Very short chapter...
Darien flattened himself against the wall, breathing harsh in the darkness. He could hear Bobby next to him.
"Hobbes, this isn't good," he murmured, and his partner grunted in agreement. They'd followed the Chrysalis crew into the bowels of the convention center and currently were in a service hallway- unadorned cement and bare pipes hissing and groaning overhead.
"What the hell is going on here?" Bobby muttered, and Darien half wished that someone or something would emerge from the darkness and tell them. He hated the dark- funny thing, him being an ex-thief and most of his prior occupation spent in such murky conditions- but there was one major difference between then and now.
Then he'd had a flashlight. Now he didn't.
He started to say something else but Bobby shushed him. "Hear that?" Hobbes breathed, and Darien cocked his head and listened. Bobby's hand was on Darien's forearm, fingers tightening as Darien began to hear the rumble. It was so low it almost more of a vibration than a sound, and Darien felt his knees begin to weaken.
"Hobbes…"
"Shhh!" Something very far away began to groan- a twisting, metallic groan that made Darien's teeth grind. It came closer and louder, approaching like a freight train, and Hobbes grabbed Darien- unerringly, even in the dark- and threw him to the floor.
Dust shifted down, the floor vibrated- and then it passed. Darien was as near to panic-stricken as he could remember. "What the hell was that?"
"I think it was an earthquake," Bobby replied tentatively.
"Is it over?"
"I hope so."
The floor heaved under them, and Darien could have sworn he heard Bobby shouting something about God just having to prove him wrong.