Scorched by Britt Ringel

Author:Britt Ringel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, science fiction, amnesia, dystopian, female protagonist
Publisher: Britt Ringel

Chapter 17

Kat felt the breeze wash over her face as she walked the narrow path between the coal cars on twin mag-rail spurs. The equipment trailers loomed in the distance. The day’s temperature was brutally hot but compared to the oven underground, the dry wind felt almost like standing in front of the conditioned air vents in her old bedroom. The thought caught her off guard. Which was where, exactly? She didn’t know. Evaporating sweat cooled her further and helped soothe her sour mood.

The unfortunate and embarrassing events of Tuesday morning were still a source of gossip at the mine on Wednesday. Worse still, Kat had begun to notice other crews staring at her when they thought she wasn’t looking. She could faintly hear hushed conversations stop and feel the quiet amusement emanating from certain groups of miners as she passed.

Shortly after starting her shift on Wednesday morning, Lambert had approached Kat’s crew in Spur Twenty-nine. He stated that the dryman in the spur across the main tunnel had lost his balance under a conveyor section and caught his hand in some gears. Kat would be responsible for both spurs for the rest of the day. Lambert took great pains in front of Kat’s crew to call out the spur’s number, going so far as to slowly count with his fingers up to the proper number to ensure there was no misunderstanding.

The doubling of her workload had forced Kat to skip lunch in order to catch up cleaning the long sections of the new spur’s conveyor system. By the time late afternoon arrived, she had run out of coal dust suppressant. She had quickly rode an elevator car to the surface and now walked deliberately to the same equipment trailers where she picked up her backpack unit each morning.

She ducked into a small gap between two connected railcars to let a large dump truck pass on the constricted path. Large vehicles always have the right-of-way, she repeated, echoing the orientation guide’s words to herself. Even though the truck was only crawling, its engine roared as it passed her. Once it was safe to proceed, Kat continued her journey. She reached the end of the lane a minute later and walked around a utility air vehicle blocking the path. It was the same flatbed that Sadler had used to airlift the injured to the hospital almost a week ago.

Kat walked the last fifteen meters to the drymen’s equipment trailer. Unlike the mornings, there was no line at the large counter built into the trailer’s side. A maintenance worker was testing the air lines of another backpack unit when Kat waved for his attention. “I’m out of suppressant,” she said as she slipped the straps of her own pack off her sore shoulders.

The worker shook his head slightly but walked over to the counter. “I’m going to have to get your name,” he stated remorsefully.

“It’s Kat Smith but I’m out of spray because I’ve been cleaning two different spurs all day.”

The worker’s eyebrows shot upward as he took note.

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