The Gold Mine

story

The Gold Mine - Chapter Three
by Zack
Copyright© 2002.   All rights reserved.

Notice: This is a work of fiction.  Names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, or persons is entirely coincidental.

Sarah remained on her stomach and tried not to move, and eventually the pain started to ebb.  It was a struggle, but she was able to remove her boots and crawl into the sleeping bag, and eventually she managed to sleep. 

It was some time before Tom visited the vault.  He brought Sarah some food and water, but there wasn't any conversation.  He went away and she stayed there in the dark. 

It was a long time before Tom returned.  He said, "How are you doing?" 

Sarah bit back the comment that immediately came to her mind and said, "I'm really dirty.  Can I have a shower?  Or at least some soap and warm water?" 

"OK, I'll take you to the trailer as soon as it gets dark, in about an hour." 

"Oh, thank you!  I feel so grubby." 

Sarah was so pathetically grateful for this small kindness that she felt humiliated, but that didn't mean she was going to miss the chance to leave the mine for the first time in weeks.  When Tom returned she was out of the sleeping bag by the time he had the secret door open. 

He tossed Sarah her camp moccasins, and she put them on.  When he brought out the rope she obediently clasped her hands and held them out, but he shook his head and ordered, "Take off your shirt, and then turn around and cross your wrists behind your back." 

She did as she was told, shivering a little in the cool air.  Tom tied Sarah's hands and shoved the bit into her mouth and padlocked the straps behind her head.  He put the shirt over her shoulders and buttoned the top button.  Then he took a key from his pocket and unlocked the chain around her neck.  He passed the free end of the rope tied to her wrists between her legs and used this as a leash to lead her out of the mine. 

It was night outside, and the stars were shining brightly. 

Once in the trailer, Tom led Sarah to the tiny shower and removed the gag and took off her shirt.  He said, "Get in." 

"I can't wash myself with my hands tied behind my back!" 

"I'll wash you.  Get in, or we can go back into the mine." 

She got into the shower.  The shower head was on the end of a hose, and Tom sprayed her down with warm water and rubbed soap all over her body.  He paid special attention to Sarah's breasts and crotch, and the welts on her bottom.  She noticed that his breathing had quickened and he was flushed. 

She asked, "Why does feeling me up turn you on?  I thought you couldn't have sex." 

"I'm not a eunuch.  I still have normal reactions when I touch a woman's body.  Except for the one reaction that counts."  He turned the water back on and rinsed Sarah off until all of the hot water was gone. 

He toweled her dry.  She saw her naked body in the mirror and noticed that the hair in her armpits was showing.  She was going to ask if she could shave, but then thought, "Why bother?" 

Tom took Sarah into the living area and sat her in a chair; he ignored her gasp as her bruised bottom touched down.  He wrapped the rope attached to her wrists around her waist and the chair back and tied it off. 

He heated up some stew on the propane stove, and when it was warm he brought it to the table and fed both of them out of the pan.  When they were finished he released Sarah from the chair and put her shirt back on her shoulders. 

He said, "Time for you to go back in the mine." 

"Please, can't I stay out here with you?  I hate being shut up alone in the dark." 

"Sorry, I can't have you out here.  That Forest Ranger might return, or somebody else might come along." 

He put the rope between her legs and gave it a yank and Sarah had to follow him back to the mine and then down the tunnel to her cell. 

Tom asked, "Do you want the chain around your neck or around your waist?" 

"My neck.  That's more humiliating, but it's easier to get into the sleeping bag." 

"Anything to oblige."  Tom locked the chain around Sarah's neck and untied her hands. "I've got to do some blasting, so it will be a while before there's more ore to haul." 

"I've changed my mind about working.  I'd rather stay in here than push that ore car and then be whipped." 

"Too bad.  Having you push the car saves me a lot of time, so you don't have a choice." 

After Tom left the vault and Sarah was alone in the dark again she thought back to what he had said: 'the Forest Ranger might return'.  Did that mean that if she had yelled for help she would have been rescued?  Or was Tom playing with her mind? 

All the time Tom was working in the mine, drilling blast holes, he thought about Sarah, and the feel of her body in the shower.  Now Tom was sorry that he had touched her, because even though he could still become aroused there was no way that he could satisfy that arousal.  Tom hadn't realized how important sex was, even for a man nearing fifty, until it was no longer possible. 

The welts on Sarah's body were almost gone when she felt the explosion that meant more ore had been blasted loose.  By this time she was so bored that she considered pushing the ore car to be the lesser evil.  Sarah knew she was in better shape than the last time, and she hoped she could move fast enough to avoid a whipping. 

