Her body ached, but from the groan underneath her, she knew that Zander was aching a whole lot worse. Carly could remember the floor giving out beneath them, the staircase that they stood on shaking and rumbling before breaking away. Zander had held onto the banister as tightly as he could, and Carly was gripping onto him for dear life. Their fall wasn't as far as it could have been without the help of the banister, but it was still far. There had to be at least five or six feet between the bottom of the railing and the pile of rubble beneath them. When Zander finally let go, he'd twisted quickly enough in the air to fold himself around Carly and land on his side. There was less of a chance of something severe breaking falling that way.
She would have loved to be able to blame Lorenzo for all of this. There was a time, years ago, when she would have done just that. She would have cursed him for being unable to keep his family safe. She also would have run for the hills. This was a situation that she couldn't control, and if there was one thing that Carly could never stand, it was being unable to control a situation. But now…
This wasn't Lorenzo's fault. In fact, part of it was her own. She had made the decision to stay with him. She'd had her chance to cut and run, and she had let it go past. She made the decision to stay with Lorenzo, to raise her children with him and to acknowledge the "for worse" part of her marriage vows. She put herself in the line of fire, and she couldn't blame Lorenzo for that, even though she wanted to really badly.
Of course, even if she'd left Lorenzo, this probably would have still happened. She would have been his ex-wife, but his daughters would always be in his life. Through them, she would always have a connection to Lorenzo. In the end, this man, this Sonny Corinthos, would have still found them a threat, and he would have still tried to kill them. So, in effect, it was neither her fault nor Lorenzo's fault. It was Sonny Corinthos's fault.
That thought settled better with her, and helped her push herself up from Zander. The scrapes and scratches on her arms itched and burned. Her slacks were torn and through the slits, she could see more scratches. She pulled the leg of her slacks to the side to see the growing bruise on the side of her knee. Carly touched it gingerly with the tips of her fingers and winced. She knew the ache would only get worse, but at least her leg was broken. Her knee wasn't dislocated. All in all, the situation could have been a lot worse.
Groaning, Zander rolled to his side and Carly looked down at him. The scratches and cuts on his face made her think of how her own had to have looked. Deciding that she didn't want to know the true horror of her visage, she kept her eyes on Zander. He pushed himself up with his left arm and she noticed that his right arm dangled at his side. He stumbled to his feet and looked around at their surroundings.
Flames licked all around them. They weren't all the way to the bottom, and if they were, they would have been dead. A hole near them showed fire raging in the main room of The Cellar. Small explosions from the area of the bar were enough to feed the flames, though not enough to shake the building anymore. Every minute or so, the fire pushed high enough to smolder the rocks beneath Carly and Zander, and force the flames on their area of debris to rise.
"We'll die of inhalation before the fire ever gets us unless we get out of here soon." Carly coughed and looked around her. "There's gotta be a way outta here." She looked up through the hole above them. "I could probably climb out…"
"Don't even think about it, Carly." Zander coughed and shook his head. He lost his footing and almost fell backwards, but flailed with his good arm to keep his balance. "I can't climb outta here. I think my shoulder's dislocated."
She sighed in frustration. Carly bent down and started ripping the leg of her pants open, then snatched it off at the top. "My mother's a nurse," she said at his apprehensive look, one that grew with each step she took towards him. "I know what I'm doing." She tied his arm as tight as she could against his body. "Now, there's gotta be cops out there by now. And firemen. They probably don't even know we're in here."
"Uh huh. And…"
"And," she said, rolling her eyes, "once I get out, I can get them to come in and send down a rope or something."
"I don't like it, Carly. You'll burn your hands. The stones are too hot for you to touch. And you don't exactly have on climbing shoes."
"You know what? You need to have more faith in me." She ripped the other leg of her pants into shreds and tied them around her hands. "And you can stop looking at my legs. And don't even think about looking at my ass. You won't be getting anywhere near it." She smirked at him, then turned to the wall.
At one time, the walls of this building had been smooth. The explosion, though, had turned the walls into jagged crumbles with gapes and ledges large enough for her to hold onto. Carly looked down at her shoes and sighed. The heels were definitely not going to get her up there. Bending down, she yanked off the heels and threw them down into the fire. The flames shot up for a second and both she and Zander hunched down.
"Okay," she said, "I'm gonna climb up here and you…"
"I'll look for another way out, an easier way out. Because, when you fall, you're gonna need it."
