Inhabited by Ike Hamill Page B

against the wall. He listened to Florida’s feet slapping down the tunnel. He reached up and turned off his light. In one direction, he could see her light getting more and more dim as she raced off in a panic. Down another passage, he saw the faint glow from the direction of the hangman’s cave.
    He didn’t have a bag.
    As her light dwindled, he reached up to turn his headlamp back on. His eyes raced back and forth as he tried to remember how long the battery in his headlamp was supposed to last. Normally, it wouldn’t matter. They had packed plenty of spare batteries in the pack.
    “Shit,” he whispered. He started to run after Florida.

    -o-o-o-o-o-

    Roger stood at the intersection of tunnels and shut his light off. He had just seen her light a few seconds before. Now that he had to decide which way to go, her light was gone. Roger listened.
    From one of the tunnels, he heard a drip of water fall into a pool. The sound echoed through the space and faded away. He heard a laugh and tilted his head to try to pin down the direction it had come from. It was impossible to tell. There was too much reverberation as the sound bounced.  
    “Shut up,” he heard. Roger spun to his right in the dark. He heard some more conversation, but couldn’t make out the words. They were men’s voices.  
    He took a step and then stopped. He could be heading towards one of the other teams. He didn’t necessarily need to find Florida, he just needed to find someone . In fact, maybe it was best if he didn’t find her. She had seemed a little reckless and unstable. Roger turned his light back on and continued down the passage.  
    He paused to listen after a few more steps. The voices were still there. There was a higher voice mixed in—maybe a woman. That meant more than two people. All the teams were pairs.  
    Roger picked up the pace. His light bounced as he jogged down the tunnel.
    He came to another junction and paused. He cast his light down each choice, one at a time, and tried to catch his breath so he could hear.  
    He’d never thought much about mines before that day, but it didn’t take a whole lot of reflection to realize that this mine didn’t make much sense. It was a series of tunnels and shafts in a network through the mountain. Where was the actual mine ? Why would someone make all those tunnels instead of just taking material away closer to the exit? It seemed less like a mine and more like the diggers had been looking for something that they couldn’t find.
    From the corner of his eye, Roger saw a spark of light. He turned and heard the woman’s voice. She said something too quiet to hear and then, “Incredible!”  
    A man’s voice answered her.
    Roger ran towards the light.  
    As he sprinted down the tunnel, the light ahead turned, faded and then went out. Roger kept running until he reached the spot.  
    There was nothing.  
    The light had been there, accompanied by voices. Now, it was all gone.
    “Hello!” he yelled. “Help!”
    His voiced bounced back and sounded foreign. It sounded like someone was yelling back to him and mocking him.
    “I’m lost!” he yelled. “Please help me!”
    He waited. Nobody answered.

Chapter Twelve — Control

    A S F LORIDA RAN , HER thoughts settled down. She slipped into her breathing and let the world sort itself back into sense. Sometimes her brain felt like a cluttered room where she tossed all the information of her life. Running was the way she tidied everything up. Running was like housekeeping for her brain.
    When she got to the intersection, she didn’t ponder. She took a left. As long as she had a scheme and didn’t miss any turns, she knew she couldn’t get lost. She would always stick to the left wall. Either she would come back around to her starting position, or she would find her way out. Those were the only two eventualities she could imagine.
    Until she saw the sun over her head, she wouldn’t trust anyone. Strange things had