David Golemon - Legend

Jack leaned inside the smaller enclosure after tossing Virginia his XM-8. Then he grabbed the master chief and threw him over his shoulder.

As Carl and Sarah started to run with the others toward the stairs just inside the small archway, a loud crack could be heard. They watched in horror while a long fissure opened at the center of the wall, right through the ancient drawings carved by the Sincaro, effectively cutting the images right in two. The crack widened as it hit the small arch and, in a split second, it collapsed. Large stones from the opening's interior rolled and crashed into the main chamber, making their attempted escape impossible. They all came to a sudden stop when the water slammed into their legs as it breached the top of the canal.

"Jesus Christ, this doesn't look good," Jenks hissed as he and Jack saw what had just happened.

For an exclamation mark to his comment, the grotto erupted, as the floor beneath cracked open and a geyser of lagoon water shot straight up, adding its volume to that of the failed canal opening. The group led by Carl and Sarah backed into Jack, Jenks, and Virginia.

Jack was shocked to see Sarah throw down the two weapons she was carrying and run toward the back wall of the excavated cavern. He saw her start to slide her hands along the wall as if searching for something. The water was hitting Jack's knees and was rising fast.

"You didn't happen to bring scuba gear for everyone did you, Major?" Jenks said upside down from his position slumped over Jack's shoulder.

"Carl, give me that torch!" Sarah called out as the others looked on in utter confusion. Between Sarah's yelling, the unbearable roar of onrushing water, and their imminent death, the students stood frozen is terror.

Carl grabbed one of the wall torches and tossed it to Sarah, who caught it deftly in one hand and then turned back to continue feeling the wall. It had taken her only a moment to realize they only had one hope of escape, and she was praying she wasn't wrong. It had been the memory of her last classroom discussion that had spurred her to action.

Jack felt helpless as he watched, the weight of Jenks across his shoulder growing heavier by the moment. "Robby, you and Kelly and the others get over there and help her do whatever she's doing!" he ordered.

Robby and ten others, including Kelly, ran for the back wall. They only had to wait a moment for Sarah to explain. The water was now at waist level, and Jack had to adjust the position of Jenks as the master chief's head was momentarily dunked under the swirling onslaught.

"A depression, a varying thickness of stone, something that looks out of place on the wall," Sarah shouted to the students over the sound of rushing water.

All ten of Helen Zachary's grad students, now joined by Virginia and Everett, started feeling the wall, working their way around, some even ducking beneath the surface of the swirling rise to feel the stones underneath. Their time was dwindling rapidly. The water was now at Jack's lower chest. The master chief had maneuvered up and was bracing himself by holding onto the neoprene rubber of the major's wetsuit.

"Oh, boy, someone needs to pull something out of their tight ass, or we're going to spend a long time here!" Jenks yelled out to the students.

Jack was following the students' search when his eyes fell on an iron torch. It was lit but that wasn't what caught his attention. It was somewhat larger than the others surrounding the chamber, and it had deep etchings around the base. As his eyes adjusted to its intense light, Jack made out the image of an eagle, or was it a hawk? Clutched in this large bird's talons was the carved image of a man.

"Sarah, the torch!" he called.

Sarah looked up, momentarily confused as she turned toward the torch she was holding next to the wall. Jack, his hands full of the master chief, nodded toward the larger torch on the wall. She located what he was pointing at immediately and went to it. The water was now at Sarah's shoulders, as it was some of the smaller students, as well. She quickly examined the carvings. Without warning, she reached up and pulled down on the iron torch. Nothing.

"Carl, here! Pull down on the torch. I think it's a fulcrum release!"

"A what?" he asked as he waded toward Sarah, quickly followed by Robby.

"Pull, damn it, pull!" Sarah yelled as she hopped to keep her head above the water.

Carl reached up and pulled. Still nothing. Robby added his weight to it and yet the torch didn't budge. Sarah was beginning to think she was wrong when, in a second effort by Robby and Carl, the torch swung down, its lit head dipping into the water with a sizzle. Sarah saw the stone just to the right of the levered torch suddenly slide up about three feet into the wall. She quickly swam over and pulled herself up.

"Carl, there should be a stone handle in the cavity. It only moves one way — pull it!" she said as her head slipped under the water.

He was torn between getting Sarah to the surface and doing what he was told. He reached for the opening in the wall just as water started entering the cavity. He felt around and his fingers hit on a slab that was sticking up. It was about ten inches in height and about six wide, and was made of stone, as Sarah had said.

"What in the hell…?" he said as Sarah came up from behind and held onto his shoulder.

"Pull!"

Carl pulled and the ancient fulcrum release handle moved easily, as if it had been greased only yesterday.

A tremendous rumbling was heard even over the roar of water as a tenby-eight-foot section of wall opened to their left. It was immediately filled with water. Sarah shouted for everyone to enter the new, larger cavity. Carl helped the students inside, while Jack and Virginia struggled with Jenks as they slowly moved toward the wall. As they did, an eruption shattered the flooring as one of the caldera vents, ruptured by the cold water, exploded with a crushing thunder. Another vent farther away popped when the elements of fire and water could no longer tolerate each other.

Jack struggled and finally entered the opening just as Sarah started smashing a small stone to the opening's right side. It was smaller than its surrounding neighbors, and Sarah hoped beyond prayer it was the right one.

Carl was telling the students to brace themselves against the far wall of the twenty-by-twenty-foot dead end they were now trapped in, and to rise with the water, just as Sarah screamed in frustration and stopped using her small hand. She pulled the Beretta Carl had given her.

"Hold your ears!" she shouted as she fired into the stone. The bullet struck and cracked it, and it fell into the swirling water. She dropped the gun and braced herself against the small opening she had created. "Thank God!" she yelled as she reached in. She quickly found the second fulcrum release and said a silent prayer that the Inca were as efficient at their engineering as she had always heard. She pulled the release.

Suddenly to the shock of all inside, they were hurled into blackness as the wall above the door frame slid down with crushing weight. The parting waters of the impact sent a torrent of water rushing at everyone, smashing them against walls and floor. Some, Jack and Jenks included, lost their hold and went under. In a split second, the world became quiet as they came to the surface sputtering and spitting. The waters inside the chamber soon settled and they were all left in the dark.

"Disneyland would love this little ride," Carl said as he helped one of the smaller girls stay afloat.

"Everyone all right?" Jack called out.

There were yes and no answers but the major figured, if they could talk, they were alive.

"The ride's not over, people. Let's hope everything still works, or we just went from drowning to being entombed forever."