Excavation, Excavation part 2

                                                        Excavation, Excavation

                                                                    Part 2

Marina's  head was sweating as she wiggled her leg frantically, watching her foot barely even shift within the gap as the ceiling crumbled above her.

"Of all the times for one of my feet to get stuck, why like this and now? UGN!" she groaned as she struggled to move, but her leg refused to move as some small rocks began to fall the ceiling was so close to falling apart.

"Come on…" she groaned as she attempted flexing her toes a little, and while she could move them a little it didn't change much as her foot was still flat within the switch track, but she continued to struggle frantically to get out before she was crushed. With not many other options left as she continued to struggle, she was gonna attempt to force her leg out with a hard dash forward, but then she felt her foot slide up a little, quickly looking down she attempted to raise her heel up before the rest of her foot, and her heel raised out of the track, bend the foot a little before it popped out of the gap.

Not wasting another second she dashed forward and took a long dive and hit the ground far away from where the ceiling was gonna fall. Meanwhile as June watched around, she heard a slight boom sound, and saw some slight dust being kicked up a little in the city.

"Marina!" she exclaimed before reaching for her walkie-talkie and tried to call her.

"Marina, are you alright? Marina!" she called. Dust surrounded Marina as she covered her head as she lay on the ground, and could soon hear June's voice repeating her name and asking if she could hear her. Marina soon propped herself up on her hands and coughed a little and looked back, seeing the exit out was fully blocked, then proceeded to pull out the walkie-talkie and answer it.

"I'm fine June, just barely avoided being crushed by a tunnel cave in," she replied as she turned herself over, sitting on her butt.

"A tunnel caved in? How'd that happen?" June asked.

"The workers were apparently working with a type of acid to work on the digging, make it go faster. Sadly since they left in such a hurry, they apparently left most, if not all the acid barrels, a lot of them leaked very recently and caused a support pillar to fall apart. I was lucky enough to move out of the way," Marina replied.

"An acid?" June asked.

"Yeah, and it stinks to high heaven, I don't think it's too life threatening apparently, if all it really does is weaken things," Marina commented as she got to her feet and proceeded to take out her flashlight from her belt which was thankfully still on and proceeded to walk down the tunnel.

"Well, I heard the sound and saw some dust kick up when it happened, so I'm glad you weren't hurt," June stated.

"How loud?" Marina asked as she walked down the tunnel, steering clear of the tracks as she walked.

"Barely heard it really, and I don't see any other activity," June replied.

"Good, then that means the robbers probably aren't gonna come running to the scene. However though I'll be a bit off track currently, the entrance being blocked and all I have to walk through the tunnel to get back to the surface," Marina stated.

"Ok, but watch out for the acid," June said.

"I can smell it a ways off now, so I should be fine," Marina replied as she continued to walk down the tunnels. She walked along for several minutes through the dark tunnels, moving the light around in a sort of circle pattern, going from the ceiling, to the right wall, the floor, the floor, the left wall, and then back to the ceiling. Thankfully things seemed alright, nothing looked like it was gonna fall apart, but Marina trembled a little from it being so dark down there, and none of the lights were on. However she soon spotted a breaker on a nearby wall to the left. Walking over to it she gripped the handle and tried turning it into the on position.

It was a little stuck but it soon moved into the on position and some lights came on, although some were very dim while some just simply shortened out, it made the area brighten up a little.

"That's a bit better. Now I'm not walking in total darkness," she commented as she continued walking through the tunnel, feeling much better. After a bit more walking she came across a ladder going straight up into some darkness, but shinning her light up it she saw a trapdoor.

"This probably leads on up, hope it isn't locked," she commented as she started climbing the ladder, and it held her weight as she slowly reached the top. She gave the door a slight shove and it tilted, and the back end behind her slipped free and fell down past her with a whoosh that made her cringe, followed by the sound of wood breaking from the impact. Glancing down she saw it was broken into little pieces.

"Whew, that was a bit close," she commented. Climbing up a little further she saw she was in a small room, which was empty except for a partially open door. Fully climbing out of the hole she opened the door further and looked out, finding herself in an alley. Glancing left and right quickly she realized the alleys were setup like a maze almost, long paths that were narrow and nothing but tall buildings. She pulled out her walkie-talkie again.

"Hey June," she whispered, trying not to spook her or alert anyone nearby possibly.

"What is it Marina? Find a goon hiding somewhere?" June asked, mimicking Marina's whisper.

"No, but I'm back on street level, but problem is, I'm in an alley maze. I dunno if you can, but see if you can spot me," Marina replied, and proceeded to hold her flashlight up high and waved it back and forth for a few minutes, giving June a good chance to look.

