The night passed by uneventfully. Chris could even hear crickets chirping somewhere nearby. She drew a certain comfort from the sound. So long as the crickets were happy it meant that there was no one around. She was feeling a little claustrophobic sandwiched between the two paramedics. Of all the men here, she trusted them the most but it was still disconcerting for her.
A short distance away she could hear Mike moving around. Apparently she wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping. In her case, Chris was weary to the bone but she still couldn't shut off the pictures in her mind of all that they'd seen. In some sense, it was probably very similar to what Vietnam veterans had to live with. She hoped that it would eventually resolve itself. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, especially without any sleep.
Listening to the crickets, she rolled onto the right side, slid her arm under her head and closed her eyes. Moments later she was sound asleep.
XXXXX
Morning light shone through the shattered door. Rainbows of refracted light danced around the confines of the pool house. Captain Stanley sat with his back against the wall, mindlessly watching. He'd decided to let the others sleep. Lord knew everyone could use the rest. Meanwhile, he tried to come up with a plan. It didn't even have to be a good plan, just something that made some sort of sense.
So far, all he'd come up with in the dark, cramped room was that they had to reach the beach. Hank wasn't sure what he expected to find there but he was certain that there wasn't any kind of help where they were. He hadn't seen or heard a single helicopter in all the time that had passed since the storm drain. It appeared that no one was looking for them.
From his turnout jacket pocket, Captain Stanley extracted the handy talkie. Keying the mike he tried to raise Battalion. All he got in response was static. Quickly he thumbed through the different frequencies with the same result. He wasn't terribly surprised. After all, the handy talkie had been silent since just before they'd started running from the fires. If Battalion had been able to, they would have contacted the firemen of Station 51 as soon as they could to find out their status. Frustrated anyway, Hank shoved the useless instrument back into his pocket. Maybe he'd be able to make contact later.
"What's up, Cap?" Chet asked. He'd been awakened by his superior's movements. Half expecting to be attacked after Roy and Johnny's stories of before, he sat half way up. Kelly had to admit that he was surprised to find that the sun had come up. A quick glance at his watch told him that it was six thirty in the morning. Not a time of day he was used to seeing unless there was a fire.
"Nothing, Chet, sleep for a little longer. I have the feeling we're going to need all the strength we can muster." Hank watched as the younger man lay back down and rolled onto his side with his back toward the door and the light.
No one else stirred. No longer tired and against his own orders, Hank Stanley snuck out of the pool house and took up a position just outside the door. He wanted to be able to keep an eye out in case a helicopter or other form of vehicle passed by without disturbing the others.
The silence of the area was unnerving. Even the crickets were quiet. Hank took a few minutes to scout their immediate surroundings. He realized very quickly that there wasn't much chance of anyone being out here. There wasn't anything left. Even if they'd managed to survive the initial earthquake, and been unable to get out, the fire would have finished them. Shaking his head to clear such thoughts from his mind, Hank settled down beside the door and prepared to wait.