Chapter 33 #2
“That’s what that noise is, then.” I was scoping out the people that came up, but as horrible as it was to think, they weren’t any of the ones I really needed to appear. “How do you want to do this, Tom?” He looked around the area, getting a grasp.
He told us the plan, which was simple. I would start organizing based on injuries to those who needed to be carted off.
The ambulance workers needed to evaluate those who seemed worse off without wasting time on minor wounds, so those that needed to assess and prioritize the worst. Have the cars pull up to the area between the office and Dry Room, which would be a straight shot from the tunnel to load men up easily, but leave a space for the ambulances to leave.
Anyone able to walk out of here can do so on the normal route after they were seen and cleared by the town doctors or any other medical worker.
I headed off to make myself busy. I diverted to Betty and whispered to her that people were coming up and that I needed her to guide the traffic to the area Tom said, while still holding people back.
I ran off to do what I needed to do, while keeping an eye out for Charlie, David and Mike, as well as John.
My family.
It ended up being a long wait.
The original three ambulances left long ago, which were eventually replaced with more but not before the police chief finally got on the radio.
That wasn’t pretty to witness.
One of the injured taken by ambulance was a man that was near The Hole, which caved in, breaking his legs.
Come to find out from one of the drivers and medical workers that came from the city and with a good view of the mountain side, the tipple structure fell onto the railroad tracks before being buried by a landslide which reached the river, covering Carson Street in the process.
That information sent Will officially over the edge since John was supposed to be in the Tipple with Charlie. Tom had to drag him away, out of earshot before anything was revealed about them and their long-standing love.
It only got my nerves and emotions up more, my eyes dropping the occasional tear.
This new information might have locked me up momentarily, but I refused to break until I heard for certain.
Plus, I had to pull myself together fast, because every ten minutes another wave of men came up that needed assistance.
Their injuries ranged from deep smoke inhalation with minor cuts and bruises, which could be treated at home, to broken bones, deep gashes and impalements.
Those individuals were sent off by car or ambulance, whichever was around first.
During all this, we kept hearing more new information, which started to complete the puzzle.
The explosion came from room four, and the tunnel had caved in right at the opening but three feet in depth.
Room five’s wall closest to room four also collapsed, sealing in the opening.
It explained the landslide that occurred, taking the road at the edge with it.
They got into room five first and got those miners out since no one was supposed to be in room four today anyway.
One of them was very serious and wasn’t looking good.
It wasn’t until I had been on site for seven hours before we got word that they finally breached room four.
It was delayed because of how unstable it all was, as they had to get supports to continue.
But we had gotten word that there had been noise coming from in there, so someone was in that room that shouldn’t have been.
It was another three hours after that before figures appeared within the smoke. By then I felt emotionally drained from the adrenaline overdose. One figure was being carried in a cradle by another, while two others carried a body.
My blood ran cold.
A wind gust blew the smoke and a path of fresh air cut through revealing Charlie to me, crying his eyes out in David’s arms. John and Steve were the ones carrying someone between them. All of them covered in black, David clearly had blood on him.
I ran.
“John!”
Will bolted out of nowhere next to me and crashed into John seconds after he put down who they were carrying, both crying in relief.
I could see David saying something to Charlie. He turned his head in my direction, his eyes met mine and yelled, “Jimmy!!!”
David put him down, and he started to run in my direction but tripped and fell to his knees. I dropped to mine, and engulfed him into me, audience be damned.
Charlie was heavily sobbing into my chest, his arms squeezing me from behind.
I kissed the top of his head, not caring about how dirty he was.
I looked up at David, who looked like he had cried too at some point, with track marks running down his cheeks.
He turned around to look at the person they carried out.
It was Mike.
Tears breached my eyes.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
I felt a presence behind me. When I looked, it was Tom, Will and John holding each other side by side, and Susan standing guard over us.
Protecting our moment.
Our love.
Our mourning.
“Charlie, Honey. I need you to get checked out. Make sure you are okay,” I wanted to get him away from this tunnel. I needed him safe.
“You too, David,” Tom said. “Clearly you took a hit,” referencing his head.
“No, I don’t want to leave him. I can’t leave him,” Charlie screamed and sobbed hysterically as he broke away from me and crawled to his father.
I followed to try to hold Charlie back, but he threw himself down onto Mike, like he was protecting him from a falling object. I didn’t know what to do. This was breaking my heart. In so many different ways. I looked over at the group. They all had sorrow in their eyes.
David walked up and whispered in a really rough voice, “We would have been up way sooner once we got through the tunnel collapse into room four’s entry, but he refused to leave until we got Mike out too.”
Oh my God.
I sat on the ground, putting my hand on Charlie’s back, rubbing him. Our group moved over to cover us again and at some point Betty had joined, who was also crying silent tears.
“Honey,” I leaned down, laying my head on Mike’s chest with Charlie so I could look into his eyes, the right one was swollen and bruised.
“You didn’t leave him. You got him out. You are above ground.
You didn’t leave him.” I was trying to be quiet.
To give him a sense of peace. “You did so good, Honey. You were so brave. But you can relax now. Breathe for me, okay? Deep breaths.”
He started to calm a little. His wet eyes soaking into Mike’s jumper which was also covered in blood from unknown injuries he sustained.
After ten minutes, he sat up on his own.
He looked down at his father, his unlimited tears still flowing.
He leaned down and kissed Mike’s forehead, and I heard him whisper through a sob, “I love you.”
He turned to me and fell into my chest and arms. I looked up at David who came around and helped us both up with assistance from Tom.
I took Charlie into my arms, just as David had, cradling him into my chest. We were guided to the office where there was a medical professional waiting to examine Charlie, David, and John.
That was where I heard the whole story, and if Richard and Dan hadn’t already been dead and still in this mountain– It wouldn’t have been for long.
When we eventually got the all clear and left, I refused to look back toward the disaster. But if I had looked back to the white tunnel, to my personal hell, I would have seen the chit board that greeted me five days a week for almost the last decade, and the eleven chits still hanging there.