Through the Gates of Hell

Chapter Three

Walt rode with Marshall Holden, while the nun and the gunslinger woman rode on the gunslinger’s horse, which looked like it was about to keel over at any second. Robert was determined not to waste any more time, and once they all agreed to join him, they were heading out of town less than twenty minutes later.

Walt wanted to talk them all out of it, but he knew it was useless. Robert was a good man, that much was plain to see, but he was hellbent on running off and dying in some futile attempt to save some people who were already certainly dead. He had the air of a man who feared nothing and wanted to die fighting, and it was a shame to see a man like him just begging to throw his life away. But Walt knew there was no arguing with him, no getting in his way. Robert was like a force of nature, and he was going to roar into those mines like a hurricane. All Walt could hope to do was stay behind him and not get caught up in the storm.

The two women were both fools as far as Walt was concerned, although they were fools for different reasons. The nun was a religious fanatic, the kind of person that Walt had no respect for. She thought God or Jesus or whoever was going to save her, but Walt had worked in the mines long enough to know that God had no power there.

The gunslinger woman was just stupid and out of her depth, Walt thought. She was the very worst kind of fool, the kind that ran off to chase rumors of wealth, and stumbled into town with no plan at all except a vague idea about making some easy money. She’d been in town all of five minutes before letting a charismatic and handsome man talk her into doing something crazy.

Walt just shook his head in disgust. Women like that had no sense at all, and Walt could only hope she didn’t get herself or anyone else killed. Hopefully she was as good with those six-shooters as she claimed to be.

“Down that pass,” Walt said, pointing over Robert’s shoulder.

“You’re sure?”

“Sure as I can be.”

There were a dozen abandoned mines, and a few still barely in use, scattered in the canyons and valleys to the west and north of Peaceful Valley, none of them more than about a thirty minute ride from town. Walt knew for a fact that men had died in almost every one of those mines, although some were safer than others. In truth, Walt didn’t know exactly which mine the creatures that attacked town had come from, but he could make an educated guess. That guess gave him a sick feeling in his stomach, but he didn’t tell that to Robert, he just pointed and gave directions.

He could feel the dark stone pulling him forward like a magnet. He was like a compass that always pointed directly at dark stone. Ever since he started working in these parts, he always seemed to be able to find the highest concentrations of dark stone, the most productive veins, the highest quality ore. It was both a blessing and a curse. Because Walt knew something that most other people had not figured out yet. The higher quality the dark stone in a mine, the more likely that mine would draw in the kind of monsters that had attacked Peaceful Valley.

Deep down in the worst, most self-hating parts of his subconscious, he wondered if he was the reason the town was attacked. Had the monsters come for him? Were they trying to punish him for his weakness and greed and cowardice?

Maybe it didn’t matter. He always knew the dark stone would call him back. If the demons wanted him, then they were going to get him. He should never have stayed in town. The moment he ran out of that mine, he should have kept on running until he reached the Pacific Ocean.

“How much farther?” Robert asked, trying to keep the edge out of his voice.

“Not far,” Walt said. “Follow this canyon about half a mile or so and take the left split. The mine we want is at the end of the canyon.”

“And you’re sure that’s where they came from?”

“You asked that already. There’s no way to be totally sure.”

“They might have come from one of the mines we already passed.”

Walt shook his head sullenly. “No, those mines are empty. Nothin’ left in those ones.”

“How long have you been working these mines, Walt?”

“Couple years.”

“You know them pretty well, then?”

“Yeah,” Walt said. “I know ‘em more than I would care to.”

Robert directed his horse down the canyon until they reached the fork, and continued to the left, as Walt had instructed. The canyon walls were mostly crumbling stone and hard dirt the color of tanned leather, a rich blend of browns, tans, and reds. The ground was dry and baked from the unrelenting Arizona sun.

Most of the time, going down into the mines was an escape from the overbearing heat, and it was often much cooler underground. But the mines had a personality of their own. Sometimes they were so hot underground that a man might pass out from heat stroke, or so incredibly cold that a man could suffer from frostbite. There was no telling what the mine would be like until you went down and saw for yourself. Walt had seen every extreme. He didn’t claim to be the most experienced miner and prospector in the entire territory, but there weren’t too many men left alive who knew more than he did.

Maybe he should be thankful for Robert for convincing him to come back here. This way, Walt was doing it on his own terms, under his own power. Otherwise, he would never have had the courage to come back willingly, even though he knew the dark stone would have eventually brought him back against his will, one way or the other. He was doomed to keep coming back to the mines like some kind of ghost haunting a cemetery.

Now that he was close, he could feel the dark stone burning in his blood, like an agonizing itch under the skin that he could never soothe, never find relief. He could almost smell dark stone dust, taste it in his mouth, and it was like a drug he had denied himself too long.

“It’s just up there,” he said, pointing.

