The Hole

26

Fred led Sarah away from the tunnel mouth. Charlie was already there, washing beams of light across a small army of demons that danced and capered around the edge of the fiery pit. He was doing enough to keep them at bay, for now.

“Fetch the gas,” Charlie shouted. “As much as you can get, as quick as you can get it.”

Fred headed up the tunnel to where the gas was stored. There was just enough light to see the stacked containers.

Sarah still stood at his side.

“You’ll have to let go of me, darlin’,” he said. “Just for a bit. But I promise, I ain’t going nowhere without you.”

The girl let go, moved away… and started lugging a gas canister, having to half carry, half drag it across the floor. Normally Fred would have helped her out. But Charlie had been insistent.

“Get a move on, lad,” the older man shouted from out in the main cavern. “I ain’t gonna be able to hold them for long.”

Fred looked up the tunnel; the one that they would have to use to escape. The walls showed signs of scorching where the flare had burned and raged, but there were no shifting shadows and no demons.

Not yet.

Fred lifted and carried in three separate short journeys with Sarah at his side. When they got back from the third trip, it was to find Ellen Simmons pouring the gas on the rock at her feet. The liquid slid downhill in a short stream that made a large puddle at the feet of the dancing demons and was already on the verge of overflowing and tumbling into the pit.

“Fire in the hole,” Charlie shouted, and flicked his lighter alit.

Just as he threw it into the stream of gas, they heard high chanting rise from inside the bunker, coming clear even through the iron door.