by Marla Monroe
“I guess we need to introduce ourselves,” a male voice spoke up. “I’m Ellis Homes.”
Della watched as one of the men stood up so that everyone could see him. He looked to be two or three inches over six feet, with shaggy dark hair. She wasn’t sure if it was really that dark or if some of it was dirt. One thing that was apparent was how muscular he was. The shirt he’d been wearing when they’d crashed was almost completely torn off of his body, offering her a nice view of well-formed biceps and a deeply ridged abdomen. Besides the soot and dirt that coated his skin and torn shirt, there was a good amount of dried blood as well.
“I’m Vernon Causey,” another man said, getting to his feet.
He had what appeared to be a crew cut that barely offered a hint to the color of his hair. She decided it was a shade of red or auburn. His deep blue eyes appeared almost cold, but she knew it could be nothing more than the light and their circumstances. He seemed to tower over everyone else, so she thought he had to be close to six and a half feet tall. At five nine, Della wasn’t short by any means. It wasn’t often that she met a man who she had to bend her head back to look up to.
A third man stood up to introduce himself, his midnight-black hair pulled back in a ponytail. With his dark skin and high cheekbones, Della was sure he had American Indian in him somewhere in his ancestry. His movements were slow and deliberate as he looked around.
“Kane Dancing Bear.” He sat back down without saying anything more.
“I’m Heath Andrews from Wyoming,” another man said, almost jumping to his feet. He lifted his hand in greeting then took his seat again. Heath had sandy brown hair with bright hazel eyes that appeared full of life despite the dire circumstances. He’d only stood long enough to nod so she wasn’t sure if he or the darker skinned man, Kane, was taller, but neither man was as tall as the one called Vernon had been.
The women then introduced themselves before the major stepped back into the center of the group to announce their next step. He divided them up into four groups. Three of the groups had two women while the Major only had one. Della had ended up in Vernon’s group. The big man had argued with John to leave all of the women in one place with one of them sticking close while the rest of the men spread out and searched the ship.
“They aren’t going to be able to handle climbing over a lot of the debris and will only slow us down,” he had argued.
John just shook his head. “We need everyone able to walk to help search and carry back supplies. If we do it ourselves, we’d have to cut the groups down to two since we’d need at least two in a group to help move objects out of the way if needed. That would put us still searching the craft this time next week. Not an option.”
Vernon had smothered a curse but backed down. Della had been glad he hadn’t argued more with the Major. She thought he was right and she wouldn’t have been happy staying behind. She needed to do something besides twiddle her thumbs.
The four groups set out in different directions after John had gone over what to expect and what to avoid with them. He was headed in the general direction of the bridge with Eva, the pretty dark-haired woman assigned to him.
“Let’s head out,” Vernon said.
She and Cara, a long-haired blond woman with deep blue eyes followed close behind him. Cara was having trouble keeping up since she had much shorter legs than either Della or Vernon. Della had deliberately slowed her pace a few times when the other woman got more than ten yards behind them.
They finally reached the first hall they were to search. There hadn’t been anyone in the rubble along the way. She’d prayed that they wouldn’t find any bodies at the same time she hoped they would locate other survivors. Most of the passengers would have been in their cabins at that hour. For them it had been nearly midnight. Now they would be searching cabins for people.
It dawned on her that she could remember more leading up to the crash. The only reason she’d been in the hall at the time was because she’d just come from getting a late-night snack from the cafeteria. If not for that, she’d have been in bed like most everyone else. The brief look she’d gotten of her room had made her doubt she would have survived.
The eerie silence broken only by their stumbling through the rubble kept her skin slick with sweat. She knew that each room was soundproof, so even if there was someone trapped in their room beating on the door, they wouldn’t be able to hear them. Still, it didn’t calm her fears.
Fears? What am I afraid of? Death. I’m afraid of seeing someone I was making friends with broken and dead on the floor.
She shook off that thought and continued to follow their group leader, a quick glance over at Cara assuring her that the other woman was with them and probably feeling just as nervous as Della was at that moment.
Vernon stopped outside a door and tried the button that should have opened the door if it wasn’t locked. It would have emitted a buzz inside if it was, letting the occupants know that someone was outside the door. Nothing happened. Vernon cleared away the fallen ceiling sections and broken metal pieces before banging on the door itself.
Della figured that wasn’t going to help anything, so she looked around until she found a thick piece of what looked like a metal rod and picked it up to use as a lever against the edge of the door. When Vernon saw what she was doing, he nodded and took over the prying from her. She wasn’t going to complain since he was much stronger than she was and had more height on her. He might actually be able to force the door to open with his strength.
Long seconds ticked by, punctuated by the sound of his heavy breathing and the occasional slipping of the rod to screech across the metal floor. Della covered her ears and prayed the rod would eventually pry open the door. To her surprise, seconds later, it creaked open a few inches. No sounds came from the partially opened door.
“Hello? Is there anyone in here?” Vernon called out.
Silence greeted them. He shined the beam of the flashlight he’d brought with him into the room for a few seconds before shaking his head and pointing to the next door down the hall.
