Commencement

Chapter 2

After admonishing the injured Reid not to go anywhere, JJ waited for his smile, as wry as she knew it would be, before setting off. This time, unencumbered, she made it across quickly, and without any further damage to her clothing or skin.

It was as she'd remembered. There was a puddle just beyond the pile of rubble from which she'd retrieved the block, larger now than before, telling her that there was an ongoing pouring out of water. So she climbed beyond where she'd been before, and saw the obvious source….a drinking fountain, the front and side panels shorn off, permanently in the 'on' position.

Thank You, God.

If nothing else, they could hydrate, and wash some of the dust from their faces. Now all she needed was a vessel to carry the water in, to bring it back to Reid. She tried to orient herself using her memory of where they'd been standing, and trying to recall if she'd seen the drinking fountain before.

We'd cleared the first three offices, and had just walked into the fourth, and then both of our phones sounded, and…..that's all I remember. So, we're either inside the office, or we were thrown out into the hallway.

There was too much debris for her to make anything out. She couldn't even see any windows. She could only hope that this office had been as empty as the others had been. At least it had been a Sunday.

There's a clue in that, I'm sure. And as soon as my brain gets out of survival mode, I'll try to find it.

JJ kept wading through the debris, climbing occasionally, sliding down the other side, looking back now and then to keep her bearings in this strange landscape. The cuts on her hands had begun to throb, as had the ones on her knees, and it looked like there was still some fresh blood running down her legs.

Maybe I can use my sleeves as bandages.

Thinking she would dress her wounds when she made it back to the water source. Her distracted mind almost caused her to miss the object of her search, until her primitive brain drew her eyes back.

A cup!

Made of Styrofoam, lying atop a pile of debris.

If it had been made of anything else, it probably would have broken when it was thrown.

She had to wade through another ten feet of debris before she could reach it. Then, having acquired her prize, she searched the specific area for more, but to no avail. As she turned, however, she felt her foot push against something different from the construction debris surrounding her. This object had some give to it. Placing the cup gently to the side, she dug quickly through the pile of rubble in front of her, absently wondering how badly her hands would be infected by the process. Finally, she felt something with her hand that felt similar to what she'd felt with her foot. A small plastic trash can, empty of anything but the same debris now covering her.

She started to move further into the space when she was stopped in her tracks by the terrifyingly eerie groaning of the structure around her, followed by an audible shifting of materials, and then a shower of debris.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

She immediately reversed direction, grabbed the wastebasket, threw the Styrofoam cup inside, and did her best to hurry back to Reid. As she moved, she set the heavens straight, speaking aloud as she shoved aside the rubble in her path.

"We are not going to die like this! This is not happening! We're getting out of this, do You hear me?"

Whether from the pain of her injuries, or the strenuousness of her efforts, or both in combination, she realized she was quickly becoming exhausted.

I probably have a concussion, too. And there's no doubt Spence was knocked out for a while.

She began to feel the weight of their circumstance, and sensed a bubble of panic trying to rise.

Stop! That won't help anything. Just…slow down, take your time. Think it through. Look around. What else can you use?

In the end, it wasn't so much what they could use, but what she could carry. She found several lengths of what looked like computer cables, tied them together, wrapped them around the wastebasket, and hung it around her neck. Then she found a jagged piece of glass, and added it to her collection. When she reached the damaged drinking fountain again, she stopped and tore off part of one sleeve, using it to wipe out the inside of the wastebasket and the cup. She cleaned the glass as best she could, as well. Then she filled the basket with as much water as she could bear to carry, and headed back to Reid, praying with every step, that she would find him conscious.

It was slow going with the basket around her neck, but she was becoming familiar with the path. As she neared him, she could see Reid's head turn in her direction.

Thank God!

"Hey," she said.

His voice was dry and cracked. "You're still bleeding."

"Yeah, I'll take care of that in a minute." She set the wastebasket down next to him, and took inventory before proceeding.

Lips, pink. Breathing, easy. Brow still furrowed, but I guess that's expected.

Then she looked to his leg.

"Speaking of bleeding..."

"Yeah, I know. But I think it's just a gash. I tried pushing around, and it only hurts….well, it hurts the worst….right in the spot where my pants are torn. I just can't tell, because of the beam."

"Should we move it?"

He looked at her for a long moment, anxious to do just that. But she was clearly in no shape to help him.

"Let's wait a little bit, okay? You need to rest."

She was too quick to answer. "I'm okay."

He took her by the wrist, upending her palm.

