We ride in this small trolley along old, weather-beaten tracks. It’s just me and Samuel, although Ingram was angry when I told him that I would be going alone. I wanted to get a taste of this mining thing for real, and not have Ingram whispering in my ear the whole time.

“Wear this,” Samuel says, tossing me a white hardhat as we approach the mine’s entrance.

I put it on my head and connect the chin strap. Samuel nods at me as the trolley slowly moves into the mine, and daylight slowly turns to gloomy dark.

I can feel Samuel standing close to me. “What do you think?” he asks me.

I shake my head. “It’s… terrifying.”

He laughs softly, but he doesn’t disagree. The ceiling is about ten feet above our heads, cut smooth and flat. It’s clearly an unnatural tunnel. The walls are even, although they crumble here and there. Piles of tools and old machines line the tracks as we go deeper and deeper. There aren’t a lot of lights on at the entrance to the mine, and I can’t see all that much. It’s almost eerie, how strange it is going deep into this mountain. The floor’s sloping downwards, and I start to get the feeling of weight all around me.

“Tunnel widens up here,” he says, “but the ceiling drops. You ready?”

“Ready,” I call back to him.

We round a bend, and he’s right, the ceiling drops down. In fact, I have to tilt my head to the side to keep it from brushing against the stone. Samuel’s crouched down, grinning at me, and the trolley keeps moving deeper into the mountain.

I look away from him. We haven’t come across any other people yet. “Where are the workers?” I call back to him.

He shakes his head. “I’m not taking you to any active spots.”

“What?” I ask him. “I thought you wanted me to see them.”

“It’s dangerous,” he says. “I can’t risk you getting hurt.”

I make a face and he grins at me. I let it go, turning back ahead as we wind around another bend. The ceiling mercifully gets higher again, and Samuel stands back up.

Ahead, there’s a larger chamber, and the trolley slows down. We stop in the middle of it and Samuel hops out. I follow him, climbing over the railing, and we walk toward a bunch of things that looks like tractors.

“These are our tools,” he says. “These big fuckers do most of the actual mining.”

“You’re not down here with a pickaxe?” I ask him.

He grins at me. “Nope, absolutely not,” he says. “That’d take too long. We’re all about efficiency at Evans Energy.”

I grin and look back at the big machines. I’ve seen pictures of them before, and some videos that Ingram made me watch, but seeing them in person is a whole new experience. The chamber thins out at the edges, and there are shafts cut in the rock that lead outward. The machines look like they’re parked near each shaft, and I think they could just barely fit through there.

“This way,” Samuel says, leading me away from the machines. I follow him back across the tracks. He heads over to one of the shafts, grabs a flashlight from a little bench shoved back against the wall that’s covered in equipment and soot, and steps forward. I follow him into the dark.

“We don’t use this shaft much anymore,” he says as we walk. “We used to, back before coal started going downhill.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Cuts,” he says simply, and I look away. Evans has laid off a lot of guys in the last ten years, like every other coal company. “Here, look at this.”

We stop in front of a smooth wall and he runs his hand along it. I watch as he crumbles some of the rock and grins at me.

“Coal,” he says.

I laugh. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.” He shrugs. “Nothing special, right?”

He started walking again, but the ceiling starts to get lower here. He has to stoop to keep going, and the ceiling is maybe only a few inches above my head. The shaft itself is maybe ten feet wide, barely enough for us to walk side by side, and I suddenly feel incredibly trapped.

“You guys work in this?” I ask him. “I mean, this is so…”

“Tight?” he asks. “Yeah, it’s always like this. We don’t waste time building big tunnels. This is safer, believe it or not.”

I bite my lip. “I guess that makes sense. You move less rock, so it’s less likely to collapse.”

“That’s right.” He stops and I pull up next to him. “We shouldn’t go much further. This shaft hasn’t been used in a while.”

“So it’s dangerous?”

He grins. “We haven’t had a collapse in a while, but it happens. Come on.” He turns and leads me back toward the main chamber.

As we step in, there’s a low, grinding noise. I can feel vibrations at my feet, and Samuel lights up. “You’re in for a treat,” he says.

A few seconds later, one of the big machines suddenly comes out from one of the nearby shafts, followed by three guys walking behind it. The guys park the machine, and I suddenly recognize Roy from the first meeting. The guys spot us and walk over, grinning.

“Hey, Samuel!” Roy shouts. “The fuck you doing here?”

“Guys,” Samuel says. “This is Amelia Evans.”

The three guys stop in front of us, covered in soot, but smiling. Roy nods at me, and I shake the hand of the other two guys. One’s younger and introduces himself as Vernon, and the other one’s around Roy’s age, soft and pale, named Boone.

“You guys working the new shaft?” Samuel asks.

