Disclaimer: I do not own House MD.

Chapter 4

House prepared himself for a sudden blasting or bomb explosion as he exited the hospital but nothing happened. Everyone stood motionless and silent outside the hospital besides the still wailing Thirteen as they stared at the sight before them. Small beams of sunlight shone through the heavy smoke glistening off the mostly burnt bodies that lay sprawled out across the parking lot. The back half of the aircraft had fallen to the ground; obviously the cause of the earlier explosion and what was left of it was still burning away steadily. The entire city seemed to be seeing the same fate as buildings everywhere were burning and many had already collapsed to the ground. Everyone looked around horror stricken due to the destroyed city and lives that lay before them. As the hospital began to shake violently and crumble behind them they dashed across the parking lot dodging as many of the bodies as they could, most of them holding a hand over their face as they tried to cover the smell. Once obtaining enough distance between themselves and the hospital everyone turned to watch the building they had once called work, known as a second home tumble to the ground. They held their arms up in front of their faces to protect themselves from the debris as it crashed to the ground and the dust that now rampaged through the air. Cuddy looked up when the dust began to settle and noticed that House had only made it part of the way and was now standing in front of the burning pile of rubbish, starring at one of the bodies sprawled out on the ground. Letting out a sigh Cuddy slowly made her way over to House as everyone else watched her amused. When she reached House's side and saw what he was looking at she let out a groan and turned her head into his chest to keep from seeing it. A crispy, nearly unrecognizable Taub laid across the tarmac along side the many others who thought they had made a narrow escape just to be cheated by death. His clothes were burnt into small strands of cloth. His body was covered in ash and flakes of burnt skin peeled off and fell to the ground around him. Cuddy turned her face away from House's chest before kneeling on the ground; eyes closed to keep any other images from entering her brain and began to vomit at the sight and smell of not only Taub but everyone else around her.

Cameron watched as Cuddy knelt on the ground next to House and began to vomit. She felt a twinge of jealousy when she saw House place a hand on Cuddy's shoulder, probably an attempt to comfort her. She had never seen House try to comfort anyone and started to make her way over to House and Cuddy to see what was going on. She watched as House held out a hand motioning for Cameron to stop. Cameron let out a sigh and stopped where she was standing, she was unsure of whether or not she listened to House because he was her old boss or if it was because she may still be slightly attracted to him; she hoped it was the former. Cameron watched silently as House pulled Cuddy to her feet while mumbling something in her ear, probably sarcastic. She waited impatiently as the pair made their way back over to the group of doctors and wished silently to herself that House would pay as much attention to her as he did to Cuddy. When House and Cuddy rejoined the group, House relayed the details about finding Taub and Cameron was immediately glad that House had stopped her before she had reached them.

Cuddy felt the tears stinging at the back of her eyes. Within such a short time she had lost her hospital, Foreman, Taub and the many other employees and patients that now littered the parking lot. The smell of burnt flesh was so strong she could taste it in her mouth. She listened as House told the others about finding Taub and couldn't help but vomit again as the smell lingered in her nose and Taub's burned body lingered in her brain.

Hours Earlier…

Taub felt the floods of people pushing him from behind as he finally made it through the front doors of the hospital. He struggled to keep his balance but some how managed to trudge forward. He couldn't believe this was actually happening. He knew things like this happened everywhere, everyday but you never really expect it to happen to you. After crossing the better half of the parking lot Taub turned to notice his colleagues missing. He turned in circles searching frantically for them before making his way back towards the entrance, not once considering that turning back would be a fatal move. If Taub had thought moving was difficult before, going the opposite way of the flow was twice as hard. He pushed through the crowd mumbling apologies to those he shoved aside. He sighed in relief as the entrance came into clear view in front of him but before he made it to the doors a loud bang sounded over him. He shielded his eyes with his hands before looking up to where the sun should have been, instead finding fire crashing down over him pulling him to the ground. He screamed in agony as he rolled on the ground attempting to put out the flames with little success. Screams sounded around him and he held is breath to keep from inhaling the fresh scent of burning flesh. He turned his head to the side and noticed a young girl no older then six clinging to her teddy bear as she waited patiently for her body to be engulfed by the flames. She looked pale and weak already and Taub noticed that she was wearing a hospital gown. Taub's jaw dropped in awe as her body burned and she didn't even let out a whimper or a scream.

"How can you… be so calm?" Taub wondered aloud to the young girl trying to bite back his own screams. The girl looked at him pain present in her eyes but she just shrugged her shoulders to the best of her ability.

"It was this or cancer, this seemed like the faster way to go." Taub knew that tears would be running down his face if they weren't dried up instantly by the intense heat. He watched as the fire swallowed up the last bit of the girl before he screamed in agony one last time.

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Author's note: Thank you for reading and please review : )