It definitely seemed to be a bit too chilly for the time of year . But , then again , he hadn ’ t looked at the weather forecast . He rarely did , so what did he know ?
As he was walking slowly along , his whole leg slammed into a dense rock on the mine floor . He fell to the ground , again ! Pain shot up his leg and all the way to his brain , a pulse of red hot noise emanating from his now bruised and probably bleeding shin ! He lay in mud , clutching the wounded limb , short gasps escaping between clenched teeth !
He fought as an overwhelming sense of panic began to emerge within him . When a mine gets shut down , well rocks break loose here or there .
For all he knew , it could have been something that fell off the back of one the last crawlers to leave . When the mines close down , the last men to leave aren ’ t exactly careful about things .
Nope , it was best not to think about the blood he felt dripping down his leg and be more careful from here on out . He ’ d probably been moving too quickly anyway in his hurry . He had to remind himself that he was walking around a mine , blind as any man with a cane , a dog , and a cup full of pencils down here . Heck , for all he knew , he wasn ’ t bleeding at all . Perhaps it was just some kind of phantom feeling from banging his shin . That happened . No point in checking either , he couldn ’ t DO anything about it down here . If it was bleeding , when it stopped and dried up and he got to the surface , it would remind him not go easy on anybody over this !
As his toes prodded forward ( more carefully now ) he felt more rocks strewn along the rails he was following . He made a mental note to come back and check this when he got out . If those chunderheads who worked this mine had left this much rock in the mouth of a mine rather than carry it the rest of the way out , he ’ d go through the books and find out who was last out and make them PERSONALLY come back and carry it out . Just because a mine is idle doesn ’ t mean it might not reopen . SOMEONE was going to have to move it at some point ! Might as well be the lazy SOBs that left it in the first place .
Continuing his forward plod , he thought he heard a squeak . Rats . You get them in mines . Workers bring their lunches in , and anywhere there ’ s food , you find rats . Rather than being frightened by it , he took it as a good sign . In an idle mine like this , they wouldn ’ t be going deep , they ’ d just be going to somewhere they remembered for shelter . Rats meant he was getting closer to freedom !
The rocks on the ground were getting