Last Day on Earth

~by Kate & Laura~

The changing rooms at Giorgio's were large enough to share, and Grace and Ellen were taking full advantage of one of them. Grace smoothed soft leather over her thighs, turning to survey her bum in one of the mirrors that surrounded them. "Does this make me look fat?" Ellen could always be relied upon for perfect honesty.

"The shirt's weird on you. But the trousers are stunning."

She pulled the offending shirt off and started flicking through the mass of clothes they'd brought in with them for something nicer.

Ellen slipped a flouncy lavender ball gown over her head and adjusted it around her torso.

"Lose the bra," was Grace's advice, and Ellen wriggled to pull it off beneath the dress. Her friend turned her round and zipped her up, adjusting the dress and surveying its effect. "This is the one," she grinned. "It's gorgeous on you."

Ellen twisted round in front of the mirror, nose crinkling up then relaxing. She really did like what she saw, but it felt so decadent. "I'd need shoes for it."

Grace beamed and nodded avidly. "We'll get those when we're finished here."

Ellen twirled around to watch the shape the skirts made. She gave Grace an embarrassed grin. "So sue me. I'm excited. Are you going to get yourself a dress, or keep trying on trousers all day?"

Grace pouted, voice whinging as she replied. "I haven't seen any dresses I like yet. I want something terribly goth and sexy."

"You can't show up at this sort of do in fishnets and ripped black velvet, darling. You need something a bit more conservative."

"I know..." she whined playfully, "but I want sexy, black conservative, ok?"

"Shall we try that place we saw next to the café? We can get lunch first. It's almost 3 already."

Grace brightened again. "Oh yes, lunch!" she began sorting through the pile to see if there was anything else left to try on before leaving.

They heard male voices pass their cubicle door and enter the ones close by them. The walls were paper thin, not much more than partitions really, and the men were speaking to each other through the wall that separated them. Ellen raised an eyebrow at the sexiness of the accents they could overhear, and Grace responded with a wicked smile. Sometimes they could have entire conversations without uttering a single word. The pair shared a silent giggle, Ellen clutching her dress about her as they listened to one man critique the other's bum.

Grace picked out the leather corset top that matched her leather trousers and pulled it on. She turned her back to Ellen for help with lacing it up. "Last one," Ellen sighed. "Then we're leaving and going to find you a proper dress."

* * * * * *

All Grace could feel was pain. Everything felt hard and sharp, and she didn't know where she was. Her eyes opened but it made no difference. Everything was black. Was she blind? Or was it just dark?

Clothes... She could feel fabric surrounding her. She'd been in the changing room with Ellen when she'd lost her footing. She wasn't sure how long she'd been laying here.

"Ellen?" she mumbled, automatically calling for her flatmate. There was no answer, and the fear began to really take hold of her. Her stomach clenched painfully, and she called again, louder this time. "Ellie?"

There was a stirring sound, but she couldn't tell where it where it was coming from. She tried to move, but felt stabbing pain with every motion, and was afraid to try and stand up. Tears pooled in her unseeing eyes. "Ellie?! Where are you?!"

Panicked thoughts raced through her mind. Where was she? Was she all alone? Why did everything hurt so much?

The stirring sound came again, and with it this time, the sound of glass tinkling.

Glass. Yes. Sharp pain. Glass beneath her legs, cutting her stomach, her arms. She was lying mostly on her front she realised at last, and there was glass. It cut her hands when she tried to move them, so she stayed still. Gradually, she became conscious of a weight on her back. That's why it hurt so much when she tried to move. The glass sliced into her so much because she was lying on it so heavily.

A muffled voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Nick?"

"Hello?" she called at once, her voice thick with tears. "Is somebody there?"

There was silence for a long moment, and Grace wondered if she'd imagined the voice after all.

"Hello?" it said at last. It was a man, she was sure.

"I'm stuck," she called. She didn't need to be loud; he didn't sound very far away.

"I can't see a thing. It's all dark. Hang on. I'll see if I can find you."

"Be careful, I think there's glass."

"Yeah, the mirrors must have all smashed." She heard shuffling and fabric rubbing against fabric. Perhaps his trousers as he walked she hoped.

Mirrors? We're still in the shop? She could hear somebody stumbling about and the crunch of glass beneath shoes. The steps were slow and seemingly cautious.

"Talk to me, love. I don't know where you are."

"I'm here," she said. Her voice was trembly. It was hard to breathe deeply enough to calm down with the weight of whatever it was on her back. The panic was welling up in her, but she forced it down. There'd be plenty of time to panic when she could actually move again. Knowing she wasn't completely alone helped. Where's Ellen?

But she was supposed to talk. "What happened? Why did the mirrors break?"

"Earthquake, love," he said. "Bad one too, I think. Didn't you feel it?"

"I don't remember," she murmured. He was close now and she tried to reach out to him. "Can you see me?" she asked. "I'm right here."

Her questing hand touched fabric: his trouser leg, she assumed, and then suddenly he was kneeling, his hands feeling hers, and running up her arms to find the rest of her.

"I think its one of the partitions fallen on you. Can you wait a bit? My friend's in here somewhere, and I don't want to start shifting stuff til I can be sure I'm not dropping it on his head."

"My friend's here too," she gasped fearfully. "I don't know why she's not talking."

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be fine. Let me get some light in here, and I'll get you out okay?"

"You're not leaving me are you?" she panicked, heart suddenly beating even faster than before.

"No, just to the door of the changing rooms. If I can get that open, I guess we'll have some light."

"OK," she said tearily. "Please just don't leave. I'm scared, and everything hurts."

She heard him stand and start walking, crunching slowly and carefully through the glass. He spoke to her all the time so she wouldn't be so afraid. "What's your name, love?"

"Gracie," she whimpered. Nobody called her Gracie anymore, except for Ellen, but she seemed to have regressed to her childhood in her terror.

"Pleased to meet you, Gracie. I'm Simon. I'm just trying to feel my way around the walls for the door, ok? I'm not going anywhere."

There was a thud, and he swore and laughed nervously. "Sorry, sweets. Just walked into something." There was less glass-crunching, and more thuds for a while, and then suddenly blessed light.

The light was weak, but after the pitch blackness it hurt Grace's eyes, and she winced even as she cried out with relief. She saw now she was lying in a carpet of broken glass, which seemed to be streaked with her blood. Will I bleed to death? Being able to see it all made the pain suddenly worse, and the panic rose again. "Simon?!" she cried.

"It's ok, I'm here," he soothed, and he crunched across the floor to where she lay. He lifted the weight from her easily, and knelt down beside her. "Are you hurt?" he asked, feeling a bit stupid for putting it that way, but he didn't want to panic her even more. "You're a bit cut, but can you move?"

"Help me," she moaned, and he tried to lift her up. Her body screamed in protest, but she bit her lip, and managed to stand, albeit very shakily.

Simon looked her over and checked she didn't have any obvious, huge pieces of mirror sticking out of her and led her across to the far side of the room. The floor here was pretty much free of glass.

