Chapter Five

"Over here!"

Alan turned and ran towards the shouting voice, beating nearly everyone to the scene. Kevin caught up to him quickly, sparing Alan a warning look before joining his coworker in digging through the rubble blocking a familiar office.

Kevin reached inside the office and grasped the arm of a very filthy, very battered arm and helped the person out of the ruins of what had once been an orderly chaotic office. Alan suppressed a gasp of recognition. "Larry? Are you all right?"

Larry's head shot up in surprise. "Mr. Eppes?" he asked, incredulous.

"Sir, are you hurt?" Kevin demanded.

Larry barely glanced at Kevin, his shocked face still staring at Alan. "I-I'm fine. Just couldn't get out . . . Mr. Eppes, what are you doing here?"

"Have you seen Charlie and Don?" Alan demanded. "No one's heard from them since the quake."

He took Larry by his other arm as Kevin continued to help the twitchy professor out of the math building. Larry was shaking his head and frowning at his feet, trying to process what was going on.

"Sure, I saw Charles just before the quake," Larry told Alan. "He was working in his office on some new thing for Don. They aren't there?"

"It was the first place we looked," Alan told him, walking with him into the bright sunshine. An ambulance stood waiting for them in the parking lot. "There was no sign of either of them."

Larry raised a hand to his head. "I think I remember them heading for the storage room . . .at least, I heard them talking in the hall, and that was the direction they were headed."

"Where?" Alan asked anxiously.

Larry glanced back at the math building. "In the basement . . oh dear . . ."

Alan paled at the statement. Rescue crew hadn't tried to search the basement level, since no offices or classrooms were down there. A lot of debris had fallen through the first floor, and several floors in the classes had collapsed. If Charlie and Don were down there . . .

He turned and ran back into the building, leaving his son's bewildered friend behind. He ran up to the first fireman he could find.

"We have to search the basement level," he announced, winded. "There are people trapped down there."

The fireman gave a start. "What? How do you know that?"

"We don't have time for this!" Alan snapped. "We need to get down there and get them out. Are you going to help me or not?"

"Look, even if we wanted to, it would still take a very long time to break through all the rubble down below," the fireman told Alan. "If we aren't careful, we could cause a complete collapse and kill whoever is down there."

"We can't just leave them down there!" Alan cried.

"We won't," the fireman assured him. "It'll take some time, but if someone's down there, we'll find them."

Alan nodded and forced himself to relax, but his heart thundered in his chest. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to relax until he saw both of his boys in front of him, safe and sound.


"Don? Don, you promised you'd stay awake!"

Don lifted heavy eyelids. "I'm awake. I was listening to everything you were saying."

Charlie gave him a doubtful look. "Oh yeah? What did I just say?"

"How lucky you are to have a great brother like me," Don replied without skipping a beat.

Charlie wasn't amused. "Don, you have to stay awake. I know it's hard, but you're hurt. You can't sleep." He wanted to voice his deeper concerns for his brother's condition, but Don had enough to worry about. "Why don't you tell me something for a change?"

"Like?" Don prompted.

"Like some of your friends in Albuquerque," Charlie suggested. "Did you date anyone else other than Kim? Where did you and Kim meet? Anything. I mean, I really don't know anything about what you did while you were there."

Don opened his eyes a little wider and looked up at his brother. "Sure you do, Charlie. I worked, I hung out with some people, I slept, and I worked some more."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I can see where that whole Kim thing fits in nicely. I told you something, now it's your turn."

Don sighed. "All right," he relented. "How about a story from when I went to the academy. Did you know that I knew Terry back then?"

"No," Charlie answered, his interest piqued.

Don opened his mouth to share the promised story when the ground beneath them began to tremble again. It lasted for only a minute, but the ceiling overhead sagged further. The loud groaning from above caused Don to lift his head out of Charlie's lap and look around. "What . . "

"Don, don't move," Charlie ordered softly, his skin ashen. "Your head . . ."

"What was that sound?" Don demanded.

"Nothing," Charlie lied. "I think it might be the crews looking for us. You shouldn't move; you might hurt yourself."

Don was unconvinced, but lacked the energy to argue with Charlie. He settled his head back down on Charlie's lap and sighed. "Where was I?"

"You and Terry at the academy," Charlie supplied helpfully.

Don let out a soft laugh. "This is a good one. It's how Terry and I met. You see, we had this behavior analysis class together, and on the first day . . ."


"Don't move!"

Alan and the rest of the crew froze in place as the ground rumbled ominously. Once it subsided, they looked around at one another for some sign of how to proceed.

"This is ridiculous," one man spoke up. "We have no proof there's anyone down here! We're putting ourselves in unnecessary danger."

Alan felt a rush of heat flood his cheeks. "No one's making you stay here!" he barked. "If you're so scared, then go on. We don't need you. We'll find them ourselves."

"All right, calm down," Kevin barked before the man could respond. "We're not going to get anything done if we bicker. Scott, Erin, move out to the other end of the hallway. See if there's a clear path to the basement over there. Watch your step."

The man who had snapped and another woman obeyed the order. Alan moved closer to Kevin, his eyes scanning the floor carefully. He had only been to Charlie's office a couple times, but the debris from the earthquake made it look completely unrecognizable.

"Where was the doorway?" Kevin asked Alan, jarring Alan out of his thoughts.

