Radium Halos Read Free Page A

died after two
minutes. We’ve already been a ways and didn’t find anything in the
dark. I’ll go further to see if there’s a dryer place we can wait
the storm out.”
    “I’m not moving
from this spot.” Heidi clutched my arm and pulled me tight against
her. My shoe, half sucked into the bed, made me almost fall
face-first into the cold water. Great, mud-caked hair.
    “Seth’s right,”
Kieran said. “We can’t stay here. We’ll be sliding down the mine on
our arses.” He splashed past to stand by Seth. “I’ll come with
you.”
    “Don’t go,”
pleaded Heidi.
    “I’ll stay.”
Brent gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze as he stepped between
me and Heidi.
    Rylee slipped
by and stood on the other side of Heidi. “They have to look. If
we’re gonna be here all night, we can’t stay here waiting to be
rescued. Nobody even knows we came this way. They were all running
for the cars.”
    “We should’ve
done the same thing.” My gut was right before.
    In the
semi-darkness, I watched Heidi collapse in tears against Rylee.
Then two boys, and our only little light, disappeared into the
darkness. Tears welled but, breathing deep, I fought them back
down. We didn’t need any more waterworks at the moment. It was
dark, cold and silent. My heart hammered and fear gnawed inside
me.
    Oh how I wanted
to follow the guys. Instead, I patted Heidi’s arm and moved a few
steps away to try and find higher ground. Moving forward, I
grimaced when water sloshed up to my knees. My arms reached out in
the darkness to find the wall. Each step a hesitant move forward, I
concentrated on not slipping.
    The cool, dry
dirt of the wall felt like heaven against my fingers. Sliding my
foot forward, I felt higher ground against my sneaker. Another
tentative step forward, using the wall for balance, I found a small
ledge. Wide enough to stand on. A tiny surge of hope pulsed through
my veins.
    “Over here,” I
called. “There’s a raised part we can stand on till the guys get
back.”
    “Here, take my
arm, Heidi” Brent said.
    Heidi was
full-on crying now. Hiccups and everything. Poor thing.
    They clambered
onto the small rock shelf. We waited for what seemed like an
eternity, none of us talking. Heidi managed to calm herself down on
the higher ground. The howling wind and shattering thunder seemed
to be having a conversation of its own.
    I shifted my
weight from foot to foot. What time is it? The little hands
on my watch glowed faintly. Half past eleven -- already?
    “Think they’re
alright?” Rylee asked.
    I opened my
mouth to reply, when a whoop erupted from deeper inside the mine.
All four of us jumped.
    “Son of a
bitch!” Brent swore as he slid and landed in the muddy water. “They
better have found something.”
    Moments later,
laughter and male voices drifted through the darkness of the mine
towards us. The small, round light appeared. My tense posture
slumped. A new knot between my shoulder blades burned. I tried to
stretch my back out without slipping.
    “We found a
closed off room. It’s nothing spectacular but heaven compared to
this. It’s dry so we can hang out there for the night. There’s like
a glass dome thing on top, and when the lightning flashes, it
brightens up the room.” Seth swung the flashlight around, finally
finding us lined against the wall. “What the? You guys in a police
line up?” He laughed. “Or are you prisoners, trying to dig your way
out?”
    “Shut up.” I
smiled for the first time since the rain started.
    “How far down?”
Heidi asked in a faint voice.
    “Not far. Less
than a ‘ive minute walk.” Kieran took her hand, helping her down
and kept her close. “Let’s go. You’ll feel loads better when you
see it.”
    Lucky
girl. For a moment I wished I’d picked the end near the tunnels
instead of the one furthest away. Dummy! I scolded myself.
Now wasn’t the time to be jealous of Heidi getting help from
Kieran. We had more pressing issues. Like surviving the