DISCLAIMER: The copyrighted characters of any TV program, movie, or published work of fiction are the property of their owners/creators. In this case, Law and Order SVU and Dick Wolfe. No copyright infringement is intended and nothing is being made. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author.
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OUT OF NEW YORK
Chapter 15: Is this Oz
"Mom this water is good." Olivia drank and drank from the cup. It never seemed empty.
"Good there is plenty of it." Her back was to her child. She was doing something at the kitchen sink. Olivia, peering over her glass, could not tell what it was.
"Ewh!" Olivia said when she looked at the content of her glass. "It's brown."
"That's okay sweet girl. Keep drinking. You'll need your strength." Serena was now moving towards the stove. Her back still towards Olivia.
Water streamed down the sides of Olivia's mouth as she drank faster and faster from the glass. She tried desperately to empty it of its contents. "Ouch!" She yelled. "Something hit me."
"Its just parts of the ceiling my dear. Nothing to worry about."
Olivia looked up. The ceiling was a mesh of broken concrete, timbers and wall board. "Ouch! There is goes again."
"Olivia, move your chair." Serena said mater of faculty. "You should be safe over there." She used the knife she held in her hand to point to a large black spot on the floor. It seemed to grow as Olivia stared at it. She stood up and ran towards the stove. 'What are you doing?"
Bending down she opened the cabinets one by one. "I am looking for the pots. I want to put one over my head."
"Olivia, look at me." The child slowly stood up. She raised her head and looked at her mother. Shock moved through her body. "Mommy nooooooo!"
"No. No. NNNanna no." Olivia opened her eyes. She was laying on the concrete slab again. She felt wet. "Water." She said weakly. She could feel the small stream of water hitting her arm. She tried moving closer to that she could take a drink. Each movement more painful then the last. She stuck out her tongue and began lapping the water into her mouth. It tasted metallic, but she did not care. It was water.
"Alex said she was just to her left." Elliott said over the phone. He was at the hospital with Alex. He wanted to make sure she was alright and to get any information that she might remember from being near Olivia.
"That's great." Said Abbie. "But everything to her left is now deep underground." Abbie was watching the crane begin operating again. It moved much more careful then before. "They are going to send down a camera. They want to see if there are any voids where she could be and..."
"And if she's still alive." He finished her sentence. "She will be. Its Olivia."
"I know Elliott. I just want them to find her. One way or another just find her."
"Ladies and Gentlemen I introduce you to the graduating cadet class of 1998."
"Did she come?" Samantha Harden asked Olivia.
"I don't see her, but doesn't mean she's not here." Olivia kept her stance ridged while scanning the crowd. Something she learned from years of riding the subway. A flash of auburn caught her eye. "She's by the tree at 2 o'clock."
"I knew she'd come. Three years of dating and two thousand arguments about me being a cop." Samantha was beaming. "I knew she would not let all that effort go to waste. I am going to marry her someday. "
"I hope you can." Olivia said still scanning the crowd. She knew her mother would not show.
"Dismissed." Everyone left the stage either by stairs or just jumping off. Olivia leaped off the front and headed for her car. She walked through a group of fellow graduates.
"Olivia, you coming with us?" John Reilly yelled to her. She waved him off without turning around.
"Awh. Poor Johnny. Looks like you'll never realize that dream."
The smoke was thick. The smell of the stale beer a near rival. " Hey. Congrats Olivia!" The bartender yelled. THe old cronies sitting around the bar all raised their glasses towards her. Olivia too a slight bow. She gave the bartender a worried glance. "She's over there." He pointed to the booth in the back. Olivia put a 20 on the bar and walked towards the booth. It had a warm red glow from the Budweiser sign above it. The plumes of smoke danced in its light.
"Mother. Its time to go." Olivia demanded.
"Well, coper come to take me in?" Serena's drunk cackle rang out over the moaning sounds of Bing Crosby on the jukebox.
"Mother. You've had enough. Let me take you to get something to eat." Olivia was beginning to sweat.