"Now just wait here for me, alright?" he said gently. "I'm going to find the others."

He didn't tell her how terrified he was that they might be dead. There'd been no sound at all from Nick, or this friend of hers either. They must be buried under the rubble too. He prayed to god Nick was alright, and just kept moving. So long as he had something to do, he could push the fear from his mind.

All the partitions between the cubicles had fallen, some of them broken or bent out of shape, and every mirror but one was in shattered pieces on the floor. How that single one had survived was beyond him. He stared at it for a moment, but then realised he was seeing his own image complete with cuts and hurried past it in search of Nick. Simon had been in earthquakes before, but nothing on this horrific scale. He bent to pick up pieces of wall and shift them out of the way. Thank god it was light, flimsy stuff. He shuddered to imagine the damage strong brick walls could have done if they'd come down on them. That girl doesn't seem too badly hurt, and she was underneath a ton of stuff. Maybe Nick will be just the same. Please let him be alright.

Grace had sunk down into the corner where Simon told her, too shocked to do anything else. She checked herself for injuries once it finally occurred to her she should do so, and was suddenly very glad she'd been trying on leather clothes. All her exposed skin was scratched, especially her hands and stomach, and there were some nasty looking gashes on her arms. Her legs and chest, covered with leather clothing, seemed mostly fine, save a few places where the glass had slashed straight through to the skin below.

She could feel a cut on her forehead too, but nothing seemed to be bleeding badly, so all in all she'd been lucky. A lot of blood and aching muscles, but she expected some stitches and a large vodka would fix it all easily enough.

There was still no sound from Ellen. She stood up again, still wobbly but improving, and helped Simon to search. He didn't seem to be hurt at all. A long cut above his collarbone that didn't seem to be bothering him and that was all she could see in the dim light.

She called softly for Ellen, and shifted bits of rubble, looking beneath it all for tanned skin and that big, flouncy, lavender dress.

She spotted the ruffles straight away, all dusty grey and nearly unrecognisable as lavender. She cried out and started throwing bits of plaster and ceiling tiles over into the empty corner, uncovering her friend with haste. Simon was at her side in a heartbeat, and he helped her with the large mirror that had fallen on Ellen and covered her from sight.

"Ellie baby," Grace cried. Her hands ran all over her, heedless of cuts as she brushed broken glass and plaster from her friend, trying to see how badly she was hurt. The glass didn't seem to have done her much harm at all, and the only serious amount of blood was in her hair. Fingers trembling, Grace gently felt her skull, but it seemed sound. If it was fractured, it wasn't badly.

"She must have been hit on the head when this thing came down on her," Simon murmured. "Let me find Nick, and I'll help you move her outside. It's not so bad out there, and the light's better."

Eager to get out, Grace helped him search for his friend, cursing the size of the room. Still, he had to be fairly close to where they found Ellen, as they had all been in rooms close to one another.

It seemed like hours, but it couldn't have been more than a minute before they found Nick. Very carefully they uncovered him, and moved away all the bits of building that had conspired to keep him hidden. He was lying very still, but was breathing. He'd obviously been in the middle of changing, as he was wearing only his underwear.

"Maybe we shouldn't move them," Grace whispered. "What if their backs are hurt or their necks or something. Aren't you supposed to leave them still?"

Simon was frustrated, but agreed. "We'll wait and see if they wake up first, yeah?"

But before he'd finished the sentence, Nick was mumbling incoherently and trying to get up. He was hurting himself on the glass, and Simon tried to stop him. "Stay still mate, hang on. You're making it worse. We'll try and lift you over the glass, ok?"

Grace reached to help, but stopped when Simon bent over and deftly cradled the slight man into his arms. She wanted to follow Simon as he carried his friend out the door to relative safety, but didn't dare leave Ellen.

Simon returned a minute later, carrying a half-full bottle of mineral water that he'd found. "Nick's ok, just a bit wonky. We'll have to find him some clothes, but I wanted to check on this one first."

"Her name's Ellen."

He stared down where Gracie's fingers were gently combing the ends of her immobile friend's hair. He looked back up to the leather-clad girl "Ellen. I'm sure she'll be ok, love. Just got a bump on the head, that's all. Give her time."

After a minute or so, Simon went to check on his friend, and Grace carried on trying to wake hers. It seemed forever before she started to come round, and she was groggy and confused for a while. It can't have been more than a few minutes in reality. How long had it been since Grace woke up? It felt like hours.

A sip of the water Simon had brought them helped revive Ellen considerably.

"What happened?" she mumbled.

"Simon said it was an earthquake, but I don't remember it. Do you hurt anywhere, baby?"

"I don't think there's anywhere that doesn't," she groaned. "Who's Simon?"

"I dunno... a guy. He's not hurt much, but I think his friend might be."

Ellen tried to sit up, but cried out and lay still.

"What?!"

"I think I've done something to my wrist."

"Can you wiggle your fingers?"

"I think so... yeah."

"Then maybe you've just sprained it or something. It's not cut or anything. We'll bandage it up for you ok? But I want to get you out of all this glass first. Can you stand if I help you? I can get Simon to help."

"No, I'm fine, I can do it," she insisted. She wasn't wearing any shoes though, and couldn't walk over the glass. Grace leaned over & slung her friend over her shoulder, then stumbled out the door to put her down on the safe carpet.

Her first sight of the rest of the store made her sick. The front of it was completely gone. Just a huge mound of rubble stood between them and street. It looked as though a building had fallen into the road. Huge blocks of concrete, steel, plaster, and the gods only knew what else. The crackle of broken electricity wires terrified her, and she prayed there was nothing flammable amongst the debris.

There was a gap between the mound of rubble and the sagging roof that covered them, and the westering sun peeked in. They didn't dare climb out over all that mess. The slabs of concrete looked solid, but could no doubt tip up if stepped on, and the crackle of the wiring kept them at bay. The sound of a distant alarm was grating in the quiet.

The back of the store, where the dressing rooms were, seemed relatively untouched. Parts of the ceiling had come down, and all the racks of clothes and displays were on the floor. There were cracks in the standing walls, but it didn't appear as though they were in danger of a structural collapse just yet. The air was thick with dust and smelled of mould and burnt plastics. Nick was dressing shakily in some clothes off the floor. Simon helped, but he turned when the girls stumbled in.

"You okay?" he asked them softly. It seemed so inadequate, but what could he say? He stood slightly in front of Nick in hopes to give him a bit of privacy, then recognised that Gracie was struggling to carry her friend. He rushed to their side to ease Ellen off her back. As he did so, he noticed her bare feet poking out from beneath a once elegant gown.

Grace nodded. "I take it there's no other way out?"

"Not that I've seen so far. There's more over the back there I haven't explored yet." He waved vaguely to the back left hand corner of the building.

Ellen picked up the phone on the counter and put it back down again after a quick listen. "Dead," she informed them dully.

"My mobile's got no signal either," Simon sighed. "I'll keep trying though."

