She took a deep breath and stretched up her right hand, trying to grab anything that would be stable.
Slowly, inch by inch, she made progress.
Dirt and miscellaneous debris trickled down into her face.
She tried several more times without success.
“You can do this,” she said out loud, remembering how hard it was going through boot camp. Her drill sergeant was one of the toughest, and at times, she had hated him with a passion. She could still hear him yelling at her when she was just about to give up. It was brutal, but she understood why he was so insistent.
Push through, Katie.
She glanced around her and saw an area about three feet away that looked as though it could take her weight. From there, she might be able to pull herself up far enough to climb out.
“Okay, I can do this…” Speaking out loud helped her to focus, and gave her the comfort of hearing a human voice. “If I can just reach…” She stretched her right arm across the black hole, her fingertips mere inches away from her target.
Just a little bit closer.
Three inches…
Two inches…
She retracted her arm and rested. Her breathing had become rapid, but her perseverance ran the show and she wasn’t going to give up.
Rolling her shoulders and taking a deep breath, she reached out her right arm again. This time, she lengthened her neck and shoulder muscles as her fingertips touched the thick tree root. Without a moment to lose, she grasped the root and leaped across, scrambling for a foothold until she found something in the dark that would hold her weight.
She took a minute to reassess her position, ignoring the fact that she was still in her undergarments; under the circumstances, it really didn’t matter. Keeping her focus on the light above and the possibility of seeing the sky and trees again, she reached up once more and pulled herself upward. It was only inches at a time, but she was gradually making her way to the top.
At last her eyes were level with the ground, and she quickly scanned the area before hoisting herself up and out. Exhausted, she lay on her back gazing at the afternoon sky and catching her breath. She was finally safe. She silently thanked her drill sergeant, God, and her determination to survive.
Finally she sat up, and then slowly stood. The wind immediately chilled her and she shivered uncontrollably as she crossed her arms to protect her torso from the cold. There was nothing to shield her bare skin from the elements anymore now she was out of the hole.
Trying to keep her teeth from chattering, she took a step, then stopped instantly. She noticed that the ground looked strange, with uneven anomalies and small holes dotted about. The grains of dirt moved as if a snake slithered underneath. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. Clearly she was standing on extremely unstable ground.
The truck was about twenty yards away, presumably on stable ground. She prayed it would contain keys, a cell phone, clothes, and anything else that might help her to escape the area and contact her uncle. She had to at least warn him of the volatile situation, in case he had anyone searching for her.
She had to move now; she couldn’t wait any longer, as the wind picked up in velocity and the temperature dropped. She took one tentative step and put her weight on the area, then another, repeating the process until she was only a few yards from the truck.
Looking up, she gave a long sigh of relief at seeing the truck so close. Hope sparked inside her, relieving some of her heavy burden. She took another step—and something changed. A small section of ground had given way. Standing completely still in mid motion, her breath caught in her throat.
No.
Then before she could move, the ground opened up all around her, like a giant wound, and swallowed her, her body dropping through a circular hole. Her descent ended abruptly as she smacked into a section of packed earth. The impact was like hitting a brick wall, and she moved judiciously to make sure she didn’t have any broken bones or serious injuries.
Looking up, she saw that she was at least thirty feet below the surface. There was no way she could climb out this time, no matter how much she talked herself into it. No matter how hard she tried to maintain control and strength. She began to cry in frustration and fear, and for everything she hadn’t yet experienced in her life.
No one will hear my pleas.
No one will hear my screams.
I will die alone.
Fifty-Seven
Chad reached his Jeep after completing another quadrant resulting in zero clues to Katie’s whereabouts. He was weary and depressed. When he opened the driver’s door, Cisco pushed past him and effortlessly leaped inside. The dog sat in the passenger seat, his head directed at the windshield with an unmistakable look of eagerness. It was crystal clear to Chad that Cisco wanted to continue the search.
Chad got behind the wheel, glanced at his watch, and decided to continue to the last grid area he had planned. It might become dark during his search, but that didn’t matter to him, because he was prepared. He had a heavy-duty flashlight, a lighted headband, and even a few flares.
He drove along the road, which appeared to be more of a rugged walking trail than a roadway. His SUV bounced back and forth, but continued to climb to an area that he wasn’t familiar with. A few times, as he negotiated sections of the road that seemed impassable, he wanted to pull over, but his determination pushed him onward.
His thoughts of spending time with Katie kept him company as he wondered if he would ever see her again. He also questioned whether they would work as a couple. She was so driven and determined, and it wasn’t written in stone that she was going to stay in her hometown. He knew that she could go anywhere she wanted.
His cell phone made a bell sound as he drifted in and out of signal range, but the GPS seemed to keep a connection and led him towards the area where he would begin his next search.
After fifteen minutes, the Jeep reached flat ground. Chad quickly parked and checked his backpack to make sure he had everything he needed.
The radio crackled into life and the familiar voice of the sheriff said, “Chad, anything yet? Over.”
He took a moment to reply. “Negative, over.”
