Chapter Seventeen: Escape From The Mines

(Revelation)

***

Jordan stared at the flamethrower guy, fear thrumming through her that the guy had found them and they were trapped, with no way to escape.

The guy stared back at her before he grabbed Emily, her best friend screaming as he roughly  tried to pull her out of their hiding spot. 

At that, a protective rage rose in Jordan as she grabbed the knife and flicked the blade out, jumping out as she shouted, "Get your hands off my best friend, motherfucker!"

"No, no, stay away!" Emily cried.

"Let her go, asshole!" Jordan screeched, lunging forward to stab the man so he could let Emily go. But the guy just grabbed her hand, stopping Jordan from stabbing him as she struggled in his grip.

"Shhh! Quiet!" the guy hissed—just as a thunderous, screeching roar came.

Jordan's eyes widened as she stopped fighting. "What the fuck was that?"

The guy didn't respond, letting Emily go as he pushed them both further behind their hiding spot, throwing a bag at Emily and yelled, "Use these! And get the hell out of here! Now!"

Jordan was about to demand what he meant before her foot slipped and she fell, Emily falling as well over the hidden ledge neither expected to be there. They tumbled down until they hit the ground, everything in Jordan's body barking in pain. She groaned as she got to her feet, just as the bag the guy threw at Emily fell on top of her best friend.

"What? What?" Emily breathed, before she got to her feet and looked around. "Oh shit. Oh boy."

Jordan looked around them as well, at where the guy had been. "What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know," Emily whispered as she bent down and picked up the still-burning torch. "Alright. Alright, let's go."

Picking up the bag, she swung it around her body as she and Jordan walked down the tunnel, Jordan hoping this would lead to a way out. But why did the guy help them? And why did he throw that bag and tell them to use it?

What was going on in the mines?

Jordan bit her lip, wondering if she should know or not, as Emily walked into a wooden closet or shed, where several objects were on a bench. Jordan joined her as she picked up an old postcard, a romantic message on the back. Emily set it down as she and Jordan left, heading further down—only to see it came to a stop and lead down further below them.

Emily jumped down first, then Jordan. They saw they were in another mine shaft, the gloom hiding how far it lead. A screech rattled off the walls and Jordan swallowed back her nerves as she and Emily walked down the tunnel, hoping for a way out at the end. As they did, Jordan saw a totem roll by her feet. She picked it up, looking inside it.

***

* DANGER TOTEM *

A pale, clawed hand lunged out of the wooden planks, narrowly avoiding clawing Jordan and Emily's faces off.

***

Jordan set it down, seeing Emily set her own totem down further ahead of her. The best friends exchanged a look before they continued on, the strange totems forgotten in favour of just getting the hell out of the mines.

Their footsteps echoed in the mines as Jordan and Emily walked down the length of the tunnel. Jordan felt unease stir in her gut, that something was going to happen, but she didn't know what it was or why she felt such dread. It didn't help that the screeches had increased, joined by a scrabbling, scratching noise that tugged at Jordan's heartstrings fearfully, and what the guy said that they needed to get out of here.

That, at least, was something Jordan was willing to listen to and follow through on it.

As they reached the end of the tunnel, Emily saw a crack in the wall that Jordan noticed as well, leading into a new tunnel. She slid through first, whispering, "Okay. This is going to be the way. Okay." Jordan was right behind her, trying to ignore how her body was screaming that something was going to happen, right now.

It came true when, as Jordan and Emily inched their way across the wall, a pale, clawed hand lunged out of the wooden planks, narrowly avoiding clawing Jordan and Emily's faces off.

Jordan and Emily screamed before they ran down the tunnel, Emily shouting, "Shit! Shit!'

"What the fuck was that?! What the fuck?!" Jordan screamed as she bolted down the tunnel, right behind Emily. As they ran, Jordan noticed that hand, now attached to a spindly arm, lurching out of the wall again that the friends narrowly ducked as they kept running, sprinting over a wooden bridge.

"What is that?!" Emily yelled.

