Meg gets onto her browser and starts searching something. “They’re saying it’s mostly the ER wing.”
River turns to me, her eyes pleading.
I know what she’s thinking. “Don’t. Don’t ask me to leave you,” I say.
She blinks her big loving eyes at me. “My sisters are there, Huff. I’m asking.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine. You think helping them is going to end this? We’re epic.” She cups my face. “We are invincible. Crunchy snacks forever.”
I look away. I really don’t want to go.
“Please?” She grabs my hands and squeezes.
I nod but can’t look at her. I’m not mad. I’m not hurt. I’d do the same if I were in her shoes. But the thing that pulled me here is now telling me to stay.
“What’s going on?” Meg asks.
River ignores Meg, and her gaze locks on my face. “You once swore you’d never run from a fight again.”
That’s not fair. I said it years ago. “That was before I had everything I want in the grasp of my hand.” It was before I had her.
“I’m not going anywhere, Huff,” River says reassuringly. But she doesn’t understand. Something in my gut is screaming.
“Guys! Do your drama some other time! We have to leave!” Meg yells.
“I’ll go to the hospital. For you,” I say to River.
“Hospital?” Meg asks. “Who’s going to the hosp—”
I blink, and I’m standing in the rain outside the ER. From my view near the driveway, it looks like a movie set. The roof is partially collapsed; the front doors are crushed. Water is pouring in. I think about how lucky I am that River didn’t drink mimosas and end up inside there with her sisters.
I walk around the building and find another way in near the back by the flooding parking lot.
I step inside the building, where the emergency lights are flickering. Water and debris cover the floors. Nurses and doctors are helping patients out of their rooms, getting them ready to leave. It’s all too surreal.
I rush to the first nurse I see. “Where are we taking them?”
“Huh?”
“The patients! Where are we supposed to take them?” I yell.
“Uh-uh, next building over. Fourth floor.”
“Got it. And how many need to be moved?”
“Why?”
“Dear God, woman! Just answer. I know I look young, but I’m here to help.”
She blinks. “Uh. I’m not sure. Twenty. Twenty-one, maybe. We got the critically injured patients out already. The rest need help getting to the new location safely.”
All right. I have twenty people to help move. Then I’ll check on River’s sisters and make sure everyone’s all right.
I zip to the first section, where an older man is hooked up to a monitor that’s already unplugged. Probably a good idea since the floor is covered in water.
“Who are you?” he asks.
“I’m Huff.” I carefully unhook the wires and grab hold of his IV bag before scooping him up. Ew. Ew. Ew. I’m touching his naked ass. “What’s your name?” Might as well know whose ass I’m palming.
“Harold.”
“Nice to meet you.” I take him out the side of the building, the way I came in. It’s pouring buckets, and he’s getting soaked, so I move as fast as I can without scaring the poor man to death. I climb the stairs and find an empty gurney in the hall on the fourth floor. The hospital staff is running frantically to each patient, trying to get them set up with whatever they need.
“Okay, buddy. Here you go.” I set him down and hook his baggie on the elevated arm attached to the bed. I grab a blanket from another gurney and place it over him.
“How’d you run so fast?” He looks terrified.
“Oh, uh. Vitamins.”
I try to zip back to the ER, but now the doorway is completely blocked. Crap! It looks like more of the ceiling came down. The patients and staff are probably trapped inside. I have no idea if they’re dead or alive. I just know that there are no rescue workers, no cranes, no people to help.
All they have is me.
I stand outside the building on the walkway, the rain pelting my head like a firehose pointing down from the sky. I stare at the wreckage in front of me, constantly wiping my face to see clearly. There has to be another way in.
I do a lap around the perimeter. It’s a one-story structure that connects to a ten-story building via an enclosed portion in the middle. That part looks like it was the first to go. The side exit has a big tree down in front of it. The back door I just came out of is blocked. I’m just not seeing an easy way to get inside.
Suddenly, I hear screams for help. A chill shoots down my spine. I know some of River’s sisters are in there. She’ll be devastated if anything happens to them.
Buckets of water continue pelting my head. Okay. Think. Think. I go slowly, inspecting the damage calmly. It’s a pile of wet rubble with a waterfall flowing over it. There’s a steel beam sticking out of the side. Steel beams are strong, right? Maybe if I lift it, I can create an opening.
I walk over and test the weight, lifting with two hands.
Nothing. Not even an inch.
“Sir! Sir! Please move away from the building. It’s not safe.” A security woman in a yellow slicker urges me to move back.
I tell her no and also apologize, because it’s not like me to be rude to a person who’s simply trying to do their job.
“Sir! You have to get back. That building is collapsing!”
I agree. The worst isn’t over. More of that roof is going to come down. Inside, I hear the voices pleading for help. One woman is on the phone, talking to 911. She’s saying what I’ve already figured out. All exits are blocked, and water’s coming in.
If I can manage to lift that beam, I’d have to prop it up on something, but all I see is a big dumpster over in the corner of the lot. It looks heavy.
I zip over and start pushing. To my shock, it actually moves. I push it around cars and dividers with trees until the thing is at the curb. I have to lift it and get it over the edge.
One, two, three! One edge goes up and over just enough for me to push the dumpster next to the building’s collapsed wall.
Now the woman in the slicker is just standing there in the rain, staring at me.
“I think you should move back,” I tell her. “I have no idea what’s going to happen.”
I take hold of the beam, pulling up, but it does no good. It’s too heavy. There’s no way I can do this alone.
My cell rings, and I pull it from my sopping wet jeans pocket. River.
“Huff, listen to me,” she says, “you have to get out of there. That building looks like it’s going to go.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m watching on my phone. Someone’s streaming it live, and the news is showing it.”
From my periphery, I spot that security woman pointing her phone at me. “Seriously, lady? Get out of here! It’s dangerous.”
“No. You get out of there,” River yells.
“First you beg me to come and help. Now you want me not to help. Which is it, Riv?”
“Fine! Save them. But hurry! And keep me on speaker. I want to hear what’s happening so I can keep freaking out and yelling at you to be careful.”