Chapter Twenty-nine : Build a bomb workshop. (Joe Hardy)
I can't ripping believe this. Can this actually be happening?
Night falls with cold. And it comes sooner than I expected, filling the cave with darkness before the sun even sets.
Honestly, I'm not sure how Nancy and I both got through the long, silent, cold span of daylight—it was complete torture. I know that she was expecting some kind of search party from the train to come and find us, stuck here. To "rescue" us. But I knew that no one would come. And that's not just me being pessimistic.
There's no way Tino is letting anyone off that train to come looking for us. He'll convince them that there isn't any reason to go into the canyon. His first priority will be to get that train out of Brimstone Canyon. And Nancy and I? We are so screwed.
My watch has died from either low battery or the cold or a combination of the two, so I have absolutely no idea what time it is when I wake up out of my half-conscious fatigue—which could never really be called sleep because it's so uncomfortable and annoying.
An ounce of moonlight oozes down through the mine shaft in the ceiling, shrouding the clammy walls in a blueish glow. I just lay here and breathe for a few long moments before gathering the strength to pick my aching self up off the floor and over to the hollow elevator shaft. Looking up at the foggy black sky, stapled with stars.
The day of aching, gut-wrenching thoughts and words and feelings had gradually melted into this callous of numbness. I don't know how Nancy ever got to sleep—but I kind of envy her ability to zone out like that. It's not easy.
Backpacks only make good substitute pillows if you fill them with stuff like paper and clothes—not flashlights and books and tools and bottles of water. I think I'd rather sleep on a rock—and there are plenty of those in here.
Right now I'm pretty tempted to just stand here for the rest of the night. I don't care how sore and possibly swollen my ankle is—honestly it's nothing. I'm pretty thankful that I didn't break my leg, because that's what I was totally expecting from taking a fall so hard.
Of course, my head still feels like total crap—and my backpack pillow and sleep deprivation is not helping at all. I let my eyes fall shut for a few seconds. Letting the cold silently eat through my overcoat and into my skin.
I told Nancy everything today. Everything. Every. Little. Thing. In a way, it felt good to finally be able to spill my guts to her—but it hurt so much. Like this rushing, emptying, burning feeling that left me numb and wanting to forget everything that ever happened and start over.
She listened to it all, and didn't really say much to me afterwards—other than how she was glad that I told her and she was sorry for not listening and trusting me before.
I didn't get as much out of her words as I did out of her eyes. She was overwhelmed. Her gaze was vague and fleeting after that—but held onto mine in longer, deeper looks.
"God," the words come out on my next exhale—visible in the cold, "How are we going to get out of here? Because I'm not seeing a way out." I let my eyes close again. "I can't see it."
"Joe—have you seen this?"
I glance up at the sound of Nancy's voice, turning my attention away from the annoying project I've been stuck with for half the morning, which just happens to be screwing around with Nancy's iPhone, trying to get some kind of a hint of a signal from the heavens—to no avail.
"Seen what?"
Nancy doesn't explain it further—she just motions with one hand for me to come over to the other side of the cave room, where she's examining the smoothly-curved wall. When I cross the room, she starts tracing something with her finger—a set of spidery hairline cracks emanating in a circle shape from one spot in the rock wall.
"This is kind of interesting…"
I raise an eyebrow. "What do you think it is?"
"I don't know, really…" Nancy shrugs one shoulder, analyzing it.
"It looks almost like a weak area in the wall—like… a thin spot." I run my palm over the cracks in the wall—where it looks like someone had obviously tried to smash through a while ago.
"A thin spot?" Nancy turns to cast me a hopeful glance. "Thin enough to bust through?"
I nod slowly. "…Possibly. But who knows what's on the other side of this? I mean, we are like… underground."
"True. It could be just another tunnel," Nancy sighs, "And who knows how hard it's going to be to break through,"
"Well an object is only as strong as its weakest point."
She gives a slight nod and a tired smile. "..That's also true."
"But who knows?" I pull my gaze off of her, scanning the wall for anything else unordinary.
Her eyes follow mine for a few seconds. "…What do you mean?"
And that's when I notice something new—and frankly, kind of weird. One long, thin crack coursing its way in a wide circle around the thin spot in the wall.
"I don't know, exactly… but this looks like some sort of hidden doorway to the next tunnel." I point out the circular crack to Nancy. "See this cut? This whole piece of wall is big enough to be an opening for someone to get through—I have a feeling that this wall is definitely meant to be somehow removed."
Nancy bites her lower lip, nodding slowly. "…How the heck are we going to smash through this? I mean, it's probably really thick."
I shrug one shoulder, managing a stupid smile. "Well it is rock."
"Exactly!" Nancy runs a hand through her long hair. "Don't they usually get through this stuff with explosives?"
I nod slowly. "Yeah, typically."
"Well we seem to be a little low on those."
"Oh I don't know." shrugging slightly, I lean against the wall on one shoulder. "I could probably figure out how to build some kind of a bomb with the stuff in my backpack."
Nancy wants to laugh—but instead she just rolls her eyes and lets a little smile bleed through. "I think that hacking at it by hand would probably be safer." she blows out a sigh. "And possibly more affective."
"And probably more time consuming."
Nancy gives me a look. "Are you saying that you could make a bomb faster?"
I let my sore head rest against the wall. "I'm saying that I could try," I shrug slightly. "Hacking through it by hand is going to take years."
Nancy pulls in a quick breath, shooting me a look. "Then we should probably get started soon, right?"
I shake my head, half-teasingly. "…You're killing me with your optimism."
"And you're killing me with your pessimism." Nancy smiles a little, nudging me out of the way.
"Hey, I'm not being pessimistic," I drag myself back over to where my backpack is thrown down on the ground. "I'm the one who's offering to build a bomb."
"Fine, you go build your bomb," Nancy starts rifling through the stuff in her backpack, obviously looking for a tomahawk of some form or fashion. "And meanwhile, I'll get started on this wall."
I nod slowly, but don't really take it seriously—and glace back down at Nancy's phone in my hands.
FlightFeathers: Right? I would like to learn how to charge a phone using an alarm clock too, haha! xD Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I'm on a trip currently, but I'm going to try and update this story as often as I can! :D Enjoy this installment!
