Beneath The Dirt

Beneath the Dirt

29th July 1916, Somme

"Rodgers, pass me the shovel will ya?" asked Paul from deep side of the tunnel.

Rodgers was distracted with trying to sort out the entangled bombs that he was ordered not to "mingle" with. Paul got agitated when he didn't a response, so he shouted at Rodgers again.

"You gone deaf from the shells? Give me the bloody shovel."

"Shut the hell up you moron. We might be under their trenches," Derren scolded as he threw the shovel next to Rodgers at Paul.

"Stop messing with the bombs Rodge or you will be helping the Krauts."

"Just trying to sort the wires. If they don't want us to play with these then they should've made 'em properly," said Rodgers as he continued to work with the explosives while sweating from the summer heat and lack of proper air circulation inside the tunnel.

"How much longer to German trenches would you say?"

"Jesus Christ Ed, how many times are you gonna ask me that? A day or two maybe. Now stop asking and get the dirt out."

"And get some water," Rodgers yelled as he tried to dig out a big stone in the upper side of the tunnel's end.

"A bit of rain would be nice, you know, to get rid of the heat," said Paul as he wiped his sweaty forehead.

"Have you ever dug in rain? With mud up to your balls?" Derren asked with an annoyed tone.

"Or without a foot?" Rodgers slowly yelled while placing the now untangled explosives to the side of the tunnel.

"Foot?"

"Yeah. Had a mate of mine with swollen and rotten feet after staying in the 10-inch-deep rainwater and mud for weeks. Back in October it was, last year. It smelled too, it was awful. Made us not want to eat, which was actually good. Anyway, they had to cut his left foot and send him back home. Lucky bastard."

A thumping sound disrupted their conversation.

"You heard that?"

"Artillery!"

The thumping was followed by countless more afterwards.

"Hold tight, this one's gonna be bad," Rodgers warned everyone.

After about a minute of the initial thumping sound, the first rounds that hit the ground shook the earth. The mighty thunderous sounds of the exploding shells filled the entire tunnel. Even though the sounds were muffled, they were still painfully loud. Each shell pushed their eardrums to inside with force. The waves coming from the mouth of the tunnel pounded their chests. The narrow tunnel amplified the pressure of the explosion soundwaves. The soil rained from the ceiling of the tunnel onto their heads and wooden supports started to shake wildly.

"What if the tunnel collapses? Shouldn't we go onto the top?" asked Paul with a nervous voice.

"It's worse above, but let's move closer to entrance," Derren said.

"Don't think they are shelling our tunnel, or it would've already collapsed. There must be a charge coming on top. Maybe we shouldn't," Rodgers advised.

"Let's just move a bit up, that way- Shit!"

Derren was interrupted by a hard object that fell on his head.

"Fuck! That's a shovel. Are we under the Germans?" Paul asked with fear.

"Quiet! You fine Derren?"

"Yeah, we gotta inform above."

"Let's move."

Just as they were making their way to entrance, an unfortunate shell landed directly on top of the tunnel, collapsing the supporting wooden pillars and burying the tunnel's allies side in dirt.

"The hell do we do now?"

"Wait until the shelling ends and dig our way out," Derren suggested.

"Dig our way out for 200 yards? That's a month of digging!" Paul replied.

"We don't know how much of the tunnel collapsed. It might just be 2 feet."

"Or it might be 200. We have no choice, we have to surrender," Rodgers pointed out, though the words made him feel awful.

"After last month's tunnel explosion, somehow I don't think they would like to take us prisoners," said Derren.

"So? What do we do? Our only way out is through the German trenches," questioned Paul.

"German's might be charging up there, so their trenches could be a lot emptier. Maybe we can make our way back?" Speculated Rodgers.

"And get shot by our own Mg's on the way back? It's called no mans land for a reason. And if we, for some fucking luck, don't get noticed and shot by Germans, we will be killed by rifle or artillery. Let's face it, we are dead. Best thing we can do is get out of the tunnel and try to surrender."

"You know damn well they will shoot us if they see us coming out of the tunnel Derren. Just like they did to other miners."

"So what Rodge? What do we do? Shoot ourselves?"

"Maybe."

"Oh fuck this!" yelled Paul with anger as he grabbed his pistol.

"I am getting out and gonna die fighting. I didn't come here to die inside a bloody tunnel," and he climbed the collapsed trench to get out. Except, it wasn't a trench.

"This is another tunnel. This is a German tunnel."

"Tunnel? How far does it go?" asked Derren with a glimmer of hope, not knowing his hope was to be destroyed immediately.

"The other side is collapsed as well. It only goes to the German trenches. Wait. I hear someone."

German speech could be heard from the German tunnel's entrance.

"Shit, I think they are coming."

"Get down here Paul!" Derren shouted.

"I see them."

German speech turned to a panicked state as they started to shout.

"Come on you bastards." Paul started to fire his pistol. The ringing he got from firing a weapon inside a narrow tunnel deafened him which made his friends call to him useless.

The last thing Paul saw was a stick grenade landing 2 feet in front of him. And his last attempt was trying to move backwards which ended in vain. The grenade exploded and collapsed the tunnel while shattering Paul's head, making it unidentifiable.

Derren and Rodgers stayed quiet for a while. Derren lighted a smoke and just looked bleakly. Rodgers suddenly got up and went back to where he placed the explosives.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think."

He picked the bombs and carried them back to the what remained of the German tunnel. He placed them right at the very end of the collapsed German tunnel, and lighted the fuse. Then he went back and sit next to Derren. Rodgers took Derren's smoke, making him light another one.

"You know, they'll never find our bodies."

"Does it matter?"

"Guess not."