"I've got a cell in my bag, back there," Grace remembered, pointing back to the dreaded glass room. "I'll go in and have a search for it."

"Nick and I'll go and look for a way out the back."

Nick gave Simon a strange, startled look when he heard his name, but stood and followed him silently. Grace thought he must be in shock. He'd probably have a concussion too if he got banged on the head. As would Ellen. They'd have to keep an eye on them both.

All four of them looked fairly terrible, covered in dust and blood, and pale with shock. Only Simon seemed fairly well, but there was an edge in his voice that told them he was just as afraid as they were.

Ellen couldn't go back to the changing room without shoes, and was afraid to stay alone, so she and Grace went to find her footwear first. They wandered around looking for shoes and then had to find a pair that wouldn't fall off Ellen's tiny feet. They settled on trainers, that could be laced up tight, but Ellen wasn't happy. "They don't match the dress at all," she whimpered, and suddenly burst into tears.

Grace pulled her close and rocked her, trying to calm her down. She was worried. Concussions made people cry. She remembered this from first aid training. She'd have to make sure Ellie sat still and rested. Eventually, when she'd calmed a bit, she led her back to the changing room. They needed to find the phone. They had to get out of here quickly.

In passing, she picked up some boxes of tights and tore the packing off them as they walked. "Bandages?" she said to Ellen, who wordlessly held out her damaged wrist to be wrapped up. She didn't even wince when Grace tied the stretchy fabric around it. "At least it'll keep it from moving around and hurting so much," Grace said hopefully.

They searched amongst the broken glass and wreckage for a while, and finally found both their bags. To their frustration though, Grace couldn't get a signal on her phone either.

Simon and Nick wandered back to the counter at the rear of the shop at the same time as the women did, all four of them looking dazed, lost, and frightened.

"There's a back door, but something's blocking it from the other side. No way out there," Simon informed them.

Grace waved her phone pathetically. "No network here either." Her voice was dull and hopeless.

"What do we do?"

The four looked helplessly at each other, all waiting for someone else to spout out a brilliant answer. It was Simon who finally spoke up.

"Wait til somebody finds us? We're safe enough here, right?"

Tears were pooled in Ellen's eyes again, and Nick looked around, trapped and terrified. He was such a small thing, short, delicately boned and pale. He looked like a lost child. When he spoke for the first time, the women were surprised by the depth of his voice.

"Aftershocks," he stammered. "What if there's more? The whole thing could come down on top of us."

A sob broke the silence that followed this, Ellen unable to hold it back. Grace hugged her and murmured soothingly. "Don't fret, baby. Nothing like that's gonna happen." She glared at Nick, furious at him for making it worse. "They'll have the fire brigade getting everyone out, you'll see. We just have to wait."

Ellen sobbed for a while more, thinking seriously that it was just a matter of time before they were crushed to death. They were all going to die. What a waste! And no way out. She drew herself together the best she could. She wasn't going to be the only one to loose her life. Three others standing beside her would die with her. Her thoughts turned immediately to Gracie as she wiped away her tears. The claustrophobia alone could drive her mad before her demise. "But... what about... are you gonna be ok in here?"

Grace winced. Only her best friend knew her fear. So far she'd been all right. There was that gap beneath the roof that the daylight was still shining in through, and as she could see out, she wasn't feeling too hemmed in. The sun was sinking low, however, and she didn't know what would happen if they were still here after dark. She'd have to tell Simon he should sit on her if she started to panic. In that state she might just be stupid enough to try climbing out over the rubble. "I'm gonna be just fine, Ellie," she promised.

"So we just sit here?" Simon asked. He needed to keep moving.

"What else can we do?"

"I don't know." He paced and looked at his watch. "It's been over half an hour since the quake. We haven't even heard any sirens yet!"

Only half an hour? To Grace it felt like days ago they'd been trying on party clothes.

"Calm down, Simon. It'll just take a while. The whole city must be in this state. They can't get to everyone at once."

"What if we're the only ones left alive?" Nick whispered. He sank down onto the floor and rocked back and forward, a strange, blank look on his face.

A ripple of fear surged through Grace at the thought but she dismissed it at once. The guy was losing it. "Don't be stupid, Nick," she replied in the most common-sense voice she could muster.

"But there's dead people there," he countered, pointing at the rubble. "There's bodies."

They'd seen bodies? No. This is just too much. Earthquakes, blood, injuries: all ok. Grace could handle those. Dead bodies were another matter altogether. She swallowed hard and tried to still her shaking hands. What if they'd left five minutes earlier? They could have been out there when it hit too.No. Don't think about it. Keep moving.

"I can hear water running," she said briskly. "It's coming from over the back there, where you guys checked."

Surprised by the change of subject, it took Simon a moment to answer. "Umm... yeah. There's a bathroom. The sink pipe's burst and the floor's all awash."

"Good. We'll go back there and get cleaned up. There's dirt in all these cuts." She gestured at the gash at the base of Simon's throat. "Come on."

She took Ellen's undamaged arm and led her towards the sound, leaving Simon and Nick to follow mutely. If they could think of a better plan, she would be glad to follow. But until then, this would serve as an excellent distraction.

All of them had cuts and bruises, and only Simon had escaped being hit on the head by falling rubble. Very gently they tended each other's cuts and scrapes, even the stunned Nick trying to help with Simon. His hands were shaking so badly he couldn't be of much use though. Ellen shared out the aspirin she had in her purse, finishing off their first aid supplies.

"What we really need is bandages to keep these clean, "Grace sighed. "Is there no first aid kit here anywhere?"

For lack of anything else to keep them busy, they searched. The little bathroom had no cupboards at all, but there was a staff room next to it, and they rummaged through some of the lockers and cupboards in there. Some were locked. Some had fallen over and were too heavy to lift.

Before too long, Simon cried out in triumph, waving a green and white plastic box with a cross on it. "Success!"

They all ran over to him in excitement. Finally, something was going right. The box was half-empty, but there were bandages and plasters to cover the worst of their wounds and antiseptic to clean them properly.

Another half an hour was spent bandaging each other up, and the girls felt better for it. It was good to have achieved something, no matter how basic.

In their search of the staff room they'd also uncovered somebody's dinner: a cheese sandwich, and apple, and a banana.

"Well, we won't starve," Simon grinned.

"Trust you to be thinking of food at a time like this," Nick spat. It should have been teasing, but there was seething anger in his tone.

Both Grace and Ellen looked nervous, but Simon shrugged it off.

"Let's go back out to the front. I want to try the phones again." He started off without waiting for the others to disagree.

None of them mentioned the fact that they all wanted to stay close to each other, nor did they even question it. Each of them were afraid of losing sight of the others even for a moment, worried about being here all alone. They made themselves comfortable on the floor by the counter outside the changing rooms, Ellen using it as a backrest.

Simon's phone was still useless, but Grace at least had a signal now. Her 911 call went unanswered however. "I guess everyone's trying to get them right now," she sighed. "We'll try again a bit later."

