Inhabited (7 page)

“Yeah,” Roger said. “Even better—radio from here before we start back, yeah?”

Florida nodded. “Smart. And you know what? Fuck the procedure. She can do a drop-stamp herself when she gets here. You drop a flag and I’ll call it in.”

Roger nodded. He liked the way she thought. He flipped open his bag and pulled out one of their colored flags. He glanced around and then set it down near the hole. Florida put the radio to her mouth and began the call.

“Command, this is team J-6. Request an immediate rendezvous at our position. Over.”

When she released the button, static erupted from the radio.

“Command, do you read? Over.”

More static.

Roger put up his hand. A gust of cool air wafted down from the hole in the ceiling. The hangman’s noose began to sway in the breeze. Roger turned his nose upwards. He couldn’t place the smell.
 

Florida’s voice was lower when she called again. “Command, do you read? Over.”

There was no reply.

“We’ve got too much rock between us and the closest repeater,” Florida said. “Let’s go back down and try from there.”

Roger nodded. He didn’t care about the radio anymore, but going back down seemed like a great idea. He motioned for Florida to go first. She lowered herself into the hole and found one of the spikes to support herself with. Roger wasn’t sure what they were going to do at the bottom. They would probably have to drop to the tunnel floor. That was a problem for later. His first priority was getting away from that creepy, mummified dog and whatever else might be up here in the hangman’s room.

As he lowered himself, his foot slipped off the spike. Roger barely caught himself on the lip. An image of tumbling down the shaft, plowing right through poor Florida, crashed through his mind. Roger paused to get ahold of himself.
 

His light flickered and went dead.
 

Roger blinked at the darkness. He couldn’t believe the luck. He had spare batteries in his pack, and he’d been warned that the light would go out with little notice. That’s why they carried so many backup light sources. But he couldn’t fathom a worse time for his light to go out. He could only see by the residual light from Florida below.
 

Another breeze pushed past him from above. Roger looked up at the darkness and realized that the darkness wasn’t complete. There was a yellow glow from the shaft in the ceiling. The hangman’s noose cut a black figure against the glow.

Roger moved quickly. He found the next spike with his foot and dropped. The next spike was missing, but Roger didn’t remember until he was already dropping. Only more incredible luck—good, this time—allowed him to catch himself on the next spike down. Dust and pebbles cascaded down on Florida.

“Hey,” she said.
 

Roger stopped himself just before putting a foot down on her hand. “Keep going!” he whispered.

“The flag is gone,” she said. He tried to see around her, but it was useless. The shaft wasn’t big enough.

“Keep going,” he said again. Mercifully, she started moving.

She dropped out of sight and barely made a sound when she hit. Roger wasn’t nearly as graceful. He hung from the last spike and then fell. His body began to rotate in the air and he came down at an angle. After landing, he stumbled backwards into the wall.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Florida was scanning the floor with her light. Roger took off his helmet and began fumbling with the battery compartment. He flipped the batteries out and they sailed different directions. He didn’t care. He found the replacements and nodded vigorously when the light came back on. He put his helmet back on and exhaled.

“Try the radio,” he said.

“Who would take our flag?”

Roger glanced towards the shaft.

“Try the radio. Let’s start heading back. You can call in while we walk.”

“But where’s our flag?”

“I’ll drop another one,” he said, struggling to keep his tone under control.

Florida nodded. She wandered as she pulled the device from her pack again.

Roger shifted carefully to the edge of the shaft and glanced up. The noose was still up there. He couldn’t see the glow.

“Command, do you read? Over.”

Roger put his hand over his lamp and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He didn’t like the red light that filtered through his fingers. The noose was still up there, gently swaying, but now it was barely lit by light filtered through his blood. Florida turned back towards him and he couldn’t see very far up the shaft at all.

“Command, this is team J-6. We’d like to request a rendezvous at our position. Over.”

Roger moved away from the shaft. He pulled out a flag and dropped it near the wall. He thought about the breadcrumbs from Hansel and Gretel. He moved the flag farther away from the shaft. He didn’t like the idea that something up there would have a trail to easily follow.

