"Nearly everyone on Pine Valley's A List crowded into Holidays to celebrate the restaurant's grand re-opening as well as Independence Day. As they laughed and smiled, they were unaware of the danger that was brewing only a few feet below. Albert took time from his work to talk to the Dillon family. Everyone looked forward to the fireworks. Janet, unaware at how eerie her statement would soon be, remarked that they did "not need to go outside the see the fireworks." She pointed towards the window and explained that they should be able to see the fireworks display from Holidays' large front window. Amanda asked Albert if she could take one of the red, white, and blue floral arrangements home with her. She explained that the arrangement would be special since it would always remind her of her first Fourth of July as a family. Across the room, Liza took one look at David and let out a sigh. "I thought it was a little hot in here," Liza said snidely, "but I had no idea that the jaws of Hell had opened." David couldn't help but smile slightly at Liza's sharp tongue. Stuart walked towards Liza unaware that David was back in town. When Stuart's eyes met with David's, he stopped dead in his tracks. Now, it was David's turn to flash a bit of sardonic wit. "Stuart!" he said. "I didn't recognize you without your brother's pajamas." Stuart warned David that he'd better leave before Adam shows up. If he didn't, Stuart feared that Adam would "explode." Outside, Camille was just about to put her hand on the brass doorknob when she was grabbed from behind. Adam told Camille that he would not let her harm his family. Camille struggled to get away, but she couldn't overpower Adam. She pleaded with Adam to let her go and explained that she was trying to save his family, not hurt them. Camille mustered up all of her strength and with one push, she managed to get away from Adam. Adam lunged at her and grabbed her by her waist. He then pulled Camille away from the door and back into the street. Camille called out for help but it only aggravated Adam more. He placed his hand over her mouth to prevent further outbursts. Jack arrived on the scene and immediately ordered Adam to let go of Camille. Once again Camille managed to escape Adam's grasp and dashed into Holidays. Camille was still out of breath from her long trek from Willow Lake to Pine Valley and wrestling with Adam only added to her exhaustion. In the loudest voice available to her, she pleaded with the partygoers to evacuate the building. At first, no one could hear her over the chatter and laughter. Tad noticed Camille and slowly walked towards her. He asked her what was going and was surprised by her response. Camille begged Tad to get everyone out of Holidays. She explained that there was going to be an explosion. By now, Adam had caught up to her and warned Tad not to believe anything that Camille said. He figured that Camille was laying another trap for them. Edmund overheard the ruckus and asked Adam to consider the possibility that Camille was telling the truth. Kevin, Kelsey, and Albert decided that it was better to be safe than sorry and began making the rounds to ask everyone to step outside while they checked a possible machinery problem. Camille asked Tad to point her to the basement. When he did, Camille dashed off, making only a passing reference to her father. Jack and Adam followed after her, but Camille had locked the basement door, presumably to prevent anyone else from entering the danger zone. Adam remained convinced that Camille was up to no good and ordered Jack to pick the lock or to break the door down. Back out in the main dining area, Trevor took Camille's warning seriously and rounded up his family. Tim led the way with Janet and Trevor right behind him. Amanda pulled up the rear until she realized that she'd left her flowers behind. Unbeknownst to her parents, Amanda turned around and headed back inside the restaurant. Amanda couldn't remember where she'd left her flowers and went further and further inside. Palmer felt that Adam was overreacting and opted to remain at the bar for another drink. Opal wanted to leave, but she remained by her husband's side.
In the basement, Camille picked up a wrench and desperately tried to determine which valve she needed to open in order to prevent the boiler from exploding. Camille's technical expertise in the magical troupe had earned her a great deal of respect, but levitating a woman was a lot different from trying to work magic on an old boiler.
Upstairs, the patrons who, for one reason or another, had not yet left Holidays began to feel a slight shaking. The intensity slowly grew until the floor wobbled noticeably. One of the male patrons struggled to keep his balance as he headed for the door. As he made his way up the steps, the man fell flat on his face. Tad hurried over to the man and helped him back to his feet. A loud creaking sounded and bits and pieces of wood started to rain down on Tad, Without warning, a huge section of the ceiling gave way. Edmund leapt across the room and pushed Tad out of the way before he was crushed under the weight of the debris. The most accessible exit, the front door, was now blocked by the fallen ceiling. People scurried left and right searching for another way out of the restaurant. Adrian rushed to Palmer and Opal's side and escorted them to the kitchen. He pointed to a back door and urged them to get outside as fast as they could. Adrian turned around and headed back inside the restaurant to help Belinda. Adam could hear the commotion coming from the other room. Instantly he realized what was going on. "Liza," he gasped. Stuart and Marian were unsure what to do. They knew that they were in danger, but they didn't know how to escape that danger. Stuart lifted a tablecloth off of a nearby table and urged Marian to hide underneath the table. He joined her and they prepared to ride out the storm. At eight, Amanda didn't yet have the honed skills to know what to do in an emergency. She jumped onto the sofa and covered her face with her hands.