All of them tried to get their families on her phone, but no one had any success, and within five minutes they'd lost the signal again.

Nick threw the phone away in a rage, and it bounced into a fallen rack of clothes.

Grace howled at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! We need that phone, idiot!"

Nick snapped completely at last, flinging obscenities at her, at the phone, at everything, in a complete fury, his arms waving about wildly. Simon grabbed his arms and shook him.

"Shut up, Nick! For gods sake just fucking calm down!"

"Why the fuck should I calm down?" he screeched. "We're trapped in this fucking house of cards, and we're all gonna die! I don't know if my family is alive or dead, and I've got a fucking awful headache, and if I want to scream I will!"

He jumped to his feet and swore and screamed some more. The girls backed away nervously, but his voice cracked soon, and he burst into tears, crying too hard to yell any more. He stumbled off, suddenly feeling the need to throw up. He wasn't doing that with an audience.

Simon watched him leave, but didn't follow, knowing Nick needed some time alone to get himself back together again. He apologised to the others. "Don't mind Nick. That's just how he reacts to stress. He lashes out at everyone. He'll be a complete bastard, but he doesn't mean any of it."

"Well he can fucking well lash out at somebody else," Ellen seethed, surprising them both. Her voice was eerily calm, laced with anger as it was. "Things are bad enough with out that little prick deciding he needs a tantrum."

"He's probably got a concussion for god's sake; give the guy some slack. People act weird when they get banged on the head. "

The argument might have continued if they hadn't heard a noise. A soft, creaking sort of sound. Ellen clung to Grace, mouth snapping shut instantly. It only lasted a few seconds, but the silence remained afterwards.

"We so have to get out of here" Grace whispered.

They were silent, listening for it again, and for a moment they could hear nothing but the distant sound of Nick's retching in the bathroom. The walls didn't creak again.

"I'll go and see how he is," Simon said softly, but Ellen grabbed his arm and held her finger to her lip for silence. They all strained to hear, and a moment later, Grace whispered, "Loud hailer."

"Nick!" Simon grinned, and he ran for the bathroom. "There's somebody out there! We can hear them!" He found his friend drinking from the overflowing tap, and when he stood up again, Simon was worried. Nick had gone completely white, and looked weak and very, very fragile.

"I don't feel well," he whispered, voice cracking mid-sentence.

"Come on, mate." He slung an arm around Nick's shoulders and steered him back towards the others. "You need to have a sit down. You're hurt you know. Just rest for now. We'll be out of here soon."

The loud hailer was getting louder, and the women were busy finding things to make a noise with. They stripped a couple of clothing racks, and were going to see how much noise they could make hitting them with the trendy wooden hangers.

"Stick your fingers in your ears, Nick. We're about to make your headache worse." Ellen seemed to taken an evil sort of pleasure in the fact, and Grace gave her a gently disapproving look.

The person with the loud hailer was obviously coming down the street towards them, speaking a bit, then going silent, presumably to listen for a response. There were other sounds coming closer too: something that sounded like an engine or a machine, and other sounds that could have been people yelling, but they were too distant to really make out.

"OK," Grace said, giving them all warning, and she started making the loudest noise she could, yelling and bashing the hangers on the rails. Ellen joined in gleefully ignoring the throbbing in her own head that vibrated with the clothing racks. She kept an eye on Nick, watching him cringe with every blow. The pair kept it up for about 30 seconds before they stopped to listen.

Nick tried not to groan, face twisted in pain. He leaned against Simon and wished for unconsciousness.

"Hello?" the loud hailer hailed.

"We're in Giorgio's!" Grace yelled, and had another bash on the rail.

"Where are you?" the voice called, unable to hear their voices yet.

"We're in here!"

It took a few minutes of clanging and shouting, but the person outside soon worked out where they were.

"How many of you are there?"

"Only 4, but I think there's people under the rubble too." She glanced at Nick and tried to forget he'd said they were dead.

"Are you injured?"

"Just cuts and bruises mostly. Two possible concussions and a broken wrist maybe. We're ok though. We found some first aid stuff."

"Right. I need you to stay where you are for now, ok? We'll get you out as fast as we can, but we need to make the debris a bit more stable before we try climbing in."

"How long?" Grace asked, biting her lip.

"We're still waiting for teams to get here from other cities. It might be a few hours. But don't you worry. You'll be just fine. We'll have you out before you know it."

He didn't have much more to tell them, and soon moved off, looking for more survivors. In the distance they could hear machinery, and felt comforted that somebody knew they were trapped in there.

All four of them sat quietly for a moment, listening to what was going on outside, frustrated that they had to wait.

"Hours," Grace fretted. "And it'll be dark soon."

"Yeah, but you'll still be able to see outside, Gracie, and there'll be noise," Ellen soothed and gave her a sideways hug. " You'll be with us. Don't be scared."

Simon looked curious, and Grace explained. "I get really claustrophobic. I'm not sure how I'll do here in the dark."

He nodded. Another thing to worry about. "Well, Ellen's right. You won't be on your own. And I bet it won't be really dark anyway. They might have those big spotlight things you see on the telly when they're doing rescues at night."

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine. Just don't let me try and climb out ok? If I panic, I'll get stupid."

"Understood."

With the sun sinking below the buildings, it was getting dark fast. All the electricity must have been turned off now, as there was no crackling sound coming from the rubble. However, no electricity also meant there was no point trying any of the lights, even if they'd thought it was safe to do so.

It was getting cold too, and Ellen shivered in her party dress. Grace was grateful to be distracted by a task. She stood, looking down at the others commandingly.

"Let's see what warm stuff we can get together, eh? We might end up spending the night in here, and I for one would like to sleep through as much of it as possible."

They wandered round the shop in search of something warm. Nick found a display of very tacky leopard print stuff, and amongst it all lots of fleecy blankets. They weren't huge, but they'd make something nice and warm to wrap themselves up in. Ellen started piling up heaps of clothes on the floor to make a sort of enormous mattress, so they'd not need to sleep on hard floor. She could only work with one hand, so Simon helped her, and soon they had a very comfortable looking heap close to the counter.

Grace found a rack of parkas on the floor, and shoved them inside shirts to make pillows. It took a good half an hour to get settled, and by then the darkness was almost complete.

Grace helped Ellen into a warm jacket, trying not to hurt her wrist, and wrapped a blanket around her own shoulders against the cold. The pair of them settled down on their makeshift mattress.

Simon went to fill up the water bottle for them, and they all took a sip. Nobody could bring themselves to eat the food they'd found earlier, too sick with worry to be hungry. "They've turned the water off too," Simon informed them. "So no more clean water. The sink's full, so I guess that'll have to do us for water til we get out."

"It'll do," Grace sighed, snuggling down into their nest. All was quiet for a moment, but she couldn't stand the quiet. "Talk to me somebody."

"Bout what?" Simon asked.

"Anything apart from disaster movies?" she tried to joke. It was a bit weak.

