Day 29
Theme: All Work and No Play
Prompt(s): Too weak to move
He had to think quickly. There wasn't time to get away, he only had seconds before an explosion was imminent.
The exit was too far away, and he wouldn't get past the debris and get outside fast enough. John was yelling in his ear to get out or find a safe place out of the blast zone.
Gordon looked around, trying to find something. Then he saw it.
There was a steel door to his right. A freezer. The walls should be thick enough to protect him from the explosion and any flying debris.
He didn't have time to ponder over it, he just had to act.
Gordon hurried to the heavy door and pulled it open. He stumbled into the room, and the door shut behind him just in time for the loud crack to rip through the whole building. The floor shook and Gordon was thrown to the floor. The shelves in the room rocked, and then loud noises filled the small room as the shelves and all their contents fell to the floor.
Gordon felt something hit the back of his head, and then he felt nothing.
When Gordon awoke, everything was still. Things had settled after the explosion, and now silence filled the building.
There was a weight on his back, but it wasn't too heavy or painful. Though, it probably was to blame for the aches he felt all over his body. Not to mention the pain in the back of his head.
He dragged himself across the floor and out from under the large object. Once he was free, he sat up and turned around, and found that it was one of the shelves that had fallen on him. It was being propped up slightly by another shelf that had fallen over, so that was what had stopped Gordon from being pinned under the shelf entirely.
He looked around the room. The freezer was quite small, and the few shelves and contents it held were all over the floor. There was a sharp chill in the air and Gordon could already feel it deep in his bones. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious for, but it was likely at least a little while with how cold he was already feeling.
It wouldn't do him any good to stick around any longer. Gordon pushed himself to his feet, wobbling slightly as the room swayed. The dizzy spell was gone a moment longer, and he moved towards the door, picking himself over the mess on the way.
Gordon placed his hand against the handle, and pushed against the door.
However, the door didn't budge.
He frowned, and tried to push against the door harder, but still nothing. The door would not open.
There was a small window in the door, and Gordon looked out of it to see what was preventing him from opening the door.
It was dark on the other side of the window, but Gordon could make out the debris that blocked the door. It seemed that the building had come down after the explosion, and now he was stuck.
"Okay. Plan B then," Gordon mumbled as he activated his comm. If he couldn't get out on his own, he would just need his brothers to come and get him. They were probably worrying about where he was, anyway.
But there was nothing. Gordon tapped his fingers against the iR logo several times, but the call would not connect. Gordon groaned in frustration. The metal box he was in was probably blocking the signal. He wouldn't be able to contact anyone whilst he was stuck in here.
It wouldn't take his brothers long to realise he was still stuck in the building, although that thought made Gordon wince. They were likely going out of their minds thinking that he was caught in that explosion, and with him not being able to get in touch with them, they were probably thinking of the worst.
There wasn't anything Gordon could do about that, though. He would just have to wait this out. They would look for him, Gordon knew it.
He couldn't let the cold get to him before that happened. He wasn't sure of the temperature the contents in the freezer were kept at, but he had no doubt that if he was in here long enough, it was cold enough to cause hypothermia. Gordon did not want to die in a freezer.
He would need to keep himself active to keep his body temperature up. There wasn't much to do in the small space, but Gordon could start with putting the shelves back where they were meant to be. That would keep his body moving for a little while.
The shelves weren't too heavy, and it didn't take a lot of effort to push them upright and back against the walls. Once that was done, Gordon lifted the packages of food back onto them as well. He wasn't entirely sure if it would be edible now that it had all been over the floor and some of it looked squished. But then again the restaurant they were in was a pile of rubble, which was on a street that looked no better. Gordon didn't suspect anyone would be eating this food, whether it was in good condition or not.
It didn't take him long to clear the space and put everything back to where it was meant to be. It didn't make him feel any warmer, so the effort felt a little pointless. Then again, now there was a small space for Gordon to pace around in.
He couldn't think of anything else to do to keep himself active, so he just resorted to walking around the room to keep warm.
It got boring after a little while, and Gordon spent the whole time trying to get through to his brothers again. It didn't work, but he still tried.
It felt like he had been there forever. No one had come to rescue him yet and he still hadn't heard a single thing from anyone. Surely they knew he was still there? They wouldn't leave him here.
When the walking got too boring, Gordon tried jumping or running on the spot. Anything he could think of to keep warm, he did. He knew that if he stopped, it would be hard to start again.
Still, he felt himself getting colder and colder with every minute that passed. He had started shivering long ago, and his fingers were starting to feel numb even through his gloves. He didn't have his helmet, but he wished he did. It would protect him from the chill.
Even longer passed, and still no sign of a rescue. Gordon's legs were starting to feel stiff and trying to keep them moving was getting harder. He had let his fingers give in to the cold, no longer bothering to rub his hands together to keep them warm.
He was starting to feel really tired.
He'd made a mistake. He knew he shouldn't have done it, but he just felt so tired and he could barely feel his legs to keep him up any longer.
He'd sat down, and now he didn't think he could get back up again.
It was only meant to be a short rest before he got back up and continued his pacing. He told himself that he wouldn't let the break be any longer than a couple of minutes, but now several minutes had passed and he couldn't gather the energy he needed to push himself back onto his feet.