Carly narrowed her eyes at him and glowered. Zander just shrugged. "Fine, have it your way. Don't have faith in me, but you'll see. And while I'll tell Lorenzo that you did your job as best you could and really tried, I won't tell him to give you a raise because you didn't believe in me."
"Uh huh. If your'e going, just go."
Zander turned away, his eyes searching, and Carly set her mind on the task at hand. She rubbed her cloth-wrapped hands together, then grabbed hold. The stones were hot, but the cloth was enough to protect her hands from serious burns. She planted one foot, testing the security, then rose the other. She looked over her shoulder and said, "So far, so good." Zander just grunted. "No faith," she muttered. "None at all."
Carly ignored Zander and concentrated on pushing herself to the top. The line of the wall broke into a large gap. She was careful to cross over, but almost fell as she passed the gap and heat rushed to her. She clung on tighter and looked up. Sweat fell into her eyes and acted like glue to stick her hair to her face. She coughed and her lungs burned. The air stank of burning alcohol, paper, and a few other things that she couldn't place. She wanted to get out and, despite what Zander said, this was the way to do it.
She moved up and over as the debris curved around. While the crumbling of the walls had been a blessing for her climbing expedition, it was a curse on her need to go straight up. The twists and turns sent her up and down. She moved as slowly as she could force herself to be, all the while feeling the urge to rush upwards and over.
Water sprinkled down on her head and she looked up. "Dammit!" A shower of water came from above, and she could hear voices. The firemen couldn't have come before she started climbing? Carly sighed and kept moving. She had to go slower. The falling water made the crumbling rocks slowly turn to mud. She stepped up and lost her footing. Carly held on tighter, but she knew she was going to fall. She looked down and she was right over the hole leading down into The Cellar. "Wonderful!"
"I'll catch you!" Zander had apparently decided to pay attention as he looked up at her, trying to position himself to get a hold of her.
"How are you gonna catch me, huh? You've got one arm!"
"Just keep going! If you fall, I've got you!"
"Uh huh." She grumbled under her breath and looked up. More water was pouring down, faster and harder. The firemen were moving closer, she could hear their voices growing louder. "Hey!" Carly shouted. "We're down here! Hey!"
Someone came forward, dressed in sooty yellow and looked down. "Are you alright!"
"Do I look alright? No, I'm not alright, you moron! Just… get us out of here!" She took in a deep breath, then coughed it out with force. "Get me outta here!"
At her last scream, the building started to rumble. Carly watched as the firemen scurried backwards. The water sprinkled to a stop. "Where are you going!" She looked up and debris was falling on her head. She tried to press herself against the wall, but a large rock hit her arm and made her lose her grip. She fell backwards, screaming, headed straight for the hole beneath her.
Heat surged up at her legs, scorching and irritating her skin, but she stopped falling. She blinked up and Zander was holding her by the wrist, his face twisted in pain and strain. "I got you," he said between clenched teeth. He started to pull and her arm ached. She screamed out as she scraped against the jagged rocks, but at least she wasn't in the fire. At least she was still alive.
Carly finally got up high enough to pull herself onto the landing and she breathed heavily. "Don't say it," she said between breaths. "I know what you're thinking and don't you say it 'cause if I don't take it from Lorenzo and Jason, I'm sure as hell not taking it from you."
"Would you just shut up a second?" Zander rolled his eyes and groaned. "While you were playing Spider Woman, I got an idea." He turned and motioned his head across the way. There was another hole a few feet away, smaller, with a ledge around it. Just beyond that was a hole that led… He wasn't sure where, but it was definitely outside. Every few minutes, waves of snow flew in. "If we can get around there, we can get out."
"Zander…" She crawled forward, wincing at the pain in her legs and arms. "That's underground. We still have to get up."
"It's a way out, Carly. That's a tunnel. Well, not really, but something like it, so workers can get in from the wiring. If we get in there, I know there's a way up. I don't know where it'll let us up, but it's up, and that's what we need." He looked at her and from his steady expression, she knew that he wasn't taking anymore talking and arguing. In a way, it reminded her of Lorenzo when he ended a discussion. She didn't know if that made her feel better or worse. "We're getting out of here, Carly, and we're going that way. So, shut up, stop bitching at me and help me stand up, alright? And, I swear, if you say one more thing, I'm leaving you behind."
"Zander!"
He looked at her and winked. "There are firemen out there. I'll just send one in with a rope."
Carly glared at him and growled. If there was one thing she hated more than being out of control, it was having her own words thrown in her face. "I really, really hate you," she muttered. But, she still stood up, helped Zander to his feet and together they headed towards the only route to freedom.
