesitantly tasted it. Deciding it was okay, he began to drink thirstily. Paisley watched, then knelt and did the same. Having sated themselves with water, they sat by the riverbank, resting and deciding their next move. Silence reigned for several minutes.
Paisley glanced around and excused herself. "I'll be back in a minute," and went into the tall brush under the trees, muttering something about nature calling.
Boone, exhausted, said nothing. Instead, he laid back in the tall grasses, with his arm over his eyes, and dozed off, but was startled awake, when Paisley came crashing through the bushes. There was something cradled in her coat, and he sat up, curious as to what she held.
"Look! I have lunch," she called out with excitement, and when she approached, she held up a hand full of berries.
"Great...we have lunch,"
he commented, without enthusiasm. He was fatigued.
Ignoring his comment, she lowered herself onto the ground, carefully dumping out the contents of her coat, onto a nearby flat rock, saying, "Not just berries, but mushrooms, too! Granted, I'd love a Ben's Burger right now, but for the moment, this will have to do."
"Whoa!" he said, putting out his hand as if to indicate halt, "We better not eat the mushrooms—they might be poisonous!"
"Well, fortunately" she said smugly, "I know these are fine, because my Aunt took me out hunting for Morel mushrooms, which are indigenous to Minnesota, and they're not poisonous—they're delicious! I’ve identified these as Morel, so we're in luck," she said with a big smile.
"Well, you can be my taster, and if you're okay, then I'll eat them!"
Paisley rolled her eyes, as she divvied up the berries and mushrooms, and after their feast, pointed out, “See, we’re both still alive.”
Boone acknowledged her pioneering qualities, then suggested they find a hiding place and wait until sunset before continuing on their way. After agreeing it would be prudent to travel at dusk, she ran off into the brush to gather more berries and mushrooms, for later. There was a large growth of thick grass and undergrowth, beneath a nearby giant fir, and they disappeared inside the bushy branches, and settled in for a nap, with Boone taking first watch.
By dusk, they were both awake, feeling rested and relieved that there had been no sign of their pursuers, so they finished off the rest of the berries and mushrooms. It was time to travel again. Although the rain had subsided earlier that morning, the storm clouds had gathered again, and a brisk wind had risen, causing them both to feel chilled, as evening approached.
They still had no idea where they were, however, they began walking again, in hopes of getting to civilization. Having only traveled a short distance, Boone spied a small wooden structure barely visible through the dense undergrowth.
"C'mon Ingles, it's time for plan C!" Suddenly, something else caught Boone's attention, and he warned Paisley, "Shhhh...stop!"