Exploring the Brown Fields Chapter 12

In Chapter 12 of Mix Tapes and Stuff, Mix travels down the brownfield of Schuyler in search of an opening to the Schuyler Mine. He finds a lot of garbage and weeds on the path. He is unstoppable because he knows he's not alone in his search.

I'm going to copy a part of the chapter when Mix hears the construction trucks in the distance.

He kicked the undergrowth to expose more grass with no sidewalk. The trail of beer cans and cigarettes ended. His bike wouldn’t move when muck got in the links of the bike chain and the wheels didn’t have traction in mushy ground. His sneakers felt like concrete blocks glued to him because of the mud. A rattle noise startled him.

“Who’s there?”

A bird cooed, but it didn’t fly overhead. Nothing ran. No breeze blew, but grass moved on his left. He didn’t expect or want an answer. Why would there be a rattle in Schuyler? He hoped it was just his imagination. The pathway stopped.  The map didn’t have a scale showing how far he should go out to find ruins of quarries. 

He went forward. 

A flat, rusted metal surface that didn’t reflect the sun poked out from above high grass. 

“A way in to a mine shaft,” Mix beamed. He let go of the bike, which stayed straight up in the heavy mud. Weeds were chest high so he couldn’t run through and besides his feet felt twenty pounds heavier with crud. 

Some animal howled.

Mix trudged along before any strange creature could get him. He sank into the ground as he lumbered along and plants got taller. The bike disappeared behind him, as did Morton Street.   

He reached through thick grass and felt a structure with windows. 

Windows. They had to be ventilation for the miners. 

He slid along with his butt against the structure to push weeds out of the way until he could sit back and push up onto the structure. He couldn’t slide because of rust and it felt like his hand might go through the soft metal. 

“It’s old enough to be an original shaft?”

He had to grab his muck-covered legs to pull up off the ground. Mud fell off his shoes in clumps. He climbed on the platform near the windows. 

Construction trucks in the distance roared and their engines shook the ground. They started their search, but it didn’t matter because he found it first. 

He didn’t see an opening at the top of the structure so he jumped down to a secondary platform and walked to the edge where he saw a metal marking.

To read what happens next, you need to buy the book available on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Mix-Tapes-Stuff-JJ-Lair-ebook/dp/B00KFTKCKE/

Even explored abandoned sites? Mix has.