The CEO's Painted Skin

John and George were donning their mining gear and uniform to join the coal miners during their mining operation underground the tunnel. George brought several bottled water, biscuits and cookies as well as chocolates to eat a snack inside the tunnel.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us underground, Ramon?" asked John again.

Ramon shook his head. "I have fear of confined spaces Boss, and they call it Claustrophobia. I will pass this time."

"George, you take care of our boss down there!" he said to his fellow bodyguard.

"Don't worry, I will take care of Boss John!" he said excitement glowing in his eyes as if he is about to enter the most exciting adventure in his lifetime.

Ramon grinned at George. "You are carrying a huge backpack full of foods! Are you going into a picnic?"

George smiled. "Boy Scout is always prepared and ready!" he said laughing.

John distances himself away from the crowd of miners and called Catherine in his cell phone.

"Hi John my love...," she greeted him giggling at the other end.

John released a wide smile feeling happy to hear her voice teasing him.

"What are you doing, Cath?" he asked in a gentle loving voice.

"Dreaming of you, hehehe," she laughed.

John broke into a chuckle. "Really? What kind of dreams you had of me?"

"Hmmm...naked dreamssss of you and me....," she whispered in a seductive voice.

John bit his lower lip. "Tell me what you are wearing now?"

Catherine laughed hard. "Hahaha, John you are getting horny!"

Her flirtatious laughter continues echoing in his ears.

John becomes serious, he was indeed feeling horny just listening to her teasing. But he has some work to do.

"Catherine, I called you today because I may not able to call you later. I'm going with the boys in the tunnel underground. I will do some inspection there regarding the safety of the miners, so I will just call you after I get out of the tunnel. Take care on your way home," he said.

"Oh, okay. I love you John!" she said.

"I love you more than words can say. You mean the world to me, Catherine. Always remember that!"

"Awww, you're so sweet, John! I miss you more! Come back home soon," she uttered the words lovingly.

"Okay, see you soon Catherine. Bye for now, you take care of yourself!"

"Bye John! Kisss...mwuahhh!"

Their conversation ended.

John dropped his cell phone in his pants pocket and sauntered towards the waiting miners.

"Everyone is ready?" he asked.

The miners answered 'Yes' in chorus.

They started piling in towards the opening of the tunnel's entrance. One by one the miners disappeared inside the dark tunnel. The last person to enter the tunnel was John and George, Ramon waved at them before they vanished from the entrance.

Ramon turned around and walked towards the few trees that scattered the area and sat down on one of the barks of the mahogany tree, enjoying the calm and soothing cool breeze blowing around him. Several miners were also sitting under the trees seeking shelter from the sweltering heat of the sun, they were chatting to each other not far away from him.

...

John walked alongside with George inside the tunnel, there is a holding area 20 meters away from the entrance where they saw a long conveyor belt that originates from the entrance and extended into the entire length of the tunnel which is 3 miles long. The mine ventilation is also in place to provide the flow of air and regulate the temperature inside the tunnel.

The type of mining they have right now is the blasting mining which is the older practice that uses explosive or dynamite to break up the coal beads and after the blast coals were being loaded into the conveyor belt that would bring the coal outside the tunnel.

There was also removable roof support to prevent the roof from crumbling down while the miners are removing coals to load into the conveyor belt.

From the holding area, they walked for another one kilometer inside and they came into a dead end of the west side of the tunnel. Some of the miners start digging holes into the wall and attaching dynamite explosives into the holes, the dynamites were being connected to one another by wires for continues, efficient and timely blasting.

The removable roof consists of hard concrete steel the size of a table, about ten of them were being positioned above the coal miners head in order to prevent the roof from falling once the wall will start crumbling from the explosion.

John and George were watching the miners at work with curiosity in their eyes.

Done with all the wiring being connected successfully, they step further away from the wall into a safer distance. Then the miner who holds the control starts pushing the button and there it goes the explosives were being detonated and the explosion was like fireworks during New Year celebration and then the wall collapsed...sending dust everywhere, they have covered their nose with mask and safety glasses for their eyes.

Fifteen minutes later when the fog already settled the miners were busy loading the fragments of the coals from the ground into their cart and loaded it to the conveyor belt.

George watched the miners activity with interest and a sense of admiration with their chosen profession.

John watched the miners under narrowed eyes.

The dangers are lurking everywhere in this tunnel and the imminent danger is about the roof collapsing above their head an accident may happen anytime, John thought to himself.

The miners were done with their work, they start retracing their steps back into the holding area, but before they can go on further, the ground shook beneath them, signaling of an earthquake! A strong one because the ceiling starts to shower them with stones and some of the roofs few meters behind them were already collapsing!

"Run!'

"Run back into the safety of the removable roofs!" John barked his orders. They all run back under the protection of the removable steel roof. They huddled around each other like scared rats. Horror and shocks were plastered on their faces.

The nightmare is not over yet!

They watched in trepidation when the walls and roofs were crumbling around them trapping them under the removable steel roof...

They become silent...

"Were dead!"

"We're going to be buried here!" cried the others.

The majority were too frightened to even utter a single word.

John exhaled air as he scanned the frightened faces of the miners around him, he himself was feeling afraid that they might never come out alive! He and George were looking at each other's eyes.

"Boys calm down! We won't die here! Gather the foods and the bottled water in the center, anything and everything that can be used, bring it up! We need all the things we can use for survival. If we can stay alive in the next three days then we might have a big chance of survival," said John in a calmer voice.

"Chances are, the people above us were already planning a way how to rescue us. What we need right now is to stay strong, stay sane and stay calm."

The miners gathered all their belongings in the center, John inspected the foods and water supply, at least they can sustain them temporarily for a few days. They just have to ration the foods to make them last longer.

He sighed deeply. This is going to be the darkest moments of his life next to Dahlia's passing. He sat down beside George.

"This is the time to keep calm and think for survival not to panic," said John.

"I agree Boss!" replied George.

"Shall we start digging now, Boss?" asked one of the miner.

"No! not yet. We don't know if there's an aftershock or another earthquake coming. All we have to do is sit down and calmed our nerves."

John counted them all, there are a total of twenty-five people trapped underground including him. He roamed his eyes around the area, if they start digging, the floor and the wall might collapse further and they will be buried underground before the rescue team can even reach them.

He closed his eyes and start praying to God.