Radium Halos Read online

  “Sorry,” Seth said, his baritone echoing off the nearby walls. “We broke in here when the storm started. I hope I didn’t scare you. We were just messing.”

  “It wasn’t funny. At all,” Heidi said.

  “Sorry. We were just around the corner when we heard you guys crawl in.” Seth craned his neck, trying to look behind us. “No one else?”

  Brent stepped forward. “They all ran for their cars. Did you break the board at the entrance?”

  “Yup.” Seth grinned, flexing a massive arm muscle. “By the way, this is Kieran. He moved in down the street from me a couple of days ago.”

  “G’d ev’nin’.” Kieran’s low voice carried a thick accent. English? Australian?

  Rylee sloshed over and hugged Seth and then Kieran. “I’m Rylee.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Kieran politely stepped back.

  Heidi waved a little hand, then reached for hair to play with out of habit. Not finding any with the new hairdo, she scratched her neck instead “I’m Heidi. Are you from England?”

  “Och.” He smiled and shook his head. “Not hardly. I’m from Inverness, a wee town in Scotland.”

  Brent nodded and held his hand out. Seth slapped the front, then back. The shake was their Boy Club greeting they’d made up in third grade and, sadly, still used it. “’Eh, Kieran. I’m Brent, the music man.” He patted the guitar case on his back that I’d completely forgotten about. He hummed a few chords of “Auld Lang Syne.”

  Kieran grinned.

  I stepped forward and inhaled trying to think of something witty to say. The deep breath killed all thought processing and instead gave me the opportunity to breathe in Kieran scent. Probably some aftershave mixed with the Highland waters of Scotland. Trying to appear cool I crossed my right ankle over my left and nearly fell into the running water. Thank goodness for the dimness. “Hu-hello,” I said, groaning inwardly at the rust in my husky voice. “I’m Zoe. Fancy meeting you in such a…a… memorable place.”

  “Speaking of which,” Brent said. “Do you know a way outta here? Zoe seems to think we’re trapped.”

  “We’re not trapped.” Seth pushed passed us to the opening of the mine. Rylee shone her little light at the jammed entrance and we all moved closer to Seth. He spread his feet and squatted down to push against the tree trunk. Brent and Kieran joined him, their arms flexed with exertion against the pale flashlight.

  “The tree’s not… going to… budge.” Seth grunted as he pushed harder. He lost his footing and crashed to his knees in the rushing water. “Crap.” He grabbed Brent’s outstretched hand and vaulted up, soaked to the waist. “There’s a run off rain spout by the mine opening, the tree must’ve took it down as it fell. That’s why there’s all this water running in here.”

  My teeth were nearly rattling out my head. I blinked in surprise, not realizing how cold I’d become. Or maybe it’s just the mine. Or the fact that we were stuck here! I hated this place, but wasn’t about to admit it out loud. Wringing my hands, I pressed my lips together to stop their trembling. Images of being forced into the deep, dark pits of the mine, and never being found, galloped through my head.

  Seth reached toward Rylee. “Give me the light. We had one but it died after two minutes. We’ve already been a ways and didn’t find anything in the dark. I’ll go further to see if there’s a dryer place we can wait the storm out.”

  “I’m not moving from this spot.” Heidi clutched my arm and pulled me tight against her. My shoe, half sucked into the bed, made me almost fall face-first into the cold water. Great, mud-caked hair.

  “Seth’s right,” Kieran said. “We can’t stay here. We’ll be sliding down the mine on our arses.” He splashed past to stand by Seth. “I’ll come with you.”

  “Don’t go,” pleaded Heidi.

  “I’ll stay.” Brent gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze as he stepped between me and Heidi.

  Rylee slipped by and stood on the other side of Heidi. “They have to look. If we’re gonna be here all night, we can’t stay here waiting to be rescued. Nobody even knows we came this way. They were all running for the cars.”

  “We should’ve done the same thing.” My gut was right before.

  In the semi-darkness, I watched Heidi collapse in tears against Rylee. Then two boys, and our only little light, disappeared into the darkness. Tears welled but, breathing deep, I fought them back down. We didn’t need any more waterworks at the moment. It was dark, cold and silent. My heart hammered and fear gnawed inside me.