Maybe he could get up after a few more minutes of rest.
Gordon sat up quickly after he realised he was drifting off again. He blinked several times to keep his eyes open, but a moment later they started to droop closed again. He startled awake once more.
He didn't know how long he could keep this up. It was seeming less and less likely he would be rescued, but he didn't want to allow himself to give up hope. He wanted to stay awake for when his brothers would finally come.
It was just so hard to not fall asleep.
It was a light that briefly shined on his face that woke him. He had fallen to the floor, no longer propped up by the wall. The floor was cold against his cheek, but he didn't have the strength to push himself up.
His eyes were drawn to the small window, the only part of his body he felt he could move. There were a couple of lights outside the room, and even in his fuzzy mind, Gordon knew they were flashlights. They were looking for him.
He tried to call out to them to tell them he was here, but his body wouldn't cooperate. He couldn't move, the cold too deep in his limbs to allow him to reach out to the door.
A moment later, the lights disappeared, and he knew they hadn't seen him. They weren't going to find him.
It felt like their hearts had stopped when John had alerted to them that the building that Gordon was searching for survivors was going to explode. Fire and gas did not mix and when John noticed there was a gas leak in the very place that a fire had started, they knew there was no time for their little brother to get out in time.
And they were right. Gordon hadn't gotten out. He was still in there when the blast happened, and now he wasn't answering his comm. They could only think of the worst.
That wouldn't stop Virgil and Scott from searching for their little brother. There was always a chance he was alright.
But without John able to locate him, they had to search through the whole rubble of the remnants of the restaurant. It was taking too long, and Virgil knew that if Gordon was hurt, every second they took mattered.
It had been hours of searching, but they still found nothing. John still couldn't get through to him, and Virgil could feel himself losing hope.
Until, they came across one of the only things still standing in the rubble.
He had shifted some of the debris, and thought he had found nothing beneath it, like usual. Scott was next to him, moving some of the smaller pieces whilst Virgil took care of the bigger bits with his exo-suit. It was Scott who saw it.
"Hey, Virg. What's this?"
He drew Virgil's attention away from where he had moved onto another section, already having lost hope with that one. Virgil looked over to see him moving more pieces of debris away from something that looked big and metal.
Virgil came back over to him, and started to help him move more debris. A large piece of the building was still standing, and as more debris was moved out of the way, something else came into view.
It was a metal door. It had a small, dust covered window, and Virgil looked through it to see what was on the other side.
The light of his helmet shone into the room. He quickly realised it was a walk-in freezer, and he looked around to see if there was anything of interest in the room.
His light swept over something on the floor. Or rather someone.
It took him only a moment to realise it was his little brother, curled up in the middle of the floor.
"It's Gordon!" Virgil cried to Scott and John, who he knew was listening to them through their comms.
"What?" Virgil stepped to the side so that Scott could get a look, and he heard his brother take in a sharp breath as he took in the sight. He stepped away and turned to Virgil a moment later. "We need to move this out of the way to get the door open."
"FAB." Virgil had started to get to work before he'd even answered.
The two of them worked quickly, and in no time, they had cleared enough of the debris out of the way to get the door open.
Scott was first into the room, and Virgil was right behind him after he had stepped out of his exo-suit.
Even with the door open, Virgil could still feel the chill from the room, and he was surprised that power still made it to the freezer when the rest of the place was in rubble.
He fell to his knees next to Gordon, who was alarmingly still. His lips were tinged blue, which stood out amongst his pale face. Virgil quickly reached over to feel his pulse, and found it to be slow and sluggish.
Scott was already trying to get Gordon's attention, but their brother wouldn't stir. They had to act quickly. Gordon had been in here for a while.
"Go and get the medbay ready." Scott turned to him with the command. "I'll be right behind you with Gordon."
Virgil nodded with the instruction, and hurried from the freezer. He spared a glance to his exo-suit on the way past, and with only a moment of hesitation, he got back inside it and then headed to his ship. The suit would make him slower and it was harder to climb over the debris with it on, but if he left it, he would have to come back for it. He would rather give his full attention to Gordon and be able to take off straight away to a hospital if need be, and not have to worry about coming back for equipment.
He jumped out of the suit as soon as he hit the module, and immediately got to work. Scott wasn't lying when he said he would be right behind him, as he appeared with Gordon just as Virgil pulled the medbay bed out.
With the help of Scott, he got Gordon's suit off and then covered him in with a blanket. He used a medscan on him, and the results he got back were more than alarming. His body temperature and blood pressure were both very low. He also had a concussion, and Virgil couldn't be sure if it was that or the hypothermia that was causing the unconsciousness.
"I can fly Thunderbird Two whilst you help Gordon," Scott said from next to him, and already turned to head to Two's cockpit.
"What about the rescue?" They still weren't quite done searching the buildings after the earthquake.
"The local authorities have got it from here." John's hologram appeared in front of them.
It was all they needed to move into action. Virgil worked on autopilot to try and get Gordon's body temperature back up whilst Scott flew the ship towards the nearest hospital.
Gordon looked so small beneath the blankets, and Virgil's heart clenched with the knowledge that if they had just found him sooner, he wouldn't be so bad. He felt like he had failed him, but then he had to shake those thoughts away.
Gordon was still here, and Virgil could still do his best to help make him better.