AN: Time for some aftershocks…and a surprise visit by the Delancey brothers themselves, who aren't all too thrilled about the outcome of the strike and decide to take it out on a desperate newsie…

                                                                                                                                                           

Skittery

            I opened my eyes slowly, trying to block out the dull pain in my neck and head as I focused on trying to see clearly. Specs and Dutchy were standing over me, and as soon as they realized I was awake, they helped me sit up.

            "What…happened?" I asked, my own voice sending a sharp pain through my skull.

            "Well, do ya want da long version or da short one?" Specs asked.

            "Um…short, please…"

            "Well, you jest saved my life, had two buildings fall on ya, and were saved by a stray dog all in da space of about one hour."

            Ouch. No wonder my head hurt. A dog suddenly leaped onto me, licking my face and refusing to stop until Dutchy pulled it off of me.

            "You'll have to excuse Angel. She jest likes ya." Dutchy said with a grin.

            "I guess I owe 'Angel' heah a thank you, don't I?" I said, petting the dogs head. "And I owe you guys a thank you. Da last thing I remember is runnin' for cover and not quite makin' it."

            "And saving my life. Lemme tell ya, if you evah need anything at all, come straight ta me. I owe you big time." Specs said. I vaguely remembered shoving him out of the alley, and I realized that in doing so I had saved his life.

            "Right now…a cigarette would do jest fine."

            They just laughed, and I slowly pushed myself to my feet, and they ended up catching me when I almost fell flat on my face. "Let's try and get back to da lodgin' house." Specs suggested.

            A very bad thought suddenly hit me as I surveyed the nearby damage. "If dere is a lodgin' house left ta go to."

            The ground suddenly shook again, but this time, it wasn't half as bad as the first one. We all three ducked down as wreckage rained from the sky once again from buildings that hadn't quite fallen yet, and we heard the distant 'crash' of another one hitting the ground.

            Getting to the lodging house may be harder than we thought if the earth was going to keep shaking.

David

            I held Les back as the men hooked the horses up to the fallen tower, going as fast as they could. I had a bad feeling about this though; it had been about four minutes since Race had last spoken to us.

            All these guys must have families to check on, and yet they're all staying to save Race. He must be really well liked around here, I thought as the men yelled at each other to 'get a move on'. The rescue effort had attracted quite a lot of attention, and people with nothing better to do stood around, watching and waiting to see if Race would come out of this alive. As far as we knew, He was the only person in the immediate area who had survived the collapse of the tower.

            And now he may be dead too.

            "Alright, on the count of three, get those horses moving!" The man in charge yelled to the riders. "1…2…3!"

            All the horses began pulling at once, and the scraping of metal was heard, along with a few more snaps as the cables and beams broke. It started out slow, but once they got the tower moving, they pulled it off the bench in a matter of a few seconds.

            It was hard to believe Race had survived any length of time underneath that thing. There was hardly any room underneath it.

            "We need a lever! Bring that beam over here!" I yelled, and they followed my orders, sticking the beam under the bench and pressing down on the other end. As the bench rose just enough, I grabbed Racetrack by the shirt and pulled him out from under it, picking him up and passing him off to a doctor we had standing by.

            I knew it was bad when the doctor laid him down in the dirt and immediately started checking for a pulse and breathing. The men who had worked so hard to save him were holding their breath and watching carefully as the doctor checked for any signs of life in the seemingly lifeless body of Racetrack Higgins.

            "He's breathing. We did it." The doctor said, and the whole area burst out into cheers.  

            I rushed over to Race as he slowly came to, finally getting some fresh air into his lungs. He looked up at me and smiled.

            "Hey Davey…what brings you to the tracks?"

            That was Racetrack for you. He almost dies, and the first thing he asks when he wakes up is 'What are you doing here?'

            "I was actually coming down here to sell, Race. I was sick of you bugging me about it, if you must know." I hugged him, much to his surprise. "And I'm glad I was here to keep an eye out for you."

            The earth suddenly trembled again, and what was left of the tower broke apart and fell into a jumbled heap. We'd had about one minute of leeway before Race would've been done for.

Oscar      (Yes, that Oscar. As in Oscar Delancey.)

            "Hey Morris…look what we got heah." I said as Kid Blink approached, followed closely by Snitch. "A couple of newsies. Don't they look upset…"

            Oh, I hated them. I hated them so bad that I could taste it. I wouldn't be working in a run-down Italian restaurant in Little Italy if it weren't for their antics. And here they were, looking not so high-and-mighty now.

            "Well, if it ain't da one eyed freak." I said right as they walked up to us. I could immediately tell that something was very wrong on their side of the tracks- Blink would never stop to talk to us unless there was big trouble.

            "Listen, you guys, I don't want any trouble. I just wanna know if you've seen Mush around heah." Blink asked, and I felt a really funny joke creeping up into my head. Before Morris could ruin it, I spoke.

            "Yeah, Blink, we saw him."

            "Really! Where?"

            "He was sellin' down by our restaurant on 5th when the quake hit."

            He almost took off, but I grabbed his arm. I could already see the confused look on Morris's face, because he knew as well as I did that we hadn't seen Mush all day, but luckily Blink and Snitch didn't see it. "I wouldn't if I was you." I said, shaking my head and trying to keep a serious look plastered on my face.

            "Why not?!" he asked, wrenching his arm away from me.

            "Cause…well…when that building fell…he just wasn't fast enough, Kid. No one survived the collapse."

            It was like I had told him that his entire family had burned up in a fire or something. His breathing suddenly hitched up, and his gaze fell to the ground. "No…he couldn't…"

            "I's sorry, Blink, really. Dat's da way it goes sometimes."

            "NO!" He suddenly turned around and took off running, followed by a frantic Snitch, and I replaced a cigarette in my mouth. I could practically feel Morris's disappointed gaze.

            "That was low, Oscar. Real low. Even for you."

            "Ah, well, they'll find each other soon enough. It's not like he's really Blink's gonna go kill himself or nothin'. Dey ain't dat close."

Snitch

            "Blink! Wait up! Where are ya goin', Kid?"

            He suddenly spun around and grabbed me by the shirt. "Don't follow me. Go back and find Jack or someone ta tag along with. Just don't follow me."

            He let go and shoved me backward, and I suddenly realized it…he was headed for the Brooklyn bridge. I had to tell Jack before he did something stupid, because I sure couldn't stop him!

            I turned around and started running back, and about a minute later, I ran into someone and took them down to the cement with me.

            "I'm sorry, mister, I just…MUSH?"

            He looked up at me and smiled weakly. "Hey Snitch! What's got you in such a rush?"

            "But you's dead!"

            "Who told ya dat?"

            "Oscar and Morris…but…Blink, he…"

            "What about Blink? Is he okay?"

            I swallowed hard. "He's headed for da Brooklyn bridge right now. He…he thinks you's dead."

            The realization hit him the same as it had hit me. He grabbed a little kid who was standing behind him and pushed him to me. "Antonio, this is Snitch. He'll take you to the lodging house. Snitch, watch him for me. He's a new newsie."

            "Um…sure…"

            With that, he took off over the debris filled street toward the Brooklyn bridge.

            God, I hope he gets there in time…

                                                                                                                                                           

AN: Haha, cliffhanger! The richness of it…anyway, we've got one more chapter to go, so hold on to your seats! Or whatever you're sitting in…yeah…