by Simon Archer
“What? What do you see?” Clem asked, coming to his senses.
“What’s going on?” I added to the torrent of questions being lodged at the foxgirl. “Are you alone in there?”
“What? Oh, yeah, I’m alone,” she said absent mindedly. “There’s no one else in here with me. It’s just… this room is so strange.” Relief washed over me, and I wasn’t the only one. Kinley dropped her hands to her sides for the first time since Kira left us standing there.
“What’s weird about it?” Clem asked, his concern replaced by excitement. “What do you see?”
“I… I’m not really sure how to describe it,” Kira said slowly. “It’s like…. I think it was some kind of filing room.” Clem grew even more excited at this.
“What? What is it?” he asked hurriedly, practically jumping up and down on the balls of his feet.
“I… there are filing cabinets everywhere,” Kira said. “But it seems like someone emptied them in a hurry. Well, not exactly emptied them, exactly, but…. Well, the drawers are all open, I guess that’s what I mean…”
“So, is there anything in them or not?” I asked, growing confused. Kira seemed confused herself, really.
“No… I mean, yes….” Kira stammered. “Well, they’re full of ash. The floor, too.”
“Ash?” I repeated, more than a little surprised now. “What do you mean ash?”
“I mean ash,” she repeated simply. “It’s like… someone came in and torched all the files that were in here in a hurry and then didn’t clean up after themselves.”
We all stared at each other in confusion and disbelief.
“How many filing cabinets are there?” Clem asked. “How big is the room?”
“It’s really big,” Kira said, and her voice sounded more distant now as if she was walking away from us. “I’m walking through it now. There are rows and rows of these cabinets, and every single one of them is torched. There are burn marks and everything. It’s crazy. It kind of smells like smoke, too, but old smoke, kind of stale, like it’s been trapped in here for a while.”
“I guess it would be difficult for the air to circulate down here,” Semra reasoned. “If they did this ten days ago or more, when they thought we might be coming for them, it would make some sense.”
“A fire down here would be really dangerous, though, wouldn’t it?” I asked, more to myself than everyone else. “I mean, if it got out of hand, there wouldn’t be anywhere for them to go now, would there?”
“I guess not,” Clem said. “That would really suck, wouldn’t it?”
“Would’ve been nice if it actually had gotten out of hand,” Semra said, shrugging. “Would’ve done our work for us, pretty much. Saved us from fighting that huge battle at the end there.”
“But then who would sing our glory?” Clem asked, shooting her a grin.
“I think the whole lot of us have had more than enough glory for several lifetimes already,” I said, giving him a pointed look.
“Fair enough,” he shrugged.
“Okay, so what do we do now?” Cindra asked. “Should she just come back?”
“I’m looking around,” Kira called back, clearly having had listened to us as she made her way through the mysterious room. “I want to make sure I look through all the cabinets, that they didn’t leave anything behind.”
“Good, that’s good,” Clem said. “If we can even find anything…”
“Isn’t most of the stuff virtually indecipherable, anyway?” Semra asked.
“We thought the message logs we were looking at in the board meeting were indecipherable, and we still managed to get something worthwhile out of them,” I reminded her. “Maybe we’ll be able to crack something else, too, even if we don’t understand it right away. It can’t hurt.”
“Don’t speak so soon,” Cindra said, giving me a sardonic look.
“You have a point there,” I gave her, raising my eyebrows. Then, calling across the cluttered hallway, “How’re you doin’ back there, Kira? Still doing okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “Still working on getting through all of the… oh!”
“What? What is it?” I asked, whipping my head around wildly, my heart pounding in my chest again. “What’s going on?”
“I think I found something!” she cried. To hell with keeping quiet, apparently. Oh well.
“What? What is it?” Clem asked eagerly, in a much more cheerful tone than I had.
“I don’t know…” she said, her voice trailing off as she examined whatever it was. “I can’t make heads or tails of it, really. It’s about half of a burnt packet of… something… I don’t know what. Maybe Malthe or one of you guys will be able to figure it out. Oh! Here’s another one.”
“Awesome,” Clem hissed, pumping his fist at his side.
Semra rolled her eyes at him.
“Hey, from where I’m standing, we got something out of all this,” he said defensively.
“Fair enough,” she said.
“What’s going on, Kira?” I asked. “Are you coming back now?”
“I’m just going through a few things,” she said. “I want to make sure I cover all my bases. I have a couple more cabinets to do.”
“Okay, but hurry,” I said as another concrete slab fell from the ceiling.
“I don’t like the look of that,” Cindra said quietly, following my gaze to the growing pile of debris.
“Your presence there has probably disturbed it,” Malthe said in my ear, probably having heard the debris fall on the other line. “Sound waves alone can mess with shit like that. Not to mention all the moving around and the door and all that.”
“Shit,” I cursed, shaking my head and looking down at the floor. “Hurry up, Kira, this place is falling apart as we speak!”
“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” she called back in as soft a voice as she could while still allowing her voice to carry. “I think I’m done. I’m coming back now.”