Florida laid her hand on his shoulder and he nearly screamed.

“I’ve got nothing,” she said. “Not even static. I suppose that’s good. We’re getting signal at least, but they’re not replying. Maybe they’re having radio trouble.”

Roger nodded.

“I’ll try at the next stamp,” she said.
 

She turned to move down the tunnel. Roger followed, but he didn’t turn his back on the shaft. On the floor, the flag stood as a monument to their presence. The plastic flag fluttered in the breeze from the shaft.

T
HEY
FELL
INTO
PAIRS
as they walked. Justin and Miguel took the lead, arguing over the map. Kristin and Joy followed behind. In the back, Travis and Carlos pulled up the rear.

“How’s the bakery?” Travis asked.

“It’s fine,” Carlos said. He ran his fingers along the wall. “I don’t want to get stuck there too long though, you know? It’s a placeholder job.”

Travis nodded. “It’s easier to find a job when you have a job, trust me.”

“What do you keep looking at?” Carlos asked.

“Huh?”

Travis hadn’t even realized he was doing it. He kept turning around to look where they’d been. He leaned in close to Carlos to answer in a whisper. “I think Ryan is following us. He took my bag. I bet he’s going to try to scare us.”

“If I know anything about Ryan, he’s probably asleep in the back seat of the Jeep by now. That guy is such a lightweight. He does the same thing every weekend. He gets high and then passes out. I bet you just left your bag and then forgot it. You remember that time you gave away your harmonica and then you accused everyone of stealing it?”

“Yes,” Travis said. His light shone down at his shuffling feet as he hung his head.

“You were mad for a week.”

“I remember.”

“When that girl came back into town and thanked you again, you should have seen the look on your face.”

“I remember,” Travis said.

Carlos laughed at him.

“You’re probably right,” Travis said. He turned around and walked backwards while he considered the passageway behind them one more time.

He plowed right into Joy’s back.

Everyone was silent.

“What?” Travis asked.

“Shhh!” Justin said.

Miguel pointed towards the darkness where their lights failed to penetrate.

For a whole minute, nobody spoke. Travis stole several glances over his shoulder—now it was simply habit.

Justin threw up his hands. “It was right there. I guess it was a shadow.”

“Hold on,” Miguel said. “Everyone stay quiet.” Miguel crouched down and inched forward. He held his hand out in front of him with his fingers curled down. “Come here!” he called. “Come on. It’s okay.” He continued to creep forward, keeping his body low.

Kristin cocked her head. “What was that sound?”

“Come on, pup. Don’t be afraid.”

Travis leaned forward and whispered to Justin. “Is there a dog down here?”

Justin didn’t take his eyes off Miguel, but he whispered back. “I thought I saw one. It was probably just a shadow. Miguel might have seen it too.”

Miguel stopped, turned his head to listen for a second, and then stood up. “Nothing.” He turned back to join the group.

They formed a rough circle, facing each other. Their headlamps joined to create a safe-haven of light between them.

“Shouldn’t we be to your special place by now?” Joy asked. “Are you sure you’re reading that map right?”

“He’s reading it right,” Justin answered, “but I’m not sure we didn’t miss something. The side-tunnel may be hard to spot.”

“What side is it supposed to be on?” Joy asked.

“Izquierda,” Miguel said.
 

“Left,” Travis said.

“Thanks,” Joy said.

“Is that it?” Kristin asked. She was pointing towards the darkness.
 

Justin followed the line of her finger and then began to walk into the darkness. Compared to the combined light of all their lamps, it looked like Justin was walking into a black abyss.

“I think she’s right,” Justin called.

Miguel began to follow.

“Wait!” Joy said. Miguel stopped and Justin turned back.

“What?”

“Where’s your bag, Miguel? You were carrying ropes and tools. Where did you put your bag?”

He reached around to his own back, spinning as he felt for the missing pack.

Travis laughed a little at the sight. Miguel reminded him of a dog trying to chase its tail.

“Shut up,” Miguel said. “Where is it? I had it a minute ago.”

