The Pit
This is a continuation of The Delivery, posted April 7th.
Miles gazed down into the pit, a massive strip mine dug into the earth like a giant bowl. A chain linked fence topped with barbed wire circled the entire mine.
“I’m here to see Franky,” said Mr. Sunglasses.
“He’s in his office,” a guard with white hair unlocked the gate and let the newcomers through.
Mr. Sunglasses entered a metal building with a single window, “Hey Franky, I got two for you today.”
“Only two?” Franky wore blue overalls peppered with black stains. “We can sure use them in sector four.”
Franky, who appeared to be a mining manager, pulled a pair of wire cutters from his toolbox and stepped behind Miles and Tanya. He clipped the plastic ties from their wrists.
Both Miles and Tanya massaged their wrists to help the feeling return to their numb hands.
“Come on now,” Franky slipped the cutters into his pocket, and then led the way out of the building. From there, he took Miles and Tanya down the wide dirt road into the mine.
Miles took note of the guard, and the tall fence. As they descended deeper, they were met by a teenaged boy in ragged clothing. The boy led a mule pulling a cart up out of the mine. A minute later, another mule-drawn cart passed, followed by a third. Miles noticed the carts were full of a black substance.
“Is that coal?”
“It’s coal all right,” said Franky.
“What‘s it used for?”
“To run the electrical generator.”
“Electricity?”
“Yes, Cobra has a couple of smart guys working for him, engineers,” Franky explained. “He is running electricity to his headquarters and other parts of the city. He figures with electrical power he’ll be a hero and will rule the city. All I do is keep the coal flowing. I suggest you do your work, and there won’t be any trouble.”
“What about those?” Miles pointed to a pair of mining truck parked along the winding road. They once hauled millions of tons of coal, but now were left to rust.
“There’s been no fuel since the Great War. The trucks are useless.”
As they made their way down, they came upon a group of workers loading mule-drawn carts with shovels. The workers, mostly Miles age, paid no attention to Tanya and him as they continued past.
With Franky leading the way, Miles wondered what his next move would be. How would he get Tanya and himself out of this situation? That’s went an idea came to him. He leaned over and whispered into Tanya’s ear, “Pretend to trip and hurt yourself.”
“Why?”
“Just do it. Scream and make a lot of noise, like you’re in pain.”
Tanya took a few more steps and then let out an ear-piercing scream. She rolled on the ground, “Oh, my ankle!”
“What’s the matter with you?” Franky demanded?
“I think it’s broken.”
Franky bent down to look.
“Do something. Help her,” Miles shouted into Franky’s ear.
“Just calm down. It doesn’t feel broken to me,” said Franky. “Now get up.”
Tanya glanced at Miles, who nodded in agreement. With her friend’s help, she staggered to her feet and pretended to limp.
“I knew it. You’ll be fine,” Franky seemed annoyed by the delay. “Come on. We’re almost to sector four.”
“What was that about?” whispered Tanya.
“I’ll tell you later.”
A few minutes of walking brought them to another group of miners. This time they approached a man overseeing the work. He was an inch or two shorter than Miles, but stocky.
“This is Bruce. He will be your foreman,” said Franky. “Like I told you, just do your work.”
Bruce stared at his new workers. “The job’s simple. Dig out the coal and load it into the carts.”
Miles and Tanya said nothing.
“Well? Get to work,” Bruce barked.
Tanya followed Miles over to the miners. A young man with coal dust smeared on his cheek handed Miles one shovel and Tanya another.
“I’m Miles and this is Tanya,” said Miles.
“I’m Gino,” the young man avoided eye contact and resumed shoveling.
Miles scooped a shovelful of coal into the cart, and then paused, “How long have you been here?”
“You’d better keep working,” Gino still did not look up.
Miles rested his shovel on the ground and stared at Bruce, “I’m not afraid of him.”
The stocky foreman approached Miles, “What’s your problem boy?”
Miles locked eyes with Bruce and refused to look away.
“Are you some kind of tough guy?” The foreman growled.
Miles stood tall and let the shovel fall to the ground.
Bruce smiled, “I see. You’re going to learn the hard way.” In a flash he grabbed Tanya with one hand and in the other he gripped a black object the size of a flashlight, but with two metal prongs on the end.
“Have you ever been shocked with a stun gun?” Bruce held the device to Tanya’s bare neck. “It’s not fun.”
Miles stood in terror. He was willing to be to be defiant, and even shocked, but he wouldn’t let his best friend take the punishment.
“You win. Let her go,” Miles grabbed the shovel and began working frantically. He watched the bully, wondering if he would shock Tanya just to be mean.
After a long pause, Bruce lowered the stun gun and shoved Tanya forward, “Remember that. If anyone disobeys, I won’t punish the guilty. Someone else will suffer for it, or maybe all of you will pay the price.”
No one spoke another word. They shoveled coal until the last cart was full.
When the day’s work was done, Tanya and Miles followed the others to their living quarters, which was an old military tent a short walk from where they had been working. Inside the tent were two rows of cots, twenty-four in all.
“This is sector four camp. Those aren’t taken,” Gino pointed to a pair of flimsy beds.
“Come with me, I’ll show you where to wash before dinner.
Gino met his fellow workers at a metal trough where water flowed from a rusty pipe, “The water comes from a natural spring. At least it’s clean.” Like the others, he scrubbed the black coal dust from his hands and face. When it was their turn, Miles and Tanya did the same.
Dinner was served from a large metal pot that simmered over a coal burning stove. The cook dipped a bowl full of its contents for each of the workers and added a piece of hard bread.
“What is this?” Miles examined the watery contents in his bowl.
“It’s usually vegetable soup,” said Gino. “Sometimes we will get a little meat or potatoes, but most of the time it’s just vegetables.”
Together they sat at one of the wooden tables made of rough planks.
“How did you end up here?” Tanya asked.
“I was kidnapped a year and a half ago,” Gino answered between slurps of soup. “I was fishing in Green Lake, near my home when a gang of bandits caught me. They sold me to the Cobra Gang, and I ended up here.”
“I know where Green Lake is. You don’t live far from our town,” said Miles. “Have you ever tried to escape?”
“I tried shortly after arriving, but they caught me tangled in the barbed wire at the top of the fence. Because of me, they punished all the workers. They cut our food down to one meal per day for a whole week. I didn’t know if I would die of hunger, or the other workers would kill me. That’s the first and last time I tried to escape.”
“I’m going to get out of here,” Miles whispered.
“I wouldn’t do it,” warned Gino.
The next day was the first full day of work for Miles and Tanya. Except for a short lunchbreak, they shoveled coal from breakfast until dinnertime.
In the evening Tanya sat picking at the raw blisters on her hands.
Miles waited until no one else was nearby, “I have a plan to get out of here.”
Tanya looked around for anyone who might be eavesdropping, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“What other choice do we have?”
Tanya sighed, “What’s your plan?”
To be continued