Buried Alive
1721 Words
The steel door blew inward.
Roman twisted around Valentina as the blast tore through the tunnel.
Heat struck first.
Then metal.
A jagged piece of the door slammed into the wall above Roman’s head, showering them with sparks and dust. The floor buckled beneath Valentina’s knees. She hit the ground hard beneath him.
For several seconds, she heard only a thin ringing inside her skull.
Roman moved above her.
His mouth formed her name.
“Valentina.”
She blinked through smoke.
“I’m here.”
He touched her face, her throat, her ribs, checking for blood.
“I said I’m here.”
“You could be lying.”
“About being alive?”
“You lie about everything else.”
His eyes sharpened with relief.
Then gunfire erupted again.
Roman rolled away and fired down the tunnel. Muzzle flashes cut through the smoke. Someone shouted, followed by a body hitting the tracks.
Alessio dragged one of their wounded men behind a concrete support.
“Three shooters at the lower entrance!”
Roman fired twice more.
“Make it two.”
Valentina pushed herself upright.
Pain burned across her left forearm, torn open by flying metal.
The twisted door lay across the passage. Beyond it, fire crawled up the walls.
“Elena!”
Valentina climbed over broken steel.
Roman caught the back of her dress.
“Wait.”
“She’s in there.”
“So is whatever Matteo left behind.”
Valentina tore free.
Roman cursed and followed.
Rusted hooks dangled from blackened rails overhead. Smoke thickened near the ceiling, and flames spread through wooden crates.
Elena was still strapped to the chair.
The explosion had thrown her onto her side.
Valentina dropped beside her and cut through the ropes with a shard of metal.
“Elena, look at me.”
Elena coughed violently.
Her left cheek was blistered, and blood ran from one ear.
“He took the children,” she gasped.
“We’ll find them.”
“He said you would come.”
“Of course I came.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“That is why he chose me.”
Roman entered behind them, gun raised.
“Move.”
Valentina pulled Elena upright.
The woman screamed when she tried to stand.
“Her ankle,” Valentina said.
Roman holstered his pistol and lifted Elena into his arms.
His wounded shoulder gave beneath the weight.
“You’ll reopen it.”
“It already reopened.”
Blood soaked through his bandage.
A man rushed through the smoke behind him.
Valentina raised her gun and fired.
The bullet entered beneath the attacker’s eye.
He collapsed between the hanging hooks.
Valentina took Roman’s pistol from his holster.
“You carry her. I’ll shoot.”
Roman looked at her.
“What?”
“You appear to have finally found a useful arrangement.”
Alessio appeared in the doorway.
“We lost the lower tunnel. They collapsed part of it behind the trucks.”
“How many escaped?” Roman asked.
“At least two vehicles.”
“Luca?”
“No visual.”
Gunfire echoed from the passage. A DeLuca soldier stumbled inside, blood pouring between his fingers.
Alessio caught him.
“Where?”
“Behind us,” the soldier gasped. “They came through the west shaft.”
They were surrounded.
Roman’s gaze moved over the room.
“Other exits?”
Elena pointed weakly toward the far wall.
“There’s a chute.”
Valentina looked where she indicated.
A square steel hatch sat near the floor.
“What kind of chute?”
Elena coughed.
“They brought bodies through it.”
Alessio crossed the room and forced the hatch open.
Cold air rushed through.
The shaft angled sharply into darkness.
“Where does it lead?” he asked.
“Old rendering room,” Valentina said. “Possibly outside drainage.”
Roman shifted Elena against his chest.
“You first.”
Alessio shook his head.
“You first, Boss.”
“That wasn’t a discussion.”
Gunfire struck the outer wall.
Concrete burst into the room.
Roman turned his body, shielding Elena.
Valentina fired twice through the doorway.
A man screamed.
“Go!” she shouted.
Alessio crawled into the chute.
Two soldiers followed.
Roman lowered Elena carefully into the opening.
Alessio caught her below.
Then the ceiling groaned.
Valentina looked up.
The explosion had cracked one of the support beams. Fire climbed along it toward the ceiling.
Roman grabbed her around the waist.
“The building is coming down.”
“You go.”
“You first.”
“I can cover you.”
Roman’s grip tightened.
“You are not dying in a slaughterhouse because you wanted the final shot.”
“That sounds exactly like something you would do.”
“I am trying to improve.”
Another beam cracked.
The ceiling sagged.
Valentina ducked into the chute.
Roman entered behind her as the holding room collapsed.
Flames and debris crashed over the hatch.
The chute became a tunnel of heat.
