7. Max
MAX
F our days ago…
We were hundreds of feet below the surface in the oldest shaft. The heavy air smelled of earth, metal, and sweat. Rough-hewn walls pressed in from all sides. Even crouched, I felt the ceiling looming.
After a decade living and working like a rat down here, I still hadn’t gotten used to it.
I led Rogue, Kaid, and Desta toward the secret tunnel we’d dug over years of labor, their hard breaths falling on the back of my neck. I could hear their hearts pounding like drums—my hearing had always been too sharp.
I really wasn’t normal like them.
Of course you’re not, the demon chimed in, giddy about the escape.
Usually, it talked more when I was on the surface .
“All right. Stay calm,” I said, my voice low. “Check your packs. Everything on the list? Food, water, tools, weapons.”
I was giving them something to do. Something to focus on besides the fear.
We didn’t have much to pack other than an extra set of clothes each and today’s portion of water and food.
Other miners had pressed their own rations into my hands when they heard.
I still felt the weight of those small bundles, saw their hollowed cheeks and cracked lips pulled into hopeful smiles.
Water was scarce in the Utah mines, but they’d given what they could.
If we rationed carefully, the food and water would last a day and a half. We could stretch it to a week if we had to. We all knew how to survive hunger.
“Even if you forgot something, it’s no big deal.” Their breathing slowed. “We’ll make do. You good? We’re almost there.”
“Good.” Desta first.
“Good.” Kaid.
“Good.” Rogue.
Their voices came together now, steadier than before.
The miners working in the same shaft watched us pass and nodded in silent farewell. They wouldn’t betray us, knowing what kind of person I was. If we made it, I’d come back for them. I didn’t know how or with what help, but I’d come back for my sister and all of them.
Some had promised to look after Missy. A sharp pain burned in my chest at the thought of leaving her behind. Losing my parents had carved a deep scar in me. If I lost my sister, I’d never be whole again.
We turned into the secret tunnel. My friends stopped behind me as I paused at the entrance. Coldiron shimmered along the frames of the opening, a natural ward that would keep anyone else from following. Only I could see the sentient metal, only I could hear its call.
Max! Max! Coldiron hummed excitedly. We guard here like you told us!
Good job, I praised it.
Good job! The metal chimed with pride. Good job! Good job!
The witches and overseers didn’t know about Coldiron. I kept that secret close. I’d discovered the metal when I first entered the deepest parts of the mine, searching for my parents after the shaft collapsed and buried them.
The metal had called to me. That was when I realized I had a way with metal—any metal. I could temper it, command it. But Coldiron was the only sentient kind. Chatty little things.
Once I learned what Coldiron could do, I sought them out and brought them here, warding the entrance to our escape tunnel.
The metal was volatile. Gathering a pool together was like creating a small quantum bomb if you weren’t careful.
But in my hands, in my presence, the sentient metal stayed steady and calm.
That’s what Rogue meant by “We’re safest with Max.”
I stepped through the threshold, Coldiron casting a shimmering sheen over me.
I reached for Rogue, and he gripped my fingers tightly as I pulled him through.
He gasped on the other side, immediately darting to the edge of the drift—room enough for five to stand here—and bent over, heaving.
That was the side effect of passing through this much Coldiron, even with me as an anchor.
A trespasser would be maimed or worse. Limited amounts didn’t affect miners this way, especially without me actively working with it.
The other miners knew this was restricted and stayed away.
“Easy,” I murmured, then pulled Desta through, then Kaid.
They went through the same motion, bodies rejecting the exposure.
I gave them a moment. When they stood straight again, we faced our path ahead. Three more miles of crawling through the escape tunnel.
My friends didn’t look daunted. We were miners. Tight spaces were what we did.
“I’ll go first,” Rogue volunteered.
“No. Me first.” I met his eyes. “I lead. You follow, as agreed.”
He nodded without argument.
I got down on my hands and knees and crawled forward into the narrow space. It was a tight fit for me; my friends would have an easier time behind me.
If I’d come alone, I could’ve moved faster.
But I kept pace so they wouldn’t fall behind.
We inched forward as one unit, our travel bags—patched-together rug scraps—strapped to our backs.
Each of us held a witchlight powered by Stormglass in front of our faces, illuminating the path.
Our breaths came louder than the sound of our hands and knees shoving through the hard dirt.
Crimson Ridge was the biggest supplier of Stormglass in all four kingdoms. The elemental metal fueled magical electricity—the main source of arcane batteries ever since the world went to shit and technology flatlined.
“Max! The ceiling’s coming down!” Rogue’s voice echoed from over a dozen paces behind me.
Desta was right behind me. We’d put her in the middle for protection, with Rogue bringing up the rear.
Sheets of dirt and small rocks fell from above. The tunnel groaned.
Shit.
I shoved my hands up, pressing my palms flat against the rough ceiling. I called to the Coldiron buried in the rock, and they streamed toward me through the earth like water finding its level. I spoke without words, asking them to reinforce the weak points.
The metal responded immediately, spreading through the rock in a web of strength. I felt other materials too—iron ore, copper veins, traces of silver. I coaxed them all to work together, to form a lattice of support where there’d only been crumbling stone.
Good job! Coldiron chimed happily.
Steady, I reminded them. Keep holding.
The trembling stopped. Dust settled.
“It’s fine.” I lowered my hands carefully. “We got this. We trained for it.”
We got this, Coldiron echoed proudly. We trained!
