Origins

9:18 a.m.

When Alessandra got up she started looking for Seth in the street. He had landed on his back but tried to shield his face using his right hand. It got covered in shattered glass. Alessandra had been out of reach for the glass but the force of the explosion knocked her behind a vacant car.

She looked up at the building that the explosion had come from. The explosion hadn't been too bad because they were still alive and the building was still intact. Mostly. But it was on fire which wasn't great. Alessandra was about to get a closer look at Seth to make sure he was ok but she heard a scream come from the building. Alessandra looked at Seth lying in the road, his dirty blond hair was covered in ash and gray dust that the explosion had blown up (now it really was dirty blond)and his jeans had a rip in them by the ankle and there, she could see a though the rip, a piece of glass had cut him. His brown jacket also had some rips from glass but she couldn't see any cuts as serious as his ankle.
In that split second, she had to decide. Alessandra looked at Seth and then at the burning building. Seth started to move, placing his good hand on his head. Alessandra knew what she had to do.
She charged into the building.

The smoke was almost unbearable but somehow she got through it. The scream had come from the second floor of the building so that's where Alessandra needed to go. She looked around desperately for the stairs but none were in sight. The smoke was intensifying and she had to hurry before it was too late. Alessandra rushed down the nearest hallway searching each room as she went. Finally, in the last room on the right, there they were!
Who designed this place? Alessandra thought angrily as she hurried up the steps as fast as she could.
The landing at the top was covered in fire and the smoke was so thick Alessandra could hardly breathe but she looked around trying to locate where the scream had come from. Her eyes watered as she searched and she tore a piece of the bottom of her shirt and tied it around her mouth and nose. That wouldn't do much good for long. Then there was another scream, this one even more terrified. The scream was male and it was coming from the room right in front of Alessandra. She burst through the door and saw the man who had screamed. The man was a smaller, middle-aged man with black hair that was graying and was wearing a blue Captain America t-shirt and jeans. He was covered in burns and there was fire surrounding him. There was also a hole in the floor beside the man, that Alessandra hadn't noticed when she was rushing around downstairs. The room was rectangular and had some exposed water pipes on the yellow floral painted walls. The flames were eating the floor and walls and she knew that the floor would soon give way and they both would fall.
"Listen, sir," she shouted over the noise from the flames. Maybe not the best way to start a conversation. "I'm here to help! I need you to stay calm ok! It's going to be fine!" at this point she wasn't even sure of that.
"I can't!" he screamed! "I did this! It's all my fault!"
"Just stay calm! We're going to get out of this ok!" The flames were surrounding him. How were they going to get out of this?
Come on Alessandra think! You're a detective for crying out loud! THINK! She didn't have much time and was starting to panic when an idea came to mind. Of course!
"Sir?! Sir do you have any rope?" The man didn't answer. He was starting to have a panic attack.
Who would he have a rope? Of course, he's having a panic attack! She scolded her self.
She needed to act now.Now or never!
Alessandra ran down to one of the rooms she had searched on the way in. The windows had had long drapes and she yanked them down and got to work, praying this would save the man. After she had made her makeshift rope she ran to the bottom of the hole from the other floor.
"Sir! I need you to listen!" he didn't show any sign that he had heard her. She couldn't see him from the bottom of the hole. "Sir, I'm down here! I'm trying to help you and I need you to listen to me!" This time he poked his head into view. "Alright! I'm going to throw this rope up and I need you to take it and tie it to the strongest pipe up there ok? If you fall I'll catch you ok!"
Luckily he wasn't a huge dude. He whimpered but nodded. The wood creaked as he got on all fours ready to catch the makeshift rope. She readied and then threw. It took a couple tries but finally, he caught it. He must've realized his time was starting to run out. She heard some shuffling across the floor as he moved to the pipe on the wall. He started to climb and Alessandra stood on high alert just in case he fell. The ceiling wasn't too tall, thankfully.
Only a couple feet left, she thought.
Crack!
The pipe burst and he fell. Alessandra caught him by the shoulders and steadied him, "We have to go now!"
Crack!
This didn't sound as promising as a pipe. Alessandra pushed the man towards the door and started to run with him. They barely made it out when a huge crash sounded and the second floor crashed down.