She was interrupted by a loud whine that rose and fell in pitch. Jenny covered her ears. "What the hell is that?"
"I think... tornado warning!"
"I've only heard it once before; we don't get many tornadoes here." Abby jumped up and said, "We have to go to the basement. Can you stand up?"
"With your help." Abby pulled her up, but as soon as her right foot touched the floor, she groaned in pain, leaning on the taller woman for support. "I don't think I can walk, Abby."
"That's bad. That's really bad." Abby looked around, trying to decide what to do. "We mustn't use the elevators. If you can't walk, you certainly can't go down the stairs. Here, lean on me until we get to the stairwell, and I'll carry you down."
"Abby, you can't do that," Jenny protested, as they began to make slow progress. "I'm too heavy for you."
"Wanna bet? You can't weigh much over 100 lbs., and I bench press 180. You'll see," Abby told her confidently.
They made it to the stairwell door and Abby opened it, keeping Jenny stable with her other arm. When they both were on the landing, Abby swiftly reached down and picked Jenny up, one arm below her knees and the other just under her arms. Jenny put her right arm tightly around Abby's neck. "Hold on, Director," Abby said, as she started down the steps.
"Abby," Jenny said with a little laugh in spite of her pain, "You can't do this and still call me Director. Call me Jenny."
"Okay, " Abby said absently. She was concentrating on getting them both to the basement before a (hopefully hypothetical) tornado hit the building, and doing so without bumping Jenny's head, ankle or wrist. After two flights they had reached the level of her lab. "Just one more," she said, beginning to get a little winded. The annoying whine of the tornado warning had mercifully stopped.
About four steps from the bottom of the last staircase, Abby heard a splash as she put one boot down on the step, then another splash as she put down the second. She could feel the cool water circulating around her feet, and she imagined that she could feel it rising every second. "Uh-oh," she muttered.
"What is it?" Jenny asked sleepily.
"Flood," was all Abby said, as she headed back up the steps. How far up would they have to go to escape the water? And what if -
She firmly turned her concentration towards reaching the first floor. It wasn't the best place, but it would have to do. She had just passed the door to her lab when she had an idea. I'll get the mattress and pillows off the futon, and we can put them over us if a tornado does come.
She went back down two steps. "Jenny? I'll have to put you down to open the door."
There was no reply. "Jenny? Jenny, are you awake? Wake up!" Abby felt terror gripping her gut as she gently laid the redhead on the floor. If she had a concussion... She raised Jenny's eyelids and saw that her pupils were normal and of equal size. That was a good sign. "Director!" she said loudly. "Please wake up!" Her voice reverberated through the stairwell, but Jenny remained limp and unresponsive.
"You can't sleep. If you have a concussion, you might never wake up again. Oh, God, please wake up!" She decided to resort to extreme measures - an EMT she once dated had told her about the sternal rub, which would often wake people when nothing else would. "I'm sorry about this, Jenny," she whispered. Using her right fist, she began to rub her knuckles against Jenny's breastbone.
The redhead's eyelids flew up and she gasped. "Dammit, that hurts, Abby, stop!" she yelled. Then she noticed Abby's smile. "Why are you smiling?" she demanded.
"Because I got you to wake up. I know it hurt, and I'm sorry, but I was really scared. I want to get some stuff from the lab." As they hobbled in together, she murmured, "You can't go away again, you just can't. I won't let you."
They were just inside the lab door when the noise started. Abby knew what it was; she had been near a tornado before. She picked Jenny up again and rushed to the office. Grabbing the mattress and pillows, she laid Jenny down on the desk (just in case of flood) with a pillow under her head, then climbed onto the desk beside her, pulling the mattress over both of them.
The sound was so loud now she couldn't hear much else, except for the crash of breaking glass and metal objects hitting other metal objects. Then the mattress began to lift, pulled up by the low pressure in the tornado's center.
"No!" Abby shouted. She got out from under the mattress, holding it down with one arm and shielding her face with the other. Spreading out her arms and legs to completely cover it, Abby lay down on top of the mattress, knowing that it was the only way to protect Jenny from the flying debris.