The Siege (19 page)

     Helen watched on the monitors as the girls came into view in the tunnel. As they
snuck past the intersection where the new tunnel branched off, she wondered what they were really up to.

     She strongly suspected they were on a mission to pull some kind o
f prank on someone. But their hijinks were always harmless and no one ever got hurt.

     Everyone else in the group had come to expect these three to get into mischief every once in awhile. It was just part of who they were.

     In the back of Bay 24, about two hundred yards away from the main part of the mine, Mark and Bryan set up portable showers. The showers dated back to their early years in the mine, when they started digging the main tunnel. At the end of every work day, they were covered in a thick layer of powdered salt. They obviously had to have a way of washing it off before they returned to the mine proper and resumed their daily lives.

     The problem was that water for showers was strictly rationed back then. And they certainly didn’t want to alienate anyone or hear cries of “how come they get to shower every day and I can’t?”

     The solution was to set up showers at the back of the bay where the tunnel started. No one other than the tunnelers ever came into the area, and the showers were far enough back and hidden behind a huge mound of tunnel debris. So they couldn’t be spotted by anyone just strolling by.

     And it wasn’t like they were showering in luxury. It was nothing fancy at all. Basically just a series of water hoses attached to a two by four on the wall, with shower heads screwed into the ends of them.

     But they served the purpose.

     Hannah and the girls had discovered the showers during a rare visit to the area, and were just a little bit peeved at their men for keeping it a secret from them.

     So out of revenge, and perhaps a bit of curiosity, they hid in the darkness at the end of the bay and watched when their men came out of the tunnel to clean up and change.

     That had been three years before now, and they’d done a very good job of keeping their secret. They’d discussed it many times over the previous three years and debated whether it was the proper thing to do. Sami and Hannah always viewed it as good clean fun. And no different from the
dozens of pranks the guys had pulled on them over the years.

     Sarah went back and forth between the “good clean fun” argument and feeling guilty.

     Lately, she’d been able to convince the other two that it wasn’t a very nice thing to do, and they all felt just a little bit guilty for having done it.

     But not so guilty that they wouldn’t do it again.

Chapter 40

     They were surprised at how little had changed in the previous three years, although they shouldn’t have been. There was no real need to change anything.

     The bank of showers was still in the same place, of course. So was the huge mound of salt debris.

     The last overhead light in the bay hung directly over the showers. Beyond the showers, the bay extended another hundred yards into the darkness of the mountain, but the bulbs had been removed from the light fixtures. There was simply no reason to waste electricity lighting a long corridor that wasn’t used.

     Just inside the dark area, though, were several pallets of construction supplies for the mine
and the tunnel. Stacks of railroad ties and arched ceiling supports, miscellaneous lumber, boxed light fixtures and the like.

     The darkness, combined with the stacks of assorted supplies, made it
easy to hide, with a clear view of the open showers.

     The girls had been friends even before Saris 7 struck the earth seven years before and rendered them all captives of the underground. Now they’d bonded into something more akin to sistership. They shared the same sense of humor, the same need for laughter, the same love of practical jokes.

     This, in fact, was merely one in a long line of pranks they had pulled on their men during the course of their stay in the mine and after.

     It wasn’t all one-sided,
though. In fact, the guys had started it not long after they all came into the mine after the disaster began.

     “It’s to lighten the mood,” they’d said after the first couple of pranks. “It’s to try to make you laugh and forget all the ugliness that’s going on in the world outside.”

     After the third or fourth prank, the girls finally figured out they were being played, and were the victims of pranks done solely for the boys’ amusement.

     So they started striking back.

     On that day, so long ago, they stole every left shoe the men had. Every single one. And in a note tucked inside the favorite right shoe of all three of their men, they left the same written message:

     “
This means war.
”

     When their men complained, the girls said simply, “Hey, it’s to try to make you laugh and forget all the ugliness that’s going on in the world outside.

     Turnabout, it’s been said, is fair play.

     The one unique thing about this
plan was the inclusion of Jason in the prank. Sarah wondered aloud a couple of days before whether it was fair to include an outsider in the equation.

     Hannah said, “I don’t know why not. He’s hanging out with our men now. They’re all becoming great friends, and it’s just a matter of time before they start including him in their pranks on us.”

     They looked to Sami for her opinion. She simply commented, “Who cares? He’s dreamy.”

     And
with that the matter, and Sarah’s concerns, were put to rest.

     The girls were in position, hiding together behind a high stack of railroad ties, and Hannah checked her watch. It was 5:02. It wouldn’t be long now.

     And sure enough, on the far end of the lighted part of the bay, four figures emerged. Encased in white, they seemed to be jubilant that another workday was coming to a close. They were laughing and carrying on, and debating whether John Elway or Roger Staubach was the better quarterback. And which one would have won the Super Bowl if they’d played in the same era and their teams had met there.

     The men disrobed, not having a clue they were being watched.

     The girls jockeyed for position as the men turned on the showers and stepped beneath the water.

