"Stella, we're coming up on the third floor." Mac said. The clearing was going by slowly, but it had to be done. They'd found at least thirty more casualties and ten more bodies. Each one took time to remove them from the building. Time that Danny, Lindsay, and Flack might not have.
"Copy that Mac." Stella replied.
The stairs in front of them were blocked off from the pile of debris. It would take too long to clear it, or possibly cause a disturbance to the buildings structure. Hawkes walked in front of Mac. He pushed open the door to the third floor. The floor looked the same as the others, debris coating the floor, air thick with dust, limiting lighting. He entered further into the level. He checked each room, searching for more people. He found the body of a middle-aged man in his office, clearly dead.
"Guys, we've got a situation." Stella said.
"What kind of situation?" Mac asked.
"Taylor, what the hell are you thinking going in there without supervision or my authorization?!" demanded Sinclair's angry voice.
Mac looked down the hall past Hawkes. He spotted the small robot at the end, slowly rolling towards them. "I've got people in here, Sinclair."
"So do I, but you don't see me in there with you." Sinclair replied.
"I'm not waiting for a robot to find my people, Sinclair. And frankly, I wouldn't do this any other way, no matter who was inside this building." Mac explained. He headed to the end of the hall.
"Turn around Taylor, that ends blocked off." Sinclair ordered.
Mac stopped. "Damn. Our ends blocked off as well."
Hawkes turned to Mac. "Now where do we go?"
"MAC! HAWKES!" came a call.
Hawkes and Mac looked round for the voice. It sounded like Flack, but there was no sign of him.
"Flack?" Hawkes called.
"Up here, man!" Flack called.
Mac listened to his voice. It was coming form one of the offices. He walked into the office and looked up. Flack was kneeling by a large hole in the ceiling of the office. He looked beaten, but he was alive. "You alright Don?"
"Compared to Danny and Lindsay, I'm perfect." Flack answered.
"Where are they?" Hawkes asked.
Flack jerked his thumb up. "Upstairs. Between the seventh and six floor. But the stairs to the fifth are blocked off from the ruble."
"Do you know if they're alright?" Mac asked.
"Danny looked fine, but Lindsay…" Flack sighed. "Danny said she was hurt, bad."
"Stella, you get all of that?" Mac asked.
"You bet. Sinclair's sending EMS crews as we speak. But Sinclair's ordered you two to wait for them." Stella explained.
"Fine, but they'd better hurry." Mac replied. He looked up to Flack. "Don, you think you can manage coming down?"
"Sure thing, Mac." Flack replied. He grabbed the edge of the floor and eased himself down to the next floor. "You better have Sinclair send up another team to clear the debris. If Lindsay's hurt, we can't get her down the same way."
"Sinclair's on it, Mac." Stella said.
Suddenly the building began shaking. Loose debris from the hole above slid down onto the floor. Mac pulled Flack from the falling debris, waiting for the shaking to stop. The movement of the building seemed to threaten to collapse the entire building. It stopped within several minutes, thankfully.
"Stella, make sure Sinclair knows we have a time limit." Mac said.
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yeah i would do something like that wouldn't i?
i own nothing!
