Alik’s stomach churned painfully at the thought of not being able to find his mom, especially knowing she was hurt. All he wanted to do was have his family back. He was thinking how much had changed in the past few days as the elevator chimed and the doors opened.
The third floor had one long corridor stretching the length of the building. Across that main hallway were three other hallways. In his mind’s eye, he pulled up the level-three floor plan. There were about twenty-seven rooms in which mom could be held on this floor alone. Ugh. This could take awhile.
Alik ran down the main hallway to the farthest east corridor. Systematically, he began opening doors and running through rooms calling out “MOM!” over and over. Every room he came to looked abandoned, as if someone had moved all the equipment, files and the researchers themselves elsewhere.
Alik was working his way from east to west running down every empty hallway, opening every door and calling for his mother till his voice started to give out.
He was feeling desperation mount after each room came up just as empty as the last. By now, Alik had searched more than half the floor when he heard a muffled crashing sound coming from the far west side of the floor. He ran as fast as his still unsteady legs could carry him to try to find the source of the noise. He tried to quiet his breathing so he could listen … listen for his mother … listen through the sirens and megaphones from outside.
“Mom! Mom, it’s me, Alik! If you can hear me, make a noise! I’m trying to find you, Mom. MOM!”
One small scrapping sound is all he heard from the farthest room, and that one small sound was all he needed. He sprinted down the hall and flung the door open.
There, lying in the dark next to a toppled metal stool was his mother. She opened her eyes and blinked slowly at the light shining in from behind her son.
“Alik,” she whispered.
“Oh, Mom.” He was at her side now, trying not to burst into tears at the sight of her. She was so badly beaten that if he hadn’t known with all his heart that this was his mother, he wouldn’t have recognized her. “Mom, we have to get you out of here. I’ve called an ambulance; they’re waiting for us out front. Come on, mom … MOM!” Alik was trying not to panic as he saw his mother’s eyes roll back into her head. He watched her for a moment to be sure she was breathing. She was, but barely.
Oh dear God, please let her keep breathing. Please help me have the strength to carry her outside. Please be with us!
Alik prayed for help as he looked around the room for something with which to wrap her. She was going into shock and needed to keep her heat to maintain organ function. On the other side of the relatively empty room there was an old towel. He ran to it, shook it free of dust and returned with it to his mom. With gentle hands, he wrapped the cloth around her and lifted her small frame off the cold hard floor.
Usually lifting her wouldn’t be difficult at all. He was naturally the strongest of all three of the children. But the head injury he’d suffered when he drove the truck into the building was making him feel incredibly dizzy, nauseous and weak.
“Come on, Mom. We’re getting out of here,” Alik said, knowing his mom couldn’t hear him. He held her as gently as he could, carried her out of the room and tried to remain steady as he walked back down the west corridor to the main hallway. He kept talking to his mother as he carried her. “Evan and Meg are here too, mom. Boy, are they going to be happy to see you! We’ve been so worried about you.” Alik had been keeping his eyes on the walkway in front of them, trying to make it to the elevator. But he stole a glance down at the precious cargo in his arms as they were rounding the last corner.
Her eyes were open and she was staring up at him. “Mom? Mom, can you hear me?”
With a very small whisper his mother said, “I don’t have very much time, my sweet Ali. I’m so thankful I got to see you once more.” She winced hard and her body spasmed uncontrollably.
“Mom, we’re almost at the elevators. I’ll have you with medical help in just a few more minutes. You hang in there! You stay with me! Do you hear me? Mom!”
Her body had stopped convulsing. And now she was scary still. Alik ran with her the rest of the way to the elevator and pushed the down button. The doors opened immediately and he carried his mother inside, hitting the ground floor button with his elbow. He waited for the doors to close. “Come on, come on!” Alik begged.
Everything was moving in slow motion. The ride down to the first floor took an eternity. Alik steadied his breathing to try to calm himself and regain his focus.
He was afraid to look at the saint in his arms. So torn up with pain was Alik, that he feared he’d break down before he got her to the ambulance.
Finally, the doors opened and Alik quickly stepped into the main corridor. He knew the fastest way out would to be to go west. There should be a set of doors that opened to the main courtyard. The closer he got to the glass doors, the better he could see the lights of emergency vehicles shiny against the dark night. Just a few more steps and his mom would be safe.