His heart fell like a stone into his stomach, the last vestiges of hope shattered. It wasn’t Charli. It was her sister.
He left Connor to deal with her as he stepped cautiously onto a teetering slab of concrete before thinking better of it when it wobbled under his feet. He didn’t want to upset the balance. Who knew what lay beneath his feet.
He lay on his stomach and inched along the slab, listening to the cries for help and trying to work out where they were coming from. Sound bounced off the hard surfaces and off the mountain, distorting the voices and making it difficult to judge direction.
The darkness wasn’t helping matters either. He couldn’t see clearly, he couldn’t tell if there were gaps in the rubble, any way in or out. He couldn’t see survivors but he could hear them. He needed better light so he could tell where to start. He pulled his phone from his pocket, swiped the screen and pressed the flashlight icon but the light it gave off was pathetic.
‘I need some light over here. Does anyone have a torch?’ The lights of the village had been bright enough to see the buildings topple but they weren’t bright enough now. He needed stronger beams, much stronger. The headlights from a car or a snowplough.
‘Pat, what the hell are you doing? It’s not safe, man.’
He heard Connor’s voice from behind him. He turned his head. He could see dozens of people gathered in the semi-darkness, torches and phones causing multiple circles of light. ‘Pass me a torch.’
‘No. You need to come back. We need to assess the situation. It’s too dangerous.’
‘I can hear people. I need to see if I can reach them.’
‘And what if that slab gives way under you? We could lose you along with anyone trapped under there,’ Connor responded. ‘We need a plan.’
Pat ignored him. He knew Connor wouldn’t risk coming out after him. Two people on this teetering slab would be asking for trouble. Pat could stay out there safe in the knowledge that no one could drag him back. He knew he was taking a risk but what choice did he have? People were trapped. They needed his help.
‘Hello? Can you hear me?’ he called out.
‘Yes.’
‘I’m trapped.’
‘Help us.’ One, two, three different voices called back to him.
But none of them belonged to Charli.
He didn’t want to stop but he couldn’t ignore these cries for assistance. ‘Are you hurt?’
‘My wife. You have to help me. I can’t reach her.’
‘I’m stuck, my leg is caught. There’s water coming in. I can’t move. Help me, please, help me.’
There were only two replies to his question.
‘Who is there? Can you tell me your names?’
‘Simon.’ The voice was faint and Pat strained to listen. Where were the other voices? Where was the husband? His wife?
‘Pat, you need to follow protocol. It’s not safe,’ Connor called out, urging him to rethink his position.
Pat knew he was right. But knowing Connor was right wasn’t enough to get him to pull back. He could argue that this wasn’t a training drill or an official rescue. Not yet. He was effectively just a bystander, a good Samaritan, and his first instinct was to help. He would be careful. If he thought he was in danger, or there was a risk of causing further harm, he’d pull back.
‘Think about Ella,’ Connor called to him. ‘What happens to her if something happens to you?’
Pat hesitated, knowing Connor had won this round. He was being foolish, he wasn’t just risking his own safety, he was risking more than that, he was risking Ella’s life as she knew it. Ella was all he had left and he had to stay safe for her.
Connor hadn’t needed to come after him at all. He had won the battle of wills with a few well-chosen words.
‘Simon?’ Pat called out. ‘I’ll be back, I need to get help.’
‘Don’t leave me here.’
Simon’s voice called back to him, begging him not to go. One voice only. What had happened to the others? Had they lost consciousness? Or worse? Could they hear but not respond? Would Simon notice the silence?
Pat wanted to stay but he knew it was impossible to perform this rescue without equipment and help. ‘I promise I’ll be back.’
But he couldn’t promise he’d be back in time.
He closed his eyes and pictured Ella’s face and knew he had no option. It ripped him in two to leave but he had no choice.
He turned and began to inch his way off the slab. He had moved less than a foot when the ground wobbled and shifted and the concrete under him trembled and vibrated. His heart was in his throat as adrenalin surged through his body and he fought to keep his balance.
‘Reeves,’ Connor yelled at him. ‘Get back here!’
CHARLI WOKE WITH a start. Something wet dripped from the ceiling, hitting her forehead.
She frowned, perplexed, and lifted her hand to wipe the moisture from her skin. She winced as her fingers brushed across her hairline. There was a large bump over her left eye and her skin felt tacky. And then she remembered where she was and what had happened.
She was freezing and her hand was throbbing. She’d torn a strip of fabric off the bedsheet and wrapped it around the base of her right thumb to stem the bleeding, but she hadn’t been able to see how bad the wound was and her fingers were too cold to be able to give her any sensory feedback but she thought it had stopped bleeding.
The room was still pitch black, giving her no clue as to the time. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep. She was thirsty and freezing and worried. She’d never treated anyone with hypothermia but she knew it was a real danger. She was curled in a ball on the bed, nestled into the small gap between the collapsed roof and the crushed bedhead. The quilt covered her but it was doing little to keep her warm.
Moisture continued to drip onto her head. She cupped her hands and let it gather in her palms. She lifted her hands to her face, wrinkling her nose in disappointment and disgust as she smelt the tainted water. It was undrinkable.
She tucked her hands under her armpits in a vain attempt to increase her body heat and lay in the dark, straining her ears to hear signs of life from anywhere around her. Was Amy in the apartment too? Had she fallen asleep and not heard Amy come home? Maybe her sister was there somewhere. Maybe she’d been knocked unconscious?
‘Amy?’ she whispered into the dark. In hope. Just in case, by some miracle, her sister was there.
Was that the sound of someone breathing?
Her