Valentina slid downward uncontrollably, scraping her palms against the walls. The shaft twisted, then dropped.
She hit the floor of the rendering room on her side.
Roman landed beside her a second later.
Dust billowed around them.
Alessio helped Elena toward a broken doorway while the remaining soldiers spread out.
Rusted machinery filled the rendering room. Old drains crossed the floor. Moonlight entered through shattered windows.
Valentina forced herself upright.
“How many of us?”
Alessio counted.
“Seven.”
Roman looked toward the chute.
“We recover the others later.”
A dull explosion sounded above them.
The tunnel entrance collapsed completely.
No one argued.
Elena clung to Valentina’s arm.
“There were other women here.”
“Where?”
“Below us.”
Valentina looked at the drains.
“Another level?”
Elena nodded.
“They kept some of us in cages. Luca moved most of them, but I heard people crying after the trucks left.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“We don’t have time.”
Valentina turned on him.
“We are not leaving them.”
“The building is unstable.”
“Then move faster.”
“Valentina.”
“You promised me an army.”
“I brought one.”
“Then use what is left of it.”
For a moment, no one breathed.
Roman stared at her as flames flickered through the ceiling above.
Then he looked at Alessio.
“Find the lower level.”
Alessio nodded once.
A soldier discovered a stairwell behind the old machinery.
The door had been welded shut.
Roman took a rifle from one of his men and fired into the hinges.
They kicked the door inward.
A narrow staircase descended below ground.
The smell rose immediately: waste, blood, and human fear.
Valentina went first.
Roman caught her shoulder.
“Behind me.”
“No.”
His eyes darkened.
“This is not the time.”
“It is exactly the time. They know my voice.”
She descended before he could stop her.
The lower level was nearly dark.
Rows of cages lined the walls. Some stood open. Others held women curled against the bars.
A child began crying when Valentina entered.
“It’s okay,” she called. “My name is Valentina. I’m here to get you out.”
A woman gripped the bars.
“Russo?”
Valentina stopped.
Fear spread through the cages.
“No,” someone whispered. “She’s one of them.”
“I am not.”
“You’re his daughter.”
“I was.”
Roman stepped into the weak light behind her.
The women recoiled. Everyone recognized the Butcher.
Valentina raised both hands.
“My father is my enemy. Luca is my enemy. Anyone who put you here is my enemy.”
The crying child grew louder.
Valentina crossed to the nearest cage.
Alessio examined the keypad controlling the lock.
“Electronic. Power is failing.”
“Can you open it?”
“Eventually.”
A crack split through the ceiling.
Dust rained over them.
“We don’t have eventually,” Roman said.
He fired into the lock.
The women screamed.
Metal burst apart.
Roman tore the cage door open with his good hand.
“Next.”
They moved quickly.
Gunshots destroyed locks while Valentina and Elena pulled women toward the stairwell.
There were nine captives. Two could not walk. One held a little girl.
Valentina counted again.
“Ten.”
Elena looked around.
“There was a boy.”
Everyone fell silent.
From somewhere deeper in the lower level came a faint knocking.
Three taps.
A pause.
Two more.
Valentina followed the sound.
Roman caught up beside her.
The knocking came from behind a freezer door wired to a blinking red light.
Another trap.
Roman examined it.
“Pressure trigger.”
“Can you disarm it?”
“No.”
The boy knocked again.
Valentina pressed her ear to the door.
“Can you hear me?”
A small voice answered.
“Yes.”
“What is your name?”
“Daniel.”
“How old are you?”
“Seven.”
Valentina closed her eyes.
“Daniel, I need you to stay very still.”
Roman studied the wire.
“If the door opens, it detonates.”
“What if we remove the wall?”
“The building may come down first.”
Alessio appeared at the end of the passage as the light blinked faster.
“We have less than two minutes before the upper floor collapses.”
Valentina looked at Roman.
He looked at the bomb.
Then he handed her his gun.
“Take everyone outside.”
“No.”
“Valentina.”
“You are not staying.”
“I can cut the wire.”
“You just said you couldn’t disarm it.”
“I said I couldn’t guarantee it.”
The red light flashed faster.
Roman stepped toward the door.
Valentina grabbed his arm.
“If you die, I will kill you.”
His mouth curved.
“That sounds like a wife.”
He pressed his forehead briefly against hers.
Then he pushed her toward Alessio.
“Get her out.”
Alessio wrapped an arm around Valentina’s waist.
She fought him.
“Roman!”
The ceiling groaned.
The red light turned solid.
Roman reached for the wire.
And the entire slaughterhouse began to collapse.
- Writer
