“He wants to kill us,” Mike muttered through chattering teeth.

“He’s done some bad things before, but this takes the cake,” Derek said in a panic before yelling, “RUN!”

This prompted all three to turn and tear off down the mine shaft as if their lives depended on it… and they did. From behind a second shot rang out with the resulting bullet whizzing past Derek's left ear and impacting upon one of the vertical beams up ahead. This resulted in a slight displacement of dirt which filtered down through the air to the floor right as Derek was running below it.

The tunnel took a gradual right-hand turn which, Derek reasoned, if they could make it in time would offer them a bit of protection. Grabbing hold of what few scraps of salvation were being offered Derek poured on the steam to get out of Peter’s line of fire as quickly as he could. He did hazard a quick look back, shining his light to where they had already traveled and found that Peter was running after them with the gun preceding him. Another shot rang out, this one ricocheting off a rail harmlessly with a ping.

The trio continued charging ahead at full-speed with the sound of their footfalls echoing off the walls. Derek kept his light as steady as he could before them so that they would not trip over the rails or any of the occasional discarded hand tools that lay against the walls. Rounding another slow curve he was delighted to see a large mining cart standing upon its rails.

“Get in,” Tilly instructed from behind.

Without hesitation, Derek jumped over the high walls of the cart and landed inside. He was quickly followed by Mike and then Tilly. Being that the cart was quite roomy, they all had room to duck down below the rim, out of the line of future fire, and it was in this position that Derek hoped Peter would not see them and run right past.

Tilly instructed them all to douse the lights, which remanded the mine to absolute darkness. With his heart beating a thousand miles a minute and his breath coming in rapid draws, Derek listened for any sounds of approaching footsteps; anticipating the worst but hoping for any concessionary bones that might be thrown his way. With any luck Peter would trip over something and break some vital bone (like his neck), or accidentally shoot himself in the foot, or have the mine fall down on top of him. As inspiring as these hopes were they were soon abandoned by the unmistakable sound of approaching footsteps.

Curiously, the footsteps suddenly stopped. It appeared, by the sound, that he had come to a halt some ways back, which was a good thing and in the darkness Derek wondered why they had not thought to do this earlier. Maybe they could have just scrunched themselves up against the walls and Peter would have run by in the dark, being none the wiser. At that moment another shot pierced the silence, the bulled striking the front end of the mine cart.

"Everybody okay?" Tilly asked very quietly, to which both Mike and Derek answered in the affirmative.

Trying frantically to remember exactly how many bullets Peter had fired out of his six-shooter, Derek mentally counted four - although on this he could not swear. Under the assumption that Peter's weapon held six bullets, there would be two remaining; more than enough to cause some considerable damage and/or death.

The footsteps resumed, sending Derek's fears into overdrive. He and his friends were entirely helpless and at the total mercy of a madman. Making matters worse was the fact that the footfalls did not continue on past the cart, as Derek had hoped. Instead they stopped directly behind the cart, making it clear that not only was Peter aware of their hiding space, but that they were merely fish in a barrel waiting to be shot. Their time was coming to a violent and bloody end. Peter had always been a bad apple and this would be a fitting action for him. He most certainly did not need the possession of another soul to drive him to these depths of evil, but that was apparently what was needed to push Peter that final step, sending him over the cliff of reason.

 The silence that followed was deafening and the suspense killing Derek. His eyes had been closed to the darkness and danger that lurked within, but he wanted one last look at his killer. Therefore, he dared to open his eyes. Surprisingly, in spite of the pitch black of the mineshaft, he could see a man standing outside the ore cart. He seemed to be glowing from some internal source, making him look almost like a hologram. Derek recognized this man. It was not Peter, it was Henry Carmel. The miner looked down at him briefly before laying his hands upon the edge of the cart and giving it a push forward.

Derek could feel movement begin beneath him along with the sound of the rusty wheels grinding over the old rails filling his ears. At this moment he reasoned that the ghostly spirit of Henry was actually trying to help them to get away from the danger. While that was a good thing, Derek could not help but feel woozy over the sighting of yet another ghost within the mine.

In apparent response to the Ghost Corps being aided, Peter let out a scream of frustration right before another shot rang out. This hit harmlessly yet loudly against the end of the cart and seeming to further propel the vehicle forward. As the image of Henry disappeared over the lip of the cart the three inside felt themselves rattling about even more as their metal car trundled over the rough rails where sand, dirt and tiny rocks had obviously accumulated over the years and now did their unsuccessful best to disrupt the ever-increasing speed.

Selected text copyright 2011 by MT Shivers