Once again, the light and sound retreated, like violent waves lapping at a shoreline, coming and going.
“Okay, what did you guys get? Each wave itself was about 2 minutes then 5 minutes in between.” Roderick said, looking at us.
“I got that approximately too.” I replied.
“Me too.” Reese responded.
“Right. Let’s quickly get these boxes into position. After the next wave, we go okay?”
Reese and I nodded in agreement. We all got to our feet and quickly made our way to the spot under the window. Reese and I pushed boxes full of gym equipment over to Roderick who then moved them into position. Working together, the three of us lifted the lighter boxes and stacked them on top of the heavier ones, moving debris out of the way as we stacked them into a tower.
My arm brushed against the concrete and it was cool on my skin.
“The light doesn’t affect the concrete, the concrete was still cool but you said the metal and wood were hot, correct?” I noted as I helped push a box higher.
“Yes, scalding hot.” Roderick answered.
“So to get out and then across to the car park will potentially take longer than the five minutes we have.” I said thoughtfully.
“Possibly.”
“I think we need to get to the shower room in the gymnasium by the car park to help give us more time.” I suggested.
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“Because the shower room is concrete and tiles? Good thinking.” Roderick said as he finished lifting the last box onto the stack.
“The popping has started again.” Reese said hurriedly, grabbing Roderick and my arms and pulling us back to the corner. We quickly huddled again and waited for the wave to pass.
Nervousness filled my stomach, this was it. We had to go, suddenly the basement seemed like the safest place in the world and I didn’t want to leave it.
“Okay? Get ready, as soon as the light stops we climb out the window and we run to the gymnasium.” Roderick said, looking at Reese and I.
“We don’t know what’s out there though, I only saw ash and bodies. Did you see anything else?” I asked.
“No, but we’re going to have to risk it. Stay low as you run, don’t look back.” Roderick replied.
I nodded mutely. The bravado I had felt moments earlier suddenly felt stuck in my throat and I wanted to cry. What had happened to the rest of our friends and family? Had they been able to get to some kind of safety?
Reese took a deep breath out and I felt her tense up.
“You can do this Ariah, we can do this. Ready?” She said and gave me a nervous smile.
“Yes.” I whispered hoarsely. I looked over at Roderick who was counting out loud to time our escape.
The pink light appeared again, if it wasn’t disintegrating people I would have thought that it was quite beautiful with the way it made the dust in the air sparkle as it came through the window.