Nodding her understanding, the mom steeled herself and sidled toward the edge of the glass doors, staying away from the central flames.
The room tilted with another explosion. The balcony shifted, and the wall started to tear away. Before Aiden could act, half of the outer wall and ceiling came down. The heat and the force overcame the balcony’s moorings.
He had a fleeting impression of their terrified faces before the balcony broke free, and they disappeared.
Now guided only by his helmet’s flashlight, Aiden rushed over to where the girl had been. That explosion had blown out the fire since he couldn’t see any flames below him. He ruthlessly shoved rubble into the gap in the floor, finding her partially crushed by a heavy beam.
Her eyes fluttered briefly, and he took off one glove to check a pulse. Still had one, but her breathing was labored. Aiden removed his helmet and put his SCBA mask over her face. Wind rushed past him, sucked out through the gaping hole in the wall. The smoky air burned his throat, but it was necessary.
Now he had to take stock of his resources. No equipment. No rope. Nowhere to go except crouch on the edge of the floor. He couldn’t shift too much, or he’d risk sending the teenager and himself to the bottom of the hole.
He keyed his radio again. “Clarke. Sector 26! Mayday!” It was more difficult to talk with the wind and acrid smoke.
No answer. Then it occurred to him that Operations had been on Sector 24. If 26 had fallen into 25, there was a good chance 25 failed too, and 24 was a tomb. A tomb with Vanessa in it.
With nothing else to do, he sat down and waited. Either he would be rescued or he wouldn’t. His gaze was drawn back to the wind rushing out the hole. He couldn’t go out that way. Not the way the parents had. It was a three hundred-foot drop…
* * *
Vanessa had retreated into the hallway with the sound of the first explosion and hurried toward Stairwell A. Kevin and Luna were right behind her. They hit the deck at the stairwell door. A wave of flame crossed over them, searing the space above their heads. The massive ignition filled the hallway on both sides and then pulled back, dragged toward apartment 2607.
“Operations!” Luna shouted. “Operations! This is E115! There has been an explosion! We’ve lost integrity on Sector 26 with collapse into Sector 25. May be wind-driven. Requesting instructions and RIT.”
No one answered. Then her channel exploded in radio traffic, each message running over top of each other into an unintelligible jumble. “Mayday. Engine 15 is cut off on Sector 26.” Luna tried again, this time on TAC-2 which was designated for Maydays.
“Hudgens, Jefferson, if you can hear us, evacuate the civies now!” Luna called. Ideally, the proximity would let Erin’s or Theo’s radio amplify the signal. Nothing was visible past the fully involved center of the hallway or the wide chasm billowing smoke. At least twenty feet of the hallway had been lost and the entirety of Apartment 2607. “Rodriguez to Hudgens and Jefferson. Mayday E115, E215, L115, and L215.” She named herself, Kevin, Aiden, and Vanessa by their riding assignments. “We are trapped in Sector 26. There’s been a collapse into 25 and maybe 24. Mayday! Mayday!”
Vanessa grabbed her shoulder. “The door is hot!” Vanessa had one hand on the door to Stairwell A. That implied that there was fire in front of them, behind them, and below them. They had nowhere to retreat.
Kevin asked with alarm, “Where’s Clarke!?”
“He was in apartment 2607,” Vanessa said. “He said he’d found civilians.”
* * *
Noah had a split second to step back when the ceiling crashed downward. McClunis was gone in an avalanche of burning wood and ceiling tiles.
“McClunis!” he yelled. He looked upward into the large gaping hole where the ceiling had been. He saw fire above him, lighting the suddenly dark hallway, and a channel that reached at least to Sector 26.
“This is FC1 on Sector 24. Explosion likely Sector 25. Immediate evac of Sectors 24, 25, 26. Do not advance past Sector 24 until further orders. Report for a PAR at rally point on Sector 22 Rehab.” Noah flicked his radio from TAC-1 to the Command Channel. “I need more ambulances now. BC2 is unaccounted for on sector twenty-four. Will attempt RIT. Anticipate numerous burn and crush injuries. Call in Battalion 4 and 5. IC and Lobby Command to begin defensive operations.”
He found a fire extinguisher on the floor and used it to put out the burning boards closest to him. McClunis’s aide and the members of her RIT teams frantically dug through the rubble. Noah did a quick headcount, noting everyone else was accounted for. One firefighter turned on a powerful spotlight, brightening their workspace.
Luckily, they immediately found McClunis partially underneath her tactical table. Her legs were bent at unnatural angles, but the table had shielded her head.
“She’s breathing.” Noah mentally ran through his options. The stairwells were too narrow to lay her flat, and the elevators at this level were now unusable. “Get me a chair.”
A firefighter from 16 broke into a nearby apartment and brought out a dining room chair. Three of them lifted McClunis together and tied her to the chair with rope from the RIT bag.
Noah pointed toward the evac stairwell, and they ran her with many helping hands down to Stairwell B under spotlights since the emergency lights had failed. He took the tail, his SCBA on. There were sounds from the floors above, but they were in no position to freelance and explore.
They had just passed through the door to Sector 22 when another explosion shook the building.
* * *
Erin and Theo abandoned the Sector 26 hallway and forced their civilians though the Stairwell B door, slamming it closed. The emergency lights went out, leaving the stairs a black cement maw. Without time for further thought, Erin covered the six civilians with her body. Theo braced himself against the door in case the displaced air and heat pushed it open.
They heard screams and shrieks somewhere below them and the scrape of feet running downward. Shouts of ‘Mayday’ and calls to Operations. Their radios were alive with garbled transmissions and a briefly heard evac order.