     Sarah remarked first, whispering, “Oh, my gosh, Sami. I am so jealous of you.”

     Sami giggled and said, “I know, huh?”

     Hannah said, “You two hush and check out
Jason.”

     Sami just sighed.

     Hannah said, “And I hate to admit it, Sami girl, but I’m jealous of you too. That’s something I never thought I’d say. Being jealous of
Sami
, of all people.”

     Sarah asked, “Okay, who’s hotter? Brad or
Jason?”

     It was Hannah’s turn to giggle.

     “It depends on where you’re looking.”

     Sarah said, “I think we should draw straws to see who gets to take Brad home tonight.”

     Sami shook her head and whispered, “Me. End of discussion.”

     Hannah turned and looked at her and said, “Hey, the two of us can take you in a fair fight. We can tie you up and gag you and tell Brad you ran away. Then we can console him to soothe his broken heart.”

     Suddenly the men froze.

     Then the girls did too.

     Bryan said, to no one in particular, “Did you guys hear that?”

     “Hear what?”

     “Turn the water off.”

     They turned off two of the showers, and waited for Mark to finish rinsing the shampoo from his hair before turning off the third.

     “What did you hear?” Brad asked Bryan.

     “I don’t know, exactly. It sounded like voices.”

     The men looked around in all directions, and almost chalked the incident up to Bryan just being crazy.

     Almost.

     But then Jason caught a glimpse of movement in the darkened part of the bay, behind a stack of railroad ties.

     “There!
” he shouted, and pointed toward the girls.

     Sami and Sarah instantly took off like scared rabbits, bolting blindly into the dark abyss of the interior of the mountain.

     Hannah cowered as best she could in the shadows of the railroad ties, hoping to blend in.

     It didn’t work.

     The men bolted after them, discovering Hannah immediately.

    
Bryan picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

     “I’ve got one of the little twerps!” he shouted as Brad, Mark and
Jason chased Hannah’s accomplices into the darkness.

     It didn’t take long to catch them. The darkness was their ally, but they were both giggling so hard they gave themselves away.

     After a minute or so, Brad came back, carrying Sarah under one arm like a sack of potatoes. She was laughing and making inappropriate comments every time he took a step.

     Sami was the only one who put up a fight. She kicked and squirmed and said she wasn’t going anywhere, until Mark grabbed her feet and
Jason grabbed her hands and they carried her back into the lighted part of the mine.

     As she came within view of the other girls she smiled and winked at them, and all three began laughing uncontrollably.

     “What do you think we should do with these clowns?” Bryan asked.

     Mark led
Jason over to the showers with Sami and said, “I think only one thing would be appropriate. After all, they seemed to have an interest in the showers.”

     Sami squealed, “Oh, no! Don’t you dare!”

     Mark let go of one her ankles just long enough to reach up and turn on the first of the showers. Sami was instantly blasted with a deluge of icy cold water, and spit and sputtered while trying to catch her breath.

     But they didn’t stop there.

     Mark deliberately walked backwards, pulling Sami out from beneath the water.

     But her reprieve was only temporary. As he walked backwards, Mark turned on the other showers, soaking her again and again.

     Brad and Bryan took their prisoners and stepped beneath the showers, turning slow pirouettes until every inch of their bodies were soaking wet. The girls never stopped laughing through the entire ordeal.

     When they finally had enough revenge, the men backed away, leaving the
girls looking like drowned rats in a writhing, giggling heap on the shower floor.

     The men dried themselves and dressed in dry clothes while the girls shivered and made rude comments.

     Mark said, “We’re going back now. You can come with us if you want.”

     Hannah, by now slightly indignant and regaining her cockiness, said, “No way, Jose
. We’ve got towels and dry clothes in our RVs. As soon as you boneheads are out of sight we’re going to go change.”

     “Suit yourself. Just don’t take too long. We’re going to wait about two minutes after we get to the feed barn. Then we’re going to lock the trap door from the outside. For security purposes, you understand. John would have our heads if we didn’t.”

     With that, the men walked toward the tunnel, headed back to the compound.

     Sami finally found her tongue again and yelled, “Bradley Clyde Spencer, I hope you’re not in the mood for romance tonight. I’m not giving you any for a week!”

     Sarah responded with, “Hey, if she won’t, I will…”

     The girls burst out in a new round of side splitting laughter, until Sarah finally asked, “They won’t really lock us in here, will they?”

     The three sprang up and walked at a fast clip through the tunnel, Hannah asking Sami, “Is his middle name really
Clyde
? Nobody’s been named Clyde since the 1930s.”

     They were relieved when they got to the trap door
and found it still open. The boys didn’t lock them in the mine after all.

     What they did do, though, was run through the first floor of the big hous
e and gather everyone they could find. By the time the girls made it back in the building, the hallway was lined with twenty people, who laughed and applauded them as they sloshed and dripped slowly toward their apartments.

     None of the seven ever shared the exact details of how they came to be in such a condition. But none of them would ever forget their shameful perp walk either.