Chapter 10:
[August 29th - 10:42 am]
First sounds: the movement of stone. Almost as if the unearthing of a lost tomb. First sight: pitch black nothingness. A sense of helplessness and agony. The feeling you get when your life begins to slip away from under you. No smell, no taste. Not even a brisk breeze flowing past the body. A personally tailored Hell for the outgoing.
A lady's voice, the only pleasurable thing nearby. "Wake up. Please, you can't be dead, you just can't."
Mickey's eyes finally cracked open, letting him see the worried glances of Soapy and Crystal. He immediately looked for his watch, grasping at his chest before remembering that Soapy had it. Mickey crawled out from the remaining rubble on top of him. He was still in a bit of pain, but nothing too crippling. "Yes, now can I have my watch back?"
Soapy sighed in relief. "Even in mortal danger you don't lose your sense of humor." she said as she handed Mickey's watch to him.
"Well with the watch I'm not a mortal."
"But you would've been stuck there if it wasn't for Crystal."
"Well I bet now you appreciate bringing her along." Mickey observed the ruins of a once nice looking office building. "Alright…now how do we get out of here?" Mickey looked at the broken ceiling: letting in streams of light too far to reach. He turned to Soapy, who merely shrugged to his question. Mickey spotted a cleared doorway, a sanctuary among the rubble. Mickey cautiously walked to the frame, worrying a potential collapse. Soapy and Crystal walked behind him, equally unsure of how they were to escape the ruined building.
[August 29th - 10:47 am]
Poppy led the front as she raced to where the earthquake had occurred. Charlie followed closest, with Itchy and Dale struggling to keep up. "Look," Dale struggled to speak. "They're probably fine. You're getting worked up over nothing."
The lead dogs took no notice and continued to run. The streets of New Orleans were strangely vacant, a foreboding sign that the earthquake was as bad as they thought. Charlie tried to convince himself that Mickey and Soapy were okay, with varying success. He ran behind the setter, worrying all the while. The four ran faster still, until the disaster came into view. The building was a wreck, the concrete was peeling off, the foundation was sloped and unsteady. Shattered glass covered the perimeter like a moat to a castle. The scene was terrifying but exciting at the same time.
"So that's the hellhole where the three are trapped?" Dale questioned. His words fell on deaf ears as the other three were more worried with the well being of those trapped inside. Poppy came to an abrupt stop when she saw, surveying the building, was Scott. Charlie ran right into Poppy, tripping over her.
"Hey! What are you doing!" Charlie yelled in disgust.
"It's Scott." she spoke in a low voice.
"So?"
"He does terrible things. Terrible things to me!"
"Why?"
"I don't know, he just sorta hates me."
"You don't think it's the whole, magic, superstition, angels and demons thing?"
"Hey nobody's perfect! You're one to talk about flaws."
"Hey!" Charlie angrily spoke as he slugged Poppy. Scott's ears perked, and he turned his head to the noise he heard. He saw Poppy from afar, but recognized her and he began to walk over to her, eyes aflame.
"Oh great." Poppy whimpered. "You caught his attention." She tried to hide behind the shepherd, but Scott had quite the bone to pick with her.
"Poppy!" he yelled. "Where were you this morning!"
"Scott, leave her alone, this is none-" Charlie tried to defend, but Scott walked around him.
Poppy looked, frightened, at Scott. "I don't have the faintest clue what you are talking about." she lied through her teeth. Poppy had forgotten earlier that she was to help BlackDeath pull off a heist. Scott didn't take kindly to missing operatives.
Scott leaned closer. "You know damn well. This is the second time you've let me down this month, Poppy." he whispered. "You wouldn't want me to accidentally shove your tail into the garbage disposal again, now would we?"
"N-n-n-n-no, Scott. Of course not. It still hurts from last time."
"Fail me again, and you will only have a stump where your tail used to be!"
"Scott!" a feminine voice yelled. Scott turned around; Britney was walking in on the threat. "What are you doing?"
Scott calmly backed away from Poppy. "Nothing." he said, smug grin on his face.
Harli and Tony caught up with Britney, tired. "You didn't have to run so fast." Tony remarked between breaths.
Harli stared at the building. "So Mickey, Soapy, and Crystal are stuck in there?"
"Yep" Charlie sighed.
"You don't they're dead, do you?" Itchy asked. A silence fell among the dogs. They turned to the building, flames spewing from a far wall like a dragon.
"Yeah." Poppy slowly responded.
[August 29th - 10:49 am]
Mickey led the front through the wrecked building, searching for a way out. Most stairs were wrecked and most doors blocked. In the back, Crystal was trying to keep the mood high and was revealing some facts about herself, much to Soapy's surprise.
"So that really exists?" Soapy skeptically asked.
"Yep. Been there, done that, blew it up. Most of it at least."
