"That sounds good and by the way my name is Kevin and this is my partner and best friend Bill. Our wives are trapped down there and we really want to climb down and see what is going on. Right Bill?"
"Yeah, you're right Kevin but, I think we ought to send one of the girls to see if they can locate Jack and Billy, by they way, they are our sons and I think they are probably scared as hell by now."
"Of course. You need to know where the rest of your family is and my name is Steve and my friend's name is. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't even know your name."
"It's Kathy and I think I will go with one of the girls to try to find their brothers. They might need whatever help I can offer. I'm sure they are really frightened and an adult may calm them down a little easier."
"Well, we all have our jobs. We better get moving. There is no telling when the official rescue people will arrive but, I have a feeling time is running short."
"Steve, I hate to alarm you but my partner Kevin and I did sound testing on this area and it is honeycombed with caves and I think this is only the beginning of our problems. The ground could cave in anywhere and fall a lot further in the areas it already has."
"What idiot would have built a resort on a potentially dangerous piece of ground anyway?" These words from Steve Sidel were lost in the air as he grabbed one of the ropes and started sliding down toward the still exposed roof of the lobby.
Kevin Backlin and Bill Forham were right behind him each sliding down a rope of their own. When they reached the roof of the lobby one story down in the hole a new surge in the ground dropped all three men to their feet but, they all managed to hold on to their respective ropes and maintained their balance on top of the collapsed building. They could see a jagged hole in the barrel tiles of the roof and they all climbed precariously over to the opening and peered down into the darkness.
The twins in the meantime ran in the direction of the maintenance shed to grab the ladders and any nails and hammers they could find. Sally decided to look for the boys and Kathy ran toward the lake directly behind her praying silently that they would find them safe. Beverly in the meantime shook Connie Littlefield's shoulder and asked her if she was able to help carry any boards back to the hole. Connie nodded her head in agreement and stood up and followed Beverly in the wake of the twins.
June 14, Saturday 1:14 p.m.
Edge of woods
The high branches of the slash pines swayed rythmatically in the brisk summer breeze like pale green pom-poms applauding the latest touchdown of the local high school team. The parasitic Spanish moss hung tightly to the rough bark limbs not unlike baby opossums not wanting to lose their life support systems. The rustling of oak leaves and paper type clatter of the abundant palmetto bushes created a forest symphony but the muted screams of human agony spoiled the naturalistic melody for many hours to come.
June 14, Saturday 1:22 p.m.
Inside the marina office
Otis Sherman was knocked unconscious when the marina office first dropped into the sink hole. He was still unconscious when it fell another twenty feet and was just regaining his senses when the building sank a third time. The first initial drop had dislodged one of the rough sawn cypress beams from the roof. This beam grazed the back of Otis's head and sent him into slumber land. The second drop tilted the building at a sixty-degree angle and the upright beer cooler came crashing down on his prone legs crushing both mercifully while he was still unconscious. As he awoke, he felt a tremendous pain in both legs and was trying to familiarize himself to his newly arranged surroundings when he heard a large cracking noise. The part of the building facing the lake plunged completely away from the part Otis was trapped in and that’s when he heard the deafening sound of water roaring into the space where the building had been. Daylight was visible above the hole where the water started rushing in and he realized that a large crack had formed between where the marina office was and the lake. With horror he saw the hole rapidly filling with lake water and he would soon be completely submerged. He began praying forgiveness for all the sins he had committed even though he couldn't really thing of anything he had done to wrong anyone in his complete life. Still, he didn't want to go to heaven being a sinful person and he prayed for his dog Bart and anyone else who might be trapped like he was.
June 14, Saturday 1:25 p.m.
Middle of lake
"Hey dad!" Yelled Todd Finley. "What's happening on shore? The resort just disappeared. I don't see the marina either. What do you think happened?"
"I don't know son." Jeff Finley answered as he turned his head toward shore. "Whatever it is, it looks very spooky. I don't see how the whole place could vanish. Wait, the second floor is still there but, it looks a lot lower than it was. You know I bet it was a sinkhole. I heard a lot of rumors in town about how this place was honeycombed with caverns before they started building and they had just ignored the warnings of two engineers who had predicted something like this was going to happen. I guess those two environmental guys were right. Something certainly is happening now."
"What should we do dad? We need to go see if we can help those poor people. Oh dad, this is terrible and I wonder if my dog friend Bart is all right. He is such a neat dog. Isn't he dad?"
"You're right son. We need to see if we can help. I'll start the motor and we'll head right in."
June 14, Saturday 1:28 p.m.
