“Charley?”
I blinked to attention and saw Cookie stumbling along the tracks with her phone open to light the way. Clearly she hadn’t taken advantage of Misery’s sporting goods department.
“I’m right here. There’s been a cave-in.”
She stopped and looked up. “My goodness. Is she under that?”
“I think she’s on it, but she’s hurt. Did you get ahold of Uncle Bob?”
“Yes, and Agent Carson.” She leaned against the mine wall, her breathing labored from her trek.
“What on planet Earth are you wearing?” I asked when I noticed the leg warmers around her ankles.
“Don’t start with me. How did this happen?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“The mine just collapsed?”
“With Teresa in it.” I thought that would get an emotional response from Teresa, but I got nothing, and I realized her hand had gone limp. “I think she passed out. We need to get her some water, and I need a flashlight.”
With my eyes adjusted to the low light, I could just make out what Cookie was leaning against. A loose support beam. “Cookie, you might not want to do that,” I said, just as the beam slipped and the world came crumbling down around us.
22
If all hell breaks loose, blame gremlins.
—T-SHIRT
A low rumbling echoed against the cavernous walls as rocks and dirt broke free from the ceiling. I reflexively covered my head with an arm and watched the landslide from underneath my elbow. The amount of earth that dropped straight away astonished me, as though it had been floating in a vacuum all this time, when fate decided to give gravity a kick start. My stomach lurched at the sight, and in an instant, time slowed until it barely crept forward, like a turtle struggling against a category 5 hurricane.
Rocks and debris hung in midair, almost glistening in the dark cavern. I reached out, ran my hands through a stream of dirt, sifted it through my fingers.
I could have run under the cascade of earth and debris and made it through unscathed. I could have run for help. Instead, I risked a glance around. Cookie was frozen midstumble, a massive boulder hovering over her head, inching toward her body, a body that would break like a matchstick house under its weight. She would be crushed.
I sprinted through the thick air, dived, and threw all my weight onto her, tackling her to the ground as time slingshot back with a roaring vengeance. I managed to push her out from under the largest of the rocks as the explosion burst around us, but I didn’t quite clear the boulder as it plummeted to earth, skimming the back of my head, its crushing weight scraping along my spine. A fire erupted down my back, and I clamped my jaw shut in preparation for the onslaught of pain as I covered Cookie’s head with my arms. The rumbling continued for a few seconds more, then silence. Just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. As fine streams of dirt dwindled and the dust settled around us, Cookie let rip the most bloodcurdling shriek I’d ever heard. It reverberated against my bones and, surely, against the unstable ceiling.
“Really?” I said, my voice barely audible as I tried to crawl off her. “You’re going to scream now?”
She stopped and looked around warily, blinking dirt from her eyes.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, spitting gunk from my mouth in a series of sputters.
“No, no. Oh, my god, are you?”
I stopped to think about it. “I don’t think so. Not bad.” My back was on fire, but I could move. Always a good sign. “You might not want to scream again. You know, with us being in an unstable cave and all.”
“Sorry.”
Then I remembered Teresa and scrambled over the new-fallen debris and back up the incline. I could still feel her. “Teresa, are you okay?” When I received no answer, I turned to Cookie. “I need you to get a flashlight, some water, and a blanket from Misery, if you can.”
“Absolutely,” she said, slowly rising to her feet.
“Are you sure nothing’s hurt?”
“No, I just…” She looked at me a long time. “You saved my life.”
“No, I didn’t. Swear.” Now was not the time.
“I’ve never seen it.”
“Your life flashing before your eyes? Was it a bit disappointing? Because when that happens to me—”
“No, you. The way you moved. Your dad was talking about it, but … I’ve just never seen it.”
She was all dazed and confused. “You need to lay off the sauce, hon. Flashlight?”
“Right. Flashlight, got it.”
She stumbled toward me, and I tried really hard not to giggle. Well, not very hard. I pointed in the opposite direction. She opened her phone and followed the tracks out, walking past a departed miner. My breath caught as I gazed at him. He first watched Cookie walk past, then looked back at me. The lamp on his helmet kept his face dark, but my best educated guess put his death in or around the 1930s.
He tipped his hat toward me as I stared at him. I’d never seen a departed miner before. Minor, yes. Miner, no. His ragged clothes were covered in dirt. Considering the area, they’d probably been mining for copper, or possibly even silver.
He walked toward me, stopped at my feet, and tried to look past me, to see what I was looking at. The departed were a curious lot.
“My name is Charley,” I said to him. He looked back at me, and since he was closer, I could just make out his face. He seemed to be in his late thirties, but mining was a hard life, so it was hard to tell for certain. He had crow’s-feet around his eyes the dirt didn’t quite make it into.
“Hardy.” The hard line of his mouth thinned. “She’s been in there awhile,” he said, his voice strong. He gestured beyond the barricade with a tilt of his head.
I nodded. “She’s been missing for several days. Do you know if she’s hurt? I’m sure she’s dehydrated.”
“I’ll check.” He walked through the mound of dirt I lay on and clearly had every intention of walking straight through me, but was brought up short.
The departed could walk through me when they crossed to the other side. Otherwise, I was solid flesh and bone, even to them. His knee bumped against my rib cage, and he glanced at me in surprise.
“Sorry,” I said, “you’ll have to go around.”