Hearing her name out loud rips through my soul. I wonder where she is and if she knows. I hope someone is with her, comforting her, telling her it’ll all be okay somehow. That someone is lying to her.
“We probably need to save our lamps,” Cord points out. “It’s gonna be dark as hell down here if we don’t.”
“This is hell,” Jiggs snorts.
“No, you’re right,” I say. “Let’s get a safe place to sit and save our lights. We’ll flip one on at a time every now and then.”
We begin clearing out a space on the floor for the three of us. We take pieces of rubble and build up a little pad over the mud and water that seems to never stop trickling in. We work silently, none of us making eye contact, like if we don’t look at the others, maybe this won’t be real.
We sit in a circle of sorts, Cord to my right, Jiggs to my left, my lunch box tucked in beside me.
“If we get real creative,” Cord says, “we could convince ourselves that we’re around a campfire. Especially the way these headlamps flicker and light up this little spot.”
“We’ve had some good ones,” Jiggs remembers. “Remember the one we had at Old Man Denham’s farm back in our freshman year? We nearly let every single head of cattle out of that field.”
I chuckle at the memory. “Not our best decision, boys.”
“Nah, but it makes for a good story,” Jiggs laughs. “Shit, that was the night I talked Lindsay into going out with me.”
“I remember that,” I say. “We were at The Fountain. She said she’d go for a ride with you if you beat me in a game of pool.”
“And you let me.” Jiggs laughs, but there’s no denying the layer of sadness that creeps into the tone. “Thanks for that, Ty.”
Shaking my head, I look at the small patch of black between us.
“Ty?”
I raise my head slowly until I’m looking at Jiggs. His eyes are filled with a look that can only be described as pure fear, a look I’ve never seen on him before. A look that rips me to the core.
“Yeah?” I reply.
“We’re gonna get out of here, right?”
“Sure, we are,” I say, forcing a smile to make my uncertainty a little less obvious. “We’ll be hearing the drill soon. We just need to be patient.”
The air stills as we all decide whether we believe me or not. The drill will come. I do believe that. But will it come in time? And will it do any good? Those are two different questions.
“Hey,” Cord says, rustling us out of our thoughts. “We need to save these lamps.”
Our lungs all fill with air as we realize what this means. Total. Darkness.
One at a time, our lights go off. First Cord’s. Then Jiggs’.
“Here we go,” I whisper, raising my hand to my helmet and flicking my lamp off too.
The pitch black settles over us on the cold, wet floor of hell.
ELIN
The paper cup twirls in my fingers.
Around.
Around.
Around.
The water inside sloshes against the sides, threatening to spill out. It won’t be cold if it does and touches my fingers. It’s sat in there too long for that.
We’ve been in this room for six, maybe seven hours now. In some ways, it feels much shorter than that and in others, so much longer.
I should be getting home from work right about now.
Holding my stomach and closing my eyes, I remember my plan to tell Ty that we are having a baby.
I should be doing that now. Not . . . this.
The water ripples across the cup and I fight to focus on it. Sleep prickles at my consciousness, thanks to the shot by Doctor Walker. Of course, I had to tell him I was pregnant and when I realized that another person would know before Ty, I had a complete meltdown.
I look up as a knock sounds gently on the door. Vernon’s head pokes around the corner.
“Can I get you ladies anything? Anything at all?” he asks.
“My husband and brother and friend.”
His face falls. “We’re trying, Mrs. Whitt.”
“Try harder.”
“We’re discerning their location now. I’ll update you as soon as I know more.”
“You have to find them,” I implore. “You don’t understand . . .”
A part of me feels bad. It’s not his fault, not specifically. Ty chose to go to work even though he knew the risks. But Vernon chose to be the face of Blackwater, so surely he expected some venom from me. If not, he should’ve reconsidered his decision.
“The Pettis family is in the room next to you and the Salis family too. If you would like to see them, it’s the door on your left.”
I nod, but have no interest in seeing them at this point. I don’t even know them, not really, except Sharp, whom I loathe.