There must have been a time when Syn couldn’t immediately identify the quality of earth she was touching but those memories were so far removed from how her now that she couldn’t seem to bring them to her remembrance. Every next handful was an effort yet she couldn’t stop. Currently, she was digging through a heavy loam that hid pockets of heavier clay and gravel. She didn’t mind the gravel so much but the heavy clay tended to catch under her nails and pull them up if she wasn’t careful. It was surprisingly difficult to dig without fingernails and having already lost a few she was careful to protect the ones she had remaining.

“Is it just me,” Pierce said from behind, “or is it getting stuffy in here?”

It was pitch black and yet Syn still turned as if to look at him.

“Just be glad there’s still air we can breathe,” Syn told him and then turned back to the patch she’d been scraping at.

It was impossible to tell for certain but she was pretty sure they’d been underground for days now. They had no light to see by and had only their hands to dig with. Their progress was slow but steady and Syn was hoping to break out into the open within another day. They really didn’t have very far to dig and if they’d had any sort of digging implement they could have covered the distance much faster.

“Yeah,” Pierce sighed and they worked again in silence for a time. “How do you think the air gets in here?” he asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

“How should I know?” Syn flung a handful of earth over her shoulder and felt Pierce working to scoop it up and then pack it on behind them.

“The surface can’t be too far, maybe we should try going up.”

Syn didn’t respond. Pierce had been making that suggestion regularly ever since they got started.

“Come, I mean it this time,” Pierce continued. “I really think we’ve gone far enough.”

“A little bit farther,” Syn said.

“How much farther?”

Syn tossed more earth behind her, harder this time and smiled when she heard Pierce’s complaints as he spluttered and spit dirt out of his mouth.

“You did that on purpose!”

“Yup, now keep working.”

Pierce slapped her leg but not hard enough to cause her any pain.

“When we get out of here,” he began but Syn cut him off.

“When we get out you’re going to keep on following me and doing what I tell you to do because I’m the only one who knows the way and how to survive.”

She waited a moment, ready to counter any further arguments but none came.

“Just another hour and we’ll take a break,” Syn said, knowing that would help lift his spirits.

They had very little in the way of rations. Over the last couple weeks, both Syn and Pierce had been saving bits of their daily meals, packing them flat between sheets of paper and pressing them down beneath their few books so they’d be easier to transport. The food wasn’t very flavorful, but it was enough for the time being. For water, they each had a pair of water jugs intended to be used when washing out the latrine. They were the only containers at their disposal that were both large enough and had a decent lid. Syn had given them a thorough washing prior to filling them with drinking water but they still had a faint, albeit distinct, smell to them.

Syn kept working until the muscles in her hands were too tired to press into the earth anymore.

“Meal time,” she announced and rolled over onto her back. Their small tunnel wasn’t large enough for either of them to sit up in so they both worked on their bellies and rested on their backs.

“Finally,” Pierce groaned and Syn heard him shifting his own body around.

The food, flat as it was, fit nicely against their sides and was held in place by twine they’d been sneaking from the supplies closet every chance they got. Each meal had been wrapped and packed prior to their entering the tunnel so all they had to do was untie one of the packets each time they had a meal.

“I think this was Tuesday’s carrots,” Pierce said.

“Pretty sure I’ve got yesterday’s meat,” Syn replied.

“Want to trade?” Pierce asked. “I hate carrots.”

“Shouldn’t have packed it then,” Syn said.

“Come on, you like carrots.”

“Not when they taste like your sweat.”

“Seriously, I hate carrots.”

“No!” Syn made sure to emphasize how much she meant it by giving a little kick with her foot. She didn’t hit him but she heard him shy back all the same.

Syn closed her eyes and wondered why she ended up with Pierce as her tunnel partner. The whole time she’d been planning it out, looking for the perfect partner, testing out the others for loyalty and determination, only to be found out by Pierce who threatened to tell if she didn’t agree to take him with her. She’d been careless, doodling out in the yard when Pierce had come up behind her. She was so intent on her doodle that she hadn’t noticed him until it was too late. The only thing Pierce had going for him was that he was strong and of all the things he complained about, the physical labor wasn’t one of them.

