Something was about to happen, I could feel it. Something was off. I watched Ruby, as her eyes traveled upward to the ceiling of the atrium, and her eyebrows knit together in confusion. Then, I heard it too. The hissing and snapping just above ground. Everything blinked off. The TVs, the air-conditioning, everything. The moment of calm broke as people started to panic. Something bad, something bad, something bad. I swayed, getting woozy on my feet. Ruby steadied me and Vida helped lower me onto a seat. Voices drifted around the room but couldn't quite reach me.
"…electromag…pulse…safe…mandatory evac…" I could barely make out the heated words Cole exchanged with other agents. Somebody started to lift me to my feet, but the next thing I know, I'm being pulled to the ground with Vida on top of me.
"Cover!" someone screamed, but the words were lost in the white-hot flash of light. Then the world rained down fire over our heads.
Glow sticks were scattered along the floor, illuminating the bodies pinned under pieces of the roof. I had to look away to avoid getting sick. I was bombarded by a sea of noises; people were screaming and crying, but one voice cut through the madness.
"Jude-" Ruby yelled out into the darkness.
"I'm here," I called back, "I can't see you, but I'm here-"
"Everyone's here; we're all okay," Chubs cut in. "Tell us where to go."
"Down-" she started, but was interrupted by a heavy cough. Nico's hand grabbed at my arm, his nails digging into my skin. I huddled next to him, trying to keep from panicking. But it was hard as I looked around at all the children who didn't make it. The children like Sarah, whose chest had caved in by the scaffolding that had fallen on her.
"We can't leave them," I cried, turning to Sarah. Her lifeless blue eyes stared into mine.
"We- it's not right; we can't leave them down here! Please!" My breathing was ragged, plagued by emotion. Sarah, who would sneak into the kitchen with me and Nico when everyone else was asleep to get a midnight snack. Robby, who scared the silence away whenever the voices crept into the darkness there. Jen, Isabelle, and Daniel, who had all helped me learn to throw a punch when my trainer threatened that I would never go on an Op if I couldn't even fight. All of them dead. How could I leave them?
"We have to," Ruby's voice trembled as she said, "come on."
I clutched fiercely to the back of Nico's shirt as we descended the stairs to the tunnel that would bring us back up to the ground. I vaguely heard Cole and Ruby whispering about Clancy being left behind. Nico heard too, so he rushed forward to join the conversation. I lost my grip on his shirt, and the cold returned to the space that Nico no longer occupied.
"I'll get him!" he insisted, "I can get him!" Scenarios flashed through my head; of him trapped under a block of cement, of him screaming in a burning room. It couldn't end like that, I couldn't let him go.
"No!" I blurted out. "We have to stay together!" But apparently my opinion didn't matter to the world because the next explosion ripped us apart. Then it was all darkness and pain. I tried to call out for Nico, but I couldn't breathe. I can't breathe, I can't breathe. A chunk of cement had been blasted out from the wall and was now pinning me against the floor. People were screaming behind me, probably trapped like I was, but I could see my friends running forward without me, unscathed. They'll come back for me. They wouldn't leave me down here. I reached out for the compass that hung around my neck but what I felt in my hand was just a mess of demolished metal. It was getting hard to keep my eyes open, and I could feel myself losing consciousness. It was then, as the edges of my vision darkened, that I realized how utterly alone I was. It was dark, so dark, and I thought I could hear my mother and father arguing like they used while I was locked in that closet. No, I reminded myself, I am not alone. I have Ruby, Vida, Nico, Chubs, Liam. I am not alone. I filled my head with memories of the past week. I pictured that beat up truck that Chubs was driving when I met him. I imagined I could still hear Vida teasing him about his secret stash of books under the seat, and Ruby pretending not to laugh. I pictured the fire Liam and I made the night we left the warehouse. The cold had numbed every inch of my skin, but I still sat out there and listened to his speeches because he had passion that I had never seen in anybody else, and I was hoping it might rub off on me. I thought about those seemingly endless days when Ruby was gone on an Op, and how I waited and waited because I was worried that if she was gone too long, she might not come back. But when she did come back, I forgot my worries. Because Ruby would always come back for me. Sure, she was a little reserved at first, but I knew that I would get to her, and I did. I have a team. I am not alone. Suddenly, the dark didn't seem so scary, so I closed my eyes.