Page 92 of All You Want
I turn the crank on the mineshaft door and latch it behind me. The giggles echo down the tunnel, and I can hear the scraping sounds of them shoving aside the flap on the coal bin.
This pisses me off. I don’t need more complications. I only need one friend of Tami to hold for ransom, not three. I might be able to scare them away with a dead animal. Too bad there’s no one but the cat.
“Here, kitty, kitty.” I soften my voice to lure the wildcat within reach of my weapon. My headlamp picks up a set of glowing yellow orbs.
I unsheathe my hunting knife and draw my arm back so the cat can’t see it.
“Meow?” The kitty’s eyes move closer.
“Have a piece of cheese for you. Some eggs too.” I’m glad I tucked that greasy bag in my jacket pocket and forgot to give it to him earlier.
The cat creeps closer, almost in range. I keep my right hand behind me as I rifle through my pocket with my left hand to drop the bag of food.
He decides it’s safe and scampers toward me. Right as he reaches the white bag, I whip my knife around.
A blinding blue light shines in my eyes, flashing on the blade, and the cat darts between my legs, escaping back toward the mineshaft. The knife stabs the ground, popping up a pebble that hits me right below my eye.
“The cat went that way,” a female says. “I told you it’s not black.”
All I can see is a greenish glow behind a blue light saber.
“Is too,” the other one says. “Oh my. It grew.”
I hear the clink of metal against the tunnel’s rock wall.
“Arragh!” I roar, lifting the hunting knife. “Yeoww! Arrghaow.”
“Let’s get out of here,” the neon-green female says. “It’s a monster cat.”
“Looks like a man, two arms and two legs. I can see his shadow against the wall.” The second woman shoves herself in front of the first one. She’s wearing 3D printed armor, a horned Viking hat, and is carrying a broad axe that’s too big to swing in these cramped quarters.
Her mistake.
I turn off my headlamp, so she can’t see me coming, while her friend’s stupid blue light pinpoints their location.
“Rosalie, let’s just leave,” neon-green lizard whimpers. “I bet the trick and treat hunt has started already.”
“Someone’s down here,” Valkyrie says. “What if it’s the murderer?”
“It can’t be,” Neon says. “They caught Diana already.”
The stubborn Valkyrie stares my direction but doesn’t move closer. I can see her hesitating, thinking, and then finally shrugging. “I thought I heard someone calling for help. Didn’t you say you heard them too?”
“It might be one of the haunt effects,” Neon says. “Come on, Rosalie. Let’s go back. I need to pee, and this place gives me the creeps.”
“Okay, okay, you might be right about the cat,” Valkyrie concedes. “All this coal dust is dirtying up my fur pants.”
“My jumpsuit is stained too. Ruined!” Neon shrieks. “We have to hurry and change.”
“Ugh, you’re right. We should have stopped at the coal bin.”
“At least we can tell Tami where the cat’s been hiding,” Neon says. “She says she’s too fat to squeeze through and Todd’s too big.”
What? I straighten up too quickly and hit my head on the rock above. This screws up my plan. If those two can’t get in here, how am I going to trap them in the coal bin?
Tami’s family owes me big money, and I’m going to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against them if they don’t hand me what’s mine.
“Did you hear that?” Valkyrie says. “I heard someone cussing back there.”
