James Chase - Figure It Out for Yourself

I was so excited I forgot the rats. I was yelling now like a madman, and my yells changed to a yelp as a furry brown body suddenly streaked into the light and teeth snapped with a click into the folds of the handkerchief round my neck.

I felt the weight of its body on my chest, and smelt the dirt in its fur. Its wet nose was thrust under my chin as its teeth tried to cut through the folds of the handkerchief to get at my throat.

I nearly went crazy. Grabbing the sleek, horribly fat body, I tore it away from my throat. I felt it twist in my hand. The loathsome pointed head whipped round and razor-like teeth fastened into my wrist. In a kind of frenzy I dug my fingers into the fur, bent its back sideways, hearing its shrill squeal. The teeth came out of my wrist. Before it could strike again, I snapped its spine, feeling the bone go like a dry stick between my fingers. Shuddering with horror I threw the brute away from me.

‘Vic!’

‘Here!’

My voice croaked.

At the far end of the tunnel I saw a tiny pin-point of light.

‘I’m coming.’ Paula’s voice: the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard.

‘Down here. Mind how you come. There’re rats.’

‘I’m coming.’

The light moved steadily towards me, growing brighter. A minute or so later Paula dropped on her knees beside me, and caught hold of my hands.

‘Oh, Vic!’

I drew in a deep, shuddering breath and tried to grin at her, but my face felt frozen.

‘Paula! Jeepers! Am I glad to see you! How did you get here?’

Her hand touched my face.

‘It’ll wait. Are you hurt?’

I raised my hand. Blood welled from my wrist. If I hadn’t had the handkerchief round my throat the brute would have nailed me.

‘It’s all right. A rat took a fancy to me.’

She took off her white silk scarf and tied it tightly round the wound.

‘Really a rat?’

‘Yeah. I killed it. It’s behind you.’

She looked quickly over her shoulder. The beam of her torch fell on the brute. She caught her breath in a stifled scream.

‘Uuugh! Are there any more like that?’

‘One or two. He was particularly persistent. Do you wonder I sounded scared?’

She went closer and peered at the rat, then drew away with a shudder.

‘It’s enormous. Let’s get out of here.’

‘I’m chained to the wall. Barratt’s idea of getting even.’

While she examined the chain, I told her briefly what had happened.

‘I have a gun, Vic. Do you think you could shoot up one of these links?’

‘We can try. Here, give it to me, and get out of the way. The slug may ricochet.’

She put a .25 into my hand and went a little way down the tunnel. The third slug cut the link. The noise of the shooting deafened me.

Slowly and painfully I crawled to my feet. She came back and supported me.

‘I’ll be all right in a moment. I’m stiff, that’s all.’ I began to hobble up and down, restoring my circulation. ‘You haven’t told me how you got here. How did you know I was down here?’

‘A woman phoned. She wouldn’t say who she was. "If you want to save Malloy, you’d better hurry," she said. "They’ve taken him to the Monte Verde Mine." She hung up before I could ask her who she was or how she knew. I just grabbed a torch and a gun and drove like mad to the mine.’ Paula shook her head ruefully. ‘I ought to have got Mifflin. I really lost my head, Vic. I don’t know what I was thinking about.’

‘That’s all right You’re here and I’m free, so what does it matter?’

‘But it does. I’ve been wandering about in this awful place for hours. If I hadn’t heard you yell, I was going to yell myself. You don’t know what it’s like down here. Every tunnel looks alike.’

‘I’ll get you out. Come on, let’s try. ’

‘What’s that?’

She was peering at the heap of rags and bones.

‘Lute Ferris,’ I said, and moved stiffly over to the rags. I flashed my torch on them. Even the skull had been picked clean. In the centre of the forehead was a small hole. ‘So they shot him. Now, I wonder why.’ I examined what was left of his clothes, and discovered a leather wallet. Inside, was a car’s registration tag made out to Lute Ferris, two five-dollar bills and a snapshot of a girl I recognized as Mrs. Ferris. I put the wallet back where I had found it and stood up.

‘We’ll have to bring Mifflin down here.’

Paula was staring at the heap of bones.

‘Did the rats do that?’ she asked in a low, horrified voice.

‘Well, something did. Come on. Let’s go.’

She looked a little fearfully into the darkness.

‘You don’t think they’ll come after us, do you, Vic?’

‘No. They won’t bother us. Come on.’

We started off down the tunnel. I used my torch. The light was feeble, but if this was going to be a long job, we’d need Paula’s torch later.

Half-way down we came to another tunnel that turned to the left. I remembered Dedrick had gone that way.

‘Round here,’ I said.

‘Why not straight on?’

‘Dedrick went this way.’

We turned left and went on for about a hundred yards. At end of the tunnel, another tunnel, intersecting it, went away into darkness both to the right and left.

‘Now which way?’

‘Toss for it. Your guess is as good as mine.’

‘Let’s go right.’

We went right. The ground was uneven and after walking some minutes, I realized we were going downhill.

‘Now, wait a minute. This goes down. We should be going up. We’d better go back and try the left-hand branch.’

‘You see what I mean?’ There was an edge to her voice I had never heard before. That’s what’s been happening to me. I’ve walked for hours.’

‘Come on.’

We went back to the intersection and started off down the fennel to the left. We walked for perhaps five minutes then suddenly we were confronted by solid rock.

‘I—I don’t think you’re going to be much better at this than me,’ Paula said breathlessly.

‘Take it easy.’ I was a little worried about her. She was usually so cool and unruffled. I had an idea she wasn’t far off hysteria at this moment. ‘Maybe that other way goes down and then up. We’ll try it.’

‘I was crazy to come down here alone!* She caught hold of my arm. ‘Why didn’t I get Mifflin? We’re lost, Vic. We could go on like this for weeks.’

‘Come on,’ I said sharply. ‘Don’t waste time talking a lot of mush. We’ll be out of this in ten minutes.’

She made an effort, and when she spoke again her voice was calmer.

‘Sorry, Vic, I’m rattled. I’m terrified of being underground like this. I feel shut in and buried.’

‘I know. Now, get hold of yourself. Once you start feeling sorry for yourself, you’re sunk. Come on, kid.’ I linked my arm in hers and we set off again.

The ground sloped steeply and we began to descend into what seemed a black pit.

Suddenly my torch went out.

Paula clung to my arm, stifling a scream.

‘It’s all right. Put yours on,’ I said. ‘Mine was due to fade. It’s a wonder it’s lasted so long.’

She gave me her torch.

‘We’d better hurry, Vic. This won’t last long.’

‘It’ll last all we want.’

Having someone to steady made it easier for me. But we increased our pace, both knowing we would be in a bad spot if the torch failed us before we could find a way out of the mine.

We kept going down, and the farther we went the more stifling the air became. Then to add to our troubles the roof of the tunnel became lower with every step we took.

Suddenly Paula stopped.

‘This isn’t the way!’ Her voice was high-pitched. ‘I know it isn’t! Let’s go back.’