Chapter 76: Chapter 75: Trapped

Nearly everyone in the squad looked paralyzed with fear as the blood-curdling roar of the bear echoed throughout the rocky walls of the mines.

“Jesus, was that a bear?” asked one of the VDF soldiers, a man known as Sully because of his last name (Sullivan).

“Sure as hell was,” replied the Lieutenant of the squad, Matt Lenoy. “How the hell did they get inside the mines?”

From there, a nervous chatter erupted from the squad. Alex watched as many of them seemed to lose their nerve in a matter of seconds.

“Get ahold of yourselves,” barked Alex. “Our people are trapped down there and if there’s bears threatening them, then we have a job to do. Get it together and let’s move in!”

“You heard the man,” replied Matt, putting on a brave face for the sake of his men. “We’re going in!”

Now that the hole was big enough to allow the cart to push through, Alex and the rest of the squad slipped deeper into the mines. From that first initial blockage site, they soon came to a passage tree, where the mine split into different sections. It was here that they found two more miners, who were just suffering from light injuries.

“Where’s the rest of the squad that came in here?” asked Alex of the two miners. “Where did they go?”

“There’s blockages down each of the main passages from here out,” replied one of the miners. “They split up to start working as many of them as they could.”

“Goddamnit, I was afraid of that,” grumbled Alex. “You two, get in the cart and we’ll take you topside. We have to get everyone out of here now.”

It was at that point that all of their attention diverted to one of the deepest passages, where gunfire from the VDF pulse rifle erupted in force. It was heavy enough to remind Alex of heavy fighting back in the Orbital War days, and he figured out the bears were most likely attacking in force.

“Move now damnit!” he barked at the rest of the VDF. “We have to get down there and save our people!”

While the VDF moved toward the main passage to start clearing away more of the blockage, Alex used his P-com. He tried first to get ahold of Jenna, who would be right in the thick of the firing but she didn’t answer. Next he tried Rick.

When Rick answered, it sounded like he was in the middle of a terrible firefight. He looked to be pinned down based on the hologram.

“Rick, what the hell is going on down there?” asked Alex. “We can hear your firing from all the way up here.”

“Bears, Alex, there’s bears everywhere,” replied Rick. “They’re down here in the deepest part. They’ve already gotten several miners. We’re trying to pull back out of this spot but one of the passages collapsed behind us. We’re trapped, Alex.”

“Son of a bitch,” grumbled Alex.

An entire squad was trapped—Rick’s squad which meant Jenna too. Things were going from bad to worse.

“Do you have any casualties of your own?” asked Alex with a heavy heart. “Anyone dead?”

Rick shook his head. “Just a couple scratches so far but I’m not sure how long that will last. We need to get this passage cleared. I have men working on it from my side while the rest of the squad covers them but there’s more bears showing up by the second.”

At that point, Alex could hear screaming and rifle fire in the background. Someone, a man by the sound of his voice, was screaming that the bears were getting too close.

“Hang on, Rick, we’re coming,” said Alex. “We’re coming right now!”

Pulling up a map of the mines from his P-com, Alex barked for Matt to get over to him.

“We need to clear this passage right here,” he said, indicating the newly blocked tunnel that separated them from Rick’s squad. “We have bears in force attacking down below and their time is limited. We need all hands that can help right now.”

“You got it, sir,” replied Matt. “Let’s move out.”

“The most important thing right now is that we stick together,” bellowed Alex to the rest of the squad. “We’re better off as a team than splitting up!”

Together, the entire squad moved deeper into the mines, clearing debris as they went. They came upon another miner who had been injured and relieved by Rick’s group, only to get hit with more falling debris when the passage collapsed. Alex signaled for him to be sent topside before finding the bulk of obstruction.

Now that they were close enough to Rick’s squad, he could hear the firing and the screaming much more distinctly. With all the energy they could muster, the squad set about clearing the debris so they could link up with the other squad.

It was hard going though. These rocks were heavier, and now that they were in the deeper part of the mines, they couldn’t rely on the quick transit of the cart to rapidly clear the debris. The men stacked rocks as far back as they could but it took longer to open up a passage to the other side.

Once that was accomplished, Alex could hear the firing dying down on the other side, and he asked Rick for a report to tell him what was going on.

“I’ve got two wounded,” replied Rick. “Deep scratches on their limbs from the bears. One of these guys is going to lose a leg no doubt. The others are fine for now. Their attacks seem to be peeling off.”

“We’re almost there,” said Alex. “Just keep holding on a little longer.”

That last meter of debris took forever to get removed but there was nothing sweeter than getting a clear line of sight down into the blocked part. Alex was the first to crawl through, and he saw Rick’s face just as soon as he was on the other side. His friend’s face was bloody, and the rest of the lights were off in the deepest part of the mine just in front of them, but at least they were alive.

