[Fanfic] Red West III. - Chapter twenty three
Title: RED WEST III.
Author: Kasumi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Western, Drama, Romance, Adventure, Historical fiction
Warning: AKame pairing - AU; vulgarisms, violence, explicit content
Beta-reading:
atago4
Summary: A direct sequel of Red West II. - Masterpost
A strange company of three young gunslingers and one Indian is on their way to Montana, while the infamous Black Riders continue their fight against Silver King of Colorado… Will they succeed or fail in the clash with the cruel environment and heartless Governor? Will their friendship, brotherhood and love persevere or be destroyed by greed, bloodshed and vengeance?
Thank you: To Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin, because this story wouldn´t have existed without them.
A/N: This is one of the longest chapters of RW so far. Enjoy.
I´m grateful for any opinion or advice, you help me hone my writing skills with them.
Thank you for taking time to read this story. I´ll be happy if you reward me with a comment for it.
Previously:
Prologue // Chapter one // Chapter two // Chapter three // Chapter four // Chapter five // Chapter six // Chapter seven // Chapter eight // Chapter nine // Chapter ten // Chapter eleven // Chapter twelve // Chapter thirteen // Chapter fourteen // Chapter fifteen // Chapter sixteen // Chapter seventeen // Chapter eighteen // Chapter nineteen // Chapter twenty // Chapter twenty one // Chapter twenty two //
Help!
It was the most annoying sound in the world. Groaning, he covered his ears, but it did not help at all. The piercing screeching stabbed in his brain as if it strived to split it into two halves.
In a desperate attempt to escape that awful noise, he sat up and scrambled to his feet, not remembering how he ended up in the lying position in the first place. Unable to keep his balance, he staggered and frantically searched for something to lean on, almost rushing into the wall. He grabbed on the stony surface and tried to take a deep breath. Instead, he started coughing heavily. The lack of oxygen in his cramped lungs sent him back to the ground, where he huddled up, scared by inability to control his own body.
It took ages before the seizure passed over, those ugly bells in his head somewhat quieted and Koki was able to catch his breath. Shaken up, he looked around and saw nothing. That terrified him. He felt the sickening panic rising up his throat until he finally remembered.
The yelling lunatic with a gun… He and Luke scattering to escape the random bullets… The sudden unbearable pressure and light, so much light…
Shit. That asshole really blasted it off…
Only now, Koki also noticed the strange smell in the air and forced himself to breathe slowly and shallowly.
I must find Luke!
He blinked a few times and was finally able to foggily recognize his surroundings, but he couldn´t figure the source of light out. He had no idea where could be the kerosene lamp, which he had been carrying before.
More carefully this time, he got up and turned around his axis slowly. With his head still spinning like crazy, he made a couple of trembling steps, closer to some flickering light.
Anxiously waiting for his eyes to accustom, he tried to remember which way he moved out of that shithead´s way. Moreover, what about Luke? Did he flee deeper into the mine or toward the crossroads?
Leaning on the wall of the tunnel, which seemed smaller than before, Koki walked forward again and finally realized it was the fire, which was brightening the darkness around him.
Double shit…
With the fire inside the mine, he could easily suffocate. He bent down, to keep himself low and wiped the teary eyes with his sleeve. He could finally see better and found out that it was one of the wooden carts, which caught fire, probably during the explosion. The fact that it was just one vehicle confused him. Tens of them should be stored over there, ready for daily use and there should be more smoke if they were ablaze as well.
Hoping that the situation was not as bad as it seemed, he looked beyond the burning pile and froze. He stared at what used to be the wide tunnel and spacious alcove, feeling like a damn statue. There was just a heap of ugly stones instead.
Koki started doubting if he was still really alive. What if that collapse buried his body under the pile of heavy rubble and he was just a ghost now, condemned to roam in this dark mine forever?
“Hurry up, sluggards!”
“But, boss, if there´s a fire…”
“Then we must put it out!”
The voices echoing somewhere behind him made stunned Koki turn. A couple of swinging lanterns appeared from behind the sharp corner of the tunnel. He realized that it was the very spot, which had probably saved his live - it shielded him from the destructive force of dynamite, so it did not hit him so hard. Thanks to it, he knew for sure on which side of the shaft he was now.
“Holy crap!” the huge man in lead of a small group shouted in shock, when he spotted Koki´s crooked figure on the background of the already fading fire.
“Damn it, what is it?”
“That´s Tanaka!”
“God, don´t scare me like this…”
“Man, what are you doing here?”
“What happened?”
“Shit, there´s blood on you…”
“It´s his head.”
“Give me something to cover it!”
“Tanaka, what happened?”
The gold miners overwhelmed Koki with tons of questions, but he was not able to perceive their meaning properly and even less to answer them. Therefore, he just raised his hand and pointed behind his back in a hopeless gesture.
“Crap… Guys, look at this!”
“We´re so screwed…”
Two men smothered the remaining fire, another one made Koki sit and bandaged his head, though he didn´t understand why, while the rest of miners hysterically lamented over the blocked tunnel.
“This should hold for a while,” said the miner treating him, with his face serious and filled with strange shadows thanks to the kerosene lantern put aside on the ground. Now, Koki remembered it was Coltrane - the head of the morning shift in the currently deepest part of the mine. Already aging, but reliable man, everybody knew he was one of the foreman´s favorite subordinates.
“Thanks,” Koki mumbled and leant on the wall behind him, feeling exhausted and depressed. “We´re in an awful mess, aren´t we?”
“You´ve got a point, boy,” Coltrane admitted quietly, before turning to the others: “Shut it for a while, damn it!”
It was quite a relief, when the miners finally fell silent, at least for Koki´s head. He could rest a bit in such peace and quiet…
Coltrane grabbed his shoulders firmly: “Tanaka, do you hear me? You must stay awake, okay?”
“How in the hell can I sleep right now?” Koki almost chuckled over such a stupid idea and reconsidered only in the last second. Such a thing would not help his burning lungs.
“So, you understand what I´m saying?”
“Yeah… You sound kind of funny, but I do.”
“Good. We heard the blast. What were you doing here? What went wrong?”
Koki took his time to find the right words: “Well, some cunt blew up a couple of boxes with dynamite here…. We tried to stop him, but…”
“We? Who else?”
“Luke was with me… Don´t know where… He might be on the other side,” Koki gestured to the stony blockade, trying to ignore the sick feeling, which clutched his stomach. If Luke was not quick or lucky enough, he certainly ended up under the debris.
“Are you kidding me?” one of the other miners burst out. “Who was that dynamite bastard?”
“He wanted all of us dead?” joined him another.
“What should we do?”
“What do you think we can do?”
“Shit…”
“My wife told me I shouldn´t come today… I should have listened to her.”
The miners began talking and complaining over each other, all of them scared and helpless.
Frowning Coltrane straightened up and stepped forward: “Calm the fuck down!”
“And how are we supposed to do that?” one of his subordinates yelled.
“I don´t wanna die here…” moaned another.
“Hey… Guys…” Koki tried to raise his voice, but only Coltrane heard him and hushed the others harshly with his hand. “There must be… a hole somewhere.”
“Why do you think so?” Coltrane asked tensely.
Koki took a deep breath, once again trying to calm down his nerves and think more clearly.
“That fire before… If the smoke wouldn´t be getting out somewhere, we´d have already suffocated here.”
There was a short, deep silence.
“He´s right,” one miner said, breaking it.
“Then we may find it and widen it.”
“And get out!”
“Yes!”
“All right, listen to me!” Coltrane spoke up again. “We must keep our heads cool, got it? Search this fucking avalanche through, but be extremely cautious. The blow could have disrupted much bigger space then only this and if we move with something the wrong way, we could make this only worse.”
“Got it, boss!”
“Sure thing!”
“Good. Let´s do it then!”
*
When the ground under his feet started dancing in the booming rhythm, Ned knew shit was going down. However, he did not know how could have that happened under his watch.
Although subdued by tons of rock, the deafening blow scared everyone working near the mine´s entrance shitless. No matter what they were doing, everyone remained rooted on the spot and stared at the ominous cloud of dust and smoke pushing itself out, while the short but the more frightening earthquake passed through the soil under them. There was no need to tell anyone this was not another minor collapse.
Ned pulled back the covering over the water barrels and observed the dust flooding out of the mine´s entrance. Something exploded in there, something what was not supposed to be inside at all, since he personally checked that all explosive materials were in the protected and guarded shed. Someone had to bring it down there intentionally. There was no other option.
“Shit,” he uttered under his nose, already trying to figure out the best way to handle the situation.
Nobody with a common sense would dare to detonate inside the mine without his permission, no matter how hard the rock would be. He made sure of it. There would be very dire consequences for anyone who would violate this ban. Even without knowing what exactly happened, he was quite certain that person did it with the intention to damage the mine and harm those working inside.
