Inhabited (30 page)

“Move,” Justin said. He took the hook from Travis’s hand.

“I was about to get it,” Travis said.

“Stand back,” Justin said.

He swung the hook much faster, and held the coils when he launched it. He opened his fingers and let the hook take the cable from his hand, coil by coil. The hook landed just a couple of paces from the mine entrance.

“Beginner’s luck,” Travis said.

Nothing happened.

Justin looked back to Kristin.
 

“It’s close enough,” she said. “That’s where Ryan was standing. Maybe it knows the difference between a person and a pillow?”

Justin frowned. He began to reel in the cable.

“Wait,” Travis whispered. “Hold up.”

Justin stopped pulling and studied the darkness. He had no idea what Travis was whispering about. The mine looked just the same as it had before. Kristin approached him from behind and took the cable from his hand. She motioned for him to move out of the way and she set the cable down on the ground.

“What do you see?” Justin whispered.

She put her finger to her lips.

Travis had moved back to the Jeep. Justin turned at the sound and saw Travis climbing down to the front bumper. A second later, he heard the sound of the winch motor. Travis kept pulling until he had taken up the slack.

Kristin held up her hand and Travis stopped the winch.

Justin squinted at the dark to try to see what she was looking at.

After another second, she made a motion and Travis started the winch again.

She stopped him.

Justin looked back. He couldn’t see the pillow anymore. It was lost in the darkness. The change had been so gradual that he hadn’t noticed it before, but the pillow was now part of the shadows. Kristin backed up from the cable. Justin followed her lead. She signaled to Travis and had him tug the hook another foot.

The line straightened and then jerked.

Kristin and Justin both took another step back.
 

The cable tightened and made a strange springing sound as it snapped past the Jeep’s tire. The vehicle groaned. Justin saw Travis. He was standing on top of the Jeep’s quarter panel, so he could see Kristin’s signals and work the winch. When the Jeep jolted, Travis fell off and disappeared on the downhill side of the vehicle.

“Get out of the way!” Justin called.

They heard Travis scrambling on the hill. The Jeep began to turn. It pulled a quarter of the way around before it started to move up the hill Justin cringed as he saw the angle the Jeep was taking. They hadn’t envisioned this—the way it was spinning, there was no way it would stay on its side.

He was right. The metal screeched and ground against the rocks. He heard the body taking a beating as it pulled. With the moan of bending metal, the Jeep tilted and then finally flipped. It came down on its roof. Meanwhile, it inched up the slope and towards the mine. The cable vibrated in the starlight. It hummed with the effort.

Justin took another step back. He saw Travis’s head pop up on the other side of the Jeep as he climbed back up to the road.

When the Jeep reached the road, it picked up speed.

Travis ran forward.

“What are you doing?” Justin had time to call out.
 

Travis was trying to get in front of the Jeep.
 

The Jeep was unstoppable, grinding forward on its roof. The noise made Justin’s teeth hurt. There was a tension in his guts as well as Travis stumbled and was nearly overtaken. Travis leaned down and hit something on the front of the winch. The Jeep stopped immediately, but the winch started turning. The spool revved up quickly and deployed the rest of the long cable.
 

It flew off the spool like a whip, and sailed through the night. The hook, pillow, and cable disappeared into the mine.

“Perfect,” Travis said. He walked over to where Kristin and Justin were standing. “Now we just have to flip it onto its wheels and we’re good to go.”

Kristin put up her arms and started to herd them backwards. Justin looked in the direction of her stare, but he didn’t see anything.

“Oh shit,” Travis said.

“Run,” Kristin whispered.

Not seeing the threat, Justin fell in behind Travis and Kristin. He would have to trust them. They stuck to the road and sprinted away from the mouth of the mine. They finally stopped about twenty paces beyond the Jeep. Travis ducked behind a boulder and Kristin and Justin fell in behind him.

It was disconnected from the cable, but the Jeep began to rock. One of the windows blew and something pounded on the upside-down hood.
 

“What is it?” Justin whispered.