Alan frowned, then moved cautiously down the hall. "I think it was over here. Behind this mess. Help me move some of this."

Together, the two men carefully lifted the sections of wall and pieces of what must have once been part of the ceiling to the side. Sure enough, the door to the basement was hidden behind it. The door itself was hanging on one hinge, and the stairs leading down looked to be clear. Without waiting for anyone, Alan immediately started down. His sons were there, he could just feel it . . .


Charlie leaned his head back against the door, fighting back a fresh wave of tears. Don had trailed off in the middle of his story, giving in to the encroaching darkness despite his brother's pleas to remain awake. The ceiling overhead continued to shift restlessly, this time with more frequency than before. Charlie wondered if anyone knew that they were missing, if anyone was even looking for him. He just told Don that rescue crews were on their way to convince him to hang in there, but the truth was that Charlie had no idea. He prayed that his exaggerations to Don hadn't been far from the truth.

Another loud groan echoed in the room, drawing Charlie's eyes skyward. He felt something akin to a lead weight drop into the pit of his stomach.

The final support beam was actually bending under the weight, losing the fight against the pressure straining against it. As if in slow motion, Charlie watched as the beam finally gave way, swinging to the ground where he and Don had woken up from after the first quake. Almost immediately, more sections of the ceiling began to rain down in earnest. With it came furniture from the classroom directly above them, the crashing echoing loudly in Charlie's ears. Biting back a cry of surprise, Charlie bent low over Don's body, trying his best to shield his brother from the debris that was now flying through the room. Objects pinged and bounced off of the beams they used as a shelter, but they held.

Charlie jerked with each crash, his breaths coming in sharp gasps. He hugged Don tightly, praying that they would make it through all right. That someone would find them soon, before they died down there, forgotten and all alone.

"Charlie!"

Charlie lifted his head, hardly daring to hope that he had heard correctly. He waited, straining his ears over the sounds of the rest of the building crashing down around them.

"Charlie? Don?"

It was their father . . . but what was he doing there? Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Charlie twisted his head to face the door. "Dad! Dad, we're in here! Help!"

There was no response for a long, agonizing moment, and Charlie started to think he had imagined his father's voice. He held his breath in anticipation, dimly aware that the crashing around them had lessened.

"Charlie?" It was definitely Alan's voice, and he sounded closer. "Charlie, speak to me, son!"

"Dad, we're stuck in here!" Charlie yelled as loudly as he could. Tears of relief stung his eyes. "Don's hurt, he needs a doctor! You've got to get him out of here!"

"We're going to get you both out of there!" Alan promised. He sounded as though he were right outside the door. "Can you open the door?"

"No!" Charlie yelled back, his voice cracking through his barely contained tears. "The beams are lodged right against it! You've got to find another way!"

There was a commotion on the other side of the door before Alan spoke again. "Charlie? You sound like you're right next to the door. Are you? Is Don with you?"

"Yes!" Charlie replied.

"We're going to knock a hole in the wall a few feet away from the door," Alan told him. "Sit tight, we'll be in there in a few seconds."

Charlie hugged Don tightly, his eyes fixed on the wall in the vicinity that Alan had indicated. He heard the sounds of powerful thuds coming from the hallway, causing the wall to tremble.

It took Charlie a couple moments to realize that the trembling wasn't isolated to the wall. Another tremor had started up, and it looked like it would be nearly as big as the first.

The pounding didn't stop. As Charlie held onto Don, a small hole began to appear in the wall. It grew larger with just a few more strikes, and a fireman was able to squeeze into the room. Charlie looked up at him as he approached.

"Come on!" he shouted, stooping down and taking Don from his arms. "We have to go! The whole building could come down on us!"

He turned and began to carry Don back to the hole. Charlie scrambled to his feet, tripping over freshly fallen debris, and followed the man through the hole. Hands immediately snagged him and pulled him through the rest of the way, and Charlie found himself looking into his father's relieved face.

"Let's go!" Alan ordered, propelling Charlie ahead of him and towards the stairs.

It wasn't easy going, maneuvering through rubble and over the shaking ground, but with Alan's help, Charlie managed to make it out into the sunshine as the trembling finally died away. He tried to stop and take a breath of fresh air, but Alan was pushing him onward, towards the ambulance.

Feeling completely drained, Charlie offered no resistance as he was pushed through the crowd of rescue teams and survivors. Alan finally released him beside the ambulance and turned his attention to Don, who was being examined by two paramedics.

"What's wrong?" Alan demanded.

"Looks like a serious head wound," one medic answered. "We won't know more until we take him to the hospital. You coming?"

"Yes," Alan stated. "And so is my other son. You need to take a look at him too." He turned back to Charlie and received a sharp jolt of shock and fear as Charlie's legs gave out. He caught the young man before he reached the ground, wrapping his arms tightly around Charlie in a fierce hug.

The other medic was at Charlie's side in an instant. "Fred! Toss me a splint! This one's got a broken arm!" Accepting the splint from his partner, the medic affixed it to Charlie's arm and looked up at Alan. "We'll take them both in. Let's go."

Together, Alan and the medic loaded Charlie into the ambulance beside his brother. Charlie didn't say a word, staring mutely at Don's still form. Once Alan had climbed in beside Charlie, the doors were shut and they were off.