Page 82 of Rock Bottom

The rain started as we rushed up the next ridge. I slipped twice and would have fallen back into the mud if Oscar wasn’t holding onto me. When I fell, he never bothered stopping, continuing to drag me several feet before I got my legs under me again. For someone so small, he was deceptively strong.

Eventually, we stumbled into a narrow ravine at the top of a ridge. My foot hit something hard, and I bit my tongue to keep from screaming as pain shot through my ankle. Oscar changed directions, dragging me toward what I thought was another hillside at first. I tried to put my foot down to walk, but the pain was too much. Nausea surged, and I thought I might pass out. Maybe I broke something.

As we approached the hill, I realized Oscar was dragging me over a set of dilapidated train tracks that fed straight into the hill. An opening yawned straight ahead with rotten boards scattered all around. A faded white sign, nearly overgrown, announced that we were entering the Moonville Coal Mine.

Inside, the mine was dark and dank. Just a few feet in grimy, icy water engulfed my feet. Without a flashlight, everything was pitch black and there was no way to tell where we were going. Terror churned in my stomach that we might stumble blindly into a vertical drop, or that the low, rocky ceiling might collapse on top of us.

I don’t know how deep we went, but it seemed to go on forever with nothing but darkness and the sound of water swirling around our feet. I thought we might go on forever. Maybe Oscar’s plan was for us to die together in that mine rather than face what he’d done.

At least I won’t die alone. Dying alone in the dark is worse than dying with a crazy stalker, isn’t it?

But I didn’t want to die. Maybe there was a time when I wouldn’t have cared, when drowning myself in alcohol was preferable to facing the world without it, but that part of me was gone. I wanted to live.

A sudden surge of water out of nowhere gave me my chance. I jerked my hand away from Oscar’s while he was distracted and backed up against the rocky wall, clinging to it. Oscar gasped, then screamed as the current pulled his feet from under him. Water splashed wildly while he shouted my name, but I didn’t answer, not even as the water carried him further and further away.

I waited until the only sound was the constant roar of water. It was up to my knees and had been rising while we walked, flowing in the same direction we’d been walking in the dark. If I turned around and walked against the water, maybe I’d find my way out, but when I took the first step, my ankle rolled, and the water almost swept me away. There was no way I was walking anywhere on my own. With the water rising, it was all I could do to grip the rough, rocky wall of the mine shaft and hope someone found me in time.

“Can’t see a damn thing in this rain,” Wattson mumbled as we crested another ridge.

He was right. The storm was the worst thing that could’ve happened. It’d washed away any tracks, and the risk that we’d lame the horses was even higher since it was dark. The thunder and lightning had spooked the dogs more than once, and the rain had probably washed away Dante’s scent. Tracking him at night in a storm was impossible, but I had to try.

“A little rain’s not the end of the world.” Bowie passed me the night vision binoculars he’d paused to look through. “See anything?”

I took the binoculars and peered out at a world bathed in shades of green and white. From the top of the ridge, I spied a stream below, but there was nothing else except trees and leaves as far as I could see.

“They’ll be searching for shelter,” I said and passed the binoculars back.

“We should too.” Wattson yanked his glasses off and tried to clean the rain from them for the fifth time. “We should wait for the storm to pass, or at least for daylight.”

“No. We have to keep going.” I urged my horse down from the steep ridge.

“We can’t save Dante if we’re dead!” Wattson shouted after me.

I didn’t listen. Every minute we sat up on that ridge arguing about what to do was another minute Dante was in danger. Another minute Oscar had him. My fists tightened around the reins and I let myself imagine it was Oscar I was choking the life out of.

Bowie caught up with me first. “Slow down.”

“They’ve already got a sizeable lead. We need to close that distance as soon as possible.”

As we reached the stream, Bowie brought his horse in front of mine, blocking the path forward. “I know you want to find him, Church. We all do. But if we rush this, we’re going to miss something. In this weather, the only chance we have of finding him is if we pay attention to our surroundings.”

I sighed and scanned the opposite ridge, helplessness threatening to choke me. We’d lost the ATV trail shortly after it turned into the woods. The underbrush was too heavy and the rain didn’t help. For a while, we followed the dogs, but it’d been a half hour since they’d indicated they had the scent. Now Trixie and Morticia just trotted around, noses to the ground, whining occasionally. I didn’t know what signs Bowie thought we might miss if we moved faster because I didn’t think there were any signs to miss. We must’ve gone the wrong way.

I was about to tell him as much when a shot rang out. Wood splintered on a nearby tree trunk as the bullet hit. On instinct, Bowie and I dropped from the horses as fast as we could and hit the mud, hugging the ground as low as possible.

“You okay?” I whispered to Bowie.

He nodded and adjusted his hat. “You?”

“I’m not hurt.” I glanced behind us. “Where’s Wattson?”

There was no sign of him on the ridge or on the hill headed down toward us, but I didn’t think Oscar’s shot had hit him. At least, I hoped not.

“Don’t come any closer!” Oscar shouted from up on the ridge.

I lifted my head, hoping to catch sight of him, but another shot thundered through the trees and dirt erupted just inches from my hand.

“I’ll shoot you! I’ll fucking do it now! I’ve got nothing to lose!” Oscar’s choked sobs echoed down the hill.

---