"I don't fucking know! Just run, Emily! JUST RUN!" Jordan screamed as they leapt over a gap and onto the next half of the bridge, running over it and into a tunnel. Jordan's heart was pounding in fear as she risked a look back and saw a spindly, long-limbed, pale-skinned, humanoid thing crawling on the walls like a fucking spider before landing on the bridge, faster than it should be possible, screeching.

Oh God, this creature was the one behind the screeches, was the shadow she must have seen at the station and the fire tower and chased her and Mateo. Oh God.

"RUN!" Jordan screamed as she and Emily sprinted down a tunnel, metal bars surrounding them on both sides as the monster continued its chase after them, so close Jordan could feel its cold, rotting breath on the back of her neck. She held back a gag as she just kept running, right on Emily's heels as they ran out from the narrow tunnel into a much more open space, letting Jordan now run alongside Emily as she came to a stop, staring at the crossroads as Jordan turned, seeing the creature getting closer.

"Em, make a decision! It's getting closer!" Jordan shrieked, tugging frantically on Emily's jacket sleeve—right as the creature jumped in front of them.

Jordan screamed as the creature screeched in their face, its face grotesque, milky eyes bulging out at them, fanged maw screeching at them. In a panic, Jordan's fist swung out and punched the creature in the face.

The creature screeched again, this time in rage, as Emily grabbed the back of Jordan's flannel and pulled her down the right tunnel, the monster right behind them as Emily shrieked, "Why did you fucking punch it?!"

"I panicked!" Jordan screamed back as she kept running, looking back and seeing the creature still after them. "Oh fuck!"

They sprinted down the tunnel, outrunning the monster as fast as they could, running out from the tunnel into a cavern just like the first one they'd stumbled into. But despite how fast she was running, Jordan was lagging behind as Emily was the first to run into an elevator, yanking the lever down before she twisted around and stuck out her hand, screaming, "JORDAN! TAKE MY HAND!"

With one last burst of fear-fulled speed, Jordan bolted across the metres of space between her and the elevator, pausing to grab a cart and throw it down behind her with as much strength as she could, blocking the creature's path as she sprinted to Emily, reaching for her hand, she had to make it, she had to get Emily's hand, she had to.

Pain speared down her leg as the monster's claws ripped through the fabric of her jeans, shredding the skin and muscle. Jordan screamed in agony as she reflexively kicked out and grabbed Emily's hand. Her best friend hauled her up into the safety of the elevator, crouching down as Jordan leaned heavily against Emily, panting as her leg dripped blood, adrenaline numbing the agony searing through her.

"Come on! Breathe out... breathe in..." Emily said, for both herself and Jordan as she kept her arm wrapped tightly around Jordan, as she panted heavily, trying to breathe in and out as the elevator rose up.

"Oh God, oh God," Emily whispered, sounding terrified, before standing up and saying, "Okay. Snap out of it, Em."

"We're safe. We have to be," Jordan whispered, eyes screwed shut from the pain shooting down her leg.

She spoke too soon, as the elevator juddered to a stop and a scraping growl rang out.

"Shit!" Jordan and Emily whispered, terror shuddering through them as the elevator continued to rattle and shake from the monster on top as the friends grew still and held each other's hands in a death grip, Jordan's heart pounding ferociously inside her chest as out of the corner of her eye, she could see the monster's face through the slats of the elevator, the monster screeching loudly and she realised just how fragile this wooden elevator was, how easily the monster could break it open and kill her and Emily.

It had Jordan's heartbeat stutter with fear and hold Emily's hand tighter, aware of the switchblade once more back in her pocket. Should she grab it out and stab the monster? Or just remain still?

Emily's hand made her decision—Jordan couldn't move, not without risking Emily's life. Staying still was saving both her and Emily.

So Jordan remained still, her thundering heart the only thing moving in her body as she and Emily stood there, frozen, as the elevator shook before it came to a stop.

The monster was gone.

Jordan and Emily didn't waste a second, sprinting out of the elevator and toward what Jordan could see was natural light, sobbing with relief. They were almost free of the mines and the monster. They just needed to run a bit further and they would make it.

Emily abandoned her torch as she and Jordan bolted for the stairs, as despite the blood still flowing steadily from Jordan's wounded leg and the pain shooting up and down it, Jordan refused to slow down, adrenaline and fear good motivation to just keep running.