Outside, Janet and Trevor realized that Amanda wasn't with them. Trevor searched the perimeter for signs of his daughter, but she was nowhere to be found. Trevor rushed towards the front door. A police officer blocked his path and ordered Trevor to step away from the building. Trevor yelled that his daughter was inside and demanded to rescue her. The two men struggled, but Trevor eventually came out on top. Trevor was able to take one step through the front door before realizing that he couldn't get inside. He called out to Amanda. Suddenly, a loud sizzling noise gave way to a brilliant burst of white light. Trevor was thrown backwards, through the doors, and onto the street. Ryan looked across the room and his face froze. The large mantel and display case behind the bar was teetering over. Gillian looked over her shoulder and realized that the massive piece of woodwork was about to come crashing down on top of her. She crouched down and tried to escape, but bottles of liquor came crashing down on her body. She fell to the ground as the mantel fell atop her. Jack had gained access to the basement and was searching for Camille. A section of the floor gave way above him and fell on top of him. Jack managed to get his head out of the way, but his legs and mid-region did not escape the shower of debris. Marian and Stuart's hiding place did prevent them from getting hit by any falling objects. In the blink of an eye, the floor gave way beneath them and the pair free fell through the floor and into the basement. The rumbling had stopped and the magnitude of the explosion was revealed for the first time. In the basement, Jack remained half-buried under pieces of wood. Marian and Stuart lied sprawled on the floor. Neither made any movement. Upstairs, Adrian, Belinda, Scott, Edmund, and Tad all laid under some sort of wreckage, be it broken chairs and tables or pieces of the ceiling and roof. Covered in dirt and soot, Amanda laid motionless on the sofa, a small American flag clutched in her tiny hands. Palmer and Opal never made it to the back door. Both were buried under serving carts. Palmer appeared to be seriously hurt. Blood streamed from a gash on his forehead.
Hayley wondered what her husband's next irrational action would be. Perhaps barring her from crossing the street. Mateo explained that if he knew it would protect her, he'd issue the order in a second. Hayley's voice grew soft. She told her husband that she loved him with "all [her] heart and soul," but warned him that his overprotectiveness was ruining their marriage. Mateo argued that he was not destroying anything. Three nearly fatal accidents had plagued their loved ones. Wanting to protect his wife didn't seem like an unnatural reaction to Mateo. Hayley wondered why Mateo was only hell-bent on protecting her. If he was afraid that Camille might try to attack her loved ones again, why wasn't he trying to protect Scott and Stuart? "I've only seen you in danger," Mateo replied. Hayley's brow wrinkled. She cocked her head to one side and asked her husband to explain what he meant. Before Mateo could decide whether he was going to tell the truth or once again dodge the issue, one of the housekeepers burst into the room and announced that there'd been an explosion downtown. When she gave the approximate location, Hayley realized that the explosion was near Holidays. Mateo ordered Hayley to stay put, but Hayley knew that everyone she cared about was at Holidays. She rushed out the door leaving Mateo behind. Mateo sighed deeply and headed after her.
Allie told Jake that she might have overreacted to the news that he wanted to help Liza conceive a child, but she explained that it was only natural for her to be uneasy with his decision to start "seeding the universe." Jake chalked up their argument to a lack of communication. Allie agreed. She told Jake that he had never given her the chance to voice her concern about his decision. Jake wondered why his fiancée had opted confront Liza rather than talking to him. Allie explained that she thought that Jake might be disappointed by her if she went to him to express her displeasure. Allie told Jake that she couldn't lose him because his love was the only thing she had going for him. Allie's comments became somewhat scary. She made references that she couldn't life without him, but whereas one might say that to show a level of commitment, Allie seemed more obsessed than deeply in love. Jake's pager started to beep. He phoned the hospital and learned that he needed to report to work immediately because of an explosion that had rocked the downtown area. Jake rushed out the door. Myrtle returned home a short time later and was relieved to see that Allie was okay. She told Allie that the explosion had taken place near Holidays. Allie raced towards the door and dashed off into the night.
