Page 38 of Echoes on the Wind (Borrowed Time #2)
Tish’s screams pierced the silence as she rushed for the opening, and Lee threw his arms around her waist to pull her back. As the first explosion sounded out beneath us, a force of air blew up the shaft, sending them both onto their backs on the ground.
“We’ve got to get out,” Lee shouted, and Tish’s feet scraped across the dirt as he tried to pull her upright again.
Another loud bang sounded out, stronger than the first, and the ground around us began to shake, as dust and debris fell from the ceiling. Without the lamp, the room was almost completely black, and only Inspector Phillips’ small, candle-lit torch gave any bearing to our surroundings.
I spotted Mair coming towards me and spun her around towards the exit. “Go, go!” I shouted, pushing her away from the shaft. “Get outside.”
“Come on,” Gwyn said as he gripped me by the scruff and started pulling me towards the door. “We have to get out.”
I turned and looked over my shoulder, spotting Lee right behind us. He was practically dragging Letitia to the exit, while she continued to scream for her father .
Another huge explosion came from the chamber behind us. It was louder and longer than the others, and the ground beneath us shook violently, like an earthquake. Gwyn kept hold of me, but there was an immediate, overwhelming heat on our backs, and the force knocked us to the ground just outside the entrance.
My ears were ringing from the blast, and the whole area was covered in a thick smoke that stretched out between the spoil tips, making it almost impossible to see more than a few feet in front of us.
Mair was on the ground in front of me, covered in dirt and soot, waving the air as she coughed and wheezed against the smoke. Gwyn was next to her, equally as dishevelled, trying to push himself to his feet.
“You have to get up,” a hoarse voice said from behind me as a hand tucked under my armpit and pulled me to my feet.
I turned, expecting to see Lee, but was instead faced with the inspector. Once he was sure that I was standing firm, he turned back towards the entrance and started flapping his arms to clear the smoke.
“Lee,” I called out as I fought my way through the haze. “Lee?”
“I’m over here,” he shouted. I could barely hear him through the noise of hundreds of miners crowding the site, but the desperation in his voice was clear. “Help me.”
I moved slowly towards his voice, trying to make out the shapes in the smoke, and stumbled to the ground as I tripped over debris from the spoil tips. Shards of coal and dirt cut into my hands, making me cry out in pain until I pushed myself back to my feet.
“I’m coming,” I called out. I couldn’t see him through the smoke, but he reached out and wrapped his hand around my ankle, frightening me half to death.
“Help me,” he pleaded. “She’s stuck.”
I dropped to the ground beside my brother, who was desperately clawing at the rubble. The whole entrance to Pit 5 had caved in, and it had come down on top of Letitia.
I didn’t know if she was dead or unconscious, but she was completely buried from the waist down, and there was no sign of movement as we dug away the ground with our bare hands.
It felt like a warzone. Voices shouted from every direction as men fled the mine or scrambled to begin the rescue, and the alarm was still ringing and echoing off all of the buildings. When Tish opened her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath, though, her shrill scream drowned out everything else entirely.
“Hang on, Tish,” Lee begged as he pulled away the rocks around her legs. His hands were black and bloodied from his efforts, but he never slowed down.
“Tom?”
I could hear Gwyn’s voice nearby, and I called through the smoke to him until he put his hands down on my shoulders.
“Help us get her out,” I said, and he dropped down beside us to help with the effort.
“I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die,” Tish kept repeating as we worked to free her, and Lee brought his hands up to her face to try and comfort her .
“You’re not going to die,” he said as he brushed some hair from her face. “I promise.”
As the smoke began to lift somewhat, and Tish became easier to see, the injuries to her body became more evident. She was covered in cuts all over her body, including a nasty-looking gash above her breast, but as Gwyn pulled away a large boulder near her foot, the break in her leg became obvious.
“Mair,” I shouted through the smoke, hoping she was still nearby. “We need Nellie. She was over by the offices. Run.”
“I can’t feel my leg,” Tish shouted, and her tears cut streaks through her dirt-covered face.
“That’s ok,” Gwyn said, trying to reassure her. “It’s normal. It’s just how your body stops you from feeling too much pain. Same thing happened to me.”
I knew that he was making it up so that she would worry less, but Tish seemed to buy it. She calmed her sobs and started frantically nodding her head at him instead.
Another rumble rolled out along the ground, and another wave of muck rained down on us from the spoil tips.
“We’ve got to get her away from here,” Gwyn said, as he held an arm up to shield himself from the downpour. “It’s not safe.”
“Right, Tish,” I said, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible. “This might hurt a bit, but Gwyn and Lee are going to have to pull you free now, ok?”
I gave them a nod and moved out of their way as they tucked their arms under her and began to pull her free. As they pulled her through some heavier debris away from the entrance, she screamed in pain, and I could see the agony in Lee’s face at seeing her so distressed.
We only made it a few feet down the path between the tips when her cries became too much, and we had to stop.
Lee dropped to his knees, keeping her head on his lap, and looked around wildly. “Where the hell is Nellie?” he shouted.
“She’s on her way,” Mair called out as she rushed back to us through the smoke, followed by Gethin.
“Where the hell did you go?” I snapped. I was furious at him for disappearing and shoved him back out of my way.
He raised a handkerchief to his face and bypassed me, moving instead to my brother. “Is she alright? What happened?”
“There’s no time to explain,” Gwyn said. “Where’s Nellie?”
“I’m here, I’m here,” she called out as she ran towards us with her medical supplies. “Out of the way.”