It wasn't long before Tom opened the vault door, and they went through the familiar ritual of tying Sarah's hands and unchaining her neck.  They marched down the tunnel to the cavern and Tom chained her neck to the ore car.  He locked the bit in place and untied her hands.  He had already loaded the ore, so he slapped Sarah's butt and she started pushing. 

Sarah moved as fast as she could, and by the time she had dumped the ore and returned to the cavern she was panting for breath and her legs were weak.  But Tom was still shovelling ore into the bin. 

When he finished filling the bin he checked his watch and said, "Good work, Sarah!  You have a four minute credit."  He marked four dashes on the wall. 

Tom dumped the ore into the car and Sarah was off on another run.  She was tired now, but she was still able to get back before Tom had filled the bin, but not by much.  As load followed load Sarah moved slower and slower, and her body hurt more and more.  She was constantly trading off the pain felt now with the possible pain to be felt later. 

When the last load of ore was dumped there were seventeen un-dashed vertical lines marked on the cavern wall, and Sarah was whimpering with dread.  When Tom approached with the rope she hid her hands and cowered. 

She begged, "Please don't whip me.  I worked as fast as I could." 

"That's obviously not true, Sarah.  If you had, you would have collapsed when you were finished.  You would have worked a lot harder if I had been following you with the strap, but that's not possible.  You have to drive yourself, and you're slacking off." 

That speech made Sarah realize how much she hated Tom.  He was enjoying her pain so much.  She decided to kill him if she got the chance. 

"Take off your shirt and hold your hands out, Sarah.  If you make me use force I'll add another dozen lashes." 

Sarah knew she couldn't win a fight now.  She decided to be as meek as possible, so Tom wouldn't expect her attack when the time came.  She removed her shirt and held out her hands, and Tom tied them together, with a half-dozen windings around her wrists and then a cinch between them. 

He unchained Sarah from the ore car and pulled her the short distance across the cavern to the support post, and again tied her so she was on tip-toe. 

Tom said, "I'm going to spread out the lashes this time." 

Sarah didn't know what he meant until the first blow cut across her back.  The pain was so bad that she could only gasp.  The next time Tom hit her Sarah screamed, and she didn't stop screaming until he untied the rope and she collapsed on the ground and fainted. 

When Sarah woke up she was back in the vault.  Tom had untied her and chained her neck to the wall, and he was removing her boots.  She pretended she was still unconscious while he put her in the sleeping bag and zipped it closed. 

The next time Tom visited Sarah he was carrying a plastic five gallon container.  She asked, "What's that for?" 

"This is some extra water.  I've got to go to Pueblo, and this is an emergency supply in case I'm delayed." 

"You're going to leave me here alone?  What if something happens to you?  I would die here!" 

"Don't worry.  I've got a note in my wallet that explains about you.  If I have a heart attack or an accident the police would be here before your water ran out.  I've left you some extra food, too." 

"How long will you be gone?" 

"I should be back late tonight.  Have fun." 

Once Tom had gone Sarah decided that this would be a good time to prepare for her escape attempt.  She had noticed that Tom no longer bothered to leave the key to her chain outside until he had her tied up.  If she could knock him out she could get the key and free herself.  The only way she could hope to do this would be to take him by surprise and hit him with something heavy. 

Sand and small chips of rock were scattered on the floor of Sarah's cell, and she started to fill one of her socks with this debris.  It was slow going, because she had to locate everything by touch and then pick it up with her fingers, a pinch at a time.  It took a while, but eventually Sarah had collected enough to make a lump the size of her fist, and she tied a knot in the sock to hold it in place.  She poured some water over the sock, and this both increased the weight and held everything together.  Sarah practiced swinging her sandbag, and imagined it crashing into Tom's skull. 

She waited for a long time before she heard the door to the storeroom open.  Sarah got out of her sleeping bag and stood up.  She put the sandbag between her legs, up high where it was hidden by her shirt, and the loose end of the sock was between her buttocks behind her. 

Tom opened the door and said, "Hello again, Sarah.  Are you glad to see me?" 

"Actually, I am.  I've got a pain in my foot, like I've got splinter or something.  Can you look at it?" 

Sarah slid her left foot forward, and when Tom looked down at it she reached behind her back with her right hand and gripped the end of the sock.  Tom was carrying a flashlight, and he knelt and directed the light onto her foot.  She swung the sand bag in an overhand loop and it hit the back of his head. 