"I thought that was just a piece of fiction."
"Fiction? One hundred percent truth, Ms Soapy."
"Please, just call me Soapy."
Mickey turned around, slightly annoyed. "Yes, such an interesting tale. Now can we get back to getting out of here?"
"Alright, sheesh." Crystal spoke. "So how do we get out of here? The stairs are blocked, the exits are destroyed..."
"Must you become so pessimistic already?" Mickey groaned, continuing the search.
Crystal turned to Soapy. "Is he always like this?"
"He's done things in the past he doesn't like." Soapy said. "He tries not to repeat his shame." She walked off after the lhasa, and Crystal begrudgingly walked on. The once neat office building was in a disastrous state. The cubicles were torn, the computers were smashed, the floor was littered with papers.
"Hey!" Crystal suddenly shouted as she ran to the far end of the room. Mickey and Soapy traded glances before chasing after her. When they caught up with Crystal, they say her pawing her way through rubble, eventually revealing a human body, crushed. "I guess you were wrong, Mickey: this place wasn't deserted." Mickey looked at the corpse, secretly horrified that innocent people have died because of his actions. Soapy turned away to keep it out of sight, it brought back all too vivid memories. "Belladonna's gone too far this time, hasn't she?"
"Yeah." Mickey choked out, beginning to recall his reason for being in New Orleans. "She has."
"Is it just me," Soapy tried to change the subject. "Or is it really warm in here?"
"No, I feel it too." Crystal noted. She began to walk forward, but heard a creaking noise. "Hold on, what was that?"
"You're hearing things, Crystal." Mickey spoke as he took a defiant step closer. A sickening crack filled an otherwise silent room. "That's supposed to mean something, isn't it?"
"Yep." Soapy replied in monotone.
"Dang it." Crystal replied as she arrogantly pounded the ground in anger. The floor immediately gave way beneath her.
"Crystal!" Mickey cried out, shifting his weight and causing the ground beneath him to fail. Soapy watched helplessly as her friends fell through. As she tried to slowly back away, the floor collapsed and she fell with them. She hit the floor hard, keeping her eyes closed. After the initial pain, she felt unnervingly warm. Opening her eyes, she saw she was surrounded by flames. She began to panic, and turned to try to find a way out. As she did, she saw Mickey and Crystal trying the same thing. But further inspection of the room showed a much more unsettling image. On the near wall were three more human corpses, burning.
"Mickey, Crystal! How do we get out of here!" Soapy struggled to get out, fighting the panic attacks coming to her. But at the same moment, panic was beginning to set in Mickey's mind. The memories of that fateful night in San Francisco were more vivid than ever. His knees locked, his thought process slowly halted. He was no more than a dead weight wrecked with grief.
"Mickey, come on! We have to get out of here!" Crystal urged. But Mickey didn't respond. She looked over at Soapy, who was already trembling and showing signs of dizziness and chest pain. She was suffering a panic attack, but Crystal had no idea how to help her or that she was suffering. All Crystal knew was that she needed to get the three of them out of there. She looked to find a was out of the fire, and saw an open door on the far edge of the room. The path there was littered with toppled stacks of crates, as well as broken glass from windows. "New Orleans, he said. Quite a town, he said. Damn that cowboy."
Crystal checked to make sure Mickey was wearing his watch before she grabbed Mickey around his hind legs. She began to drag him through the flames. Crystal felt the heat surge through her body, but ignored the pain. She pulled Mickey across the ruined room, slowly cutting her paws. She pulled the lhasa to safety before looking back at Soapy, now in total confusion and lying lifelessly.
"One down, one to go." she muttered before dashing to the other end of the room. Back in the inferno, she grabbed onto Soapy's leg and began to pull her to safety. Crystal noticed that she was wearing both the new watch and her own, she knew that this would be the last time she'd have to cross the room. Her fur was singed. Her paws bloody, only getting bloodier as she dragged the still body of the lab. But Crystal had forgotten Mickey's bag of salts. The risk of her turning devilish was higher than before. As the door grew closer, Crystal felt her feeling of self control weakening. No! Not here! She screamed in her head. She rushed to get Soapy in the room, which only made the glass dig deeper into her paws. As Crystal shoved Soapy into the new room, she closed the door and pushed a ruined desk in front, protecting the dogs from herself as she felt the primal rage within her be unleashed.
[August 29th - 11:02 am]
Outside the building, a local news network was covering the story. Harli and Itchy were trying to catch as much information as possible, hoping to guess on their friends' situation.
A camera crew stood in front of a lovely black woman, a field reporter. "Thanks, Tim. I am out here at the Dimentry office building of euthanasia control. As you know, Dimentry has been on the cutting edge of chemical development for years, and this building was once one of the highest importance for the company. The earthquake occurred at 10:33 this morning. Scientists are baffled at the cause and have no official cause at the moment.
