The final rush of memory was a relief that didn’t last long. Julian was down here with her, as vulnerable as she was. The others could also be here, or had it only been their section of floor that collapsed?
Adrenaline flooded her body at the thought of those she loved trapped in this hell with her. She shoved harder against the rubble weighing her down but jerked her hand back when a piece of metal rebar sticking through the concrete sliced across her hand. Blood welled forth and spilled down her palm. Taking hold of the slab again, she shoved it angrily off of her and blinked as she tried to take in what she could of her surroundings.
Smoke obscured her vision. When she tilted her head back, she spotted the snapping flames filling the hallway only ten feet away from her. For now, the fire rolled over itself where it was, but if it found something to feed it further, it would spread toward her. Red flashes rebounded off the smoke and reflected crazily around her. The buzzing increased and she realized now it came from a blaring fire alarm and the flashes were lights from the alarm.
The Commission had set their building on fire, and she had a feeling it hadn’t been on purpose. Something in their design of this place was flawed. The building hadn’t been strong enough to withstand the wave of flames they’d unleashed.
Where is Julian?
Panic clawed at her chest. He couldn’t have fallen that far away from her, could he?
She searched the rubble for him as she pushed more concrete off her. She finally succeeded in dragging her legs out from under the debris. Bruised and battered, her muscles and bones protested the movement as she rose. Her ankle screamed when she tried to put her full weight on it, but when she gingerly tested standing on it again, she realized nothing was broken this time.
She staggered to the side and rested her hand against the wall as screams pierced through the buzzing again. She tried to search through the darkness for the source of the screams, but whoever it was remained hidden by the smoke.
She began to make out words over the roaring of the flames. “Quinn! Julian!”
Looking up and nearly ten feet away from her, she stared at the jagged hole in the floor and saw the faces of the others as they stood at the edge of it. Fire rolled across the ceiling toward the hole. The flames growing higher as they sought out the oxygen above.
She tore her attention away from the hole to focus on the rubble beneath her feet. Julian had to be under here, or…
Had he somehow fallen into the fire while she’d been thrown clear of it?
A lump formed in her throat. This time the tears pricking her eyes had nothing to do with the smoke burning them, and everything to do with the possibility that Julian may already be gone.
No, she would know if he was. She’d felt him leave her when Zach had staked him; she would have felt it again now, but where was he? She searched inside herself for the thin thread of her ability that had been linking them before. It took her only a moment to realize it was gone.
That means nothing! It was a new development you had no idea about it. It could have broken when you were knocked out, or before that.
She told herself this repeatedly, but her chest felt as if it were being crushed by the terror clawing at her. Staggering forward, her hands scrambled over the concrete as her senses searched for anything other than the smoke, fire, and screams. She was so hot that entering Hell itself might feel cold right now, but the wall was surprisingly cool against her fingertips.
Stumbling over a block of concrete, her foot became tangled on the edge of it and she nearly went down. Her twisted ankle throbbed, so she leaned against the wall to take a moment to steady herself.
Looking above her once more, she realized that she stood almost directly beneath the hole now. The smoke cleared away enough for her to spot Chris standing above her, pointing repeatedly at something she couldn’t see. She shoved herself away from the wall and lurched toward where he pointed. There, at the edge of the pile of debris, she saw a hand curling out from beneath a slab of concrete.
Julian! It had to be!
She leaped forward and fell beside the hand. Her knees smacked against the concrete, but she barely felt the pain in them as she grabbed at the debris and threw it aside. Her fingernails broke away with her frantic movements and blood dripped from her fingers to stain the gray chunks beneath her a deep shade of maroon.
Lifting another piece of rubble out of the way, her heart fell into her stomach when she revealed a pair of brown eyes staring blearily up at her. She almost drew back her fist and drove it into the blood-streaked face beneath her as frustration crashed over her. Knocking him out wouldn’t help her though.
“Where is he?” she screamed hoarsely at the man trapped beneath her.