puzzled by the sound he heard. As more dust and smoke swirled into the openings he realized he could hear a wind. He recalled reading somewhere that winds of up to two hundred miles an hour would follow a nuclear blast, creating an aftermath of more death and destruction. He felt the building shifting around him and curled himself into a tight ball when masonry began to fall once again.
Pieces struck his brown leather jacket, one large enough to cause his body to jerk in pain. A huge concrete slab that half covered the staircase started to move, sliding further down the wall its bulk leaned against. Culver grabbed the other man's shoulders, ready to pull him away from the advancing segment.
Fortunately, the concrete settled once more with a grinding screech.
There was not much to see through the gaping holes of the ceiling above and Culver guessed that the upper floors of the building - he couldn't recall how many storeys the office block had, but most of the buildings in that area were high -had collapsed. They had been lucky; he was sure they had fallen close to the central concrete service column, the strongest part of any modern structure, which had protected them from the worst of the demolition. How long it would hold was another matter. And the choking smoke meant another problem was on its way.
Culver tugged at the shoulder nearby. 'Hey.' He repeated his original question. ‘You okay?'
The man twisted his body and pushed himself up on one elbow. He mumbled something. Then he moaned long and loud, his body rocking to and fro. 'Oh, no, the stupid idiots really did it. The stupid, stupid ...'
'Yeah, they did it,' Culver replied in a low voice, 'but there are other things to worry about right now.'
'Where are we? What is this place?' The man began to
scrabble around, kicking at the rubble, trying to get to his feet.
Take it easy.' Culver placed a hand around the man's upper arm and gripped tightly. 'Just listen.'
Both men lay there in the gloom.
'I... I can't hear anything,' the man said after a while.
That's just it. The wind's stopped. It's passed by.' Culver gingerly rose to his knees, examining the wreckage above and around them. It had seemed silent at first, then the rending of twisted metal, the grinding and crashing of concrete, came to their ears. It was followed by the whimpers and soon the screams of the injured or those who were in shock. Something metallic clattered down from above and Culver winced as it landed a few feet away.
We've got to get out of here,' he told his companion. The whole lot's going to come down soon.' He moved closer so that his face was only inches away from the other man. It was difficult to distinguish his features in the gloom.
'If only we could see a way out,' the man said. We could be buried alive down here.'
Culver was puzzled. He stared into the other's eyes. 'Can't you see anything?'
'It's too dark ... oh no,... not that!'
When I grabbed you out on the street you were looking straight into the flash. I thought you were just shocked ... I didn't realize ...'
The man was rubbing at his eyes with his fingers. 'Oh, God, I'm blind!'
'It may be only temporary.'
The injured man seemed to take little comfort in the words. His body was shaking uncontrollably.
The smell of burning was strong now and Culver could see a flickering glow from above.
He slumped back against the wall. 'Either way we're beat,' he said, almost to himself. 'If we go outside we'll be hit by fallout, if we stay here we'll be fried or crushed to death. Great choice.' The side of his clenched fist thumped the floor.
He felt hands scrabbling at the lapels of his jacket. 'No, not yet There's still a chance. If you could just get me there, there'd be a chance.'
'Get you where?' Culver grabbed the man's wrists and pulled them from him. The world's just a flat ruin up there. Don't you understand? There's nothing left! And the air will be thick with radioactive dust.'
'Not yet. It will take at least twenty to thirty minutes for the fallout to settle to the ground. How long have we been down here?'
'I'm not sure. It could be ten minutes, it could be an hour - I may have blacked out. No, wait - we heard the winds caused by the blast; they would have followed soon after the explosion.'
Then there's a chance. If we hurry!'
'Where to? There's no place to go.'
'I know somewhere where we'll be safe.'
‘You mean the Underground station? The tunnels?'
'Safer than that.'
'What the hell are you talking about? Where?'
'I can direct you.'
'Just tell me where.'
The man was silent. Then he repeated: 'I can direct you.'
Culver sighed wearily. 'Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you here. You sure about the fallout?'
'I'm certain. But we'll have to move fast.' The man's panic appeared to be over for the moment, although his movements were still agitated.
Something overhead began a rending shift. Both men tensed.
'I think the decision is about to be made for us.'
Culver grabbed the other man below his shoulder and began to pull him towards the dimly lit staircase.
The huge slab of concrete lying at an angle across the broken stairs began to move again.
We haven't got much time!' Culver shouted. The whole bloody building's about to cave in!'
As if to confirm his statement, a deep rumbling sound came from the floor above. The building itself began to shake.
'Move! It's coming down!'
The rumbling became a roaring and the roaring an explosion of crashing timber, bricks and concrete.
The wide basement corridor was a confusion of swirling dust and deafening noise. Culver saw the right- angled gap between tilted slab and staircase narrowing.
'Come on, up the stairs!' He pushed, shoved, heaved the stumbling man before him, lifting him when he tripped over rubble, almost carrying him up the first few steps. 'Get down! Now crawl, crawl up those bloody stairs for your life! And keep your head low!'
Culver wondered if the man would have followed out his instructions had he seen what was happening.
The side of the stairway was collapsing, its metal handrail already twisted and torn from its mounting; the blast-caused sloping roof over the stairs was slowly descending, slipping inch by inch down the supporting wall. Culver could just see the murky grey daylight creeping in from the streets faintly tingeing the top steps. He quickly ducked and followed the blind man's scrambling body, unceremoniously pushing at
his ample buttocks. The man suddenly flattened as part of the concrete stairs fell inwards.
'Keep going!' Culver shouted over the noise. ‘You're okay, just keep going!'
The descending ceiling was brushing against the top of his head now and Culver considered pulling out, going back. But the situation was even worse behind: the downfall had become an avalanche and he knew that most of the floors in the building must be collapsing inwards. He pushed onwards with renewed vigour, not bothering to shout encouragement that could not be heard anyway, just heaving and shoving, forcing his way through the narrowing tunnel. He was soon flat on his stomach and beginning to give up hope; the edges of each step were scraping against his chest.
Then the obstruction in front was clear: the blind man had made it to the top and was rising to his knees and turning, realizing he was free, one hand waving in front of Culver's face to help him. Culver grabbed the hand and suddenly he was being yanked upwards, the blind man shrieking with the effort, his mouth wide open, eyes shut tight Culver's toecaps dug into the stairs, pushing, the elbow of his free arm used as a lever to heave himself up.
