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By the time the building supports gave in with a crack like thunder, I was pretty sure everyone had been pulled out and into the flooded street. That's why I was so pissed to see a guy darting into the darkened doorway. I went after him, obviously. There wasn't much else to do about it.
It wasn't easy to force my way past the currents that rushed around the door, even for me. I'd been dunked into the dark, muddy water three times before I finally yanked open the door and pulled myself inside.
"Hey!" I shouted to the interior hallway. It was even harder than before to make anything out, the collapse had cut the power. It must have opened up a few more breaches too, because the water was nearly up to my waist.
There was no answer, but I caught movement to my side — a door threw itself open, and a boy came lurching out. He was young, maybe ten, and he looked terrified. I caught him by the shoulder before the water could. Before I could ask if he was alright, where he'd come from, anything helpful like that, the guy I'd seen darting in appeared behind him with an even younger girl over his shoulder.
He swung the girl down to hold her toward me, shouted, "Can you take these two out? I gotta get — "
I never heard what he had to get. Another crack sounded, deafening, and the ceiling overhead became a gush of stone and water. He jerked away and I jerked back, snatching the girl from him just in time. I saw him mouth something to me over the torrent before he ducked back into the room he'd appeared from.
Nothing else for it. I lurched for the front door, half dragging the buy with the girl clinging at my shoulder. There was a man not far outside the entrance, clinging to a light pole — the same one that had helped me earlier. Thank god. He spotted me immediately and surged toward me through the water.
"Take them both!" I called as he took the girl off my shoulder. "I gotta grab a guy."
"You can't go back in there!" he called back to me, just audible from a few inches away from my ear. But he did take them both, then he didn't have any hands left to stop me as I turned to slog back inside. If he shouted after me I never heard it.
I guess the guy inside found who he was looking for, because almost as son as I had the door open, a woman was barreling out of it. She was shouting, and I could only just make it out.
"Where are they?" she cried, and I pointed back behind me.
"Safe!" I shouted, and gave her a shove in the right direction. Only then did it occur to me to ask, "Is that guy right behind you?"
I was too late, though. She was half swimming and half running after what I assumed were her kids, and I wasn't about to call her back.
I pushed back inside for what I really hoped was the last time. It had gotten even worse. A wall of mud and debris met me where last time I'd seen a hallway wall. But, there — an arm sticking out the side of it. It had to be him. I darted forward and grabbed his hand. He grabbed back immediately, but just as I started to pull I felt a rumbling.
The world tilted. I lost my footing in the slick mud and rushing water, and tilted with it. Water rose over my head, filled my nose and mouth, spun me around and around. It felt like the whole foundation of the building slid by to batter me, and when I tried to snatch a breath I tasted nothing but silt.
It was pitch black when everything settled, and I lifted my head out of the muck, gasping. I was sprawled in it, but my head was ringing too much to do more than push myself to my knees. That's when I realized I was still clutching that hand.
"Hey," I managed, after a few rounds of sputtering coughs. "You still alive?"
My ears were ringing right along with my head, and it took a few seconds to realize that the din of the storm had become muffled. And over that I heard a few answering, reassuring coughs.
"I think so," said a voice eventually. It sounded close enough to the guy I'd run after.
It wasn't easy to force my way past the currents that rushed around the door, even for me. I'd been dunked into the dark, muddy water three times before I finally yanked open the door and pulled myself inside.
"Hey!" I shouted to the interior hallway. It was even harder than before to make anything out, the collapse had cut the power. It must have opened up a few more breaches too, because the water was nearly up to my waist.
There was no answer, but I caught movement to my side — a door threw itself open, and a boy came lurching out. He was young, maybe ten, and he looked terrified. I caught him by the shoulder before the water could. Before I could ask if he was alright, where he'd come from, anything helpful like that, the guy I'd seen darting in appeared behind him with an even younger girl over his shoulder.
He swung the girl down to hold her toward me, shouted, "Can you take these two out? I gotta get — "
I never heard what he had to get. Another crack sounded, deafening, and the ceiling overhead became a gush of stone and water. He jerked away and I jerked back, snatching the girl from him just in time. I saw him mouth something to me over the torrent before he ducked back into the room he'd appeared from.
Nothing else for it. I lurched for the front door, half dragging the buy with the girl clinging at my shoulder. There was a man not far outside the entrance, clinging to a light pole — the same one that had helped me earlier. Thank god. He spotted me immediately and surged toward me through the water.
"Take them both!" I called as he took the girl off my shoulder. "I gotta grab a guy."
"You can't go back in there!" he called back to me, just audible from a few inches away from my ear. But he did take them both, then he didn't have any hands left to stop me as I turned to slog back inside. If he shouted after me I never heard it.
I guess the guy inside found who he was looking for, because almost as son as I had the door open, a woman was barreling out of it. She was shouting, and I could only just make it out.
"Where are they?" she cried, and I pointed back behind me.
"Safe!" I shouted, and gave her a shove in the right direction. Only then did it occur to me to ask, "Is that guy right behind you?"
I was too late, though. She was half swimming and half running after what I assumed were her kids, and I wasn't about to call her back.
I pushed back inside for what I really hoped was the last time. It had gotten even worse. A wall of mud and debris met me where last time I'd seen a hallway wall. But, there — an arm sticking out the side of it. It had to be him. I darted forward and grabbed his hand. He grabbed back immediately, but just as I started to pull I felt a rumbling.
The world tilted. I lost my footing in the slick mud and rushing water, and tilted with it. Water rose over my head, filled my nose and mouth, spun me around and around. It felt like the whole foundation of the building slid by to batter me, and when I tried to snatch a breath I tasted nothing but silt.
It was pitch black when everything settled, and I lifted my head out of the muck, gasping. I was sprawled in it, but my head was ringing too much to do more than push myself to my knees. That's when I realized I was still clutching that hand.
"Hey," I managed, after a few rounds of sputtering coughs. "You still alive?"
My ears were ringing right along with my head, and it took a few seconds to realize that the din of the storm had become muffled. And over that I heard a few answering, reassuring coughs.
"I think so," said a voice eventually. It sounded close enough to the guy I'd run after.