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Hell Holes: What Lurks Below

Author: Donald Firesmith is the prize-winning author of speculative fiction including The Secrets of Hawthorne House (teen paranormal urban fantasy), the Hell Holes series (alien invasion science fiction), and Magical Wands: A Cornucopia of Wand Lore (fantasy). Named a Distinguished Engineer by the Association of Computing Machinery, he is also the author of 7 technical books in system and software engineering. In his spare time, he crafts one-of-a-kind jeweled magic wands. It’s August in Alaska, and geology professor Jack Oswald prepares for the new school year. But when hundreds of huge holes mysteriously appear overnight in the frozen tundra north of the Arctic Circle, Jack receives an unexpected phone call. An oil company exec hires Jack to investigate, and he picks his climatologist wife and two of their graduate students as his team. Uncharacteristically, Jack also lets Aileen O’Shannon, a bewitchingly beautiful young photojournalist, talk him into coming along as their photographer. When they arrive in the remote oil town of Deadhorse, the exec and a biologist to protect them from wild animals join the team. Their task: to assess the risk of more holes opening under the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the wells and pipelines that feed it. But they discover a far worse danger lurks below. When it emerges, it threatens to shatter Jack’s unshakable faith in science. And destroy us all…

Donald Firesmith · SF
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14 Chs

Chapter 13: Evacuation to Eielson

I could hardly believe it. The fighting had ended, and somehow, we were still alive. Unlike at Coldfoot, this time the Army had come with sufficient force to seriously kick some demon butt. Simultaneously surprised, relieved, and overjoyed, I couldn't remember ever feeling so intensely alive.

But I instantly forgot the battle when my husband grabbed me in his arms and hugged me so tight I could barely breathe. "Tell me you're okay!" he pleaded. His voice was shaky with fear and a desperate need to know that I'd somehow escaped injury. "Did any of the brimstone splatter on you?" Before I could answer, he took a step backwards so he could hold me at arm's length. He spun me around and looked me over from my shoulders to my shoes searching for any sign of harm.