The guardsmen were searching every square inch of the exposed part of the lobby for any sign of a living person and they began helping a small group of people they had found huddled together near the front double doors of the lobby. A large floral display had been mounted on a specially built platform near the doors and the small group of people had climbed up on the platform to avoid the sudden rush of water that suddenly filled the lobby. They knocked over the elaborate display Dilford Bailey had painstakingly organized and crowded into the small area atop the platform. They huddled together dripping wet until they heard the guardsmen arrive and a small cheer went up when they had realized the Calvary had arrived.
The guardsmen escorted the group of survivors over to the ramp and up the ladders and the sheriff heard a loud scream of joy from the two movie stars, Tiffany Royal and Brandon Miles when they realized their two lost companions had been found. The guardsmen shined all their available lights at the caved in section of the roof and began to explore the fallen down section with as much enthusiasm as they had displayed on the previous hunt for survivors in the open section of the lobby. The sheriff waded through the knee high water till he reached the point where the main part of the roof caved in and watched the guardsmen as they continued their rescue mission. The screams had long since faded from the fallen in section but, the sheriff figured out of the at least seven hundred people still trapped, at least a few were still alive.
The light shining through the crumpled roof section showed hundreds of people milling around wondering what really happened. They were trapped by the fallen roof but, they had not been flooded out and they had not found an escape route until the guardsmen shined the portable spotlights in their direction. They began pouring out of the crumpled area in which they thought they had been trapped and the national guard backed up to allow the heavy influx of survivors to reach the ramp and afterward the ladders to reclaim their freedom. The death toll began to decrease as soon as the sheriff realized that most of the people trapped in the sinkhole were actually alive and not dead as most people actually believed. There were repeated shouts of joy as the survivors made their way to freedom and the people on the surface recognized people, who were originally thought of as fallen victims, were actually alive. The sheriff wondered what happened to the two erratic gunmen but decided it wasn’t his problem and finding so many survivors had made his day.
The firemen and Kevin Backlin and Bill Forham waded through the knee-deep water into the back side of the lobby. They carefully crossed the makeshift ladder bridge and were searching for survivors in the murky gloom. The spotlights the firemen carried lit up large sections of the interior of the lobby and they began finding stragglers wandering around with no sense of direction because of the duration of time spent in almost total darkness. They guided the people over to the ladder bridge with its rope made hand rails and convinced them it was safe to cross. It was a terrifying look into the deep chasm under the ladder so, the firemen tried to focus their lights away from the hole. They told the people they helped cross not to look down and to hold tight to the ropes.
Most of the crossings were without mishaps but, several people including a twenty-five year old legal secretary had to be carried across because not only did she have a fear of heights but she also suffered from claustrophobia from being in such a contained area.
The two friends, Kevin and Bill, and the firemen heard the shouts of joy from the rescued people that had been trapped in the caved in roof section and they began seeing national guardsmen searching the same area they were in. Feeling their part of the job was finished now, the other entrance must have been cleared of gunmen due to the presence of the guardsmen, and the firemen and Kevin and Bill crossed back over the ladder and began walking back down the long tunnel.
The sight of the open sky brought smiles again to the faces of the two friends and they climbed back up the ladder for, they hoped the last time, back into the real world. The blue summer cloudless sky and the deep green wide expanse of grass with the still running waterfall in the distance made life somehow really worth it. Kevin Backlin and Bill Forham exchanged handshakes and eventually hugs from all the firemen and started walking back to the front driveway to reclaim their wives and kids. The smiles on their faces were almost etched into their features as the sight of their families safe and sound brought tears of joy to the tough masculine men.
Frankie Medford held the gun tightly against Steve Sidel’s neck and told him that if he made a sound he would pull the trigger and splatter Steve all over the wall. They were in a makeshift enclosed area under the fallen section of the roof in the north side of the lobby. Several beams from the roof crisscrossed when they had fallen and were wedged against the back wall near the upraised band area. The roofing tiles and felt paper and plywood from the roof had fallen with the beams and made a simple tent like affair.
The moment Frankie heard the voices of the national guardsmen, he pushed Steve into the miniature shelter, and they hid until the guardsmen cleared the people out of the fallen roof area. The time passed very slowly for Steve even though it was less than ten minutes, because of the death threat pressing against his neck. Frankie no longer heard any noises from the fallen in area and he told Steve to stick his head around the corner of the debris and see if the coast was clear.
“I don’t see anyone out there.” Steve replied in a grim tone. “Why don’t you let me go now?”
“Not so fast, computer boy. You are my ticket out of here.”
They started walking out of the enclosed area with the gun still pressed tightly against Steve’s neck.
“Let’s see if we can walk our way past all these solder clowns.”
They walked through the rubble of the fallen roof and exited through the opposite side that they had entered. The water level was now only ankle deep in the main part of the lobby and they could see lights across the room where the opening was torn in the roof. They walked along the back wall to avoid a confrontation until the last moment and walked past the door to the computer room.
“Wait a minute.” Frankie whispered harshly in Steve’s ear. “I want to check that room out.”
He backed Steve up until they were even with the door way and he told Steve to shine his flashlight into the dark room. The room was now void of most of the computer equipment due to the tremendous water pressure that had funneled into the small area. They could see by the light of the flashlight that the door was missing and that a large hole was beyond it. The firemen had removed their ladder bridge and rope railings and the hole looked largely impassable. Frankie pushed Steve over to the edge of the hole and had Steve shine the light down into the dark pit. It looked bottomless from their point of view and Frankie told Steve to shine his light around the small room again. Frankie paid close attention to where the beam of light landed and told Steve to hold the light steady when it was focused on the computer desk.
“Hand me the light and don’t try anything funny when you do it.” He scowled at Steve. “Now walk over to that desk and see how tight it is fastened to the wall.”