by Richards, ES
Taking the tripod, Austin opened it up so one leg was pointing outwards from the others and shoved it as hard as he could into the tiny gap between the elevator doors. It took two attempts to get it to stay there, Austin using all his strength and might to create a proper angle for leverage. “We need to push,” he announced, turning to Samuel, Eric and Devon behind him. Sandy still stood a little to the side next to the camera itself, glancing between the elevator shaft and the stairwell door as she panicked about what to do.
“Ready?” Austin couldn’t care less about Sandy and whether she helped or not. His main focus now was getting into the elevator shaft and away from the fire. He wasn’t sure whether he was imagining it or not, but the air around him seemed to be getting hotter. The doors to each floor were fireproof, but he also knew that fire always found a way. The angry mob outside was only fueling it and if they didn’t get out soon, they were not going to have many options left.
“Push! Push!”
Together, the four men heaved against the tripod, gradually forcing the elevator doors to inch apart. It was slow going and it took several minutes before they had a gap large enough for Devon to let go of the tripod and grab onto a door instead, pushing against that and widening the gap even further. Samuel peeled off and did the same with the other door, Austin and Eric both joining them once it was possible. In just over five minutes they had secured the elevator doors, revealing the dark shaft that ran all the way down to the basement. An empty chasm that looked frighteningly deep and dangerous.
“Okay, who’s first?”
Austin lit up the flashlight on Eric’s phone, shining it into the elevator shaft and looking around to see how possible it was for them to climb down. Just as he had hoped – and prayed – there was an indented ladder that ran down one side, going down as far as he could make out. The steps were carved out of the wall and placed just the right distance apart to climb down. Grabbing one with his free hand he held on and tested his grip, checking whether they would be able to make it down.
“Should be okay,” he nodded, turning to look back at the four others who stood with him. “Come on. Let’s go.”
There wasn’t any time for hesitation now. Austin held Eric’s phone between his teeth in an attempt to have some light to guide his way down the ladder, and stood at the edge of the elevator shaft, looking down. It took just a couple of seconds for him to work up the courage to go for it, grabbing hold of one of the steps with both hands, then carefully inching forward onto one further down. It was a bit of a stretch with his arms, but the ladder held him in place firmly, his body as close to the wall as he could manage it.
Samuel watched, nervous about the climb ahead of him. Devon was rummaging around in the camera bag until he eventually pulled out a tiny flashlight that would attach to his camera if needed, using a handy clip he attached it to his shirt just below the lapel and turned it on. Samuel pulled out his own cell phone and switched the flashlight on, placing it in the breast pocket of his own shirt. It didn’t feel very secure, but if it offered him a bit of guidance on the way down then he was happy for it.
Eric stepped up to follow Austin, climbing onto the makeshift ladder with ease despite not having a light of his own. Devon followed immediately behind, leaving Samuel and Sandy standing out on the sixth floor still, waiting for their turn. Even in his moment of terror, Samuel simply couldn’t shake his manners and found himself stepping aside to allow Sandy to climb down ahead of him. But the woman didn’t move. She stood frozen in place, shaking her head slightly from side to side as she gazed into the elevator shaft.
“Come on Sandy, you go next,” Samuel encouraged her, seeing that the woman was struggling with what she needed to do.
“I can’t,” she whispered. “What if I fall?”
“You won’t fall,” Samuel tried to calm her down, though the same fear was bouncing around his head too. “Just take it nice and easy. One step at a time.”
Sandy shook her head more vigorously. “No,” her voice was barely audible. “I can’t do it.”
“You have to,” Samuel argued, anxious to get down the elevator shaft himself as the sound of fire destroying the building rang out from the stairwell and the temperature increased. “We don’t have a choice. We need to get out of here.”
“I’m sorry,” Sandy whimpered. “I can’t.”
Samuel didn’t know what to do. He had his own fears about climbing down the elevator shaft, least of all his vertigo reminding him what would happen if he slipped and plummeted to his death. But they didn’t have another option. Looking between Sandy and the shaft, he tried to decide what to do. He couldn’t carry Sandy, and he couldn’t force her down either. But he needed to go. The decision plagued him as he struggled to make up his mind. He couldn’t bring himself to leave Sandy behind, but how could he force her to climb down? Time was ticking by and he needed to do something, if he didn’t, then both of them would die.
***
“Where’s Sandy?”
“She was right behind me,” Samuel replied as his feet touched the ground, ashamed by the decision he had made. When push came to shove, he had been selfish once again. He couldn’t coax Sandy onto the ladder and so he had gone first, the fire blazing up toward them and leaving her trapped on the sixth floor unless she plucked up enough courage to follow.
“Sandy?” Devon called up the elevator shaft, his voice frantic as his eyes searched the darkness for his friend. “Sandy! Come on!”
Samuel gritted his teeth and waited, a part of himself aware that no matter how much Devon called for her, Sandy wouldn’t be coming down. He didn’t know what to say and so kept his mouth shut, making himself as small as possible against the wall as Austin and Eric worked to get the doors open to the underground parking lot, the air already much cooler.
