Suddenly the fire alarms began blaring, a sign of events surrounding them only growing more dire by the second.
Wasting no further time, the survivors in the room set about trying to prise the air duct cover off with whatever they could muster. Finally, with a clatter, the cover dropped to the ground beneath them.
Much to their surprise a man scrambled in first, not giving the others even so much as a second thought. After some nasty words from Lori to the selfish coward, the remaining eight worked together to hold the door and save as many lives as they could.
One of them, a veteran who fought in Afghanistan, wanted to hold the door, the others quickly decided who should be first to enter the duct and a young man was picked, he would guide the way for the others. Secondly two children would follow behind him, but not before a hesitant teary eyed departure from their mother, a departure that tugged at Rachel’s heart.
After, with much delegation, finally parting them from their mother and getting them into the air duct, she attempted to go next, but sadly the air duct was simply too narrow for her and most likely too for the well built veteran holding the door. Try as she might, she simply couldn’t make it in, finally conceding and with cheeks of red and eyes soaked with tears, she asked Rachel and Lori to tell her children that she loved them with all her heart and to promise to protect them. Heartbroken, Rachel and Lori obliged and went next, Rachel first, due to Lori’s insistence.
The last thing Rachel would see before clambering into the air duct was the expressions on the faces of the mother and veteran, the expressions of sadness and desperation, of determination and plea, before she headed into the air duct, followed closely by Lori and shortly after that was a loud crash of what sounded like the door to the room. Screams and shouting ensued, as the final person to attempt to enter the air duct, a panic stricken girl who looked no older than her early twenties scrambled to get as far into the air duct as possible, however, she didn’t make it far before she was dragged right back out screaming, naturally Lori, now at the rear, was panic stricken and wanted nothing more than to get as far away from that room as possible. Her frustration and fear only grew as those in front of her slowed down for decision making. Honestly, Rachel felt the same way, worrying more for her girlfriend behind her than anything else.
They pushed forwards, putting more distance between them and where they came in. It was ridiculously claustrophobic and pitch black, so it was only too lucky they still had their phones to use for a light source.
Getting the two kids to keep moving forward was proving also to be a tremendous challenge, for this entire experience would have to have been pretty traumatic and not just the, dark air duct, or the screaming from the girl behind them as she was pulled back to her death, they were still unaware of their mother’s wellbeing and that was probably only compounding what anxieties they may already have had.
After what felt like an eternity of shuffling through a dusty, dark air duct, they came to an opening leading to a storage room below. They had the option of continuing on, but there was no way of telling whether that would lead them to safety or right into the midst of danger. They’d take their chances here.
They clambered out of the air duct, Lori the last person to step out, as the kids looked on expectantly.
“Where is mummy?” The daughter asked.
“Yeah, where is mum?” The son asked, he looked a little older than his sister.
“She… she stayed behind”, Rachel replied, after Lori had clambered out of the air duct with no one behind her.
“Why did mummy stay behind? The bad people are behind. The bad people will get her”. The kids began to cry.
“We should get moving, we don’t have time for that right now”, Lori replied, grabbing the little girl’s wrist. The little girl pulled her wrist away and stepped back.
“No, not without mummy!”
Rachel crouched down in front of the two children.
“What are your names, darlings?”
“My name is Molly”, the little girl replied, stumbling on her words.
“Tyler”, the boy replied.
“Those are very nice names. Well Molly and Tyler, your amazing mummy stayed behind to make sure the bad people didn’t get to you. She told us to make sure you were okay and that she’d find you again. She made me promise to look after you, so if I let you stay here or go back to the room with the bad people your mummy will be angry with me. Do you want that?”
Molly nodded her head, but Tyler stood defiant and seemingly unconvinced.
“You’re lying”, Tyler replied, to which he grabbed his sister’s wrist and pulled her closer to him.
“About your mummy loving and wanting to protect you?”
“No, about her wanting to stay behind”.
Rachel sighed.
“Tyler… I don’t have a baby brother or sister, so I’m a little jealous of you, but if I did, I would want to protect her every day. She would be the most special thing to me in the world”.
“Molly is special to me”.
“Then help me protect her”.
He looked down towards his sister and she looked back up at him.
“There is nothing I can do now except protect you and your sister. Will you help me?” Rachel asked.
He was hesitant for a while, before nodding.
“Okay”, Rachel replied with a
