Being alone in the mine was uncommon, to say the least. Not only was it for safety that the miners stuck together, but also for practicality since there were so few jobs that could be accomplished by a single person. But a few tools had been left behind and it really didn’t make sense to send more than just Sam. He rode in the transport, which was little more than a glorified golf cart, down the tunnel. He wasn’t sure where the tools were left, exactly, only that they were down this way so he kept a wary eye out for them. The sooner he found them, the sooner he could get back to the surface and clock out. He’d been underground for several long hours and wanted to at least see the sun before the end of the day. Most of the time he was down here before the sun was up and didn’t get to leave until after it was set.

It was quiet down here. With most work for the day completed and no blasting scheduled until tomorrow, the mine was unusually silent. The only sounds were the hum of the electric motor and the tires on the rough ground. Sam sometimes sang to himself down here but not today. He was too intent on his task at hand and the promise of getting to go home early.

At last, he spotted the tools leaning up against the wall. He maneuvered the transport over, shut it down, and climbed out. He hefted the tools into the back of the transport and then secured them in place with a cargo net. The last thing he wanted was for them to fall off the back on his way out and have to turn around and retrieve them yet again. Really, Sam thought they could have just left the tools down here for the next shift since they would need them down here anyway. Whatever. Tools had to be checked in after every shift to make sure nothing went missing or was damaged. It made sense. He just begrudged being the one picked to come back here when it wasn’t even his fault that these were left here. He was just the low man on the totem poll, so to speak, being the newest member of the mining team.

Sam paused as he finished securing the cargo net. There was something faint, a repetitive noise, distant and just on the edge of hearing. Were those drums he was hearing? It wasn’t quite rhythmic enough to be certain but it had that kind of quality to it. Whatever it was, it didn’t last very long. Maybe it was some settling rock. He didn’t like the thought of that since that usually preceded a collapse.

“Anyone hear that?” Sam asked into his radio on the off chance he was still in range of anyone.

No response came though he wasn’t too surprised. Radios didn’t work very well underground. There were comm stations here and there in the mine but there wasn’t one near where he was at. Still, he’d stop at the first comm station he found on his way back out and check in. The last thing he wanted was to get caught in a collapse down here.

The electric hum of the engine returned as Sam turned the transporter around and began making his way back up and out of the mine. It was beautiful down here, in it’s own way. Mineral deposits lined the walls in seams. A number of the other miners had their own collections of rocks they’d picked up over the years. Sam was just starting his own such collection. The green and purple ones were his favorite. Once he had enough of them, he was planning on getting them polished up and displayed on a shelf at home.

The strange noise started up again, this time a bit louder. Sam stopped the transporter and listened. If this was the precursor to a collapse he wanted to make sure he knew where it was coming from so he didn’t just drive right into it. Unfortunately, it sounded like it was coming from all around him. Sound travels faster through rock than it does through air so these sorts of sounds were often difficult to locate. Still, he waited another minute, listening and watching the roof above him. He didn’t see any signs of shifting material, and he still wasn’t convinced this was in fact the sound of a collapse. It was almost too regular to be natural, and yet it wasn’t regular enough to be music. At least, not any sort of music he was familiar with.

After a few minutes he gave up and resumed making his way back out. It was unnerving to say the least and he was beginning to worry. Every miners worst nightmare was getting trapped down below or killed in a collapse. Sam wasn’t married and didn’t have any kids, so at least there wouldn’t be that kind of tragedy if he was killed down here, but that didn’t mean he was any less worried about dying down here. It was part of the reason, though, for why he was chosen for these sorts of tasks. The other miners all had families.

It was a half hour trip from where he’d picked up the tools to where he could drop off the transporter and catch the lift back to the surface. However, after ten more minutes he ran into the source of the noise. It had been growing louder every minute and as he rounded a bend in the mine he came face to face with the collapse. Boulders covered the floor from wall to wall and almost all the way up to the ceiling.

“Hey!” he called out, seeing the flash of lights from the other side.

