to.
We found a pale leg, bruised and bleeding but unbroken, pinned under a beam. A whole section of wall and ceiling plus some of the chimney had fallen on these women. We moved the loose stuff then worked together to lift heavier pieces. At last we dragged the women out by their exposed limbs— an arm and a leg for one, both legs for the other. I didn’t enjoy it any more than they did.
On the other hand, it wasn’t that bad. The women had lost some skin here and there, and one was bleeding from the nose and mouth. She spat out blood and a couple of teeth and cursed and tried to get up. I let Zahra help her up. All I wanted to do now was get away from her.
The other one, face wet with tears, just sat and stared at us. She was quiet now in a blank, unnatural way. Too quiet. When Travis tried to help her up, she cringed and cried out. Travis let her alone. She didn’t seem to be hurt beyond a few scratches, but she might have hit her head. She might be in shock.
“Where’s your stuff?” Zahra was asking the bloody one. “We’re going to have to get away from here fast.”
I rubbed my mouth, trying to get past an irrational certainty that two of my own teeth were gone. I felt horrible— scraped and bruised and throbbing, yet whole and unbroken, undamaged in any major way.
I just wanted to huddle somewhere until I felt less miserable. I took a deep breath and went to the frightened, cringing woman.
“Can you understand me?” I asked.
She looked at me, then looked around, saw her companion wiping away blood with a grimy hand, and tried to get up and run to her. She tripped, started to fall, and I caught her, grateful that she wasn’t very big.
“Your legs are all right,” I said, “but take it easy. We have to get out of here soon, and you’ve got to be able to walk.”
“Who are you?” she asked.
“A total stranger,” I said. “Try to walk.”
“There was an earthquake.”
“Yeah. Walk!”
She took a shaky step away from me, then another.
She staggered over to her friend. “Allie?” she said.
Her friend saw her, stumbled to her, hugged her, smeared her with blood, “Jill! Thank God!”
“Here’s their stuff,” Travis said. “Let’s get them out of here while we still can.”
We made them walk a little more, tried to make them see and understand the danger of staying where we were. We couldn’t drag them with us, and what would have been the point of digging them out, then leaving them at the mercy of scavengers. They had to walk along with us until they were stronger and able to take care of themselves.
“Okay,” the bloody one said. She was the smaller and tougher of the two, not that there was that much physical difference between them. Two medium-size, brown-haired white women in their twenties. They might be sisters.
“Okay,” the bloody one repeated. “Let’s get out of here.” She was walking without limping or staggering now, though her companion was less steady.
“Give me my stuff,” she said.
I can’t describe the pain.
The others told me later that I screamed as they’d never heard anyone scream. I’m not surprised.
Nothing has ever hurt me that much before.
After a while, the agony in my chest ebbed and died.
That is, the man on top of me bled and died. Not until then could I begin to be aware of something other than pain.
The first thing I heard was Dominic, crying.
I understood then that I had also heard shots fired—
several shots. Where was everyone? Were they wounded?
Dead? Being held prisoner?
I kept my body still beneath the dead man. He was painfully heavy as deadweight, and his body odor was nauseating. He had bled all over my chest, and, if my nose was any judge, in death, he had urinated on me. Yet I didn’t dare move until I understood the situation.
I opened my eyes just a little.
Before I could understand what I was seeing, someone hauled the stinking dead man off me. I found myself looking into two worried faces: Harry and Bankole.
I coughed and tried to get up, but Bankole held me down.
“Are you hurt anywhere?” he demanded.
“No, I’m all right.” I said. I saw Harry staring at all the blood, and I added, “Don’t worry. The other guy did all the bleeding.”
They helped me up, and I discovered I was right.
The dead man had urinated on me. I was almost frantic with the need to strip off my filthy clothes and wash. But that had to wait. No matter how disgusting I was, I wouldn’t undress in daylight where I could be seen. I’d had enough trouble for one day.
I looked around, saw Travis and Natividad comforting Dominic who was still screaming. Zahra was with the two new girls, standing guard beside them as they sat on the ground.
