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The girl maintained a stiff upper lip despite the fact we were buried under a pile of rubble. The boy, however, every time her light flickered and left us in the dark, tensed. Like all the citizens of Vanguard, we were closer to annihilation than we wanted to admit. Unlike the adults, these kids didn’t have a say in where they lived.
“I’m going to get us out of here.” I wasn’t sure how, but I didn’t need to share that.
“Do you have super strength?” The girl’s question had an edge of disbelief. I’d be recommending to her parents they put her up for adoption. But before I could break the news they were raising a snot, I needed to find an opening in the rubble big enough for us to squeeze through.
I tried sitting up but found the space made it impossible. She tapped the light and as it turned on again, I could see she was holding a slender rectangle with a half-naked man on it. Good to know I hadn’t lost my phone. We were barely in a cavern big enough to hold us. It was by sheer luck we hadn’t been crushed when the building toppled. Before I could turn around and inspect the rubble, the light sputtered again.
The boy inched closer, pressing against my side. He lacked his companion’s bravery as he shook. I didn’t know what to fear more, being crushed to death, running out of oxygen, or the moment they asked if the tooth fairy was real.
I pulled the boy close, wrapping my arm around him. “We’ll be okay. We just have to stay calm.”
“I am calm.” The girl’s confidence knew no bounds. I was almost envious of her certainty that we’d survive this. Oh, to be a child again.
“I know a lot of superheroes. They’re going to be looking for me.”
“You do?” The boy’s voice had dropped to a mumble. I suspected he was terrified of the dark. I wasn’t too thrilled either, kiddo.
“My phone, I need it.” I held out my hand, waiting for the girl to hand it over. She debated giving away the only source of light. I wrapped my arm around the boy, pulling him close before snatching the phone out of her hand. I wouldn’t stop a ton of concrete from crushing us, but I wasn’t giving up hope yet.
There were a lot of superheroes in my phone book. But this wasn’t a lonely night requiring a warm body in my bed. There were several good candidates, but only one who could make it here in seconds and drag us to safety.
A: Need evac. Trapped in a collapsed building near HideOut.
I stared at the text message. The kids watched closely, and I prayed that a dick pic didn’t flash across my screen. The last thing I needed was to scar the children before the building flattened us.
T: …
Three dots appeared and promptly vanished.
“You’re being ignored,” said the girl. I was about to type when the screen went black. The red battery light flashed before leaving us in a perfect black.
“Great,” I mumbled. The boy scooted closer, practically crawling into my lap. I was about to tell him everything would be fine when a roar ripped through the building. I grabbed the girl and pulled her tight, rolling on top of the kids.
Dust filled the space as I growled, preparing for the weight of the building to break me in half. Both kids screamed. Seconds later, it was over. They were alive. I was alive. We were all alive.
“We’re okay,” I said, hoping I didn’t jinx our survival. The echo in the room had vanished. Whatever had fallen had cut the space in half, and if the debris shifted again, we wouldn’t survive.
“Where’s your friend?” I did not impress her in the least. But it was the same question I asked myself. It’s not as if I casually sent Theo text messages to rescue me from certain doom. It was bad enough to be ignored by a hero. Fine, they had to save the world. But my boyfriend ignoring a desperate plea to prevent my imminent death? We’d be exchanging words.
“I’ll get us out of here.” I had little faith in the statement, but everybody needed to hear the lie. If I could move some of the debris, the kids might be small enough to climb to safety. But what rock? Where did I start? Or was it better to sit and wait and hope somebody came to our rescue?
I pounded against the wall, searching for an echo that might suggest a hollow space. But with an entire building resting above us, it was fruitless. I wasn’t going to be the hero of the story. If I died, I was going to be seriously pissed at Theo.
“Find an exit?” Her superpower was the smug satisfaction in which she hinted at an ‘I told you so.’
I resisted the urge to smother the girl. At the rate things were going, the building would kill us. If my patience wasn’t earning my way into Heaven, I was going to be irked. I deserved the VIP treatment.
Rumbling started from somewhere high above us. The boy whimpered and even the smart-mouthed girl curled into a ball as I braced. It grew louder, and at any moment, it’d rip through the ground and we’d be crushed. Even if we survived, the dust filling the air made it difficult to breathe. I didn’t want to die, especially not from suffocation. The thought compounded as I thought of the kids. I tried to cover as much of them as my body allowed. I couldn’t save them, but if I bought them another minute, it might be enough time for a hero to arrive.
The sound grew louder and the surrounding cement shifted. I held my breath, less from the dust and more to prepare for the excruciating pain about to consume my body. I hoped it’d happen quickly, for all our sakes.
The dust vanished, sucked from the space as light poured in. It was so bright that I couldn’t make out the hero holding a cement slab over his head. The barrel-chested man tossed it to the side as if it were an empty cardboard box. I was relieved he had gotten my—
“You’re safe now.” It wasn’t the burly bear I expected. I hoped it was EO coming to my rescue, but I wouldn’t turn away the familiar voice.
“Sentinel, get them. They might need medical attention.”
“I’m fine, no thanks to you.” I was too tired to ask Bernard to put the cement back and bury her alive.