There was a moment of quiet before Ellen spoke up. "Do you think I'll get to keep the dress? I bet a good dry cleaners could get it all pretty again."

Gracie laughed for a moment. She wasn't sure Ellen was completely in her right mind again, although the question wasn't necessarily indicative of her sanity. "I don't think they'll make you leave naked," she replied.

Simon laughed, the question making him think of Nick. He kept those thoughts to himself however, and tried to choose a more neutral line of questioning. "What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a silversmith," Grace answered. "What about you?"

"Musician."

"You're in Duran Duran, aren't you?" Ellen asked, in a tone that indicated she was quite certain of the answer.

Simon cringed. However, if this girl was truly a fan, she'd made an amazingly good show of not acting concerned by it before. "Yeah."

"We saw you play last year," Grace said with some surprise. "Sorry. Didn't recognise you. Probably should have with the accents and all."

Simon shrugged. "Circumstances aren't exactly ideal, are they? Your accent's weird. Can't place it at all."

"Oh, I'm a complete mixture. Half Irish, half Greek; I was raised in New Zealand, and now I live in Chicago."

"What are you doing here then?"

"Holiday. Escaping the midwestern winter. Two weeks of sunshine and parties. We didn't plan on earthquakes."

"One rarely does."

Nick rolled his eyes. He was in a foul mood and the pleasantries were pissing him off. He took a blanket and pillow and moved away.

Ellen tutted and rolled her eyes. "He's in a bit of a snit, isn't he?"

"Understandable, don't you think?" Simon defended.

"Maybe. But he doesn't have to take it out on us."

He shrugged. "He'll be fine. He just tends to get angry when things go wrong. He likes to be in control of a situation, our Nick. When he gets scared he really lashes out."

"Like Simon said," Grace reminded gently, "You get banged on the head like that, and the concussion makes you overly emotional."

Ellen glared at her friend, not liking the hint that she was behaving that way herself. "Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

"Honey, just chill, ok? We'll be out of here soon, and we can go home and forget we ever even came to this godforsaken place."

"God, I wish we had a bottle of decent vodka," Ellen groaned. "My head hurts."

"Once we're out of here, we'll have a few to celebrate," Grace smiled.

"Mine's a rum & coke," Simon announced.

"A nice glass of red for me," Nick added from across the room, much to their surprise. "Oh fuck it. I'll take the whole bottle."

"The whole case!" Simon laughed.

Nick laughed weakly, and Simon tried with him again. "Come on, mate. Lie down over here with us where it's comfy. You need to rest that nut of yours."

"What are you talking about? I've got two, unlike some others," Nick sassed.

Simon rolled his eyes, glad for the cover of darkness to hide his face. "I was talking about your head."

Nick snickered from where he was. "That's doing well too," he replied.

Simon groaned. "Quit being a wanker and get your arse over here."

Quiet answered him at first. "I'm fine here," Nick pouted, the edge back in his voice.

In the growing darkness they had little but each other's tone of voice to judge their moods, and it made every word significant.

Grace sighed. She'd be more than happy with arguments if it'd take her mind off the fact they were going to be stuck in this building in the dark. She just didn't want to sit here in silence.

"So what are you guys doing here?" she inquired.

"Working," Simon answered, glad of the change of subject. "We're talking to record companies here, and to somebody about a video we want to do."

"Mmm... videos. You guys do good videos. What's this one about?"

"State secret. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." He winced when he realised how off that sounded under the circumstances.

"Trust Simon to make the most tactless comment imaginable," Nick laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh either.

"Look, Nick," Ellen growled. "We're trying to cope here, ok? And you're making things worse by being such a dick. If you can't say something nice, keep your trap shut."

Simon laid a hand on her arm to quiet her, but it was too late.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? My mother?" Nick seethed. He rolled towards them, squinting in the dark at the girl in the party dress. He was itching for a fight, and it was obvious in his voice.

"Your mother, whoever she was, clearly never taught you manners!"

"Who gives a shit about manners when we're all gonna die anyway?!"

The pain in Nick's voice was obvious to Grace. Was it Nick, or his concussion talking? She didn't know the man well enough to make any sort of judgement. She just hoped his friend could calm him down. He was making her head ache.

Simon groaned. "Alright, Nick, you can stop being such a bloody drama queen now. We're not going to die. We're going to sit here and be bored out of our skulls while some blokes in hard hats move bits of concrete about so we can go home, okay?"

The pout in Nick's voice was almost funny. "I feel sick again."

"Good," Ellen growled.

"Shut up, Ellie," Grace snapped. "You're not helping either. Nick, you got hit on the head really bad. You have to lie still and stay calm. That's why you want to be sick all the time, ok? Cause you're getting so worked up."

He didn't reply, but he wasn't yelling any more either, so they all started to relax.

"This really sucks," Ellen grumbled at last. "We should have been getting ready for our party about now."

"What time is it?"

"Six thirty." She held up her good wrist to show off her watch.

"I hate winter," Grace pouted. "Dark at 6.30. Why couldn't this have happened in midsummer, eh? We'd have had hours of sunlight left."

"What party were you going to?" Simon asked, purposely ignoring Grace's comment about the sun..

"Ellen works in publishing. There's this book launch on tonight. Well, there was. Anyway, it was supposed to be really huge. And we were going along for the free drinks and a chance to dress up all posh."

"Hence the party dress," Simon replied.

"Yep."

"Nice dress," he said to Ellen. "Suits you."

She was still grumpy. "Thanks."

They went quiet again. It was difficult trying to keep a conversation going without snapping at each other while they were all so tense.

Grace thought she felt a jolt beneath her and gasped. It wasn't much, but it made her hold her breath. The others weren't making a sound either. Outside on the street they heard something crash to the ground from a great height, and the roof above them creaked softly.

In the dark, Grace could make out Ellen shrinking against Simon's side, and he wrapped his arms around her, whispering comforting words. A few long moments passed, and when nothing else shifted, she tried to breathe again.

"Nick," she whispered, "Nick, please come back over here. I'm scared." She had visions of the roof caving in and separating him from the rest of them.

He didn't say a word, only crawled back across to them and sat amongst the bedding at her side.

"Thank you," she breathed and felt for his hand to squeeze it.

"I don't like this," he murmured. It was as though they were afraid a noise might bring the building down.

"Me either. I want to go home and curl up in my bed and pretend it was all a dream."

"I want a long soak in a hot bath first," Nick sighed longingly. "And a truly huge amount of aspirin."

"Yeah, aspirin," she agreed. "My cuts hurt like hell."

"You're not bleeding again, are you?"

"Don't think so. It's just sore."

Nick yawned. "I'm so tired. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Dare I use the word concussion again?" she whispered with a little smile. "I'm amazed you're awake actually."

"Must be the adrenaline," he laughed, and for once he didn't sound angry. "I'm too scared to go to sleep."

"Why don't you try, eh? I'll be right here with you."

"Thank you," he said softly and he squeezed her fingers in return.

"What for?"

