Blood Rush (Lilly Valentine) (34 page)

She pushed against it, grateful for the wobble it made. If she could get enough movement in her wrist, she might be able to knock it away.

She let her arm flop back and took a deep breath, then she shot out and up from her elbow, until her hand was holding the board at arm’s length. Air and space slapped Lilly across the face. She laughed out loud.

‘Lilly, is that you?’ Tanisha called out.

‘Yes. Are you okay?’

‘I think so, but I can’t move.’

‘I’m going to try to free myself then make my way to you.’

‘Be quick.’ Tanisha’s voice was small.

Lilly lowered her arm and let the board fall back towards her. The claustrophobia was immediate and sickening, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold the board up indefinitely. Instead, she let her hand and fingers relax. Then she balled it into a tight fist, inhaled through her nose and punched.

A shower of dust hit her, making her blink and cough. But the board fell away to the side. She was able to wave her hand in front of her as far as she could stretch it.

‘Are you out?’ Tanisha asked.

Lilly rocked her torso. Even with the space in front of her free, she was still wedged in tight from the sides.

‘Nearly there,’ she said.

With her free hand, she reached out to either side. The cold solid mass told her it was stone. It was as if she had fallen into the tiny space between two walls. She patted her way along until she found the end of each slab. To her surprise they ended level with her thighs. That meant her lower legs were free. So why the hell couldn’t she move them?

She felt down to her knees and found the answer. Something huge and heavy lay across them. The splinters under her thumb told Lilly it was a plank of wood. An extremely solid one.

‘Shit.’

‘Lilly?’ Panic caught in Tanisha’s throat.

‘Don’t worry,’ Lilly pushed at the plank. ‘I’m almost with you.’

Tanisha began to cry. ‘I don’t want to die here on my own.’

Lilly was about to answer when another voice spoke.

‘You’re not on your own.’ It was the schoolgirl. ‘I’m here.’

The plank wouldn’t budge. Lilly heaved as hard as she could, but it wouldn’t move.

‘What’s your name?’ Lilly was panting with the effort.

‘Demi,’ said the girl. ‘Demi Ebola.’

‘Ebola?’

‘Yeah, I’m Malaya’s sister.’

Gran says death is nothing to be scared of. She says that Jesus takes us in his arms and carries us to His Kingdom. Demi never did believe her. Otherwise, why did they leave Nigeria? And why was she so upset when Malaya was hurt?

Funnily enough, Demi’s not frightened now. Her face stings from the glass that exploded in the kitchen and her chest feels heavy from dust, but she’s not worried about dying. She just feels so very, very sad.

Tanisha McKenzie is about a foot away. Demi can’t see her, but she can hear her breathing, coughing back tears.

‘I never hurt your sister,’ she says.

Demi snorts. ‘Chika said you did.’

‘Chika lied.’

‘Why would she do that?’

Tanisha lets out a sigh. ‘Because a long time ago I let her down, and you don’t do that to your friends, do you?’

‘No you don’t.’ Demi’s voice comes out very quiet, as if it isn’t her own.

‘And I am sorry about Malaya, believe me. I didn’t touch her, but I stood there and did nothing to help, and that was a fucking evil thing to do.’

Demi doesn’t answer. Standing by. Doing nothing. These things have nearly driven her crazy.

‘I wouldn’t do that now,’ says Tanisha.

‘Why?’

‘Cos of the baby,’ says Tanisha. ‘I’m a different person.’

Demi reaches out with her hand and finds Tanisha. Her skin is hot and damp.

‘Is it Danny’s?’

Tanisha lets out a laugh. ‘You’re gonna think me a fool, but he said he loved me.’

Demi thinks about the first time she met him, how intimidated Chika had been. How he’d got her to carry drugs and a gun for him. How he had left her in the burning flat.

‘He don’t love nobody,’ she says.

As she listened to the girls’ whispers, Lilly focused on the plank across her knees. All attempts to push it down her legs had failed. Perhaps if she could lift it with her knees, she could knock it off.

The weight of it was immense and her knees were not strong, but no other plan sprung to mind.

With a grunt from somewhere deep in her belly, Lilly began to raise her knees. She strained against the wood, her teeth gritted, the sinews in her neck almost snapping. Her legs shook with the effort.

