Eleven, Twelve ... Dig and delve (Rebekka Franck Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page A

up, put the phone in my pocket, and got out.
    “Hey! Could you please move your cars? I have a train to catch,” I said.
    The two women turned just in time to look at me before the earth underneath us grumbled and, in a matter of seconds, collapsed.
     

9
    O H, MY G OD, I’m sinking!!
    I was. I was sinking and sliding into the giant hole that had split open underneath me. There wasn’t anything I could do. There was nothing to hold on to. I was literally being sucked into the ground. It was like a big giant mouth had opened up and swallowed me. It was like Pinocchio being sucked into the whale’s mouth…or like Dorothy inside the tornado. There was no fighting it. The force pulling me down was way too strong.
    It happened so quickly, I don’t believe I even had time to scream or panic. I tried desperately to grab out, to hold onto something, to do anything, but the ground around me was sliding. Everything was sliding…the cars, the dirt, the asphalt that was broken to pieces and being sucked down along with me. There was no place to put my feet, nothing to hold on to. The ground underneath kept sliding, and I kept thinking: This is it. I’m going to die. I’m sliding into the ground and will never come back up again.
    There were things everywhere. And people. Arms tried to grab me and hold onto me, but were pulled away again. At one point, I saw the taxi falling, sliding down beside me. I saw people in the ground with me and, at one point, something hit me, twirled right at me, and I realized it was the tax driver’s arm. I recognized the sleeve. The further I slid down, the more stuff was in the ground with me. Pieces of wood, bricks, tiles, and I realized it wasn’t just me being sucked down. It was the entire neighborhood.
    Get up. Try to get up. Grab onto something!
    I kept my face pointing upwards, but soon lost the sense of up and down. The light disappeared quickly, and then there was nothing but darkness. I found a branch from what I believed was a tree and held onto it, but it was sliding right down with me.
    Help! Oh, God, please help me!
    A hand grabbed me and held onto me. I had no idea who it belonged to, since all light was gone, and I couldn’t see. I could hardly breathe either. My mouth was soon filled with dirt, and I gasped for air, feeling how the ground was closing in on me as we slid downwards. In the darkness that was closing in on me, I held onto the little hand that had grabbed me the best I could.
    Oh, God. Where will we land?
     

10
    W HEN THE SLIDING finally did stop, I didn’t dare to move. Underneath my feet was mud. It felt soft and wet, and I couldn’t stop wondering if I would fall further down if I moved. It didn’t seem stable. I was still holding the little hand in mine, but had no idea who was at the other end. Carefully I felt it until I reached an arm. It was sticking out of the mud wall next to me.
    Someone is stuck in the mud. You have to help. Do something!
    But I was scared. Afraid that moving would make the hole deeper or make the ground cave underneath me. I was in a pocket of some sort. There was air in there. I couldn’t see the top, but I could breathe.
    I felt the hand in mine. The fingers moved.
    That’s it. Someone is alive in there and you have to do something. Someone might be suffocating. Even if it’s the last thing you do…
    “Oh, hell,” I exclaimed, and then started digging in the thick dirt. In the darkness, I managed to dig out the arm and then pull it towards me. The dirt moved dangerously and some fell onto my head, causing me to gasp and panic slightly.
    Then I pulled the arm again, while moving the dirt surrounding the body. Soon, I felt a head and some shoulders. I gasped for air, and then dug again, even though the ground underneath my feet was starting to shake. I heard a thud and stopped for a few seconds, then continued.
    “Even if it’s the last thing I do…”
    I felt the body’s shoulders and realized it had to belong to a