Chapter 53

Theo's POV

The timer goes off and a large boom fills the silence. Windows shatter around us as we all scramble to get away. Smoke fills the air as the building catches fire. Alarms start going off and I know that we'll have to leave soon. The police can't catch us here.

"Chloe, Jessica." Joyce cries and falls to her knees. "Oh my god. What are we gonna do?"

"It's okay," CR comforts, but has tears of her own falling down her face.

"What are we going to do?" Aubrey asks, coming up to me. Stacie stands next to her, staring at the building with empty eyes.

"We have to leave. The police will be here soon."

"We're just going to leave them in there?"

"What the hell are we supposed to do? There's no way they survived that. They're dead!" I run my hands through my hair and choke back a sob. Ashley comes over to me and sets a hand on my arm.

"It's okay. Let's just take a second to breathe. Someone needs to contact Beca."

"I called Jesse and let him know. He just told me that he would tell her, but it sounded pretty rough over there. It's possible-"

"No, don't say it," Stacie snaps. "They can't both be dead. It's not possible."

"But-"

"Just shut up. We need to do something."

"Let's get Beca some clothes first," Joyce says, pointing to a large silver wolf headed our way. Ashley nods and grabs some extra clothes out of the van. When Beca reaches us, she takes them out of her hands, ignoring all of our looks. Her fur is covered in blood and her face… Claw marks run down her face and one looks like it hit her directly in the eye. I'm not even sure if she can see out of it anymore.

"Tell me what happened?" Beca asks when she comes back from changing.

"Well, when all the explosives were set in place, I got a message. I thought that they would be on their way back so I pressed the button. By the time I realized that they weren't going to make it out, it was too late."

"Is it just Chloe and Jessica still in there?" Everybody nods and Beca heads toward the rubble. "We have to find them."

"Beca, there's no way-"

"We have to find them," Beca snaps at me and I hang my head. "Just dig."

So we do. It seems like hours pass by, but in reality, it's just a couple of minutes. Ragged breathing fills the air as we all dig and eventually, everybody but Beca stops.

"Beca, I think they're gone," Aubrey sobs. "Chloe…" Stacie wraps Aubrey in a hug.

"No, it can't be. She's not gone." Beca frantically digs, not even realizing when the rubble cuts open her hands. Blood smears on the concrete but Beca keeps digging.

"Beca, honey," Joyce crouches down next to her. "It's time to stop."

"No," Beca cries, hoarsely. "No, she's not gone. I can't accept that. I won't accept that."

"You have to. There's no way anybody survived this. They're gone. She's gone." For a second, Beca stops and just sobs. Those sobs turn into wails and Beca goes ballistic. Her fist flies, hitting the concrete as she lets loose her pain. She screams, pounding the rubble and cutting up her knuckles. Every scream sends a painful streak into my heart as I know that this is my fault. I should've done it differently. Everything should've been done differently. Instead, I pressed the button too soon and killed her soulmate and my friend.

"Beca, stop. You're hurting yourself," Ashley steps toward Beca who just screams even louder in response. Eventually though, Beca wears herself out and she slowly stops. Her sobs are hoarse and she starts to rock.

"Chloe," she whimpers, running her hands across the pieces of rubble. "Why did you leave me? I just found my way back to you. Oh god, how am I supposed to live now? I can't fucking breathe without you." Suddenly, Beca lets out a roar and starts frantically digging again.

"Beca," I step forward but her growl stops me.

"I can't give up." Hanging my head, I watch as she continues to dig. After a minute, she cries out. We gasp when we see a human hand hanging limply on a rock.

"Don't just fucking stand there! Help me!" Beca screams. We all surge forward and start throwing rocks behind us and slowly, we unearth a very obviously dead Jessica. A sob erupts from Ashley's throat and she sits back, not able to stay up. I go to her and wrap her in a hug. Tears fall down my face as the others keep digging.

"Chloe can't be that far away from her," Beca comments breathlessly.

