It had been three days since Hydra had bombed New York City, and Agent Patrick Carter was surveying the damage. He checked the readings on his instruments for a third time and took off the protective head gear. The bombs developed by Hydra were more devastating than the atomic missiles being made by the remaining Allied forces, but with none of the dangerous radiation left over. Even though the chance of finding survivors was thin, there were rescue groups forming around the crater that used to be the Big Apple.
Manhattan was completely gone and the outer boroughs were either under water or charred and melted rubble. The explosion had created a massive crater at ground zero, and the Atlantic Ocean had flowed in, filling it in and creating a huge harbor. The rush of water forced outward by the blast had destroyed almost as much as the explosion itself. And when the water came flowing back, it washed away much of the debris and many of the dead and injured. The loss of life was incalculable.
Staten Island had survived the bombing, but not the tidal wave it had caused. The Bronx were mostly gone, as was Queens. And of Brooklyn, only the southern end was still above sea level. The destruction was just as bad on the New Jersey side of the Hudson, but Patty couldn't bring himself to care. He may have been here officially as part of the survey and rescue effort, but there was only one thing he was interested in discovering: the fate of his beloved Stephanie.
This part of town was near where his fiance had lived and worked. Most of the buildings had collapsed and what few pieces were still standing were not safe. Patty consulted the map of bomb shelters in the area yet again. He was sure there was one nearby, but finding the entrance was proving difficult through all the debris and rubble. He looked up, scanning the area for anything that might help him in his search, and spotted what looked like a bent and scorched sign.
Patty picked his way through the rubble and turned over the chunk of brick wall the ruined sheet of steel was still bolted to. Examining it carefully, he could make out enough of the letters to prove his hunch correct. He was near the entrance to one of the public shelters. But the damage was so severe, he wasn't sure how close he was.
After a few minutes of searching and shifting some of the smaller hunks of shattered building, he found a set of stairs leading down. Patty was certain there would be a shelter – official or otherwise – at the bottom of the stairwell. But would there be survivors? He could only hope.
As he started moving some of the rubble out of the way, he heard what sounded like voices from inside the collapsed building. He stopped what he was doing, yelled for help, and when the other rescuer arrived, he borrowed their radio to request more help. The two men worked feverishly removing as much debris as possible while waiting for a fully-equipped rescue team to arrive.
As they worked, they could hear voices. Patty had been right: there were survivors behind this pile of rock and brick. A few times, they could make out the survivors clearly and talked with them, assuring them they were fine and would be safe shortly. Other times, the debris made it hard to understand what was being said. The man assisting Patty suggested that there might be more than one group buried here, or that the survivors were somehow separated by piles of rubble within the shelter.
After nearly an hour, the heavy equipment arrived and began clearing away the larger pieces of broken brownstone. Patty and his comrade sat to the side, resting and waiting until they were once again needed. The crane operator brought them food and some fresh coffee while he waited for the rest of the crew to finish hooking up the chains, cables, and straps needed to lift the larger pieces of debris out of the way.
The rescue crew and their equipment made quick work of the shattered building and soon only the largest chunk of collapsed floor, and the debris supporting it, was left to be cleared away. As the crew secured the crane's hook to that final piece, Patty got up and moved closer to where the survivors were still trapped. If Stephanie were among the living, he intended to be the one to help her into the light of safety. And if not... well, it was something he didn't want to think about.
The operated started the giant winch, slowly lifting the chunk of debris until it was safe for other members of the team to finish clearing away rubble. A small gap soon opened up and they could see a few people inside. They were ragged, exhausted, and hungry. Food and water was passed to them along with bandages and splints for the more severely injured. The time seemed to pass slowly as Patty helped clear an opening large enough for people to fit through.
As survivors started climbing out of the crumbled brownstone's basement, Patty questioned them, asking if they had seen Stephanie or Jane. He described them several times over the next hour, but no one had seen anyone that matched the description. As he felt hope slipping away, he asked one of the more severely injured survivors who were being carefully dragged out on stretchers.