"Nope, sorry, I can't see you. You must really be in there pretty far. You were silent for a good while," June replied.

"I was afraid of that, now I have no idea how to get back really, let alone find the necklace from here," Marina stated.

"Should I call the police then?" June asked.

"Don't worry about that yet. I should be able to find my way out, just that now I'm not sure if I can find the necklace. I might have to come back tomorrow for that, or sleep around here until sunrise," Marina commented.

"Sunrise? You want me to stay cooped up in this tree all night??!?!" June asked in utter shock.

"I said might, it's a form of maybe or probably, it doesn't mean I will," Marina replied.

"Why do people keep thinking might or probably means "I will"? It's kinda ridiculous," she then stated.

"Sorry about that," June said.

"I'll contact if when I need to then June, just try and calm down a little," Marina stated before proceeding onward. She picked a direction and hoped for the rest, roaming through the alleys and tried to find her way back into the streets and find her way outta town, it wasn't like any other time she had gotten lost and could find her way and get back on track, this was an entire town she was lost in. The minutes drug on as a certain smell began to fill her nose again.

"That awful stink again…" she stated as she waved her hand in front of her nose before gripping it and shinned her light around the ground, eventually spotting some barrels stacked on either side of the alley along with some broken boxes. As she got closer she saw the barrels were broken like some of the others, some even just had small openings, but only small amounts of acid were near them, miniscule puddles, almost as if they'd been drying up.

"Hmmm, not nearly as much of a mess as the area below, and it didn't seem to do anything to the area, no cracks or anything," Marina commented as she continued walking along between the piles, still noting to steer clear of them but then her flight began to flicker a little.

"Oh great, a flashlight with perfect good batteries and light bulb, but because of the tunnel incident it now has a damaged connecter or something," she complained a little as she stopped in her tracks and smacked the flashlight a little, the light dimming, going on and off till it eventually got really bright again and stayed that way.

"There we go," she commented before she noticed she was shinning it partially on a label of a barrel, it looked like a warning label.

"Wonder if the smell is deadly…" she commented as she shinned the light on it fully.

"Hmmmm, caution, keep acid away from skin, no duh, and be careful if it leaks onto floor, it may weaken structures or soften…" she trailed off as she felt a sinking sensation and heard a very strange sound before she felt solid ground beneath her feet again, which made her look down in surprise and she appeared to be standing in wet cement, at ankle depth.

"Well this is a slight twist, I guess the acid managed to somewhat soften the concrete back into a form of wet cement," she commented before she tried to press onward, but'd she feel resistance as she'd hear a gooey stretchy sound along with pulling on her feet that kept her from moving from that spot.

"What the?" she quickly looked down and tried to lift her feet up again, alternating a little and she'd see the cement stretch with her foot, clinging to it as it covered it fully, and held her like glue.

"Uh oh…" she gulped as she carefully put her flashlight into the belt, making sure not to drop it, and gripped her thigh, grunting a little as she tried to pull her leg out, but couldn't pull it free of it's gooey grip, stretching as far as she could pull her leg up, her foot couldn't even fully clear the cement's surface even.

"Ohhh I've really stepped into it this time…" she said in a worried tone as she grabbed her other leg, this time at the shin and tugged a few times, but her leg would tremble against the gooey when it would pull taught. She let go as she stood upright, looking at her position as she panted a little, some nervous swear running down her face.

"My feet are trapped like glue…and cement is never been adhesive, ever. Unless…" she paused as she looked at the barrel.

"The acid, it softens up concrete and steal, allowing for faster digging, and probably can shoveled around without much trouble initially, but this has been sitting, and…" she looked down at her trapped feet again, her thighs rubbing nervously together.

"…it turned this cement into a sticky gooey mush…" she said, getting a bit scared, noticing her leg was flickering again and soon went out. She then looked back, still seeing barrels behind her that had leaked.

"And with me walking this far out into it, my bare feet will probably get stuck too if I try and take my boots off," she stated. Prepping herself a little she quickly tried to power her way on through but her feet barely moved any further, the cement squishing and squelching as she groaned in grunted in desperation to get out, but her feet kept getting set back where they initially stood. She let out a sigh as she stopped struggling, realizing how futile her attempts were, looking back down at her trapped feet, and being in the dark made her nervous, her thighs slowly coming together and rubbing nervously.

"And people think getting their shoes or boots, depending on the type getting stuck in mud is bad, and I'll bet it is when your zipper is stuck or have like a million laces, but I think I can honestly call this worse," she commented as she trembled a little, she really hated not being able to move in the dark.

