Chapter 15 - Buried Alive
The crushing weight of hundreds of pounds of rock and concrete debris blocked the drainage tunnel exit completely.
Muddy river water poured rapidly through the cracks in the fallen rocks, raising the water level inside the enclosed pipe.
Jax lay flat on his back in two feet of freezing water, coughing up dark blood onto his chest.
Three of his ribs were completely broken from Evelyn's savage attack with the steel pipe.
A heavy concrete slab rested directly across his left leg, pinning him to the muddy floor of the flooded tunnel.
Ten feet away in the dim light, Clara was crawling on her hands and knees through the rising water toward him.
Her face was covered in wet grime, her fingers bleeding from trying to dig through the collapsed rock wall.
"Jax! Hold on, please hold on!" Clara sobbed hysterically, grabbing the edge of the heavy concrete slab.
She pulled against the massive stone with all her remaining physical strength, but it wouldn't move an inch.
"It's no use, Clara..." Jax coughed weakly, his face pale from severe internal bleeding.
"You have to crawl through the small air ventilation pipe above us..." Jax whispered, pointing his finger toward the ceiling.
A narrow metal air pipe hung loosely from the cracked concrete ceiling, leading upward into the forest ground above.
"I am not leaving you here to drown, Jax!" Clara cried, tears streaming down her dirty cheeks.
"You spent thirty years searching for me... I won't lose my brother again!" she screamed in emotional agony.
"Listen to me, Clara!" Jax commanded, his voice suddenly growing stern despite his excruciating pain.
"Evelyn didn't die in the blast... she crawled out through the secondary access shaft seconds before the collapse!" Jax revealed.
"She is heading to the old timber mill right now to intercept Mark and Lily!" Jax warned, his eyes wide with urgency.
"If you don't get out of here right now, she will kill our family!" Jax yelled, coughing up more blood.
Clara stared at her brother, her heart breaking into a thousand pieces as water rose up to Jax's chin.
"Take my gun, Clara..." Jax whispered, reaching into his soaked vest and handing her his secondary revolver.
"Go protect our family, little sister," Jax said, a sad, loving smile touching his lips through the dark.
Clara took the heavy revolver with trembling hands, wiping the tears and mud from her eyes.
"I will come back for you with help, Jax... I swear it!" Clara sobbed, standing up in the freezing water.
She climbed onto a pile of fallen bricks and squeezed her thin body into the narrow metal ventilation pipe above.
She dragged herself through the dark, tight metal tube on her elbows, pushing through thick cobwebs and dirt.
The air inside the narrow pipe was thick and hot, making it difficult for her weak lungs to breathe.
After ten agonizing minutes of crawling upward through the pitch-black pipe, her hands touched damp forest soil.
Clara pushed with all her strength against the rusted metal mesh screen covering the top of the vent pipe.
The screen gave way with a sharp snap, spilling her out onto the rain-soaked grass of the forest floor.
Cold rain washed the mud from her face as she lay on the wet ground, gasping for fresh air under the stormy night sky.
In the distance, the loud metallic grinding of the old abandoned timber mill echoed through the dark woods.
Clara pushed herself up off the wet grass, holding Jax's revolver tightly in her right hand.
She began running through the dark forest toward the sound of the timber mill as fast as her bruised legs could carry her.
Every step she took burned with pain, but the image of her daughter Lily kept her moving forward.
Up ahead through the trees, the large, rusted corrugated iron structure of the timber mill loomed into view.
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A dark figure stood near the main entrance doors, holding a heavy tactical shotgun in her hands.
It was Evelyn Vance, waiting in the shadows for the helicopter to land.