The sound of shifting rocks and heavy machinery were unmistakable now, and yet he thought he could, in fact, hear someone playing a drum. It wasn’t like a regular drum set, but more like a solitary drum, a big one, beating out a low rhythm.

“Can anyone hear me?” Sam called out when he got no response. “Is it clear for me to climb over?”

An engine growled louder and, to Sam’s utter confusion and concern, more debris was packed into the open space near the ceiling. That was when Sam noticed that the ceiling above the collapse wasn’t actually damaged in any way. This pile hadn’t fallen from above but had been pushed into place. They were sealing off this part of the mine while he was still back here.

“HEY!” Sam shouted even louder. “I’m still here! Let me out first.”

He scrambled up the piled rocks but before he could reach the gap it was filled in by the machinery. They must have had a bulldozer over there to shift the rock so efficiently. Sam pulled at the stones in an effort tot shift them out of the way so he could get out but the rumble of the earth told him they were still adding more rocks on the other side. He’d never be able to move enough on his own to outpace the miners on the other side.

“This isn’t funny!” he shouted, though he doubted anyone on the other side could hear him now. “Let me out!”

This had better be some sort of hazing. In fact, the more he thought about it the more it made sense that they were just messing with him. They had to have staged this whole thing, sending him down to pick up the tools was just a ruse to give them the time they needed to set this up. They’d make him sweat a bit and then they’d let him out. That meant they’d eventually dig this all out of the way and he didn’t want to be on the rocks when that happened since the bulldozer could just as easily crush him if he were in the way. Stupid and dangerous of them. He’d smile and laugh along with the others once they let him out but as soon as he was top side he’d be filing a serious complaint with HR. This was not okay. This was beyond reckless of them.

The lights along the walls flickered. There were bundles of cables running along both sides of the mine just above head height that carried electricity down into the mine, lights hanging at regular intervals. The shifting rocks must have damaged it. The lights flickered again as the wall of rocks shifted, being pushed still from behind. Then the lights failed altogether and Sam was in utter darkness.

He fumbled his way for a moment, searching for the transporter. It had headlamps that could be switched on and get him out of this darkness. Really, he should have his hard hat on which had a built in lamp but he’d already taken it off when they’d told him he needed to head back for the tools and they hadn’t given him time to put it back on. It made sense, now, why they’d hurried him along. This was getting to be too much. This was seeming less and less like a prank, but why would they do this to him? What had he done to any of them to warrant this sort of behavior.

The rumble from the bulldozer ended and Sam was left with only the drum, still beating along it’s strange rhythm. It was the only sound in here besides his own breathing and the experience was surreal. He found the transporter, bumping into it, and began feeling his way towards the front where he could turn on the lights.

Something shifted in the dark, but it was on his side of the mine. It sounded like a sheet of heavy fabric being dragged along the ground.

“Hello?” he called out.

Perhaps this was what they’d planned. Scare him in the dark with whatever it was, though he hadn’t seen anywhere that they could have hidden. There were no branches along this part of the mine and he’d just come from that direction. Perhaps they had a false wall? But no, it would have to have been huge and there’s no way they could have hidden such a thing from him, or anyone else for that matter.

The sound drew closer and Sam hurried his search for the button that would turn on the lights. There was a heaviness to the sound now, and a bigness to it all that he didn’t like, as though a snake the size of a bus was coming towards him.

“That’s enough, guys!” he said, trying to sound braver than he felt.

Why did everything seem scarier in the dark? He was a grown man and his coworkers were playing a terrible joke on him and he was acting like he was seven.

The drum beat grew louder as did the slithering sound and still Sam couldn’t find the button that would turn on the lights. He thought he could hear a deep, rumbling breathing coming from the direction of the slithering but chocked it up to his nerves getting the better of him.

At last he found the switch on the transporter and the lights clicked on. He’d been in the dark for long enough that he was momentarily blinded. When his eyes adjusted and he turned towards the sound, he immediately wished that he hadn’t. It was his final regret.

The drum beat on for several more minutes but, besides one frantic moment of activity on the darkened side, everything else was silent. The next day they reopened that shaft of the mine, did a little cleaning up, and then began to prepare for the next offering.