Kristin put her hand over his mouth.

He couldn’t see what was doing the damage, but he heard it. Ripping and tearing that he assumed was the upholstery was followed by a screeching. The destruction ended with the sound of something punching repeatedly through the sheet metal.

When it was over, Kristin removed her hand and then slumped back against the rock.

“Wow,” Travis said.

“I guess it doesn’t like pillows,” Kristin said.

“Or Jeeps,” Travis said.

“We’re just lucky that the thing didn’t come out after us when we were screaming. It could have easily reached us. It might be able to reach us now.” At the idea, Travis poked his head above the rock again. He settled back down after verifying that they were safe.

“We wait for daylight. Once the shadows are gone, we walk for help,” Justin said.

“Assuming the shadow traps are chased away by the daylight, you mean,” Travis said.

Justin exhaled and nodded. He looked to Kristin.
 

“Unless you’ve got a better idea?” Justin asked Kristin.

“Maybe,” she said.

T
HEY
TIED
A
LEASH
around Carlos and attached it to Florida’s wrist. Roger hung onto her belt. It was the only way. At times it seemed like Carlos was moving through walls.
 

Florida was out of fresh batteries, so they cobbled together some that were mostly dead. As a result, Roger’s light was just a whisper in the darkness. Florida’s was a little better. Still, even with the full power of the sun, Roger doubted that Carlos’s navigation would have made sense.

He led them down a winding passage and then took a left. He angled his body in a strange way. At the last second, Roger understood why. A crack seemed to appear and swallow Carlos as he approached. The rope led Florida in. Roger watched his own hand disappear. If he hadn’t been pulled ahead by Florida’s belt, he might have stopped and just stood there, looking at the wall of rock.
 

As they slipped into the crevice, their dim lights were swallowed by the close walls. As far as they knew, Carlos was leading them towards a hole in the floor where they would plunge to their deaths. He didn’t. The disgusting man appeared to be trustworthy and led them through another room that led to another invisible crevice.

They walked for way too long, twisting on an unknowable path. Roger was beginning to think that they would come out exactly where they had started. Carlos didn’t slow and didn’t seem to fatigue. Roger stumbled over a rock with his bare foot and had to hop to keep up. He dragged on Florida’s belt and she stopped.

“Sorry,” Roger whispered.

“It’s okay. He stopped,” she said. “Why did we stop?” she asked Carlos.

“This is it,” he said. “You go straight through here and you’ll be back in the mine. I won’t go any farther.”

“Why?” Roger asked. “Why don’t you come with us? We can find our way out.”

“There is no way out,” Carlos said. “Once you come here, there is only death.”

Roger saw her light swing as Florida shook her head. The passage was so tiny that her light just lit a small area of rocks on either side of her head. Roger couldn’t even see beyond her to where Carlos was standing.

“Teams come here every year,” she said. “Dr. Grossman has brought tons of teams through the mines. They’ve never lost a single person.”

“And you’re still alive,” Roger said.
 

“You’re wrong on all counts,” Carlos said.

“Shit!” Florida said. She grunted in frustration as she tried to move forward through the twists of the rocks. “He’s gone.”

“What?” Roger asked. “Where did he go? Follow the rope.”

With difficulty, she turned around and held up the end of the rope. It was still looped into the noose that they had used to bind Carlos’s hands. He had shed the leash and disappeared.

“Fuck,” Roger said.

“Maybe it’s okay. He said the mine is straight ahead. There’s a chance he was telling the truth, right?”

“Yeah,” Roger said. “There’s a chance.”

-o-o-o-o-o-

Without their guide, navigation was excruciating. Florida had to contort her body to fit between the rocks. Roger had it even worse. He was bigger and had to take care with his foot. His body felt sore all over. Each movement was a study in pain.

“Why did you stop?” Roger whispered.

“I think I see it,” Florida said. There was desperate hope in her voice. Roger felt his heart beat faster and primed himself for disappointment. He was ready to believe anything.

She struggled forward. Roger felt her belt pull from his fingers.

