MIne 17 (standard:adventure, 1328 words)
Author: Nathaniel	Added: Jan 10 2008	Views/Reads: 3036/2213	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Short story about collapsed mine.

Arriving at the small parking lot in front of the main office, the
feeling of dread overwhelmed me. I sat there with my eyes closed and 
slowly drifted off into a shaky sleep. Suddenly, I was awakened by the 
sounds of Paul, one of my mining buddies, knocking on the passenger 
side window. I unlocked the doors, awaking. Getting out of the cool 
weather he ducked down, and slid into the seat beside of me. 

“Did you hear?” he signed “The ol' boss man has us in mine 17” 

“17?” I questioned, hoping to have misunderstood him. 

“Yup, you heard me right. Oh, the mine has so much history in it, I tell
ya'. It's been here since the start of this operation, you know? Ol' 
boss man was one of the first to go down there.” He started rambling on 
about it, “but don't ya worry big buddy, he's just sending us and 3 
others down there to do a check up on the place. Make sure everything 
is holding up all right. We will be in and out of there in no time.” He 
said, reassuringly. 

“I sure hope so.” I shut my eyes again. The car stayed silent for a
while. 

“Oh. Looks like the other boys are here.” Paul slapped me playfully
across the chest. 

Looking up, I saw three men standing of all different heights and sizes,
in front of my car. Turning the car off, I opened my door. The blast of 
a cool spring breeze hit my face. I awoke a little more. 

“Hi. I'm Jonathan.” the shortest one stated, almost sounding excited to
be there. He had hardly any facial hair and didn't look like much of 
anything besides skin and bones. He wore tattered pants that looked as 
if he had a dozen layers underneath and a vest covering a white shirt. 
His toboggan was neatly covering the tops of his eye brows. I nodded 
towards him. 

“They call me Tipsy.” a higher pitch voice came from the middle man. He
was also very slender, but not as skinny as the first. He was about a 
foot and a half taller than the other, making him at most six feet 
tall. I turned my head toward the last man. He was fatter then the 
others, his face full and rough looking. 

“Hey.” a slightly heavier voice came out, “My name's Timmy, but Tiny is
what I'm known by” 

“Well good morning boys.” I looked over to my car, seeing Paul sleeping
in the somewhat warm car, “Sleeping beauty over there is Paul, but I'm 
sure he wouldn't mind going by that for awhile.” They chuckled, “And 
I'm Phoenix.” 

I slammed my fist down on the hood of the old car. Paul jumped up,
knocking his head on the roof. He slid out of the door and stumbled to 
stand by me. Paul was big but not nearly as big as me. He stood about 
6'2 and had a beer belly the size of a keg. We started towards the 
mine. 

After walking a short distance we entered the mine; a warm, soft wind
came through from the depths of the tunnel. We wandered about 500 yards 
down into the mine, where the first fork of the tunnel was. After 
discussing it, Paul and I decided it would be best for him to take John 
and Tipsy, the smallest of the three man, to the right. Tiny and I 
would explore the left tunnel checking for any mishaps in the mine. We 
split up. 

“So Phoenix, how long you been working here,” Tiny asked, tying to make
small talk as we checked the first post of our tunnel. 

“End of this month will make my ninth year out here.” I finished the
check and started walking to the next “You?” 

He chuckled. “Three months now.” He sighed. “I don't know...” He was cut
off by a large rumble that came from above us.  I ran out of the way 
taking cover in a 2 foot cubby hole in a bend of the tunnel. I crouched 
down; looking up towards where the rumble came from, it became silent. 
I lowered my eyes from the ceiling and saw Tiny standing below the 


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