The Journal: Ash Fall by Moore Deborah D

Author:Moore, Deborah D. [Moore, Deborah D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: prepper survivalist, disaster, dystopian, prepper, survival, weather disasters, Suspense, postapocalypic, female lead, survivalist
Publisher: Permuted Press
Published: 2014-11-18T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

I’ve been to the mine before for introduction tours. We all had to wear the provided ill-fitting hard hats and ridiculous, but effective, steel toed caps over our shoes that clattered like tap shoes with every step. My jungle boots had built in steel toes, and my pink hard hat would make me highly visible. They weren’t going to keep me safely somewhere else.

The ride up to the mine seemed to take an extra-long amount of time, although I knew it was still only twenty-five minutes.

The huge metal gates rolled open as the white and green truck drove up to the manned guard shack. Security was very tight around the mine, and always had been, considering the controversy from the onset. Many people just did not want this kind of a mine in our community. Simon spoke quickly to the guard on duty, and we passed through in seconds.

When I was there before, we were required to park in a certain area, where chocks were provided for each vehicle, a safety procedure. This time however, Simon bypassed the near empty parking area and drove straight to the portal, a yawning maw that was the entrance to the mine itself.

Overhead, the sky was a deep blue and the sun beat down hot, the beauty of the day cloaking the tragedy that was unfolding somewhere beneath our feet. Waves of heat pulsed from the new asphalt road, releasing a sick stench of petroleum tar. I grabbed my pink hard hat and slid out of the truck, following Simon into the mine entrance.

Simon made the introduction. “Allexa Smeth, this is Roger Boyle, the mine supervisor.” I extended my hand and returned Roger’s firm handshake. He glanced at my hard hat and offered a suppressed grin.

“At least you won’t be hard to find,” he said, turning back to what he’d been doing.

“Would you care to bring me up to date, Mr. Boyle?” I said with an intended edge to my voice. I was not going to let him use my being a female to dismiss me from the loop. It did get his attention.

“Certainly,” he said with a restrained sigh. “You will forgive my lack of protocol. This is a very serious situation.”

“I’m very well aware how serious this is, Roger, I’m here to help however I can,” I replied, softening my voice. I looked around at the cavernous entrance. The ceiling was a good twenty feet high and the width was slightly more, perhaps thirty feet. A hundred feet in, the floor began to slope and it veered off to the left. When I had been there before that slope was plunged into darkness, lit only by the headlights of the vehicles descending into the bowels of the mine. Now, however, I could see shadows from unseen lights. I also noticed a drop in the temperature even just twenty feet inside, and wondered how low it dropped further in.

Boyle led me over to a large map fastened to the smoothed rock wall.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.