“Hey,” he called out. She wasn’t slowing down. Roger mashed his bare foot into the unseen rocks and tumbled forward in his attempt to keep up. He lost his way. His light only showed the rocks directly in front of his face and he couldn’t see Florida’s weak light at all. Roger tried to get back to his feet, but he was stopped by a jagged rock poking him in the middle of his back. He was inexplicably pinned in his position and couldn’t find any way out. Roger couldn’t even back up. He was wedged in a crevice.

A hand appeared in front of his face.
 

He got his own hand free and managed to take hers. Roger squirmed through the gap and pulled himself from the crack in the wall. He emerged to the floor of the mine. He kissed the dusty floor.

“We’re looking good,” she said.

Roger followed the direction of her pointing finger.

At the next intersection, he saw one of the little flags posted.

Tears of relief welled in his eyes.

“W
HAT
DID
SHE
SAY
?” Travis asked.

“She said that they fatigue,” Justin said.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I guess she thinks there’s a safe period after they go back in,” Justin said.

They were still perched behind the rock. Kristin, moving in a low crouch, was all the way over at the Jeep. When she reached the bumper of the overturned vehicle, she turned back and waved to them.

“Is she crazy?” Travis asked.

“Yup,” Justin said. He moved around Travis and began his own shuffling run to Kristin. Behind him, he heard Travis whisper a curse and then follow too. They grouped behind the Jeep.
 

Kristin kept one eye on the mouth of the mine as she spoke.

“The jeep was starting to tip when that thing was beating on it. Let’s see if we can get it to roll.”

“Fuck that!” Travis whispered. “If we make noise, that thing is going to come back out here and snatch us. It can move a damn Jeep. You think it’s going to have a problem taking the three of us?”

“Have you heard of a refractory period?” Kristin asked. “It just expended a lot of energy. If we have a chance, it’s now. You’ll notice—it never got
inside
the Jeep. Ryan was safe in there for hours. I don’t think it can get in.”

Travis looked to Justin for support. “She’s crazy, right?”

Justin nodded. “She’s crazy, but she might be right. I think we should push on the driver’s side.”

Kristin nodded. She and Justin began to move around the Jeep.

Travis followed. “You’re both crazy,” he whispered.

“Get it rocking,” Justin whispered. They followed his lead as he pushed and released. He coaxed the Jeep into a rhythm. Kristin joined him and then broke off once the rocking began to make noise. She studied the front of the mine and then returned to push again. The top of the Jeep had been crushed by the earlier molestation. The square edges of the roof were caved-in and it wasn’t very difficult to get it moving. The terrain helped as well. The makeshift road was crowned and the Jeep was balanced on the high spot.

Justin was wrong about the side to push on. After it picked up speed, the Jeep wanted to tip towards the three of them. They rushed over to the other side to help it along. It took a few pushes to get it going again, and then the Jeep paused at its balance-point. Justin dug in and really shoved. He wanted the Jeep to have enough momentum to carry it back to its wheels.

The Jeep began to fall. Travis and Kristin understood. They threw their shoulders to the roof along with Justin. They got lucky. The wheels fell into the depression on the far side of the road and the Jeep kept rolling.
 

Kristin pulled back when the Jeep was nearly back on its feet. She studied the front of the mine as Justin and Travis clutched the top of the Jeep and used their weight to keep the thing from rolling too far.

The crashing noise dispersed and the night was quiet again.

Travis pulled at the rear door handle. The hinges groaned and metal squealed as he opened the door.

“Shhh!” Kristin hissed.

“After all that,” Travis whispered. “You’re afraid of a door opening after all that?”

“I guess it’s okay,” she said. “I don’t see anything.”

“You think it will start?” Justin asked. He tugged at the driver’s door, but his fingers snapped the handle and the door stayed closed. It wasn’t going to budge. Travis crawled between the seats. Justin got in back.

Kristin held her ground as Travis cranked the engine. It sounded tired at first but it sputtered to life.

“Shut it off,” Kristin said. She slid in back next to Justin and closed the door.