Linkage: The Narrows of Time

Chapter 15

Extrication





Drew reached up withhis left hand and clutched the lowest part of the fallen metal. Helet go of his brother’s shoulder with the other hand and hung freefrom the framework using both hands. He pulled himself up three rungsbefore wedging his right elbow between two V-shaped sections of themetal scaffolding to catch his breath and plan his next move. A flatsection of metal was to his left, which he could use as a restingplatform. He just needed to figure out a way to get his body onto it.

He swung his lower bodylike a pendulum and plopped both of his feet over the front edge ofthe horizontal surface. He only had minimal control over his legs,but was able to shimmy his knees and his thighs onto the ledge. Sofar so good, he thought. He just needed to maneuver his head andshoulders under a metal support rail to get his entire body onto themetal landing, then he’d be safe.

He let loose of hiselbow grip and tried to slide his head and back under the railing,but the knapsack caught the underside of the railing above his head.He twisted and contorted his upper body to compress the backpack,forcing it under the rail. It worked.

“You okay?” Lucasasked.

“I’m good. Come onup,” Drew replied, removing the bulky knapsack.

Lucas leaned away fromthe debris pile’s face and wrapped his fingers around thebottommost metal bar. He tried to pull himself up, making it partway,but then his body slid back into its hanging position. “I’m notstrong enough,” he said.

“See if you can liftyour leg and grab hold of the bar above you. That’ll take some ofthe dead weight off your hands.”

Lucas grunted, liftinghis right leg and wrapping the hollow of his knee around the metalbar next to his hands. “Okay, now what?” he asked, in a strainedvoice.

“Now reach up andlock your arm over the next strut. Your center of gravity will changeand you should be able to pull yourself up.”

Lucas tried twice toreach for the bar. “Can’t reach it. I should have had a power barthis morning.”

Drew feared Lucas wouldsoon lose his grip; his arms had to be getting tired. One slip andthey would be having wheelchair races in the hospital. “Tryswinging your body to shift your weight. Then lunge for the bar. Youshould be able to reach it.”

Lucas rocked his bodyback and forth, each time swinging a little higher. He reached up andwrapped his right arm around the metal bar, locking himself intoplace with the crook of his elbow. He climbed the rest of the way up.

“I knew you could doit,” Drew said, relieved.

“Glad that’s overwith. I thought I was toast,” Lucas said, looking down.

Drew could feel thetemporary platform swaying beneath them. “We should get movingbefore this thing decides to give way.”

Together, they climbedup the rest of the makeshift ladder until they reached the top of thedebris pile.

“Can you get inthere?” Lucas asked, pointing to the bright opening just above him.

“It’s going to betight, but I’ll try.”

Drew used a piece ofrebar protruding from a slab of broken cement to pull himself up.When he inserted his head into the passage, he jerked his head backand slammed his eyes shut from the light beaming through from theother side.

“What do you see?”Lucas yelled from behind.

“Give me a minute.Right now, all I can see is sunlight from the other side.”Eventually, Drew’s pupils adjusted and he could see properly.“Looks like a dirt cave, but I think I can crawl through.”

The aperture was barelywide enough for his chest and shoulders to fit. It was about six feetin depth, and there were several jagged objects sticking out alongthe top of the opening. He went into the cavity head first, on hisback. He slithered deeper and deeper into the hole, barely missingthe sharp objects wanting to slice open his chest. He made it towithin a foot from the far side of the hole.

“Can you getthrough?” Lucas yelled from behind.

Drew turned over on hisstomach. “There’s something in my way.”

Part of a fluorescentlight assembly had fallen into the passage and was blocking the exit.He gave it a shove with his right hand. It moved, but only slightly.He tried working the light back and forth to see if he could move it.Each time he shoved at it, the housing would slide a little fartheraway from him. It took several more tries, but eventually he workedthe light free, sending it crashing through the far side of theopening. “I’m clear,” he shouted.

“Go get help,”Lucas replied.

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine. Nowgo.”

