Page 70 of Five Mountain Daddies

I laugh. “That’sit?”

“That’s it.” He shrugs. “Nothing special,right?”

He started walking again, but the ceiling starts to get lower here. He has to stoop to keep going, and the ceiling is maybe only a few inches above my head. The shaft itself is maybe ten feet wide, barely enough for us to walk side by side, and I suddenly feel incrediblytrapped.

“You guys work in this?” I ask him. “I mean, this isso…”

“Tight?” he asks. “Yeah, it’s always like this. We don’t waste time building big tunnels. This is safer, believe it ornot.”

I bite my lip. “I guess that makes sense. You move less rock, so it’s less likely tocollapse.”

“That’s right.” He stops and I pull up next to him. “We shouldn’t go much further. This shaft hasn’t been used in awhile.”

“So it’sdangerous?”

He grins. “We haven’t had a collapse in a while, but it happens. Come on.” He turns and leads me back toward the mainchamber.

As we step in, there’s a low, grinding noise. I can feel vibrations at my feet, and Samuel lights up. “You’re in for a treat,” hesays.

A few seconds later, one of the big machines suddenly comes out from one of the nearby shafts, followed by three guys walking behind it. The guys park the machine, and I suddenly recognize Roy from the first meeting. The guys spot us and walk over,grinning.

“Hey, Samuel!” Roy shouts. “The fuck you doinghere?”

“Guys,” Samuel says. “This is AmeliaEvans.”

The three guys stop in front of us, covered in soot, but smiling. Roy nods at me, and I shake the hand of the other two guys. One’s younger and introduces himself as Vernon, and the other one’s around Roy’s age, soft and pale, namedBoone.

“You guys working the new shaft?” Samuelasks.

“Sure are,” Roy says. “What do you think of the mine so far,Amelia?”

“It’s… terrifying,” I sayhonestly.

All four men laugh. Samuel has a little gleam in hiseye.

“You show her the spot yet?” Boone asksSamuel.

He shakes his head. “Not taking her anywhereactive.”

Vernon scoffs. “Come on, boss. Let’s show her how it reallylooks.”

I glance at Samuel, but his face is hard. “I saidno.”

Vernon looks away,frowning.

“Come on, Samuel, take me,” I say tohim.

He glances in my direction. “Amelia—”

“I’m the boss here,” I say to him. “And I want to see a realshaft.”

He cracks a little smile but doesn’t say anything. “You sure?” heasks.

“I’msure.”

“Okay then. Fuck it. Let’s show her how we do it,boys.”

We walk back over to the machine and Vernon gets it started. The guys get it going, walking it back down the shaft, and I follow behind them. Samuel stays next to me as we go deeper and deeper down into the shaft. Samuel has to stoop again, but he keeps pace, probably used to walking through these tightspaces.

---