The Woman They Kept (25 page)

...

He opened his eyes and dirt fell
in, stinging him. He tried to move his arm up to brush it away but
found he couldn't. There was pain throughout his limbs, and an even
pressure blanketing over his body. Every few seconds the pressure
increased as something was dropped on top of him. He was cold; he
opened his mouth and dirt cascaded in, finding the sudden gap that
was created. It fell over his tongue and down the back of his
throat, he shook and choked but nothing dislodged it. Though his
lungs expanded, every breath seemed to draw him less oxygen. He had
been there before.

A cold splash of panic gripped
him and gave him a momentary strength; he struggled again to lift
his arms or legs, but the feeling was fleeting, and soon gone. As
he tried to move loose bits of dirt fell in through his nose,
filling every crevice available. Oxygen stopped coming through.

His last thought before he lost
consciousness again was to hope that Leanin and Rolanda made it out
safely, although he knew, even in his delirious state, that hope
might only be a dying man's comfort.

The End

Andrew J. Krause is currently at
work on his third novel, which is tentatively scheduled to be
released in March of 2013. He resides in Minnesota and is a life
time lover of dystopian and speculative fiction. To see more works
available by Andrew visit his website at
www.andrewjkrause.weebly.com