“You definitely had it when we all stood up. I counted. The only one missing was Travis’s.”

“Come on,” Carlos said. “This is impossible. How do two bags disappear? What did you do with it?”

“Nothing!” Miguel said. “I swear. I’ve been walking ahead of you guys the whole time. Did you see me put it anywhere? Besides, I put my candy in that bag. The last thing I would do is lose it on purpose.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Justin said. “He gets off on playing tricks. Let’s keep going. When he doesn’t get a response from us, he’ll give up the game.”

“It’s not a game,” Miguel said. He made a point of searching around the tunnel for his bag, but it would have been completely obvious if it had been anywhere near. The tunnel lacked any real hiding places.

Travis glanced back down the tunnel. If one of the lost bags hadn’t been his own, he would have
 
probably assumed it was one of Miguel’s weird jokes. If Ryan was behind all this, he was operating at a completely new level. Ryan was generally too clumsy to be very devious.
 

Joy had moved forward to join Justin.

“I’ve never seen this before,” she said. “Incredible.”

Based on Joy’s surprise, Kristin and Carlos moved forward as well. Justin put his hand on Miguel’s back. “Come on. We’ll find your bag later.” He led Miguel forward.

It was a cool optical illusion to watch Carlos disappear. One second, he was moving towards a crack in the wall. The next second, he had vanished. Shifting to the side, Travis understood. Part of the mine wall jutted out as the other part fell away. Seen from most angles, the walls overlapped and appeared to be continuous. But once his light hit it correctly, Travis saw the gap. Turning his body to the side, Travis was easily able to slip into the fissure.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The nature of the rock changed immediately. Instead of gray, chalky walls, the rock here was damp and red. The passage narrowed quickly. As Travis moved through it, he could feel the dampness of the rock. He put his hand down as he slipped around a bend and his fingers came away with red clay. The crack curved. Travis saw Miguel hunch over to match his body to the shape of the fissure. Travis did the same.
 

He glanced back towards the mine. The way their passageway narrowed, it almost looked like the rocks were squeezing together to crush them. Travis hurried to keep up with the others.

Miguel caught his arm.

“Watch yourself,” Miguel said. He pointed down.

The crack in the rocks continued down. They were now traversing a ledge along the narrow passage. Below, the fissure continued. A misstep would mean falling into a tight squeeze. The danger only lasted a few yards. Travis saw where it opened back up and a hand reached out to pull him around the corner. They stood on a platform of red rock. The cavern opened up around them.

Travis turned his head, moving his light around quickly to take in the space.
 

“This room is bigger than my whole apartment,” he said. He looked up to the ceiling where some of the sharp edges looked wet.

“It’s cleaner, too,” Justin said. That brought a laugh from the group. The walls played tricks with the sound of their laughter. The noise reverberated intensely for a second but dissipated rapidly. Travis thought it sounded like the cave was mocking them.

“So you’ve never been here before?” Kristin asked Joy.

“No,” Joy said. She ran her hand along the jagged wall. “No, if my Dad had known about this cave, he would have been here every weekend. He wasn’t that much into mines, but he loved caves. This would have been right up his alley.”

Justin moved around the others so he could hover over Miguel’s shoulder.
 

Miguel studied his map.

“We need to go…” Miguel spun and traced his finger on the paper. “That way. You should find another passage behind where that rock juts out.”

Carlos moved in the direction that Miguel was pointing.

Justin started to follow. Travis didn’t want to be at the back of the group anymore. He rushed to get around Kristin and Joy. He didn’t make it far before his lamp began to spit and sputter. His headlamp dimmed before it went out.

“Hang on,” Joy said. “You need more water. We’ll probably all need water soon.”

She reached up to take Travis’s helmet, but he pulled back. Since his bag was gone, his helmet was his last possession. He already knew that without it he would feel naked and vulnerable. Still, he needed light. Travis took it off and handed it to her.

Joy dug in her bag and pulled out a bottle of water. She poured carefully, using his upside-down helmet to catch any spillage. When she had lit the flame again, she handed him back a recharged lamp. Travis felt better with it back on his head.