It Was 2052, High Haven (17 page)

“
Um-m---,” said Bubba as
both viewer's heads tilted to the other side, his eyes looked
sideways at the painter who had graciously let the woman use his
supplies.

Cole stood upright, looked somewhat
down at Bubba, “Well, uh-h, it's very
interesting
---nice,
isn't it?”

Bubba said, “Oh-h, yeah. Nice.”
He turned to go back to the cot with a quiet “uh-uh-uh”
and his head shaking.

Lindsey went back to boldly swishing
the paint around.

“
I think that I have a plan to
get us to the mine,” said Cole.

“
Really?” Bubba sat up on
the cot.

“
We'll need to leave real early,
right before dawn. No one usually is in the mine early. It'll be
dark as a dungeon in there, we'll take some lanterns. There's not
someone in there everyday, no telling when but they never come in the
early morning.”

“
Great, let's tell the others
later at the church,” said Lindsey.

Once again unseen ears listened
outside of the window. In a short time, in another shed, this one
just barely standing, the sneak told his friend about the
conversation. “Finally, they're going to the mine. They said
early, before dawn. Don't know if they wuz talkin' about tomorrow,
we'll have to hang close to the church, see if we can find out when
they plan to go.”

A big bird flew through the rafters of
the shed and the whole structure creaked, “Damn, this whole
place is going t' fall in on us,” said the partner. He munched
on a hard biscuit and a piece of chicken that he had managed to
pilfer the day before. “At least my foot ain't hurtin' much
anymore. Guess those drugs did the trick. We can't hear every word
those people say---how we going to find out their plan?”

The sneak reached for one of the hard
biscuits, “They just seem to love to sit around that kitchen
table at the church and yap. We'll go about dark this evening, see
if we can hear what they're saying. I know they'll hang around there
after supper.”

The whining partner said, “You
know, there's bears and s—t out there. I don't like being out
at night.”

One menacing stare ended that
complaint. The man reached for a long rifle, aimed it dangerously at
his friend, then lowered it and laughed, “Time to get rich and
get even.”

***

There was the faintest hint of
daylight as the single file procession, led by Cole, moved through a
scattered stand of trees. Taylor decided to leave Peaches with the
pastor, didn't seem like a good idea to be sneaking around with the
big footed dog in tow. This was the coldest time of the day on the
high mountain side, they all wore jackets and layers beneath. The
glimmer of three lanterns made the early expeditioners look like
fireflys as they picked their way through the scrub. They could see
where their boots fell but had to step carefully.

Their talk was in hushed tones, the
leader looked back over his shoulder, “Hey, folks---don't be
too quiet. Don't want the non-human residents to be surprised.”

Cissy wouldn't admit to anyone, this
was pretty damn spooky. Every crunch or sound from their
surroundings made her cringe a bit. She really didn't want to add her
body fat to some big bear's winter stores. She touched the pistol at
her waist, knew it was there, just wanted to be sure. They had walked
less than twenty minutes when they approached the single tall spruce
tree, a black low opening beside it in the rock.

Cole gathered them in, “Okay,
you'll have to hunch over for a ways, it's just more or less a narrow
tunnel. We'll come out into a taller opening soon. Don't panic if a
bat or night bird flies out.”

Bent, the six choo-chooed through the
tight entrance. Only one unidentified flying object flapped it's way
out above them, skimming through Lindsey's thick curls, “Creepin'
Je-sus!” she cursed. Bubba laughed.

The tunnel opened up and they stood in
a large area, flashed their lights around. Cole located a couple of
lanterns on a long table at the side of the space and lit them. Tiny
dots of yellow golden glitter sprinkled on one of the walls, sprayed
overhead. Cutting the rock floor in two, a shallow stream only about
a foot wide flowed, exiting into a crevice. More glitter was visible
in the gurgling water. On the table, some rocks and tools spread and
there were a couple of small piles of what appeared to be gold
nuggets, as well as some chunks of rock. The mine wasn't like walking
into some ancient tomb filled with man made treasure but it was quite
obviously a cache of gold deposits.

“
Oh-my-god,” cooed
Lindsey.

Cole shrugged, “Take some---who
cares.”

Bubba and Lindsey smiled at each
other, but each just put two B-B sized chunks in their coat pockets.

“
This
is
amazing,”
said Taylor.

“
Yeah,” said Cissy,
touching her finger to the damp shiny wall.

Their guide leaned against the wall
near the tunnel entrance. “No doubt, there's a very rich vein
of gold running through this area.”

Cissy said, “If this is the
place I read about in an old book, it was discovered way over a
century and a half ago by a man presumed killed by the Indians.
Thirty years later, it was believed that another old prospector
stumbled across the mine. He turned up more than once in a town at
the foot of the mountain with some very high grade and valuable ore.
He became ill and died, left the mine to some relatives. Even though
they located his old cabin, where it had been rumored was an entrance
to the mine, they found no entrance and the mine was never found
again.”

“
This sure could be the place,”
said Cole. “It doesn't really matter
because...s-s-shh...listen.” Everyone became very still. There
was some scrabbling noise and then the shush of another voice that
carried down the tunnel. He doused one of the lanterns, stepped over
the stream and motioned for them to follow. Another opening was in
the shadows, this one narrow but tall enough to walk upright. Kevin
fell in behind Cole, Bubba and Lindsey then Cissy and Taylor.

Cissy looked ahead, a small spot of
light glowed, natural light.
T
his
tunnel must
go
outside again.
Then all of them stacked up as Cole
came to a halt. He turned and whispered to Kevin, “Go
back...now
.”

Kevin stammered, “What? We can't
go back, there's someone...”

