Honey and Glass

~5~

        I jumped from the truck and grabbed my gear. I made my way inside followed by Buck. The two of us had been tasked with finding any injured or DOA people and flagging them down. Bobby made his way inside and met the two of us at the entrance.

"16 DOA so far. Mostly blunt trauma to the head or crushed by falling debris or other bodies. One victim impaled," Buck reported.

"They fell through two stories," Bobby said looking around. "I won't be surprised if that number goes higher."

"Captain!" Hen called making her way over to us. "The groom is devastated- his bride hasn't been accounted for yet."

"We'll find her. Buck, I'm gonna need you to go up top. Access to the second floor is blocked. We're gonna have to tackle this thing from both ends," Cap ordered.

"Okay, Captain."

"Savita! Savita!" The groom yelled, digging through a pile of rubble. Cap, Hen, and I rushed over to his side.

"Step back. Step back, it's okay. If she's in there, we will find her." Bobby said, trying to pull the groom off the ruble as he yelled for his bride. "Sir, stay back. Sir, let us do our job."

"Savita!"

"Just have a seat, let us do our job," Hen said, trying to calm the worried groom. Hen got to work accessing the groom's injuries as Bobby started sawing away the fallen debris. Once he got it close enough he set the saw down.

"Lift on three. One, two, three." I pushed as hard as I could against the fallen rock to no avail. "Buck! Buck get over here. Give us a hand," Bobby said as Buck came into view. Buck ran over and Bobby counted us off. "One. Two. Three!" I put all the strength I could muster into getting the rock up, and with the extra help, we managed to get it out of the way. The bridge, Savita, had been crushed by the debris and was lying still underneath.

"She's not moving," Buck said.

"Alright, she breathing?" Bobby asked.

"I think so. She's coming to," He said as Savita grew toward consciousness. We pulled out small rocks from around her and Bobby made his way closer to her.

"Hold on, stay still. Stay still in there," He said to Savita. "Here, we got you. Give me your hand. Okay, can you move? All right. Come on. Slowly. We got you. We got you." Savita immerged from inside the rubble covered in dust and ash from head to toe. I placed my hand on her arm, helping to steady her as she climbed out.

"Watch your head," I told her as she stood up.

"Savita," The groom gasped and the two imbraced. Savita began to cry into the arms of her future husband. Bobby looked around and his eyes caught on someone on the ground. He picked it up before flashing his flashing light around.

"Is the owner here?" He asked.

"I saw him on my way in. Why?" I asked, gesturing over to where I had seen him.

"Hey," Bobby said to the man who'd immerged into the room. "What'd you put on the third floor? What'd you put on the third floor? You think I don't know what that is?" Bobby dropped whatever he found and it clattered against the ground.

"What's the matter with you?" The man asked.

"That's Kal-Pal! That stuff's been banned," Bobby snapped, grabbing the man's collar. "You didn't reinforce the concrete with steel. Instead, you used that crap. This used to be a two-story building. That floor that collapsed- that was the roof, wasn't it? Wasn't it!"