"Not slapping me when I deserved it. Simon's right. I do turn into a right prick when I'm scared."

"We'll be laughing about all this by this time tomorrow. You'll see," she promised.

"God, I hope you're right." He paused, trying to decide how much he wanted to reveal to these strangers. "I'm so afraid for my daughter, and my parents. They were flying in today. I don't know if they'd have arrived yet when it happened."

"Hey," she soothed. "They're all together, right? They'll be just fine, and so will we. You should be trying to get some rest while you can, or you'll be no use to them at all when we get out of here."

Even in the dark, she could tell he was smiling. "I'll try if you'll try too," he coaxed. She could feel him lying down and snuggling under the make shift blankets, and a wave of exhaustion flowed over her. The idea of sleeping through the darkness was appealing too, and she curled up beside him, still holding his hand. She felt his other hand curl over her fingers.

"Sweet dreams, Nick," she whispered.

Despite everything that was going on around them, the pair of them actually drifted off into a restless sleep eventually, both comforted by the soft murmurs of Ellen and Simon close by.

* * * * * * *

Hours later, Grace stirred briefly, the sounds coming from out in the street drawing her from troubled dreams. She noted that Ellen and Simon were curled up together, soundly asleep by the looks of things. Nick was drooling on his pillow, looking more unconscious than asleep. Her eyes drifted closed again almost at once, exhaustion pulling her back under.

* * * * * *

When she woke the next time it was to the sound of screaming and things crashing around her, and she realised the floor was moving under them. She cried out in terror, and felt for the others, finding herself clinging desperately to Nick.

It felt like forever, but could only have been seconds before the shaking subsided, and the building creaked uncertainly around them. Both she and Nick were crying, and they clutched hard at each other. Again, Simon cradled Ellen, trying to stay calm despite the terror that told him he should try and run and get out of there.

The creaking got loud, and the roof sagged lower over them, making Ellen and Grace scream.

All four huddled close ducking close to the floor and watching the walls and the roof, waiting for it all to collapse on their heads. But as the moments ticked by, the creaking and banging noises stopped, and everything settled again, more precarious than it had been, but still they were alive.

They all sat perfectly still, listening for signs it would all come tumbling down, but instead the sounds made by the rescuers outside began to filter in again, more hurried and anxious than they had been earlier.

Ellen burst into tears again. Simon squeezed her, and Grace reached across to touch her hair comfortingly. "It's ok, Ellie."

"It's not fair!" she wailed between sobs.

"What's not fair?"

"I was all settled to live and now I'm going to die a virgin after all!"

The others were silent for a second, and then all burst into tearful giggles.

"Well, I am!" she cried wearily, glaring at them all. "You don't have to laugh about it. It's not funny."

"Well, don't look at me, love," Simon teased. "I'm married."

"And I've got a headache," Nick drawled.

"Ewww!" Ellen shuddered.

"And hey, I offered once, but you turned me down," Grace added, her laughter bordering on hysterical.

"You were completely smashed!" Ellen reminded her. "Anyway, you're not my type." Her tears were turning to hiccups now.

"Yeah, but you looked hot in those thigh boots, babe."

"Mmm... thigh boots," Simon purred.

There was an undercurrent of hysteria to their teasing, and real gut-wrenching fear, but none of them wanted to admit to it, and were desperate for distraction. They kept talking and teasing, afraid to stop.

Ellen slapped at Simon and laughed tearfully. "You're disgusting. I'm so embarrassed now!"

"Well, we can't have that!" Simon announced. "We'll have to do something to make you feel better. Game? Truth or dare?"

"No, just truth without the dare," Grace suggested.

"Yeah, it's not really a dare kind of evening, is it?" Simon agreed.

"Who goes first?"

"Simon does," Ellen decided.

"Oh god. OK."

She grinned. "OK, Simon. Tell us a very embarrassing sexual secret."

"I didn't think he had any sexual secrets," Nick taunted. "He tells everyone everything about his sex life."

"Not everything. I'm a Scorpio, remember. Secretive by nature."

"As well as a perverted sex fiend."

"Yes, that too."

"So tell us a secret," Grace prodded.

He thought in silence for a moment. "Well, I don't know if you know, but on the last tour, Nick and I tried making the crowd squeal by snogging onstage."

"Yeah, there were pictures of that everywhere," Ellen laughed.

"I got off on it. Like seriously. I was hard the entire length of the shows and afterwards I...."

"Bullshit!" Nick said.

"Swear to god."

Ellen grimaced, but still couldn't keep from laughing. "OK, that's definitely a deep dark secret. I'm suitably impressed and grossed out."

Nick scrunched up his face. "Are you serious, Charlie? Yaz'd kill you!"

"Nah, she thought it was a bit hot, actually."

"I thought you were joking, or I'd never have let it go so far," Nick replied. "Great. What's my daughter going to think? I know she's heard about it. Seen the pictures too. I told her we were just gettin' a rise out of the crowd."

Simon shrugged. "Well, we were. That hasn't changed. Just that I got a little more out of it as well. Icing on the cake." He grinned wickedly and whined, "Come on, Nick...didn't you like it even a little bit?"

"Course I bloody didn't! Not like that. I liked the reaction we got, but that's all."

"Don't lie! I know you've been with men before."

Nick was quiet for a moment while he considered responding to this. "That's true," he admitted, "but you're a mate. And you're not my type."

"So you're gay?" Ellen asked, equally surprised and disappointed.

Nick didn't care anymore. None of this was real, he could say whatever he liked. And he could always deny everything later anyway, if they even survived the night. " No. Mostly, I like girls. But sometimes men are nice too. The few men I've been with have been young and pretty. You know... girly-looking boys. I've never been with a real 'manly man'. And for the record, I've never fancied Simon."

Even Simon was surprised. He'd known Nick for over 20 years, and he'd never heard this before. He kept this side of his life so private. Nobody knew much about Nick's sex life, not even his closest friends. He had to tease though. It was in his nature to do so. He rolled onto his stomach and reached over to tickle Nick's ankle. "Oh come on, baby. Give us a little smooch for old time's sake." He puckered up and made kissy noises.

Nick slapped his hand away. And then he slapped Grace's shoulder disapprovingly. She still couldn't stop laughing.

Despite the joking around, there wasn't one of them who wasn't still terrified. Their eyes darted about the room, looking for falling plaster as they talked, but as the minutes ticked away without the roof collapsing on them, they gradually began to relax a bit once more. Grace was the one most affected. With the roof sagging lower over their heads she felt even more hemmed in than she had before, and she made sure she was always touching one of the others, needing the contact to keep herself from panicking.

They teased Simon about being turned on by Nick's tongue for as long as they could drag it out, and finally he changed the subject. "Your turn, Nick. Truth or dare. Only you don't get to choose dare."

"OK," he sighed.

"Tell us about the first time you kissed a guy," Grace smiled. "In detail."