  Oh how I wanted to follow the guys. Instead, I patted Heidi’s arm and moved a few steps away to try and find higher ground. Moving forward, I grimaced when water sloshed up to my knees. My arms reached out in the darkness to find the wall. Each step a hesitant move forward, I concentrated on not slipping.

  The cool, dry dirt of the wall felt like heaven against my fingers. Sliding my foot forward, I felt higher ground against my sneaker. Another tentative step forward, using the wall for balance, I found a small ledge. Wide enough to stand on. A tiny surge of hope pulsed through my veins.

  “Over here,” I called. “There’s a raised part we can stand on till the guys get back.”

  “Here, take my arm, Heidi” Brent said.

  Heidi was full-on crying now. Hiccups and everything. Poor thing.

  They clambered onto the small rock shelf. We waited for what seemed like an eternity, none of us talking. Heidi managed to calm herself down on the higher ground. The howling wind and shattering thunder seemed to be having a conversation of its own.

  I shifted my weight from foot to foot. What time is it? The little hands on my watch glowed faintly. Half past eleven -- already?

  “Think they’re alright?” Rylee asked.

  I opened my mouth to reply, when a whoop erupted from deeper inside the mine. All four of us jumped.

  “Son of a bitch!” Brent swore as he slid and landed in the muddy water. “They better have found something.”

  Moments later, laughter and male voices drifted through the darkness of the mine towards us. The small, round light appeared. My tense posture slumped. A new knot between my shoulder blades burned. I tried to stretch my back out without slipping.

  “We found a closed off room. It’s nothing spectacular but heaven compared to this. It’s dry so we can hang out there for the night. There’s like a glass dome thing on top, and when the lightning flashes, it brightens up the room.” Seth swung the flashlight around, finally finding us lined against the wall. “What the? You guys in a police line up?” He laughed. “Or are you prisoners, trying to dig your way out?”

  “Shut up.” I smiled for the first time since the rain started.

  “How far down?” Heidi asked in a faint voice.

  “Not far. Less than a ‘ive minute walk.” Kieran took her hand, helping her down and kept her close. “Let’s go. You’ll feel loads better when you see it.”

  Lucky girl. For a moment I wished I’d picked the end near the tunnels instead of the one furthest away. Dummy! I scolded myself. Now wasn’t the time to be jealous of Heidi getting help from Kieran. We had more pressing issues. Like surviving the night!

  We waded through the muck in a single-file chain. Whenever I slipped, I grabbed hold of Brent, who walked in front of me, for balance. How we managed to walk the route in the darkness, without anyone falling, was beyond me.

  It took only minutes, but felt like an hour as we inched our way finally reaching two steel doors.

  Seth grabbed the large, heavy-looking handle and pulled hard. The old door groaned when it finally gave way, as if it didn’t want to let us in. I was right about going for the cars. Could this be another mistake? I shivered at the crazy thought, but followed the others inside.

  Just as I stepped through the doorway, a flash of lightning erupted, illuminating the room, exposing its brilliant white, round shape. Huge concrete pads with towering steel poles reached high into the air. Maybe the poles were once measuring markers or something. Hopefull
y not for uranium or radium. That stuff’s wicked radioactive. I’d have asked Heidi, our little photographic memory gal, but I had no intention of trying to scare her anymore.

  The fifty-foot poles stretched from floor to ceiling. The translucent dome arched like a sun roof above us.

  Another zigzagged ember flashed, this one lasting longer. A crackle and boom followed, making me jump inside the circular space. Heidi cried out and buried her head between her knees. Kieran paced along the outside of the room, his fingers running along the perimeter. “The walls have some kind of dust covering them.”

  The room suddenly went black as tar. A moment later a loud clap sounded above us. Crack! The poles shook against the angry thunder. I closed my eyes, wishing I was anywhere in the world but here. In one of the cars!

  Bang!

  “What was that?” Heidi screamed.

  I covered my ears. If possible, I’d have jumped out of my skin.

  “Sorry,” said Seth. “The door’s heavy. It slipped from my hand.”

  A piercing howl whistled over our heads. This room was hell on earth.

