Page 97 of Little Girls Sleeping
Not having enough time to grab the shotgun, Katie took the opportunity to run toward the truck. Her feet pounded on the hard-packed ground, and she felt every rock, pebble, and bump against her heel and arch.
She didn’t dare to look back, so didn’t realize how close Charles was behind her. She took a hard hit from him and catapulted forward, landing face down on the ground. He pounced on top of her, and she struggled to free herself, then twisted around to face him, kicking and scratching like a wild animal and clawing at his face, barely missing his eyes.
He was stronger than she had imagined—he had obviously kept up his strength and physical fitness. She let out a fierce yell as she dodged his fists and the spittle flying from his mouth. Then he slapped her across the face with such force that everything became dull and she actually saw flickering stars. She lay back stunned, unable to move.
Charles, face bloodied, took the opportunity to reach for the bowie knife he carried on his belt.
Katie fought to remain conscious and alert. She began scooting backward as she spotted the glint of the large knife in his right hand. His face showed sheer hatred, and with the blood running down his cheeks, he resembled a demon who wanted her dead at any cost. He began swinging the blade back and forth rhythmically, and with each swipe, the edge of it came dangerously close to her face. She tried to use her arms to block it, but he continued his rampage, kicking her hands, forearms, and shoulders.
Her hand sank into a small hole, causing her to lose her balance. She watched helplessly as the blade neared her neck.
Charles caught his breath and prepared for the final blow.
Katie knew she couldn’t fight this monster, but as she prepared for the worst, she became aware of a deep rumbling beneath her. The ground shook and the trees swayed. It was a strange and unfamiliar sensation.
Both Katie and Charles froze, their bodies tense.
Katie had never heard or felt anything like it before. It wasn’t an earthquake; like most Californians, she was used to those. It was something much more deadly—something from the evil depths below.
The ground vibrated more violently, accompanied by an escalating roar, as if a machine was set to high and was going to shake them to death.
“What the…?” began Charles, but his voice was drowned out by a huge rumble and an ear-shattering boom.
Katie instinctively moved away, ready to get up and run.
The sound became deafening all around them. The ground buckled, leaving behind a trail as if someone had lit a fuse, igniting a runaway fire. A long channel along the trail plummeted into a sinkhole. She looked at Charles one last time, their eyes locking as the earth beneath them fell away and dropped like a lead weight.
Then she watched in paralyzing horror as he disappeared under the ground.
Fifty-Five
Chad was moving quietly down a long trail just wide enough for a single vehicle, not wanting to alert anyone to his approach. He was followed closely by Cisco, which helped him to maintain a good pace.
His radio buzzed.
“Chad, location?” came the sheriff’s voice.
“Working the upper eastern grid. Negative. Ten-four,” he replied.
“There are only a few more hours of usable daylight.”
“Copy.”
“Keep to your check-in times,”
“Copy. Any word?”
There was a slight pause. “Negative.”
“Over and out.” The radio went silent. Chad didn’t want to hear the chatter from the other volunteers. It would make his search that much more dismal, and he wanted to maintain his optimism.
Cisco whined and trotted a few feet ahead of him.
“Let’s keep going,” Chad said. “Find me something, boy.”
They walked for another forty minutes without anything to indicate that Katie was close. Chad searched for tire tracks, freshly moved dirt, or anything that appeared to have been disturbed in the last few hours.
Every step seemed to make the search for Katie that much larger and unmanageable, impossible for only a hundred or so volunteers.