There was a movement. Tiny, but it was there. She wanted to cheer but growled instead, forcing her heels into the ground for more purchase.

The sweat poured down her face and into her eyes, making a toxic mixture with the dust. She screwed them shut and ignored the pain, until little by little, her knees rose, taking the plank with them.

Eventually, she pulled her feet towards her. Her knees were fully bent, the plank balanced on top. She knew there was no way she could hold it much longer, so with her free hand she pushed. It toppled down her shins, banging and gouging them before
crushing
her toes as it bounced away.

This was it. She pressed the palm of her free hand against the slab to her left, dug her heels in as hard as she could and hauled herself upright. Her left shoulder was dragged, rough edges of stone cutting through her clothes, ripping her skin. Lilly bit her bottom lip against the pain.

At last she was standing.

‘Right then, kids,’ she said. ‘Where are you?’

‘Here,’ the girls chorused.

‘Excellent.’ Lilly made her way blindly towards the sound.

Jack looked from Freeman to the place where Lilly was trapped and back to Freeman.

‘We have to get in there.’

Freeman shook his head. ‘Too dangerous. Once the integrity of a building’s gone, there could be another collapse at any time.’

‘All the more reason to get those people out, surely?’

Freeman licked his lips. They were already cracked from
proximity
to the fire.

‘I know it seems harsh, but I’ve got the safety of my crew to think about.’

‘So we just leave them?’

‘Of course not. We’ve already called in back-up to assess the situation.’

Jack placed a forefinger on each temple. ‘But you said the place could collapse at any time and there are kids in there.’

‘I’m sorry but we have to wait.’

Jack blinked back tears. ‘The mother of my baby is in there, I can’t just stand here and watch while she dies.’

Freeman and the rest of the crew stared at Jack, then looked at their feet. At last, Freeman slipped his helmet back on his head and sighed.

‘Sometimes, I bloody well hate this job.’

Lilly shuffled and tripped across to Tanisha and Demi.

‘Is anyone hurt?’ she asked.

‘I don’t think so,’ said Tanisha.

‘Demi?’ Lilly asked.

‘No,’ she whispered back.

‘Listen, I’m sure they’ll come for us soon,’ said Lilly.

‘Who’s they?’ Tanisha asked.

‘Police, fire brigade, whatever,’ Lilly replied. ‘They know we’re in here and they’ll be looking for us.’

‘But what if we run out of air?’ Tanisha asked.

Lilly had been thinking the same thing. If there was no way for air to come in, the oxygen would be used up fast.

‘We need to make our way back towards the door,’ said Lilly.

‘But we can’t see anything.’ Tanisha’s voice took on a wild tone.

‘We can feel our way. If we can find the outer wall, we can
follow
it around,’ said Lilly. ‘Eventually, we must come to the door.’

‘But we could go completely the wrong way,’ said Tanisha.

‘What choice is there?’ asked Demi. ‘Do you want to sit here and suffocate?’

‘No.’

‘Okay then,’ said Lilly.

She reached out and grasped Tanisha’s arm, slid her fingers down to her wrist, before taking her hand.

Slowly, she pushed her right leg and arm out. When she was sure there was nothing in her way, she took a step. The girls followed her.

‘What do you think happened to those boys?’ Tanisha asked.

‘Dead,’ said Demi.

Tanisha gasped.

‘Don’t think about that,’ Lilly ordered. ‘Just concentrate on the here and now.’

The going was laboured as they navigated the bricks and planks that littered the floor, until at last Lilly’s hand touched something soft. The pressure of her fingers sprang back at her.

‘It’s one of the sofas,’ she said excitedly.

‘Just what we need,’ said Tanisha. ‘Somewhere to sit down.’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Demi said. ‘It means we must be near the door to the hallway.’

The air was filled with the sound of them patting.

‘It’s here,’ Demi shouted. ‘I can feel the frame.’

Lilly followed Demi’s voice until they stood side by side, then she let Demi guide her hand up and down what was
unmistakably
the door frame. The door itself was gone, but in its place was a slab of concrete. She caught her finger on some jagged metal sticking out of it.

‘Be careful.’ She brought the finger to her mouth, sucking at the wetness.

‘What now?’ Tanisha asked.

