The CEO's Painted Skin

Day 2...

The next day afternoon the digging continues. The shifting was working well, the miners moral outside the tunnel is full of optimism but they have no idea if the comrades they are trying to save underneath the tunnel are still alive.

Ramon was resting for a few seconds under the shade of the mahogany tree. Just in time for Catherine's call. She had not called him since last night maybe she doesn't want to disturb him.

"Catherine..."

"Ramon, tell me what is happening around there? Why John hasn't called me the whole night and the whole day today?" there's a lot of worry in her voice.

Ramon has no choice but to tell her the truth. "They were currently trapped underground due to the earthquake that hits the tunnel. We are still digging fast to save them but we don't know yet if they are still alive or dead, we can't reach them by phone, there is no way to reach them right now."

Ramon heard her gasped on the other line probably shocked by his revelation.

"Ramon, I want you to send me pictures around the entrance, fast!" she ordered him in a trembling voice.

Ramon did as he was told. He starts taking photos of the entrance in all angles, he sends her a total of 10 photos.

"I will call you Ramon later to ask for updates! Bye," she said and the line went dead.

...

Catherine was cleaning the presidential suite at the time she called Ramon and knew of the terrible truth that she might never see John alive ever again. Instead of crying, she focuses hard on the photos that were sent to him. Maybe she can find something that can help the digging...

One by one she inspected the photos...

The first photo shows about a hundred miners digging at the entrance...

The second photos show the entrance was already cleared but still mountains of soil were blocking the inside.

One particular photo caught her attention, it looks like a pipe that somehow sticks out in the entrance. She opened her chrome browser and starts browsing coal mining tunnel online and clicked on a 6 minutes video that detailed the structure of the inside of the coal mining tunnel.

It must be the ventilation system that runs through the length of the tunnel, that was what the video has mentioned! An idea popped in her mind!

She called Ramon right away...

"Ramon, sorry to call you again, but I noticed the ventilation system in the photo, why don't you run a rope or long stick or cable inside with a pen and paper attached to it securely, pushed it inside the ventilation system. If the miners were still alive they will probably notice it and write a message! Hurry up do it, Ramon!" she exclaimed, her heart was bursting with the horror of not seeing John alive ever again.

Ramon saw the ventilation system, there is no way it was still holding on intact due to the impact of the collapsed roof and wall but there is no harm trying and he doesn't have the heart to crush Catherine's hope either. "Okay, we will do that, Cath! I will call you later for more updates."

Ramon dropped his phone back into her pants pocket. With quick strides, he walked towards Mr. Fajardo's side and informed him of Catherine's suggestion.

Mr. Fajardo was blinking twice. "I personally think it's impossible that the ventilation system wasn't already crushed by the tons of soil collapsing on it, but there is no harm in trying. Let's do it!"

Within ten minutes, two miners were tying a pen and paper securely in the tip of the rusty steel bars and shoved it inside the mouth of the ventilation system, three more workers added another steel bars at the end tying it securely with a rope making a long stick of steel bars. When they run out of rusty steel bars, Mr. Fajardo ordered the people around him to find any stick that could lengthen the steel bars.

...

Inside the collapsed tunnel...

The trapped miners already stopped digging because the more they dig the more the pressure of the soil falling around them. There is simply no empty place to dump the soil they were digging and the more they will advance the more they will be getting away from the removable steel roof above their head which is the only safest place to be right now.

It's a losing battle...

"Okay boys, we will stop the digging!" said John in total defeat, he released a deep sigh. They can't do anything right now but wait for the angel of death to claim them.

They were munching the biscuits with their lifeless eyes and trembling hands.

John, closed his eyes feeling very sleepy, he didn't sleep last night, now the sleepiness is weighing heavily on him. He took a nap.

Then he dreamed of Dahlia, she was wearing a flowing white dress approaching him from the end of the tunnel, she was smiling full of tenderness while looking in his eyes.

"Come with me, John!" she called his name softly.

"W-where?" said John.

"In my resting place, I have been waiting for you for a long time. Now is the time to fetch you and rekindle our love story and we will be united forever. Hold my hand John, follow me!" said Dahlia wearing a sweet smile on her face.

"No. I can't leave Catherine! I still need to marry her and start our own family!" he refused.

Dahlia's face darkened, angered by his refusal to follow and hold her hand, she screamed... "Then you will die today!" she screeched at the top of her lungs shaking the ground beneath John. Soon the whole place was plunged into total darkness as tons of soils and gravel covered their heads and faces.

John screamed in fright. George scrambled on his feet to shake his boss arms to woke him up! John opened his eyes panting in fright. The eyes of the miner's frightened faces were all staring at him. He sat upright and calmed his nerves.

"I'm okay, am just having a bad dream," he tried to calm everyone.

Silence settled around them. Then all of a sudden they heard a rustling sound that came out of nowhere, where are that weird sounds coming from? The miners head were rotating they were trying to find the sound. All eyes settled on the ventilation above their head, that is where the weird sound came from, they stared at one another...

"Come quick! Make a hole, a size of the fist into the ventilation, we need to see what is the noise is all about!" ordered John.

Two miners start carving a hole in the ventilation system, while the rest of them were watching, eyes wide with anticipation. The hole was done and the miner sticks his hand inside the ventilation, he grasped something, a rusty steel bar! Where on earth did it come from?

"A rusty steel bar! And it's moving beneath my hands as if being pushed forward by something!" the miner exclaimed.

A little smiled curled up in the miners' distraught faces...for the first time since they were trapped inside the tunnel, they can now afford a smile!

"It's from the outside!" they spoke in unison, excitement and hope start to grow in their mind.

"Carved the hole a bit wider!" John instructed.

....

At the entrance of the tunnel...

The miner who is in-charge with the rusty steel bar is having a hard time pushing the steel because it hit a wall or something...

"Guys, the steel hit something it won't push forward!" he said.

Ramon jumped into the miners' side and took over. He shakes the rusty steel bar for a few seconds and put it down...then the steel bar shakes on it own as if a sign of a response from the other end. The miners and Mr. Fajardo looked at each other in excitement and happiness!

"They are alive! The miners underneath are alive!" Mr. Fajardo, Ramon and the rest of the miners shouted in jubilation.

The rest of the miners who were digging inside the entrance was filled with renewed hope knowing that their trapped comrades were still alive.

Ramon saw the steel bar being pushed backward...he took the initiative to pull it back until the last steel bar was out, there it is the message from the trapped miners!

He read it right away!

"We are alive! Waiting for the rescue! Everyone is in good health, were shaken but were surviving. We can't do anything around here, the collapsed walls were trapping us, we are under the removable steel roof, we still got foods. See you soon guys! Pray for us!" signed by John.

The silence fell among the workers...

Ramon read the message in a loud voice, a tear fell from his eyes.

Workers around him were silently crying...everyone is moved!

"Okay, boys! Dig as fast as you can! Go! Those who are thirsty and hungry rest for a while, we have plenty of foods and water and coffee here! Then go back again to dig! We won't stop until we rescued them all alive! You hear me, men!?" said Mr. Fajardo.

"Yes Sir!" a loud energetic reply came out from the miners' mouth.