neutrally buoyant and hovered with Betty until he felt a current pulling them along.
William turned and followed the current, having a hard time keeping his balance with Betty hanging on behind him. Giant stalagmites lurched out from the murky water, and he pushed off of the limestone pillars as they appeared in his path.
Out of the gloomy darkness, a faint red light materialized. Then it was gone. For a moment, he thought he had imagined it, but there it was again, even brighter as they neared it. The light went out again, and William wondered what could be causing it. When the red light illuminated again, an enormous snake charged at them with menacing eyes, mouth opened wide, about to swallow them whole!
William screamed through his regulator, paddling with his arms to back away from it. But then he relaxed when he realized that he had been startled by an elaborate carving of a serpent’s head at the entrance of the tunnel; the red light beamed out of its mouth. He caught his breath and allowed the current to suck them in through the serpent’s gaping jaws. William felt astounded by the discovery, thinking that it may be a significant archeological find, should they live to tell anyone about it.
Upon passing through the entrance, William had expected to see a rough tunnel, like the cavern dives that are well known in the Yucatan. However, what he saw before him, amidst the occasional blast of light, defied logic. A spherical tunnel, perhaps twenty feet in diameter, continued straight ahead into the darkness, like a gigantic drainage pipe. As the current pulled them forward, William slid his hand along the side of the tunnel, surprised by its metallic texture. He snapped his hand back after sensing a static discharge emanating from it.
The current moved them along without any effort, as though they were on a ride at Disney World. An entire section of the tube just ahead of them lit up with points of light spaced apart, lining the tunnel from top to bottom as far as he could see. Then it went dark again.
On the next interval they entered the brightest portion of the tunnel; it blasted them from all angles, flashing like a strobe light. Their velocity picked up as though they had been caught in a rip current. William strained his eyes to get a look at one of the points of light streaking past him. The objects appeared triangular, with light emanating from their crystalline structure. The light changed from red to orange to yellow. Its brilliance surrounded them until he could see nothing else but the light.
William kept his hands outstretched ahead of himself, fearing he might smash into something at the end of the ride. Several minutes elapsed, and he worried that their air would run out at any moment.
As they sped forward, he wondered how such a tunnel could be there in that remote part of the world. The lights flickered faster and faster, until an intense white flash forced William to shield his eyes from the glare.
Their speed slowed with the suddenness of a fighter jet landing on an aircraft carrier. The brightness faded, and William opened his eyes. He let loose a muffled cheer, thrilled to see the sun gleaming through the silky blue of the surface above. They had escaped! As they ascended, William glanced back and noticed the same carving as before-a hideous face of a snake, with a pulsing red light beaming out of its mouth.
William shot a few bursts of air into his vest as they broke through the surface. He spit his regulator out and took in a deep breath. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
Betty still clung to William; her eyes were closed tight, and she continued to breathe from her regulator. William shook her to get her attention. “Betty, it’s okay.”
She opened her large green eyes, and a smile spread across her face from ear to ear when she realized that they were free. “You did it!” she said, hugging him tight to her wet body.
William laughed. “Yep, we made it, Betty. We’re back. We’re…” He scanned the dense jungle all around them, “…in another lake… in the middle of freaking nowhere.”
“But we’re out! Thank God!” Betty said, cheering to the sky.
William surveyed the landscape surrounding the lake, trying to determine the best exit point. “Over there,” he said, pointing to a rocky ledge protruding from the jungle. It looked like a boat ramp, the way it angled down into the water.
Betty’s expression changed from excitement to terror. “William!” She pointed over his shoulder.
William looked back and spotted three giant dark forms fast approaching on the surface of the cenote. “Alligators!” he said.
“Actually,” Betty said, back-peddling away, “they’re crocodiles.”
“Yeah? Well, actually, they’re coming this way!”
Betty swam as though she was trying out for the Olympic swim team and out-distanced William; he was slowed by the heavy equipment on his back.
The crocodiles closed the gap on William. As he sensed the collective wave of their approach, he managed to unbuckle and free himself of the scuba gear. He took a quick breath and dove under water to swim at a faster pace. A moment later, he surfaced right near the edge of the cenote, popped out, and scrambled up the ledge beside Betty.
Betty let loose a big sigh. “Oh, for heaven sakes, William, I thought they had you!” she said, gesturing to the crocodiles.
William looked back to the water and watched his equipment being ripped to shreds. A froth of bubbles blasted out from the tank through the severed tubes. “My scuba gear!” He groaned, while pulling his mask beneath his chin, remembering another detail. “Oh, crap,” he muttered.
“What?”
“The scuba tank was a rental. Now I’ll have to pay for that old tank too. My mom’s gonna be so pissed.” He ripped off his fins, glaring at the giant reptiles. “Still hungry? Here’s your damn dessert!” He threw his fins at them. The crocodiles pulled his equipment out of site beneath the surface.
“I’d say you got your money’s worth for the gear,” Betty said. “It saved our lives after all. Hey, I’ll pay you back for all that. It’s the least I can do.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “At least I won’t have to lug all that equipment back to the restaurant with us now.”
They climbed further up the rocks, a safe distance away from the unfriendly inhabitants of the cenote. William plopped down, still annoyed about losing all his gear. He removed his mask and glowered at it. “My mom doesn’t want me to dive anymore. She’s probably right… just gets me into trouble.” He tossed the mask over his shoulder into a nearby bush, thinking that he might give up scuba diving altogether.
Betty sat beside him with an odd stare. “Why did you have a rental tank if you weren’t supposed to be diving?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
William regarded Betty with a sneaky smile. “Yeah, about that… there’s not much else to do around here. I didn’t want to follow that particular rule.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. I’d still be down in that bonefilled crap hole!” Betty said.
William laughed at her remark and shook his head in disbelief. He picked up a small rock beside him and flung it into the cenote. While watching the ripples expand, he contemplated the impact of his choices in life, relieved that at least
“Yeah, and topped off by those God damn gators, no less,” she said.
“You mean crocodiles?” he asked with a wink, and they were both in hysterics, bending over with tears running down their faces. This went on for the next several minutes until they regained their composure.
After a long silence, Betty looked over at William with a thoughtful smile. “Why did you do it, Will? Why the heck did you come after me?”
He shrugged. “I don’t have a clue. I just felt… compelled to.”
“Well, it was a crazy thing to do,” she said in a scolding tone. “But I thank you, Sir.”
A warm breeze drifted by, causing the leaves in the palm trees above them to flutter, flashing the sunlight around them. It reminded William of the unusual tunnel. “What do you suppose those lights were down there?” he asked.
“Yeah, what was that?” she asked. “I had my eyes shut-thought it was a flashlight dangling by my face.”
“Oh… so I guess you didn’t see the giant snake carvings either?” he asked.
Betty just stared at him, scratching her head.
“This is an odd discovery, Betty… like X-Files odd.”
“Oh yeah, that’s a good show,” she said. William could see that she still didn’t know what he was referring