Drew slid headfirst,out of control, down the far side of the debris pile, scraping hiselbows and forearms on rocks and other objects in the wreckage. Hewas almost upside down when he finally reached the bottom. After heflipped his body around to sit up, he felt something wet around hiswaistline. He reached inside the back of his trousers and found ahandful of fresh blood. He had been injured somewhere, yet he wasn’tfeeling any pain.

He checked the rest ofhis body, looking for the wound. He found a six-inch rip in his pantsjust above his left thigh. He pulled the material apart, revealing adeep gash in his thigh muscle that was bleeding in spurts. He couldsee the bone underneath. He clamped his hand around the wound to keeppressure on it.

When he looked up, hecould see clear up to ground level. The surface opening was triplethe size he was expecting, perhaps due to the massive cave-in. Itwould explain the overabundance of dirt in the stairwell.

“Hello? Anyone upthere? We need help down here!” he shouted.

A man wearingfirefighter gear peeked over the ledge and looked down at him. Hethen turned away for a moment and yelled, “We have a survivor overhere!” The man looked back at Drew. “Are you injured?”

“I’m bleeding frommy leg and can’t walk.”

“Are you alone?”

“There’re seven ofus down here. One’s in pretty bad shape.”

“Hang on, we’llsend someone down,” the man said, before disappearing from view.

It wasn’t long beforethe surface opening was crawling with emergency personnel. A rescueworker wearing a full-body harness was lowered down by rope to Drew’sposition.

“My name’s Alan,”the rescuer said, swaying in midair before his feet touched theground.

“I’m Drew.”

“Where are theothers?”

“My brother’s juston the other side of this cave-in. There are four more people down onthe twentieth floor. One of them is in pretty bad shape.”

Alan was carryinganother harness, which he took off his shoulder. “I need you to putthis safety harness on.”

“No, I’m notleaving without my brother.”

“Trust me. We’llget to him, and your friends. But first, we need to get you to thesurface. You’re losing a lot of blood.”

Drew struggled to standon his feeble legs. “You’re going to have to help me.”

Alan slipped Drew’slower body through the two leg holes, and then put the V-shapedshoulder straps over Drew’s head. He latched the waist belt aroundDrew’s midsection, and clipped Drew’s harness to his own.

“Hang on tight,” hesaid, whistling to his colleagues on the surface. Once he gave them athumbs-up signal, they were winched slowly up to the surface.

Drew studied thedark-haired man's face as they made their way up to the surface. Heseemed familiar in some way. "You wouldn't happen to have abrother who's a security guard on campus, would you?"

"No, why?"

"I know it soundsweird, but you look like you're related to this man who stopped afight between my brother and some rugby players—except he had redhair."

"Sorry, norelation. I don't have a redheaded brother."

"I guess it's truewhat they say. Everyone has a twin."

* * *

Kleezebeeand Rosenbaum joined Rapp, Larson, and the injured Dr. Suki in thelobby on Sublevel 20, just outside the NASA conference room.Kleezebee’s left armpit was getting sore from the makeshift crutchrubbing against it. He moved the crutch to the other side.

“Were you able to getit started?” Rapp asked.

Kleezebee nodded. “Thepower should be online soon.”

“Excellent news. Anyproblems?” Rapp replied, taking the iPad computer from Rosenbaum.

“None,” Kleezebeesaid as the lights sprang to life. He felt a rush of fresh air blowpast him from the vent above him. “Whew, that’s better. It wasgetting pretty stuffy in here.”

Larson asked, “Nowthat the power’s back, can we take the elevator up to the surface?”

“The elevator wasdestroyed,” Rosenbaum replied. “Dr. Kleezebee and I had to takethe stairs up to eighteen.”

“Any news from Dr.Ramsay or his brother?” Rapp asked Kleezebee.

“No, but at leastthey haven’t come back empty-handed. Hopefully, they made it to thesurface and sent help.”

“So we just sit hereand wait?” Larson asked.

“Hey, you had yourchance to leave earlier. So unless you have a site-to-sitetransporter and can beam us out of here, we’re not going anywhere.”

Larson stormed off,throwing his arms up in the air and mumbling to himself as he walkeddown the hallway.