“
Bear---momma and cubs---Taylor,
go back,” said Cole over the head of the others.

Taylor turned around, “Lights
off,” he drew his pistol and started moving as quietly as he
could back toward the large mine space. By the time he reached the
end of the tunnel, hanging back in the inky corner, Kevin had
squeezed along past everyone and was beside him.

The one lantern that they left burning
illuminated the two men that had been dogging their tracks for weeks.
They guffawed, stuffed gold tidbits in their pocket. “G'damn...I
knew we were going to find treasure!” The partner with bad foot
was doing a gimpy legged dance.

Kevin cursed, “It's two of the
men that attacked Bubba, Lindsey and I back in the city. How in the
hell did they get here? They had to have followed us here.”

Cissy said, “You didn't tell me
you were attacked.”

“
No point,” said Kevin.
“We were all okay. I'll tell you la....”

A light flashed in all their faces and
the long rifle poked into Taylor's gut, “Get outta there! All
of you---get out here.”

Cole was the last one to exit the
tunnel, they all six stood against the wall of the cave, the rivulet
separating them and the two men.

“
Know you got guns. Throw them
over here---c'mon, right now. Don't drop 'em in that water, either.”
The long rifle jerked along sweeping from one of them to the next,
the man's partner tried to follow it with the lantern light. “I
said....”

The bellowing roar rolled down the
tunnel and seemed to explode into the cavernous mine. The man with
the bad foot actually knocked his partner down as he ran for the low
escape. The man and his rifle toppled forward, spanning the water
and a bullet went wild. Cole grabbed his side and let out a yelp.
Bubba reached down and pulled the rifle away from the reach of it's
owner.

Cole moaned, “Get out, all of
you. Don't try to kill the momma, just get out of here.” He
slumped to the hard floor.

“
Get his feet, Kevin” said
Taylor as he lifted the injured man's shoulders. “Cissy, you
and Lindsey go on, hurry! Pay attention when you get to the end of
the exit, the other man might be there.” They could hear the
heavy growling movements getting closer in the tunnel behind them.
Taylor pulled, they crossed the open mine space, followed the two
women. It was slow and awkward, lugging Cole's long form through the
tight exit tunnel. Bubba hunched over, took backwards steps behind
them, his pistol extended.

“
Gr-r-roar!!”
the
hair raising sound came again,
the
mother bear had reached the mine cave.
Cissy and Lindsey were nearly out of the tunnel
when
the very human screams seemed to fill the
exit
with it's horrific echoes.

“
Ho-ly s—t! Kevin, move
it. Get us out of here,” shouted Bubba, pushing all the way up
to bumping his butt.

Finally,
they were
all
out of the low tunnel, Taylor felt like his back was breaking. He sat
down hard, Cole's head fell to his lap.
Kevin
went to his knees. “Cole?” said Taylor. The painter just
moaned.

Instantly, he realized that he didn't
see Cissy, he called out. He heard Lindsey coughing. “Right
here, Taylor, here we are,” the two women moved in closer and
Cissy knelt to look at Cole. Blood soaked through even his coat, she
carefully peeled back the jacket and the soggy shreds of shirt,
“Maybe the shot went through. I don't know, he's loosing a lot
of blood. Help me get this off---I'll wrap and tie his shirt around
him, put his jacket back on.”

Taylor
looked around them, problem
was there was practically no seeing beyond a few yards, he
exchanged a look with Kevin.

The
brother shook his head,
“
Yeah,
this
is
smoke, wildfire. We've got to get out of here, back to the church.”
They were all coughing now. The terrible sounds from the mine ha
d
stopped but the crackling roaring sound of fire devouring everything
in it's path
crashed across
the mountainside in a
deafening
assault.

When
they lifted Cole, he gasped, the pain rousing him.
Taylor
said, “We have to get out of here,
friend
---get
you
out. It's fire
Cole, which way do we go?”

He lifted his head a bit, “Don't
go back through the trees, go around. Find that stream coming out of
the cave, follow it.” He coughed, grabbed his side and went out
again.

Bubba
moved to take Taylor's place, “I'll help Kevin, you try find us
a
trail
out of here.”

Taylor
looked around, he couldn't see
beyond
a few feet. He
could
see that the trees they
ca
me
through earlier were catching fire, the flames dropping over on the
wide spread branches. A wave
of
scorching
heat fanned out in their direction.
No time to think about
this.
“This way, stick
close,” he eased around the base of the rock where the low
entrance was,
searched
for the water coming out of the mine.

They
had moved a little away from the inferno but the flame streaked sky
was proof
the dragon showed no mercy
for
any thing or one
in it's way
.
Cissy walked right behind
Taylor and Lindsey beside Bubba, Kevin held Cole's legs on each side
of his waist and tried to stay stable on the stone covered earth.

Cissy said, “Wait, look.”
A crack, barely an inch wide was in the rock face and a thick trickle
of water twirled down and away.

“
Okay, let's see if we can
follow this,” said Taylor.

Cissy looked back, Kevin made a bit of
a stumble and readjusted his burden. She moved back to him, “Kev,
I'll do this for a while,” she reached for the ankles of the
injured friend.

“
No,
I got this. You're not going to carry him,” said Kevin. All
of
them were
covered in sooty
dust, bruised and skint from the tunnels and the heat had made them
leave their jackets back at the entrance. He held on stubbornly. “Go
on, help Taylor
follow
the stream.”

She put her hand on his arm, “I
can do this and you know it, you butt. We're going down hill, your
dumb-ass pal's got most of the weight.” Bubba looked up and she
winked at him, gave a weak smile. “Just take a little break,
you go help Taylor.”