“Damnit, it’s good to see you,” said Rick, a relieved smile on his face. “I thought we were goners for sure.”

“Let’s get you out of here,” said Alex. “How many of the miners are down here with you?”

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Alex quickly scanned all those that were in this portion. He found about ten additional miners huddling close to Rick’s squad, all of them looking petrified to be there.

Thankfully, he made eye contact with Jenna shortly after that. The blonde actually looked relieved to see him as well, considering the circumstances. Alex was grateful to see that she wasn’t hurt.

“Just these men here,” replied Rick, indicating the miners. “But many of them are injured and will need help getting to the top.”

“All right, I want your people to start helping with that,” said Alex. “All the miners will be escorted to the top by your people. My squad will stay behind to cover you.”

“Just be careful, Alex,” warned Rick. “There’s dead bears just right over there. There were as many as fifteen of them attacking at once. My troops held them off but just barely. If they come back in force, they might overwhelm us.”

“Let’s get out of here before that happens,” replied Alex. “I don’t know how long this passage will stay open, and if there’s more tremors down here, it could close up just as fast, and potentially even worse off than the first time. Time is of the essence now.”

With the passage cleared, Matt’s squad slipped in to cover their comrades while the remains of Rick’s squad evacuated the miners. Seeing as the miners still outnumbered the members of Rick’s squad, it meant some of them had to make two trips.

Jenna happened to be one of the unlucky few that had to go twice. After her first trip up to the top, she returned and immediately started looking for another miner. She found one all right—one who was huddled off near one of the ventilation shafts. Part of the wall had fallen onto him, breaking his legs in the process and rendering him immobile.

“Hurry up, we need to get topside quickly,” yelled Alex to everyone that was still left down there.

“Alex, can you help me?” called out Jenna. “He’s too heavy for me to lift and his legs are broken!”

Alex quickly crossed over to where the ventilation shaft started and appraised the situation. The miner was still conscious but had lost a lot of blood thanks to the wounds on his legs. Even once he was freed of debris, he was still too heavy for Jenna to move.

“Come on, I’ll give you a hand,” said Alex, grabbing under the man’s shoulders. “I’ll get him up and then you grab one side and I’ll take the other.”

They moved in unison, hoisting the wounded man while he grumbled and began to move him away from the ventilation shaft.

“This way,” said Alex, more for Jenna’s sake than anyone else. “I’ll help you get to the top.”

“Thanks,” she replied. “Sorry, I’m just not strong enough to do it myself.”

“Not your fault,” said Alex. “That’s why I’m here.”

She looked grateful for his presence just for a moment, something that Alex saw as being a hopeful development. Unfortunately, that moment didn’t last for very long.

“Alex, we can still hear men deeper in the mine,” said Rick, pointing to where the relieving squad was guarding. It was also the part of the mine that the bears had attacked from. “Permission to send the squad deeper to see how many more we can rescue?”

“Do it but be careful,” replied Alex. “Don’t get separated and move quickly. Take as many men from your squad as you need to move the survivors. I’m going to help get this man topside.”

“You got it, we’ll get moving now!”

Alex watched as the remains of Rick’s squad moved deeper into the mines, while Matt’s squad covered them and pushed in further. Together, they stepped over the bodies of dead bears as they moved, responding to the sounds of groaning.

Alex didn’t watch long as he wanted to get this miner to safety.

“Come on, Jenna. The sooner we can get him into safe hands, the sooner we can rejoin the others.”

Jenna nodded and they kept moving up the shaft until it was just three of them. They passed another passage that led to another section of the mines when something started to happen.

The ground started to shake as yet another tremor ripped through the mines. It was so violent that Alex lost his grip on the miner, which caused Jenna and the miner to fall forward while Alex stumbled backward just to keep his balance.

If that was the only thing that happened, the situation might have been salvageable, but just above them, a section of the ceiling came crashing down, opening up a gulf between Alex on one side and Jenna and the miner on the other.

By the time the dust settled, there was a new blockage that prevented Alex from reaching Jenna easily. At least he could still hear her though, as there was a tiny pinhole that allowed sound to travel between both sections.

“Jenna, are you okay?” he yelled. “Are you hurt? Tell me you’re still alive.”

“Alex! I’m alive. The miner isn’t though. He took a good sized stone to the head. He’s dead, Alex.”

“Can you still get out?”

Jenna rummaged around for a second before she returned. “No, I’m blocked off too. I’m trapped, Alex. I’m really trapped.”

“I’m going to get you out of there,” he promised. “I just have to clear this blockage.”

Her voice sounded panicked when she spoke again. “Alex, I’m scared. There’s a lot of debris on this side.”

“Hang on,” he promised. “I’m coming to get you.”

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