“Sure are,” Roy says. “What do you think of the mine so far, Amelia?”

“It’s… terrifying,” I say honestly.

All four men laugh. Samuel has a little gleam in his eye.

“You show her the spot yet?” Boone asks Samuel.

He shakes his head. “Not taking her anywhere active.”

Vernon scoffs. “Come on, boss. Let’s show her how it really looks.”

I glance at Samuel, but his face is hard. “I said no.”

Vernon looks away, frowning.

“Come on, Samuel, take me,” I say to him.

He glances in my direction. “Amelia—”

“I’m the boss here,” I say to him. “And I want to see a real shaft.”

He cracks a little smile but doesn’t say anything. “You sure?” he asks.

“I’m sure.”

“Okay then. Fuck it. Let’s show her how we do it, boys.”

We walk back over to the machine and Vernon gets it started. The guys get it going, walking it back down the shaft, and I follow behind them. Samuel stays next to me as we go deeper and deeper down into the shaft. Samuel has to stoop again, but he keeps pace, probably used to walking through these tight spaces.

I feel completely crushed, but excited. We walk for maybe ten minutes in silence, the only sound is the roar of the machine as it rolls along. Finally, the guys call a halt, and they shut down the tractor.

Samuel grins at me. “Here we are,” he says. “Special, right?”

I look around and shake my head. “Looks like everything else.”

“Listen though.” All the guys go quiet. “Hear it?”

Suddenly, I do. It’s a crackling, like it’s raining inside here, with some snaps mixed in. I move toward the wall, and it gets a little louder.

“What the hell?” I ask.

“That’s the mountain settling all around us,” Samuel says softly. “Sounds like that all the time in these active shafts.”

“Scary as hell,” I say softly, and the guys laugh, but not loudly.

“Fire her up, Vernon,” Samuel says, and moves me back away from the guys and their machines.

I watch as they work, practiced and silent. They communicate with gestures and touches, but mainly they just do their jobs. The tractor cuts forward into the coal and the wall, and the guys help make sure the good parts move down a conveyor belt and into a collection bin. The bin’s mostly full already, so they don’t cut too long. As the machine cuts, Boone works supports up along the ceiling, this mesh-looking steel wire square.

When the bin’s full, they stop the tractor.

“That’s it,” Samuel says. “Now we go back, dump it off, and head back in.”

“That’s it?” I ask, laughing, astonished. “That looks… dangerous.”

“It is,” Boone calls softly. “But I make sure we don’t die.”

“There’s more to it,” Samuel admits. “But we should go back.”

I nod, not wanting to press him. We walk back again in silence, and when we’re back in the chamber, the guys get to work emptying the machine. I walk with Samuel back over to the trolley and he leans up against it, watching me.

I stare at the three guys as they work. This mine is so deep and dark and those shafts are so small. It’s terrifying, confusing and so impossible-seeming. I don’t know how any men can stand to be down here for long shifts, but they do it, day in and day out.

“Other crews are out there,” Samuel says softly. “That’s just one of them. There are shafts all over this mountain. Guys with families, lives, dreams.”

I look at him. “I know,” I say.

“Do you?” He cocks his head. “You saw what it’s like. Could you do that all day long, go home, sleep a few hours, and do it again the next day?”

I bite my lip, looking away. “No,” I admit.

“No,” he repeats. “We do the hard work. So what do we deserve?”

I don’t answer him and he doesn’t press me. We get back into the trolley, and we ride it back out of the mine.

When we hit fresh air, I feel so thankful to be out of there that it surprises me. I didn’t know I was feeling so closed in, but now that we’re out in the sunshine, I feel so grateful. As soon as the trolley stops, I hop off, take off my hardhat, and take a deep breath.

Samuel joins me. I glance at him and for a second, I wish I could shove him and yell at him. He’s such a brute and a jerk and an asshole… but he’s right. I hate to admit it, but he’s totally right.

“Thanks for the tour,” I say to him.

“You should get the rest of the office down there,” he says softly. “Especially that Ingram.”

I laugh softly. “Good luck with that.”

“Yeah, well.” He looks at me and suddenly reaches out. He touches my cheek, and I feel a chill run down my spine. “Coal dust,” he says showing me his thumb, smeared in black.

I smile at him and he smirks back. I think he’s going to kiss me, and I think I’m going to let him. Instead, he turns and walks away, back toward the shed where they keep their gear.

I watch him for a second before calling out. “Samuel.”

He turns around. “Yeah?”

“What was that machine called? The digger thing?”

He grins. “It’s called a ‘continuous miner,’ but I just call it Frank.” He grins and heads off again.

I sigh to myself, shaking my head, unable to stop smiling. I slowly head back toward the offices, mind buzzing with Samuel, the mine, the darkness, the rock.