James Chase - Figure It Out for Yourself

‘It must be the way. Dedrick turned left at the end of the tunnel. I watched him. Come on, let’s look a little further. 1

‘Vic; I’m scared.’

She backed away from me. I could hear her rapid breathing, and I flashed the light on her face. She was white and her eyes were wild looking.

‘I—I can’t stand any more of this! I’m going back! I can’t breathe!’

I was having trouble with my breathing too. There was a tight feeling around my chest and every lungful of air I took in had to be fought for.

‘Another hundred yards. If it doesn’t take us anywhere we’ll go back.’

I caught hold of her arm and pulled her along. Fifty yards farther on, there was another intersection. The air was very] bad now.

‘There you are,’ I said. ‘I told you we’d come to something. We’ll go right. If it goes down we’ll turn back and try the other way.’

She went with me.

Every new tunnel we came to was exactly like the others. We might just as well be walking up and down the same tunnel of all the progress we seemed to be making. And as we went on into the darkness, walking became more difficult. My legs felt heavy, and I had to make a continuous effort to move them. Paula was gasping for breath, and I had to help her along.

But at least the floor of the tunnel wasn’t going down. If anything, it was going up.

‘I’m sure we’re on the right road now,’ I gasped. ‘We’re climbing.’

She leaned more heavily on me.

‘The air’s awful. I – I can’t go much farther.’

I put my arm round her and helped her along. The roof of the tunnel was getting lower. We had to bend our heads. Another twenty yards and we were bent double.

We stopped, gasping for breath.

‘We must go back, Vic!’

She pushed away from me and began to stagger back the way we had come. I stumbled after her, jerked her round.

‘Don’t act the fool, Paula! Now, come on. You’re getting into a panic.’

‘I know,’ She clung to me. ‘I can’t help it. It’s this awful darkness.’

I could feel her trembling against me.

‘Let’s sit down for a moment. We’re going to get out of this; only, you’ve got to keep calm.’

We sat down, and immediately discovered the air was a lot better near the floor of the tunnel. I pushed her flat and lay beside her.

After a few minutes the tightness around my chest and the weights around my limbs went away.

‘This is better.’

‘Yes.’ She half sat up, pushing her hair off her face. ‘I’m behaving awfully badly. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do it again.’

‘Forget it,’ I said and took her hand. ‘You’ve got a touch of claustrophobia. You’ll get over it. Feel like moving? We’ll crawl some of the way. Keep your nose close to the ground. I’ll go first.’

We crawled over the rough ground, bruising our hands and knees. After a while we had to stop again. I was sweating, and my breath rasped at the back of my throat. Paula flopped beside me: all in.

‘Do you really think we’ll get out?’ she asked in a small voice.

‘Yeah; we’ll get out,’ but my voice carried no conviction. ‘We’ll take it easy for a few minutes; then we’ll go on.’

I was beginning to realize that Dedrick couldn’t have come this way. It looked as if we had taken a wrong turning somewhere. The thought of being in this mine much longer was beginning to get on my nerves.

Suddenly she gripped my arm.

‘What’s that?’

I listened.

Somewhere in the mine, I had no idea how far away or how near, there came the sound like rain falling and the soft rustle of dry leaves.

‘What is it, Vic?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘It sounds like rain.’

‘Can’t be. Keep still!’

We sat motionless, listening.

The pattering sound was nearer now: a sound of a thousand little leathery feet running over pebbly ground. I knew what the rustling sound was. I’d heard it before: only it wasn’t one or four, but hundreds.

The rats were on the move!

I jumped to my feet.

‘Come on. Let’s see how fast you can run.’

‘What is it?’ Paula said, scrambling up.

I grabbed her hand.

‘Rats! Now, come on. Don’t be frightened. We’ll lose them.’

Bent double, we ran down the tunnel. The pattering sound behind us grew louder. We blundered on, stumbling over stones, banging against the rough walls, but keeping up some sort of pace. The tunnel curved to the right; turning the corner, we found more head room. After a few yards it was possible to stand upright

‘Stretch your legs,’ I said, and increased my speed, dragging her along with me.

The going was easier now. We kept on, gasping for breath, running blindly into the darkness. The tunnel seemed endless. Suddenly Paula lurched and would have fallen if I hadn’t swung round and steadied her. She leaned against me, sobbing for breath.

‘I’m done!’ she gasped. ‘I can’t go any farther.’

‘You can, and you’re going to!’

I put my arm round her and forced her on, but we had gone only a few hundred yards when her knees buckled and she sprawled on the ground.

‘Give me a minute. I’ll be all right. Just give me a minute.’

I leaned limply against the wall, my ears cocked, while I struggled to control my laboured breathing. The pattering sound had died away, but I knew we wouldn’t have more than a moment’s respite.

‘We’ve got to keep moving.’

Away in the distance, the pattering sound began again. Paula staggered unsteadily to her feet.

‘Come on,’ I said and, supporting her, went forward at a staggering jog-trot.

After a while she got her second wind, and we began to run again. The sound behind us had become ominously close. Somehow, probably spurred on by the squeaking and pattering behind us, we managed to increase our speed. We came to another intersection and without pausing to think, I swung right, dragging Paula with me. We pelted down a long, high tunnel.

Ahead of us the tunnel began to narrow. I flashed the beam of the torch to see where we were going. Before us was an archway, no more than a hole in the wall.

‘In here,’ I panted, pushed her through the archway and staggered in after her.

We found ourselves in a big, lofty cave. As I swung the beam around, lighting up the walls, I saw a great pile of wooden boxes standing in the middle of the cave.

Paula cried, ‘There’s no way out, Vic!’

She was right. We had blundered into a cul-de-sac. There was no escape now. We couldn’t go back. The rats were already rushing down the outside tunnel.

‘Quick! Block the entrance with those boxes! It’s our only chance!’

We rushed to the pile of boxes, grabbed one apiece, staggered with them to the entrance, dumped them and jumped back for two more. We had the first row in place when we smelt the rats.

There was something blood-curdling and ghastly in the smell that drifted into the cave as the pattering feet came rushing down the long length of the tunnel.

‘As fast as you can.’

I grabbed hold of two boxes, dragged them across the floor, swung them into place. As Paula ran back for another box, I turned the beam of the torch into the outside tunnel. The sight that met my eyes sent a chill up my spine.

The whole of the narrow floor of the tunnel was carpeted by a heaving mass of brown, furry bodies. The sound of their shrill squeaking, the rustling tails and pattering feet made a nightmare sound of horror.

I snatched out the .25 and fired twice into the seething mass. The crash of gunfire rolled down the tunnel, deafening me, and setting up echo upon echo.

The awful brown carpet swerved, but there was no room for them to retreat. Swarms of rats, stretching the length of the tunnel, prevented those in front from getting away.