"Dimentry has made few comments at this time. What we do know is that, supposedly, the building was evacuated prior as a mandatory drill. However, not all staff have been accounted for. There is reason to believe that those staff members didn't show up today, and thusly no rescue attempts have been made.
"However, firefighters are struggling to keep the fire at bay; it has already destroyed much of the far side of the building. One reason might be the building itself. We have gotten word that the building has breached many safety compliances. Due to the nature of the structure, fire is prone to start and spread quickly. The building also seems to be easily broken. In a recent safety inspection, the floors of the office have been shown to be thinner than most regulations, and much weaker. There have also been three confirmed cases of workers falling from one floor to the immediate one below.
"Locals swear they felt the quake as 'awkward' and 'unusual' from those who claim to have been involved in an earthquake in the past. Some have speculated that this might be the work of a sleeper cell terrorist act. So far, there is no evidence that proves these rumors, but after the situation is under control, experts will be observing the building further. Until then, this is Alaine Seeth of Channel 5 News."
Harli and Itchy sadly walked back to the group, sad that the possibility of their friends being dead is still high.
[August 29th - 11:10 am]
Soapy regained consciousness, opening her eyes. Mickey was trying to push a door open, barely missing his goal. "M...Mickey?" she groaned. Her head was hurting a little, and was irritating her.
"Ah, Soapy, you're awake."
"Where are we?"
"I'm not entirely sure. Last thing I remember, we were in a fire."
"Yeah...I remember that. I, I think we had a panic attack."
"It'd make sense, that's for sure. What doesn't is this trail of blood. It seems to come from the other side of this door, which isn't opening. But neither one of us can bleed. The watches actually prevent that."
"What about Crystal? And where is she anyway?"
"I don't know." Mickey said with sorrow. "Well? Aren't you gonna help me open this door?" Soapy, while worried for Crystal, gave Mickey a blank stare before assisting him in pushing the door. With the two dogs pushing, the door slowly creaked open. Mickey slipped through the opening and saw that the fire had died down. He leaned back into the room and give a gesture to come out. Soapy followed Mickey out into the open.
"Wow, this place is a mess." She noticed a blood trail from the far end of the room to the door. "Crystal's blood?"
"Then where's Crystal?" Mickey searched around the room for they're feline companion. He noticed the trail of blood led towards some desks. Under a desk in the center of the room, he saw a crate with what seemed to be a black and white fluff in it. "Hey Soapy, over here!" Mickey dragged the crate from under the desk. "Crystal? Crystal!" He pulled her out from the crate. She was badly scarred, but he could feel her breathing.
As Soapy ran over to Mickey, she gasped at the sight of Crystal. "Crystal? She isn't...is she?"
"No, she's breathing. I can't believe she bled this much."
"She isn't still bleeding, is she?"
"Doesn't look like it. Either way, we can't stop here. We have to get out soon. She needs to see a vet."
"Doctor."
"Whatever! We need to get her outta here!" Mickey looked around the room, trying to find an exit. "Over there, on the far wall. Looks like a staircase."
"Good enough for me." Soapy responded and began to walk to the presumed exit. Mickey sprawled Crystal on his back and walked after Soapy. She quickly walked down the staircase, but quickly found that it stopped on the next floor. "Dang it, don't any of these stairs go further down than one floor?"
"What else did you expect? He has a sense of humor." Mickey joking replied. As he chuckled, the building began to shake again, this time starting to lean precariously away from the door at the end of the stairs.
"And now you've made Him angry." Soapy noticed that the building was splitting in two; the source being near the center of the next room. "Run Mickey!" Soapy sprinted to the crack, Mickey struggling to follow her. As they ran, the slope they were fighting became steeper.
"Soapy, there's no way we're gonna make this!" Mickey yelled as a desk slid past him. Computer screens came flying at the dogs. There were far too many hazards and not enough time. Thinking on the fly, Soapy thought of an idea.
"Mickey," Soapy spoke, removing the watches from her neck with care not to fall. "Take this watch. Put it around Crystal. Put yours around her too."
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
Mickey, just as carefully as Soapy, removed his watch and put it around Crystal, along with Soapy's and Damon's. The slope was now almost not traversal, and the cut off was almost there. "Now what?"
"Throw her."
"What!"
"To the safety!" The slope was about to take the dogs down with it. "DO IT!" Mickey threw Crystal high into the air, the cat nearly missing the second half of the building, but landing to safety as Soapy and Mickey fell, watching their fate grow further in distance, before turning to see the rubble drawing closer with every second until...CRUNCH!
Chara Credit:
Charlie, Itchy – Don Bluth
Mickey, Crystal, Tony, Misc Chara – Charmyte
Soapy – Soapy
Harli – Harli
Britney, Poppy, Scott – Wonderdog
Dale – Dale