“Everything okay? Over.”
“We’re fine. Last grid location before dark. Over.”
“Check back in an hour. Over and out.”
The radio returned to quiet mode.
Chad knew that the other search teams weren’t coming up with anything either.
He packed more supplies and another sweatshirt due to the falling temperature. Cisco barked and turned his nose in the direction they were headed.
“I hear ya, buddy,” Chad said.
The GPS clicked back on and showed the direction they needed to be heading.
“Well this is it,” he told the dog. “Put your extra-sharp canine senses to good use.”
This time was different; it felt more lonely and remote, but Chad continued to move forward. His quadriceps and hamstrings were put to the test as he trekked down the trail. He felt as if he had already lost ten pounds of body weight and gained twenty pounds of backpack weight.
The sun moved into its low, late-afternoon position, just waiting before hiding behind the trees and then slipping below the western horizon. The wind picked up velocity with a chilling howl. There were no more loud underground rumbles percolating through the landscape.
Cisco padded ahead in point position along the trail, only stopping once in a while to look back at Chad to make sure he was still following. Chad imagined him doing the same thing in Afghanistan. The danger now wasn’t imminent, but the situation was just as critical. The dog’s dark coat still shone even in the diminishing light as he trotted effortlessly along, fanning his nose for any familiar scent.
Chad didn’t want to think about what would happen when the sun actually set and ended the daylight.
Fifty-Eight
After Katie had weakly examined her surroundings, it was clear that the hole she
had fallen into was different from the one that had swallowed Charles. It was narrower, more structured, and seemed likely to be man-made instead of a mass irregularity in the earth. It resembled something that might have been used for a mine, like an emergency ventilation shaft.
Her body was weary after her attempts to climb out of the previous hole. Her hands were raw and two of her fingernails had torn away to the quick. Her self-pity tears had run dry. She hadn’t eaten or had a drink in hours, as evidenced by the strained growling noises from her stomach and her parched lips. Fatigue and exhaustion had begun to set in. Soon she wouldn’t be able to move, but only shiver in the darkness underground until her body couldn’t function anymore. Her organs would slowly begin to shut down.
She leaned back against a wall of packed dirt and listened to her surroundings. The wind and trees were the only noises that kept her company.
Sleep overpowered her and tried to beat her into submission, but she didn’t want to give in to its powers—not just yet. Her eyelids grew heavy and her breathing was shallow and slow. The muscles in her legs cramped, especially in her calves. Excessive thirst almost overwhelmed her rational thinking. Her body wouldn’t stop shaking, and she knew it was a sign of hypothermia. She had rushes of hot and cold, dizziness, and an almost blinding headache was beginning to obscure her vision.
Chad regained some energy due to the flat terrain rather than the sharp inclines on his earlier searches. He marveled at the region he was combing. It was a place that he had never visited, at least not in memory, and under any other circumstances it would have been beautiful and tranquil. The landscape gently swelled and dipped, full of contrasting greens, browns, and golden yellows. It had been moved by centuries of earthquakes and natural weather conditions and had become a masterpiece. The view was an artist’s nirvana, worthy of oversized photographs and paintings.
He paid particular attention to the trails and narrow roads. He wasn’t completely sure, but it looked as if there were some tire tracks travelling in the same direction he was headed. But whether the impressions were recent, days old, or from three months ago was the question of the hour.
He knew that Katie would be able to deduce when the tracks were made. After she’d found the bodies of the two little girls, there’d been quite a bit of gossip. Some thought she was a genius, while others were locked into the idea that it was just pure luck. Either way, she was the one who had found the missing children, alone, and using the skills outlined in her field notebook.
Chad stopped. He gazed at the sky with its clouds rushing in, trying to pull himself together and make sense of what he was facing—and more importantly, what Katie was facing.
Cisco trotted on towards some seemingly enticing bushes, then suddenly dropped to the ground, crawling slowly on his belly, heading southeast. Chad was about to call to him, but decided to let him do what he knew how to do. He watched the dog with curiosity, his heart pounding in his chest. His breath wavered, leaving behind a lump of angst in his throat.
Cisco growled and the hackles stood up along his backbone, making him appear much larger than his eighty-five pounds. His yellowish-brown eyes were focused, targeted and unrelenting, and his ears pointed straight up.
Still Chad didn’t move an inch. His own instincts seemed to jump-start, with prickly feelings up his spine and the back of his neck. Something unnatural had caught his attention too, but he didn’t know exactly what it was—enemy or friend.
The dog kept his body low, and gave a half growl and half whine. He moved with the stealth of a snake and the single-mindedness of a predator.
The air cooled another five degrees as the clouds covered the sun, leaving behind a black-and-white landscape.
Chad eased his way forward. Unexpectedly the dog turned and began barking at him, bouncing up and down; not playful, but rather an alarm for something important. He was trying to convey a message.
“What is it, Cisco?” Chad said. “Go, find, search, find Katie…” He didn’t know what else to say.
The dog turned away and moved another three feet, then stopped once more. He continued to bark rapidly.
