“I’m not suggesting we topple it from up there. George, can you climb this tree over here?”
“Easy.”
“Take this rope,” Amber said. She picked up the wet coils of the rope that they had retrieved from another tree. “Alan, you stand down on those rocks and catch this end when I throw it to you.”
She could tell that he wanted to object, but kept his criticism to himself. The plan might not work—she would be the first to admit that—but she was glad that they trusted her enough to give it a try. As she walked towards the building, she wondered if that was a sign of how desperate they were. Everything had gone right, but they still didn’t seem to be any closer to finishing. It had been silly to think that three people could do what centuries of weather had failed to do. There was a reason that the building had stood for so long.
Amber reached the hole in the wall and reached up to turn on her headlamp.
The batteries seemed weak. The beam only covered half the distance to the far wall. For a second, she considered going back to swap lamps with Alan. Instead, she continued on, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness and reminding herself that the creatures were several floors beneath her, and they were hopefully still hibernating.
If they weren’t, the rope that was coiled over her shoulder wouldn’t do her much good. Amber paused, swung her light around to find the right direction, and then continued. To her left, there was sunlight coming through the cracks between the boards on the windows. She tried to stick to that area even though the shafts of bright light made the shadows even deeper.
Instead of heading for the stairs, she went the opposite way. The floor of the next room had caved in near the center. Amber almost turned around. Everything looked sturdy towards the edge, so she continued on, ready to abandon the mission as soon as it felt weak under her. Finally, she saw the wall that she was looking for. Near the bottom, she could see the exposed beam that she had seen from outside. When she ducked down, she saw the river and then found Alan waiting on the bank, peering up in her direction. She waved but he didn’t seem to see.
She fed the rope through the hole and then around the metal beam. From the ground, it had looked like it was about to tumble from the wall, freeing itself and everything above it. Tying the rope into place, the beam felt unmovable. Alan was right—the building had withstood everything that centuries could throw at it. The idea that they could pull it down with some rope was ludicrous. Still, she wasn’t going to give up without trying.
As she fed the rope through the hole to dangle it down, Alan finally spotted her. He crawled over the rocks. Slipping on some snow, he nearly fell into the river to become part of the dam they were creating. He found his feet and grabbed the end of the rope as Amber let the rest go. She didn’t leave her post until he was back on solid footing and she had pushed the rest of the rope outside.
While he took up the slack Amber turned to find the exit.
Circling the hole was worse on the way out. All she could think about was slipping and tumbling down into the blackness. Her light couldn’t even make out the bottom that she knew must be down there. She heard a noise from the hole. The rational part of her brain pictured a drop of water dripping into a puddle. They had seen and heard plenty of that in the mill the last time. The sound wasn’t musical though. It didn’t have any color to it. The sound that Amber heard as she was circling the hole was more like a tapping. She knew precisely what would make that kind of tapping.
Despite her fear, Amber forced herself to move faster. She ignored the slippery footing and unstable floor. She got by the edge of the hole and ran through the doorway, down the hall, and nearly missed the turn into the big room. From this new angle, her light caught sight of something that she hadn’t seen before. It was graffiti, written in red.
The words drove Amber to run even faster.
# # #
“They’re in there,” she said, gasping for air.
Alan tied a careful loop in one rope and then did the same for the other. After they were joined together, he tugged and George began to take up the slack. Alan turned back to Amber with raised eyebrows that asked, “And?”
“I mean they’re awake.”
“Oh,” Alan said. He looked her up and down. “You’re okay though?”
“I didn’t actually see them, but I heard them. We have to be really careful.”
Alan motioned to her and they walked together to where George was securing the rope that went around the top of the tree.
“It has a little slack so it can pick up momentum. I’ll drop it this direction, and it will pull the rope. Something has to give. We need to be a decent distance in case the bottom of the tree gets a mind of its own when the rope gets taut.”
“Where will you be?” Amber asked.
“I’ll run as soon as it starts to go, but obviously someone has to run the chainsaw.”
Amber looked to the mill and then back to their location.
“I don’t know if it’s far enough,” she said. “I heard them in there. That means that they’re awake.”
“It’s sunny out. You guys said they can’t stand light, right?” George asked.
“We can’t be too careful,” Alan said.
George looked down at the chainsaw and then up to the tree.
“I don’t see another way. You