Tom crumpled to the floor without a sound.  Sarah dropped the sandbag and rolled Tom on his side so she could dig into the pocket of his jeans where he usually kept the key.  Yes!  She found it and even though her hands were trembling she managed to fit it into the padlock that held the chain closed around her neck. 

Sarah wrapped the chain around Tom's neck and padlocked it.  Then she ran out of the storeroom and into the tunnel.  She was so euphoric over her escape that she was almost at the entrance to the mine before she noticed that she was barefoot and clad only in a shirt.  Sarah knew she wouldn't get far without her boots and some clothes, and she would need her water bottles, too. 

Tom was never unconscious, but he had been stunned and couldn't move.  In a few minutes he had recovered enough to get the truck keys out of his pocket.  He had another key to the padlock with them, and used it to remove the chain.  He was about to go after Sarah when he heard her in the tunnel; she was making little yelps, apparently because it was rough walking with bare feet.  He lay on the floor and put the chain over his neck. 

Sarah dreaded going back into the vault, but she had to do it.  She walked gingerly down the tunnel, this time feeling every pebble that she stepped on.  She entered the storeroom, and could see Tom sprawled in the same position he was in before.  Sarah entered the vault.  Her boots were near Tom's head.  Did she dare risk getting that close?  She realized she still had the padlock key in her hand, and she tossed it through the door.  Now even if Tom recovered and grabbed her he would still be trapped, and he'd have to let her go. 

Sarah crept across the vault and snatched up her boots.  Suddenly Tom raised up and wrapped his arms around her waist.  She screamed and beat at him with her fists, but he forced her down on her stomach and used his weight to hold her there.  She felt the chain being wrapped around her neck and when she heard the lock click she knew she was again a prisoner. 

Tom got to his feet and left the vault, but soon he returned with rope and a roll of duct tape.   He had decided that Sarah was too dangerous the way she was.  He didn't know where the key had gotten to, but if he hogtied her she couldn't escape even if she had it. 

Sarah fought desperately, but Tom pulled her hands behind her back and wrapped tape around her wrists, and then around her elbows.  More tape went around her ankles and just above her knees.  Sarah was now helpless, but Tom hadn't finished with her.  He cinched the tape around her wrists with rope, and then forced her feet close to her hands and tied it around her ankles.  When he finished her back was bent in a painful arch and she couldn't move. 

Tom left the vault and Sarah was again locked in the dark.  She struggled to free herself, but the tape held and as the hours went by discomfort changed to pain and pain changed to agony.  Worse yet was her fear that Tom would seal the door and forget about her forever. 

Tom had a terrible headache.  He closed the vault door and then locked the storeroom.  When he got to the trailer he fell on his bed and passed out. 

Tom didn't wake up until the next morning.  He still had a bad headache, but other than that he seemed to be OK.  He got something to eat and then went into the mine to deal with Sarah. 

He had expected her to be able to at least get the rope undone, but she was still as he had left her.  Tom could hear her moaning before he got the vault door open, but she shut up when she saw him.  Her face displayed a combination of fear, pain, and uncertainty. 

"Hello, Sarah." 

"What are you going to do to me?" 

"First, I'm going to untie that rope." 

When the rope was off Sarah's ankles she moaned and cried as her legs straightened.  She didn't appear to have any control over them.  Tom took the tape off of her ankles and knees, but he left her wrists and elbows fastened, and the rope still tied to her wrists.  Her hands and arms were a bad color, so he was going to have to untie her soon. 

After a few minutes Sarah said, "Please, can I use the bucket?" 

"Of course.  Let me help you."  Tom brought the bucket over to her and steadied her while she squatted over it.  When she finished he asked, "Where is the key to the padlock?" 

"I threw it out the door.  It's in the storeroom somewhere." 

Tom found it after a few minutes searching, and used it to release Sarah's neck from the chain.  "Stand up.  We're going for a walk." 

He helped her up and put the rope from her wrists between her legs.  When he yanked on it she gasped and followed him out into the tunnel. 

"You're going to whip me, aren't you?" 

"Yes, I am." 

"You really get off on it, don't you?" 

"Yes, I do.  Very perceptive of you to notice, when you have so much to distract you." 

She didn't say anything else, but she cried quietly, with tears flowing freely down her face.  Tom ignored them; he couldn't try to cheer her up and then whip her. 

When they got to the cavern Tom tied Sarah's leash to the eyebolt while he installed another eyebolt in a roof support timber.  He wanted the whip to have access to all parts of Sarah's body, and that couldn't be done when she was against the wall. 