Kleezebee mocked him bywaving his arms like a gorilla, and then arranged his hands as if hewere holding a loaded rifle. He pretended to pull the trigger,simulating the gun’s recoil. He walked to the closest chair in thewaiting area.

“How’s Dr. Sukidoing?” Rosenbaum asked Rapp.

“He’s hanging inthere, but his pulse is weak and he’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Should we move himcloser to the stairs?”

“We probablyshouldn’t move him again. I’m afraid the rebar might shift andcause more damage.”

“Is there anything Ican do to help?” she asked.

Rapp shook his head.

Kleezebee checked thehouse phone attached to the wall next to him—there was no dialtone. “Phone’s still out.” He took a seat in one of the waitingroom chairs after pushing the seat off. He slid one of the magazinestacks over on the coffee table, making room for his injured leg. Heleaned back in the chair, closed his heavy eyelids, and let his headfall back against the wall.

* * *

Twosweat-covered firefighters tugged at the rope as Drew and Alan werewinched over the ledge and onto the ground just beyond thestairwell’s entrance.

“Thanks for the lift,guys,” Drew said, waiting for someone to help him out of the safetygear.

Lucas’ earlierprediction of the science lab being leveled was correct. From thelooks of it, the energy field had torn through the west side ofcampus, leaving only a fifty-foot section of NASA’s buildingintact. The stairwell’s shaft appeared to be just beyond the energyfield’s reach, though a sizable portion of the surroundingstructure had collapsed into the hole.

A female EMT, wearingan orange reflective vest, pushed a gurney toward Drew, while herpartner ran alongside her, carrying a pair of red medical boxes.After Alan unclipped Drew’s harness, she helped Drew remove theharness and sit back on the gurney.

Alan told hiscolleagues, “There’s another survivor on the other side of acave-in, plus a few more down on the twentieth floor. You’re goingto need excavation equipment and a medical team.”

Drew watched rescuecrews rally quickly with shovels, picks, and other equipment. Secondslater, two men were lowered into the hole. He hoped it wouldn’t betoo long before Lucas came up and out.

“Thanks for gettingme out of there,” Drew said, shaking Alan’s hand.

“No problem. Justdoing my job,” Alan said. “Dana will take good care of you now.”

Dana used a pair ofscissors to cut away his pants from around the wound. “That’s apretty deep cut. We need to get you to a hospital.”

Drew pushed her handsaway. “I’m not leaving without my brother.”

“We need to stop thebleeding,” Dana said. “Can I at least clean it out and wrap it?”

Drew was starting tofeel lightheaded. “Okay, but I’m not leaving until Lucas is outof there.”

The second EMT openedone of the medical boxes, pulling out gauze and other supplies. Hehanded them to Dana.

“Let me know if youneed something for the pain,” she said, dabbing the gauze on thewound. The pad turned a dark red color almost immediately.

Drew leaned back torest his head on the pillow. His eyes closed unexpectedly.

* * *

Lucashad been sitting alone for almost an hour when he heard muffledsounds of tools clanking against rock and cement. He used a rebarstump to pull himself up to the opening at the top of the debrispile. He yelled through the cavity, “I’m here! I’m here! Cansomeone hear me?”

A male voice from theother said shouted back, “We can hear you. Hold on, we’re diggingour way to you.”

“How’s my brotherdoing? Is he okay?”

“He tore up his legpretty bad, but the paramedics took him to the hospital. You mightwant to stand back in case some of this stuff shakes loose.”

Lucas nearly jumped offthe wreckage in excitement. He quickly descended to the ground andwaited for rescue. While he was waiting, someone tapped him on theshoulder. He turned around. It was Larson. “Shit, you scared thehell out of me.”

“Sounds like rescuecrew’s on the other side,” Larson said with a gleeful tone.“Hopefully, they’ll have us out of here soon.”

“What are you doingup here?”

“I got tired ofwaiting. Do you have a problem with that?”

Lucas shook his head.

“No, I didn’t thinkso,” Larson said with a smug look on his face.

Lucas wanted to drophim right then and there, but didn’t.

