Trapped Under A Collapsed Building

I heard the explosion, having mere seconds as the building shook to throw myself over Lissa. She was curled up on her side with my body over her, trying to cover both of our heads as parts of the building fell around us.

It was an older one on Court, we were walking through it to reach the Council meeting where they were voting on dhampir rights. Obviously, someone didn't want Lissa to pass it.

My adrenaline took over, the only thought in my head was to keep Lissa safe, no matter what. It wasn't until the dust settled that I felt the weight of a beam on my back. Luckily, it fell in a way that made a pocket of sorts that stopped us from being crushed by the ceiling that crumbled around us.

"Lissa? Lissa! Are you okay?" I demanded, needing to make sure she was okay.

She shifted under me, able to move further into the pocket so she wasn't under me anymore. She was coughing from all the dust, "I think so. Are you?"

I grimaced in response, I could feel a pain in my back. I glanced around me, feeling the weight of the beam, but I didn't think I was holding it up. Slowly, I inched out of my spot, listening in case the pocket gave way.

Thankfully, the beam was solid enough to support all of it. Though I wasn't sure how long it would last.

"Oh god. Rose, you're bleeding!"

I squinted at my arm in the dark, the material of my jacket was ripped, seeing red staining the white shirt underneath and dripping down to my fingers. I shrugged her off, "I'm fine. It's not that bad." I didn't want to mention to her how it was hurting to breathe, taking small shallow breaths.

When she reached for me, I gave her a pointed look.

"No. We don't know how long it will take us to get out, you need to keep your strength," I warned her off healing me.

"But we have to stop the bleeding."

I searched around, settling on the hem of her skirt, ripping it off and holding it towards her. "Okay, tie it with this." She pulled a face at her ruined skirt but did as I said.

"What do we do?"

"We wait." I pulled the radio out from my belt, glad to see it didn't get hit because I kept it on my hip. I turned it on, breathing a sigh of relief that I heard static. We didn't use the radios often, our earpieces were reliable enough, but mine fell out.

It took a couple of tries before we got a response.

"Hathaway!" Hans sounded relieved to hear my voice. "Do you have eyes on the Queen?"

"I do. She's safe. We were by the south exit. We are stuck against the back wall." I kept my voice calm, giving Lissa encouraging smiles. I didn't want her to start panicking.

"We are working our way through. Hold on."

I placed the radio between us, focusing on it to keep myself in control.

"Rose…" Lissa's voice was small, making me look at her in concern. Her eyes were on the debris around us. "What about the others?"

The other guardians that were walking with us, and some of Lissa's attendants. I didn't want to think about it. I could remember where they were standing, some could be fine, others…

I shook my head, "I don't know, Liss."

I shifted closer, careful with my ribs. The pain in my back was getting harder to ignore. I kept my face angled away from Lissa. Her eyesight was much better in the dark than mine, she would notice me wincing.

Her fingers threaded through mine, "We'll get out of here," Her voice wavered, needing to say it out loud to believe it.

"We will."