It turns out the shaft was shut down because the miners had accidentally drilled into hell, unleashing forces of darkness that were defeated thanks only to a freak cave-in. The mysterious investors want to drill down again, this time on purpose. Like a Springsteen song mashed up with Dante’s Inferno, the mine reopens and the townsfolk receive a Bible’s worth of plagues: their taps run with hot and cold blood, workers are zombified, and fast-growing thorns crack the foundations of homes. By the time it’s raining hellfire, Cunningham has drilled home the idea that small towns are death traps and
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