Piece By Piece ~ Snippet 14

Aiden

We rush down the escalator in record time. I look behind me, counting running bodies. “Clear the door!” Danger yells to me. I’m not even sure he can hear. He’s further back in the pack than I would expect, but he felt the brunt of the explosion, second only to the injured woman in his arms. “Aiden, the door!”

I nod, and take off like a shot, separating myself from the pack to reach the door first. I grab pieces of our barricade at random and throw them aside. I’m not as strong as Danger, but he’s otherwise engaged, and pulling apart the barricade is easier than putting it up. Elise joins me, yanking down pieces as fast as I am. Nearby explosions shake the store around us. Lana glances around nervously. “Can’t we just take the back door?” She’s talking about the one door we don’t have entirely blocked off.

“Are you crazy? That’s where the explosions are coming from!” Viren retorts quickly, while Elise and I work together to move the largest piece of furniture. 

“Guys, wait for a moment. Elise and Aiden are working to get us out.” Danger’s monotone voice is like a calming balm to the cacophony of explosions around us. 

As the others look to him, Lana gasps. “Savannah! She needs help!” I look over for a moment, distracted, and see drops of blood, Savannah’s blood, falling from Danger’s arm. I force my attention back to the task at hand and push with all my might. 

“It won’t matter if we help Savannah now if we all die here,” Danger reminds us. As he does, Elise and I violently shove the last obstruction out of the way. “Let’s go!” he yells over the din of another explosion. He steps up onto a toppled shelf and launches himself through the opening. I pull his pack further up onto my shoulder as I watch the others go through. I help Lana, the shortest, step up, when a blast crashes into the store. “Go!” I yell, taking off with her hand still in mine.

Elise had stopped to wait for us, but her eyes widen and she starts running just before we reach her. We feel the ground shake, all too close, and look behind us. The entire department store, A-Mart, our home, crashes to the ground. If we’d been in there a few minutes longer, we would have been entombed within it. I can’t linger on that thought though, because the explosion that brought our building to its knees was by no means the last. 

This terror filled run as we flee our home is even more frightening than the night we all woke up. The active chaos makes my heart race, and my blood pounds in my ears as loud any explosion. A-Mart isn’t the only casualty of the attack either. Buildings fall, adding to the destruction and guiding our way through the disaster. 

I swallow when I see a trail ahead of me, a trail of blood. Danger, despite carrying Savannah, remains at the head of our group thanks to his long legs. No one has seen the extent of Savannah’s wounds, which worries me. I know we have to get to safety first, but I haven’t kept track of the amount of blood Savannah’s lost. Will she even make it to safety?

I can’t imagine losing one of our own, let alone Savannah. Her fiery personality lights up our group, and there’s something contagious about her smile when she’s in a good mood. Picturing her smile from one of my recent memories sends words flying through my mind. 

Her hair, strands of ruby, catch the pure sunlight, shimmering like jewels. 
Her laugh, bright and bubbly, holds the fun and calming nature of a babbling brook.
Her temper holds a fire as fierce as her hair, strong and ferocious as a lion. 
Her smile… Her smile infects my soul and makes my heart sing. 

They’re words I’ve read. No, words I’ve written. They’re words I wrote for her, about her, Savannah. The realization stops me in my tracks as I feel the familiar blush in my cheeks. This is why I’ve been unable to recover my memories from my job when I was talking to Savannah. Most of my thoughts from that time were of her, because I was in love with her. 

“Hey!” Lana tugs my hand, pulling me along. I start running again. I shouldn’t be focused on memories while we escape from sudden explosions. Of course, now that I have, my fear for Savannah takes on an entirely new significance. 

I have to try to push past my newfound feelings and memories. I feel the emotions welling up inside me, begging for a release, but distraction could be deadly in this newly horrific situation. For now I take comfort in the fact that Savannah is in the most capable hands of our party, and the only ones strong enough to carry her through this nightmare. 

Another explosion booms from our right, an we turn left into an alley as the ground shakes. Danger leads with long, confident strides. His head stays straight, steering our group single file through the narrow alley. I try to keep my eyes just as focused, but I can’t help but see the buildings closing in from both edges of my vision. My mind is filled with the image of being trapped between the two as they crumble down overtop of us. Freedom from the narrow alleyway can’t come swift enough. 

As we pour out into the street we skid to a halt, trying not to run into one another. As our warm, sticky bodies try to cling to each other, another heat prevails. What used to be a building is now a monster in front of us, reaching out to grab us with tendrils of flame. My eyes widen in fear, but a voice provides us a direction. “Right!”

As I turn to obey, my arm pulls sharply to the left. Lana, who’s sweaty palm is still in mine, had started to go left instead. “Come on!” I yell, even as she corrects herself. 

Viren, who had also started in that direction, overshoots, but uses their hyperactive energy in a burst of speed to circle back around and pass us. “Nope, nope, nope!” Looking behind us, I watch a building crash down spectacularly onto the street. My legs ache and my throat burns, but I push forward with renewed energy. My shoulder jerks back. Lana’s shorter legs can’t match my pace. Something primal in me wants to release her and speed off alone. Something human in me sees the desperation in her eyes, and keeps my fingers interlocked with hers. 

I try to tell her that we’re okay, that we’ll be okay, but the best my hoarse throat can muster is a ragged cough. Thankfully, my words quickly become irrelevant. Sooner than I would have expected, we manage to put distance between ourselves and the ongoing explosions. As soon as Danger begins to ease up his speed, the rest of us gladly follow suit. We all pant from the exertion, but keep walking. 

I try to regain my voice as I disentangle my fingers from Lana’s and jog up to Danger. “How?” I stop and start again. “How is she?” I nod to Savannah in his arms. Her wild red hair pours over him, but I’m glad it’s that, rather than her blood. 

He looks down, his mouth a hard line. “I don’t know.” He pauses. “She’s unconscious, so hopefully she’s in less pain at least.” I nod and look down, unsure of how to respond. “Once we get a little further, we’ll go inside someplace and try to assess her condition better.” I should be used to Danger’s even tone, but it’s almost jarring compared to the earth rattling sounds of explosions still not far enough away. Viren comes up on Danger’s other side to look at Savannah. They open their mouth to say something, but for once, close it without uttering a word. The consistent silence of our entire group is a direct opposite of the erratic cacophony behind us. 

Over time, as our fatigue wears on, the distant crashes and booms start to slow, until eventually we hear the last. We don’t acknowledge it aloud, a superstitious fear holding us back. If we were to say the words, they might be disproven. At Danger’s direction, we start trying the doors of buildings until we manage to find one unlocked. We collapse inside the hallway. “Everything’s locked on the first floor,” Viren tells us. “I’ll check upstairs.” 

“No,” Danger grunts, thudding into the wall and sliding down it. He carefully lays Savannah out to his side. “We don’t know if there will be any more explosions. We should stay on the ground floor.” He exhales before turning to Savannah. 

I kneel down in front of him. “Hey, man, stay put.” I put a hand on his chest. We’ll take care of her. You need to be looked at too.” 

Elise and Lana nod. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of you both.” 

He lets out a long breath and nods unwillingly. His head falls back against the wall, and his breathing settles as he loses consciousness. Viren, Lana, Elise, and I look between each other. The crushing silence weighs on us as we’re left with two inured, unconscious friends, and no medical training. 

~ I hope everyone enjoys this week's snippet. I really enjoyed writing this one. A post about last week's comic convention is still forthcoming, so stay tuned for that as well as the continuation of Piece By Piece. Have a safe and fun holiday!