"Honey," Joyce sets her hand on top of Beca's. "You know that the chance of Chloe making it now that we know Jessica didn't is slim, right?" Beca nods, her red eyes staring off into space.

"I can't think about that."

"I found her," CR yells and laughs hysterically. "I found her. I found her." Sure enough, Chloe's bright red hair, now dusty sticks out among the debri. Beca vaults over the concrete to her. Even as Chloe is undug, she doesn't move. When she is completely uncovered, Beca sets Chloe's head in her lap. She strokes her hair and rocks.

"It's okay. I got you baby. I got you." Beca's voice cracks and she rests her forehead on Chloe's pale one. Joyce breaks down, covering her face with her hands as she cries. The others huddle together, their bodies shaking with quiet sobs. For a second, all that is heard is Beca's whispered words and the quiet sobs of everyone. My chest hurts for the two friends I lost and for being the cause of the pain in the first place.

"It wasn't your fault," Aubrey says, coming up to me. "I know what you're thinking and I want you to stop it."

"I pressed the button. If I had waited until I heard from them-"

"And what would that change? They didn't have any way of communicating with you and they both knew the risk going in. We all did. In a way, it's all of our faults. We chose to allow the plan and it was a damn good plan, but something that you should always think about when going into something like this, is that every plan has its flaws. We can't predict every single way something might turn out. We can only list the obvious ones and hope that that's enough."

With Aubrey's words, it feels like a weight it lifted off my chest. What she said makes sense and though it still hurts like hell, it helps. They knew it was dangerous and frankly, in my heart, in all of our hearts, we knew someone would die. Our luck was bound to run out.

Sirens sound out in the background, slowly getting closer. I know that someone is going to have to push everyone else to move on. Maybe we'll take Chloe and Jessica's bodies to be buried our way. Knowing that it will have to be me, I stand up, taking Ashley with me and open my mouth to speak.

"Did we do it?" A rough voice asks and I gasp.

….

Chloe's POV

My eyes flutter open with difficulty and when they do, I immediately close them. Dust makes my eyes burn and to help, I blink rapidly. When I can finally see, I smile. Beca's forehead rests against mine and her eyes are closed.

"Did we do it?" I ask, clearing my throat. Speaking causes a cough to surface and once I start, I can't stop.

"Chloe?" Beca's voice sounds small and when my eyes meet hers, I'm shocked to see tears.

"What? What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Theo asks, coming over. His arm is around Ashley who is silently crying. I start to shake my head but when I see Jessica's lifeless body, it comes rushing back. Me rushing into the office to grab Jessica. Her refusing to leave until the papers were printed off. Then as we neared the elevator, everything crashed down around us.

"We were on the first floor. If we had gotten onto the elevator, I wouldn't be alive." My eyes stay set on Jessica, my heart desperate for her to move, but deep down, I know that she's gone. The only reason I survived was because she threw herself on top of me, taking most of the weight. Plus, I'm not completely human.

"What took you so long baby?" Beca strokes my face, her hands shaking.

"Jessica was determined to print off the files she found. She wouldn't leave until it was done and I wasn't going to leave her. She um..she gave me the files." Groaning, I reach underneath me and pull out the bag which is covered in debri. When I get it off my shoulder, I hand it to Theo.

"I'm sorry you guys, but we have to go," Stacie says and it's then that I hear the sirens. Beca nods and puts her arms underneath me, cradling me like a baby. My whole body aches in protest, but I don't say anything. I'm not sure walking would be the best thing right now and being close to Beca makes the pain go away.

"What do we do with her?" CR asks, pointing to Jessica. Theo goes over to her and starts setting concrete on top of her, until she's completely covered.

"They'll find her and notify her caregivers for us. She'll be put to rest." With heavy hearts, we all load up into the van and drive off. A little down the road, we pass the police and when they're out of our sight, we continue on, all of us thinking of Jessica and the sacrifice she made.