Eleven, Twelve ... Dig and delve (Rebekka Franck Book 6) (17 page)

52

I
COULDN’T BELIEVE
what I was looking at. It looked like something out of a horror movie. I understood that hunger could lead people to do the strangest things, the most desperate things, but this?

I wanted to do something. I wanted to chase them away and let Afrim’s mom rest in peace. I don’t know if it was the look on their faces or what, but something told me if there was a fight, I wouldn’t win. I gasped and backed up in terror till I was back where Kenneth was waiting.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said, and rushed past him, tears pricking my eyes.

“What was it?” Kenneth asked, as he came after me. “Did you see anyone? Was anyone in there?”

I felt sick just thinking about it again. I couldn’t let go of those appalling images. “There was nothing there,” I said. “Let’s move on.”

We took a turn into another tunnel and didn’t walk long before another cave opened up. One I hadn’t seen before. I wondered if the entrance to it had opened up in one of the latest collapses that still happened on a daily basis. I felt my way through the darkness only lit by the light of the cellphone I had taken with me. I was only pressing the button when it was necessary, to save the battery, since it was our last cellphone. I had been worried about us losing light completely. All we had left back in the big cave was the thick candle, and it was almost burned down by now. I wondered which would come first. The death from thirst or the loss of light? Were we just going to die in darkness?

I shook the thought and entered this smaller cave, followed by Kenneth. I gasped once again as I shone the sparse light around. On the ground, lay the body of Mrs. Sigumfeldt, or what was left of her. She had holes in her chest and face from something being poked through her.

“Oh, my goodness,” Kenneth said, and held a hand to his chest.

I kneeled next to her body and looked at her wounds. They were thin, round, and deep…just like the ones I had seen on Michael West. Besides the wounds from something poking her, she was missing a lot of flesh on her stomach and arms. I lifted her arms and spotted marks on them.

“They look an awfully lot like teeth marks,” Kenneth said, realizing the horror. “Oh, my God! Has someone…did someone…eat of her?”

I rose to my feet. “Like David said earlier, hunger brings out the darkest sides of man.”

I felt anger rise in me while thinking about what I had seen in the grave chamber. The way I saw it, there was only one conclusion to this. Brian Jansen and his gang had killed Mrs. Sigumfeldt and eaten of her, then continued onto Afrim’s mother. But did that mean they had killed Michael West as well? What about Malene and Mr. Bjerrehus? And Thomas Soe? Maybe they had started with him? Had they eaten him first, then moved on? But why would they leave Mrs. Sigumfeldt to go eat from another body, when they clearly weren’t finished with this one?

It made no sense. But, then again, none of their actions made much sense.

“Let’s get back to the others,” I said, and started backing up. I didn’t want to touch the body or take it back to the grave chamber. All I wanted was to get the hell out of there…and fast.

“I think we need to get out of here,” I whispered to David as we got back to the big cave. “Cannibalism has started to spread. It is only a matter of time before they’ll take us down as well. ”

“Brian Jansen?”

“Yes. I spotted him and the two others eating from Afrim’s mother’s dead body in the grave chamber. We found Mrs. Sigumfeldt killed and half eaten. I think we need to find a new cave somewhere to hide in.”

“But some of the people can hardly move,” David said. “They’re too weak. I’m also worried about Afrim. His wound is infected. I just noticed it a few minutes ago. He let me take a look at it. He’s in a lot of pain. He hasn’t told anyone because he has been too worried about his mother. It’s bad. He doesn’t have long, if you ask me. If we move him, we risk making it worse. I think he has a fever.”

I stared at Afrim, who was holding on to his dog. His small body was shaking and his eyes were shining feverishly. I felt a knot in my stomach. Was this the way it was going to be? Was everyone going to die, one after another, until there was no one left? I felt sad. I had come to care a lot for Afrim and Frederic, who was now also without his mother. I wasn’t going to let them die. I would fight for them if I had to…fight Brian and his gang…kill them, if that was what it took to keep them away.

“We’ll have to take our chances. It’s the only way,” I said. “We can carry both of the boys, you and I. The dog will have to follow if it can.”