"Bloody hell," he muttered. But they all prodded, and he didn't have much choice but to answer. He lay back down amongst the blankets while he thought about whether he should tell the truth. His head still throbbed. In the end he decided honesty would be easier than trying to come up with something else.

"Well, I was 15," he said at last. "He was a good friend of mine."

"Who?" Simon wanted to know.

"A good friend of mine," Nick repeated firmly. He had no intention of dropping his friend in it. He knew the guy had never come out. "Anyway, we'd nicked some booze from somewhere, and were sitting up in my bedroom listening to records and getting smashed. Not that it took much to get us smashed back then. Just kids we were." He half-smiled at the thought.

"My parents were away somewhere... can't think where. So anyway, we were sprawled out on my single bed, pretty drunk, listening to Hunky Dory. And of course there was always all that talk about Bowie shagging blokes, and we were talking about it. As you do."

"As you do," Simon mimicked with a nod.

"So we were talking about the whole idea. You know, if it were possible to fancy blokes and still fancy girls as well. We both knew we liked girls. There was no doubt about that one. But being so drunk we were finally brave enough, or stupid enough, to admit we both thought the idea of kissing a bloke was fairly erotic too. So I dared him to kiss me and find out what it was like."

The other three had gone quite silent now, enthralled by the story.

"So he kissed you?" Grace breathed at last.

"No. I kissed him. He went all shy and blushed when I dared him. It was pretty obvious he wanted to, but even drunk there was that fear, you know? I was scared too, but I wanted it bad enough to try. So I just leaned over, and closed my eyes, and kissed him."

"How did he react?" Simon whispered.

"He kissed me back, and then before I knew what was happening he had me down on the bed and was on top of me. Just kissing me like a wild thing. I was so turned on, and I could tell he was too. So I ran my hands down his back, and squeezed his bum through his jeans, and rubbed up against him." Nick's voice was slow and quiet, and he lay there with his eyes closed, getting slightly turned on by the memory. "God he felt good. I knew then there was no way we were going to stop there. We were too drunk and too turned on to let it go. Must have taken us a good half hour to get completely naked. We were so slow and shy about it." He stopped there. "That was more than you asked for... Sorry," he apologized.

Grace could felt heat stirring in her at the sound of his sultry voice telling so intimate a memory. He had the most delicious voice she'd ever heard. "It's good. We don't mind," she assured.

He sighed. "To this day I can't listen to Hunky Dory without getting hard."

Nick fell silent. And the others weren't sure what to say at first. Finally Simon broke the silence. "I so need a good shagging," he groaned crudely, clutching his groin. Ellen laughed and punched his shoulder.

"You're so disgusting, Simon!"

Grace laughed and tried to refrain from touching Nick. He was lying close to her, and she could see in the dimness that his eyes were closed, and there was a smile on his lips. His story had really affected her, but she had to wonder how much her attraction to him had to do with the intensity of the situation they were in.

"Alright, Grace, your turn," Simon announced, shaking her from her lustful thoughts.

"Don't expect me to give as sexy an answer as Nick did," she laughed, her voice a bit shaky. "What do you want to know?"

"Tell us about the kinkiest sex you've ever had."

"Oh god," she groaned. She buried her face in her pillow.

Ellen giggled. "This ought to be good. Tell 'em about that night with Alex and Paul. No wait! Make it a B&D story!"

"You're into B&D?" Simon laughed. "Tasty! Tell us more."

"Oh come on, Ellie. It's not like I've got a dungeon in my basement or anything. I just have a few... toys I like to play with."

"Toys?" Simon prodded.

"Well," she admitted reluctantly, "I like to be in control. So I've got a few sets of handcuffs and ankle cuffs and things like that."

"And blindfolds," Ellen added helpfully. "And all sorts of kinky clothes. And she's got this whip..." She held her hands up, trying to illustrate what it looked like.

"Ellie!" she whined. The guys were both laughing.

"So tell us about your ultimate sex game then," Simon prodded. "In a perfect world, what would you like to be able to do?"

Grace bit her lip. "No! You had your one question. That's it. No more. I think I'd rather like to let Nick take the award for the sexiest story."

The banter fizzled out when they heard all sorts of noise coming from the street. There was machinery of some sort roaring closer, and people yelling to each other as they worked.

"Guess we might be getting closer to getting out of here after all," Ellen suggested hopefully.

As if to prove her wrong, the roof above them chose that moment to creak, and a chunk of it fell onto the stack of rubble. Simon and Ellen seemed to just naturally move closer together again. Simon needed to feel protective and strong, and Ellen needed the sense of safety his arms gave her. They murmured quietly to each other, and the others couldn't hear them.

Grace breathed deeply, trying not to panic. Nick moved closer to her again, and slid an arm around her back. His touch startled her, but it was comforting, and she leaned against him, her eyes never leaving the terrifying roof above them.

"We'll be alright," he whispered in her ear. "Don't be scared, love. I'm here with you."

Since when did you get so positive about the situation? she thought angrily. She didn't say anything out loud. She knew how she reacted in a panic, and it was best to keep her mouth shut if she possibly could.

The next hour they spent listening to the rescuers outside, trying to guess what they were doing and when they'd get them out. Again, when the roof stopped creaking, Grace calmed a little, and the worst of the panic passed.

"What will you do when we get out of here, Gracie?" Nick asked her

"Get on the first plane back to Chicago, I guess. What about you?"

"Try and track down my family. Find out if they flew in, or if they were diverted somewhere safer."

"I'm sure they'll be safe," she murmured, giving his hand a comforting squeeze.

"Course they will," he replied, but he sounded anything but certain.

"Try and call them again?" she suggested. He did so, but there was no reply, and it cut out after only a few rings. "Phones are still a mess," she sighed. "Let's try again when we're out side. I'm sure it'll be better later on."

"Tell me about your family," he asked, wanting to change the subject.

Grace actually smiled. "My family are completely mad. Absolutely barmy. Dad's Irish, mum's Greek, and I have eleven brothers and sisters. And both my grandmothers still live in my parents' house."

"Eleven? Wow."

"Yep, complete mad house. My 2 youngest sisters still live at home. They're 18 and 20. "

"How old are you?"

"33. I'm the second eldest."

"Well, I guess the Irish explains your black hair and blue eyes. You must look like your dad."

"Yeah, I do," she sighed. "I don't see them much these days. Mum and dad and most of the family are still in New Zealand. I've got a brother in Canada, and one in Alaska, and a sister in Italy. I try and see all of them quite often. Haven't been home to see the others for about 4 years."

"Sounds like you're due for a visit."

"Yeah, after this, I'll go as soon as I can. Somehow it doesn't seem like such a long way to go tonight."

"So you grew up in New Zealand? I was there once. It was hot, but pretty."

"Yeah, til I went to uni when I was 17. Went to Edinburgh. I've not lived there since then. Just been travelling round, working in different countries. Never found anywhere that really felt like home, you know?"

"I think so," he replied. "I'm the same with houses. I move house all the time, but I always live in London. I love it there."

"Yeah, I like it there too. Haven't been for a long time though. It's probably all changed."