“Shit!” he cursed again, missing the clatter of hooves behind his back.
“What the hell was that?”
Ned turned to the owner of the uptight voice, who just arrived to the mining area. It was Danny McFly. He had to admit - although not a clever mind, Henderson´s right hand had the perfect timing.
“Try guessin´,” he growled caustically and looked around for the fastest rider. “Seth! Seth!! Stop starin´ and come here, damn it!”
Finally snapping out of shock, the youngster rushed to him with his eyes wide: “Yes, boss?”
“Ride to the city. Alert both the sheriff and the doc. Also ask for volunteers, we´ll need all the help we can get.”
Seth nodded and ran away for the nearest horse.
“You,” Ned looked up at anxious McFly. “Ride for Mr. Cameron, let him know about this right away.”
“Of course, I will, but…”
“No ´buts´! I´ve got no time for stupid questions!”
Seth approached them already in the saddle and dared to start objecting as well: “But, boss, we should know…”
“What?!” snapped Ned, making his subordinate flinch.
It was McFly, who pointed at the panicky mess in front of the mine: “What exactly should we say about this?”
Ned gritted his teeth and huffed. That was right; he should send them off for help with at least some specific information. He didn´t have to think the answer out for long.
“Tell them that somebody blew up Henderson´s mine,” he stated without hesitation.
*
They stopped their horses at the edge of the forest. Under the short cliff below them, there was chaos. All the miners ran around shouting at each other. The most numerous group was gathering near the entrance, the rest of them took care for a couple of figures lying on the ground nearby. The only thing, which could mean at least some good news, was that the smoke they had noticed before did not have its source here. No matter what caught fire before, it seemed to be extinguished already.
“I think it´s better to leave our horses here,” Jin suggested cheerlessly.
“Agreed, they would only get in the way,” nodded Kame and swiftly dismounted to lead Ukushi to the nearest convenient tree.
Jin did the same with Kuro and frowning Ryo followed their example.
“I still don´t get it,” the Rider rumbled while tying his horse´s reins around the tall spruce. “That dumbass got a gold rush or something? What made Koki start working here?”
“It´s a bit complicated,” Kame replied stiffly and grabbed the first aid kit, while Jin got the water flasks. After even Ryo received his load - the long rope - he had to admit that considering how fast the two of them prepared to leave, they came here ready for anything.
“I´d love to hear his reasons for this, really,” he continued complaining, as they were already on the way down, leaving the white mare, the black stallion and Ryo´s horse behind their backs.
“You can ask about them once we find him,” Kame assumed in a strained voice.
“Only if we do,” Jin mumbled pessimistically.
Ryo shot him an upset look: “Don´t talk like this!”
“I´m just a realist! Look around again!” opposed Jin.
“Oh, yeah, I do have eyes!”
“So, does this look like an easy task to you?”
“Why are you here in the first place then, huh?” growled Ryo harshly.
Kame turned on his heel abruptly, pushing the waterfall of pebbles to slip down under his feet: “Stop it! Arguing won´t help anything!”
All three of them stood there in the middle of slope in the tense silence, only the shouts of miners reaching them for a while.
“Sorry,” spoke Jin first.
“Me too,” Ryo joined him shaking his head. “It´s just…”
“I know,” Kame sighed. “We´re all worried about him. Let´s go...”
*
“This is not enough! More!”
Four workers dashed off to prepare additional wooden props.
“And brin´ them closer!” Ned yelled another instruction after them, before he looked around the faces of all gathered men.
There weren´t even a dozen, and none of them wanted to go, but they had no choice. If they were about to save anyone, they had to go in there quickly or they didn´t have to try at all.
“Watch your heads all the time. Keep your lanterns and matches safe, no loud noises. As we go, pass each of my orders one to another, no yellin´. Do not forget to brin´ at least some water with you. If you catch any suspicious noise, let me know. Got it?”
Most of them nodded seriously, others gave out a weak ´yes´. Ned had to suppress an annoyed reaction. Apparently, he could expect half of them start whining five yards away from the exit.
“Hey! Where do you think you´re going?”
“This is private property!”
“Though it´s hard to say whose property, huh?”
“What the…?”
“Stay here!”
“Get out of our way or I´ll make you!”
Suspecting more troubles, Ned turned to face three youngsters, who were heading quite confidently toward his hastily organized rescue group. Two of his men were trying - needless to say that very unsuccessfully - to stop them. Not very willing to handle anything else apart that mess in the mine, Ned went to meet them.
“What´s goin´ on?” he asked harshly, his voice making his subordinates flinch. Everyone was a bit on the edge.
“We´re not here to cause trouble, Mister.”
The young man said that with a deadly serious expression and from some reason, Ned believed him. Even if he didn´t like this Indian Agent very much, he already knew he was an honest fellow.
“Let them pass!” he waved the two miners away, eying the incomers critically.
His men stepped aside, revealing Kamenashi, a black haired youngster whom Ned had never seen before and naturally - Akanishi. All three of them seemed they didn´t get much sleep during the night, but at the same time, they were apparently determined.
“What do you want here then?” he asked sternly.
“We heard the blow and figured something happened in the mine,” Kamenashi explained seriously and concisely. “You need all the help you can get, don´t you?”
Ned would have laughed, if the situation would not suck so much. That annoying Agent boy used his own words and he was more than damn right.
“And you´re here to provide it?”
“By all means.”
Considering the current state of things, Ned didn´t see any reason to refuse them.
“Fine,” he turned to his men again. “What are you waitin´ for? Didn´t I tell you what to gather?”
Not even if he started firing, they would not have scattered more briskly.
“What you´ve got with you?” he asked the unexpected newcomers sharply, already thinking about with what he could load them.
“Bandages, water, rope, matches. No lanterns,” Kamenashi provided the brief list.
That was a way better than Ned had expected. He eyed all of them suspiciously again.
“How you got here so quickly?”
“Our house is just a mile away from this mess, man,” Akanishi growled. “What do you think?”
Ned decided to overlook his cheeky tone and focused on the stranger: “And who´s this?”
“Our friend - Ryo,” Kamenashi introduced.
The black-haired fellow raised his hand: “Nice to meet you.”
Ned raised his eyebrow: “It´d be a very short meetin´ since you´re stickin´ your nose into this,” he commented, still wondering for what reason would they sign themselves in this.
“We´re volunteering, man,” Akanishi reminded caustically. “What are you complaining about?”
“I figured that much. Just wonderin´ why...”
“How many men are you missing?” Kamenashi asked.
Frowning, Ned shrugged: “Twenty to thirty, not sure yet.”
“Anyone got out?”
“Only them,” he pointed at the spot with the temporary infirmary and finally realized what made them come. “You´re lookin´ for someone?”
“Yes, Koki Tanaka,” Kamenashi admitted without excuses. “He´s not among them, we´ve already checked. He was supposed to be in the morning shift, even though he overslept...”
Ned nodded: “He´s inside. He arrived with that bunch, which came in late today. I sent them quite deep.”
The short silence fell upon the three, as they exchange worried glances.
“What about that fire?” Akanishi asked then.
That surprised Ned: “What fire?”
“We saw some dark smoke right after the explosion, but it´s gone now,” Kamenashi explained. “Did you put it down?”
“No. Where exactly did you see it?”
The young Agent wondered for a while, looking around: “To the east from here, I think.”
Ned took a sharp breath. Once he connected this information with that rattle of rocks he had heard before, he realized what might have happened. They had not seen the smoke from here, because if the blast happened in the south tunnel, mountains and trees covered it from their eyes.
“If there was smoke, there could be a hole. Come with me, you´ll show me on the map,” he gestured Kamenashi.
The other two came along too, as they rushed to his tent and then leant over the mine´s map spread out on the sturdy table.
“It was here,” Kamenashi found the area with admirable certainty.
“You´re sure?”
“Pretty sure, yes,” Akanishi confirmed it as well, while the young Agent nodded seriously.
“All right,” Ned stepped out of the tent: “Cooper! Cooper!”
At his call, a tall man in his forties - the leader of the afternoon shift - joined them. He looked over the youngsters behind his back, before focusing on Ned.
“Yes? What do you need?”
“Take a horse, ride up the south hillside and check if there´s any new hole over there. The stone avalanche might lead you to the spot.”
Cooper´s eyes widened, but he nodded without questions and Ned continued.
“If it is, and we won´t be outside within two hours, take more men and try to verify if it´s possible to get into the mine through there. You´ll be in charge here meanwhile.”
“Understood. I´m going right away.”
Cooper hurried away and Ned turned to the three volunteers again: “Is any of you skilled in first aid?”
“I am,” Kamenashi came forward.
“Great. We´ve got a couple of seriously wounded men; can you look after them until the doc from Bozeman comes?”