Tad was the first to show signs of life. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around the room. Tad wasn't seriously injured and was able to clear the debris from his body. He stood up and carefully walked a few feet to where Edmund laid motionless. Tad checked for a pulse and was relieved when Edmund stirred a few seconds later. He helped Edmund get to his feet. Both looked around for other signs of life. There were none. A faint voice cried out for help. Ryan recognized the voice as Gillian's and crawled across the floor to be with his wife. Gillian was pinned between the wall and the bar and to the ground by a piece of the mantel. Unscathed in the explosion, Adrian hurried to Belinda and helped remove a table that had pinned her to the ground. Belinda claimed to be okay except for a tremendous pain in her shoulder. Adrian asked her if she could feel her feet and toes. Belinda's lips puckered as she asked Adrian, "do you wanna dance or what?" Adrian smiled slightly before hoisting Belinda into the air and carrying her to the safety of the street. Adam also appeared to have escaped serious injury. He moved across the room and tried to rouse Liza from unconsciousness. David saw Adam kneeling over Liza and decided to step in with medical aid. Adam took one look at David and demanded to know what he was doing back in town. David asked Adam to put aside their differences until after they'll gotten Liza out of danger. Again there was a loud creaking. Adam turned his attention away from David. He realized that Stuart was inside Holidays. On the floor below, Stuart rolled over on his side to see if Marian was okay. He moved closer to her and brushed her face clear of the bits and pieces of dirt and debris.
In the street in front of Holidays, Janet and Tim hovered over Trevor. Trevor didn't move nor did he make any sound. Tim asked Janet to stay with his father while he went off to find Amanda. Janet pleaded with Tim not to leave, but Janet knew that she couldn't walk away from her husband. Tim stomped towards the front of the building and demanded that he be allowed inside. Allie arrived on the scene with a little black medical kit. She bent over and checked Trevor's vital signs. Trevor became to come around and Allie urged Janet to keep a close eye on Trevor. She explained that he probably suffered a concussion---or worse. She instructed Janet to hold Trevor's head still so that he didn't further aggravate his condition. Allie tried to pass herself off as a still-practicing physician to gain access to the building, but she was told that it was too unsafe for anyone to go inside. Several minutes later, Trevor slowly woke up. He realized that he had yet to find Amanda. He went against Janet's wishes and jumped to his feet. He rushed the front door and demanded that he be allowed to rescue his daughter. The fireman, an apparent friend of Trevor's, told him that Holidays was too unstable for anyone to go inside. Janet began to sob. Hayley and Mateo arrived on the scene and realized that their restaurant had been leveled. Scott rushed over to Hayley and told her that Adam and Stuart were still trapped inside.
Back inside, Edmund heard Amanda's cries for help. He raced to her side and held her close. He assured her that her mother, father, and brother had gotten out safely. Still, Amanda worried for her own safety. She asked Edmund if they were going to die. Edmund gently brushed her hair and told her that they would get out alive. Adam and David managed to pull the debris off of Liza. Adam helped Liza to her feet, but Liza definitely was not well. Across the room, Tad helped Ryan lift one of the slabs of wood that had pinned Gillian to the floor. They lifted the wood high enough to allow Gillian some room to crawl. The two men looked up as another loud creak sounded from above. Another piece of the ceiling had caved in and buried everyone under another layer of debris. Allie gained access to the building through an unguarded back door. She immediately came across the Cortlandts. Opal had regained consciousness, but Palmer was still out cold. Opal begged Allie to help her husband. Allie pulled a piece of gauze from her bag and started to patch up Palmer's wounded forehead. As she did, Palmer started to twitch back and forth. He called out that he couldn't see. Allie ordered Opal to prevent Palmer from touching his eyes. Allie pulled out a little flashlight and started checking Palmer's eyes.
Downstairs, Marian finally rejoined Stuart. She didn't know where she was or how she'd gotten there. When she learned that she and Stuart had fallen into the basement, Marian remarked, "We've gotta stop falling through things!" She rationalized that being trapped in a basement was probably better than being trapped in an elevator. Stuart wasn't so sure. He feared that they'd been buried alive.
Upstairs, the struggle to survive the series of cave-ins continued. Ryan reached his hand out to Gillian. Neither appeared to be doing very well. David and Adam returned to Liza's side. David checked Liza's pulse---it was there, but it was very, very weak. David leaned close and realized that Liza had stopped breathing."
- Soap Central