Underneath

The Rock Quarry

Alex pushed through the doors of the school hoping that Georgie wouldn't be outside waiting for him. With Georgie nowhere to be seen, he quickly disappeared into the crowd of students for a quick getaway. He knew that his friends wouldn't show up now with Georgie's threat, so he figured that the rock quarry would be a perfect place to lay low for the next three or so hours. 

Alex shifted the bag on his shoulder and made his way onto the sidewalk, coming to the bend where the bushes met the street. Then he heard his name, and he instantly recognized Georgie's voice. Without looking back, Alex took off and pushed straight through the bushes, heading toward the rock quarry. Everyone at school would call him a coward, but it beat taking a beating by Georgie. Last year Georgie had put a kid in the hospital for spilling Georgie's lunch.

Alex held a tighter grip on his bookbag strap and dove through the next set of bushes, coming up to the steep edge of the rock quarry. It was a popular place for students to hang out with it being so close to the school, and heavy equipment was used on Thursdays like today so all the workers would be distracted, and that was when students would slip in. Students like Alex.

There had been an extra set of warning signs than usual, so Alex figured the construction workers or whatever they were called were doing something important. The large hole in the earth where rocks were being extracted was filled with... nothing. Surprisingly there was no expensive equipment down there like usual. Alex dismissed it and spun around, but Georgie was nowhere to be seen. He sighed in relief, then was beginning to turn back to the rock quarry when the gravel slid from underneath his foot, sending Alex tumbling down the side of the rocky hill, dust kicking up around him. 

Finally, he landed on his face with a thud, slowly forcing himself off the ground and wiping his face where fresh blood trickled from his nose. Nearby was a small cave blocked off by a few black and yellow caution barriers, as well as a few small red crates outside. He made sure nobody was around to see him, then decided the cave would be the perfect spot for hiding out the rest of the day.

Alex shifted the bag from his shoulder onto the ground, sliding out his phone. The screen was cracked everywhere, and he was surprised that it still worked. Still, he was disappointed that the screen was damaged. The battery was pretty low as well, considering he spent the first four periods with his nose stuck on it. Still, he cut on the camera's flashlight and approached the cave, noticing that it was only maybe a few feet deep.

Thunder rained ahead, and Alex quickly shut off his phone and stuffed it into his pocket before taking cover in the cave. No rain had fallen yet, but he was sure that it would soon. He reached into his bag for a cigarette then realized that his friends were supposed to bring them, and all Alex had was the lighter. With a sigh of boredom, he pressed his back against the wall and slid down next to his bag with nothing to do except wait. 

Suddenly, he jumped to the faint sound of an explosion in the distance. Then another one, slightly closer. Now he understood why everything in the rock quarry was gone, the construction workers were working with dynamite. One of the workers would be grabbing the detonator right about now, and suddenly the cave began to rumble. He quickly realized he needed to get out of there, so he reached over and grabbed his bag. BOOM!

Alex stumbled as an explosion rang out, much closer this time. Rocks began to fall from the roof of the cave, and he quickly took off toward the exit. He was almost there when he was sent flying back as larger rocks came crashing down in front of the entrance. Everything went black, and Alex slowly dropped to the floor unconscious...