He shrugged. "London never changes much. You should come for another visit. I'll put you up."

"Thanks," she smiled.

"It'd be fun. I'll take you to my favourite restaurant for dinner. It's Greek. You'll feel right at home," he smiled.

"No, Nick, I mean thanks. For looking after me and not letting me go off the deep end."

"You did the same for me," he whispered.

"I've never been so frightened, Nick. I couldn't do this alone."

"Likewise." He squeezed her fingers and brought them to his lips for a comforting kiss. "We'll be out of here soon, you'll see."

"I actually believe you," she smiled.

"And so you should."

Their quiet talk was interrupted by a rumble and the sound of falling masonry, and then panicked yells from the rescue workers. The pile of debris before them collapsed even lower, and the dust cloud was thick, choking them all. Without a word all four of them scampered beneath the hideous fluffy blankets, somehow sensing that it'd be easier to breathe beneath them.

It took a few minutes before the dust started to settle, and they began to hear the familiar sounds of people working again. Shortly after that they peeked out and saw a head popping up over the top of the mountain, the light on his helmet shining straight at them after a brief scan around the room.

"We're getting there," he promised. "Things've settled a bit now with that shake."

Grace tried not to think of the bodies that might now be crushed beneath the rubble.

"Are you going to be able to climb out? Or will we need stretchers? How badly are you all hurt?"

Simon glanced at the other three, then replied for them. "We've got a woman here with maybe a broken wrist, but the rest of us should be able to manage it alright."

"I can too," Ellen insisted. "So long as I only need one hand, I'll be fine. Nothing wrong with my legs."

"OK, you guys just sit tight for a while. We've got a few more things to do out here and then we can come over & help you all out."

The little group were excited, and could barely sit still. There was more light now from the search lights, and they could see one another better.

"We're all covered in dust!" Nick pouted. "I've never looked so awful."

"Poor thing," Ellen teased, a bit on the sarcastic side.

"Don't worry Nick mate," Simon grinned. "You're so filthy nobody'll recognise you anyway."

"Gee. Thanks."

There was more activity than ever now, and half a dozen firemen were climbing about on the mass of concrete, ducking the low-hanging roof and all the hanging wires just in case.

It took a good half an hour for them to climb across it, and the trapped group watched anxiously, barely speaking a word to one another.

None of them really understood what was happening, but suddenly one of the firemen called out. "OK, you can come on out now."

They walked slowly across the room, strangely reluctant to leave their dangerous little haven, and each other. Simon kept his arm draped around Ellen's shoulder, and Nick and Grace held hands tightly for as long as they could.

They helped Ellen out first, since she was injured the worst. The firemen half-lifted her over, passing her from one strong, uniformed body to another. She stood on the other side at last, trembling and refusing to move to an ambulance til Grace came out too.

Her friend followed half a minute after she did, looking completely shell-shocked as her eyes drank in the extent of the devastation around them.

All along the road the buildings were a mess. One was actually leaning out into the street, and a huge area had been blocked off around it, ready for when it finally fell. There were cars crushed beneath concrete, rubble all over the street, mangled storefronts without windows, and worst of all, a neat row of black body bags laid out in a clear space. She wanted to be sick.

They wouldn't let her stop to look for more than a moment though, and passed her quickly down the line to the waiting arms of Ellen. They hugged fiercely.

The pair of them waited anxiously for Nick and Simon to emerge, but there was another rumbling sound instead, and the building along the street finally collapsed. The ground shook and the roof of their own building sank lower still, breaking up even further. At one end it split in two and fell into the store. Grace screamed for Nick, even as they were dragged away out of the danger zone.

The pair of them yelled and wailed for Simon and Nick, fighting against the rescue workers who wanted to get them into an ambulance, to no avail. The doors shut closed on them, and they were driven off, both crying, and clutching at each other desperately.

* * * *

Grace sat in a chair in a hospital corridor, a nurse stitching up the gashes in her arms. She couldn't feel a thing, completely numb with shock.

Ellen had been taken off somewhere to have her wrist x-rayed and she hadn't seen her for hours. Every time someone walked by she checked the faces for Nick and Simon. She couldn't get the picture out of her mind of that roof coming down, and her imagination added details that she'd never seen or heard in reality: Nick and Simon screaming, the whole building coming down on them, everything bursting into flames.

There were tears streaming down her face, but she couldn't feel them. The nurse was speaking to her also, but she couldn't make out the words, just the distant, comforting drone of the woman's voice.

Another crowd of people streamed past, but there were no Nicks or Simons amongst them either.

Of course there aren't. They're dead, aren't they? her mind told her, and it replayed the scene for the hundredth time. She had no idea at all how much time had passed. The nurse had managed to find a cubicle that Grace could undress in, so she could put a few stitches in the cuts on her legs. These weren't as bad as the rest, and soon she was all bandaged and being given a white pill to swallow.

The word 'painkiller' fought its way through the cotton wool that had wrapped around her brain, and she swallowed it down at once.

She tried to focus on the nurse, who was explaining something to her, but it was too hard to concentrate. She nodded and tried to smile, and was left alone. She found herself wandering back to the big ER waiting room and was surprised to see early daylight streaming in through the windows. She didn't know what to do, or where to go, or even where she was. Ellen was somewhere, but she didn't know how to find her, and was too tired to move now in any case. She sat on the floor where she was, surrounded by people, and waited.

"Come on, Gracie, wake up."

Somebody was prodding her, and she groaned, sore, and tired and needing more sleep. She realised she was curled up in a patch of sun on the floor of the ER waiting room still. Ellen was kneeling above her, wearing a plaster cast on her arm. "Ellie," she mumbled. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but we have to go now, sweetie."

"Where? Home?"

"Yeah. We'll see if we can get into the hotel & get our stuff, then we'll find a plane or a bus or something back to Chicago."

"No. We haven't found Nick and Simon yet."

"I've looked around for them, but I can't find them anywhere, Gracie. We're not family, so the hospital won't even tell us if they've been admitted."

"We have to wait. We have to see if they're safe."

"We can't, sweetie," she said gently. "We need to go home now. Whatever happened to them, we'll find out soon enough."

Grace cried the entire, long, tedious journey home.

* * * * *

FROM THE NEWSFLASH PAGE ON DURANDURAN.COM:

ALL SAFE AND SOUND

Nick, Simon, & John were all in California during the quake this week, but are all just fine. Nick and Simon are looking a bit worse for wear, but insist that a week's worth of home cooking in cold, wet, and very SOLID England is all the cure they need.

John regrets to announce that he bruised his thumb during the quake, and is almost embarrassed that's the worst that happened, considering what so many others have been through.

The entire band extends their prayers and condolences to the families of those who lost their lives.

Thanks to the hundreds of you who sent messages asking if the guys are ok. You're the best.

And a PS from Nick: Gracie & Ellie, wherever you are, if you're reading this, please get in touch with us through the website! I owe you dinner, Gracie! Love, Nick.

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