Jumper Griffin's Story by Steven Gould

Author:Steven Gould
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2013-06-05T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Incursions

The smell woke me up, carrion–rotten, retch inducing. I followed it back through the cave toward the battery rack, a faint breeze in my face. Something odd about that, since the airflow was usually the other direction–through the rubble that closed my little branch and up. It's two things–the

water brings a bit of air in but also a network of cracks near the spring. The other thing is that the sun heats the rock around the upper end of the shaft, sucking up air from below.

But today, something else was happening and it really stank.

It had been so long since I'd been at the mouth of the mine that I couldn't remember it

well enough to jump there. I finally had to jump to the pit toilet at the picnic area where I

dumped my bucket toilet. It was overcast and surprisingly cold, unusual for here.

That

explained the airflow issue. The cold air was flowing down into the shaft. I jumped back for a jacket before I started the three–mile hike from the picnic area to the mineshaft.

When I got there I found the gate in the grate was wide open, the lock missing, the hasp mangled and streaked with copper. I looked at one of the depressions and realized someone

had shot the lock off–the metallic streaks were from copper–jacketed bullets.

But the stench was up here, too.

I thought they were dogs, but realized after a moment that they were coyotes.

Someone

had shot them, shot the lock off the grate, and dumped them down.

It was illegal to hunt in the park, I was pretty sure. Even if a ranger had killed a coyote for some reason–rabies control, maybe–he wouldn't have shot the lock off and dumped them in

the shaft.

Bastards.

I still had some rubber gloves from doing the concrete work in the Hole, but I jumped to San Diego and visited Home Depot for a paint–and–pesticide respirator mask and some

heavy–duty plastic bags. The three coyotes were rotten with maggots and fell apart as I shoved

them into the bags. They'd probably been there for days, but the change in the weather brought

the smell in. Don't know how I could of stood it without the mask.

71

I left a note under the door at the rangers station telling them about the lock. It was after seven by then and the park had officially closed. It was better, as far as I was concerned, that

the note be anonymous. If I started talking to the rangers, they might start wondering where I

lived. The park had a residential ranger, but his quarters were way over by the park entrance, a

good ten miles away.

I dumped the bags in their Dumpster.

There was a water spigot outside the station and I'd rinsed the gloves and was wiping them on a bit of turf near the station, preparatory to jumping back to the Hole, when I heard a

gunshot.

It wasn't near–I didn't jump away or anything–but it did come from up the ridge, back

toward the mine.

I jumped back up to the shaft, where I felt cold and exposed.

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