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This is exactly how people die in horror movies, she thought. But she kept pulling. The barrier groaned, then suddenly gave way with a sound like tearing metal. The gap was wider now—maybe wide enough to squeeze through.
She shone her flashlight into the opening. The beam caught rough stone walls, rotting support beams, and decades of debris. But no movement, no sign of the killer.
"I'm here," the voice said. Closer now. "Please."
Rachel typed out a quick text to Sarah—Found something Entrance 4. Get help.—but it wouldn't send. No signal. She would have to choose: go back for help, or go in alone.
Another sound from the darkness: coughing, wet and painful.
Rachel pulled off her backpack and took out her backup flashlight. Then, before she could talk herself out of it, she lay flat and wiggled through the gap.
The tunnel air was cold, heavy with mineral scents and decay. Her lights showed a passage leading deeper into the mountain, decades of graffiti marking the walls. Water dripped somewhere in the darkness, a steady rhythm like a broken metronome.
"Hello?" she whispered.
"Here." The voice came from a side tunnel, barely more than a crack in the wall. "I can see... your light."
Rachel approached carefully, both beams aimed ahead. The passage was narrow, forcing her to turn sideways to squeeze through. Her lights caught movement—a hand raised weakly.
"Oh my God." Rachel rushed forward, nearly stumbling on the uneven ground. "Diana?"
Diana Martinez lay crumpled against the tunnel wall, her clothes torn and filthy, her silver hair matted with blood and dirt. Her eyes were fever-bright.
"Careful," Diana whispered. "He's still... down here. Somewhere. He had me trapped, but I drove him off and got out of there. I'm not sure if I hit him."
"I'm getting you out." Rachel knelt beside her, trying to assess her condition in the harsh light. "Can you walk?"
"No." Diana's breath came in shallow gasps. "Fell. Running from him. Leg's broken... maybe worse." She gripped Rachel's arm with surprising strength. "Listen. The maps... in my pack. They prove..." A bout of coughing overtook her.
"Save your strength. Help is coming." But even as she said it, Diana's eyes closed.
"Diana?" she asked, gently shaking her. "Diana!"
But no answer came.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Sheila's vehicle skidded to a stop in front of Mine Entrance Four, sending gravel spraying. Rachel Tolland stood by the barrier, waving frantically, her clothes covered in rock dust and grime.
"Come quick!" Rachel said.
"Is she alive?" Sheila asked as she jumped out.
Rachel swallowed hard. "I… I don't know. She stopped responding. I tried checking for a pulse, but I was shaking so much…"
The gap in the barrier was just wide enough for a person to squeeze through. Sheila grabbed the metal edge, testing its strength. "How far in?"
"Maybe fifty yards, in a side passage." Rachel's face was pale in the harsh daylight. "She was conscious when I found her, but then..." She gestured helplessly at the entrance.
More vehicles were arriving—deputies, paramedics, MSHA inspectors rushing to assess the structural safety of the passage. Sheila heard familiar voices barking orders, saw Finn coordinating with the rescue teams.
"We need this barrier down," Sheila called out. "Now!"
Two deputies attacked the mounting points with prybars while others set up powerful work lights. The barrier groaned as they worked, releasing showers of powdered stone.
"Sheriff." One of the MSHA inspectors approached, clipboard in hand. "We need to check the tunnel stability before—"
"There's a woman in there who could be dying as we speak," Sheila said, cutting him off. "Your procedures nearly got her killed. We're going in."