Fragile Lives (3/?)
By Carol M.
See first part for details.
Thanks for the feedback guys!! On with the story..
Claire opened her eyes slowly, not exactly sure where she was or what had happened. Her vision was blurry for a few seconds until she shook off the cobwebs. Then everything became horribly clear.
She was in the Keep, or more accurately, what was left of the Keep. It was a complete disaster. The glass separator was smashed and lying on the floor amongst a pile of sparkling glass. The computers were lying half-mangled on the floor with bits of glass and plastic scattered everywhere. The fish tank was also destroyed, leaving her prized fish lying motionless on the floor. Most of the equipment had been smashed and destroyed as well.
She realized with a start that a large shadow was looming overhead. She looked up and saw that the refrigerator was on its last legs, literally. The only thing keeping it in place was a thick black cord that would probably not hold for much longer.
That was when she realized a heavy weight was holding her to the ground. Her mind tried to place the offending presence and her heart leapt when she realized what or rather, who it was. "Darien!" she cried out, trying to shift her body out from under him.
A ragged moan escaped from Darien's lips, but nothing else. Claire finally got her body free and began to examine the limp body of her Kept.
A sudden squeaking sound told her the refrigerator was not happy in its current position. "Darien, we have to move," she said urgently as she tried to shove his body out the way.
"Ughhhh," was all that came from Darien.
"Damn it, help me," she urged as she tried to take all of his weight. The refrigerator was slowly jerking down towards them as the cord loosened from its hold. In a matter of seconds, it came completely loose, forcing Claire to roughly shove Darien and herself out the way. The refrigerator exploded into bits of glass and chemicals, spraying both of their faces and hair.
Claire lay in a heap next to Darien, trying to calm her rattled nerves. After a few seconds, she recovered and sat up, trying to detect any obvious wounds on Darien. She carefully turned him over, noticing much to her chagrin that both of his cuts had opened back and were bleeding freely. She muttered a curse and then ran her hands down his chest and stomach, trying to detect any wounds. When she curved her hand around his lower right side and pressed firmly, she was rewarded with a harsh whimper out of Darien.
"What hurts?" she asked with concern. "Your side?"
Darien opened his eyes into tiny pain-filled slits and shook his head. "My back, lower back," he panted.
She gently rolled him onto his stomach and lifted up his shirt. What she saw didn't please her. He had a deeply flushed red mark on his left side, right over the kidney. It was in the shape of a rectangle and as she looked at all the bricks lying beside them, she determined that's what had caused the injury. She pressed against the wound and Darien moaned, trying to flinch away from the touch.
"Hurts," he murmured.
"I know, I know," she soothed gently. "I just have to see if you're bleeding internally."
She continued to press down on the wound despite Darien's protests and found it to be tender, but not rigid, at least not at the moment. "Thank god," she muttered under breath. She gave the area a soft caress and then put his shirt back down. She checked the rest of his back and found another cut, this one just below his neck. "Anything else hurt?" she asked.
Darien responded by shaking his head. "Are you okay?" he whispered.
Claire looked down at her body and was surprised when she didn't find anything more then a few minor cuts and bruises. "Yeah. Thanks to you," she said as she scooted up towards his head and ran a hand through his debris-filled hair. "You saved me."
"Can't have my Keeper getting hurt now, can I?" he said weakly. He sat up slowly, using Claire as support. "We have to get out of here and find Bobby and the others," he said as he looked around and surveyed the damage.
Claire shook her head. "No Darien, we have to get you out of here. You're in no condition to go searching through the building for everyone."
Darien gave her a sharp look. "I'm not leaving this place without Hobbes," he said firmly.
Claire sighed and nodded. "Darien," she said in a huffy tone.
He flashed her the brown puppies and shook his head.
"Fine, I can't force you out of the building. But let me take care of some your cuts first," she said as she got up and tried to find some bandages amongst the mess.
Darien leaned his head down in between his legs, trying to combat the nauseous feeling building in his stomach and ignore the waves of pain shooting through his back. He took in deep breaths, fighting the urge to pass out on the floor.
After a few minutes, Claire returned to his side and began bandaging his cuts. He leaned his head against her and let her take some of his weight, too exhausted to keep himself upright.
"Darien, look at you, you can barely sit up by yourself. You're not going to make it," said Claire with worry as she finished bandaging his cuts. "I'm getting you out of here."