Hugging her legs close, eyes tightly shut, Katie tried to keep herself warm with wonderful memories of home, her childhood, her parents. As her teeth chattered, she heard the ensuing echo from down below. For some reason, she thought of someone tap dancing and it made her giggle to herself.
Every ragged breath was difficult, leaving her straining for oxygen. Her shallow heartbeat and labored breathing were the only sounds she could hear.
Then, faintly in the distance, there was a repetitive banging that sounded like a machine of some kind. Katie held her breath and struggled to hear. After a few seconds, she realized that it was a dog barking. It was Cisco’s bark—there was no doubt about it. It was rapid and extremely loud. A purposeful bark, the one he gave when he discovered a specific find or track.
A rush of adrenalin flowed through her body as if someone had ignited her with a new lease on life.
“Cisco,” she whispered. Her voice sounded strange and disconnected. “Cisco,” she said louder. “I’m here! Help! Please help!”
But even as the chance of rescue presented itself, she remembered the reality of the sinkholes and mine shafts, and the realization filled her with horror. “No! Please stay where you are! It’s not safe,” she called.
Chad stood next to Cisco. The dog continued to bark at him rapidly, showing his white teeth. Chad knew he meant business, but was uncertain what to do next. He looked in the direction the dog was indicating and took off at a steady run, sprinting toward a trail that ran into a back road for vehicles. It was surrounded by trees and low-lying bushes with dead debris underneath.
Stopping to catch his breath, he thought he heard something.
A voice? A bird? People at the camp ground?
He continued to move toward the sound until he heard it clearly. It was a faint muffled voice: someone calling out for help? He continued to move with caution, but Cisco ran ahead of him. “Cisco, here!” he yelled, remembering Katie’s commands. The dog stopped and looked at him. “Here!” he said again. With some reluctance, the dog returned.
Chad grabbed the dog’s collar and said, “Katie?” Barely breathing, he waited for an answer. Cisco panted loudly but had stopped barking. He too was waiting.
The voice said, “Help. Help.”
Chad didn’t know for sure, but it sounded like Katie. It sounded as if she were underground. The thought made him nauseous and fearful. He started to run, but tripped and fell, releasing the dog’s collar. As he scrambled to get to his feet again, Cisco barked uncontrollably and inched forward.
“Cisco, down!”
The dog obediently dropped to his belly, though he clearly wanted to continue. He was panting heavily in canine nervousness.
“Katie!” yelled Chad. “Katie!”
“I’m here!” she replied.
“Where?”
“Don’t come any closer! The ground isn’t safe!”
Chad didn’t understand what she meant, but it gave him pause. He wasn’t sure if it was a trap and Charles was making her say certain things.
“Katie, are you alone?”
“Yes.” There was a pause, and then she said, “Stay back. Look at the ground.”
Chad ordered the dog to stay, then walked carefully toward her voice, expecting to see some type of booby trap set up to impale him or shoot him where he stood.
Examining the area, he saw strange lines of dirt travelling several yards. He had never seen anything like it before and looked closer. The ground seemed to move under his feet, and he stopped immediately. It was as if he had stepped into a funhouse; it was clear the area was completely unstable.
“Stay back!” Katie repeated.
“Where are you?”
“Can you see the truck?”
Chad didn’t see any truck, so he moved carefully to the left and stepped across an area between several trees. There it was—Cha
rles Rey’s truck.
“I see it!”
He waited with trepidation, nerves raw, yet relieved that he had found her. He glanced behind him; Cisco was still in the down position.
“I’m a few yards from the truck,” she said.
Chad hastened to move closer to her voice. He wanted to make sure that she was okay, and that it was really her—to make sure she wasn’t a mirage. His survival instincts told him to stay low to the ground. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but he obeyed his senses and moved toward her on hands and knees. He saw clearly that there was a long sunken area, in addition to some sort of sinkhole.
“Katie,” he said.
“Please, Chad, don’t come any closer. It’s not safe.”
A low rumbling reminiscent of the noises he had heard earlier erupted from underneath him. As he scrambled back, part of the ground in front of him fell inward. He gasped in disbelief; he had never seen anything like it before. The area resembled the collateral damage after a bomb had detonated. He saw Charles’s truck bounce from side to side; it would soon be the next thing to disappear.
“Stay still,” he ordered. “I’ll be back.”
Katie sobbed quietly as she heard Chad leave, calling Cisco’s name. They had found her, but she had sensed the earth moving and shifting again, and she knew that she had mere minutes and not hours before she was buried alive. Despite her terror, hearing Chad’s voice had helped to ease some of the emotional pain.
Chad ran as fast as he could back to his Jeep. He knew that Katie’s time was running out. Out of breath, he put Cisco inside the vehicle, where he would be safe, then retrieved his cell phone and dialed Sheriff Scott.
The sheriff answered on the second ring, “What do you have?” His voice sounded strained.
“I found her,” replied Chad. “She’s okay right now, but we need to move fast.”
Little Girls Sleeping: An absolutely gripping crime thriller Page 26