Kamenashi seemed to be a little uncertain suddenly, but he nodded nevertheless.
“You two - have you ever been in the mine before? No? So, look,” Ned quickly started explaining over the map. “That´s the main tunnel. It´s splittin´ in two after half a mile. This is probably the spot, where it blew off and crumbled down part of the mine, no idea how big. So far, no one was able to tell me what exactly happened there. I just assume how it could be. There´ll be poor visibility, heat, a lot of debris and high probability of everythin´ fallin´ on our heads.”
Akanishi´s frown deepened with each of his words, but once Ned looked up to them, he seriously nodded.
“Sounds lovely,” that Ryo lad commented.
“It´s on your own risk. The explosion probably disrupted the whole mine, it can go down rumblin´ any time,” Ned emphasized. “I won´t take responsibility for any of you. Got it?”
*
Kame and Jin exchanged the short look. There was no need for more words. They both knew they signed up for this already on the veranda of their house, when they decided to come.
Jin turned to the black supervisor of the mine: “I´m going,” he confirmed again.
“Me too,” Ryo nodded as well and stretched his arms over his head. “We´ll find that dumbass friend of ours and get the hell out with him.”
“Fine,” the foreman grabbed the lantern from the table. “My men are ready. We mustn´t waste any more time. Come on!”
Ryo followed the quick steps of the mine´s supervisor right away, but the warm grip on Jin´s elbow prevented him from doing the same.
“Be careful,” Kame requested worriedly, giving him a serious look.
Jin forced himself to a little grin: “As always. Don´t you know me?”
Kame´s hand around his tightened.
“Once Dr. Best comes, I´ll come help you inside,” his boyfriend said quietly.
Jin shook his head and turned, squeezing Kame´s slender shoulder: “Rather stay here. We´ll be out before you even realize it, I promise.”
*
“Watch out!”
The warning sounded just in time for Koki to gather himself up on his feet and move out of the way of heavy stones falling down the pile. He covered his nose with his sleeve, gloomily observing the cloud of dust slowly settling down.
His head was still spinning and he felt sick. He gave a great deal of energy just to keep the modest breakfast inside his stomach. He could bet his colleagues would not thank him for making their closed up space even more uncomfortable than it already was by vomiting.
A heavy hand landed on his shoulder: “Are you okay?” Coltrane asked cautiously.
“I´ve been worse,” Koki assumed objectively.
“It´s not working!” one of the miners balancing on the top the cave-in complained unhappily.
“The more we get away, the more of them fall!” completed him the other.
Coltrane moved closer and observed the non-existing result of their efforts.
“Move a bit more to the right,” he decided then.
“But there´s no point in this!”
“Stop squealing and keep trying!” the shift´s leader scolded them. “We´re not gonna give this up as long as we breathe, is that clear, you bunch of girls?”
“But why should we?”
“Boss, don´t you see that…”
Coltrane cut his subordinates off again: “Because I bet they´ll come looking for us! And once they get to this,” he waved over the collapse, “they must find at least some sign of us trying to get out, otherwise they won´t know we´re alive! Any more stupid questions?”
“No, boss…”
“Great! Keep digging then!”
*
Cameron arrived at the place when it already resembled a large busy anthill.
A bunch of miners swarmed near the mine, clearing up the space in front of it and apparently solidifying the entrance. Some men from Bozeman were making the new supporting props at the edge of woods, while women were nursing the wounded ones next to the warehouse. Among them, the rest of volunteers ran around, carrying tools, bandages and water.
He evaluated the chaotic situation with one long look, before he dismounted his hot and sweating horse and threw the reins to Danny, who reached the mine´s area just a few seconds in front of him.
“Mr. Henderson!”
“Cooper,” Cameron turned to the tall man, who noticed his arrival and hurried to him right away. “How does it look so far? Any casualties?” he asked dryly.
The man stopped in front of him breathless and obviously agitated, but it seemed he was able to control himself.
“We don´t know about anyone yet. Those, who got out already, have only minor injuries or they´re all right. Dr. Best´s taking care of them. About the rest…” Cooper shook his head without any more words.
Henderson gestured toward the temporary infirmary: “Is any of them able to explain what exactly happened inside?”
“They´re quite shaken up, sir, but all of them agree on that something exploded in the south tunnel.”
Cameron looked at Danny, who had already led their horses aside and observed the fuss around the mine anxiously.
“You´ve told me somebody blew it up.”
“That´s what Ned had said and he was pretty sure about it,” his assistant explained.
“I´d rely on Ned´s words, sir,” Cooper offered. “He was very thorough regarding our dynamite supplies. The mine was supposed to be clear of explosives.”
Cameron nodded in agreement; he knew he could rely on the foreman´s judgment.
“We´ll handle with this later. Ned´s leading the rescue operation, I assume?”
“That´s right. He put me in command while he´s not here. So, if you´re all right with that…”
“I´d have done the same, you shall continue,” Cameron approved. “Keep me informed about any changes.”
“Yes, sir!”
Cooper rushed back to the mine and Cameron turned to Danny: “Find and keep an eye on the documentation in Ned´s tent. I´ll need to know how much dynamite precisely was stocked here and how much is gone.”
Danny simply nodded and walked off to carry out the order, while Cameron headed to the separated space for treating the wounded, trying hard to suppress his annoyance over the fact that he had no idea who might have done something like this.
*
“Thank you for coming so quickly, Dr. Best.”
Herbert recognized that cold, haughty voice. He had been expecting it for a while already, and didn´t even look up from his work, when he replied: “It´s my job, Mr. Henderson.”
“Is anyone here in immediate danger?” the mine´s owner asked, but the doctor could tell there was no real worry in the man´s voice. He had been doing his job for long enough to recognize who really cared and who did not.
“Not really,” he tightened the bandage around the wrist of an older miner and straightened up. “But can you please arrange these two to be transported to my clinic?” he pointed on the two - currently unconscious - men. “I need to treat them more properly than I can under these circumstances. I suspect they might have inner injuries.”
Henderson nodded: “I understand, and it will be done. Your help is greatly appreciated.”
Herbert suppressed an urge to comment his sense of gratefulness and checked the bandage around another miner´s head. He did not perform this treatment, but it was almost perfect. He knew about the bad relations Cameron Henderson had with certain people in the city, but he just could not remain quiet.
“I must say I´m not the only one whom you should express your gratitude, Mister.”
Henderson looked at him surprised: “How comes?”
“Those two,” Herbert turned to the two most seriously injured again, “had quite awful open fractures. They´re alive only thanks to the early treatment, which stopped their bleeding. If not for Kamenashi, I wouldn´t be able to do much for them.”
Hearing the name, Henderson stiffened up a little.
“Kamenashi?” he repeated with a perfectly controlled tone of his voice.
“Yes,” Herbert confirmed. “I´ve been told he appeared here among the first volunteers to help. He had been taking care of the injured miners until I managed to arrive.”
“Is that so?” Henderson didn´t seem very thrilled, but at the same time not surprised. “I shall thank him as well then, but… I haven´t seen him around. Where is he now?”
With a concerned frown, Herbert nodded toward the mine´s entrance: “Unfortunately inside. I couldn´t persuade him otherwise,” he said, once again regretting he was not able to talk Kamenashi out of his idea.
“I see…” Henderson noted, staring at the dark hole. “Then I must wait until he gets out again, right?”
Herbert eyed the man suspiciously. He didn´t have a good feeling about that expression he recognized on Henderson´s face. From some reason, it suddenly felt like Henderson´s own mine turned out to be his worst enemy. Then the strange moment was gone.
“I´ll leave you to your work and arrange that transport.”
“That would be great, thank you,” Herbert nodded and watched the mine´s owner walking away with a strange hunch. Henderson never let it be seen on him, but he felt that the man really hated Kamenashi.
With a heavy mind, Herbert went to meet another injured man, who just stumbled out of the mine. He was sure that Kamenashi´s skills would come handy in that dark pit, but the young man always took a too great risk for the sake of strangers. It didn´t have to pay off for him this time…
*
The gold mine was a creepy place engulfed in impenetrable shadows and full of strange sounds. The deeper they went, the warmer it got and it felt like they were breathing pure dust instead of air. Jin did not understand how anyone could voluntarily mine the gold ore under such conditions.
Even though most of the rescue group carried the brightly glowing kerosene lanterns, it took him a while to get used to horrible visibility and stop stumbling over the tracks for carts and omnipresent gangue. Especially while he was dragging the sturdy, wooden prop with him, just as the rest of men.
Jin stopped shortly, just to catch a breath, by the dark, probably dead end branch of the tunnel. They had already passed a few messy holes as this one was; the mine was a way more complicated than Ned had explained them on that map. Without a guide, who knew if they would be even able to find the exit? This place made a damn ominous impression on him.