We heard her shuffling around and making her way back to the door. Then, she shut and locked it behind her. That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back: that one, soft little motion and sound. Just like that, the whole place caved in, just like we’d feared.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Kinley cried, jumping around, trying to see Kira over all of the falling debris.
“Kira!” Cindra screamed. “Kira!” But she didn’t call back. I could tell through our bond that she was still alive and well, but scared out of her mind and frozen with fear and indecision.
“Fuck it, I’m going in,” I said, charging forward.
“Joch, don’t be a fucking idiot!” I heard Semra call after me, but I wasn’t listening. I needed to get to her, and I needed to get to her fast.
I maneuvered around both the currently falling debris and the debris that already littered the ground. I wasn’t a small man by any stretch of the imagination, but I would have to press through by sheer force of will. Sure, neither Clem nor any of his guys had managed to get past the pipe themselves, and I was probably bigger than any of them, but they had been trying to avoid causing another avalanche at the same time. That didn’t apply anymore. The avalanche had already come. And one of the people I cared most about in this world was stuck on the other side.
“Kira!” I called. “Kira, I’m coming for you, don’t move!”
“Nic, what the hell are you going to…” Cindra started to ask, but I blocked her out. I had to worry about Kira right now, not anyone else.
I reached the pipe, stumbling over a last piece of debris and rolling my ankle.
“Ah!” I gasped, but gritted my teeth and kept going through the pain.
“What? What’s going on?” Malthe asked, slightly panicked, with me all the way in my earpiece.
“I’m fine,” I grunted, pain still shooting up and down my leg. “Just a little scratch.”
“Are you okay, Nic?” Cindra called desperately after me, not having heard Malthe and me talking.
“Fi
ne,” I called back in as cheerful a tone as I could muster.
I walked up to the pipe and stared at it. Then, turning back to the rest of my team, I gave them new orders.
“Leave,” I instructed them. “Run, get the hell out of here. Once I move this thing, the whole place is going to collapse, if it hasn’t already. You don’t want to be here when that happens.”
“Nic, if anything happens to you, that means we’re goners, too,” Kinley reminded me with her characteristic abrasiveness, but I knew it was because she just cared so much. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“I have no intention of letting Kira and me get stuck down here any more than I do of letting that happen to you,” I argued back. “But once this thing really caves in, trying to wrangle all of us out of here at once is going to just make everything all that more difficult. So get out of here, now, and Kira and I will find a way out after you. We’ll blow the place up if we have to. But just go, now!” I yelled the last part since they were still all just standing there, infuriatingly.
They hesitated for a moment more. But then, realizing that I was both serious and right, Semra took charge.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing both Cindra and Kinley by the elbows. “He’s right. We have to get out of here before it caves in. Go!”
Clem blinked and then stumbled after them. In an ideal situation, I would’ve wanted to give them a pretty good head start before I moved the pipe. But then again, in an ideal situation, this wouldn’t be happening at all in the first place. And I still couldn’t hear anything from Kira, though I could tell through our bond that she was still alive and conscious. But even so, I didn’t know how long she had or what her specific situation was. So I had to act fast, and hope that the rest of my team would, too.
I watched until I saw Kinley and Cindra’s fluffy tails, sticking straight up in the air as a sign of their anxiety, disappear around the nearest corner. Then, I called out for Kira again, reaching into our bond, as well, to let her know I was looking for her.
That I hadn’t gone with the rest of them. That I wouldn’t leave her here alone, ever.
“Kira,” I called. “Are you still with me? Can you tell me what’s going on?”
I heard a muffled call in return, though I couldn’t make out any specific words. I knew it was her, though. I’d recognize that voice anywhere. And I could tell in our bond that she had heard me and was trying to respond.
“I didn’t catch that,” I called back. “Can you tell me where you are? Just try to speak a little louder.”
More muffled sounds came in response, and I felt a leap of anxiety in Kira through our bond alongside the relief at knowing that I was still there. I got the distinct and disturbing feeling that something had trapped her, and that was why I was having trouble hearing her. And that meant that if I moved the pipe and everything caved in, she might not have anywhere to go if anything more fell on her. She could be literally crushed.
I tried to squeeze through the small opening underneath the pipe but quickly gave up. Clem was right. It was way too small. Even Kira had a hard time getting through, and I was significantly larger than she was.
I bit my lip, trying to decide what to do. If I didn’t move the pipe, Kira could die because I wouldn’t be able to get to her, and it was pretty clear that she wouldn’t be able to get to me. But if I did, I could kill her by causing another avalanche. Then, I decided. The keyword was “could.” If I did nothing, she would die, but if I did move the pipe, there was still a chance I could get to her.
I had to risk it. No risk, no reward.
“Okay, Kira, I’m going to move the pipe and come for you,” I called out to her, hating myself for my decision already as I said it, but still knowing that I’d made the right decision. “It might cause more problems, so if you can, try to get out of the way of any falling debris. But only if you can. Don’t hurt yourself trying to get away, that could be even worse. Otherwise, I’m coming for you. I’ll be there as soon as I can.
And with that, I slipped sort of under the pipe and braced with my arms to move it, gritting my teeth and grunting from the exertion.
