She looked at the wall and grinned. “That’s my towel. I forgot I left it down here. I brought it in here with me in case D—Copper was hurt. On my way out, I left it here to make sure I was heading in the right direction.” No need to let him know she’d felt completely turned around thanks to her past memories.
“Good idea. We can pick it up on our way back. If we need to change your bandage, it will come in handy.” He started to move forward.
“I don’t know. Copper licked my face when I found him, and I wiped it off on that towel.”
He looked back at her. “Then no, we can’t use it for that.”
“But we can use it for toilet paper. I’ll use my knife to rip it up.”
“We may not be down here that long.”
She kept forgetting that they could actually be rescued in a few days. “True. I’ll just rip up half…for now.”
Garrett nodded then resumed his direction, moving assuredly down the path the rail ties made, stepping on every other one.
Her stride wasn’t the same at this pace, and she had to adjust every few ties, but it was still the easiest way to traverse the ground. The tunnel itself had very little room on either side, especially if she wanted to walk standing upright. They passed by Copper’s rabbit hole, the dog not even noticing the boards blocking the spot. He was as intent on what was ahead as Garrett.
She, on the other hand, was starting to sweat. Her whole body reacting to the knowledge that an entire mountain sat above her, and they headed deeper into it.One well-placed grenade, a single mortar, an errant air strike, and she’d be buried under it, unable to breathe, unable to move.
“I see something up ahead.” His voice startled her. He spoke over his shoulder, his curiosity obviously peaked.
She blinked, keeping her gaze on the ties until she came right up behind him then looked ahead. “It’s another juncture.” That didn’t excite her as much as it did him.
“Yes, but over here it looks like a resting place or maybe they switched carts out here, like some kind of transfer area.” He moved to a hollowed-out section that looked like her old cave, though not as tall, but definitely wide. It was a large semi-circle with the rail going by it. It was filled with debris, specifically rail ties.
“These could work if we make our tunnel small.” She picked a rail tie up off the four-foot pile. It fell apart in her hands. “Or maybe not.”
Garrett stood next to her. “They probably dumped the rotten wood here. Let’s see what else there is.”
She followed him since he had the light. There was a very old coffee pot, half a pick ax head, a couple metal wheels from ore cars, what looked like suspenders, and an old lantern. Too bad they couldn’t use that, but with no fuel, it was worthless to them.
“Hey, this would help.” Garrett held up what looked like the head of a shovel, though there was no handle. He handed it to her.
What she wouldn’t have done for one of these when she’d been in her cave. She probably could have escaped in far fewer days and with at least half her fingernails intact.
He pointed to the metal in her hand. If we can find another of those, we could work together, making faster progress.”
She stayed where she was as Garrett proceeded to make a thorough inspection of the items in the area, pushing things aside as he went. Copper followed him, sticking his nose into every nook and cranny he could find. Two rusted pullies fell off a pile of old wood and the dog jumped back. She pointed at them. “What did they need those for?”
Garrett stopped and looked back. “There must be a shaft or two down here. That’s when they dig straight down to another level. They would hoist men and buckets up and down. Or it could simply be such a steep incline that they needed a rope to navigate it.”
She shivered at the thought of crawling deeper into the mine.
He pointed to the floor next to the pulleys. “Some of these carbide cans are in better shape than the one we found earlier, but they’re too small for digging.”
“But they would be good for scooping.” Compared to bare hands, anything was better in her mind.
“Scooping?”
She needed to remember he had never been buried before. “Yes. We’re going to need a bathroom. The small room we found earlier would work well. It’s a separate area away from the entrance where we should sleep. We can use the cans to scoop dirt to cover over our waste, keeping the smell down.”
He studied her for moment. “Good idea. Here.” He handed her two cans with no holes in them.
She had to admit, he did seem to value her input. In the Army she always had to be assertive to have her opinion heard. Garrett could make this soldier go soft. She set the cans next to the shovel head on the ground at her feet. Then dusted the dirt from the cans off her hands by brushing them on her jeans. “Too bad they didn’t leave any gloves down here.”
Garrett faced her, a dirty old hat in his hand. “This is thick leather. The winters out here must have been a lot cooler than they are today.” He dropped it back on a three-legged stool that didn’t look strong enough to hold the weight. “Ah, now this might work.”
She waited as he pulled something from behind what looked like a pile of decayed straw.