He altered the position of the prop on his shoulder and took up the pace with the others quickly again, pondering gloomily. He was actually amazed how anyone could have such a talent for getting into trouble all the time. He had stepped right into a messy shit a couple of times himself, but Koki Tanaka was a special case indeed. The crazy Rider didn´t listen to him or Kame, when they had advised him against this job and now he got what he was asking for - to be buried alive.
Shivers run across Jin´s spine at the thought. Even though he was upset at that stubborn dumbass for pulling them into this mess, he was worried sick for him at the same time. Koki was annoying and kept clinging to Kame too much, even though he knew that it irritated him, but he didn´t want anything bad happen to him. Not to mention that Ryo was certainly much more worried and taken aback than he was. The black haired Rider just arrived and already found himself on this dangerous rescue mission.
They proceeded forward very slowly, but Jin realized that the black foreman knew his job the best from everyone around and he followed his instructions with trust. Ned was leading their group carefully, stopping often and remaining motionless, as if listening to something they could not hear. He also ordered to place more pit props on certain spots, which left already half of their group behind, working on the tunnel reinforcements. All of this kept delaying them, but Jin believed it was for their safe return, so he bore with the heavy load without complaints.
The tunnel suddenly widened and their surroundings warmed up abruptly. They reached the wide crossroads, where the mine divided into two smaller corridors - southern and western. It was also the first place, on which was evident that something happened in the mine. Besides the awful air, which carried the smell of burns, there were many stones and wooden mess scattered all around. Not to mention a quite distinctive crack on the ceiling above their heads.
They all gathered there around the foreman, who stared at the ceiling for quite a long while, but didn´t comment on it.
“Use all the remaining props here,” the black man instructed two miners then. “Work on it quickly, but carefully.”
Jin exhaled with relief - he could get rid of that damn heavy pillar finally.
“Be really alert now,” Ned emphasized to everyone seriously, and from some reason without the previous harshness.
“And what´ve we been doing until now?” one of the men complained in a hoarse voice.
The foreman ignored him and continued: “In case things go wron´, don´t wait for anythin´ and just head for the exit.”
The group fell silent, not expecting such an order.
“Is it really so bad, boss?” a young miner dared to ask.
Ned looked above their heads again, before he replied: “The explosion ruffled with the mine more than I expected. I still wanna try and find the rest of our men, but if any of you is too afraid to go further, leave now.”
Nobody uttered a word and Ned nodded in appreciation.
“All right. Four of you - take the west. Make sure no one stayed there. The rest of you, follow me.”
*
The extent of the gold mine impressed Ryo, but he disliked the place just as Jin did. He advanced through the tunnel right behind the black foreman, unable to suppress the pessimistic ideas of what they might find ahead.
During the journey north, he had been looking forward to surprise their friends by unannounced arrival. Instead, he now feared for Koki´s life, not to mention his own.
Suddenly, someone grabbed his shoulder and stopped him from going any further.
“Not so quickly, lad,” Ned warned him. “More light!”
The others brought their lanterns forward immediately and something appeared in their sight. It was the motionless corpse, lying on the side of the corridor. Ryo would have tripped over it, if Ned wouldn´t pulled him back. He gulped down heavily. The male body was a half-burnt, half-bloody mess, partially trapped under the fallen stones, with an almost unrecognizable face.
“Shit…” one of the miners behind his back said.
“Damn it,” Ryo breathed out. “It seems we can´t help this one anymore,” he murmured in a strained voice. The view startled him, but he was also relieved it wasn´t Koki. And when he turned to look at Jin, he noticed the very same relief on his face.
“Yeah… We all can see that,” Ned said in a blank tone, made two slow steps and raised his lantern higher. The huge pile of more stones appeared in the light. “I expected somethin´ like that,” he commented it gloomily, while the miners in their group gasped and cursed quietly.
“What now, boss?”
“What are we supposed to do with this?”
“Shut it,” Ned hushed them. “Listen.”
There was nothing but deafening silence.
“Just what do you…?” Jin whispered, but he was cut off by the sharp scratching and muffled rumble.
Ryo saw it first: “Chief? Up there…” he pointed at the top of the collapse.
Something shifted, a few small pebbles rolled down to their feet and then a hole appeared on the top of the pile.
“Hey! We´re here!”
“Do you hear us?”
“Help!”
“We found them!” one of the miners shouted triumphantly, making Ryo flinch from the unpleasantly loud sound. “They´re alive!”
“Help us!”
The foreman raised his voice only very cautiously: “Yes, we hear you! Stop yellin´!”
“That´s the boss!”
“Ned!”
“I said stop yelling or I swear to God we´re gonna leave you there!” the foreman hissed and that finally made the voices from the buried tunnel calm down.
Ned turned to them again and started giving out orders: “You two - climb up carefully and help them to remove the stones from our side. Don´t just throw them away, use them to strengthen the walls next to the hole or hand it over to the men under you, if they´re useless. Move it!”
*
It took them a couple of long, tense minutes, until the passage was big enough for a man to make it through. Everybody rejoiced, when a dirty, sweaty face of the first miner appeared on their side.
“You´ve got no idea how happy I´m to see your ugly faces,” the man breathed out and accepted the helping hands of his colleagues.
“Shut it and hurry up,” Ned growled. “Don´t drag yourself over the stones under you. Help him down. Slowly! Good… Come here. How many of you are there?”
“Almost a whole shift,” the man replied.
“Anyone wounded?”
“Yeah, Jones. He practically stabbed himself with the pickaxe and he´s bleeding like a pig.”
“Guys! Get Jones out as the first!”
“Got it, boss!”
Ned turned to the miner again: “Anyone else?”
The man nodded: “Also Tanaka.”
Hearing the name, both Ryo and Jin froze with heavy stones in their hands.
“What´s up with him?” Ryo demanded more details worriedly.
The miner shrugged: “It seems that he hit his head and he´s a bit off. The others only have some scratches.”
*
Astonished Koki watched as one miner after another pulled themselves through that damn tiny hole. Just how could they fit in there?
“Tanaka. Hey! Tanaka!”
He looked at Coltrane whose head seemed somewhat bigger than it should have been.
“Your turn. I´ll help you up.”
“But… It´s too small…” Koki murmured.
“Don´t worry,” the older miner assured him. “You´re half the size of those who´re already out.”
*
Ned was gradually sending the rescued miners in small groups to the exit, therefore there was only a few of them left, when the bandaged head appeared in the passage.
“Finally,” Ryo rushed to help the foreman to drag his wounded friend out of the hole.
“Hold this on your wound. And be careful on your way out.”
A familiar voice made Jin turn. Of course - it was Kame. His lover appeared in the light of lanterns, his forehead sweaty and hands all bloody, as he apparently treated the miners on his way to the depths of the mine.
A little out of breath, Kame stopped by Jin´s side, leant on his shoulder and his eyes focused on the top of the collapse.
“Is it Koki?”
“Yes,” he confirmed grimly. “What are you doing here?”
Kame gave him a sideway look: “Did you really think I´d stay outside?”
Jin leant closer to him: “I´d like to strangle you right now, but I love you too much for it,” he whispered in his ear reproachfully.
The corners of Kame´s lips twitched in a delighted smile, but he didn´t say anything. And then they already reached out their hands to help Ryo with Koki, who was apparently conscious and confused as hell.
“What… are you all doing here?”
“Rescuing you, idiot,” relieved Ryo welcomed his buddy.
Koki peered at him: "Hey... You look funny."
Frowning Kame checked the bandage on Koki´s head: “He´s still bleeding. Let´s get him out quickly.”
“Yes, please… I´ll be eternally grateful,” Koki mumbled and looked down. “Damn… That´s Luke…”
Ryo supported him under his shoulders: “There´s nothing you can do for him,” he said quietly.
“But…” even though Koki realized that Ryo was right, he didn´t want to believe it. He gulped down heavily, tears stinging in his eyes. “Shit…”
With heavy rattling of stones, the foreman and the morning shift´s leader joined their little group.
“Save your heartfelt welcome for later,” Ned recommended them.
As a dark confirmation to the truth of his words, a kind of soft crackling was heard somewhere under their feet.
“I totally agree - let´s get out while we still can,” Ryo murmured.
Jin grabbed Koki from the other side and Kame held on to their heels, as they rushed back, right after Coltrane and Ned, who led the way.
The mountain growled and the rock above their heads shook, covering their hair with grains of sand. Breathless and with blood throbbing in their ears, they finally reached the underground crossroads. But before they all could go over it toward the wider tunnel leading to the exit, the ground under their feet shook again. Something crackled sharply and heavy clouds of dust filled up the mine.
“Stick to the walls!” shouted Ned, just before the rock above their heads fell apart with a deafening rattle.