The thing didn’t budge at first. It was huge, after all. But it was loose, torn out of proper position by the battle to tumble down here. So if I could just muster up enough strength, I could move the thing.
Finally, it moved. Just an inch, but that was still something. I could feel Kira’s heart racing in our bond, right alongside mine. But I could tell she was ready, bracing herself for what was coming.
When the thing moved, it moved slightly to my right.
“Okay,” I said, panting and taking a short break from all the pushing. “Okay, we might be getting somewhere after all.” It looked like the rest of my team got that nice head start, anyway. They were probably at the edge of the residential tunnels by then, or at least I hoped they were.
When I’d caught some of my breath back, I shifted so that I was slightly to the left of the pipe, so when I managed to move it completely, I would have a better shot of getting out from under it before everything fell.
“I’m coming, Kira,” I called out, knowing she would want an update. “Just a little while longer. I’m working on it. The second you hear this thing drop, start screaming, okay? That way I have a better shot at finding you in this mess.”
I heard a small muffled sound in response that I took to be assent.
Then, I tried again. This time, the pipe moved a few inched farther to the left, but I didn’t stop to rest at that, seeing that it was growing looser, and I needed to keep going. Otherwise, the whole tunnel could just collapse on top of me before I rolled away.
So I pushed harder and harder until I felt like I was going to explode, and then I kept pushing after that, too. And then, finally, the thing clattered to the ground with a huge booming sound. I ducked and rolled, ending up on the other side of the hallway at long last.
More rumbling, deeper and louder this time, came from above me, and the whole ceiling began to collapse where I had just been mere moments before. But the rest of the hallway was mercifully still, for now.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I called breathlessly to Kira, and I heard more muffled sounds, louder and more frequent this time, coming from my front left.
There was a lot of debris in my way, and the rumbling above me was starting to move further down the tunnel which did not bode well. I needed to find Kira, and I needed to find her fast before the whole place caved in. And then, if I managed that, there was the whole matter of finding a way out of here. I looked back and realized there was no way we would get out the way we came. The path was too littered with debris and obstructed by the pipe.
I scrambled around several obstacles, including another, smaller pipe, a giant pile of what looked like drywall, and a whole host of other objects in my feverish attempts to get to Kira.
“Don’t stop screaming,” I yelled at her. “Even if you get tired. I need to be able to hear you.”
And she didn’t stop. As I grew closer to the end of the hallway, her voice became clearer, and I started to be able to make out some words.
“I’m here!” she screamed over and over again. “I’m here! Right here! Under the….” But I couldn’t make out the last word. Even so, I realized the closer I got where she was. She was under a giant piece of what looked like ceiling tiles, which were, in turn, buried under some more piping.
“Okay, I see you, I see you,” I cried, finally reaching where she was buried.
Just as I got there, the rumbling above us gave way, and the entire rest of the ceiling gave in behind me.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I cursed as Kira cried out in shock and confusion at the sound.
I felt her anxiety, and she could feel mine. But while the space above us continued to rumble, the cave-in hadn’t quite reached us yet.
“Okay, I need you to push on this stuff with me, okay?” I instructed her. “I’ll help you with our bond, but I need you to help me, too.”
>
“Okay,” she said in response, though her voice was still muffled and hard to make out.
I focused on our bond as I tried to pull all the debris off of her as quickly as I could and helped her find the will in all her tiredness to push against the stuff holding her down. She never would’ve managed to get out of there alone, but together we were able to get the piping off, and then the drywall, and then all the rest of it. Finally, one of her arms and part of her face and torso became visible amidst all the wreckage.
“There you are!” I cried, happier than I’d ever been to see someone in my life. I reached down and squeezed her limp, outstretched hand.
“Nic,” she mumbled, tossing her head from side to side. Her eyes fluttered open and shut as she worked very hard to stay conscious. “You found me. You stayed.”
“Of course I did,” I said quickly. “I wouldn’t leave you here alone. Now come on, don’t fall asleep on me yet, we still have to get the rest of you out of here.”
She groaned and opened her eyes again, blinking a few times at the flickering, busted lights up ahead.
More rumbling came from right behind me. I glanced back to see that debris blocked us into the place. The rocks and metal filled the entire hallway up to the top just about.
“Oh god,” Kira groaned, rolling her head back. “We’re goners.”
“No, we’re not,” I said sharply. “Not yet. We still have time. Come on.”
I grabbed her by the armpits and pulled hard. No part of her was still totally stuck under any debris since I managed to loosen most of it up, already, so doing this didn’t hurt her. It just managed to pull her out from under the remaining debris.
Then, I slung her limp form over my left shoulder, her tail dangling over near my cheek, and ran in the direction of the door, the one leading to the room she’d found those papers in. Speaking of the papers, she clutched them in one of her hands, determined to keep what she came for, not to let this all be for nothing. It was impressive, really, that she’d managed to hang on to them for so long.
The door had a segment broken out of it, which I knew from what Kira had told us while she was doing it, but she had taken the time to put it back in place and try to make it less obvious that she had done this, should someone come looking for the room that we didn’t want to find it. It was an admirable attempt, but probably what caused this all to happen. One last disturbance to break the camel’s back if you will.
