THIRTY-SEVEN

Broken Hills, mineshaft

September 24th

Somewhere in the afternoon

Phyllis felt the ground collapse under her, and screaming, she threw her arms at the edge of the hole, but when the stone broke off under her hands, she knew she'd be going down. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, the dislodged chunks of stone falling out of her hands, and Phyllis' brain frantically sent her panicked messages, screaming that it didn't know how deep it was and what if it was a long drop and oh my God I'm gonna die or at least break my bones maybe even snap my spine and die slowly like a paralyzed wretch in the darkness they'll think I'm dead and just leave me to die slowly oh God oh God not that way please shit God dammit I'll definitely break bones because I don't know where the bottom is and I can't brace for the impact but it doesn't matter I'm gonna die because it's gonna be too far down and I'll end up like a sack of broken bones and ruptured insides and my head will break on the stones and oh God my brain my brain my –

The impact of her body smashed the wind out of her as she landed on her back, jarring her body and making her teeth smash together painfully. The pain was terrible but she didn't feel the horrible snapping or tearing she'd expected. It seemed she'd landed on something soft. She tried to pull her lungs back open, and air rushed in, but it was so dusty she fell into a coughing fit so bad it felt like she was going to hack her lungs out. A loud continuous crackling sound came from her right.

"Phyllis!" Chris and Cassidy called simultaneously. "You alright?"

The coughing subsided enough for Phyllis to be able to inarticulately yell back. Two flashlights appeared in the opening above her. It looked to be at least ten meters. A few more chunks of stone came down around her. How the Hell had she survived such a long drop?

"You hurt?" Chris yelled down.

"No, I don't think so," she shouted back hoarsely. The crackling sound was still going.

"Alright, watch your head!"

A flashlight tumbled down, its beam describing circles. It landed with a thud at Phyllis' feet. And with its light, she saw how she'd survived the fall. She let out a yelp and bounced to her feet. "They're dead bodies!" she yelled loudly.

"What?"

"They're dead bodies!"

"Alright stay calm, we'll throw you a rope."

The crackling noise was still there, simmering at the edge of her hearing, annoying her terribly. But when she realized where the noise came from, she muttered. "Oh shit."

The Geiger counter's numbers were red. "Oh shit. Oh shit shit shit!" This was bad.

"Hurry up!" She screeched. "Throw the rope! Throw me the rope, God damnit!"

"On the way!" Cassidy yelled angrily. "It ain't stable up here, y'know!"

Then the rope fell down, and Phyllis snatched up the Geiger counter before twisting the rope around her wrists and shouting, "Pull! Hurry!"

With rhythmical pulls, she went up, the Geiger counter's numbers going back to yellow as she went up. Her stomach began turning, and seconds later, she actually felt it convulse and churn. Cassidy and Chris grabbed her wrists and pulled her over the edge of the hole.

"Holy shit girl," Chris cheered. "You've got to be the luckiest – "

Phyllis doubled over and dry-heaved, almost falling over in the process.

"What the…" Cassidy muttered, catching Phyllis before she fell, wincing from the pain in his shoulder.

Phyllis retched again and roughly shoved Cassidy away from her. She took a few staggering steps, fell to her knees, and with a loud hacking sound, vomited out the contents of her stomach in two heaves. She hacked, muttered, "Oh fuck, oh shit," and again retched, throwing up again, but only yellow strings of bile were left to puke out.

"Damn," Chris muttered quietly. "And all that from a few dead bodies."

"I don't know man," Cassidy replied pensively. "You ever seen dead bodies that've started to rot? Stink like a motherfucker. Hell, first time I stumbled onto – "

"Shut up!" Phyllis screamed hysterically. "Shut the Hell up! Shut up!"

"What – "

Phyllis hacked again and screeched again, "It's not the God damn bodies God dammit!"

"Okay, so wh – "

"I should've broken my fucking skull instead of landing on those god damn corpses!"

"Phyllis – "

"Shut up! I need to get out of here!" she yelled, trying to run back to the surface, but staggering after a few steps, and then collapsing on the ground with Cassidy's flashlight still on her.

Chris slid his arm under her shoulders and helped her up. "Phyllis, what the Hell's wrong?"

She looked up at him, her forehead bleeding where her head had cracked into a sharp piece of rock. Her eyes were still wide, but the smack to her skull seemed to have knocked her out of her hysteria. Her hand feebly gripped his shoulder. "Chris… I need to get out of here. Please."

Chris quickly shot a look at Cassidy, but the light blinded him. "Okay," he said after a moment. "Okay, we'll take you back topside."

Phyllis slumped in his arms and with a grunt, he lifted her off the ground and they began the trek back to the surface.