Darien shook his head and held out his hand. "Help me up, sister," he said through clenched teeth. Claire stood up and then reached for his hand, pulling Darien up to a standing position. He nearly fell over as the pain became too much for him to bear. He sagged against Claire and nearly took them both to the ground.
"Hold on, I got you, Darien," said Claire gently as she wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gently wrapped her own arm around his waist.
"Thanks," he said softly. They shuffled toward the Keep door, glass crunching under their feet. When they reached the door, Darien stopped and sighed in frustration. "Obstacle number one. How the hell are we going to get the door open? Is the fuse box still working?"
Claire brought him a few steps closer towards the door and leaned him against the wall. Then she went to the box and pressed the button, hoping like hell the door would magically open. But unfortunately, it didn't. "Earthquake must have screwed up the power source," she said in frustration.
Darien slowly walked over to the box on shaky feet and started to mess with it. He tore open the box and pulled out some wires. Then he connected a blue wire with a red wire, producing a spark that burned his fingers. "Oww," he yelled as the Keep door slid open and stayed open. He gave Claire a satisfied grin. "Just like hot wiring a car," he said. "I guess my former life as a menace to society paid off."
Claire smiled and grabbed his arm, walking him out of the Keep. They both stopped short when they realized the only way out of the building was buried in brick and concrete.
"Great. So we rescue everyone and then get stuck down here for all eternity," he said sarcastically.
Claire rolled her eyes and leaned him against a wall for a few seconds. She ran down the hall and tried to loosen some of the debris covering the door. "We're stuck," she said after several minutes of trying to clear the debris with no success.
"What about the stairwell?" he asked.
She ran to the stairwell door and was pleased when some of the rocks covering it moved easily. She managed to clear away the debris in a few seconds and opened the door.
"Nice," said Darien.
Claire walked back over to him and once again took his body into her arms. She slowly walked him to the door. "You sure about this? I can go up by myself and see if everyone's okay."
"No, we need to stay together. Don't need a freakin aftershock separating us," he answered.
"Right," she said as she got him through the door.
He pointed upwards. "Let's get a move on. Times a wasting," he said as they slowly started to make their way up the debris-covered stairs.
**
Eberts awoke with a soft groan and a splitting headache. He sat up and was hit with a cloud of dust as bits of ceiling and wall fell off his body. His throat began to ache and he coughed harshly. He managed to get all the debris off of his body and leaned up against the wall, breathing heavily. "Sir?" he called out.
There was no answer. He looked at the position he had last seen the Official and saw a leg sticking out from a pile of ceiling. "Sir!" he yelled as he crawled over to his position. He carefully lifted the light debris off his boss and winced when he saw the Official's face. A large bleeding bump covered the entire right side of his forehead.
Eberts began shaking the Official. "Sir, wake up! Wake up!" he yelled with desperation.
The Official didn't stir, his face seeming to grow paler by the second.
Eberts took off his jacket and pulled at his shirt, ripping off a piece of fabric. He placed the fabric firmly against the Official's wound. When he was finished, he took a deep breath and looked down both sides of the hall for possible escape routes. He saw that all the doors were covered in debris, leaving them no possible exits.
Tears filled his eyes, and he brought the Official's body towards his lap, giving his shoulder a comforting pat. "I'm here, sir. I won't leave you," he said softly.
**
Bobby awoke with a start and a scare. For a terrifying moment he thought he was blind, until he realized that blood had leaked into his eyes from a pounding head wound. He wiped out his burning eyes and shook his head, trying to remember what had happened. When he looked up and saw the flickering lights of the elevator, his stomach sank into the ground.
He experimentally began to stand up amongst a mountain of debris and was rewarded with a harsh wave of pain through his leg and a bout of seasickness. If that wasn't bad enough, he realized much to his horror that the elevator was hanging at a strange angle. As he sat back down on the floor, the elevator moved slightly. "That's not good," he whispered.
He looked up at the ceiling and saw that all the glass panels were gone, with only the light bulbs remaining. He thought he could make out a hole at the top, but he wasn't sure his leg or the elevator would stand for him to get up there. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his rapidly beating heart, knowing that if he had a quicksilver gland, he would be completely invisible right about now. "Aw crap," he whispered into the silence of the elevator.
TBC Thurs, Fri at the latest. School started, and now I have to catch up with the story.