Lilly felt along the perimeter. There were no gaps small enough for any of them to fit through.

‘We push it over,’ she said.

‘It must weigh a ton,’ said Tanisha.

‘Together we can do it,’ said Lilly.

Without another word, they each took a place at the corner and braced themselves against it.

‘Let’s do this,’ said Lilly. ‘Heave.’

As one, they drove their shoulders against the slab.

‘Come on,’ Lilly grunted.

Sluggishly at first, it began to wobble.

‘Motherfucker,’ Tanisha screamed.

The stone tablet tottered and jittered until, at last, it toppled on its side with a crash.

Gasping for breath and laughing at the same time, Lilly put her hands on her knees. The palms were cut to shreds but she didn’t care.

‘Let’s get out of here,’ she wheezed and the girls cheered.

They would have to step over the slab, now laid on its side at their feet, but they could hold on to the doorframe for balance.

Lilly felt for a flat foothold and was about to climb up when it came again.

She could feel her heart stop beating in her chest as time stood still and she listened.

The mournful groan of the building.

‘Shit,’ she shouted. ‘Cover your heads.’

Then once again, the world imploded.

It took for ever to climb the stairs as each member of the crew took every flight on his own.

‘What the hell are we doing?’ asked Jack.

Freeman watched one of his men dart from floor five to six, then wait for them as close to the exit as possible.

‘In the event of a building collapse, the stairs are one of the worst places to be,’ said Freeman.

He paused, waiting and listening intently.

‘They concertina,’ he said. ‘Anyone on them is cut to ribbons.’

Then he left Jack, taking them two at a time.

‘Mary, Mother of God,’ Jack glanced at the flight below and above him.

At last, Freeman gave him the signal to follow and, barely touching the steps, Jack sprinted to join him.

Freeman opened the door to the walkway. ‘This is the tricky bit.’

‘Was that not the cutting to ribbons thing?’ asked Jack.

Freeman smiled and indicated along the balcony to the flat. ‘We’ve no way of knowing if it’s secure.’

‘How do we find out?’

‘We walk across it.’

Jack gulped and nodded.

‘Maybe it’s better if you stay here,’ said Freeman.

‘No way.’

Freeman appraised him for a moment then gave a tight dip of the head.

‘Walk fast and light. Legs apart to spread the load.’

He turned, danced along the walkway until he was outside the flat, then waved for Jack to follow. Jack checked his urge to gag and trotted forward. His eyes were drawn into the night sky and the expanse beneath them. If the balcony fell, they wouldn’t survive.

Finally, he was next to Freeman.

‘I thought you’d bottle it.’ He patted Jack’s arm.

Together they peered into what had once been 63b Clancy. The outside was blackened from fire and smoke damage, but the inside was worse. A devastation of rubble piled high. Ceiling, walls, any sign of what it had once been, decimated.

Could anyone survive that?

‘There are safe pockets inside there.’ Freeman read Jack’s mind. ‘With any luck they’ve found one.’

‘Lilly Valentine is the luckiest person I know,’ said Jack.

He took a step forward but Freeman stopped him. ‘The floor could give way, mate.’

Jack swallowed and searched the detritus.

‘Lilly,’ he shouted. ‘Can you hear me?’

They waited for a reply but nothing came, only a creaking from deep inside.

‘What’s that?’ Jack asked.

‘This building is not a happy bunny,’ said Freeman.

Jack called out again. And then again.

At last there came a shriek. But it wasn’t Lilly.

‘Let’s get out of here,’ Freeman roared.

‘I can’t leave her.’

Jack felt himself lifted off his feet as Freeman dragged him away from the flat towards the stairs. With his arms outstretched to Lilly and the night air rushing at him, Jack watched a crack appear on the walkway and the balcony fall away into nothing.

Lilly struggled to catch her breath, snatching at the air like a fish on land. Her head felt full and thick and wrong.

She opened her mouth to call out to the others, but her jaw felt loose.

A single drop of saliva fell. She waited for it to dribble down her chin. Instead it headed for her nose.

She shook her head, let another drop fall. This time it pooled on her septum.

Fuck. She was upside down.

She gyrated her shoulders until she could turn, then, no longer wedged in place, she fell. The impact beat against the crown of her head, the crack resounding.