Well tunnel dug: Part 3

‘So, food?’ Carl asked.

‘Got seeds,’ said Darryl.

‘Can you shoot?’ asked Cory.

‘I shot a black powder rifle in Boy Scouts during the two weeks I was in it,’ replied Cory.

Cory pulled the couch forward, so that it tilted on its face. Underneath was a slide in the floor. There were seven or so rifles down there, and boxes after boxes of ammunition. He reached in, and picked up a Kalashnikov.

‘Take it,’ he said, and pushed it towards Carl.

‘All right, we gonna shoot some gooks?’

‘No but if you weren't such a college liberal pinko, you'd know that that gun is what they would have been shooting you with,’ Cory said. He laughed. It eased the sudden tension.
‘And we're gonna get some food with that thing, so I hope you're only bad at hunting, and not considerably worse.’

Everyone believed them when they said they’d be back soon. There had been a recent up spike in deer in the area. They were finding secret sources of food in the cold. When you woke up in the morning it was like a deer nation.

Meanwhile, the other three had been drawing up methods of excavating three cellars underneath the trailer. There was a coal mine just a mile down the road, and they figured they could square off some rooms in the coal mine, gather up the florescent lighting, and reattach the mine to the remnants of the electric grid.

‘If we can hack the grid, then we just might be able to get something to grow down there,’ Sandra said, ‘the only concern I have is that we have to ensure nobody ever sees us going in and out of the mine shaft.’

‘That’s where the real work is going to be, you know,’ said Darryl.

‘You think you’re gonna dig a tunnel all the way to the mine?’ Juan asked, ‘You couldn’t do that before the warming, man.’

‘I don’t know about that. I’ve been looking at these topo maps over here. I think we just might be able to pull this off really well. See, we can start digging in the side of the hill, where all those trees our, about six feet under the roots of those trees. The trees will help hold the soil above us. We just need some four by fours, or the equivalent thereof. It’ll be easy to do the digging, it’s the collapsing that’s the main issue.’

‘You bet it is.’

‘Damn, dog. You’re into this aren’t you,’ said Juan.

‘Man, I spent too much time thinking about survivalism not to be prepared for some shit ‘like this.’

‘You believe in revelation, man?’

‘I don’t think I really need to believe in anything at this point, right? I mean, hey, we’re living in a dying world, and who knows if the nukes worked? We got ten years to balance the ice age if it worked. If it didn’t, well I’m going to be the last man to die.’

‘Like you can prevent yourself from dying through sheer willpower,’ Sandra said.

‘Stuff that legends are made from.’

‘Stuff that terrorists, religious fanatics, and extremely mentally ill people like you are made from.’

‘Why don’t you shut up, Sandra,’ Darryl said, ‘I don’t want to hear you talk about it again, Sandra. You got me, Sandra.’

‘Darryl. Get a hold of yourself, man,’ said Juan.

‘Dammit,’ he said. He smacked himself across the face. Then again. He turned away. He reached into his pocket, pulled out some ancient cigarettes, and lit one.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

‘Well that ain’t good enough,’ Sandra said, ‘You could be normal if you wanted to.’

‘Yeah, that’s why we’re in a 'holler' in West Virginia trying to grow food to trade it for drugs, because this is all a big charade I’m pulling. It’s all grand theatre. The house lights’ll come up any fucking minute, yeah? Yeah?’

‘Look, all right. Why don’t you just give us something to do,’ Sandra said.

Darryl seemed to take a minute to think about it. He looked though the steel slats over the front window.

‘Wonder how long it’ll take till somebody makes a go of this place,’ he said.

‘Not too long,’ said Juan, ‘What I’m wondering is whether that piece of shit over there can ‘deflect a bullet.’

‘Cory said yeah,’ said Sandra.

‘He might just know too,’ Darryl said.

‘Yep. He’d know if he’s been here for more than a year,’ said Sandra.

‘We’ll I guess that’s more than cold comfort, eh,’ said Juan.

‘You ain’t getting you’re ass shot in the bottom of a grocery store,’ said Darryl.

‘Well, it was the only good place to sleep.’

‘Hell, I’m not blaming you,’ Darryl said. Then he laughed.

‘All right, then, so what’s the plan?’ said Juan.

‘I think I’m going to get a shovel and see if I am just gonna have to start blasting my way into the side of the mountain.’

‘All we’ve got is a two foot drill bit, and TNT. But Cory’s got a pile of that, so we can blast if we have to. I just have no idea what I’m doing with it. Sandra is going to hit up the shed for plywood, 4x4s, 2x4s, whatever you can get you’re hands on. Then I’m going to work the rounds between the three of us, and we’re going to make some 4x4 ‘timbers. We got the wood.’

‘You really think we can get the tunnel done before we start planting.’

‘Honestly no. There's a lot to do to get the mine we scoped out yesterday ready, but it'll go much faster than the tunneling.’

‘Then what are we doing this for? I mean, we're going to be bringing major equipment into that mine, surely somebody will see us.’

‘Probably. We can't prevent that, but we can dig a tunnel to reduce the chance in the future, provide an escape route, and worst comes to worst, defend these few acres from‘marauders from the tunnel, even if they outman us three to one.’

>>Well tunnel dug: Part 4