Free Hotel Megalodon: A Deep Sea Thriller by Rick Chesler Page B

headed toward it. She looked down and ahead at the reef as she went, and found herself questioning something. What was different? By now she’d logged hundreds of hours on this reef. She knew it like her own backyard in Hawaii, and right now something didn’t seem quite the same. It hit her as she glided past a large coral head, one that usually teemed with activity.
    The fish! Where were they? That was it. The entire reef was just so... still . Not normal at all. But there was no time to dwell on ecological matters. This was a safety dive. Potentially even a rescue dive, she reminded herself.
    She neared the train tunnel not far from the hotel. She knew the tram was farther up, about halfway to shore. The structure was suspended a few feet up from the ocean floor—more so the farther it got away from the hotel as it angled up toward the island—and she had a choice to make: swim over or under the tunnel. She took the high road, looking down into the tram tunnel as she passed over. No tram.
    She kicked along over the top of the tunnel as it angled up toward the beach. As she neared the middle of the tunnel, problems became apparent. Water pooled on the tunnel floor. A few of the light fixtures had shattered. They weren’t needed in the daytime, but the tram was designed to run 24/7. How had that happened? she wondered, looking for the tram up ahead. Did the tram hit the walls, and shake them loose? She was definitely no expert in how the tunnel system was constructed, but it seemed unlikely.
    A few fin strokes later, and the tram came into view. A sharp hiss came from her regulator mouthpiece as she sucked in her breath at the sight of it. From Kamal’s description, she’d been expecting that the cable attached to the tram’s flywheel system that pulled it along had separated from it, leaving the tramcar sitting there waiting for someone to reattach it.
    That was far from the sight with which she was greeted.
    The entire tram lay on its side. A significant crack raced along the top of the tunnel, and ran down along the side. Water dripped steadily into the tunnel. Coco had to swim away from the crack to get a clear view of the tram, and when she did, it was not a pleasant one.
    She could see now that at least a couple of passengers had been pinned beneath the tram when it overturned, their arms crushed beneath them. Water sprayed into the tunnel from the crack, making it difficult to see clearly, but it looked as though a few of the passengers were rendering aid to those injured. She could see one woman, arm held beneath the tram, a puddle of blood seeping out from under it, shrieking at the top of her lungs while two men held her closely. To Coco the woman’s screams were oddly silent. She could only watch, not hear. A couple of those in the tunnel saw her, and they pointed.
     
    #
    In the tram tunnel, Stanley and Priscilla Doherty looked into each other’s eyes, Stanley from a kneeling position on the acrylic floor, and Priscilla from inside the overturned tram with one arm crushed beneath the vehicle. Her face was very pale, and her eyes were open, but her breathing was shallow. Around them was chaos as their fellow passengers struggled up from their tram seats in a daze.
    “Priscilla, stay with me, dear. Don’t fall asleep. I want you to try to slide your arm out from under the tram when I lift up on it, okay? Can you do that?”
    Just then a passenger from the row of seats behind them fell from the left side of the seat—the side of the tram that was in the air—and landed on the inside of the tram next to Stanley, adding to the pressure on his wife’s arm.
    “Watch it, asshole!” Stanley shoved the guy off the tram, and he went sprawling on the slick tunnel floor. The man got to his feet and lumbered at Stanley, saying nothing, but his intent was clear on his rage-addled face.
    “My wife is trapped here!” Stanley tried appealing to the person’s sense of mercy, but it apparently mattered little if at