Once the eyebolt was in place he tied Sarah to it, pulling up her bound hands until she was bent over with her arms almost vertical.  He thought she looked very erotic, with her breasts hanging down and her hair forming a curtain around her face. 

Then he started whipping her with the strap, and she screamed and danced around her tether.  Tom gave her thirty lashes, spread out over her butt, back, and thighs. 

When he finished Sarah was crying, but she was able to walk back to the vault.  Tom locked the chain around her neck and removed the tape from her arms.  She moaned as they fell to her sides. 

He told her, "It'll be a while before I have more ore to move, so you can have a chance to rest." 

She didn't say anything; she just moaned with pain.  He shut the door and left her to herself. 

Sarah was surprised that she was still alive.  The whipping was bad, but she had suffered worse when she was slow moving the ore; she had expected Tom to whip her to death.  Sarah spent the next few days in the dark, but Tom brought her food as usual and he never mentioned what had happened.  When Tom had blasted more ore Sarah was once again a mine pony, hurrying as fast as she could, but never fast enough to avoid a whipping. 

To have come so close to freedom and then fail crushed Sarah's spirit.  She sank into despair so deep that she no longer thought about anything; she just endured the boredom and loneliness of the vault, the exhaustion of pushing the ore car, and the agony of the whipping. 

As the weeks went by her life fell into a pattern: five or six days in the darkness of the vault, a day or so moving ore, a whipping, and then the cycle repeated.  The summer passed by and then the fall.  Winter would be here soon.  Tom had told Sarah that he closed down the mine once snow fell.  She avoided thinking about what would happen then. 

One day Tom was very excited when he had finished blasting.  He came to get Sarah to move the ore, and excited or not he was still careful to tie her hands before he got the key to unchain her. 

He said, "I've struck a body of really rich ore.  I don't know yet if it's just a pocket or the start of a vein.  Let's get the ore out, I'm really anxious to see what kind of yield I'll get." 

"That's wonderful news, Tom.  I'm so happy for you." 

Tom took Sarah to the end of the drift and chained her to the ore car.  He locked the bit into her mouth and slapped her bare bottom, and she was a pony again. 

It was very cold outside of the mine.  The sky was gray and Sarah could hear rain pounding on the roof.  The gap between the top of the shed's walls and the roof had provided welcome ventilation in the heat of the summer, but now it allowed the cold wind to blow rain mixed with sleet inside and onto her chilled body.  Sarah dumped the ore as fast as possible so she could return to the shelter of the mine. 

It was after dark when Sarah pushed the last load of ore out of the mine.  She had worked hard, and if she could return the car inside the allotted time she wouldn't be whipped.  Sarah was in much better shape now so she could go faster, and as the tunnel deepened Tom had farther to go when he wheeled the ore to the bin.  She had expected him to change the rules so that he would always have an excuse to whip her, but he hadn't done it yet. 

Sarah was halfway between the mine entrance and the hopper when the ore car came to a sudden stop.  The car had derailed when a piece of ore next to the track caused the wheel flange to climb over the rail.  The loaded car was stuck, and she couldn't move it. 

Sarah waited quite a while before Tom appeared.  He removed her bit and said, "What have you been doing, Sarah?  Is this another escape attempt?"

Her teeth were chattering so much that she could barely reply.  "The car derailed and I can't move it.  Please, take me back inside, I'm freezing out here." 

Tom agreed, and Sarah waited until he fetched the rope from the mine and tied her hands.  He led her back inside and once she was chained in the vault she crawled into her sleeping bag and tried to get warm. 

Two days later Sarah felt terrible.  She was coughing and had a fever.  Tom visited her and said, "You don't sound too good, Sarah.  What's the matter?" 

"I think I have bronchitis.  Could I have some aspirin?" 

"I'll bring you some.  I'll also bring the large water container and some granola bars.  The processing plant broke down and I've got to go to Pueblo for some parts.  I should be back tomorrow." 

Tom brought Sarah the aspirin and another blanket.  After he left she lay there in the dark, coughing. 

Sarah was getting pretty good at estimating how much time had gone by, so she knew that Tom had been gone much longer than a day.  She wished he were here, because her chest hurt and she was having a hard time breathing.  Sarah knew now that she had pneumonia; she had it once before.  Then she had been in the hospital.  Now she was on her own. 

The fever was worse.  It was so cold in the vault, and each breath was a struggle.  Sarah begged, "Please hurry, Tom.  I need you." 

While Tom was driving to Pueblo he considered what he should do about Sarah.  It was getting close to winter, and he was going to have to shut down the mine in a few weeks at most.  Tom had three possible alternatives: kill her, let her go, or keep her captive. 

