Author's Note: more mentions of blood and death in this chapter.
…
Stephen Bush, AKA Agent Two, was running out of options. He had searched every inch of the office floor, and there was no sign of anything that could be used to make such a strong gale. Worse, the tremors were getting more forceful and destructive by the minute: Stephen was getting more terrified with every passing minute that the building was going to collapse on top of him.
…
Ferb and Gretchen, holding hands, ran past the agent who had just delivered the news, and headed straight to the hospital wing to help. The ceiling shuddered over their heads, the lamps swinging wildly, as more tremors shook the building. Ferb was afraid that soon the office floor's ceiling was going to follow the hospital ceiling in collapsing. He gripped his fiancée's hand tighter for reassurance.
…
Everything was dark. She had dived under a bed when the ceiling collapsed but something had fallen on top of the bed and crushed the legs almost completely. There was very little room between the bottom of the bed and the floor, and if the bed sunk any more, she would get crushed. She was breathing thinly, though there was no lack of oxygen, and she didn't dare try to get out for fear of the thing crushing her.
…
Trying desperately not to look at Connie's body, Zero struggled with the rock for what must have been the twentieth time. He had managed to push it a few centimetres down his chest, but he still couldn't wriggle out, though he was getting close. However, the pain in his head was getting worse and he was afraid that if he passed out, he would lose his chance to help Esther and if he lost that chance…there was the possibility that Esther wouldn't make it. So though it nearly made him throw up, he continued to push at the rock, his movements slowly getting more sluggish.
…
Ruth Summers wasn't sure if she still wanted to work at BOWCA. Having seen what disasters BOWCA could bring to people, she wasn't sure if she was brave enough to continue. As she looked for the exit to get out of there, she saw a part of the ceiling begin to collapse right in front of her. A man with a limp was hobbling under it, unaware of the danger. Just before the heavy stone fell, Ruth pushed all thought of saving herself out of her mind and lunged for the man. She pushed him over and out of the way, flinching when the heavy stone landed behind them. The man couldn't thank her enough.
…
Still holding Stephen's daughter Rosie, James rushed into the hospital ward and immediately turned away so that Rosie couldn't
see Connie Cutler's dead body. Fighting the urge to vomit, he placed Rosie down on the right side of the door and told her to stay there and to not either come in or look in. The six-year-old girl nodded, clearly terrified. Remembering a lollipop that he had bought earlier that day, he took it out of his pocket and gave it to Rosie so that she would have something to distract her.
Then he caught sight of one of the two people he was looking for. "Zero!"
He threw himself down by his friend's side. Zero's chest was trapped underneath a large piece of stone. Zero himself had passed out. James pushed his feet against a larger piece of debris and used this to give himself more force as he pushed with all his might at the piece of debris.
All of a sudden, Zero muttered, "…Esther…", giving James a fright. "…Esther…"
James decided to find Esther. After all, Zero's life was not in immediate danger. Esther's might be. So he reluctantly left his friend's side and searched around the left side of the ward, purposefully avoiding Connie's body. He found a large piece of stone on top of a bed, so he knelt down beside it and tapped on the metal framework.
At that moment, Ferb and Gretchen ran into the ward. James looked up at them and signalled for them to help Zero. Gretchen ran to the sink in the corner and threw up. The colour of Ferb's face was looking a lot like his hair. James knew they'd seen Connie.
He went back to tapping. In Morse Code—something every BOWCA agent was taught—he tapped dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot. Morse Code for SOS.
A single moment later, he felt someone tap dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot back. "Esther?" he called softly into the bed.
"James…?" came a weak voice back. "It's Esther! Can you get me out?"
"Stay there," he ordered.
It was only Esther's sarcastic reply that made him realise how stupid that order was. "Aw man, I was hoping to go get a cup of tea."
James craned his head round and found that Ferb and Gretchen had managed to get the stone off Zero, who was still unconscious. He beckoned Ferb and Gretchen over. "I need you two to lift up the bed as much as possible."
The two agents complied. Straining against the weight of the piece of stone, they lifted the bed a few centimetres. James reached under the bed and located a person. A hand gripped his, and James helped the person out just before Ferb and Gretchen let go of the bed with a crash.
"Esther, are you okay?"
"Now my back hurts," was Esther's reply, making James chuckle despite himself.
He turned to Ferb. "Did you see a little girl as you came in?"
"Blonde-haired six-year-old?"
"How many other little girls did you see?"
"Good point. What about her?"
"I need you to get her to safety," James commanded. "Take her to reception, then you and Gretchen need to get out of here."
Ferb nodded. Taking his fiancée's hand, he and Gretchen left the room. Esther knelt down beside Zero. "Is he okay?" she asked James.
He nodded. "He's just been knocked out. His life isn't in danger."
Talk about déjà vu.
"But we need to get out of here," added James. "It isn't safe."
Esther and James both slung one of Zero's arms over their shoulders and headed out.
…
Lol don't worry guys, Zero will be fine. Probably. Man, I'm doing that a lot recently, aren't I?