  “’Tis nothing, everyone.” Kieran clapped his hands to get the dust off. “Just wind catching through the dome.”

  We stood back to back in the middle of the room. Brent grabbed my and Heidi’s hands, pulling us down to sit beside him. The others dropped as well. At least the floor’s dry.

  I shoved my hands deep into the pockets of my black vest. My left hand squeezed around a familiar, rectangular object. “Guys! I forgot to hand my phone in when we got to the field.” I pulled it out and flipped it open. Its light illuminated the wall in front of me into a blue hue.

  “You had it the whole time?” Rylee shook her head.

  “It doesn’t matter. I can’t get any reception here.” I held it above my head aiming in several different directions. “I’ll try texting my dad and a couple of people from class. Maybe a message’ll go through as it roams.” With shaking fingers, I sent the SOS message out to everyone on my BBM list.

  “It looks like we’re gonna be here for a while,” Seth said. “Anyone got anything to say, or any deep dark secrets they want to tell?”

  Rylee coughed. “Yeah, I’m a serial rapist ’n been living undercover in Elliot Lake, pretending to be a female high school student. I’m actually a six-foot male who climbs into this body every day and acts as if –”

  “Shut up!” Heidi and I shouted at the same time.

  A gust howled outside. The metal pillars creaked and groaned in protest. They were probably holding the sun roof cover in place. I shifted closer to Brent, who put his arm around my shoulders in a brotherly fashion. It helped, a little. The wind’s howl switched to a high-pitched shriek, and lightning flickered, building to constant streaks above the dome.

  “With how long the bloody lightening lasts, it’s like someone’s playing with the light switch.” On my right, Kieran hunched forward, hugging his knees, his wet shoes and socks beside him on the concrete.

  A massive loud boom of thunder rumbled above us, shaking the room. An eerie creaking noise made me glance up momentarily. Then I ducked my head as fast as I could as dust and particles fell from the ceiling, pinging on the ground around us. Could the dome collapse on us? I grabbed my phone, but there was still no signal. My heart pounded. I don’t want to die here. Not in this place. Would anybody even find our bodies?

  “Everyone all right?” Seth crawled forward and picked something off the ground. “Anyone get hit by a bolt?” Everyone mumbled an okay, and unconsciously we edged our backs closer together. He chuckled. “I think Mother Nature’s chasing us down tonight.”

  No one replied.

  Hail joined the humungous raindrops which pelted the sun roof. Another blast of air whistled by. The sky was lit up like fireworks in Disneyland.

  “Amaz—” Brent started.

  An awful cracking sound split the air, cutting him off. Terrified I couldn’t stop myself from looking up. The flippin’ sun roof shifted had ripped away from the pillars!

  Metal, plastic and fragments of who knows what showered down. Something hard hit my shoulder. It was probably a tiny screw but felt like a boulder. I threw my hands over my head and prayed this was just a bad dream. A nightmare more like.

  “Holy shit!”

  I had no idea who said it and didn’t care. I just didn’t want to die.

  Only rain and hail seemed to be falling and swirling into the tower room now. Cautiously I glanced back up at the doom.

  It wobbled and then hung as if pausing. Dramatically pausing. Then it teetered as it fell to rest against a single pillar. We’re so dead.

  I barely blinked when another monstrously strong blast of wind took the entire dome-roof off. It disappeared into the dark night sky.

  “Bollocks! Did you just see that?” Kieran jumped to his feet and ran to a pillar, wrapping his arms around it. We watched in shocked silence, letting the hail and rain bombard us.

  Lightning illuminated the room again and the rain poured down in sheets.

  Seth went to the door. “I can’t get the door open.”

  “Grab a column.” Kieran’s accented voice carried above the storm. “They’re not going anywhere.” He pointed to the other poles, one for each of us. “It’ll keep you dry. The edge of the ceiling is hangin’ far enough over to block the rain. Yer gettin’ soaked.”

  “This sucks,” I muttered, jumping up and dashing to the pillar beside Kieran’s. I stepped onto the concrete slab, hugged the pole, and shifted towards the wall. The Scotsman’s right. The small overhang of the remains of the ceiling sheltered me from the pounding rain. I had to hold tight to stop from falling off the thinner side of the slab, but it beat getting soaking wet.