- To be continued -
Author: Kasumi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Western, Drama, Romance, Adventure, Historical fiction
Warning: AKame pairing - AU; vulgarisms, violence, explicit content
Beta-reading:
atago4
Summary: A direct sequel of Red West II. - Masterpost
A strange company of three young gunslingers and one Indian is on their way to Montana, while the infamous Black Riders continue their fight against Silver King of Colorado… Will they succeed or fail in the clash with the cruel environment and heartless Governor? Will their friendship, brotherhood and love persevere or be destroyed by greed, bloodshed and vengeance?
Thank you: To Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin, because this story wouldn´t have existed without them.
A/N: This is one of the longest chapters of RW so far. Enjoy.
I´m grateful for any opinion or advice, you help me hone my writing skills with them.
Thank you for taking time to read this story. I´ll be happy if you reward me with a comment for it.
Previously:
Prologue // Chapter one // Chapter two // Chapter three // Chapter four // Chapter five // Chapter six // Chapter seven // Chapter eight // Chapter nine // Chapter ten // Chapter eleven // Chapter twelve // Chapter thirteen // Chapter fourteen // Chapter fifteen // Chapter sixteen // Chapter seventeen // Chapter eighteen // Chapter nineteen // Chapter twenty // Chapter twenty one // Chapter twenty two //
Help!
It was the most annoying sound in the world. Groaning, he covered his ears, but it did not help at all. The piercing screeching stabbed in his brain as if it strived to split it into two halves.
In a desperate attempt to escape that awful noise, he sat up and scrambled to his feet, not remembering how he ended up in the lying position in the first place. Unable to keep his balance, he staggered and frantically searched for something to lean on, almost rushing into the wall. He grabbed on the stony surface and tried to take a deep breath. Instead, he started coughing heavily. The lack of oxygen in his cramped lungs sent him back to the ground, where he huddled up, scared by inability to control his own body.
It took ages before the seizure passed over, those ugly bells in his head somewhat quieted and Koki was able to catch his breath. Shaken up, he looked around and saw nothing. That terrified him. He felt the sickening panic rising up his throat until he finally remembered.
The yelling lunatic with a gun… He and Luke scattering to escape the random bullets… The sudden unbearable pressure and light, so much light…
Shit. That asshole really blasted it off…
Only now, Koki also noticed the strange smell in the air and forced himself to breathe slowly and shallowly.
I must find Luke!
He blinked a few times and was finally able to foggily recognize his surroundings, but he couldn´t figure the source of light out. He had no idea where could be the kerosene lamp, which he had been carrying before.
More carefully this time, he got up and turned around his axis slowly. With his head still spinning like crazy, he made a couple of trembling steps, closer to some flickering light.
Anxiously waiting for his eyes to accustom, he tried to remember which way he moved out of that shithead´s way. Moreover, what about Luke? Did he flee deeper into the mine or toward the crossroads?
Leaning on the wall of the tunnel, which seemed smaller than before, Koki walked forward again and finally realized it was the fire, which was brightening the darkness around him.
Double shit…
With the fire inside the mine, he could easily suffocate. He bent down, to keep himself low and wiped the teary eyes with his sleeve. He could finally see better and found out that it was one of the wooden carts, which caught fire, probably during the explosion. The fact that it was just one vehicle confused him. Tens of them should be stored over there, ready for daily use and there should be more smoke if they were ablaze as well.
Hoping that the situation was not as bad as it seemed, he looked beyond the burning pile and froze. He stared at what used to be the wide tunnel and spacious alcove, feeling like a damn statue. There was just a heap of ugly stones instead.
Koki started doubting if he was still really alive. What if that collapse buried his body under the pile of heavy rubble and he was just a ghost now, condemned to roam in this dark mine forever?
“Hurry up, sluggards!”
“But, boss, if there´s a fire…”
“Then we must put it out!”
The voices echoing somewhere behind him made stunned Koki turn. A couple of swinging lanterns appeared from behind the sharp corner of the tunnel. He realized that it was the very spot, which had probably saved his live - it shielded him from the destructive force of dynamite, so it did not hit him so hard. Thanks to it, he knew for sure on which side of the shaft he was now.
“Holy crap!” the huge man in lead of a small group shouted in shock, when he spotted Koki´s crooked figure on the background of the already fading fire.
“Damn it, what is it?”
“That´s Tanaka!”
“God, don´t scare me like this…”
“Man, what are you doing here?”
“What happened?”
“Shit, there´s blood on you…”
“It´s his head.”
“Give me something to cover it!”
“Tanaka, what happened?”
The gold miners overwhelmed Koki with tons of questions, but he was not able to perceive their meaning properly and even less to answer them. Therefore, he just raised his hand and pointed behind his back in a hopeless gesture.
“Crap… Guys, look at this!”
“We´re so screwed…”
Two men smothered the remaining fire, another one made Koki sit and bandaged his head, though he didn´t understand why, while the rest of miners hysterically lamented over the blocked tunnel.
“This should hold for a while,” said the miner treating him, with his face serious and filled with strange shadows thanks to the kerosene lantern put aside on the ground. Now, Koki remembered it was Coltrane - the head of the morning shift in the currently deepest part of the mine. Already aging, but reliable man, everybody knew he was one of the foreman´s favorite subordinates.
“Thanks,” Koki mumbled and leant on the wall behind him, feeling exhausted and depressed. “We´re in an awful mess, aren´t we?”
“You´ve got a point, boy,” Coltrane admitted quietly, before turning to the others: “Shut it for a while, damn it!”
It was quite a relief, when the miners finally fell silent, at least for Koki´s head. He could rest a bit in such peace and quiet…
Coltrane grabbed his shoulders firmly: “Tanaka, do you hear me? You must stay awake, okay?”
“How in the hell can I sleep right now?” Koki almost chuckled over such a stupid idea and reconsidered only in the last second. Such a thing would not help his burning lungs.
“So, you understand what I´m saying?”
“Yeah… You sound kind of funny, but I do.”
“Good. We heard the blast. What were you doing here? What went wrong?”
Koki took his time to find the right words: “Well, some cunt blew up a couple of boxes with dynamite here…. We tried to stop him, but…”
“We? Who else?”
“Luke was with me… Don´t know where… He might be on the other side,” Koki gestured to the stony blockade, trying to ignore the sick feeling, which clutched his stomach. If Luke was not quick or lucky enough, he certainly ended up under the debris.
“Are you kidding me?” one of the other miners burst out. “Who was that dynamite bastard?”
“He wanted all of us dead?” joined him another.
“What should we do?”
“What do you think we can do?”
“Shit…”
“My wife told me I shouldn´t come today… I should have listened to her.”
The miners began talking and complaining over each other, all of them scared and helpless.
Frowning Coltrane straightened up and stepped forward: “Calm the fuck down!”
“And how are we supposed to do that?” one of his subordinates yelled.
“I don´t wanna die here…” moaned another.
“Hey… Guys…” Koki tried to raise his voice, but only Coltrane heard him and hushed the others harshly with his hand. “There must be… a hole somewhere.”
“Why do you think so?” Coltrane asked tensely.
Koki took a deep breath, once again trying to calm down his nerves and think more clearly.
“That fire before… If the smoke wouldn´t be getting out somewhere, we´d have already suffocated here.”
There was a short, deep silence.
“He´s right,” one miner said, breaking it.
“Then we may find it and widen it.”
“And get out!”
“Yes!”
“All right, listen to me!” Coltrane spoke up again. “We must keep our heads cool, got it? Search this fucking avalanche through, but be extremely cautious. The blow could have disrupted much bigger space then only this and if we move with something the wrong way, we could make this only worse.”
“Got it, boss!”
“Sure thing!”
“Good. Let´s do it then!”
*
When the ground under his feet started dancing in the booming rhythm, Ned knew shit was going down. However, he did not know how could have that happened under his watch.
Although subdued by tons of rock, the deafening blow scared everyone working near the mine´s entrance shitless. No matter what they were doing, everyone remained rooted on the spot and stared at the ominous cloud of dust and smoke pushing itself out, while the short but the more frightening earthquake passed through the soil under them. There was no need to tell anyone this was not another minor collapse.
Ned pulled back the covering over the water barrels and observed the dust flooding out of the mine´s entrance. Something exploded in there, something what was not supposed to be inside at all, since he personally checked that all explosive materials were in the protected and guarded shed. Someone had to bring it down there intentionally. There was no other option.
“Shit,” he uttered under his nose, already trying to figure out the best way to handle the situation.
Nobody with a common sense would dare to detonate inside the mine without his permission, no matter how hard the rock would be. He made sure of it. There would be very dire consequences for anyone who would violate this ban. Even without knowing what exactly happened, he was quite certain that person did it with the intention to damage the mine and harm those working inside.
