Eleven, Twelve ... Dig and delve (Rebekka Franck Book 6) (16 page)

“He won’t live much longer,” Mr. Jansen said now to Afrim.

Afrim pulled Buster closer, so Mr. Jansen wouldn’t touch him anymore. Mr. Jansen smiled, then got up and walked away. When naptime came and Afrim was supposed to go to sleep like the rest of them, he stayed awake and watched over Buster. Mr. Jansen was sitting at the end of the cave, keeping an eye on Afrim, while everyone else dozed off. When it was just the two of them, Afrim felt a chill roll down his spine. Mr. Jansen kept staring at Afrim and Buster, and then he got up and walked toward them again.

“Give me the dog,” he whispered.

Afrim shook his head in desperation. “No. No. You’re not getting him. He’s my dog!”

“Sh, keep it down. We don’t want anyone to wake up, now do we? Listen, kid. I know you love him, but he’s going to die anyway. We might as well get something out of it. There’s still meat on him. It could keep us alive for days. I tell you what, you give me the dog, and I’ll split the meat with you. You can feed that mother of yours and help her stay awake. I have fire. We can roast the meat. It’ll be much better than just watching him die. Either way, we’ll eat him.”

Afrim whimpered. He felt tears pressing on his eyes. The thought of anyone eating his dog made him cry.

“Please. Don’t touch my dog.”

“It’s okay. He won’t feel a thing. It’s for a good cause. He’ll keep us alive, remember? Keep your mom here alive so she can be with you when we get out of here.”

Mr. Jansen reached over and grabbed Buster by his tail. He lifted the skinny dog into the air and smiled. The dog whined.

“What a nice piece of meat,” he said.

“Please, sir. Please give me my dog back,” Afrim cried. “I love Buster, please don’t take Buster from me.”

“I’ll make sure to be quick,” Mr. Jansen said, and grabbed Buster’s neck. “I’ll snap his neck quickly, so he won’t feel a thing. It’s the most humane thing to do, really. Put him out of his suffering. You don’t want to watch him starve to death anyway, do you?”

Afrim cried harder. “Please…please, sir…please, don’t…”

“Sorry, kid,” Mr. Jansen said when another voice suddenly echoed loudly through the cave, waking up most of the people.

“Put the dog down!”

Mr. Jansen froze. So did Afrim. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It was his mom. She had managed to push herself to her elbows and was looking at Mr. Jansen. “Give the dog back to my boy. It’s all he has.”

Other eyes were on them now. Rebekka was on her feet and approaching them. So was David.

“What’s going on here?” she asked.

Mr. Jansen shook his head. “I’m not dying of hunger while the dog lives,” he growled. “It could feed all of us. Think about it.”

David pulled his knife. “Give Afrim his dog back.”

“What? You’re going to kill me over a dog?” Mr. Jansen said.

“Might as well,” David answered. “You eat a lot more than the dog does.”

Brian Jansen looked at Afrim. Afrim stared at Buster while crying.

“Screw you,” Mr. Jansen said, and threw the dog to the ground. “Screw all of you. You’ll regret it when we all starve to death.”

“Buster!” Afrim yelled. The dog whined, then got back up on its feet and ran to him. Afrim was so busy taking care of his dog, he didn’t notice his mother breathing in her last breath before her head fell to the ground with a loud thud.

49

“
M
OM?
M
OM?
P
LEASE,
wake up, Mom?”

Afrim’s voice was breaking. So was my heart. I ran to his mother and felt for a pulse.

“Is she…?” David came towards us.

I nodded slowly. The light in Afrim’s eyes went out. “No,” he said, while shaking his head in desperation. “No!”

“I’m sorry, kid,” I said, tears burning my eyes.

“NOOO!”

Afrim threw himself on top of his mother’s dead body, crying and sobbing. “Don’t leave me, Mom. Don’t leave me down here. Please, come back. Please!”

I grabbed Afrim in my arms and pulled him away from the body, while David removed his mother and put her in with the others who had passed away.

It was hard for me not to burst into tears. I held Afrim tightly in my arms. I felt such a deep anger rise inside of me. I couldn’t believe how unfair it was. I thought about my own children and cried even harder. They had to be missing their mother so much. Had they given up hope by now? Had Sune told them I was gone? Were they crying and sobbing helplessly like Afrim was?

I couldn’t bear the thought.