He tried to reason with himself silently that there hadn’t been another choice, but as Devon continued to call upwards, he felt the guilt amassing inside of him like a cancer. If he had stayed behind, then he would have condemned himself to death for a woman he had known no longer than an hour. In reality it hadn’t even been a choice. Samuel had chosen to live, and he should be comfortable knowing that, but in doing so he had also sentenced another person to die and that was something he was going to have to live with forever.
Just like R Hauser, Cassie and Anthony Calvert-Lewin, Sandy was another person whose life Samuel had had the opportunity to do something good for. Instead he had failed. Sandy was another name on his list. A list that was growing longer and longer by the second.
Chapter 18
“Come on,” Austin urged everyone out of the elevator shaft. “Let’s go.”
“But,” Devon glanced upwards, Sandy still nowhere to be seen. “We can’t just leave her.”
“We don’t have a choice pal,” Austin replied, placing a hand comfortingly on Devon’s shoulder and looking at him apologetically. “She isn’t coming. There’s nothing we can do.”
Devon lowered his head, his shoulders sagging as he accepted what Austin was saying. They didn’t have a choice but to leave her behind, he only wished he could’ve done more. He should’ve stayed behind and make sure she climbed down; he should’ve been the last one. Sandy had been by his side throughout his career, stood up for him when he’d messed up shots or screwed up his edits. She had been his mentor and he hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye.
“Austin’s right Dev,” Eric nodded to his friend. “Sandy would want us to get out of here. We don’t know how long we have left.”
Eventually Devon gave in, turning toward the open elevator doors where Samuel waited, making sure that they didn’t slide closed and trap the four men inside again. They had all made it down from the sixth floor, now they just had to get out of the underground parking lot and get to somewhere safe. The terror outside was something none of them was prepared for, but something they all needed to face. With Trident ablaze, there was no telling what else would be happening outside.
; “Where are the exits?”
“We’re on the lower level,” Austin replied, the four of them having climbed all the way down to the bottom of the elevator shaft, leaving them at basement level B. “We need to go up one before we can get out.”
“Don’t suppose you’ve got a car down here?” Samuel asked Austin, thinking how much easier their lives would become if they could just drive straight out of the parking lot. He was worried what they might find at the exit and if they were spotted coming out of the parking lot – himself especially – what would happen to them.
Austin shook his head, “I take the subway, you?”
“I walk, mostly,” Samuel replied. “Great. What do we do if they’ve got the exit covered when we get there?”
“We’ll just wait it out,” Austin shrugged in reply, not willing to admit that he hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. The fact that they’d just made it out of the building was enough for him in the meantime. He liked to focus on the positive things and if that was all he had for the time being, he was going to keep it top of his mind. “This place isn’t going to go up in flames at least. So, if needs be, we’ll just hunker down and wait for the opportunity to leave. Better than being trapped in a burning building.”
“Do you think everyone else got out?” Samuel wondered, thinking about who had been left on the nineteenth floor when the pair of them left. Caitlin had still been up there, and a few others that he knew. Would they have fled when they saw the fire burning or would it have been too late by the time they found out? No one else had joined them in the elevator shaft, an idea he doubted any of the others would’ve had. He didn’t like the idea of the most devoted employees of Trident having no option but to wait for the fire to reach them at the top of the building, knowing their lives were about to end.
Austin was thinking the same thing and didn’t have an answer for Samuel. Meanwhile the question made Devon and Eric think of Sandy again. She had been the one who had encouraged them into the building, always willing to go to great lengths to get the clip she wanted. They had worked as a team in the city for a couple of years now and in that time, Sandy had forced them into sewers, the Hudson and extreme heights. But none were quite as life-threatening as asking them to run into a soon to be burning building. Regardless, she hadn’t needed to ask twice. Devon and Eric had both nodded and run in behind her, their eagerness to get the story far surpassing their concerns for their lives.
It wasn’t easy for Devon to forget that now all of that had been for nothing. If the three of them had stopped to think, they would’ve realized that being the crew to break the scoop on Trident wasn’t such an achievement. Pretty soon their station wouldn’t have the money to keep functioning. People would stop watching television and no one would remember which channel had been the first to break the truth.
For once, the truth was irrelevant. It wasn’t the tiny details that mattered, it was the bigger picture. They had put their lives at risk – and in Sandy’s case, at an end – for nothing. Rage started to bubble up inside Devon as that became more and more apparent. Sandy had died for nothing and that was a fact he was really struggling to deal with. If it wasn’t for Samuel Westchester and his statement, she would probably still be alive.
The four of them walked in silence up the ramp to the ground floor level of the parking lot. The rage continued to stew inside Devon, while the others were mainly focused on whether they would be able to get out of the parking lot alive. Samuel and Austin both turned their heads simultaneously once at the top of the ramp, the pair of them looking to where they knew the exit to be and heaving heavy sighs of relief when they saw it was relatively empty. Some rioters wandered about, but none of them had blocked off the parking lot and it looked like they’d be able to make their escape unnoticed.
“Everyone stay quiet,” Austin prompted cautiously. There was tension in the air, and he knew the slightest mistake could put their lives in danger once again. Until he was safely in Poughkeepsie with his arms around his family, he wouldn’t be able to relax. “Single file. Let’s hope no one spots us.”