“Shit!” he cursed again, missing the clatter of hooves behind his back.
“What the hell was that?”
Ned turned to the owner of the uptight voice, who just arrived to the mining area. It was Danny McFly. He had to admit - although not a clever mind, Henderson´s right hand had the perfect timing.
“Try guessin´,” he growled caustically and looked around for the fastest rider. “Seth! Seth!! Stop starin´ and come here, damn it!”
Finally snapping out of shock, the youngster rushed to him with his eyes wide: “Yes, boss?”
“Ride to the city. Alert both the sheriff and the doc. Also ask for volunteers, we´ll need all the help we can get.”
Seth nodded and ran away for the nearest horse.
“You,” Ned looked up at anxious McFly. “Ride for Mr. Cameron, let him know about this right away.”
“Of course, I will, but…”
“No ´buts´! I´ve got no time for stupid questions!”
Seth approached them already in the saddle and dared to start objecting as well: “But, boss, we should know…”
“What?!” snapped Ned, making his subordinate flinch.
It was McFly, who pointed at the panicky mess in front of the mine: “What exactly should we say about this?”
Ned gritted his teeth and huffed. That was right; he should send them off for help with at least some specific information. He didn´t have to think the answer out for long.
“Tell them that somebody blew up Henderson´s mine,” he stated without hesitation.
*
They stopped their horses at the edge of the forest. Under the short cliff below them, there was chaos. All the miners ran around shouting at each other. The most numerous group was gathering near the entrance, the rest of them took care for a couple of figures lying on the ground nearby. The only thing, which could mean at least some good news, was that the smoke they had noticed before did not have its source here. No matter what caught fire before, it seemed to be extinguished already.
“I think it´s better to leave our horses here,” Jin suggested cheerlessly.
“Agreed, they would only get in the way,” nodded Kame and swiftly dismounted to lead Ukushi to the nearest convenient tree.
Jin did the same with Kuro and frowning Ryo followed their example.
“I still don´t get it,” the Rider rumbled while tying his horse´s reins around the tall spruce. “That dumbass got a gold rush or something? What made Koki start working here?”
“It´s a bit complicated,” Kame replied stiffly and grabbed the first aid kit, while Jin got the water flasks. After even Ryo received his load - the long rope - he had to admit that considering how fast the two of them prepared to leave, they came here ready for anything.
“I´d love to hear his reasons for this, really,” he continued complaining, as they were already on the way down, leaving the white mare, the black stallion and Ryo´s horse behind their backs.
“You can ask about them once we find him,” Kame assumed in a strained voice.
“Only if we do,” Jin mumbled pessimistically.
Ryo shot him an upset look: “Don´t talk like this!”
“I´m just a realist! Look around again!” opposed Jin.
“Oh, yeah, I do have eyes!”
“So, does this look like an easy task to you?”
“Why are you here in the first place then, huh?” growled Ryo harshly.
Kame turned on his heel abruptly, pushing the waterfall of pebbles to slip down under his feet: “Stop it! Arguing won´t help anything!”
All three of them stood there in the middle of slope in the tense silence, only the shouts of miners reaching them for a while.
“Sorry,” spoke Jin first.
“Me too,” Ryo joined him shaking his head. “It´s just…”
“I know,” Kame sighed. “We´re all worried about him. Let´s go...”
*
“This is not enough! More!”
Four workers dashed off to prepare additional wooden props.
“And brin´ them closer!” Ned yelled another instruction after them, before he looked around the faces of all gathered men.
There weren´t even a dozen, and none of them wanted to go, but they had no choice. If they were about to save anyone, they had to go in there quickly or they didn´t have to try at all.
“Watch your heads all the time. Keep your lanterns and matches safe, no loud noises. As we go, pass each of my orders one to another, no yellin´. Do not forget to brin´ at least some water with you. If you catch any suspicious noise, let me know. Got it?”
Most of them nodded seriously, others gave out a weak ´yes´. Ned had to suppress an annoyed reaction. Apparently, he could expect half of them start whining five yards away from the exit.
“Hey! Where do you think you´re going?”
“This is private property!”
“Though it´s hard to say whose property, huh?”
“What the…?”
“Stay here!”
“Get out of our way or I´ll make you!”
Suspecting more troubles, Ned turned to face three youngsters, who were heading quite confidently toward his hastily organized rescue group. Two of his men were trying - needless to say that very unsuccessfully - to stop them. Not very willing to handle anything else apart that mess in the mine, Ned went to meet them.
“What´s goin´ on?” he asked harshly, his voice making his subordinates flinch. Everyone was a bit on the edge.
“We´re not here to cause trouble, Mister.”
The young man said that with a deadly serious expression and from some reason, Ned believed him. Even if he didn´t like this Indian Agent very much, he already knew he was an honest fellow.
“Let them pass!” he waved the two miners away, eying the incomers critically.
His men stepped aside, revealing Kamenashi, a black haired youngster whom Ned had never seen before and naturally - Akanishi. All three of them seemed they didn´t get much sleep during the night, but at the same time, they were apparently determined.
“What do you want here then?” he asked sternly.
“We heard the blow and figured something happened in the mine,” Kamenashi explained seriously and concisely. “You need all the help you can get, don´t you?”
Ned would have laughed, if the situation would not suck so much. That annoying Agent boy used his own words and he was more than damn right.
“And you´re here to provide it?”
“By all means.”
Considering the current state of things, Ned didn´t see any reason to refuse them.
“Fine,” he turned to his men again. “What are you waitin´ for? Didn´t I tell you what to gather?”
Not even if he started firing, they would not have scattered more briskly.
“What you´ve got with you?” he asked the unexpected newcomers sharply, already thinking about with what he could load them.
“Bandages, water, rope, matches. No lanterns,” Kamenashi provided the brief list.
That was a way better than Ned had expected. He eyed all of them suspiciously again.
“How you got here so quickly?”
“Our house is just a mile away from this mess, man,” Akanishi growled. “What do you think?”
Ned decided to overlook his cheeky tone and focused on the stranger: “And who´s this?”
“Our friend - Ryo,” Kamenashi introduced.
The black-haired fellow raised his hand: “Nice to meet you.”
Ned raised his eyebrow: “It´d be a very short meetin´ since you´re stickin´ your nose into this,” he commented, still wondering for what reason would they sign themselves in this.
“We´re volunteering, man,” Akanishi reminded caustically. “What are you complaining about?”
“I figured that much. Just wonderin´ why...”
“How many men are you missing?” Kamenashi asked.
Frowning, Ned shrugged: “Twenty to thirty, not sure yet.”
“Anyone got out?”
“Only them,” he pointed at the spot with the temporary infirmary and finally realized what made them come. “You´re lookin´ for someone?”
“Yes, Koki Tanaka,” Kamenashi admitted without excuses. “He´s not among them, we´ve already checked. He was supposed to be in the morning shift, even though he overslept...”
Ned nodded: “He´s inside. He arrived with that bunch, which came in late today. I sent them quite deep.”
The short silence fell upon the three, as they exchange worried glances.
“What about that fire?” Akanishi asked then.
That surprised Ned: “What fire?”
“We saw some dark smoke right after the explosion, but it´s gone now,” Kamenashi explained. “Did you put it down?”
“No. Where exactly did you see it?”
The young Agent wondered for a while, looking around: “To the east from here, I think.”
Ned took a sharp breath. Once he connected this information with that rattle of rocks he had heard before, he realized what might have happened. They had not seen the smoke from here, because if the blast happened in the south tunnel, mountains and trees covered it from their eyes.
“If there was smoke, there could be a hole. Come with me, you´ll show me on the map,” he gestured Kamenashi.
The other two came along too, as they rushed to his tent and then leant over the mine´s map spread out on the sturdy table.
“It was here,” Kamenashi found the area with admirable certainty.
“You´re sure?”
“Pretty sure, yes,” Akanishi confirmed it as well, while the young Agent nodded seriously.
“All right,” Ned stepped out of the tent: “Cooper! Cooper!”
At his call, a tall man in his forties - the leader of the afternoon shift - joined them. He looked over the youngsters behind his back, before focusing on Ned.
“Yes? What do you need?”
“Take a horse, ride up the south hillside and check if there´s any new hole over there. The stone avalanche might lead you to the spot.”
Cooper´s eyes widened, but he nodded without questions and Ned continued.
“If it is, and we won´t be outside within two hours, take more men and try to verify if it´s possible to get into the mine through there. You´ll be in charge here meanwhile.”
“Understood. I´m going right away.”
Cooper hurried away and Ned turned to the three volunteers again: “Is any of you skilled in first aid?”
“I am,” Kamenashi came forward.
“Great. We´ve got a couple of seriously wounded men; can you look after them until the doc from Bozeman comes?”
