A day passed. A week.

Soon we're there for a full month, constantly listening to the rumbling outside. When it got bad, Elf would come to visit me. And towards the end of the month, it got to the point where she'd come every night. I eventually let her sleep on the couch.

Today, the rumbling got to the point where the building was shaking with every rumble. Elf and I are making our way down the hall to the stairs when it shakes so badly, we both stop. I put both my hands on the walls to stop from falling. Dust showers us, and we're both coughing when the trembling stops.

"What was that?" Elf asks as another tremor-this one not as bad-hits the building.

"I don't know," I say. "We should talk to the soldiers. Or look out a window."

It's too far from the ground to really make out anything, but what I can see is terrifying. A small dot moves to the side of the building. Seconds later, there's a boom that I can hear from the top floor and a cloud of dust. As the building lurches sideways, I realize in horror there's only one explanation: the Creatures are bombing the building, trying to topple it.

I move with difficulty from the window-the building is really tilted now, and I'm scared it's going to fall over. I pull Elf along and make my way downstairs, where I run into a soldier.

"What chance is there of this building falling over?" I ask.

"Not very high," he says. "The structure of the building is made so that even if the bottom floors are destroyed, it'll just fall into place."

"So, say, if the Creatures bomb one side, would it fall over on that side?"

He frowns. "I don't think so...again, it's in the structure of the building."

"Great. You've got Creatures bombing the other side of the building."

He pales and his eyes widen. "What?"

"Look out the wind-AHHH!" Elf screams as the building lurches the other way. It sways back in the other direction dangerously, then back. It continues to sway back and forth until it gradually stops.

The soldier rushes his way to a window. Then he pulls his walkie-talkie out and presses a button.

"Danny? Have you seen what's going on out there?" he asks urgently. "They're bombing the damn foundation. We need to get in contact with the Sargent."

"That's great," Danny's voice crackles out the walkie-talkie. "Except I've tried. We're cut off."

"Then what do we do?"

Danny was silent. "We fight," she says simply. "Warn all the guests on what's going on. Tell them it now depends on them for survival-monitoring rations, etc. We need more help down here, anyhow."

"Like what?" the soldier asks. "Why do you need more help?"

"We've lost a lot of men trying to stop the bombing. Some have been blown up. Some have been kidnapped."

The soldier swears and clips his walkie-talkie back on his belt. Then he looks at us. "I'll leave it up to you two to warn everyone," he says as he runs off.

Elf and I look at each other as the building quakes again. Then Elf says, "I'll take the bottom floors. You take the top. Tell everyone to meet at the top."

I nod and run down a flight. I bang on doors, and when they're answered, I tell them there's an emergency meeting right now.

By the time I reach the floor Elf is on, I'm out of breath and can hardly talk. I could die for a glass of water right now. But the minute she sees me, she runs up to me and says breathlessly, "I've told them all about the mandatory meeting. Said that they had five minutes to get upstairs. That good?"

I nod and brush the hair off my forehead. It's getting a little long, and it's starting to bug me. "We better head up now," I say. "There's probably a lot of people up there, wondering what this is all about."

She nods and we both run up the stairs, taking a couple steps at a time. By the time we're at the top, I wonder exactly how on Earth I was going to be able to make this announcement. Thankfully, not everybody's there yet, and I take this time to drink some water and catch my breath.

Finally, when the last person-the elderly man from the bus-sits down, I know it's my turn. I stand at the front and clear my throat. Immediately everyone quiets down and looks at me. I feel my face turn red, but I ignore this. I take a deep breath and start talking.

"I'm guessing you guys are wondering why it's one of your lowly guests standing at the podium today instead of one of the soldiers. Well, I'm here to tell you that they can't give you the speech today due to the fact that the worse has arrived. The war has gotten so bad they had to leave to fight.

"You may wonder why the building was shaking so badly. The Creatures have bombed the base. I'm guessing right now we're balancing on a fraction of the foundation and part of the first floors. We could fall, yes. But from what the soldiers have told me, this building was designed not to collapse or fall over. Don't ask me how; I don't know. So we're safe from that. Only the building's going to get shorter and shorter, the way it is.

"We don't have anyone watching us. We have no soldiers, the building might collapse underneath us, and it's now up to us for survival. We're cut off from the outside world, so we're not going to get any more supplies, which means we're going to have to ration."

"I can monitor that," Constance says.

"Thank you," I nod my head towards her. Now Elf stands up. "Constance is going to monitor the food rations. That's great. But we need to keep one thing in mind besides survival-ourselves. We can't turn against each other. Yes, being in close quarters without being allowed to leave will drive you crazy. There will be arguments. But these are times of trouble. If things get more severe, we need to stick together. No sacrificing others to the Creatures." There's some quiet laughter, but it quickly dies.

"But seriously," Elf continues, "We need to stick together. God knows this is a time when uniting is necessary more than ever. If you have any questions, please raised your hand."

A mousy-haired woman's hand immediately shoots into the air. "How do we know this isn't a joke?"

"Did you miss the rocking?" the elderly man-his name was Gerald, I remember-snaps. "Did that seem like a joke to you?"

The woman didn't answer. Elf looks around. "Any more questions?"

Nobody raises their head. "No?" Elf says. "Okay. Thank you for your time."

She steps away from the front of the room as everyone stands up. Once everyone's gone except Constance, she leans over and whispers, "How did I do?"

Despite everything going on, the seriousness of the situation, I have to smile. "Great," I whisper back.