I finished the thought, then felt tears roll across my face, just as Kenneth Borges suddenly yelled.

“Did you hear that? I heard something! Listen.”

53

“
D
O YOU HEAR IT?
What a beautiful noise!” Kenneth was yelling…ecstatic. He grabbed me and spun me around. “Do you hear it? Eighteen years I have worked with drills like these. I can recognize the sound of a drill like that in my sleep.”

When he put me back on the ground, I looked at David. He looked like he wasn’t sure if the guy had lost it or if he had actually heard something. He was dancing back and forth between people in the cave telling them to listen.

“They’re coming for us! They’re coming for us,” he chanted.

I tried to listen, but couldn’t hear a thing. I guessed that Kenneth had simply lost it. After all, we were all bordering on insanity.

“Kenneth…” I said, wanting to tell him to calm down, that he was just hearing things…that he was imagining things that weren’t there, but felt real to him. We had been through it before with others who thought they could hear drilling.

But, as I was about to finish my sentence, I heard it too. I heard the sound of something spinning, grinding, and hammering. It sounded very far away and, for a few seconds, I was certain I had started imagining things too, but slowly, hope grew in me. And soon I was as excited as Kenneth.

“It’s true,” I said, putting my ear against the limestone wall. “I hear it too. I really do.”

For half an hour, the roar grew steadily louder, and around forty-five minutes later, David was ready to believe it too. It was unmistakably a drill, the sound traveling through thick layers of dirt and limestone.

“It’s true, people. They really are drilling for us,” I said to the rest of the crowd. Afrim smiled in his blushing feverish face. He hugged Buster. “Do you hear that, boy? They’re coming for us.”

“Now, it will take a while before they get to us,” Kenneth said.

“How fast can a drill like that travel?” I asked.

“It depends on a lot of things, but I’m guessing they’ll reach us within seven to ten hours,” he answered. “We must be patient.”

“I thought they had given up,” Irene exclaimed. She had gotten up from her seat for the first time in days and was walking towards me on her trembling legs while holding onto her son, Benjamin.

“Me too,” Kurt’s wife, Annette, said. Her voice was breaking and she started crying, hiding her face in her arm.

“I hardly dare to believe it,” Irene said, biting her lip. “Are you sure they’ll be able to find us?”

“I…I hope so,” Kenneth said. “It sounds like the drill is definitely getting closer by the minute.”

I could tell he had his doubts as well. My head was spinning with this information. What if it stopped right above us? Oh, the terror of receiving a ray of hope. There was always the possibility of being disappointed. But it was still better than nothing. I was about to lose all hope in humanity down here.

“Should we get the others?” Irene asked. “Maybe call for them? Does anyone know where they went?”

I looked at David. I felt terrible. Then I looked at Frederic. He was soundly asleep. I hadn’t told him about his mother yet. He hadn’t been awake since I got back. David shook his head.

“I don’t think we should tell them yet,” he said. “Let’s wait till they break through to the cave.”

It was a decent answer, without me having to explain what I had seen. It would have been devastating to Afrim and Frederic if they knew. I didn’t feel like anyone else needed to know…not yet, at least.

54

H
E KEPT CALLING
her that name. Rikke. Malene wondered who Rikke was and why he insisted on calling her that. But she played along. For days, she played his little games and pretended she was that girl.

It seemed to make him happy, and it kept her alive.

She had refused to eat the meat he had served for them on the first day, but on the second, she couldn’t resist it any longer. She was so hungry it hurt, and watching Thomas eat it with such delight made it even worse. She had to do it, she told herself. To survive. Just like she had to pretend like she liked Thomas Soe, like she had to pretend to be his girlfriend. Seven days had passed. Seven days she had counted by making marks on the wall at night when Thomas was asleep next to her. Seven days of being trapped with him…chained to his leg.

Every night, she wondered if there was some way she could get out. Every night, she lay with her eyes wide open and stared into the white limestone ceiling above her, wondering if she would ever get away.

The human meat made her feel nauseous, but it kept her alive. And he had water. Thomas had plenty of water for her to drink. Slowly, she started to feel better physically; she regained much of her strength and started to think more clearly.