She dropped to her knees beside Tish and immediately began examining her leg. “It’s in a bad way,” she said, feeling her way from the ankle to the knee. Tish let out another scream as Nellie brushed her hand along an area near her shin. “It’s broken. I can’t do anything here. We need to move her out to where there’s light and room, and get her laid out flat. Can you lift her?”
Lee nodded, and Gwyn reached down to help get Tish off the ground. As he lifted her into Lee’s arms, the ground beneath us shook again, and more debris came tumbling down the spoil tips on either side of us .
“We really need to move,” Gwyn commanded, and he put an arm around me as we filed down the narrow path between the tips toward the openness of the main yard.
“Out of the way, you fool,” I heard Nellie shout from the front, and I leaned out from where Gwyn was holding me, straining through the smoke to see who she was talking to.
“It’s Ellis,” I whispered, spotting him standing squarely in our path.
The dislodged spoil tips continued to shake loose their contents, sending showers of rock, coal and dust down around us. If we didn’t move soon, the whole thing could come down on us.
“I said, get out of the way!” Nellie demanded.
When Ellis didn’t budge, she attempted to step around him, but he moved to block her way. Losing patience, she swung at him with her medical bag. If she’d have caught him, she’d have taken him right off his feet, but he grabbed it mid-swing and yanked it from her hand, then tossed it to the floor, spilling the contents out over the ground.
“I’ve had enough of this,” Gwyn said, and he pulled his arm from my waist and made his way to the front of the line.
Another slip of debris came down the side of the tip, and Mair cried out as a large chunk of rock hit her in the back, ripping her shirt and sending her tumbling forward into Gethin.
“Are you ok?” I asked.
When she gave me a nod, I weaved around her, heading to the front of the line .
“Here he is,” Ellis said as Gwyn stepped to the front.
I pushed my way through the line until I was standing next to him, and Ellis smiled at my arrival like he was greeting a friend he hadn’t seen in a long while.
“Ellis, we have to get out of here,” I pleaded. “This whole thing could come down.”
“Come on then,” he said, holding his hand out to me. “Me and you. We’ll go. We’ll get you somewhere safe.”
“No chance,” Gwyn said.
He stepped up towards Ellis, who reached into his pocket and pulled out the knife, but Gwyn showed no fear of it.
In the background, hundreds of people were running around. Some were grabbing tools to help with rescue efforts, and others were looking for shelter or a place to tend to their injuries. But none were paying any attention to the smoke-filled path to the closed pit, or the knife-wielding psychopath who was blocking our route to safety.
“Ellis, come on,” I said, as I dodged another slurry of debris. “You have to move.”
“Fuck this,” Lee called out as he pushed past us, carrying Tish. “I’m not waiting here. Stab me if you must, but I’m getting her away from here, one way or another.”
He stepped out into Ellis’ path, and Ellis began wildly thrashing the knife towards him. Seizing the brief distraction, Gwyn lunged forward, driving into him with full force and tackling him to the ground .
They thrashed amongst the dirt as Lee rushed off with Tish, and Gwyn swore out as the knife sliced along his upper arm, cutting through his shirt and staining it with blood. He clasped his hand over it and rolled into the base of the tip as Ellis crawled forward and took another lunge.
I rushed to help Gwyn, but when Ellis saw me, he jumped to his feet again and thrust the knife towards my face, bringing me to a stop. He flicked the knife, indicating for me to back up, and I took a slow step away from him, keeping my eyes locked on Gwyn.
“Nellie,” Lee called out from down the path.
“Go,” I shouted, and when Ellis jerked the knife towards her neck, I grabbed hold of his arm.
I managed to hold him back from reaching her as she tried to get past, but the fright of the knife sent her stumbling back, and she fell to the ground against the side of the tip, bringing more dirt down on top of her.
The sight of his wife in danger seemed to awaken something in Gethin, and he pounced towards Ellis with a ferocious look in his eye. Gwyn jumped to his feet, and the two men came at him from both sides, with Gethin striking Ellis in the face as Gwyn tackled him around his waist.
“Mair, go!” I shouted, and she ran past me towards the yard as I rushed to help Nellie.
I knelt down and took her hand, but just as I was bringing her to her feet, a rock tumbled down the side of the tip and struck her on the head. She stumbled back, dazed, as blood started to pour down her forehead .
The sight of Nellie’s injury distracted Gethin. As he turned to his wife and shouted her name, Ellis lunged forward and plunged the knife deep into his stomach.
He staggered back, clutching at the wound as blood seeped through his fingers. Slowly, his gaze lowered to his hands, and he collapsed against the tip. Gwyn rushed to his side and put pressure on it, but Ellis kicked out and caught him in the side of the head, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Nellie's screams cut through all of the other noise, and she scrambled to her feet to go to Gethin, but Ellis rushed towards us, stopping us from going anywhere.
“Stop this!” I shouted, as more of the rubble fell down around us from the tip.
Gwyn stumbled unsteadily into my eyeline, clutching onto the side of his head, and a noise like thunder filled the air. We all looked up as the side of the tip finally gave way, sending an avalanche of rock and debris hurtling down towards us.
“Gwynfor,” I shouted, but as I moved to reach him, Ellis lashed out with the knife again, cutting deep into my forearm.
As I fell back, Gethin staggered to his feet, clutching his blood-soaked stomach. His face was pale, and his eyes were glazed over with pain, but with all the energy he had left, he lunged forward and tackled Ellis around the waist, sending them both to the floor in a heap.
The ground around us shook again, and the roar was louder than anything I’d ever heard. As ash and dust choked the air, I grabbed Nellie and pushed her away as hard as I could, then grabbed Gwyn’s hand as the rubble engulfed us, burying everything in its path.