"Think Marina…think….how can I get out of this?" she asked herself as she tried to think of solutions.

"Calling June is out, because she probably can't find me, and even if she did she'd probably end up stuck in this stuff too…so what can I do?" she asked as she looked at her surroundings, which was just two walls on either side of her.

"Nothing much to the sides except useless junk, not even a sturdy piece of wood to try and pole volt my way out," she commented, working on ideas, and she glanced up a little higher at the walls, and the wall to her left had an opening above her.

"A ledge I can pull myself up onto! That'll give me more oomph to get out, hopefully enough to get my feet free of the this muck," she stated as she reached for it, her hand falling a tad short.

"Uggn….nnnnngggg! Ggguuuh!" she groaned as she stretched her arm, hand, legs and flexed her waved her fingers to try and extend her reach, but she couldn't even touch it with her fingernail, which was just missing by a few hairs.

"Ohhh come on…" she grunted as she tried to stand on her toes, but her feet barely moved, although she was gaining some height, but not enough to grip the ledge fully as only the tips of a few fingers touched it.

"Not high enough…just one last shot," she said as she hunkered down a little, taking a small breath before attempting to leap up, stretching both arms out and her fingers gripped the ledge, which made her smile but then yelp in horror as her fingers almost slipped from a faint tugging on her feet, as the goo almost pulled her back down but she gripped tighter, stopping herself, panting rapidly as her heart raced from almost falling down, potentially face first into the cement and drowning.

"That was a close call, if I fell, that probably would have been it," she said in a slightly higher tone she was still getting over the experience, soon swallowing as she looked down at her coat below the belt, a nervous, and somewhat embarrassed look on her face.

"I think I almost let myself go within those few seconds of panic," she commented to herself, and looked up as she started pulling, her legs trembling as she tried to hoist herself up and over, her feet would come out a bit more than before, but the goo stretched a fair bit, clinging to the sides and bottoms of her feet.

"Man…I'm more stuck than I thought…." she said, pulling herself up a tad more, and spotted a floor ledge in front of her, and it looked pretty sturdy.

"Just he extra step I…..need…" she said as she reached for it, managing to grip it with one hand and pulled herself up a little more, letting out a long groan, squinting her eyes shut for a few seconds before suddenly *Spluck* her feet came free of most of the gooey cement, making her sign as she pulled herself up faster as the goo came off of her feet, dripping a little as her feet dangled as she pulled herself up more and more until her waist was on the floor, the remaining goo falling off her thus she was fully free.

"Oh thank gosh I'm out…I was afraid I'd be stuck there forever…or until the police and fire department somehow found me and got me out with axes and hammers as the cement would have hardened by that time," she commented as she climbed up onto her feet and looked around, she appeared to be in an office building.

"Hmmm, before I proceed any further I think I best go have a bathroom break," she told herself before she hurried off. Meanwhile a few minutes later June was still sitting in the tree, watching and listening for activity, before suddenly she heard something different finally other than just birds, crickets or something quickly moving along the ground, it sounded like a motor. Quickly grabbing her binoculars she looked with them in the direction of the sound which was coming from her right, and saw some lights getting closer and brighter. It was moving slowly but it was obviously headed for the town.

"Marina!" June called after quickly raising the walkie-talkie to her ear.

"Marina come in!" she added before Marina finally answered.

"What's going on June?" she asked.

"I see a car headed for the town! Coming from…" she paused as she pulled out the compass and looked at it and looked at the direction they were coming from.

"From the North side," she finished.

"And I…oh shoot, I didn't look at my compass when I entered!" Marina said.

"I saw which side you entered. It was the North side," June stated.

"And I traveled underground for a bit, so I'm not sure which part of town I'm in. Hmmm, wait, I think I have an idea. I had to use the bathroom for a little bit, and I'm in an office building, and they're pretty tall. Maybe I can see them. Don't lose track of em, or at least follow them as long as possible," Marina replied.

"Ok, just don't do anything crazy, but why do you think they came back?" June asked.

"My guess is they maybe double checking where the hid it. If that's the case they maybe moving it. This city is a good place to stash something, but I'd want to pick a location I'd remember," Marina replied as she went to a window and watched to the North a bit. June watched them as they climbed out of the car once they parked right outside the city this time and they walked back into it. June watched them for the longest time as best as she could before they eventually went to where the buildings were too all for see over.

"I'm sorry Marina, I lost track of em," June replied.

"Don't fret yet, I can see a fair bit into the city from where I'm at. Now we just have to wait a little," Marina stated.