The old man lifted a badly shaking arm and pointed deeper into the former shelter. “There's another room in there. When everything caved in, we were separated from them. I think your dark-haired friend was with them.”
Patty's heart swelled with renewed hope. He thanked the elderly gentleman and hollered for help before grabbing some tools and climbing into the cavernous ruin before him. Two others followed his lead, grabbing tools and what supplies they could manage. The opening wasn't small, but it was still a tight fit inside.
One of the outside crew found some steel beams and used them to help secure the huge piece of rubble hovering mere inches above Patty's head. The crane could hold it in place, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
As the team cleared away debris, it was apparent that there were more people deeper in the rubble. Patty was at the front of the line, first to grab shattered chunks of brick and mortar and pass them back. It was he who first breached the wall between the trapped survivors and freedom. And the first face he saw was none other than his betrothed. He fought hard to suppress the urge to kiss her. “Get her to safety first, then show her how happy you are to see her again,” he thought to himself over and over.
“How many people are in there with you? Are any of them injured? How bad are the injuries?” is what he asked instead.
“It's me, Jane, and four others. We're all bruised and a bit bloody, but fortunately nothing major, I think.”
A familiar voice rang out from behind her. “If you don't tell him about your leg, I swear I'm going to smack you,” threatened Buffy from the darkness.
Before Patty could ask, one of the other rescue workers interrupted “What about food? Water? Bandages? Does anyone need anything?”
Stephanie turned to address the other man “I think my leg is broken, but we rigged a splint for it. Jane and I had just finished shopping when everything happened, so we've had enough food to tide us over. But I think we'd all like something to drink.” She chuckled slightly, and turning toward the man she loved more than any other she smiled. “The air's a bit dusty down here, you know.”
It took another forty minutes to clear enough of an opening for the others to exit the destroyed shelter safely and get outside where they could receive medical treatment. Twenty more minutes and everyone had been cleared out. All but Stephanie who needed a stretcher, and Jane, who refused to leave her best friend's side.
Patty climbed through the hole and sat beside his bride-to-be. He told her about his worry over her, his sadness at the thought of losing her, and his joy at finding her alive so quickly. Stephanie, in turn, told him the harrowing tale of their adventures in being trapped beneath a bombed-out building. “If Buffy hadn't been here, I think I would have given up a long time ago,” she confessed, reaching out to hold her friend's hand.
One of the rescue team's medics stepped over some rubble, dragging a stretcher behind him. With Patty and Jane helping, it wasn't long before they were ready to pull Stephanie into the light and safety of the street. As much as Patty wanted to be the one to help, he insisted that Jane take the other end of the stretcher Stephanie was strapped to.
Navigating the wreckage of the building proved to be more difficult than originally thought, now that a live person was lying between the two handles, and at one point, Buffy knocked into one of the makeshift supports helping to hold what was left of the building up. Dirt and bits of rock fell on them from above. They could hear cracks in the brickwork forming as someone from outside shouted in alarm.
The small group hurried to clear out before the building came crashing down on them. The other rescuer cleared the opening, gripping the handles of Stephanie's ride tightly, when the first cable snapped, whipping around and slicing neatly through the wall of a neighboring building. And that was when the panic set in.
Buffy shoved hard on her end of the stretcher, sending Stephanie up the broken stairs and out of the way, knocking the medic at the other end on his butt. Patty, meanwhile, was trying to get his beloved's best friend to safety and put his hands on Jane's thighs, attempting to toss her to street level. But it was too late. The crane had failed, and the huge slab of wall and floor crashed down on the unlucky pair.
Stephanie watched in horror from safety as the scene seemed to play out in slow motion. She clearly saw her closest friend struggle to push her to safety, watched as the love of her life struggled to save that friend. She bore witness to the brick and stone crushing them as if the whole event were occurring over several hours instead of only a few short seconds.
But worst of all, the last thing she viewed before shock sent her into unconsciousness was the sad smile on her friend's face, and the lips of her lover forming the words “I'm sorry.”