Well tunnel dug: Part 6

Lizzie pushed up the sleeves of her giant sweater. She pinched together the skin on Darryl's forehead, and he winced. He attempted to lift the bottle of Jack to his mouth, without being able to see it, and poured a splash on his chin. Cory snaked his hand in the tangle, and removed the bottle.

‘God,’ Darryl moaned.

She drove the needle through the pinched skin, knot in the fishing line holding.

‘Ah! Why are we doing this! Oh God that hurts,’ Darryl said.

‘Infection, mostly. And don't want to scar your pretty face,’ said Cory. He laughed.

There was a silence punctured by the sound of the needle sliding through Darryl's skin.

‘The tunnel is seeping water at the end,’ said Darryl, almost evenly.

‘Who cares man,’ said Carl.

‘I'm going to finish it,’ said Darryl.

‘Really,’ said Cory, who cocked his head to the side in the cramped trailer.

‘We're in big trouble,’ said Sandra, ‘We gotta figure out what we're going to do next now. The tunnel is obviously a wash; we're going to have to bring food in and out of the mine. And manure.’

‘Frankly, I can't believe nobody's stumbled on our little operation up to this point,’ said Lizzie.

‘How much would it matter, really,’ said Juan.

‘It would matter. We'd have a battle on our hands. I mean, like a fucking battle,’ Cory said.

‘We have to reduce our chances of getting caught. We have to finish the tunnel, and connect the west branch of the mine to us here at the trailer,’ said Darryl.

‘Dude, you think you're going to crawl in there with your leg like that?’ said Carl, slowly.

‘Yeah, yeah I am, Carl. Soon as I get sufficient binding for my leg.’

‘It looks awful, Darryl. You may have fractured it,’ said Sandra. She looked down at the brown carpet in the kitchenette.

‘We can't keep stopping for these little things,’ said Juan.

‘My kids ain't staying hungry forever,’ said Cory.

‘Darryl, listen, I'd try to appeal to your sense, but I guess you don't have any. I don't know what's wrong with the chemicals in your head, but you're going to take my place, permanently, in the mine. You're gonna mess this up, man.’

‘Carl, look at me. I'm prepared for this shit in ways that'd never. cross. your. mind. You get me? You don't tell me what the fuck I'm going to do, son.’

Cory cocked his head to the side, and leaned back from the table.

‘It ain't like that, dude. I'm not trying to let you start something. We know what you want. You thought you were top dog. Well you're not. We're all screwed equally here. We're failing with the food. The tunnel collapsed. I'm probably dying from chemical poisoning from the mine. Eventually, some group will attack us here. We're screwed man. Screwed. And now, you gotta listen to all of us.’

Carl had his head in his hands. He pushed back from the table, and started to walk towards the door.

‘Carl, you're not going to survive this. You're just so fucking laid back,’ said Darryl.

Carl suddenly turned around and back handed Darryl across the face. Tiny blood and spittle droplets arched across the room, slow in the sunlight.

Darryl put both hands up to his mouth, we he caught the balance of his chair. Everything was still. Sandra's mouth was a little black O. Juan had his hand wrapped around a ceramic mug. The needle hung from Darryl's head on the invisible fishing line, like magic.

Cory stood up.

‘You weren't prepared for that now where you,’ said Carl, ‘I need you to hear me through that chemical fog in your brain.’


He was slowly backing toward the door, waiting for someone to lunge at him.


‘You bastards. I didn't want to use drastic measures. But you're all making mistake after mistake. You can't crawl with that leg. Sandra's already three month's pregnant. Cory's going to shoot somebody. You hear me now? I'm not going back into that fucking mine ever again. We gotta have each one of us fully functional, just to keep this thing alive, to survive the next ten years, and we're already losing, man, losing.’

Cory had his back to the door. He looked Darryl in the eyes. Then he pushed out of the door, into the dark. The creek burble rose and fell, as the door opened, and then closed.

Darryl and Juan stood up.

‘Get that fucker back in here,’ said Juan, moving toward the door, ‘He gonna tell somebody.’

Cory slammed his gun on the table. It made a loud clattery noise. Everyone turned towards him.

‘This is my land, my house. You sit down.’

Darryl kept standing. Juan sat down.

Cory looked Darryl in the eyes. ‘Don't do this,’ he said, ‘I will kill you. I will keep order here. You should know that. Now I’m gonna walk out that door. Now I don’t give a shit what you do, ‘cept if you follow me, I’ll shoot you in the face, okay?’

He got up and walked through the door.

‘Oh my god, he's going to shoot Carl. Where the fuck are we? What's going on?’

Seconds passed. They heard muffled voices.

The echo of nine gunshots slammed into the trailer.

They heard a final tenth shot.

‘Oh my god,’ Sandra said. Terror shivered down her voice.


Lizzie heard her daughter scream, and she darted into the back room.

Sandra heard her say, ‘Its gonna be okay, girls, things are going to be just fine. We're gonna make it through this okay, we're gonna make something good here, honey, I promise, we're going make it through, baby, okay?’

Sandra looked down at her belly.