Just my luck,she thought, inwardly groaning. Not that it would have made much difference in the end.
Zina sensed Trent stiffening by her side – and then, a moment later, he had passed Quicksilver into her arms, and put himself between her and the gun Sumner was once again raising.
“I won’t let you harm a hair on their heads,” Trent growled, and Zina’s heart thudded in her chest. She couldn’t see Sumner from around Trent’s tall, broad body, but she definitely heard him laugh.
“Ohplease.Spare me the heroics. Do you really think you’re getting out of here?Eitherof you? Please. I could bury you both in rocks right now if I wanted to. But I’m trying to be nice – hand over the creatures, and I’ll make this quick.”
“Never,” Zina said, stepping out from behind Trent. “You’re not taking them anywhere, Sumner.”
Trent immediately tried to step in front of her again, but not before Zina caught a glimpse of Sumner’s face, his manic smile, his gleaming eyes.
He clearly thinks he’s won,Zina thought – but then, a moment later,and maybe he has a point.
Still, she couldn’tquitebring herself to believe things were finished just yet.
“Don’t you believe me or something?” Sumner asked, a chuckle still in his voice. “You think I won’t drag you back to Hargreaves to use as test subjects? Well… to be honest, thatdoessound like a lot of work. Maybe I’ll just seal off all the exits and leave you down here in this mine to rot, however long that might take.”
He laughed, and Zina, glancing around Trent’s shoulder, saw him take out a small black box from his pocket.
With a flourish, he held it up, pressing a button on its surface. Zina gasped, ducking her head as she heard the samebeep beep beepas the explosives Sumner had rigged the mine with primed, and then the small charge exploded, bringing down part of the ceiling and sending dust clouds flying up.
Can this guy juststopwith that?!
When the dust had settled, though, and she looked behind her, she saw that the exit she had been heading toward in her cart had now been completely sealed off – there was nothing there but a pile of rubble.
“I’m telling you now – don’t make me drag you back to Hargreaves,” Sumner said. “Just hand over the creatures, and then we can –”
Whatever Sumner said next, however, Zina didn’t hear it. Her nose was suddenly assaulted with a strange smell – a smell that made her antelope startle back in alarm, its nose twitching violently.
It smells like… burnt metal?
Glancing up at Trent, she realized that he too had scented it – and that, whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t good.
“Gas,” Trent said, a look of realization spreading across his face. “That last explosion must’ve hit a pocket of gas down here –”
Zina’s eyes went wide with horror. She didn’t have to be a mining expert to know that this wasn’t good – thatgastended to meanexplosions,and not the small, controlled detonations that Sumner had been setting off.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “We have to get out of here.”
“Are you two even listening to me?” barked Sumner suddenly, rage clear in his voice. “I’m telling you now – this is your last chance!” He threw his hands up, clearly at the end of his patience. “Why am I even bothering? I’ll just shoot you both now and take the animals back myself –”
“Wait!” Trent shouted, raising his hands. “Don’t shoot – you’ll set off the –”
But it was too late.
Sumner fired the gun – and in the next moment, Zina’s ears felt like they were exploding as all the gas filling the tunnel ignited.
She curled herself protectively over Dusty, Goldie and Quicksilver, but she felt Trent’s hand on her arm, tugging her along, pulling her somewhere, and then she found herself in an enclosed space, the pounding of rocks and rubble ringing overhead, but somehow, not raining down upon them.
Daring to lift her head, Zina realized that they were inside the overturned mining cart – Trent had yanked her to safety before pulling it down over all of their heads, keeping them safely inside as the tunnel above them turned into chaos.
“Zina, are you all right?” Trent asked, his voice loud in the small, pitch-black space of the cart’s interior.
“Y-Yes,” she managed to stutter out, nodding, though she knew Trent couldn’t see it.
“And – the kids?”
“Cheep! Cheep cheep!”