Samuel walked behind Austin, hugging the wall of the parking lot and using it to hopefully throw a shadow over his face. He was terrified of being recognized and blamed for everything, the broadcast labelling him as the face and voice of Trident. Once out of the parking lot, it was only a couple of blocks back to his apartment where he intended to stay for a number of days, keeping a low profile and waiting for the immediate and terrifying reaction to the crash to die down.
The closer they got to the exit, the louder the roar of the crowd and the flames became. The air was thick with smoke and stank of a bonfire, the Trident headquarters burning quickly and giving off a tremendous amount of heat. It was a blaze that had to have been aided by gasoline to some extent, catching quickly and spreading. The one positive was that the sound and the people’s awe of the burning building provided them with the perfect cover. No one was looking to the parking lot and so no one noticed when four figures appeared from within it. Until one of them gave the small group away.
“Over here!” Devon shouted, running several feet away from the others and waving his arms in the air in the direction of the mob. “It’s Samuel Westchester! He’s the one from the broadcast!”
“Devon, what are you doing?” Eric was shocked by his friend’s actions, rushing over to his side and grabbing his arms, pulling them down by his side. But it was too late. People had noticed and heard what he’d said, looking in their direction and starting to walk toward them.
“It’s all his fault,” Devon spat. “Sandy would still be alive if it wasn’t for him. He deserves to burn, not her.”
Samuel looked at Austin in terror as people started getting closer and closer, more of them recognizing him and shouting his name, beckoning others to come and join them. Austin locked eyes with him and looked equally frightened, the angry mob targeting them and coming towards them with a bloodthirsty vengeance. There was only one thing for it. Austin took a deep breath and uttered one word to Samuel, the pair of them united in their moment of fear.
“Run.”
They took off as fast as they could manage, Samuel’s legs and arms pumping to keep up with Austin who was considerably younger and fitter than he was. Through a sheer stroke of luck, Austin had started running in the direction that led to Samuel’s apartment. Samuel knew if they could make it there and get inside then they would be safe – just so long as no one saw them and tried the same trick they’d done with Trident. Escaping one burning building in a day was enough for Samuel to deal with. Getting there undetected however would be a lot easier said than done.
With a look back over his shoulder, Samuel saw that around ten people had given chase and there were others further back in the distance probably considering whether it was a fight they were interested in joining or not. Devon and Eric were nowhere to be seen. Samuel was still baffled about why Devon had given away their location. They had almost been home free, just another couple of minutes and they could’ve said their goodbyes and gone their separate ways.
“Turn right!” Samuel shouted forward to Austin, directing him toward his apartment building. Austin glanced back at Samuel and saw the older man was struggling to keep up, but also noticed the mob that was chasing them and so didn’t slow his pace. Still he took the next right when he reached it, running for his life and not really caring where the route took him.
Samuel knew he needed to dig deep if he was going to keep up with Austin and get the pair of them into his apartment building unseen. It wasn’t like the people who were chasing him were athletes. All he had to do was stay just far enough ahead of them to be safe. With his life on the line, that wasn’t too much of an ask.
He gritted his teeth and kicked on, pumping his arms a little faster and willing his legs to do the same. Samuel closed the gap between him and Austin. “My apartment,” he panted, just loud enough for Austin to hear, who thankfully slowed just enough for Samuel to catch him
and run alongside the man. “It’s not far. If we can make it,” he paused and gasped for breath, learning how difficult it was to run and hold a conversation at the same time.
“Got it,” Austin replied. “Which way.”
“Next left.” Samuel managed to say, before going back to concentrating all his efforts on running. He didn’t dare look back over his shoulder to see how many people were still chasing them. The sound of their boots hitting the ground was enough to keep him going; his apartment building was barely a five-minute walk away now, at their pace, Samuel hoped they could make it in one.
“Which building?” Austin asked as he took the left turn, Samuel having dropped slightly behind him again but still within earshot. They had perhaps a ninety second lead on the first of their pursuers, which Austin estimated was just long enough to get off the street without being noticed. So long as the building they were heading for wasn’t at the other end. As Samuel veered off the road and towards one in particular, Austin heaved a sigh of relief. They were there. Now they just had to make it inside.
Fumbling in his pocket, Samuel pulled out his keys and quickly tried to insert the correct one in the lock. His heart was hammering away like a hummingbird’s, his breath caught up in his chest as Samuel struggled to fill his lungs, all his attention focused on getting the door open and getting inside. No one had caught up with them yet, but it was only a matter of time before they were spotted.
“Yes!” Samuel couldn’t stop himself from exclaiming with joy as he turned the key and the door clicked open, tugging it toward him with such force that it shuddered at the hinges. He and Austin rushed in just in time, closing the door and both standing as still as they could manage behind it, the leaders of the chase group appearing around the corner. Samuel held his breath. He worried that they would hear his heart slamming into his ribcage or that they had seen the door of his apartment building close. There was one tiny window in the door which he made sure neither of them was visible through, listening carefully for any approaching footsteps.