I weighed up going through the hole in the debris or going outside and decided that I didn’t want to face what was out there alone. Taking the water bottles and packets of snacks out of my t-shirt, I pushed them through the hole first then put my arms and head through. Reese and Roderick were waiting for me and grabbed my hands, helping to pull me the rest of the way.

Just as I was halfway through, the pile started to wobble and the roof from where I’d just come from started to crash to the floor behind me. I felt a rush of dust and fragments hit my legs and I yelped.

Roderick and Reese looked at each other then at me and pulled my arms even harder just as the pile came down and enveloped us all.

Coughing, I worked my arms free from the concrete dust and pushed debris away from my face allowing me to take a deep breath. My body was still halfway through the hole and now pinned below the waist on the other side of the pile. Roderick appeared from under a mass of wooden boards and broken concrete, pushing up through them. He stood up, wiping his face to remove some of the dust, revealing a large cut to his head. Blood trickled down into his eye.

“Roderick! Are you okay?”

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He seemed stunned and put his hand up again to check the cut, patting the blood then bringing his hand back down to look at it. He stood there examining it as if in shock at what he was seeing.

“Roderick!” I yelled trying to get him to focus on me. “Where’s Reese?!”

He looked up at me, then quickly shook his head in an attempt to regain clarity.

“Reese!” He yelled, quickly bending down and pushing debris out of the way. A hand pushed up through a mound of dust beside him and he quickly removed the larger pieces of concrete and split wooden boards from around it revealing Reese beneath it. Helping pull her to her feet, Roderick started to cry and tugged her into his arms.

“I’m okay Roddy.” Reese whispered, then began coughing, the dust irritating her lungs.

A few pieces of concrete moved and slid past me smashing into what was left of the floor.

“Uh, can you please get me out of here?!” I said as I tried to wriggle free, using my hands to pull at the debris locking me into place. My fingernails filled with dust and grit as I pushed full giant chunks of concrete and metal away. I felt sweat beading on my forehead as I upped my effort to escape.

Another giant roar came from above, the creature screeched overhead and what remained of the roof shook. Reese ran over to me and grabbed my arms and started to pull as hard as she could, gritting her teeth and straining as she did so. Roderick followed and began removing the larger pieces of debris from around me.

The pile started to wobble and Roderick grabbed my arms too, then pulled with Reese, the joint effort helped and my body was pulled free from the hole just as it completely caved in, collapsing around us.