The Hatch

The Hatch
“This might be it, baby.” Chase and Rachel had escaped the cell Rachel was originally locked in.
The two of them watched the lights go out and Lenora at the top of the stairs. She must’ve had some help already lingering in the basement. The sound of cast iron was heavy and it hit its mark. Chase heard Willow collapse to the floor. He wanted to run to her. But his hand was clutched in Rachel’s already. He couldn’t leave her. Not again.
Then came the heavy breathing. A man’s breathing. He must’ve gripped Willow’s arms or legs and was dragging her along the ground. He couldn’t see anything, but Lenora and the the other individual weren’t hiding a thing. They had no need to.
A door opened. And Chase could hear Willow being hoisted onto a table similar to one in Rachel’s cell.
The door closed again and the fumbling of a metal lock snapped shut. “Come on then.” Lenora’s voice was unmistakable. She spoke quickly. Her deep cajun accent still stirred within him despite that she nearly killed Chase.
“What’s gonna happn’ dat girl?”
“Nothing for you to bother with. Just get in the truck. I’ll be right there.”
The heavy steps of the man thumped overhead and Chase heard the front screen door swing open and then slap shut.
“It’s just the girl.” Rachel said. “If we can get out we can…”
Chase rubbed her wrist through the bars. “It won’t work that easy. There’s something else about this place. Nothing is easy here. She is not someone to take for granted.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve met her. When I first came down.”
“How well, did you meet her?” Rachel’s voice dropped an octave. Chase knew what she was prying around for. This wasn’t the time. Fuck, it would never be the right time.
“She killed her boyfriend. I was at the bar and she forced me to toss him in the water. Then I was thrown in. Barely survived.”
Rachel’s voice changed. “Oh,” As if she had something to hide. “Well, we need to get out of here.”
Lenora’s steps above clacked on the hardwood floors as she crossed one room and then another. Soon,, Chase heard the same clap of the screen door. In the far distance a truck started up and tossing stones back it presumably left Bellafont.
“Hurry up. Get me out of here.”
Chase let go of Rachel’s hands and touched the cool iron of the bars. “These things are heavy. But I’d say they are old. Flecks of rust all over.” He shook the two that he held and each gave a few inches in either direction. He shook them again.
“Harder Chase.”
He couldn’t help but get a little aroused by the comment. He said nothing and continued flexing the bulbs of his biceps and tightening his shoulders with every push and pull of the bars. Slowly they moved farther in each direction. Rachel grabbed the bars at the point nearest his waist and shook too but it was ineffective. Chase continued on as hard as he could. It took nearly ten minutes, but finally the crack of rusted metal snapped above. Small iron fragments fell to the ground in an eruption of clanging. He kicked away the pieces of iron and shook the bars once more. One gave way and collapsed toward the other, staying locked into a channel. As soon as one bar hit another Rachel tried to slide her body through.
“Not yet babe,” Chase said.
But before he’d even said it, Rachel was pulling her body through and except for a gentle snug around her buttocks she made it out cleanly.
“Okay then. Let me get Willow and we can get…”
“We don’t have time Chase. It took you long enough to break mine free. It’ll be at least ten minutes for hers.”
“Rachel. We can’t leave her. She’s the reason you are free.”
“We aren’t free yet. And if we stay, who knows what will happen.”
Chase ignored her. The lighting in this place was miserable. Small fissures in the wall where stone met wood let through enough to tell that it was still daylight out. But Chase couldn’t see anything in front of him. He couldn’t leave Willow. She’d saved his life. He called out as loud as he dared, “Willow? Where are you?”
No response.
“Willow?”
Still nothing. Chase stretched his arms out reaching for any kind of bar similar to Rachel’s cell. He didnt’ have a clean look of the entire basement when he first came down so he was only guessing.
“Damn it Chase. I know we should be looking for her, but you heard it. She was knocked unconscious. She can’t respond. We don’t know where she is down here. And, we can’t see shit. We can’t stay Chase. We need to get upstairs and out of here. We don’t even know if anyone else is in this place.”
The words hit him and he stopped moving around. “Fine,” was all he said as guilt riddled his body. “Let’s go. But you gotta promise we’ll come back when we can. We can’t just leave her.”
“Okay. But right now we just need to get out of here.”
It was too late and the shuffling of the truck back into the gravel driveway could be heard.
“Fuck,” Rachel stammered.
Footsteps could be heard above. And they were heading to the stairs leading into the basement.
Chase grabbed Rachel by the arm eliciting a small chirp of noise. But she didn’t hesitate to follow. Chase held Rachel’s hand in his and with his other he quickly motioned back and forth, reaching out to not run into anything. His foot kicked what sounded like a thick chain. They kept on. He wasn’t worried about noise as much as he just wanted to escape to some small corner in the basement where they could hide without being seen.
His hand found the stone wall and he let it roll along the cool field stones. He remembered spending time with his family in Wisconsin when he was a child. The summers were spent playing baseball in the field. Any fly ball that went into the cornfield was a home run. His cousin’s home was built in the 1850s and Chase could recollect the same feeling. Dark musty basement. No light when the electricity was out. And as his uncle told him, “back in the day they would take the old field stones out for planting. That’s what all those piles are out along the fields. Then they’d use those same stones to build the walls in the root cellars, and to build outbuildings.” With all the water he’d seen coming into Arcadia, Chase couldn’t believe there were hardly any field stones left in the town. His fingertips slid like waves up and down the stones.
Lenora’s footsteps coming down the stairs were distinctly petite and confident. She didn’t bother to turn the lights on. Chase finally came to the corner where the walls met.
“Here.” He crouched and pulled Rachel down, “Come here. Just get real low.” Chase pressed her into a recess behind him. He reached along the wall looking for something. Anything. He wanted some kind of weapon other than his fists which he knew would be useless against Lenora. He’d never be able to strike her, flesh to flesh.
As he reached out his hand came onto a wooden staff. A hoe? A shovel? Anything would do so long as it had reach and he could swing. The wooden shaft was stuck against the wall, so he pulled again. And again. The footsteps were getting closer.
Lenora knew something was amiss. Except for walking she stayed quiet. There wasn’t anything she could do about the noise of her shoes.
Chase pulled hard and the shaft came free. But with it was also a mechanical latch that slid rusty metal on rusty metal. A door alongside Chase opened and a breath of cool air filled the room around him and Rachel.
“What the fuck did you do?” Rachel whispered.
Lenora was quick to respond. “Who’s back there. I got my gun with me.” and as a signal she fired a shot across the room.
“I don’t know. A door to somewhere. I think outside. We got to go. He took Rachel by the shoulders and shoved her past him.” The breeze kept on. Rachel started climbing through into the space.
Lenora began running away from them. Her feet raced up each wooden plank of the stairs. After a brief pause the dim glow of the basement lights came on. Chase could see again. Directly in front of him he could see the unconscious, or maybe deceased, body of Willow. I’ll be back for you, he whispered to himself.
Chase turned toward the tunnel he’d sent Rachel down. It was dark and ancient wood planks covered the walls holding back the mud and subterranean soil. He climbed up and reached behind himself pulling the door closed. All went dark again.
A gunshot ricocheted off one of the basement walls. Chase could hear the muffled screams of Lenora. Although something told him she didn’t know about this little escape hatch.
Rachel had gotten to a point int he tunnel where she could stand and was about twenty feet ahead of him. All he could see was her silhouette against the back drop of light far, far, off.