Larson used his leftarm to nudge past Lucas, moving closer to the base of the cave-in. Hejust stood there with his hands on his hips, looking up at theopening at the top of the wreckage.

Lucas moved to within astep of the man’s backside. He raised his hands together andconsidered wrapping his fingers around Larson’s neck. He wonderedwhat it would feel like to squeeze Larson’s throat until thea*shole stopped wiggling.

Larson shuffled back astep.

Lucas did the same,lowering his hands so he did not bump into him.

Larson looked over hisshoulder at Lucas. “Stop crowding me. What are you, gay?”

When Larson facedforward again, Lucas flipped him the bird and mouthed the words “F*ckyou.”

* * *

Drewwoke up in a hospital room to the sounds of medical equipment beepingall around him. There was an IV stuck in his left arm and a bloodpressure cuff pumping around his right bicep. His thigh was throbbingwith every heartbeat, which was odd since he only had minimal feelingin that part of his body. When he reached down, he found a pressurebandage wrapped around his leg. He sat up and found a friend sittingin a red easy chair to his left. “Trevor, you’re alive!”

Trevor just smiled backat him.

“What happened?”Drew asked.

“You lose much blood.Ambulance bring you to medical center.”

Drew read his patientID wristband. He was in the University Medical Center, less than amile north of campus. “No, I meant what happened to you, when youleft the NASA meeting?”

“Kleezebee send me onerrand.”

“I thought you mighthave been in the lab when it was destroyed.”

“I vas south oftown.”

“Where’s Lucas?”

“They just rescue him. He be here soon.”

“Then he’s safe?”

“Ja.”

“Thank God. What about the others?”

“They get them out, too.”

A doctor and nurse walked into the room.

* * *

Fifty-fiveminutes later, Lucas strolled into Drew’s hospital room, pushing awheelchair with a can of grape soda, a jumbo Snicker’s bar, and abag of barbeque chips sitting on the seat. He had just bought thefood from the vending machines near the entrance to the hospital.Drew’s backpack was hanging off the back of the chair.

“Hungry, littlebrother?” Lucas asked with a huge grin on his face.

“Lucas!” Drew criedout.

Lucas leaned down togive Drew a hug.

“You brought mychair?”

“Kleezebee made surethe firemen brought it up when they were rescued.”

Lucas shook Trevor’shand. “Glad to see you’re still in one piece, big fella. Wethought we might have lost you.”

Trevor stood aside andoffered his chair to Lucas.

“No, thanks. I thinkI’ll stand for a while.”

“How’s Dr.Kleezebee?” Drew asked Lucas.

“Last I heard they’reputting a cast on his ankle.”

“And Dr. Suki?”

“That dude’s inrough shape. They took him into surgery,” Lucas said, fluffing hisbrother’s pillow. “How are you doing?”

“The doc said I canleave in the morning. They want to monitor me overnight for sepsis.”

“Then I guess I’mbunking here tonight,” Lucas said, opening the can of grape sodaand giving it to Drew.

Drew took a drink, andthen let out a low-pitched belch.

“Sounds like you’refeeling better already,” Lucas said, smiling. He held up the candybar and the bag of chips. “Which one do you want?”

“I don’t think I’mallowed to eat those in here. Don’t I need the doctor’spermission first?”

“Come on, pick one. Iknow you want some,” Lucas replied, dangling them in front of Drew.He continued to tease his brother until Drew snatched the Snickersbar from his hand. “I’m surprised you didn’t pick the chips.They’re your favorite.”

Drew tore open thewrapper, took a huge bite, and began to chew it. He smiled and said,“The chocolate just sounded good.”

Lucas pried open thebag, and ate of handful of BBQ chips. He licked his fingersafterward. “They’re a little stale, but edible.”

There was an orangesuitcase sitting along the wall next to the door. It was a wheel bagthe size of a footlocker, with a black pullout handle and a pair ofcasters on the bottom. They didn’t own a piece of luggage thatsize, so he presumed it belonged to Trevor. “You wouldn’t happento have a change of clothes in there for me, would you?” he asked,pointing at the bag.

Trevor shook his head. “Sorry, no clothes.”