The meals were never enough to fill either of their stomachs but they did provide enough energy for them to keep going. Syn flexed and massaged her hands, feeling her raw and worn fingertips. It was hard to tell in the dark but she was pretty certain at least some of her fingers had been worked through their skin. Thankfully the numbness from constant use kept them usable.

“You think we’ll actually get away?” Pierce asked after they’d finished eating.

“They haven’t found us yet,” Syn said.

“Didn’t you say this was the easy part, though?”

“I only said that to keep you going.”

“So, this is the hard part?”

“It’s all hard, Pierce. There is no easy part.”

“We’re not having to dig the whole time, though.”

“No,” Syn agreed, “but each part is hard in its own way.”

“It can’t be as hard as this.”

“Seriously, Pierce, shut up and stop complaining!” Syn couldn’t take his near constant complaints much longer. “You have the easiest bit of the whole thing right now. I’m wearing my fingers down to the bone digging here while all you have to do is scoop it back and pack it down!”

“I could dig for bit,” he offered sheepishly.

“Would you really?” Syn asked, doubt heavy in her voice.

“Why don’t you think I can do it?”

“Do you know how to dig in a straight line, underground, in complete darkness?”

“Yeah, just keep going forward.”

“And how would you know that you’re going forward and not turning to one side?”

“Same way as you,” Pierce replied although he didn’t sound very convincing.

“Oh, you have a piece of metal stuck in your head that twinges whenever it lines up with the Earth’s magnetic field and makes your left eye go a bit funny?”

Pierce was quiet for a bit after that. Syn hadn’t meant to give away that tidbit of information but she really didn’t want to keep arguing; it was a waste of what little energy they had.

“You could tell me if I’m getting off track,” Pierce finally stated.

Syn didn’t have an immediate response for that and had to admit that she hadn’t considered that possibility.

“Well, couldn’t you?” Pierce asked.

“I guess I could,” Syn finally admitted. “It’s going to be difficult to swap places in here, though.”

“Here, hang on a moment.”

Pierce shuffled around for a bit, though Syn had no idea what he was doing. A moment later, however, she felt his hand grasp her ankle.

“I’m braced against the top here,” he explained, “I’ll give you a bit of a pull and then I’ll shuffle forward. Rinse and repeat.”

“Fine, do it,” Syn told him.

The process was not as straight forward as Pierce had made it out to be, with his stomach proving to be a bit of an obstacle, but eventually they were each in the others old position.

“Well done,” Syn complimented Pierce and tried to make sure she sounded sincere. As much as she didn’t care for him, she also wasn’t above complimenting him when he deserved it.

“Yeah, so all I do now is scoop the dirt and toss it back to you?”

“That’s right, and be careful with your fingernails. They can get caught and bent back.”

Pierce grunted and soon she could hear him scraping away. Dirt began to land in front of her and soon they were moving along. Every once in a while, Syn had to tell Pierce he was going too much to one side or the other but she was overall pleased with the progress they made. Pierce certainly complained less than normal and that alone would have been enough of an improvement for Syn to feel the change to be worth it. By the time they stopped to sleep Syn suspected they had made as much progress with Pierce digging as they had made in the past two days combined.

“How’re your hands,” Syn asked as they made themselves as comfortable as possible before going to sleep.

“Not bad,” he said. “I alternated between using the sides of my hands and my fingers to dig.”

“I’m going to regret saying this,” Syn began, “But I think tomorrow we can start digging up.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, we made really good progress today.”

“I’m ready to see the sky again,” Pierce whispered as though afraid he’d jinx it.

“Me too, Pierce. Me too.”

“Good night, Syn.”

Syn tapped his boot in what she hoped would come across in a friendly manner and finished shaping the mound of dirt she’d use as her pillow. Seeing the sky again would indeed be wonderful, but being out in the open would also bring with it a whole host of new problems. Still, one challenge at a time. For now, she welcomed sleep and drifted off into her dreams.