Free MiNRS by Kevin Sylvester

had five minutes to get clear before the cap blew. At least I hoped I had five minutes. My dad had only ever showed me one of these caps in a safety manual. In case you ever find yourself working in the mines . He must have been clairvoyant.
    I walked back underneath the jagged teeth of the blast door, searching the ceiling with my headlamp until I found what I was looking for, a small metal box about fifteen feet away from the opening. It was a smoke detector.
    I arranged a bunch of uniforms in a pile right underneath. It looked a little like a fire pit, the kind we’d make on camping trips back on Earth, which is exactly what I was going for.
    Then I lit a flare. One wouldn’t be enough, so I tossed it into the middle of the pit. Smoke began to rise. I litanother flare, and then another and another until the whole pile was in flames.
    The smoke rose higher and higher, pooling around the sensor, getting thicker and darker.
    Then the cloud began to descend, which was a bad thing for our lungs. If this plan didn’t work, I’d have to put out the fire and then get the kids to run away as fast as we could, which I was willing to bet wasn’t as fast as an armed shooter.
    I could hear the others back down the tunnel starting to move, their helmet lights bobbing in the gathering haze. My father had said he was going to buy us time. I might need to do the same thing to give those kids a chance to escape.
    I fumbled the remaining detonator caps between my fingers, ready to throw them into the fire if it came to that. The explosion might destroy this tunnel, taking me with it, but it would stop whoever was coming after us.
    The elevator must have been descending by now.
    Why wasn’t the blast door closing? I fought a rising sense of panic.
    I waved my arms to send more plumes toward the ceiling.
    Then a light shone at my feet. It started as a sliver, then grew wider and wider.
    The elevator had returned, and it was opening.
    Just then the cap on the keypad exploded. The force of the blast knocked me to the ground.
    I landed on my side. I flipped onto my stomach and prepared to jump up and fight, but before I could, the smoke detector finally kicked in.
    The last thing I saw was a pair of black boots running toward me, and then the blast door slammed shut. The logo for Melming Mining glowed brilliantly in the light of the flares.
    I quickly got back up and ran to the fire extinguishers. A wave of relief washed over me.
    We were safe—for now. But whoever was on the other side knew there were survivors. The blast door would slow them, but if they wanted to come after us, I worried they’d find a way.
    I doused the flames, then turned to run.
    I realized with a sudden sense of dread that this was our life now. Every step we took would lead to one more decision, one more escape.
    Every time we put out one fire, another would spring up.
    There wasn’t going to be an end, not until we found the beacon, and not until the end of the Blackout.
    I hurried to join the others. I passed the infirmary.Alek was still lying on the cot. Mandeep was shaking him to try to get him to move.
    He didn’t budge.
    “Mandeep. Why aren’t you moving?”
    “Pavel said to leave Alek. He said he was going to slow us down. I can’t leave him.”
    The lights ahead were still going up and down, illuminating the walls of the tunnel. The group wasn’t moving nearly fast enough. I stepped into the infirmary and whispered to Mandeep.
    “We need to run now and get far away fast.”
    She looked at Alek. “He’s so weak. He needs our help.”
    “There are other kids out there who are going to need our help. Life down here is going to be dangerous. They’re going to need your medical expertise.”
    “I can’t leave him. He’s sick,” she said, her voice shaky.
    I drew a deep breath and looked at my feet. Was that something I could do? Leave Alek behind?
    Then I saw something I hadn’t noticed before.
    The cart Alek was lying on had