"No, you're not. Look at these cuts. And you've been doing all the work here. You need rest." Then, showing just how well he knew her, he gave her a reason he knew she wouldn't resist. Himself. "Besides, how are you going to make sure we don't drop this thing on me if you don't take care of yourself?"

She gave him a long look, and then conceded. "All right. But just for a little while."

He nodded, pleased with himself. "Is that water in there?"

"Oh! I forgot—yes! Remember that puddle I told you about? The drinking fountain is spewing water, and I found this wastebasket and…" Pulling the cup out from inside the basket, "….I even found this."

"I suppose that's not coffee, is it?"

She laughed. "You'll take your water, and you'll like it." She filled the cup from the bucket and, handing it to him, helped him lift his head to drink. "Not too fast. Give it time to absorb."

He did as instructed, holding the cup out for a refill, and drank until he was sated. Then his head fell back.

"I think I have a new addiction. I have never tasted water that good before. And it came from a trash pail!"

She chuckled. "A very clean trash pail, mind you. I washed it out as best I could." Holding up the cloth from her sleeve, to show him. "Okay, ready to lift?"

He was far more than ready to have the unwelcome weight off his leg. But he didn't think she was, so he diverted her attention.

"Let's take care of your cuts first, all right?"

She'd already rinsed them out at the water fountain, but there was still a little oozing.

"All right. Here…." Before he could say anything, she tore the rest of that sleeve off, and ripped it into strips. "I'll need your hands to tie them."

And so, she rinsed her cuts once more, and Reid helped her wrap the material from her blouse around the cuts on her hands. Those on her knees would have to fend for themselves.

"Okay, Let's get this beam off your leg, okay?" In response to the furrowing of his brow, she had to ask. "What's wrong?"

He hesitated to tell her, partly because he might be overreacting, but also because he didn't want to frighten her. Still, he didn't think he could tolerate the weight of the beam much longer.

"Like I told you, I think it's okay. But….if I'm wrong…and I could be, because it's kind of gone numb, so it's hard to interpret sensation….if I'm wrong, and it's the bone….well, that would be the femur. It's a large bone, with a large blood supply. If it's broken, and if the pressure of the beam is what's stemming the flow of blood, then…."

He watched her go pale as she realized. "You could bleed out." Oh, my God, Spence!

He nodded gravely. "But I have an idea."

He walked her through it. They would use his belt to create a tourniquet above the point where the beam lay on his leg. If they were successful in moving it, they would slowly let the tourniquet out, and assess the bleeding.

"But what if the bleeding is deep? What if we can't see it?" JJ wasn't convinced.

Rightly. He hesitated to tell her, but she had to know. "You'll be able to tell, if I get pale, or my pulse races."

Or when I pass out.

JJ was no fool. "What if we just leave the tourniquet on?"

"It has to be loosened, on and off, or the blood supply to my whole leg will be compromised."

"I can do that. Please, Spence, I don't want to take the chance."

Neither did he.

"All right, we'll do it your way. Now all we have to do is to move the beam."

"Well we can't exactly put it on the cinder block. That's kind of busy, saving your life. Any suggestions?"

"Actually, yes. I've been trying to study the length of the beam, but there's too much shadow over there." Pointing to his left. "Do you think you can get a look at it?"

If it will help you, of course! "What am I looking for?"

"See how the beam angles up? The angle isn't that sharp. That tells me that there's something weighing on it somewhere, but I can't see."

"Okay, so….what do I do?"

"Just take a look at it, and…or, here, maybe take a photo of it."

JJ's jaw dropped. "You have your phone?!"

She'd deduced hers was somewhere in the rubble, having been in her hand at the time of the explosion.

"It was in my pocket. Fortunately, the screen was against my leg."

"Spence, you have your phone! We can call for help!"

He shook his head, sorry for having gotten her hopes up.

"The phone is fine, but there's no service. I tried."

JJ sat down hard, fighting both dejection and exhaustion.

"That means they don't even know we're alive, doesn't it? If they even know about the explosion in the first place."

"They'll find us. Or we'll find our own way out."

"How? You can't even move."

He reminded her of her mission. "That's what we need to fix first. So, take my phone, use it as a flashlight, if you need to, and bring me a photo of the other end of the beam. Can you do that for me?"

She closed her eyes, nodding. "Yes, of course." Then, looking at him again, she asked, "Do you really think we'll get out of this?"

"I know we're going to try our damnedest. When has that ever not worked for us?" Followed shortly with "Never mind."

It was enough to make her smile.

"Okay, wish me luck."