Kamenashi seemed to be a little uncertain suddenly, but he nodded nevertheless.
“You two - have you ever been in the mine before? No? So, look,” Ned quickly started explaining over the map. “That´s the main tunnel. It´s splittin´ in two after half a mile. This is probably the spot, where it blew off and crumbled down part of the mine, no idea how big. So far, no one was able to tell me what exactly happened there. I just assume how it could be. There´ll be poor visibility, heat, a lot of debris and high probability of everythin´ fallin´ on our heads.”
Akanishi´s frown deepened with each of his words, but once Ned looked up to them, he seriously nodded.
“Sounds lovely,” that Ryo lad commented.
“It´s on your own risk. The explosion probably disrupted the whole mine, it can go down rumblin´ any time,” Ned emphasized. “I won´t take responsibility for any of you. Got it?”
*
Kame and Jin exchanged the short look. There was no need for more words. They both knew they signed up for this already on the veranda of their house, when they decided to come.
Jin turned to the black supervisor of the mine: “I´m going,” he confirmed again.
“Me too,” Ryo nodded as well and stretched his arms over his head. “We´ll find that dumbass friend of ours and get the hell out with him.”
“Fine,” the foreman grabbed the lantern from the table. “My men are ready. We mustn´t waste any more time. Come on!”
Ryo followed the quick steps of the mine´s supervisor right away, but the warm grip on Jin´s elbow prevented him from doing the same.
“Be careful,” Kame requested worriedly, giving him a serious look.
Jin forced himself to a little grin: “As always. Don´t you know me?”
Kame´s hand around his tightened.
“Once Dr. Best comes, I´ll come help you inside,” his boyfriend said quietly.
Jin shook his head and turned, squeezing Kame´s slender shoulder: “Rather stay here. We´ll be out before you even realize it, I promise.”
*
“Watch out!”
The warning sounded just in time for Koki to gather himself up on his feet and move out of the way of heavy stones falling down the pile. He covered his nose with his sleeve, gloomily observing the cloud of dust slowly settling down.
His head was still spinning and he felt sick. He gave a great deal of energy just to keep the modest breakfast inside his stomach. He could bet his colleagues would not thank him for making their closed up space even more uncomfortable than it already was by vomiting.
A heavy hand landed on his shoulder: “Are you okay?” Coltrane asked cautiously.
“I´ve been worse,” Koki assumed objectively.
“It´s not working!” one of the miners balancing on the top the cave-in complained unhappily.
“The more we get away, the more of them fall!” completed him the other.
Coltrane moved closer and observed the non-existing result of their efforts.
“Move a bit more to the right,” he decided then.
“But there´s no point in this!”
“Stop squealing and keep trying!” the shift´s leader scolded them. “We´re not gonna give this up as long as we breathe, is that clear, you bunch of girls?”
“But why should we?”
“Boss, don´t you see that…”
Coltrane cut his subordinates off again: “Because I bet they´ll come looking for us! And once they get to this,” he waved over the collapse, “they must find at least some sign of us trying to get out, otherwise they won´t know we´re alive! Any more stupid questions?”
“No, boss…”
“Great! Keep digging then!”
*
Cameron arrived at the place when it already resembled a large busy anthill.
A bunch of miners swarmed near the mine, clearing up the space in front of it and apparently solidifying the entrance. Some men from Bozeman were making the new supporting props at the edge of woods, while women were nursing the wounded ones next to the warehouse. Among them, the rest of volunteers ran around, carrying tools, bandages and water.
He evaluated the chaotic situation with one long look, before he dismounted his hot and sweating horse and threw the reins to Danny, who reached the mine´s area just a few seconds in front of him.
“Mr. Henderson!”
“Cooper,” Cameron turned to the tall man, who noticed his arrival and hurried to him right away. “How does it look so far? Any casualties?” he asked dryly.
The man stopped in front of him breathless and obviously agitated, but it seemed he was able to control himself.
“We don´t know about anyone yet. Those, who got out already, have only minor injuries or they´re all right. Dr. Best´s taking care of them. About the rest…” Cooper shook his head without any more words.
Henderson gestured toward the temporary infirmary: “Is any of them able to explain what exactly happened inside?”
“They´re quite shaken up, sir, but all of them agree on that something exploded in the south tunnel.”
Cameron looked at Danny, who had already led their horses aside and observed the fuss around the mine anxiously.
“You´ve told me somebody blew it up.”
“That´s what Ned had said and he was pretty sure about it,” his assistant explained.
“I´d rely on Ned´s words, sir,” Cooper offered. “He was very thorough regarding our dynamite supplies. The mine was supposed to be clear of explosives.”
Cameron nodded in agreement; he knew he could rely on the foreman´s judgment.
“We´ll handle with this later. Ned´s leading the rescue operation, I assume?”
“That´s right. He put me in command while he´s not here. So, if you´re all right with that…”
“I´d have done the same, you shall continue,” Cameron approved. “Keep me informed about any changes.”
“Yes, sir!”
Cooper rushed back to the mine and Cameron turned to Danny: “Find and keep an eye on the documentation in Ned´s tent. I´ll need to know how much dynamite precisely was stocked here and how much is gone.”
Danny simply nodded and walked off to carry out the order, while Cameron headed to the separated space for treating the wounded, trying hard to suppress his annoyance over the fact that he had no idea who might have done something like this.
*
“Thank you for coming so quickly, Dr. Best.”
Herbert recognized that cold, haughty voice. He had been expecting it for a while already, and didn´t even look up from his work, when he replied: “It´s my job, Mr. Henderson.”
“Is anyone here in immediate danger?” the mine´s owner asked, but the doctor could tell there was no real worry in the man´s voice. He had been doing his job for long enough to recognize who really cared and who did not.
“Not really,” he tightened the bandage around the wrist of an older miner and straightened up. “But can you please arrange these two to be transported to my clinic?” he pointed on the two - currently unconscious - men. “I need to treat them more properly than I can under these circumstances. I suspect they might have inner injuries.”
Henderson nodded: “I understand, and it will be done. Your help is greatly appreciated.”
Herbert suppressed an urge to comment his sense of gratefulness and checked the bandage around another miner´s head. He did not perform this treatment, but it was almost perfect. He knew about the bad relations Cameron Henderson had with certain people in the city, but he just could not remain quiet.
“I must say I´m not the only one whom you should express your gratitude, Mister.”
Henderson looked at him surprised: “How comes?”
“Those two,” Herbert turned to the two most seriously injured again, “had quite awful open fractures. They´re alive only thanks to the early treatment, which stopped their bleeding. If not for Kamenashi, I wouldn´t be able to do much for them.”
Hearing the name, Henderson stiffened up a little.
“Kamenashi?” he repeated with a perfectly controlled tone of his voice.
“Yes,” Herbert confirmed. “I´ve been told he appeared here among the first volunteers to help. He had been taking care of the injured miners until I managed to arrive.”
“Is that so?” Henderson didn´t seem very thrilled, but at the same time not surprised. “I shall thank him as well then, but… I haven´t seen him around. Where is he now?”
With a concerned frown, Herbert nodded toward the mine´s entrance: “Unfortunately inside. I couldn´t persuade him otherwise,” he said, once again regretting he was not able to talk Kamenashi out of his idea.
“I see…” Henderson noted, staring at the dark hole. “Then I must wait until he gets out again, right?”
Herbert eyed the man suspiciously. He didn´t have a good feeling about that expression he recognized on Henderson´s face. From some reason, it suddenly felt like Henderson´s own mine turned out to be his worst enemy. Then the strange moment was gone.
“I´ll leave you to your work and arrange that transport.”
“That would be great, thank you,” Herbert nodded and watched the mine´s owner walking away with a strange hunch. Henderson never let it be seen on him, but he felt that the man really hated Kamenashi.
With a heavy mind, Herbert went to meet another injured man, who just stumbled out of the mine. He was sure that Kamenashi´s skills would come handy in that dark pit, but the young man always took a too great risk for the sake of strangers. It didn´t have to pay off for him this time…
*
The gold mine was a creepy place engulfed in impenetrable shadows and full of strange sounds. The deeper they went, the warmer it got and it felt like they were breathing pure dust instead of air. Jin did not understand how anyone could voluntarily mine the gold ore under such conditions.
Even though most of the rescue group carried the brightly glowing kerosene lanterns, it took him a while to get used to horrible visibility and stop stumbling over the tracks for carts and omnipresent gangue. Especially while he was dragging the sturdy, wooden prop with him, just as the rest of men.
Jin stopped shortly, just to catch a breath, by the dark, probably dead end branch of the tunnel. They had already passed a few messy holes as this one was; the mine was a way more complicated than Ned had explained them on that map. Without a guide, who knew if they would be even able to find the exit? This place made a damn ominous impression on him.