As she bolted to the stairs, Emily grabbed a chain and yanked it down, sending boulders tumbling out of a chute and blocking the monster's path, buying them crucial time. Sprinting up the stairs and down the corridor, Jordan and Emily grabbed an oil drum each and threw them down, desperately trying to buy them more time and block the monster's way as much as they physically could. As Emily yanked down a third barrel, Jordan noticed oil spilling out.

Grabbing the lighter, Jordan flicked it on and touched the flame to the barrel just as Emily pulled a flare out and tossed it into the oil before they leapt down and sprinted away.

The oil exploded into fire, a flaming barrier as the monster paused behind it, screeching, as Emily turned a conveyor belt on and they got on it. It ascended slowly up as Jordan and Emily crawled as quickly as they could up it, Emily mumbling, "Oh come on..."

"Faster, Em, faster!" Jordan yelled, wincing and gasping with pain from her leg, blood spotting the way they'd come.

Getting to their feet, Jordan noticed a platform and grabbed Emily's arm, making a split-second decision to leap off it and onto the platform.

Once they were on it, they ran up it and came to a stop on a metal platform. The outside beckoned them, the wind and cold slapping into Jordan's face and stinging her wound, but it was still the mines and the creature was still after them. They had to get free. Now.

Sprinting left instead of straight ahead, the girls turned the corner and bolted into a wooden shed. Freedom was close, they were almost free, but the monster was close behind, snarling in rage as Jordan stared at it, before she remembered that the monster had paused before the fiery barrier they'd caused like it was... afraid. Afraid of the fire.

Then she remembered what Mateo had said, about a can of spray-on deodorant being in the bag along with the lighter—what he and Chris had done to thaw the ice off the doorknob for the lodge.

Grabbing the lighter, Jordan rummaged around before she found the deodorant, twisting around as she saw the monster run toward her and Emily, screeching. Without a second of hesitation, Joran flicked the lighter on and sprayed the deodorant through the flame.

Fire roared out, a great gout of fire like a dragon breathing it instead of spray-on deodorant simply passing through a lighter flame, stopping just before the monster as it screeched, backing away. With her makeshift flamethrower, Jordan sprayed fire again before she heard Emily yell, "JORDAN!"

Stopping the fire, Jordan sprinted to where Emily was holding a door open, and both girls slammed it close before Emily bolted it with a deadbolt. Jordan stumbled away, panting, leg burning with pain as Emily leaned against the door.

That was when the monster lunged out and grabbed Emily, teeth tearing into her shoulder as she screamed.

"EMILY!" Jordan yelled before she ran forward and used her flamethrower to spray fire right at the monster's back. It shrieked with pain, letting Emily go as Jordan put her flamethrower away in the bag, zipping it close, and pulled Emily  forward, both girls stumbling away before Jordan saw a handlebar on a wire, making a makeshift zipline.

"Em!" Jordan exclaimed, but she noticed it too as together, the girls lunged forward and grabbed onto the handlebar with a hand each while still holding each other just as the monster leapt out of the shed, wood exploding around it, screeching, almost getting them.

The zipline screeched against the metal wire, sparks flaring, but neither Jordan or Emily cared as they held on desperately, zooming down the cord and across a gorge—right toward a tower.

"SHIT!" Jordan screamed as the metal contraption their handle was connected to smashed against the tower in a shower of sparks and metal and they fell, crashing against the snow before rolling down and coming to a stop.

Grunting with pain and fear, Jordan helping Emily up as she held a hand to her bleeding shoulder. Jordan was about to tear off a strip from her sweater before a chilling screech came.

The girls exchanged a look, wide-eyed and full of fear, the screech making their decision.

They ran, away from the mines—and straight back toward the Washington Lodge. 

***

This was fun :)

No, but seriously, I LOVED writing the mine chase scene!! It was so much fun to write—I love writing action scenes. And yes, Jordan survived the mines and used the lighter and deodorant to create a makeshift flamethrower!! Also, I just love the chase scene and how Emily escaped (she's so final girl), so had to give Jordan her own final girl moments as well

But they're back to the lodge, and revelations will happen >:)

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!