  Heidi, Brent, Seth and Rylee scrambled to the other four pillars. The storm continued to beat down, like it never planned on stopping.

  I watched in horror as a bolt discharged through the clouds and shot directly down through the gap. The zigzag light charged down and danced in the place we’d been sitting moments before.

  Electric veins reached out to lick the walls and skip around. I closed my eyes, unable to move, too terrified to even think. What a choice – we couldn’t let go of the pillars or keep holding on. I could feel the energy and heat in the room, positive we were all going to fry. Mom, Dad, I love you. I hope you know...

  The hair on my neck and arms stood on end. Actually, every hair follicle felt raised on my skin. A weird smell filled the air. I couldn’t place it or co-relate it to anything. I thought I could taste the chalky dust. I swallowed to cleanse my tongue and then snorted to try to clear my nose.

  The static noise lasted forever. I kept my eyes squeezed tight, too scared to look or breathe. I waited for death, or something close to it.

  “Holy shit! Did you see what just happened?”

  I tentatively opened one eye, wondering why death sounded so feminine.

  The sparks had disappeared, but I swore I could still hear the noise the lightning strike had made so close to us. And the static. It muted when the thunder pounded, and I shook as the noise resonated inside my chest and head.

  Death spoke again, sounding a helluva lot like Rylee shouting. Startled, I looked around to find her.

  She stood, still hugging her pillar, but her head was thrown back and she was, of all things, laughing. “No one’s going to believe this! I can’t believe it.” Her voice carried over the storm, making it easy to decipher her words. She began laughing hysterically. “You guys look like Smurfs. You’re all blue.”

  Chapter 3

  We glowed. In the weak light our skin had a tinge of blue. I wiped the back of my hand on my thighs, wondering if the blue would come off. My jeans had the same glowing color so I wasn’t surprised it didn’t help. “We’d better not be covered in flippin’ uranium. We’ll be dust, or dead, by morning.” I started slapping my legs to get the powder off.

  “It’s not uranium. The mine’s been closed for over twenty years,”
Rylee said.

  “Radioactive particles stay this way for decades,” Heidi said.

  “Ahhh…Everyone’s turning back to normal, no more blue.” Rylee clearly disappointed, and almost slipping off her pillar. “We’re fading.”

  I couldn’t believe she actually was bummed.

  “It’s incredible none of us got hit,” Seth said. “My ears are still ringing from the crackling noise.” He sniffed and rubbed his nose. “It stinks in here.”

  “Do you think the lightening might come in here again?” Heidi shouted, furthest away from me. “Maybe we should try to head back to the tunnel.”

  “Wait. Listen,” Kieran said.

  I cocked an ear, willing the sizzling sound echoing in my head to disappear. Everyone stood so still, I could hear everything. What’s Kieran trying to show us?

  “The storm’s moving on.” He pointed towards the sky. “The lightning and thunder are ‘bout six seconds apart now. The storm’s moving west. I betchya the rain’s gonna start letting up as well.” His accent made his words sound like a story.

  Nobody moved or spoke. It felt like ages, but my watch showed about two minutes later the rain did lessen. Drops became smaller, turning into a light drizzle and then stopping completely. The wind gave a couple of half-hearted howls but then quieted as well. The dark clouds covering the night sky followed the storm, and before long, stars and half the moon peaked its way through the shattered dome.

  “It’s kinda beautiful.” I can’t believe we’re alive. I stepped off the concrete slab and with hesitant steps, made my way to the middle of the room. Staring up at the sky, I could hear muffled thuds as the others followed my lead and jumped off their slabs.

  “Freaky. The sky looks as though nothing ever happened.” Brent snapped his fingers. “Hey, is your phone working now, Zoe?”

  I pulled it out of my pocket and flipped it open. The roaming dotted line disappeared and “message sent” flashed on my screen over and over again as the SOS I’d written earlier finally went out. "Yeah, the storm must’ve screwed everything up. I hope it doesn’t come back.” I dropped my shoulders and let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. “Can we please get out of here now?” I just want to go home.