Maiden's Peak

by Kristy E. Carter

  The tunnel to the left came to a dead end on the map a few hundred feet in, and Ginger indicated that we should go right. We moved on. None of us seemed particularly anxious to stir up the dust that swirled around our ankles.

  I lost track of how long we’d been walking. Ginger let out a small gasp as some dirt drifted down from the ceiling. I tried to give her an encouraging smile, but it was too difficult to do with the mask and the poor lighting. I had no idea if she saw me.

  The temperature was warm. I felt a drop of sweat trickle down my face. When we finally paused to get a drink, Ginger told us that her father said there was a lava chamber somewhere under our feet. Her dad had told her about it from his time in the mines.

  No one said much after that. I don’t know whether it was the fact that lava was somewhere below our feet or perhaps everyone was just too tired to talk. We trudged along in silence, the dust swirling up around us with our movements.

  The mine was quiet, the air heavy with heat and oppression. As we walked, the atmosphere grew thicker with mist. It reminded me of the first night Thorn and I had ventured into the mines.

  After what seemed like another hour, we approached a small structure. "It's a way station," Ginger said simply.

  “The miners would be down here for days at a time because of how long it took to get down to the lower levels of the mine. So, way stations were set up so they could rest between their shifts. They also were stocked with medical supplies in case of accidents.”

  I looked at the squat little rectangle of a building. Thorn tried the door on it, and it came open easily, but the light inside did not turn on when Thorn tested the switch. "Well, I think it's safe to say the generators aren't working," he said.

  Oliver peered through the door of the dark building while Thorn made his way around the outside. I followed Thorn.

  Stopping to bend down, he grunted and looked up at me. "Looks like the generator has been removed. Probably when they closed the mines, or someone scavenged it later." He stood up as he spoke.

  "Don't suppose it matters much," I said as I eyed the spot where the generator should have been.

  Ginger appeared around the side of the building. "Yeah, it's not like we’re planning on being down here that long. I think we can survive without it, but it would’ve been nice to have a lit room."

  The three of us made our way back to the front of the building. "What's with the radios in here?" I asked as I peered inside.

  Ginger leaned in through the doorway and said, "Well, the miners had to have a way to communicate to the top side in case of emergencies."

  "I didn't see anything top side to communicate with," I replied.

  Oliver explained, "After the mine closed down, most of the machinery and buildings were auctioned off for materials and such. It was a way to get some of the cost back, I suppose."

  Ginger nodded as she walked back over to where Thorn and Oliver stood. I pushed the door closed behind me and joined them. We all looked at each other helplessly. Thorn asked, "So, do we want to push on to the next way station?"

  We’d all come to an agreement that we were going to do a thorough investigation of the mines, which we were sure would take at least a day, maybe two. So, Ginger had put forth the idea of using the way stations as base camps so we could explore out from there.

  It sounded good in theory, but I had to admit the farther we went into the mines, the less I liked the idea of camping down here. Then again, maybe that was just the mist swirling around my ankles. None of us had removed our masks since we stopped to take a drink earlier, and that was probably for the best.

  "I say push on, unless you guys are tired," Ginger suggested.

  All of us men looked at one another and just shrugged. Ginger gave a snort, as if she knew our pride would not let us stop if the woman with us wasn’t willing to.

  Thorn took up his lead position again with the spotlight, and we trudged on down the only tunnel available. We'd put the evidence of an earlier cave-in out of our minds until we happened upon another blocked tunnel a few feet ahead.

  "I wonder when these caved in. I hope that the evidence we’re looking for isn't behind any of them..." I said, almost to myself.

  Thorn's voice came from in front of me. "I don't think they caved in since Donna was taken."

  Donna. I'd almost forgotten for a moment. She could be down here somewhere. I tried to imagine being down here alone with no flashlight, and I almost cried.

  We walked on, and the mist thinned out a bit. The tunnel seemed to veer sharply right, and Thorn checked his compass as he tended to do every 100 feet or so.