There was no way he could keep her captive for the whole winter, while he moved around from one construction job to another.  If he was a young stud, who gave Sarah such good sex that she couldn't live without him, he might have had a chance of keeping her, but that wasn't reality. 

If he let her go he was going to be a fugitive for the rest of his life, and the chances of evading capture were slim, since he didn't have much money to run away on.  All of the work he had put in on the mine would be lost, and the best he could look forward to would be a life of poverty in some obscure part of the world.  If he did decide to let to Sarah go it might be best if he turned himself in to the police at the same time. 

Killing her would be the most practical action.  Tom knew of several abandoned mines where he could put Sarah in a tunnel and then collapse it.  Her body would probably never be found, and even if it was discovered there would be no way to trace her back to him. 

Tom brooded about the options as the miles went by, and by the time he reached the outskirts of Pueblo he had decided what to do.  He was going to let her go.  Once Tom had made this decision he felt his spirits lift, and his planning turned to the best way to release Sarah.  He would have to keep her for a while longer, because he wanted to finish processing the ore; he needed the gold for getaway money. 

The trouble started when Tom reached the mining supply company.  The parts he needed to get the processing plant running weren't in stock, and a new shipment wouldn't be in until tomorrow, which was Friday.  He was pissed, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. 

Tom couldn't afford to rent a motel room, so he was going to have to spend the night in his truck.  This was tolerable, because the truck had a shell covering the back and Tom had brought a sleeping bag and a foam pad.  He drove to the Wal-Mart and found a space in the RV section of the parking lot. 

The next morning he was at the mining supply company, but the parts weren't.  Tom hung around there all day, and still no parts.  This meant that he was going to have to wait in Pueblo until Monday.  Tom was not happy. 

The weekend wasn't a total loss.  Tom found a used book store and bought some paperbacks to read, and spent Saturday and Sunday in the Wal-Mart parking lot.  Sarah would be hungry when he got back, but she had enough water, so Tom wasn't too worried about her. 

The parts finally arrived Monday afternoon and he headed back to the mine, but fate wasn't through with him yet.  About ten miles west of Walsenburg the truck's right front wheel bearing froze up.  By the time Tom got a ride into town and found a tow truck it was so late that all of the mechanics had quit for the day.  He spent another night in the truck. 

About noon on Tuesday the truck was repaired and Tom was on his way at last.  It was late afternoon when he finally arrived home.  He went into the mine before he did anything else; Sarah would be wondering what happened to him.  Tom decided to bring her into the trailer while he prepared some dinner for them, and he'd tell her then that he was going to let her go. 

Tom unlocked the storeroom and then opened the vault door.  He called out, but Sarah didn't answer.  He touched her face and it was cold. 

Sarah was dead. 

Tom never knew how long he knelt next to her body, as waves of guilt, remorse, and loss surged through his mind. 

Eventually he recovered enough to attend to the mundane tasks that had to be done.  It was a struggle, but he managed to dress Sarah's body in the clothes she had worn when they met so many weeks ago, and he collected all of her belongings and put them in her backpack.  He used the wheelbarrow to move the body out to the truck. 

Once the body and everything else Tom was going to need was loaded into the truck he drove for about an hour until he was close to an abandoned mine.  He loaded the wheelbarrow and walked about a quarter mile to the mine entrance.  It was closed by a wooden door, but he pried it open and wheeled Sarah's body inside and about a hundred yards down the tunnel. 

This mine was a scary place.  The roof of the tunnel had partially collapsed in places, and the rest might follow at any time.  Tom put the body and the backpack on the floor and moved back towards the entrance, scuffing out the wheel tracks as he went along.  Then he went back into the mine about fifty yards and dug a hole over a roof support. He put explosives into the cavity, lit the fuse, and ran for the entrance. 

The explosion was not nearly as loud as Tom had expected, and as soon as most of the dust had settled he went into the mine far enough to see that the tunnel roof had collapsed.  Sarah's tomb was sealed. 

Tom drove back to the mine and returned the equipment to where it belonged, and then went into the trailer and fell on his bed.  He wept for a long time before he slept. 

The next day Tom fixed the processing plant and extracted the gold from all the ore that was on hand.  The weather wasn't too bad, but he decided to quit now.  He closed up the mine, packed his gear, and drove away.  He didn't look back, and he knew that he'd never return to the gold mine. 

The End 
 

Story copyright© 2002 by Zack.  All rights reserved.
I welcome your comments.  Email me at zack_writer@hotmail. com
 
 

18/04/02