“Shhh,” I said, and put him on the ground with his back against the cold limestone wall. I stroked his hair gently. But it didn’t matter. He was inconsolable. It wasn’t until Buster came to him and crawled onto his lap that Afrim calmed down.

My eyes met David’s as he returned. He had been crying too. His eyes were red.

“What took you so long?” I whispered, when he sat next to me.

“I had a meeting with God,” he said. “Had to tell him how I felt about this.” David clenched his fist. “I am just so…angry! I mean, of all the things I’ve been through lately…this is, by far, the worst. At least I was alone when I was kidnapped. It was just me, you know?”

“I know what you mean,” I said.

Brian was sitting across from me, still scowling at the dog. I couldn’t believe him. I felt so tired, but kept myself awake to keep an eye on him.

“Maybe we ought to sleep in shifts from now on,” David suggested, when he saw me staring at Brian Jansen. “This guy isn’t going to let go of this anytime soon. Others might get ideas as well. Hunger has that effect on some people. When faced with deathly hunger, all humanity ceases to exist. It’s only about survival.”

I threw a glance around the room and realized there was more than one set of eyes fixated on Buster. I suddenly wasn’t so sure we would be able to protect him much longer, even though we had the advantage of having the knife. If there were enough people and they ganged up on us, we wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Let’s try that,” I said. “You go first.”

“Are you sure?” David asked.

“Yes. I’m too upset to sleep anyway. I’ll be fine.”

“Wake me up if they try anything, alright?” David said, and handed me the knife. I made sure everyone saw that I had the knife, then pulled Afrim and Buster closer to me, so they knew I would be protecting the two of them.

David leaned his head back and closed his eyes. For a minute, I envied him. I was so tired and really wanted to sleep as well. But I had a responsibility. I wasn’t going to let Afrim down.

When David had been asleep for a few minutes, murmurs started among the men. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but their debate was lively. Brian got up from his spot and walked across the ground. At first, I thought he was coming towards me and Afrim, and I clasped the knife in my hand, while preparing myself for the confrontation. As he came closer, Brian gave me a look, then walked right past me. Kurt and Lars followed him.

50

S
HE COULDN’T STAND
it anymore. She couldn’t stand simply sitting there doing nothing while her stomach hurt from hunger and her son constantly slept because he had no more strength to stay awake.

With a deep sigh, Mrs. Sigumfeldt stared at the dog. She wasn’t the only one eyeballing the dog, thinking it could keep them alive for a little longer. She was certain everyone in the cave was thinking the same thing. Except for that Rebekka woman and the handsome David Busck, who Mrs. Sigumfeldt remembered having seen on TV. He was much more handsome in real life. Even better looking than Michael West had been.

The bastard.

Tine Sigumfeldt couldn’t believe he had abandoned her like that. Hadn’t he cared for her at all? After all those years of coming to her house and sleeping with her when Mr. Sigumfeldt was away on business trips. Didn’t they mean anything?

He never loved you, you fool. You were nothing but sex to him. He used you, that’s all.

The thought made Tine Sigumfeldt angry. She had really liked him. Him coming to her house had always been the highlight of the month for her. The kids never knew he was spending the night. She made sure he arrived when they were asleep and left before they woke up. But not on the morning of the collapse. That particular morning, Tine’s youngest son, Frederic, had been awake early. He had knocked on the door to Tine’s bedroom at five thirty and told her he had a bad dream. Tine had put him back to bed and tucked him in, but knew he wouldn’t sleep. The dream had been too bad. Tine had to sit at his bedside, holding his hand until it was time to get up. Afterwards, she had sneaked back to her bedroom and told Michael West to wait till they had left the house to go to school.

It was strange how small decisions or coincidences ended up being so important…and some even fatal. His decision to leave all of them in the cave had been just that.

The bastard only got what he deserved.

Tine didn’t finish the thought before she watched Brian Jansen and his gang get up and walk towards the dog.

If they eat that dog, I want in
, she thought.
I want some too.

She looked at Frederic, who was sound asleep, then back at Brian Jansen. To her surprise, he walked right past the dog, the two others following him.

Where are they going?

Tine Sigumfeldt stared at them as they disappeared out of the cave. She had a feeling they were up to something. She just knew they were. It was the same with her boys. Constantly out to get themselves in trouble.

