We Are Both In The Dirt Ch. 20

It is faint at first, but he hears it. The thud and ring of metal hitting the fresh soil amidst her little yelps, her panting, a hissed curse every now and then. He would recognize her voice anywhere and apparently, under any circumstance.

He waits. The sound breaks his resolve and all the pain he'd worked to block out returns. The blinding throb in the back of his head and the burning in his legs paired maddening tickle of blood running freely from any number of deep, stinking wounds causes him to faint. He awakens to the sound of her voice.

"How close am I? How much more?" She sobs as the shovel continues to thud. She's very close. He no sooner thinks this than the shovel hits the top of the pine box.

"Gotcha!" she says softly. He can hear her feet inching along the edges of the casket as she coughs and sobs. He wants to reach out to her, hold her despite it all. He holds his breath as with great effort, the lid of the pine box is pried away and he is free to witness the moon overhead and inhale the sweet air through his shattered nose.

Mira is a bad sight; bloody nose, black eyes. Her shirt is stained with what looks like vomit, her eyes are feverish. She collapses against the wall of his grave with a grimace that might have almost been a smile. It is then that he realizes that if he doesn't get moving they will both die down here and her efforts will be for naught.

He tries to bend his knee but it, like the rest of him, is a shattered mess-yet he manages to sit up with minimal screaming. He tries to say her name but cannot find his voice. He manages to bend his right leg slightly but the pain is so great that he nearly loses consciousness not once, but twice. He lies back down, too weak to keep trying.

"Help!" he says with great effort. It doesn't matter, he knows. The air has the thick sound of a place remote and forgotten. He hears the howl of some sharp toothed animal out in the distance, and then a cough.

"I'm coming. If you'd give me a second. Where are you?"

"Here," he replies with much difficulty.

"Where? My eyes, there's something wrong with them, I can't really make things out too clearly. Keep talking and I'll follow the sound."

"Okay, we're over here, can you hear me all right? We are both in the dirt. Me and Mira. Over here," he says. With each word his voice returns stronger, and though he still can't move well enough to get a closer look, he can see from here that her complexion is ashen. He screams. "Here Mandrake! Here! Come on!"

"I'm coming brother!" Mandrake says.

"I think she's dead," Mint wails. "I can't get to her, she looks like she's dead. Her skin, it's-"

"Shut the hell up and give me your hand," Mandrake says before his dirty, bloodied, mangled hand is there dangling down to Mint in the grave.

"Mandrake, forget me. I can't move, I for damn sure can't climb out of a grave. I think you have to go for help," Mint says.

"I would, but I think I'm blind," Mandrake says, "when I came to a few seconds ago and opened my eyes, there was nothing. I truly think that fucker blinded me," Mandrake says in a voice so calm it sends chills down Mint's trembling body.

"It's okay, don't worry, someone's bound to find us, right?" Mint says.

"Right," Mandrake says. They don't talk much after that, and Mint is not sure how much time passes. When he opens his heavy, stinging eyelids the sun is up and it is burning him alive-but that's not what concerns him. Gaining fast, he hears the sound of loud, Mexican language rap amidst wailing sirens.

"Mandrake," Mint says. Silence. "Mandrake, hide," he says.

"Who gives a fuck now? Let them arrest us. It'll be a welcome upswing of events," Mandrake says.

Soon the sirens and the music are upon them, a blaring cacophony that stabs at Mint's throbbing head. He hears the snap of car doors opening and shutting followed by footsteps in the dry sandy dirt.

"Well what in the hell do we have here?" Delray says when his head appears at the mouth of the grave.

"Don't fuck around, man, she's dead, she's dying!" Mint says.

Delray takes in Mira's crumpled form and yells, "I need a medic stat. We need to get these three to a hospital," Delray says. A fireman drops into the grave and Mint watches him pick her up and hand her to another fireman waiting at the mouth of the grave. Mint is lifted out of the grave by some sort of pulley system and then maneuvered onto a stretcher.

He manages to watch Mira's progress as he is wheeled toward an ambulance. He tries to stave off the panic that mounts at the sight of their frantic attempts to perform CPR on her lifeless body. Right before the door to the ambulance shuts, he sees his brother's limp body being transferred to a stretcher before the medics equip him with all forms of tubes, bandages and braces.

"You with me? Stay with me," the paramedic says.

"She saved us," Mint says.

"She did, did she? Well rest assured we're working hard to save her," the paramedic says.

Mint doesn't hear these words of comfort as he is distracted by a light so bright it blinds him. He does not resist when he begins to float toward it, all of the pain a memory, his mind finally clear.

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Thank you for reading.

Look out for We Are Both On Fire, the next installment in the series, coming soon!