Half Way Home

• 28 • The Shaft

Two of us peeled the bark off as fast as we could, but we were barely able to keep up with the fire. Meanwhile, a group that had been born together naked tried our best to overcome innate taboos as we stripped and worked to dry our clothes. We hung our garments on wet branches by the fire; on smaller sticks, whittled sharp, we propped vinnie meat directly over the growing flames, and the smell of charred protein filled the mine, making it difficult to wait for it to cook fully.

When a piece was brought to me, I set my machete and my scruples aside and ate greedily. The rush of endorphins through my brain made me dizzy with joy. And between the meat, warmth, and water, Mica seemed to rally. Peter tended to her selflessly; he had to be forced to take food and water for himself as he cautioned Mica to eat small pieces and chew them slowly.

Tarsi came over after helping arrange wet clothes to assist Kelvin and me as we cleaned firewood. I couldn’t help but notice the way Kelvin stole glances at Tarsi’s nakedness. As I watched him, I found myself doing the same to him, my jealousy transforming into embarrassment and excitement.

“It’s a shame we can’t stay here,” Tarsi said, kneeling down and crossing her arms across her chest. “Colony will eventually look for us, don’t you guys think? Maybe they’ll even resume mining operations if the base ever gets fully established.”

“I agree,” I said. “I’m sick of running, but we need to move on as soon as the rain stops and Mica feels better.”

“We might have to carry her out,” Kelvin said. “I think—”

“Tractor!” somebody yelled. We all looked up toward the mine entrance to see Karl running toward us. He grabbed his shirt from one of the limbs and fought to get it on. “There’s a tractor heading our way from the canopy,” he said.

We scrambled to get dressed and finish our food. I grabbed one of the water pouches and looked to the cooking fire—I hesitated, then regretfully doused it. Kelvin did the same for the one by Mica.

“We need to get deeper into the mine,” Karl said.

“Our tracks are everywhere out there,” Leila responded. “They’ll know where we are.”

“Where we were. Maybe they’ll think we moved on.”

“You guys go,” Peter said. “Mica and I are staying here. I want her to get some medical attention, anyway.”

Mica started to argue, then began coughing, her excruciating pain leaking out through the grunts and throat-clearing.

“We can carry her,” I told Peter. “Come with us.”

“Go,” he said, shaking his head. “We never saw you guys. I’ll take credit for the mess in here and outside.”

We could hear the tractor approaching, the steady rumble of the engine growing like slow-moving thunder. Tarsi knelt by the fire and put the flashlight back together, all the parts having been set out to dry. It flicked on with a solid beam. She handed it to me. I looked up and noticed everyone getting the last of their things together and looking at me once again as if I knew where to lead them.

“Get out of here,” Peter said.

“Go with them,” Mica croaked to Peter. “Leave me.”

He gave me a look—steady eyes and clenched jaw—that let me know he wouldn’t be reasoned with. Not by me and not by Mica. I bent over and kissed the top of Mica’s head. Peter raised his hand to me, and I clasped it. “Nothing foolish,” I told him. “If they don’t come looking, please don’t go to them. We’ll get you out of here.”

“I’ll leave our fate up to them,” he said, nodding.

“Thanks.” I was grateful for the compromise.

I grabbed my pack, turned to join the others, and we all headed deeper into the mine. Swinging the flashlight back and forth, I illuminated the way for the rest. Behind us, the rumble of the tractor grew, the blat of the engine filling the shaft of rock with powerful, angry sounds. We hurried forward, following the tunnel as it descended into the mountain, trying to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and whoever had come for us.

When the engine abruptly stopped, the ensuing silence felt as laden with danger as the rumblings had. The nervous chattering between ourselves ceased as we fought to move quickly yet quietly. Looking over my shoulder, I could no longer see the light from the mouth of the mine due to slight rise at its entrance. Still, I worried the flashlight would be visible to our uninvited guests, the beam dancing like a flame to anyone peering down the shaft. I placed my hand over the lens and let just enough light spill through my fingers to see where I was stepping. I felt hands on my shoulders as our group linked up to move as one.

Every now and then I played the light off the walls to look for an indention or a side passage to turn down. Nothing. And ahead of us, the darkness seemed to extend into forever while a cool column of air wafted up in our faces like the mountain’s frigid exhalations.

We heard shouts behind us, voices yelling back and forth, and I knew Mica and Peter had been discovered. As we shuffled ever deeper into the cold and scary darkness, I tried to remember that the danger was behind us, but that illusion became harder and harder to maintain. The pattering of our feet sounded like thunder; I imagined the noise exploding back up to the people from the colony, betraying us. I wondered if we should stop and wait in silence, running only if we heard pursuers coming. Turning to whisper the idea to Kelvin, I completely missed the drop-off in the floor of the mine.

Had he and Tarsi not seen it and pulled me back, I would’ve gone headfirst into it. The entire group came to a halt as the three of us fell down, several others crashing into us and falling in a heap as well. Grunts and whispered complaints elicited a round of shushes from the rest. We disentangled ourselves, and I crawled forward, playing the light across the floor.

Ahead of us, the smooth surface of the mine floor terminated, curving down into a larger opening. I went to the edge and directed the light down. Below, the bottom of a wide room could be seen just a dozen feet down a steep curve. Kelvin came up beside me and peered down. I tapped him on the back, pointed below, then swung my feet over the edge. He patted my arm and pointed to the flashlight. Nodding, I gave it to him, and he shone it along my path, shielding the top of the light’s cone with his other hand to minimize our exposure. Pushing off, I half-slid, half-stumbled down to the bottom. I turned and waved, then caught Tarsi in my arms as she scampered down after.

The two of us helped slow the arrival of the next pair, everyone eager to get out of that shaft. Kelvin came last, his feet smacking the rock loudly as his legs churned to keep up with his rapid descent. He returned the flashlight to me, and I used it to explore our surroundings.

The floor was shaped like a half-circle, with none of the straight edges from the other shaft. Playing the light on the wall opposite our arrival, I saw the mine shaft continue on the other side, not quite as far up the curve as the shaft from which we’d descended.

Risking some light upwards, I followed the curve of the room as it arched up over us and met itself. We were standing in a perfectly circular room. A draft of frigid air stirred from the side; I pointed my light that direction and saw that it wasn’t a room at all. It was another tunnel, but not a natural one. It was eerily similar to the kind we had explored in the trees, only bigger.

Much, much bigger.

Someone cursed behind me. Whispered fears coursed through our group as we huddled together. I felt as though we were standing in the path of an onrushing tractor, tempting fate just by being there. The shouts echoing down the mine shaft from above became background noise to a larger danger. I turned and played the light down the tunnel in the other direction, terrified that unless I saw nothing was there, something would be.

And something was. Not a monster, but a bright flash—a glimmer of my own light reflected back. There were more whispers from the group, followed by panicked shushes. Kelvin grabbed my wrist and aimed the light at the reflective material. We all took a step forward, marveling at the sight of raw gold lying in the floor of the tunnel—thick, cylindrical coils of it. There was enough gold in that single heap to make hundreds of barrels or thousands of bowls. The mound was the size of our entire group laid out along the ground.

Kelvin went forward to touch it. I started to whisper a complaint.

And then a solitary gunshot sounded out.