He was being nice to her. He would only slap her across the face if she wept and cried. He couldn’t stand that, he said. He couldn’t stand her whimpering. So, she only cried at night when he was asleep. He told her he would try and make her happy. That all he wanted was to get a second chance…that he was so happy she had decided to come back to him. He needed her.

“I need you, Rikke. I can’t live without you. You know I can’t,” he said, over and over again.

The more she heard about this Rikke, the more Malene realized she had to have been that ex-girlfriend of his that he was once accused of having killed. Malene remembered the headlines on TV and the pictures of Thomas. At first, she had tried to talk to him about it, to tell him she wasn’t Rikke…that Rikke was dead, but it made him so angry, she never dared to do it again. She learned to play along.

The body of old Sigurd Bjerrehus had started to smell and rot. It was a smell far worse than anything Malene had experienced before. Thomas had cut off so much meat from his body that you could barely tell it was the body of a human lying there on the ground, smelling. He had roasted the meat on his small bonfire to make sure it could last for a while. But now, they were running out. On the seventh day of her being trapped with him, they ate the last of the meat for lunch. She wondered what he would do next. They still had water for a couple of days more, but that would eventually run out as well. What was he going to do? She feared he would kill her and eat her next.

So, Malene had made an escape plan. Every night, while Thomas was sleeping, she thought about it, and tonight was the night. She knew where he put the butcher’s knife. He put it in the same place every day on a small rock next to the old man’s body. The chain between the two of them seemed to be just long enough. If she stretched out, she thought she might be able to reach the knife while he was still asleep. Maybe she could cut the chain with the knife. Maybe.

If not, then you’ll have to kill him. You have to do it.

“You’re not eating.” Thomas looked at her with his head tilted. “You’re not getting sick, are you? Rikke?”

She forced a smile. “I’m fine. Just tired, that’s all.”

Thomas smiled. His hands were shaking as he pushed the food closer to her. “Now eat, so you can get well.”

Malene grabbed the meat and lifted it. It still made her sick to her stomach, knowing where it came from.

“That’s it. That’s my girl. Eat it,” Thomas said. “You gotta eat to stay pretty.”

The smell of the meat made the nausea worse. She closed her eyes and imagined she was with her mom and dad again, and that they were eating roasted chicken. Sophus, their dog, would sit next to the table, waiting for food to be spilled, or for her mom to feed him under the table, hoping no one would notice. Malene smiled, thinking of her family. She missed them so much. As she sunk her teeth into the meat and the juices filled her mouth with the taste of human flesh, she imagined herself in their arms again, hugging them, kissing Sophus, and playing with him like she did when she was a child.

“Good,” Thomas said. “What is it they say? Eat or be eaten, right?”

Then he laughed.

55

I
T WAS THE
strangest of feelings. I was excited, hopeful, and at the same time, more anxious than ever. The mood in the cave had changed. The hope had changed them…had transformed the lethargy that almost bordered on apathy among the people. Those who barely spoke, were now talking amongst each other. Those who could walk were up on their feet, walking around, grabbing each other’s hands, smiling, crying, and telling each other it was going to be all right…that they were coming for us.

I stood for a long time with my ear against the limestone wall, listening to the distant sound of the drill. Kenneth was right. It was the most beautiful sound in the world.

Now all we had to do was to wait patiently. The drilling continued into the afternoon. It felt like it was still unbearably far away.

“Do you think they’ll come through tonight, or will we have to wait till tomorrow?” Irene asked Kenneth.

He shrugged. “I…I…it’s hard to predict. The layers get more solid, the further down it gets. Might slow it down a little as it reaches the limestone.”

“So, we should brace ourselves for one more night down here?” she continued.

“I would think so,” he said.

It suddenly seemed like too much to ask of these people. I, for one, couldn’t bear the thought of having to spend one more night down here. Not now that we had the hope that we would actually make it out. While Kenneth tried to assure everyone that it would be fine, but that they had to be patient, and it would take time before they would be able to get them out of there, I was suddenly struck with a horrendous fear.