The canyon looked almost uniformly carved down each side, as it if was man-made. The ground was covered in fine sandy dust, now scattered and cut through with tracks, marks, and disturbances. Stones, pebbles, and clumps of dirt were messily scattered around, along with bits of wood, scraps of cloth, and other random garbage.

The entrance to the mine was a like a huge gaping mouth. Splintered timbers around the opening framed it like broken teeth. It was a screaming, furious void, and Walt could feel its hatred and fury like heat on his skin.

Robert dismounted immediately, and then almost as an afterthought, helped Walt dismount as well. Maggie and Eleanor came riding up behind them and Maggie stopped her weary horse next to Robert’s. She dismounted and then both she and Walt had to help Eleanor climb down. The nun had no experience riding horses at all, and she had spent the ride with her arms wrapped around Maggie’s waist. Her horse seemed incredibly relieved to be free of its burden.

Eleanor thanked Maggie and Walt, and wiped her forehead. “This is the place, then? This is where we must go?”

Robert faced the mine entrance, holding his shotgun in both hands. “So Walt says. I wasn’t convinced at first, but …” He gestured at the marks and tracks all over the ground. “These are recent. They don’t look like human footprints, that’s for sure.”

Maggie looked nervous and uncomfortable. She had one hand on her hip and the other reassuringly gripping the handle of one of her pistols. “So all we have to do is, um, just go down there and … and find those missing people and bring them back. Right?”

Eleanor clutched her precious Bible against her chest and looked upon the mine entrance with wide eyes. “There’s evil here,” she said in a breathless voice. “I can feel it. Can’t you feel it? The foul spawn of Hell have corrupted this place. But I will …” she swallowed and gripped her Bible tighter, as if it was a weapon in her hand. “I will cleanse this place. All of us. We will fight the forces of evil and save the innocent …”

“Yeah,” Walt muttered after a short, awkward silence. He walked over to Robert and spat again onto the dusty ground. “You sure it was a good idea bringin’ her along?”

In response, Robert turned to face the mine again, and clicked open his shotgun to make sure there were shells ready to go in both chambers. He walked back over to his horse and dug into one of the saddlebags. He took out about a dozen extra shells and tucked them into his back pockets. Walt already knew that Robert had even more shells in the pockets of his vest. The man was loaded for bear with all the firepower he could carry.

“Miss Carmichael,” Robert said.

“Please, just call me Maggie,” she replied.

“All right,” he said. “Maggie, you and I have firearms, so I would like you in front with me. Walt and Sister Eleanor follow close behind us. How much ammo do you have on you, Maggie?”

“Both guns are loaded, and I have a dozen or so extra rounds.”

Robert reached into the saddlebag again to retrieve a small box of bullets. “Here, take these. There’s about fifty bullets in here. We might need them.”

Maggie took the box and stuck it in her pocket. “God, I certainly hope not.”

The other saddlebag contained some supplies including an oil lantern that Walt had remembered to bring along. Robert handed it to the nun. “I’d like you to handle the lantern, Eleanor. Please keep it shining brightly. It’s pitch dark in these mines.”

Walt took out some matches and lit the lantern for her. She took it like it was a sacred object, and held it up above her head with a faintly deranged smile. “Yes, I’ll light the way for us. I’ll bring the light of salvation to this place.”

Maggie drew one of her pistols and joined Robert at the mouth of the mine. She said to Walt, “Shouldn’t you have a gun, too?”

He frowned and shook his head. “Guns ain’t for me. I don’t know how to use ‘em.” He hefted up his heavy pickaxe. “This is all the weapon I need.”

“You watch our backs, Walt,” Robert said.

“Will do,” he grunted.

Maggie held her pistol in her right hand, but she carefully tucked the long side of her duster coat behind the holster on her left hip, leaving the gun easy to grab in case she needed it. Like Robert had done, she opened up the chamber to confirm that the gun was fully loaded.

“So what are we actually going up against here?” she finally asked. It was obvious that she had been trying to form the question ever since they left town. “You said you were there last night when that building burned down. Did you see what attacked the town? Do you know what we’re going to be dealing with?”

“I told you,” Robert said, “These things defy description. Just shoot at anything that isn’t a human being and you’ll do just fine.”

Except that some of the things they might see actually were human beings, Walt thought. The mines could twist and warp the human form into something almost unrecognizable. Those might be the worst horrors they could face. It was the other things – the monsters, the demons – that were easy because they were so clearly not from this world. The natural instinct when facing things like that was to fight them or run away screaming. Walt had done both.

He knew what lay ahead. Perhaps Robert did too, but for him it wasn’t personal. Walt knew this mine and he knew what was waiting for them down in the final tunnels and chambers. He knew what they would have to face.

And Walt knew something else as well. He hadn’t come back to this mine to save some missing girl. He had come back here to die.

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