Mine Read Online Free Page B

wind seemed to be picking up speed the farther down they went, as if urging them to move faster. A few more times around and they had to lean back against it to keep from toppling down the steps.
    A terrified whimper came from below.
    “Hold on, we’re coming!” Leah shouted.
    One more turn around the wall and they finally reached the bottom. Their lights could cut only a short path into the darkness, but it appeared they were at the end of a hallway. The air was really racing now, moaning as it crammed itself into the corridor.
    For a moment, Joel wondered if the scream hadn’t been a scream at all but the sound of the wind. Then he heard the whimper again.
    “Dooley?” he called.
    A startled cry, and then, “Oh, God. Oh, God. Help me!”
    The voice was most definitely not Dooley’s.
    “Courtney?” Leah said.
    “Please, help me!” Courtney screamed.
    The wind nearly shoved Joel and Leah to the ground as they took a step forward. Joel leaned against the wall in an attempt to stay upright, and his hip knocked against something jutting from the surface. He redirected his light and saw several metal pipes running horizontally down the corridor. He pointed them out to Leah and they both grabbed on.
    Stepping carefully, they moved down the hall, Joel in front.
    They’d gone no more than a dozen feet when Leah gasped.
    Joel spun around, thinking she’d fallen, but she was still behind him. Her gaze was fixed on something in front of her, her face pale.
    He turned back the other way and added his flashlight beam to hers. He expected to see Courtney crumpled on the ground, but the walkway was clear. He was about to ask Leah what she’d seen when movement caught his eye.
    “Please, help me!” Courtney cried.
    She was there all right, but not on the ground. She was clinging to an unlit light fixture attached to the center of the ceiling, her body flapping behind her like a ripped sail in a storm.
    Joel staggered backward in surprise and bumped into Leah, dislodging her grip on the pipes. Instantly the wind whipped her around him toward the open hallway.
    “Joel!” she yelled.
    Without thinking, he dropped his flashlight and threw out a hand, trying to grab her as she slipped past. He thought he’d missed her but then felt her fingers clamp onto his wrist. He did the same with hers and hauled her toward him, not letting go until she was pressed once more against the wall.
    His light, however, was gone. He could see the beam twirling around and around as the flashlight was sucked farther down the passageway.
    “Turn your light on,” he said.
    “I can’t. I dropped it.”
    Joel thought he could actually feel the pitch black of the corridor pressing in on them.
    “Please!” Courtney’s voice was weakening.
    “Can you climb down?” Joel called. Even as he said it, he knew it was a crazy question. There were plenty of pipes on both walls, but except for the fixture that anchored Courtney, the ceiling was smooth.
    “Help me!”
    “The wind has to stop soon!” Leah said. “When it does, we can get you down. Just hang on!”
    “I can’t…hold…”
    A bang, and then the sound of flapping fabric growing fainter and fainter.
    “Courtney?” Leah asked.
    The wind moaned.
    “Courtney?”
    Nothing.
    “Courtney!”

S EVEN
     
    Mike
     
     
    M IKE KNEW HE was going to die in the forest.
    He was lost.
    Big surprise.
    He’d predicted that would happen, hadn’t he? It didn’t matter that his plan had been sound, it was bound to fail in the execution.
    Things had started off fine. He’d headed along the same path he’d seen his friends take. He’d then carefully made his way to what he estimated was the farthest point he’d seen their lights. Of course he found no one. He hung around for a few minutes, hoping to hear them coming his way, but the woods had remained quiet so he’d headed back toward the fence.
    That’s when everything fell apart.
    When he didn’t reach the fence by the time he thought he