Inside the manmade mountain
Rebecca McClellan stared intently out the porthole on the top of the manmade mountain, at the carnage that lay below. The porthole wasn't round like in a cruise ship but, was actually rectangular in shape and was constructed of heavy one way glass. The outside was disguised by an overshadowing of lush plant life and its reflective surface was made to look like mica in the mountain wall. The image that Becky was seeing through the glass looked like a bomb riddled village after a vicious aircraft attack. She could see large holes where buildings once stood and as she continued looking around some of her fear abated when she spotted her boyfriend Paul Zangallio standing near the edge of the lake where the marina used to be. There were two other people standing next to him and she recognized them as the people from the television station here to do a special interest story on the resort. She had earlier told Marcia Meadows how much she enjoyed watching her Monday night show because it was always about something very interesting to the average person. Becky told her how beautiful she looked on the show but she was even better looking in person because the TV didn't do justice to her vivid violet eyes. Marcia Meadows thanked her before she had left the corporate office and said that she thought Becky was a very attractive young lady, very business like, and she was more than welcome to visit her at the TV station anytime, for a very special guided tour of how the station worked. Becky had been very pleased at the invitation and told her she would be overjoyed to do that but, she would call before she came to make sure Marcia would be there. She suddenly noticed and a look of sheer terror came to her face, the place where the marina had stood was slowing filling up with lake water from a large crack that had formed from the lake to the hole the marina was now in. She knew that Bart's owner Otis was probably still in the marina office and then she saw Paul and the other two looking down in the hole and waving their arms. It looked like they were yelling even though it was silent inside the mountain. Becky loved Otis like a grandfather, he was always so nice whenever he came into the corporate office with his weekly reports and supply requisition forms and he never failed to bring her a little gift from the snack or soda machine. She prayed that nothing had happened to him and she quickly decided on a course of action in case it had. Her young mind was very sharp and her retention capabilities very strong. Working in the corporate office as long as she had, she was very knowledgeable about the workings of the lake recovery system. That really nice guy from Datafuture, Steve Sidel, had even shown her the actual workings of the system and how the computer software handled everything
automatically. Knowing that the system was not manned in the control room because an alarm system was set up to flash on the corporate computer screens if a malfunction occurred she hurried away from the observation port with Bart right on her heels and took the spiral staircase steps two at a time. She was out of breath by the time she reached the ground floor but, went ahead at a full run to the door of the control room and twisted the knob with sweat slippery hands. She finally managed to turn the knob and pushed the door open and ran over to the central keyboard of the lake equalizing computer system. She didn't bother to sit in the leather executive chair but, pushed it out of the way and logged onto the computer with her own code number. The system allowed her in without any delay and she used the mouse to select the icon for the pumps that would lower the water level. She activated the normal pumps for lowering the surface of the lake and kicked on the two auxiliary pumps, She deactivated the sensors that would turn on the pumps to bring water back out of the aquifer to replenish the diminishing level and pressed a manual hold button to prevent the system from kicking back to automatic. She breathed a sigh of relief and as she ran back out the door to head for the lake she kept praying that she was in time to stop the flow of the lake into the marina office.
June 14, Saturday 1:37 p.m.
On the main highway at the resort entrance
Deputy Paul Johanson locked up his brakes and slid he thought, very skillfully into a diagonal stop blocking the front entrance to the resort. He left just enough clearance on the right shoulder of the asphalt road for the emergency vehicles to get through but, he figured nobody but a complete fool would attempt to go around a sheriff's car with its blue lights flashing. He had just stepped out of the car, radio mike in hand, when rookie deputy Nelson Howirth pulled up even with his patrol car blocking the path he had left open for the emergency vehicles.
"Only a fool." He whispered to himself and then loudly barked at the rookie. "What the hell are you doing blocking the part of the road I left open, you nimrod. The fire trucks have to get by and what are you doing here? I thought you were checking on the theft over at old man Bailey's hardware store."
"Shoot Paul. I'm just here to help. I heard the call from the sheriff when he radioed you and I had just finished with my report of the petty theft so I thought I'd come see what I could do to help",
"Well ok Nelson. We'll need all the help we can get. I'll tell you what I want you to do. Climb out of that car and come stand over in front of mine. I want you to keep everybody and I mean everybody out of the resort until we get this mess straightened out. Only let the fire department, other law enforcement people, and ambulances in. From what I can tell we have a real mess in there and I don't want a bunch of townspeople or tourist getting in the way of the rescue operation. I'm in charge until the sheriff gets here so, I am going to take your car and drive on into the resort and see what I can do to help till the reinforcements arrive."
"I'll do a good job Paul. I can keep everybody out. I learned all about crowd control at the academy and I know I can handle it. You go on and I will be really tough to anybody not allowed in."
"All right, I'm out of here. Radio me if you have any problems. I'll have my hand-held so you can get me at any time and be sure to call me when the sheriff pulls up. "Paul Johanson ran over to the still idling patrol car, threw it in drive, and blasted down the driveway with the acrid smell of burning rubber drifting back toward the rookie who was obediently standing in front of the other car.
June 14, Saturday 1:38 p.m.
In the woods
Billy Forham and Jack Backlin had tired of their fishing adventure, they had a grand total of zero bass to show their parents, and had wandered into the lush green woods past the boulder where Bart had entered the woods on Friday. They came to the hole that had frightened the dog but, the hole was no longer the size of a manhole cover. It was approximately ten feet across and had already swallowed two young oak trees by the time they approached it. Not knowing the hole was any larger than it had been several days previous, they walked up to the edge and peered into the inky blackness.