He altered the position of the prop on his shoulder and took up the pace with the others quickly again, pondering gloomily. He was actually amazed how anyone could have such a talent for getting into trouble all the time. He had stepped right into a messy shit a couple of times himself, but Koki Tanaka was a special case indeed. The crazy Rider didn´t listen to him or Kame, when they had advised him against this job and now he got what he was asking for - to be buried alive.
Shivers run across Jin´s spine at the thought. Even though he was upset at that stubborn dumbass for pulling them into this mess, he was worried sick for him at the same time. Koki was annoying and kept clinging to Kame too much, even though he knew that it irritated him, but he didn´t want anything bad happen to him. Not to mention that Ryo was certainly much more worried and taken aback than he was. The black haired Rider just arrived and already found himself on this dangerous rescue mission.
They proceeded forward very slowly, but Jin realized that the black foreman knew his job the best from everyone around and he followed his instructions with trust. Ned was leading their group carefully, stopping often and remaining motionless, as if listening to something they could not hear. He also ordered to place more pit props on certain spots, which left already half of their group behind, working on the tunnel reinforcements. All of this kept delaying them, but Jin believed it was for their safe return, so he bore with the heavy load without complaints.
The tunnel suddenly widened and their surroundings warmed up abruptly. They reached the wide crossroads, where the mine divided into two smaller corridors - southern and western. It was also the first place, on which was evident that something happened in the mine. Besides the awful air, which carried the smell of burns, there were many stones and wooden mess scattered all around. Not to mention a quite distinctive crack on the ceiling above their heads.
They all gathered there around the foreman, who stared at the ceiling for quite a long while, but didn´t comment on it.
“Use all the remaining props here,” the black man instructed two miners then. “Work on it quickly, but carefully.”
Jin exhaled with relief - he could get rid of that damn heavy pillar finally.
“Be really alert now,” Ned emphasized to everyone seriously, and from some reason without the previous harshness.
“And what´ve we been doing until now?” one of the men complained in a hoarse voice.
The foreman ignored him and continued: “In case things go wron´, don´t wait for anythin´ and just head for the exit.”
The group fell silent, not expecting such an order.
“Is it really so bad, boss?” a young miner dared to ask.
Ned looked above their heads again, before he replied: “The explosion ruffled with the mine more than I expected. I still wanna try and find the rest of our men, but if any of you is too afraid to go further, leave now.”
Nobody uttered a word and Ned nodded in appreciation.
“All right. Four of you - take the west. Make sure no one stayed there. The rest of you, follow me.”
*
The extent of the gold mine impressed Ryo, but he disliked the place just as Jin did. He advanced through the tunnel right behind the black foreman, unable to suppress the pessimistic ideas of what they might find ahead.
During the journey north, he had been looking forward to surprise their friends by unannounced arrival. Instead, he now feared for Koki´s life, not to mention his own.
Suddenly, someone grabbed his shoulder and stopped him from going any further.
“Not so quickly, lad,” Ned warned him. “More light!”
The others brought their lanterns forward immediately and something appeared in their sight. It was the motionless corpse, lying on the side of the corridor. Ryo would have tripped over it, if Ned wouldn´t pulled him back. He gulped down heavily. The male body was a half-burnt, half-bloody mess, partially trapped under the fallen stones, with an almost unrecognizable face.
“Shit…” one of the miners behind his back said.
“Damn it,” Ryo breathed out. “It seems we can´t help this one anymore,” he murmured in a strained voice. The view startled him, but he was also relieved it wasn´t Koki. And when he turned to look at Jin, he noticed the very same relief on his face.
“Yeah… We all can see that,” Ned said in a blank tone, made two slow steps and raised his lantern higher. The huge pile of more stones appeared in the light. “I expected somethin´ like that,” he commented it gloomily, while the miners in their group gasped and cursed quietly.
“What now, boss?”
“What are we supposed to do with this?”
“Shut it,” Ned hushed them. “Listen.”
There was nothing but deafening silence.
“Just what do you…?” Jin whispered, but he was cut off by the sharp scratching and muffled rumble.
Ryo saw it first: “Chief? Up there…” he pointed at the top of the collapse.
Something shifted, a few small pebbles rolled down to their feet and then a hole appeared on the top of the pile.
“Hey! We´re here!”
“Do you hear us?”
“Help!”
“We found them!” one of the miners shouted triumphantly, making Ryo flinch from the unpleasantly loud sound. “They´re alive!”
“Help us!”
The foreman raised his voice only very cautiously: “Yes, we hear you! Stop yellin´!”
“That´s the boss!”
“Ned!”
“I said stop yelling or I swear to God we´re gonna leave you there!” the foreman hissed and that finally made the voices from the buried tunnel calm down.
Ned turned to them again and started giving out orders: “You two - climb up carefully and help them to remove the stones from our side. Don´t just throw them away, use them to strengthen the walls next to the hole or hand it over to the men under you, if they´re useless. Move it!”
*
It took them a couple of long, tense minutes, until the passage was big enough for a man to make it through. Everybody rejoiced, when a dirty, sweaty face of the first miner appeared on their side.
“You´ve got no idea how happy I´m to see your ugly faces,” the man breathed out and accepted the helping hands of his colleagues.
“Shut it and hurry up,” Ned growled. “Don´t drag yourself over the stones under you. Help him down. Slowly! Good… Come here. How many of you are there?”
“Almost a whole shift,” the man replied.
“Anyone wounded?”
“Yeah, Jones. He practically stabbed himself with the pickaxe and he´s bleeding like a pig.”
“Guys! Get Jones out as the first!”
“Got it, boss!”
Ned turned to the miner again: “Anyone else?”
The man nodded: “Also Tanaka.”
Hearing the name, both Ryo and Jin froze with heavy stones in their hands.
“What´s up with him?” Ryo demanded more details worriedly.
The miner shrugged: “It seems that he hit his head and he´s a bit off. The others only have some scratches.”
*
Astonished Koki watched as one miner after another pulled themselves through that damn tiny hole. Just how could they fit in there?
“Tanaka. Hey! Tanaka!”
He looked at Coltrane whose head seemed somewhat bigger than it should have been.
“Your turn. I´ll help you up.”
“But… It´s too small…” Koki murmured.
“Don´t worry,” the older miner assured him. “You´re half the size of those who´re already out.”
*
Ned was gradually sending the rescued miners in small groups to the exit, therefore there was only a few of them left, when the bandaged head appeared in the passage.
“Finally,” Ryo rushed to help the foreman to drag his wounded friend out of the hole.
“Hold this on your wound. And be careful on your way out.”
A familiar voice made Jin turn. Of course - it was Kame. His lover appeared in the light of lanterns, his forehead sweaty and hands all bloody, as he apparently treated the miners on his way to the depths of the mine.
A little out of breath, Kame stopped by Jin´s side, leant on his shoulder and his eyes focused on the top of the collapse.
“Is it Koki?”
“Yes,” he confirmed grimly. “What are you doing here?”
Kame gave him a sideway look: “Did you really think I´d stay outside?”
Jin leant closer to him: “I´d like to strangle you right now, but I love you too much for it,” he whispered in his ear reproachfully.
The corners of Kame´s lips twitched in a delighted smile, but he didn´t say anything. And then they already reached out their hands to help Ryo with Koki, who was apparently conscious and confused as hell.
“What… are you all doing here?”
“Rescuing you, idiot,” relieved Ryo welcomed his buddy.
Koki peered at him: "Hey... You look funny."
Frowning Kame checked the bandage on Koki´s head: “He´s still bleeding. Let´s get him out quickly.”
“Yes, please… I´ll be eternally grateful,” Koki mumbled and looked down. “Damn… That´s Luke…”
Ryo supported him under his shoulders: “There´s nothing you can do for him,” he said quietly.
“But…” even though Koki realized that Ryo was right, he didn´t want to believe it. He gulped down heavily, tears stinging in his eyes. “Shit…”
With heavy rattling of stones, the foreman and the morning shift´s leader joined their little group.
“Save your heartfelt welcome for later,” Ned recommended them.
As a dark confirmation to the truth of his words, a kind of soft crackling was heard somewhere under their feet.
“I totally agree - let´s get out while we still can,” Ryo murmured.
Jin grabbed Koki from the other side and Kame held on to their heels, as they rushed back, right after Coltrane and Ned, who led the way.
The mountain growled and the rock above their heads shook, covering their hair with grains of sand. Breathless and with blood throbbing in their ears, they finally reached the underground crossroads. But before they all could go over it toward the wider tunnel leading to the exit, the ground under their feet shook again. Something crackled sharply and heavy clouds of dust filled up the mine.
“Stick to the walls!” shouted Ned, just before the rock above their heads fell apart with a deafening rattle.
- To be continued -