Mine

Cole didn’t know if he was asleep or awake until he heard someone cough.

Then began the incessant striking of hammer on stone. Earl, the foreman, had set up shifts for everyone.

He’d said, “Keep pounding. Let them know we’re still here. Alive.”

There was no light. None. Not a glimmer.

Everything felt dreamlike. Only Cole’s dreams felt real. They played out in daylight.

How long since the cave in? Time had lost meaning. It felt like forever. Or an hour ago. He'd startle awake and wonder where he was. Then remember. How long had he slept? A few minutes? Days?

His watch was accurate, give or take twelve hours. Memories blurred with reality.

Hunger marked time's passing.

Rolling against gritty stone, he sat up. The sound of others moving reminded him there were others and so far they had survived.

At least the dust had settled. After the collapse, choking dust hung in the air forever. They thought their lungs would never clear. For a long time every time someone lit his or her lantern, everything looked smoky. Eventually, the coughing stopped.

Had it been days? Earl knew but didn't want them thinking about that.

He'd spent his life in the mines. If anyone asked, Earl would say he cut his teeth on a chunk of coal. After the cave in he told himself, 'This is the end. I get out alive, I'm gone.'

After the first day or so, they could only sit and wait, hoping a rescue party would find them before the.

When the tunnel collapsed, so much happened at once. The screams, the groans, the terror… the chaos.

They would all have died had Earl not kept them focused. After a few rushed to escape and got caught in the collapse, his shouted orders stopped the panic. They heard their screams but could do nothing.

There was no time. Their gear was inadequate. Couldn't rescue themselves. The silence that followed sent chills down their spines.

The survivors dragged Jed out from the rubble. He couldn't stand. They made a flat area for him. Applying his medical knowledge, Earl instructed the others. He stemmed Jed's bleeding. But immobilizing broken bones with makeshift splints was painful and difficult.

They gave him precious water.

Earl said, "Hope he gets professional help before they set…"

He knew they would have to rebreak them once he got to a hospital.

Reality set in. Rescue could take days. Might never get out. The possibility of starvation was real.

Earl counted heads. Four others besides himself survived, Sonny, Jed, Cole and Roman. All but Sonny grew up together. Their fathers all came from the mines.

The collapse came in the morning, so they had food and water.

“Stow your kits and gear,” he said. “Once you’re secured, douse your lanterns. Save the batteries.”

The guys were hungry. Earl said, “Husband your resources, guys. Don’t gobble it all at once. Make it last. May be down here a while.”

Earl set up shifts for them. They were to rap stone with a hammer in the Morse Code S-O-S distress signal. 

Earl gave Cole a pick and pointed at the wall. 

"You start. Somebody'll spell you in an hour. Signal 'em we're alive and waiting." 

Cole found comfort at the wall. Activity filled the time. He felt useful.

He marveled at how things become routine, even in the most primitive of circumstances. As each took their turn at the wall, the others sat bunched together in the dark, passing stories back and forth. Sometimes they would even laugh in the face of their plight.

After a while, Roman began to weep. Hearing his sobs in the dark unsettled the others. A giant of a man, everyone saw him as stoic, a man of action. He would take on any task. No one expected blubbering about his wife and kids. Now he despaired. In the darkness, his mask of strength invisible, he revealed himself.