  He relayed back to us that the tunnel was turning toward the pass. I was interested to see whether there was any cause for the lights Thorn and I had seen. We walked on in silence for about 20 minutes.

  As we walked, I looked at the ceiling in particular. I remembered how it looked like the light had been directly under the snow and ice. The ceiling, however, remained solidly dirt. I felt dissatisfied. I wanted there to be a good, reasonable answer.

  The next way station was not as far as I thought it would be. We navigated through the tunnels, which branched off here and there into the blackness. Following the map that Ginger held, it was a lot simpler and felt a lot less frightening.

  There was reassurance in the fact that we weren’t walking into the unknown. We knew exactly where we were, even if it was dark and at times uncomfortably warm. We saw nothing out of the ordinary on our way to the second way station. Ginger insisted she saw a rat, but the rest of us did not.

  When we arrived at the second way station, the generator was remarkably still there, even if it did appear to be dead. We found it relatively easy to find a place to rest in the metal building. It had been designed to house a mining crew of 4 to 6 people, so it fit us with relative ease. We slept on the benches without the need of blankets due to the warmth. I was so exhausted that it didn’t take me long to fall fast asleep.

  My dreams were filled with nightmarish imagery. I fell into the blackness and was saved by Thorn. I ran through the woods. I fell in the snow at the sound of gunshots. I bled and knew I was dying. However, I did not wake up drenched in sweat.

  I didn’t wake up at all, actually. I was merely surrounded by darkness. I heard noises. I heard a voice—or was it voices? I heard Donna. I struggled to get to her, and from out of the shadows came this thing, this hungry thing with its mouth open. I knew it wanted something from me. It was hungry. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t. Then I woke up.

  Darkness met my eyes, and I grew anxious as I remembered my dream, but I soon slowly calmed as I heard one of the others shift in their sleep. I eased up as best as I could and managed to slip out of the way station without too much noise. Outside, I turned on my flashlight, not knowing why I exited the way station. But I guessed I just needed space. I smelled the rank air and realized I'd forgotten my air filtering mask. Sighing, I sat down heavily on the dirt floor. The sand below me was fine and smooth; it felt like silk. And it floated around my knees when I let it drift down between my fingers.

  Aside from the odd noises that one hears underground, the mine was rather quiet. They were not loud and overpowering, but simply there. There was the slight groan in my ears, as if the force of the earth pushing in around me was perceptible. There was also a dripping sound that was in the distance, probably some melting ice or an underground spring echoing from one of the far tunnels.

  I was just pondering what time of day it was when I heard the creak of the hinge from the way station door. I turned my flashlight beam around hastily and saw Thorn closing the door behind him. He walked over to me and looked down at me curiously.

  "What are you doing out here?" he asked.

  I shrugged and said, "Had a bad dream. Figured I'd come sit in the creepy tunnel to calm myself down!"

  Thorn laughed, dropping down to the tunnel floor. "How’s that working out?" he inquired.

  "Well, I get why people go crazy down here n
ow," I informed him.

  He nodded. The light from our flashlight beams echoed around the wide part of the tunnel we were in. The way station was in a circular part of the tunnel. It was widened out to accommodate the building, I supposed. The fine dust hung in the heavy air.

  I felt for my phone and found it in my parka pocket. Despite the warmth, I’d kept the coat on because of the dampness of the tunnels. The phone came on, and I eyed the time. It was now nearly morning.

  "How long do you think it’ll take us to go through the tunnels—or at least most of them?"

  Thorn seemed to consider his answer before he spoke. "A couple days to reach all the tunnels. Maybe just one day to get the most promising ones."

  I nodded. Mrs. Durant hadn’t been happy we intended to spend so much time in the mine tunnels, but she also felt like the mines had something to do with Donna’s disappearance. After what had happened to her husband, Mrs. Durant, although shaken, understood why we had to be sure that the mine was checked. We were all down here for our own reasons, but above those, we all wanted to make sure that what had happened twenty years before didn’t happen again.

