Chapter 32 #2
They strung whatever they were twisting away from me, in the other direction, placing it down on the ground.
Richard pulled out a pack of matches from his pocket, lighting one up, the flame from the little stick casting shadows over his face making him look menacing.
The devil reincarnated. He’s just missing the horns coming out of his head.
“You know what would have really been the best outcome to all this,” he asked, leaning down, his face never leaving mine.
“If Jim was down here too. So, I could have taken both fags out at once.” Then the match touched the ground and the string sparked, sizzling in my direction.
Holy heavens.
It’s dynamite!
My heart rate sped up, making it feel like the muscular organ was about to pop. I screamed, “HELP! HELP!! SOMEONE!!! HELP!!!” The brothers turned to get out of here, laughing at their success.
But they didn’t get far.
David came out of nowhere with an uppercut to Richard’s jaw, landing him on his back, “Payback’s a bitch!”
My father rushed Dan, tackling him to the ground just as he was pulling his fist back to slug David. “Dad! Oh my God! Help! Hurry! They lit dynamite! It’s going to blow!” I was wiggling, trying to test the strength of the ropes, while my anxiety and fear were testing me.
Dad looked up from where he was trying to hold Dan down, but Dan was resisting, trying to get him off.
He grabbed Dad’s face and dug his fingers in, which made him howl.
Dad tried to pry Dan’s hand off, but started swinging his fist instead.
Richard was still on the ground in a daze.
David really walloped him one, and with David’s size, even the biggest giant would have fallen.
David rushed over in my direction. The fuse was still making its way toward me. He moved the coal away to see what was planted. “Oh fuck! Time to go!” He grabbed me by the arms and hauled me up and over his shoulder, making me yelp in surprise.
I got one last look at Dad before David turned around. He was still wrestling with Dan. Pining him down. “Go!” he yelled at us. “Get him out of here! Take care of him!”
“Dad! No, let’s go!” I said into the air, not being able to see him anymore, since David was the one facing him.
“Please! You have to come too!” I am full-on panicking.
Not about dying but in fear for my dad. David is running with me, about to turn down the passage next to the one they came from.
“DAD!!!” I was sobbing, tears were falling. “DAD!”
“I love you son!”
“NOOOO!!!!”
It’s the last thing I heard before a deafening blast rocked the room, sending David and me airborne.
The plume of black, fire, and air was a terrifying visual, making me shiver.
Rock, coal, debris and dust flew and fell all around us.
I land with a crack, the air leaving my lungs from the force of the explosion and the landing.
David was partially under me, him having tried to keep hold while flying through the air.
“David!” I turned and crawled to him by touch as best as I could with my hands still tied, and my elbow sore from landing on it.
The rumble drowned out my voice as I tried to get David’d attention.
The crash and smash of chunks of the pillars, ceiling and outer walls were falling and collapsing all around us.
Coal dust and dirt clouds pluming, making me cough as I was trying to breathe.
I can’t see since I don’t have my helmet.
David’s was within reach, its light having survived, shining in the opposite direction.
I grabbed it and awkwardly put it on, then I checked David over, but he was knocked out cold.
He was bleeding from the head pretty bad, but I felt air coming in and out of his nose.
The falling pieces kept dropping around us, some were really close to hitting us and the debris that was hitting us were too small to do any real damage.
It still stung though. I laid on David to help protect him, covering the back of my neck, with my other hand over David’s head, planting my face in David's neck.
When it finally seemed to calm, the noise not so loud anymore, I looked up slowly. I was afraid to move too much, afraid it would cause a secondary reaction. My body was overwhelmed to the point I was shaking and couldn't control it. I was still crying, feeling the wetness running down my face.
The wall where we were wasn’t there anymore, or at least, how it was.
It was a pile of rubble, completely collapsed into a mound.
In the opposite direction, the tunnel entry way had caved in, the supports having given away from the quake of the blast. We were blocked in, trapped, as the room was filling with smoke.
Or was it just the smell from the blast?
I checked the rest of our surroundings of the passage we were in. The only way out that I could see was the direction David had been running, and it was still open mostly. The ends of the pillars we were between partially fell, so we needed to climb over the rubble, which looked doable.
As long as David woke up.
I traversed toward where the blast occurred.
“Dad!” After a moment, I yelled again, “Dad! Can you hear me!” Sobs escaped my throat.
I started to wail, falling to my knees. I placed my tied hands on the rubble pile for support and to try to get as close to my dad as possible.
“I’m here, Dad. I’m here. You aren’t alone.
” I continued to sob, my tears turned the dust and dirt on my face into mud. “I love you…”
I was there for what felt like days, not being able to stop the onslaught of tears and emotions.
Then I heard a shifting behind me. I swung around in fear that more debris was about to fall, but it’s David.
He groaned as he was coming to. I rushed over and got down near his head, my emotions making my words come in sections. “David… can you… hear me?”
“What– ouch, fuck!” He placed a hand over his head, where it came away with blood. His one hand was cut up pretty bad, probably from landing and trying to catch us. “What happened?”
I started to sob again, my chest having a hard time taking in air, let alone to talk. “They… they lit dyn… amite. They… were try…ing to…kill me.” I covered my face with my hands, and cried for my father. “My dad!”
“Fuck!” David shifted himself into a sitting position and wrapped his arms around me. “Shhhh. Shhhhh. I’m sorry.”
“Do you think… they could have made it? They could just be trapped?” I looked at David with the hopeful question, trying to grab on tight to make it true.
“I’m so sorry, Charlie,” he actually had tears rolling down his face. “They were so close…”
David untied my hand as I started to cry hard again. “I have no one now! No family!” He pulled me in, holding me, my head on his shoulder as he started to rock from side to side, and I wailed. For a long while, until my body and my eyes exhausted themselves out. Like there was no more to give.
David pushed me back, holding on to me at half an arm’s length. I coughed out dirty air that we were both breathing in. He looked blacker than we normally were on a normal workday, the whites of his eyes more prominent.
“Are you okay to try to move,” David asked as he took my hands and started to untie the rope holding me hostage.
“We should see about trying to get out of here before another unstable event happens. Jim would never forgive me if something were to happen to you and you were left smothered down here.”
Oh God, Jimmy.
He was probably losing his mind, fighting everyone to get down to me. I nod, now fully motivated, but coughed when I sucked in too much air. David got up and took my hand in his as a leash to stay together and headed in the direction where we think is the way out.
We didn't get very far as our tunnel to get into room four was sealed. “No!” David exclaims. “Arrgggrrggg!” His yell echoed in the man-made cavern.
“Well, this is what hell is,” I whispered, and sniffled. “Being stuck down here, with the dead.”
I felt numb.
Something could hit me at this point and I wouldn’t feel it.
After David did some huffing and puffing, leading him to go on a coughing fit, he started to reach up and move some rocks, coal, and debris out of the way.
I joined him, following his lead. “I’m hoping it’s just the opening that fell in and not the whole damn tunnel,” he stated through the force of working to dig us out.
After what felt like hours, I heard something.
“Shhhh. David. Listen.” We both stood there not moving.
The silence and stagnant air around us was our only company.
Then I heard it again. Scratching. It was the sound of rock or coal rubbing against each other, just faintly since it was happening on the other side of the tunnel. “HELLOOO!!! Can you HEAR ME!!!!”
I heard a voice but couldn’t make out what was being said through the rubble, but the scratching sped up. David and I did as well. Hopefully, the depth of this wall wasn’t that thick.
We need help to try to dig out my dad once we get through.
I wasn’t leaving without him.