When they had tired of fishing, they turned their makeshift fishing spears into makeshift hunting spears and entered the woods with the thought of bagging a big game animal. Lion, tiger, or bear, it didn't matter. They were brave warriors who would defeat any foe they happened to run across. Billy raised his spear in the air above the hole and loudly boasted.
"Oh mighty dragon. We know this is your lair and we, the royal knights of, of. Hey Jack. What kingdom are we from?"
"The Kingdom of Smallwich, in the land of Smallville."
"That's stupid Jack. How about the Kingdom of the United States in the land of the free."
"That's even dumber. We need a really neat kingdom to be from."
"Okay, how about, we are from King Arthur's Court and we are Knights of the Round Table."
"I guess that will do if you can't think of anything better."
"Yeah, we will be really brave knights. Here I go again. Oh mighty dragon, we are from King Arthur's Court and I am the fearless Sir Bill, defender of the innocent. My fellow knight, Sir Jack, and I will hunt you out and save the lovely princess from your clutches. What do you say dumb dragon? Give up and we might let you keep your head."
"Yes, you stupid dragon, I Sir Jack, have killed many, many dragons over the years and we will fight you to the death unless you release . . .”
Jack and his words fell into the hole as the ground beneath him gave way. Before Billy could back away from the edge he was standing on, his side folded under and he was tumbled down into the darkness behind his pal Jack.
The slight wind rustling the leaves was the only sound in that part of the forest and a soft dust settled slowly around the edges of the hungry hole.
June 14, Saturday 1:48 p.m.
At the resort entrance
The ramshackle faded red truck with dull white stenciled letters down the side proclaiming “Forest Glenn Volunteer Fire Department” creaked slowly around the parked patrol car belonging to Paul Johanson and began to speed up as soon as it was clear. Its weak siren began its mournful wooing as soon as it was underway again and rookie deputy Nelson Howirth gave the thumbs up signal to the volunteer fireman hanging on the back looking like he would much rather be somewhere else.
Deputy Howirth, five foot eight with black, hair worn in a military cut, knew it would be probably ten minutes before the fire and emergency trucks from Lakeland would arrive due to the report he received from the dispatcher that had taken over for the sheriff when the sheriff left the office. The town of Forest Glenn’s only ambulance had already gone past him and he expected the sheriff any minute. He thought to himself that this was kind of exciting but, he would much rather be right at the scene of the action. He daydreamed he was rescuing maidens in distress and becoming a national hero. He saw himself receiving an award from the President and being asked to be a guest on all the talk shows. While he was still in his Walter Mitty dream sheriff Ralph Slocum pulled up next to the parked patrol car and rolled down his window.
“Well Nelson, any news from inside?”
“No sir. No one has left and just the fire truck and ambulance from Forest Glenn have gone past me.”
“The National Guard is being assembled in Tampa and will be here in a few hours and you should hear a helicopter or two arriving shortly. Just make sure you don’t let anybody not involved in the rescue effort past you. We can’t afford anyone running around getting hurt just because they wanted to sightsee. Stand guard here until I can get someone to relieve you, ok?”
“Sure sheriff, piece of cake. Go rescue those poor people in there.
June 14, Live again
Forest Glenn, Florida
"We again interrupt our regularly scheduled show in progress here on channel seven WWBD for another breaking bulletin on the devastating sinkhole happening in central Florida."
"This i
s Wendy Wikowski, on the scene, outside the town of Forest Glenn. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have just joined us, this is live from what is believed the largest sinkhole ever to hit the western hemisphere and perhaps in the entire world. There are hundreds and hundreds of people trapped beneath the ground and still no word on the number of casualties there maybe. I have just got a report that a deputy from the county sheriff's office has been critically wounded by one of the gunmen holding hostages inside the sunken lobby. WWBD will continue breaking in with news reports as they occur, and now to return to the show in progress."
Wendy Wikowski set the microphone gently down on the hood of her car and turned back to the camera man and gave him a huge smile. She could tell by his reaction that the segment had been a good one. Broadcasting live was sometimes very tricky and she knew she was pulling off this one ok. Her mind wandered back to what she was doing when the news of this disaster first reached her. Wendy had been driving down County Road Thirty Seven eating crackers when her cell phone had rung. She had stopped the peanut butter filled cheese cracker halfway to her mouth and laid it carefully on the passenger seat of the company sedan, picking up her cell phone on the second ring and answered.
"Hello Wikowski here." She had clearly directed into the phone. "What can I do for you?"
"Wendy. This is Marcia. I'm over at that new resort and the shit has hit the fan." She recalled hearing her best friend's frantic voice. "Ted Brumfield and I were over by the lagoon and Ted was getting some really good footage of the fantastic waterfall for my Monday night show when the whole resort collapsed. There are hundreds of people tapped in this gigantic sinkhole and the rescue teams aren't even here yet. I know this is your type of story, so get over and you scoop all the other stations. This will definitely go national and CNN will be here before