Chapter 7 The Mine

The jeep jostled and bumped across the empty field.  TJ wasn’t sure but he thought this was near the Tucker farm; one of the families that attended their church. He was hot and tired, last night he had been unable to sleep.

The four had camped in his backyard, in the fort.  They had all agreed that seemed to be the least likely place to get caught.  The plywood structure was large enough for them but there was no luxury of a mattress or carpet. There was no comfort at all for that matter.  Not that he could have slept under the circumstances anyway.

TJ had made sure they were packed for today’s trip out to the mine.  He had taken a couple of his dad’s pistols, the shotgun and his rifle.  He had Kyle grab his family’s firearms as well.  They packed enough food for two days and siphoned some gas from cars around the neighborhood.  Flashlights, lighters and some other essentials rounded out their backpacks. 

He wasn’t sure just what to expect and he wanted to be as prepared as he could.  That was something his dad had taught him.  Dad where are you? He thought, if only he were here.  TJ believed that if his dad were with him he and his dad would storm this place and take back their family. 

Kyle reached between TJ and Steve and turned on the radio.  There was only static. He sat back with a heavy sigh.

“There’s never any radio out here,” Steve said.  He turned the radio down so they could not hear the static.  He could never get any radio reception when he was this far from the city, not even in town, but he left it on figuring a little hope was better than nothing.

“Steve, I think you can pull into the brush over there,” TJ pointed.

To their left was a grove of pine trees along with scrub oak.  Steve turned and headed in the direction TJ had pointed.  He pulled into the trees and brush as far as he could, not worrying about possible scratches to the red paint of the jeep.  He turned the vehicle off and they sat there for a moment listing to the chirp of birds, a gentle breeze in the trees and the pops and clicks of the cooling engine.

“We can hike it from here,” TJ said.  “It is about two miles.  I don’t want to take any chances on being seen or heard as we get closer.  It should take us less than an hour if we move.”

The four disembarked, put on their packs and headed east.  There was more brush than TJ anticipated and it slowed them some.  By the time they had reached a hill that separated them from the mine entrance the sun was high overhead. 

“We can stop here.  Over the ridge should be the mine entrance,” TJ pulled out his topographic map and studied it. “We are… here,” he pointed. “Bren, you and I will go to the ridge and take a look first.  I want you to point out what you saw.”

“I am afraid it wasn’t much; just some vehicles.”

“Where were you?” TJ asked

Bren looked around, trying to get her bearings.

“I think I was over that direction,” she pointed just south of their position.

“Kyle, you and Steve keep an eye on our backs.  We don’t want anyone sneaking up on us.”

“Right.”

“TJ, here’s the camera,” Steve said handing it over to him.

TJ nodded his thanks, and then looked at Bren; “Ready?”

“Lead the way.”

The hill was gradual to a point.  Then they reached a spot that had been washed out at some time by heavy rain.  They had to do a little climbing with their hands in spots.  TJ had them stop about halfway up and he took a look around.  He didn’t know if he should be concerned about guards or lookouts, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.

They reached the ridge and stopped again.  TJ wished there were more bushes or trees for cover but there was none. He took off his sunglasses and hat and did an army crawl the rest of the way to the top and peaked over.  To his relief there was no one nearby.  He looked down into the valley below, then turned back to Bren and waved for her to join him.  She crawled up beside him, keeping her head low.

They both peered over.   Below them was what looked like a large court yard with a road to the south and the entrance to the mine to the north.   Directly across from them were several vehicles.  There were five busses, two hummers and four utility trucks; the kinds that service men use when fixing power lines… except on the backs of these were large satellite looking dishes.  There were two men stationed at the road that lead in and out of the valley and two men at the entrance of the mine. 

TJ slid back down a little and turned on his back.  Bren joined him.

“This is no good.  We can’t tell how many of them there are and we don’t see anyone from our town,” TJ said.

“What now?” Bren asked.

TJ turned toward her, “We have to get inside.”

“In there? How are we going to do that?  They have at least four guards…with guns I might add.  We don’t know how many men they have inside and…”

“I know, I know,” TJ said cutting her off. “There has to be a way.”

He rolled over and closed his eyes, “What if we created a distraction?”

“What do you mean?”

“Draw them out in the open.”

“How are we going to do that?”

TJ’s mind was working overtime now, “We have to do something big. I mean really big.  Something that would cause them to bring away from the mine all the men they have.”

“Like what?” Bren did not like the sound of this.  The thought of heading into the city and begging and pleading for someone with authority to come was sounding better.

“I think I have an idea, but we have to get back to town,” TJ looked at Bren again. “I’m going to need your help to convince the guys.”

“Convince them of what?  I don’t even know what you are talking about.”

“I’ll explain it all. You just need to know that it is the only way we can get help here.”