“No one was in that one,” he said unnecessarily. It made her wonder if he’d seen a body that was obviously dead or if it was the truth and the room had been empty.
They worked on the next door as a group. She and Cara pulled on the rod as Vernon pushed against it. She prayed it wouldn’t slip and knock into the man, cutting or stabbing him in the process. Together they finally managed to break the seal enough to hear someone sobbing from behind the door.
“Hey? Are you okay in there?” Della called through the small opening.
She could hear a noise that sounded like something falling, then silence. She tried again.
“Answer me. Are you okay? We’re going to get you out. Stay away from the door while we work on it.”
Without waiting for an answer, she joined Cara and Vernon to continue prying at the door with the large bar. The door slowly moved a little more, then, with a jerk, it slid the rest of the way without hanging up. Vernon barely managed to keep from falling over the rod. He laid it to the side of the door before carefully entering the cabin as if afraid he’d step on someone in all the mess.
“Help me, please,” a voice quivered from the back of the room.
“Is there anyone else in here besides you?” Vernon asked. “I don’t want to step on someone buried in this stuff.”
“It’s just me. My roommate was, um, visiting her new husbands,” the disembodied voice said after a long pause.
“Okay, hold on. We’re coming over to start pulling some of this stuff off of you. If you can, keep talking so we know where you are.” Vernon waited until she spoke again, then nodded in the direction the voice seemed to be coming from.
She and Cara began picking their way across the rubble, then once they’d almost reached the wall, started grabbing chunks of ceiling and wall to toss it aside. They worked in silence with the woman’s shaky voice sounding weaker the closer they got to her. Finally Vernon held up his hand for t
hem to stop.
“Okay. Let me finish so we don’t hurt her. Stay close in case I need some help,” he said.
She and Cara remained where they stood while Vernon slowly removed large chunks first, making sure that they weren’t directly on top of their missing woman. After what felt like hours, he finally uncovered the woman’s face and chest. Blood caked her hair and one side of her face, but seemed to have stopped bleeding now.
“Hey there. How are you doing?” Vernon asked her when she opened her eyes and stared up at him.
“B–better now t–that you’re here. I was afraid I–I was going to die all by myself under this.” She had pretty green eyes with streaks of dirt marring her pretty porcelain skin, skin that was already darkening in places with bruises.
“Can you move your legs and feet under there?” Vernon asked her.
They all watched where her legs were hidden beneath the mounds of debris. It moved some and she winced, but didn’t cry out.
“Yes. I think something cut my right leg though because it really hurts,” she said.
“Do you hurt anywhere else? Your stomach, your hips?” he asked.
“I’m sore all over, but I don’t think I’m really hurt anywhere else. I just couldn’t get that stuff off of me.”
“I’m Della and this is Cara and Vernon,” she told the woman as she pointed to the other two. “What is your name?”
“Lisa. Lisa McGillicutty,” she said softly.
“Okay, ladies,” Vernon began. “Let’s start moving the rest of this off of her. Go slow and if she makes any noises, stop and let me check the area out first.”
She and Cara nodded before carefully negotiating the rubble and picking up the first piece. They all worked as fast as possible without risking hurting the woman any more than she already was. They all took turns talking to the poor woman to keep her mind off of what they were doing until finally, Vernon waved them back so he could get the last piece of what looked to be cabinets off of the woman’s legs. She yelped, but only once, and Vernon dropped the heavy wood to the side.
Della sighed with relief to see that her legs didn’t appear to be broken, though she did have a pretty good cut on the top of her right thigh. It wasn’t bleeding right then, but had obviously bled a good bit before it stopped.
“We need to bandage that so it doesn’t start bleeding again,” she said, grabbing what had probably been a sheet off one of the bunks.
Vernon nodded and took the material, using a knife to cut it so he could rip it into long pieces. He knelt by their patient and explained what he was going to do before he wrapped a layer over the cut, then tied strips around her thigh to keep it in place. Each time he tightened a strip she moaned, but she didn’t scream. Della knew she had to be in severe pain.
“Do we go ahead and take her back or keep looking?” Cara asked.
“We’re going to move her out into the hall where there’s an open area, then one of you will stay with her while the other two continue searching,” he said.
“I’ll stay with her then, and anyone else you find.” Cara smiled. “I’m shorter than you both and haven’t been of much use. All I’ve done is slow you down.”
Vernon smiled down at her. “Keeping her covered and conscious is important. Don’t beat yourself up for being short.”
Della just gaped at the man. It was the first smile she’d seen. Though he’d been kind and spoken softly to the poor woman they’d found trapped, she’d begun to think of him as a hard nose. She looked back at Cara and assessed the woman again. Evidently Vernon went for dainty women, since both their patient and Cara were small, almost frail-appearing women. Rolling her eyes, she moved out of the way when Vernon carefully scooped Lisa up and carried her from the cabin.
They all followed him out into the corridor as he found a fairly clear spot and carefully lowered to his knees before settling her on the floor. Cara had located a pillow, brushing it off before placing it under Lisa’s head.
“Thanks,” she said with a weak smile.