"I prefer the liquid kind my dear." She looked into her daughter's eyes. She thought better about saying her next bit of dribble. "Sam, ring me out. My kid's gonna take me to dinner." Olivia pulled out the table so that the frail woman could exit easier. She offered her hand to help her up.
"On the house Serena." Sam said.
Olivia felt warm. Her hand still holding her mother's felt sticky. Her head itched. She reached up to scratch it, but there was nothing to scratch. She pulled her hand down and looked at it. A stick red substance filled her hand. clumps of hair and other junk she could not tell what is was mixed in.
"Oh my." Serena laughed. "Looks like you took a nasty tumble. So did I." Serena turned so that Olivia could see the back of her head. Half of it was gone and bloody mashed mess remained. Her Sandy blonde hair became matted and red. "Like mother like daughter." Serena continued to chant as she left the bar.
"I got to get out of here." Olivia told herself. She did a self assessment. Legs first. "Son of a bitch!" Pain shot up her right leg at just the slightest of movement. She braced herself as she tried her left. She felt nothing. No pain. But no leg movement either. She tried again. Nothing still. She raised her head to turn to her left. She tried to see what might be pinning her leg. "Nothing." She said. "Great. At least its still there." She raised herself up once again to see if there was anything near by that she could use. A couple of boards were quite near. A large pipe was sticking straight up. She gave a good look all the way up. "Looks like it goes through." She began to drag herself towards the boards first. Each inch was an enormous undertaking. "I need a distraction."
"In the arms of the angel's far away from here.." She began to sing. When she finally reached the wooden boards, she had sung the song twice. She grabbed onto a pipe that was oddly still in place against the remaining concrete wall. She pulled.
"Son of a Blonde." She yelled as she reached up with her left arm and tried to pull further up the pipe. Pain shot in every direction.
"This should teach you not to climb trees like boys." Serena was patting more macuracrum on her daughter's skinned knee.
"Yea but its fun. And besides." Olivia winced just slightly. "They dared me. And you can't pass on a dare."
"Well," Serena began, "You don't have to do everything they dare you to do. You should dare them to do something." She began putting away the bandages and the medicine.
"I did, just as soon as your done, we are going to climb through the drain pipe in the park." Olivia jumped down from the counter and headed outside. Serena thought better of it and left the bandages on the counter.
Two more bodies were pulled from the debris. Lifeless bodies. A brief few moments of silence passed through the rescuers as each victim was loaded into the ambulance. Heads bowed. Some in shame that they were not able to rescue the fallen, some in haste wanting to continue the search to find the remaining alive, most out of respect.
"Every second is golden." A report said from outside the yellow tape. "The rescue teams are growing weary, but continue their relentless dig in the hopes of finding more survivors. The more time that passes the less chance of that occurring. This is Tamera Blackly ABC NEWS Washington."
Elliott turned down the volume on the TV. Alex was resting in the bed with tubes and wires hooked up monitoring various body functions. THey said she was fine at the rescue site, but a few minutes inside the hospital, her body began to shut down. Internal bleeding from her spleen and liver. The bone in her left arm had broken and sliced her radial artery. Not serious, but enough to cause blood loss and surgery.
"Stabler!" Elliott yelled and jumped from his chair. He was not expecting the phone to ring, and yet the anxiety of the day was causing him to be too on edge. Six cups of bad black coffee and no food also did not help. Alex stirred at the sudden loud noise.
"Elliott, they were't Olivia." Abbie said calmly in the phone. He hands still shaking from the fear.
"Thank God." Elliott said closing his eyes and saying a quiet "Hail Mary". He rubbed his forehead with a shaky hand.
"How is she?" Abbie asked.
"Stable. She'll pull through. Doc says she may not have full use of her arm, but at least she still has it." Elliott glimpsed back into the room. Alex's eyes were open and she was staring blankly at the TV.
"Elliott!" Both women yelled in unison. Still clenching the phone to his ear, Elliott ran into the room. "something huge is happening." Alex said still focused on the TV.
"Abbey?"
"Yea Elliott. They have something or hear something. Let me get info and call you back. Pray. Pray."
"I have never stopped." Elliott hung up the phone. Lowered himself back into his chair and prayed.