Mines

Chapter Twenty-seven

     The hot, pounding, unrelenting sun over the desert and miles of walking ahead is not something to look forward to. Alex and I, using his map, and our own knowledge, manage to scope a way out of here. While creeping around silently with close to one hundred people behind me, I managed to catch glimpses through the rock of the quarry, and the mines. It was eerie, with no noises, and nobody around, and all you could see were the bodies of the dead. I'm starting to believe I'm cursed with the terrible power to create bodies whoever I go. Like... if someone got to close to me, physically or mentally, I would find some way of killing them, or killing off our friendship.
     "Don't worry John, you're not as big as a problem as you think you are." she whispers in my ear, and I wince. Great. You're back, just what I needed. Your timing is terrible by the way.
     "I thought you'd be happy to speak with me again." she ignores what I just thought and gives a reproachful answer. You're not the same. I think furiously, then close her out of my mind. I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to see Lafayette.
     "Are you okay John? You look pale." he says, concern in his face and voice.
     "Yeah, I just... really want to get out of here." I answer, and his face lights up.
     "You're telling me? I haven't set foot out of the quarry in three years!" Laf smiles as brightly as the sun we're about to face.
     "Really? You haven't gone out? Even once?" Alex questions.
     "Non. Why would they let us go out? We might have escaped! Mind you, we are escaping now." Laf replies, barely concealing his own excitement.

     We continue forward, following the flickering torch light I'm holding, as if all of them are counting on me to lead them to freedom. Which they are. This only adds more pressure, and I feel like I'm going to do something stupid like drop my torch or take the wrong turn. But I'm comforted by Alex's presence next to me, who is holding as much, if not more responsibility on helping us all, stay alive. Another thing I found odd was the lack of soldiers. They've already discovered the tunnels as we have, so it'd be only a matter of time before they'd find us, capture, and kill us. But even in the abandoned quarry, we don't see a living soul.

     Eventually, I manage to navigate our way out, and all that's left is to climb up a rockslide that must have happened years and years ago, somehow, moss has managed to grow on the rocks making them slippery and wet. But with no sun or water here, I can't imagine how it got here. We start sending people up in pairs, Alex and I standing off to the sides to help the less able. The only issue arises when Peggy and Eliza step up, carrying Angelica's body.
     "You shouldn't take her." I say, thrusting forward my arm to stop Eliza in her tracks. Peggy turns to me, furious, her face red and splotchy from all the crying she's been doing, and I feel a twinge of guilt.
     "Our sister is dead. Dead, John!" she reminds me as though it's not clear enough.
     "We can't just leave her here." Eliza whispers, tears still slipping down her face.
     "You can't- you shouldn't carry her over the desert. It'll make you work harder and sweat more, which will cause you to drink more water and we don't have much to begin with." I try to explain, but they ignore me. I stare at Alex for help, but he also ignores my calls.
     "We can take her, once we're settled down somewhere safe, we'll have a proper funeral for her." he says kindly to Eliza, in the way that makes my stomach churn with jealousy. Which is stupid- I mean, Alex is only a friend. We're... not even good friends. I don't know if he's even into boys. So after Eliza and Peggy stumble up the rocks, with us stationed behind them to catch them incase they slip and fall, Laf and Herc start to climb up too. It's difficult for Lafayette, who's arm is still in its sling, and for Hercules, who's leg seemed to have been injured in our fight against the British, but not fatality. Thank god. I climb with them up the rock slide, letting Laf push his weight onto me as he uses my shoulder as leverage. Meanwhile, Alex helps Herc by putting an arm around his waist as he throws one over Alex's shoulder. Part of me is relived to see them getting along, even if it only means to survive one more day.

     "I take back every thing I said." Lafayette pants, stopping for a second to crouch down and breathe heavily for a moment. Hercules laughs in a somewhat exhausted way, sweat pouring down all of our faces.
     "What, the outside world not what you were expecting?" he jokes, stopping beside Laf to heave him up and pull him along the trek Alex and I have designed.
     "Brace yourselves, we still have about two more hours to go." I warn them, staring ahead in the distance, trying to look for any sign of a mountain. It seems incredible that just a day's walk across the desert is mountains, streams, and lush valleys. Alex seemed amused when I gasped while he was telling me about how the old rebel's base was inside a mountain. He seemed less happy when he told me how it had been stormed and destroyed.
     "So where are we going again?" Laf asks for about the tenth time, and I explain to him (again) how we're going to spend the night at the rebel's camp site where they were captured. I tell him how we can't stay there full time because there's a chance the British might check it out to have a look to see if we're there.
     "Alex and Mr. Washington said there was other rebel bases for other towns near the mines. We're going to see if one of them will accept our help. The only problem is we don't exactly know where they are." I finish off, and Laf nods as if he's not about to ask me the same question again in five minutes.
     "Mmh. That's the help I was talking about." Alex says, appearing beside me. He has a habit for popping out of the blue into conversations and every time he does it, it gives me a mini heart attack.
     "Did... did no one else seemed concerned when the Captain said that by leaving... we're only making it worse for the new miners that arrive?" Laf says, concerned.
     "Of course, we want to bring down the mines but we're going to need help to do that, and that's what we're going for." Alex says, waving his hand as though it didn't really matter. "Don't worry... Captain George isn't going to stand on his high pedestal for much longer... not when we come to knock it out right under his feet."