“Okay, Della. Let’s clear the next cabin.” Vernon led the way to the next door, grabbing the metal pole from her hand as he passed.
The next door opened without nearly as much work, but there was no one inside that they could find. They worked silently on the third door that was bent up so much she really didn’t think they would be able to get it open without something to cut through the metal. To her surprise, the big man managed to breach the door after using a large chunk of heavy metal to increase his leverage with the rod. When it began to move, he had her back well away in case the rod slipped and shot out with all of the pressure they had it under.
Finally the door opened just wide enough she could slip through. He’d argued that he could widen it and be the one to check the area, but she pointed out they were wasting time by messing with it more. In the end, he admitted she was right and let her squeeze through the narrow opening. She was glad for once that she didn’t have the breast size she’d often wished for. As it was, she was sure she’d have some bruising from the ordeal.
“Be very careful in there, Della. One wrong step could bring something down on top of your head,” Vernon called through after her.
“I know. I’m watching where I step,” she yelled back, then muttered under her breath.
It’s not like I can see much, even with this poor excuse for a flashlight.
It was one of the things they were supposed to look for after they had searched the area for survivors. The one she was using wasn’t very large and had a narrow beam. It only illuminated the area directly in front of her.
With every movement of broken ceiling and wall, she held her breath in fear that it was about to fall with her. She’d just about decided that there was no one in the cabin when she spotted a boot protruding from beneath something that had probably been the locker area of the cabin. She eased over to get closer and carefully knelt next to the boot to see if it was attached to a foot or not.
One deep breath and false start later, Della touched the boot near the toe and attempted to move it. It didn’t shift by more than a hair. There was definitely a foot inside of it. She started carefully removing the chunks of fallen wall before attempting to lift the broken locker off of the person. When she got it lifted up enough she could see underneath, Della propped it up on her knee and removed the flashlight from her mouth to aim the beam beneath the locker. She nearly dropped it and fell over backwards by the sight that greeted her.
The poor man was most definitely dead. His skull had been crushed, leaving no doubt in her mind he was beyond their help. She slowly lowered the locker, wincing when it once more made contact with the body. She looked around for anything of value that they might use, but with so little light, she soon gave up and returned to the door.
“No one in there?” Vernon asked as she started pushing her way through the narrow opening.
“Dead,” she whispered as she pulled free. “He’s dead.”
He didn’t question her, of which she was very grateful, but considering how she felt, Della felt certain she was pale enough and her hands shook enough to let him know just how certain she was that he was dead.
“Let’s keep moving then.”
They found the next cabin and, to their surprise, the door slid open without more than a few good shoves of the metal bar. Inside, another pretty female lay unconscious on the floor near the bunks that were still attached to the wall, though hanging precariously. Her face was covered with blood and a knot the size of a bird’s egg decorated her forehead just above her left eye. Both of her eyes appeared swollen, as did her nose.
Vernon immediately knelt next to her and checked for a pulse. Nodding, he ran his hands around her head and neck, then quickly down her body.
“Looks like she might have been in bed when we crashed and fell out of the bunk, maybe the top one, and hit her face on either the bottom bunk or the corner of that desk. She’s definitely got a broken nose and the goose egg. I can’t tel
l that she’s got anything else broken.”
“Do you think it’s safe to move her?” Della asked.
“We really don’t have a choice. She won’t survive alone here for long and we’ve got to keep searching for survivors and get back to the cargo hold. Her best chance is back there. I just hope we find a few strong guys around to help us move our injured,” Vernon said with a sigh.
She leaned down closer to the woman and called out to her. “Hey. Can you hear me? Wake up.”
There was no indication she had heard or if she had, she couldn’t move anything to let them know. Vernon cursed before sliding his hands under her body and lifting her into his arms. Della helped steady him as he rose from his knees and navigated the uneven path out of the cabin and back to where they’d left Cara and Lisa.
“Is she okay?” Cara asked as she directed Vernon with her hands to lay the woman next to Lisa.
While they’d been gone, Cara had been busy, clearing out large areas to give them a relatively clear space for more people. She’d also been gathering possible supplies. A few bags held items lined up close to where Lisa lay watching them.
“She’s unconscious and probably has a concussion. I don’t know what else might be wrong other than a broken nose. She’s breathing, though.” Vernon stood up after gently settling her on the ground. “Where did all of that come from? I don’t want you wandering off or going inside any of the cabins, Cara. It’s too dangerous alone.”
“I’m not. I’ve just picked up things I found right around us. Lisa can vouch for me,” she said, smiling at the other woman.
“That’s right,” Lisa agreed with a pained smile.
Vernon just nodded and rubbed his face. “Let’s keep looking, Della.”
They found another body in one of the cabins, but two cabins down from that, once they started prying on the door, they could hear muffled noises coming from inside. Hope surged that they had another survivor behind the door and they both redoubled their efforts at prying the stubborn door open. Nearly five minutes later, the door lurched open wide enough Vernon could get inside. Della followed close behind him to find not one but two men struggling to move the wall of locker that was wedged against the bunk beds by a section of the ceiling and something from above. It meant that all they could see of the two men were their heads as they peered out around the rubble.