“Okay, only if you are sure?” John gave me a hesitant look. I think my dad and Jimmy have everyone looking out for me at this point.
“I’m okay. See you in a moment,” then followed Paul, who had stomped off pretty fast. I caught up to him at the Heart right before he turned down the passage toward rooms four and five, then taking the left fork to room four, where there was a full cart waiting.
As I waited at the front, Paul shimmied to the backside of the car, and said, “I can’t wait to get topside to report Dan for abandoning me on the job, the asshole,” when Paul jumped back startled, “Oh shit!” Then a wooden plank swung out from behind the car and hit Paul over the head, his body dropping like a rock.
“Holy shit! Paul!” I started toward him when Richard stood up, having hid behind the mine car. I stepped back to where I was but bumped into someone. I swung around and looked into Dan’s menacing eyes before everything went black.
I came to in semi-darkness, my helmet with the light was missing from my head making it hard to see. My wrists were tied together in front of me so tight with rough rope that it was cutting off circulation and hurt. My head was pounding. My right eye was sore and tight, probably bruised and swollen.
Ten feet away I could make out Richard and Dan, kneeling at the wall, their lights pointing downward at whatever they were dallying with. Dan’s fingerswere twisting and twirling what looked like two strands of something together that were coming out from a pile of coal debris.
I looked in the other direction, and I could see Paul’s form lying on his side. He wasn’t tied up like me, arms flung out laying limp with the side of his head bashed open. He was clearly dead. The brothers set him up to get to me, then killed him. Now his unborn child will grow up without a father.
Panic settled in and my breathing became more erratic. I shifted to look back at the brothers, making Richard look in my direction. “Well, Sleeping Beauty woke before we could finish. You must not have hit him hard enough, Dan.”
“At least I didn’t kill him…yet.” It was the first time I have ever heard him speak. His voice drips with pure evil. Instead of his voice coming from his throat and vocal cords, it sounded like it came from the bowels of hell in his gut.
“What are you doing? Let me go!” I yelled. I figured if they were going to kill me, I might as well try to draw attention to us.
“Scream all you want. I’m sure everyone is at lunch, and we are so far back, no one will be able to hear you,” Richard’s permission and confidence to be loud made me uncomfortable, like he knew he was going to get away with everything that they were doing.
I yelled, “HELP! ANYONE! I’M IN HERE! HELP!” in a constant flow, the echoes of the words drowning each other out, and all it did was make the brothers grin, the points of their mouths sharp as the axes we use down here.
They strung whatever they were twisting away from me, in the other direction, placing it down on the ground. Richard pulled out a pack of matches from his pocket, lighting one up, the flame from the littlestick casting shadows over his face making him look menacing. The devil reincarnated. He’s just missing the horns coming out of his head. “You know what would have really been the best outcome to all this,” he asked, leaning down, his face never leaving mine. “If Jim was down here too. So, I could have taken both fags out at once.” Then the match touched the ground and the string sparked, sizzling in my direction.
Holy heavens.
It’s dynamite!
My heart rate sped up, making it feel like the muscular organ was about to pop. I screamed, “HELP! HELP!! SOMEONE!!! HELP!!!” The brothers turned to get out of here, laughing at their success.
But they didn’t get far.
David came out of nowhere with an uppercut to Richard’s jaw, landing him on his back, “Payback’s a bitch!”
My father rushed Dan, tackling him to the ground just as he was pulling his fist back to slug David. “Dad! Oh my God! Help! Hurry! They lit dynamite! It’s going to blow!” I was wiggling, trying to test the strength of the ropes, while my anxiety and fear were testing me.
Dad looked up from where he was trying to hold Dan down, but Dan was resisting, trying to get him off. He grabbed Dad’s face and dug his fingers in, which made him howl. Dad tried to pry Dan’s hand off, but started swinging his fist instead. Richard was still on the ground in a daze. David really walloped him one, and with David’s size, even the biggest giant would have fallen.
David rushed over in my direction. The fuse was still making its way toward me. He moved the coal away to see what was planted. “Oh fuck! Time to go!”He grabbed me by the arms and hauled me up and over his shoulder, making me yelp in surprise.
I got one last look at Dad before David turned around. He was still wrestling with Dan. Pining him down. “Go!” he yelled at us. “Get him out of here! Take care of him!”
“Dad! No, let’s go!” I said into the air, not being able to see him anymore, since David was the one facing him. “Please! You have to come too!” I am full-on panicking. Not about dying but in fear for my dad. David is running with me, about to turn down the passage next to the one they came from. “DAD!!!” I was sobbing, tears were falling. “DAD!”
“I love you son!”
“NOOOO!!!!”
It’s the last thing I heard before a deafening blast rocked the room, sending David and me airborne. The plume of black, fire, and air was a terrifying visual, making me shiver. Rock, coal, debris and dust flew and fell all around us. I land with a crack, the air leaving my lungs from the force of the explosion and the landing. David was partially under me, him having tried to keep hold while flying through the air.
“David!” I turned and crawled to him by touch as best as I could with my hands still tied, and my elbow sore from landing on it. The rumble drowned out my voice as I tried to get David’d attention. The crash and smash of chunks of the pillars, ceiling and outer walls were falling and collapsing all around us. Coal dust and dirt clouds pluming, making me cough as I was trying to breathe.
I can’t see since I don’t have my helmet. David’s was within reach, its light having survived, shining in the opposite direction. I grabbed it and awkwardly put it on, then I checked David over, but he was knocked outcold. He was bleeding from the head pretty bad, but I felt air coming in and out of his nose.
The falling pieces kept dropping around us, some were really close to hitting us and the debris that was hitting us were too small to do any real damage. It still stung though. I laid on David to help protect him, covering the back of my neck, with my other hand over David’s head, planting my face in David's neck.
When it finally seemed to calm, the noise not so loud anymore, I looked up slowly. I was afraid to move too much, afraid it would cause a secondary reaction. My body was overwhelmed to the point I was shaking and couldn't control it. I was still crying, feeling the wetness running down my face.
