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Linkes knew he had a place in heaven, even after all he’d been through and done. He’d prayed every single night he was in prison, and every single night since. Often silently and to himself. But he never missed a night.
         He didn’t know Alvarez was still alive. He thought he was the last one left. The bodies on either side of him were cold now. He somehow realized that it would be up to him now to finally deplete what was left of the oxygen. It was the only thing he could do to hasten his departure from life for better things beyond it.
         And it occurred to him that by singing, he’d use up more of the thinning air around him.
         Alvarez didn’t know it, but just a few feet away from him, Rob Linkes lay on the tunnel’s floor, singing Shall We Gather at the River over and over again, in a cracked and dry voice.
         And he was smiling.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
         In the compound, Hance was fit to be tied.
         First, that scumbag Skully had to go and get himself killed. But that was okay. Nobody liked Skully much anyway. Everybody just pretended to because they’d seen his wrath and they were afraid to challenge him.
         But now, Alvarez and his crew disappeared without a trace. It had been four days now, and it was obvious the y weren’t coming back.
         Hance himself braved the entrance to the tunnel, taking a fully automatic AK-47 he’d taken off a dead drug dealer, and a flashlight. The other men had balked at going into the tunnel. After all, that was the last place Alvarez went, and he never came back. And Alvarez was a lot tougher than they were.
         Sure, Hance could have bullied and threatened them into going. But he considered himself in charge now. And it was important to show the others that he had the guts to do what they wouldn’t.
         It only took a couple of minutes for him to figure out what happened. The pile of debris blocking the tunnel from floor to ceiling was hard to miss, even in the dimness of the flashlight.
         He returned with grim news.
         “The tunnel collapsed. It must have buried them alive. We’ll have to press on without them.”
         Martinez wasn’t so sure. Alvarez was his best friend, and his cellie for nine years.
         “Maybe they made it out the other side. Maybe they’re in the woods on the outside of the wall.”
         “No. It’s been four days. If they found the others, we’d have heard shots by now. If they didn’t find anybody, Alvarez would have come back long before now. They didn’t take any provisions with them, remember?”
         The men looked at each other grimly. It was sound logic, and something they couldn’t argue against.
         Hance went on.
         “I’m taking charge now. If anybody has any beefs with that, say so now.”
         Nobody had any problems except for Bennett, who disliked Hance immensely. But he said nothing out of fear.
         “Okay, we’re gonna continue on like we did before. Bennett, you continue to feed the animals every day. Eventually this is gonna get settled, and I don’t want everything we came here for to die. Water those plants in the greenhouses too. We might as well eat good while we’re here. And by the way, you’re the cook now too. I know that’s a lot of work, but look at the bright side. You only have to pull guard duty when you ain’t feeding pigs or cooking or whatever. So there’s less chance of you getting shot. So just do it and don’t whine about it, okay?”
         Bennett nodded his head but didn’t say anything.
         “Answer me, so I know you understand.”
         “Okay… yes, sir.”
         Hance had reasserted his role as the alpha male. And Bennett had accepted his role as Hance’s bitch.
         “Okay, the rest of you listen up. They outnumber us now. We’re gonna have to be on our toes, because if they want their camp back, they’ll