  Thorn and I sat in companionable silence until the others woke up as well. Once we’d eaten a bit of the packed food we had brought, we looked at the map. Ginger spread it out on the floor of the way station, and we looked at the tunnels that branched out from where we were.

  "There are two main branches," Ginger said, pointing first to one tunnel and then another. "There's a way station at each." She pointed those out as well. "What I'd suggest—to make things faster and cover all the tunnels—is to form two teams. We have radios that I packed in my bag." She fumbled around and produced what looked to be large walkie-talkies. "They've got good range and should work well enough even down here, barring metal deposits."

  I took the one she handed to me, and we tested them to make sure the batteries worked. Oliver shifted on his bench and wiped his forehead. He sounded nervous when he spoke. "Is it wise to separate with potential kidnappers around?"

  Thorn said thoughtfully, "Maybe not, but Ginger is right in that it would save us valuable time."

  I considered both Durant brothers, then I weighed in. "I agree that separating might be a bit dodgy, but I'm going to have to go with Ginger on this one. We need to cover these tunnels. If anybody sees someone down here or anything else out of the ordinary, radio and backtrack to the nearest way station. The other team will come to your location."

  Everyone agreed, and then Ginger said, "Victor and I will take the western branch."

  Oliver, I thought, looked a bit put out, but to my surprise, Thorn was the one who objected. "I don't think that's wise."

  "I'm sure Victor can take good care of me!"

  Thorn eyed Ginger for a moment before he said, "I'm not worried about you."

  I interceded, "If this is about the dream—"

  Thorn interrupted, "I just don't think it's a good idea."

  "I get it," I said, thinking of the images from last night's nightmare and that hungry thing in the dark. "I'll be fine."

  "You guys are adorable," Ginger said, rolling up the map. "So, Victor and I will be heading west. Come on, Vic." She got up and made her way past me out the door.

  I reached over and gave the radio I had in my hand to Thorn, who gave me a warning look before he said in a low voice, "Be careful."

  I gave him a salute and then gave Oliver a wave as I turned to follow Ginger. Outside the way station, I pulled on my pack and my air filtering mask. I took a relieved breath of the much cleaner air inside it. Ginger was waiting for me beside the western tunnel.

  I felt obliged to take the lead position, even if I truthfully didn’t want to. Ginger seemed calm and relaxed behind me. "Does this count as taking you out sometime?"

  I heard her laugh brightly behind me. "Oh, no; you owe me a moonlit walk and a greasy cheeseburger."

  The banter helped soothe my frayed nerves. "I knew you were my kind of girl!" I said with a smile. I pushed my hair out from over my mask. It was probably sticking out all over after my night on the bench, but I hardly cared. Sleeping in mines tended to put things in a different perspective. Looks were not my priority at the moment.

  "Do you hear water?" I asked. Ginger shook her head, and I continued, "I heard it earlier, too. Kind of like water dripping into a puddle or something." I could hear the faint sound but could not tell where it was coming from.

  We walked farther into the tunnels and nearly jumped out of our skin when the radio blared to life with a loud static. I put my hand over my heart as Ginger gave me an impish grin.

  She hit the reply button. "You guys okay? Over." She released the button, and we waited. No more noises came from the radio. Ginger tried again after a couple minutes, but again there was no response.

  "Maybe there are some deposits blocking the signal?" I ventured. She nodded. "Should we head back?"

  Ginger looked uncertain. "I don't know. I mean, it could’ve just been interference."

  "From what?" I asked as I looked at the tunnel around us.

  She shrugged. "I don't know; another radio signal or…hell, I don't know, Victor!"

  We both sighed. "Let's go back, then, and make sure. We aren't that far from the way station, anyway." She nodded her agreement, and we made our way back toward the way station. It took a few minutes, and when we got there, it was silent and empty. "Looks like it was interference after all," I mumbled.

  Ginger shook her head. "Come on, then. We've wasted enough time."