"Well, I'm looking around here roughly where they may possibly go but I doubt they'll enter back into my sight," June said after a few minutes went by.

"Well you'd have saw them going back to the car most likely. Wait…" Marina said, and June went silent for a bit, Marina pressed her hand a bit against the window as she squinted a bit as she looked as close as she could to the glass without hitting her nose or forehead against it, and she saw some guys, and they got closer, and while she couldn't see it fully exactly, she could tell one of them was holding his arms like he was carrying something.

"I see them, I think they maybe hiding it further in and in a better location for them to remember," Marina said, watching them carefully, June remained quiet as she didn't want to distract her, and Marina saw them go into a building, she moved over a little and was a bit surprised the place they picked.

"A jewelry store? Huh, typical, although clever at the same time," Marina said.

"How so?" June asked.

"Well, it's almost like hiding something right out in the open for everyone to see, but it's also easy to remember," Marina replied.

"And they wouldn't expect it be hidden out in the open," June commented.

"Well, they're heading out now. Let me know once they've driven away and wait at least a good couple of minutes, like thirty before you call me," Marina said.

"Huh? Why?" June asked.

"So I don't attract attention by accident. Once I get the Necklace I want to know the best way back out of the city. If there is still some power here I might be able to signal you with flashing the lights on and off in this office. And I don't want to risk them seeing it," Marina replied.

"Alright. I'll do that. Luckily I have my watch, so I'll set it once I see them go," June said.

"Good. Now I'll just wait here then," Marina replied, she watched them go off and continued to watch, just making sure none of them doubled back or anything but they all left. She then waited and waited, while also recovering a bit of her strength as the time went by. She noticed just how dark out it was.

"I've done stuff close to dark, but never this dark," she commented. Still, she waited as the time went by, and June soon called around the thirty minute mark.

"Ok, it's been thirty minutes and I haven't seen anymore activity. It should be safe to try and signal me," she said.

"Alright. Here it goes. By the way, which side of the city are you facing?" Marina asked. There was a pause for a few seconds.

"I'm at the East side," June replied.

"Then I'll turn on the lights on the East part of the building," Marina said before getting off. June watched for a bit, and soon just barely spotted close to the top set of windows turning on and off.

"I can see you. Ok, let me check something…" June paused as she looked at the area roughly across from the building.

"Ok, can you see a construction site from where you are?" she asked, and Marina looked and could see it in the distance.

"Yeah I can, and it's close to the edge of town too. You want to meet up there?" Marina asked.

"Only if you need me to. I'll keep an eye out just in case," June replied.

"Smart girl," Marina commented before putting the walkie-talkie away and went to leave the office building after turning off the lights. She eventually reached the store she saw them go into, and looked around for a bit before spotting a small box on the counter. Going over to it she carefully removed the lid, and there it was, the necklace she was looking for.

"Jackpot," she stated with a smile before putting the lid back on and slipped the box under her coat for safe keeping, it was pretty small so it didn't affect her much. She walked through the dark town heading towards the East, going for the construction site.

"Man do I wish my flashlight didn't conk out, I hate stumbling around in DARK!" Marina yelped when her toe hit a chunk of broken sidewalk and made her stumble but managed to keep herself form falling.

"Whew," she sighed as she tried to walk along further. Eventually she reached her destination. Not seeing anything wrong with going through it, as she certainly didn't smell that acid, she walked through the open fence and walked along, and could see the exit on the other side. She smiled as she continued walking onward, making her way through the construction site without hindrance. A few minutes later June came out to meet her, and Marina showed her the necklace, proving a job well done.

"Well, I've got the necklace. Only thing I wasn't able to do was catch the crooks," she said.

"Oh we might be able to. While they were in the city I did come over and copy down their license plate number," June stated, to which Marina patted her on the shoulder.

"Not a bad sleuthing job June. Let's go back home and report this," Marina stated, to which June happily agreed. The next morning Marina was wearing a white t-shirt and blue shorts as she read the morning paper with a happy smile, the main article containing on how she and June had found the necklace and managed to catch the crooks as the police tracked down the license number and the car in the same night and caught them as they left a fast food place, and matched the mud on their shoes and car to the mud outside the city where she found the necklace.

"Not a bad case. But why I do feel like something's missing?" she asked herself, before she remembered the box that June gave her yesterday morning. Heading back to the table she had put it on, she opened it up and began looking through the papers and articles, her eyes gradually growing wider, and if not getting an eager expression.

"Hmmmm, these people might not be a bad bunch to check out," she stated, a smirk on her face, but that's a story for another time.



                                                  Next possible case: Egyptian Conspiracy