“Remember when the entire eastern shaft almost exploded last year?” Desta said. “Max held it up long enough for everyone to evacuate. Saved forty-three miners that day.”
“The overseers gave you extra rations for two days.” Rogue’s voice floated from the back. “You shared them with us.”
“Couldn’t eat it all myself,” I lied, and my friends chuckled. They knew.
“And remember the gas pocket in the lower tunnels?” Kaid piped up from behind Desta. “Max sensed it before we even got close. Saved us all from poisoning.”
They were building each other up, feeding confidence for what lay ahead.
“Rogue,” I said, “why don’t you sing us a song?”
He had a beautiful, deep voice that carried well even in the confined space. After a pause, he started to sing:
“Born in darkness, bred in stone,
In the depths we learned to breathe,
But the light calls us home,
And our hearts refuse to grieve.
Crawl through fear, climb toward sky,
Every step breaks yesterday,
Every breath a battle cry,
Every scar shows us the way.
Let the earth hold tight,
Let the shadows cling and call,
We are stronger than the darkness,
We break free or not at all.
Freedom waits beyond this tunnel,
Home is something we can’t see,
But we’ll claim it when we’re fearless ? —
We shall find it, we’ll be free.”
His voice filled the tunnel, rich and haunting. Desta joined on the second verse, her voice higher and sweeter. Then Kaid. And finally me, my raspy voice threading through theirs as the song came to a close.
The tunnel stretched on. We sang as we crawled toward freedom, toward hope, toward whatever waited for us in the world beyond the mines.
We crawled out of the last leg of the tunnel one by one, emerging into a tiny extraction room I’d carved out months ago.
Desta came through after me and collapsed onto her back, chest heaving, eyes fixed on the ceiling. Kaid came next and pulled her up. The second Rogue was through, he let out a shaky laugh, bordering on hysterical.
“Shit, we made it,” he whispered. “We actually made it.”
“Don’t celebrate yet.” Desta was grinning, though.
We looked up at the wall ladder, metal rungs leading to the surface. I’d placed every one myself over months of secret trips. Bringing the team all the way here to build it would’ve been slower. With my abilities, I could do it alone, and faster.
“I’ll check it first.” I looked up at the ladder. “If it’s not dark yet, we wait a few more hours here.”
“The sky’s always overcast anyway, but we need more cover.” Rogue’s voice carried understanding.
I nodded. “I’ve been up before, scoped out their patrols. Once we’re out, we’ll be behind the watch tower and past the fences.”
“How far did you go?” Desta asked, her practical mind already working ahead.
“Not far enough,” I admitted. “I don’t know the wasteland layout beyond the map. Couldn’t risk going farther and blowing our one chance.”
My friends sucked in sharp breaths. Freedom so close made everyone nervous.
“We’re here now.” Rogue met my eyes. “No going back.”
“No going back.” They echoed the words. We stacked our hands on top of each other, sealing the silent vow.
I climbed the ladder first. I’d measured each foothold for my friends’ heights.
Even Desta could reach them comfortably.
The rungs held steady under my weight as I ascended, rung by rung, until I reached the extraction point.
Coldiron framed the portal hole. I’d persuaded it to glamour the opening, blending it with the surroundings until it was nearly invisible.
This sentient metal was a miracle.
Miracle! Coldiron whispered, awed. Miracle! Miracle!
I pushed the cover aside and peered out. Dark sky, heavy clouds. Perfect.
I pulled my friends out one by one until we all crouched on the surface, drawing fresh air into lungs that had known only mine dust for hours. Not that the air here was much better. Nuclear bombs had damaged the atmosphere, then the Quantum Bomb finished the job.
Humans were amazingly talented at destruction.
My friends stared past me at the fences and military outposts behind us, grinning.
“At least we’re on the surface.” Rogue smiled at me like I’d hung the moon.
“Shh.” I held up a hand, looking toward the watch tower powered by Stormglass, the arcane metal we dug with our labor, blood, and tears. With my superior sight, I could make out two guards playing cards, their bows leaning carelessly against the table leg.
I gestured. We crouched low and edged away from the mine, moving as quietly as possible across the rocky ground under the heavy sky.
We walked for half a day before we hit the swamp. That’s when the mutants came.
We’d known about the danger ahead, but it had been theoretical. When we actually faced a horde of monsters, the byproducts of the Rupture, we were no match. None of us were.
I should never have brought them.
Dreamers had no place in this world.
The mutants came in waves—twisted things that had once been human, animal, or something in between, yellow eyes glowing in the dark. Shrieks filled the air.
We fought. Gods, we fought.
Desta ran first. Kaid screamed for her, then went after her. They vanished into the darkness while Rogue and I held the line, until we couldn’t anymore. We spent a day and a half searching for them.
The mutants hunted us down instead.
“It’s better to die free than live as a slave.” Rogue smiled even as a greenish spider-thing seized him, mandibles clicking. Always looking at the brighter side. “If I don’t make it…you live for me, Max. Live for all of us.”
He knew. I saw it in his eyes.
I roared and fought toward him, hacking with my Coldiron-infused dagger, but too many mutants swarmed between us.
I couldn’t reach him. Couldn’t save him.
Rogue died without knowing I was a girl. I’d planned to tell them when we were safe.
That day never came.
I ran until I couldn’t, my lungs burning, my vision blurring.
Then I thought I saw trees. Only they weren’t trees.
They brought me to their fortress.