  We walked at a brisker pace back down the tunnel, as if we both felt the need to make up for the time lost. When we reached the first junction, we decided to check the branch that had only one tunnel extending down from it, then double back. The first tunnel was rather short and uneventful.

  As we turned to go down the tunnel that branched off, Ginger tripped and fell into me. I caught her as best as I could, but we fell into the side of the tunnel. "Are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

  Ginger shook off my concern as she blushed and hurriedly dusted herself off. "I'm fine," she said and then asked, "Are you okay? You’re that one who hit the wall, after all."

  I straightened and dusted off. "Never better. Does it seem cooler here?"

  "Yeah. It does seem so, now that you mention it."

  We moved on down the tunnel, and I noticed the walls looked smoother. "These walls look different," I commented offhandedly.

  "They do look kind of slick." She walked over, putting her fingers timidly on the wall and then pulling them back quickly. "It's wet," she said while rubbing her hand on the leg of her pants.

  I reached out and touched the wall as well, then brought my fingers up close to my face. "Water," I said softly.

  I turned and walked on down the tunnel, and I could hear Ginger's gentle footfalls behind me as she hurried to catch up. About 100 feet further on, the tunnel suddenly stopped, but there was a small opening that looked like it had been broken through while trying to expand the tunnel.

  "This must be where they stopped working," I said quietly as I put my hand over the opening. "It feels cold." I stood up. "The air on the other side, I mean."

  She came up beside me and tried to look through the crack with her flashlight. She jumped back suddenly, and I knelt down beside her. "I thought I saw something move," she mentioned with a shaky laugh. "Look, Vic." She pointed through the crack, and I bent close to it to look through. I saw a very shiny surface on the other side, and I could see how she thought something had moved.

  "It's reflective. Water, you think?" I mused quietly.

  She nodded. "Maybe…or ice, anyway. Must be why they stopped. Might’ve been afraid they'd flood the tunnels." She stood up and dusted herself off. "It does explain why there are so few tunnels in this direction."

  It took us little time to backtrack to the main junction tunnel. We then set out to explore the larger branch. It had a way station that we’d probably end up having to sleep in before rejoining
the others tomorrow morning.

  When we finally approached the way station, we were tired and decided to stop to take a drink. As Ginger stepped toward the way station, we froze. A light flickered inside. We looked at each other in alarm, and I held a finger up to my mouth even though Ginger looked like she had no intention of moving, let alone speaking.

  I eased closer as we switched off our flashlights. I held mine up in one hand just in case I had to use it defensively and slowly turned the doorknob with the other. Ginger clicked her light on but held her hand over the bulb as she inched up close behind me. The flicker inside the way station went out. We stilled, then I yanked the door open. Ginger shined her light inside as I pushed into the small building with the flashlight upraised.

  We stared at an empty building. The inside looked like it had been torn apart at some point. There were papers and supplies torn out of the emergency boxes scattered all over the floor. Ginger tapped my arm and pointed toward something on the floor.

  "What's that?" she asked with a tremor in her voice.

  I flicked my flashlight back on as well, making my way carefully over the bottles and medical supplies scattered on the floor. I bent down to look at a dark smear on the floor, and I flinched a bit as I reached out to brush my fingers through it. It was still wet, but not much.

  I brought my fingers up to my nose and grimaced. "It smells like an oil of some kind." I hastily wiped it off on my jeans.

  "Maybe someone was trying to fix the generator," Ginger offered. "That could explain the flicker of light..."

  We made our way back outside and around the building. The generator was in place, and it did look like someone had been messing with it recently. "Okay," I said quietly. "So, maybe we aren't the only ones down here."

  "Should we radio the others?" Ginger asked.

  I hesitated. We weren’t in any immediate danger. "We don't know how recent this is. I'd hate to call them all the way over here for something that could’ve been done weeks ago." I sounded reasonable, but I felt anything but calm.

  "I don't much feel like resting now," Ginger said as she danced from foot to foot.