Ruled By Fear by C. Cervi

same time.
         The other prisoners had already exited, and Aaron silently cursed his younger brother as he grabbed a candle from one of the nooks in the wall and headed after him.
         Aaron raced ahead, calling for his brother.  Just when he was starting to worry that he had lost him, Keith came barreling out of a side tunnel, nearly knocking him down.
         “Aaron,” he said excitedly, “I didn’t catch him, but it was definitely a person.  I followed his footprints into a small chamber.”
         “Show me,” Aaron said quickly.
         Following Keith into the small hollowed out chamber, he confirmed what his brother had said.  The footprints led up to one of the rock walls and then just disappeared.
         “The wall must open up,” Aaron said after a moment.
         “Well, come on, let’s look,” Keith answered as he started examining the wall.
         “No,” Aaron said, “not today.  We’ll come back tomorrow when there’s more time.  Right now I think we need to get back and get some food.”
         Aaron could see that Keith wanted to argue, but he held himself back and, after a moment, nodded in agreement.
    The two brothers raced through the tunnels, but finding their way back took much longer than Aaron would have liked.  After quite a few wrong turns and dead ends, they finally found the main tunnel.   As they neared the exit to the mine, Aaron sensed, before he saw, that something was wrong.
         “The entrance?” Keith cried in alarm.
         “It’s been closed up,” Aaron said; his voice deceptively calm voice.
         A large iron gate, similar to the one in the front of the house, was now blocking their exit and after a few futile attempts to open it, Aaron and Keith turned back to face the long tunnels.  It was then that a sudden rush of air blew toward them and the flame on his candle blew out.
     
         Aaron could hear Keith next to him, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps.  It was still raining, and the sky was black, making it impossible to see out into the yard, but the gaping tunnels behind them seemed even darker.  His brother was on the verge of panic and Aaron pushed his own feelings of concern aside as he tried to calm him.
         “I’m right here, Keith,” he said, keeping his voice even.
         “Aaron, we have to get out,” Keith said with an edge to his voice.  “We can’t stay in here all night.”
         “You’re all right, Keith,” Aaron answered, reaching out to lay a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
         “I can’t see anything,” Keith said, and Aaron knew he was working to keep the tremble out of his voice.
         “I know,” Aaron said.  “I’ve got a candle.  Can you think of anything we can use to light it?”
         Aaron could feel Keith fidgeting nervously and he gave his shoulder a squeeze.
         “I’m . . . I’m okay now, Aaron,” Keith said.  “I’m sorry.  I just panicked for a minute there.  I don’t remember seeing any supplies in here.  I think they’re all in the shed outside.”
         Aaron sighed, and began to wonder if they might just have to spend the night right where they were.
         “Wait, what’s that?” Keith said, grabbing at Aaron’s sleeve.
         Aaron managed to follow his brother’s finger to what seemed to be a small glow in the distance.  Quickly heading toward the light, Aaron was relieved to see that one small candle had managed to stay lit.  He used it to light the slightly larger one that was still in his hand and then turned back toward the gate.  After examining the blocked entrance carefully, Aaron knew that without some outside help there would be no way to get the heavy gate open.  The outside air was frigid and they agreed to move farther back into the tunnels.  Together, he and Keith stumbled down the tunnel, feeling along the wall for the small nooks where the candles were set up