Tine Sigumfeldt looked at her sleeping son once again, remembering how badly her husband had wanted sons. She had provided three of them, each time hoping in her quiet mind that it would be a girl this time. They had been so much trouble, almost to the point where she considered leaving all of them. It was just too much. She had been alone so much, since Mr. Sigumfeldt traveled for weeks at a time, sometimes ten days. Every time he had left her alone with the three kids, she had felt anger towards him. She had felt that he abandoned her. That was why she had decided to punish him by taking herself a lover. She felt she deserved it.

Tine Sigumfeldt stared after the three men once again. She couldn’t help being curious. Where did they go? They had seemed so determined, like they had somewhere to go to, when there was nowhere for any of them to go. The few that had tried, they had never seen again. Michael West ended up dead. She looked at her boy.

He’ll be fine. He won’t notice you’re gone.

Mrs. Sigumfeldt stroked his cheek, then got up and followed them into the tunnel. Even though she was in pain, she managed to move through the darkness, dragging her leg after her, hoping she could catch up with them.

As she walked through with her head bent, she saw a light at the end of the tunnel. It made her walk faster.

Maybe they found food? Maybe they know where to get water and just didn’t want to tell the rest?

The thought made her smile. When she walked into the cave and found who was carrying the light, she didn’t smile so much anymore. The eyes staring back at her from behind the flashlight were very well known to her. If she had known it would be her last word, she probably would have chosen it more carefully, but since she didn’t, she simply said, “You?”

51

I
HEARD A
scream and jumped up, holding the knife out in front of me. That was when I realized I had dozed off, even though I had promised David to keep an eye on Afrim and his dog.

“What was that?” David said and opened his eyes.

“I don’t know,” I said.

Afrim was fine. Buster was fine.

“It sounded like it came from one of the tunnels,” I continued. “Everybody alright in here?” I asked the others, who were now waking up and looking terrified at David and me. They too had been frightened by the sound.

“Mom?” Frederic asked. His voice was feeble. “Has anyone seen my mom?”

“I’ll go check,” David said, and took the knife from my hand. “Everyone else stay here.”

“No. Let me,” I said.

“Why?”

“If they come for the dog, I won’t stand a chance. I need you to protect Afrim and everyone else in here. Only you can do it.”

“If you say so,” David said.

“I think that’s best.”

“Let me go with you,” Kenneth Borges said. “I’m the one with most strength left, I think. You shouldn’t go in there alone. That scream sounded serious.”

“You’ll need this,” David said, and gave me the knife.

I took one last glance at the crowd left in the cave, while wondering what Brian Jansen and his gang were up to now. And where was Mrs. Sigumfeldt? Had she gone with them?

“Let’s go,” I said to Kenneth Borges, and led the way into the dark tunnel. We walked for a few minutes when I saw light coming from somewhere. I started walking towards it.

“You think it came from in there?” Kenneth asked. “But…but that’s the grave chamber. That’s where we leave the dead. I can smell it all the way out here. I don’t think it’s good for you to go in there. It’s unsanitary.”

Kenneth froze. I could tell he was afraid.

“Unsanitary or not, I have to check it out,” I said. “Someone might be in trouble and need our help.”

Kenneth grabbed my shoulder. “Those bodies have been in there for days. You don’t know what kind of diseases have developed in there. There could be cholera and worse.”

“I’ll have to worry about that later. Besides, David was in there earlier today. If he is fine with it, then I’m fine too, but you can stay here if you like.”

“I think I’d like that,” Kenneth Borges said.

With the knife in my hand, I walked towards the cave that we had all been in at first, before we had managed to dig ourselves out and end up in the mines. I hadn’t been in there since we left the dead bodies there and, to be completely honest, I felt scared to death by the thought of going in there. I usually didn’t believe in ghosts or any supernatural things, but at that moment, I thought about the possibility of the screams coming from someone coming back from the dead. I clenched the knife in my hand as I walked closer, wondering if it would be enough to defend me. I took in a deep breath and ducked down to peek inside the hole. Then I froze. It wasn’t a ghost; it wasn’t the undead coming back to haunt us and take us with them to the land of the unliving. Whether what I saw was human or not, I don’t know. It sure didn’t feel like it. What I saw made me sick to my stomach. Inside the cave sat Brian, Kurt, and Lars. They were bent over the body of Afrim’s mother, biting off chunks of her meat.