March, 2029

Holding her head to keep it from splitting in half, Ella groaned and rolled over onto her side. The shrill ringing in her ears was enough to drive her mad. She cried out, loud enough to make her throat hurt before she went into a coughing fit. With each cough her body tensed and it burned her muscles.

Everything hurt.

She could hear nothing, apart from the ringing in her ears.

Ella held her hands over her ears, providing pressure as she tried to keep her head from exploding. She was covered in dust. It burned her open abrasions. Her chest ached as her constricted lungs pushed against battered ribs.

Dim light shone through small cracks in the canopy of rubble above her. She looked around, her hands still covering her ears, and peered up at the ceiling of the collapsed building atop of her. It was held up by support beams and luck. It creaked under its own weight and dust fell like streams of water- adding to the cloud of dust that hung in the air, choking her.

She pushed herself up on chaffed, shaking hands. Her arms trembled and her legs barely moved to cooperate with her will to get up. Just as she got to her hands and knees she tried to call out; "Mi-" her voice caught and her body was thrown into another coughing fit.

She couldn't breathe. She choked on her own words, the dust covering the back of her throat prevented her from catching her breath. She became lightheaded. Before she could collapse back into herself, her stomach upheaved what little contents it had.

Ella couldn't catch her breath, she gasped and gaped her mouth like a fish out of water. Her body became tense and her lungs burned. Despite the pain it had caused, the vomit helped to refresh her throat and she managed to take breath in.

Her mind was racing. She was panicking- she wanted to keep calm. Knew deep within her mind that she was losing control. Somewhere a voice in the back of her mind told her that that was really why she was panicking. Then she considered that if she had a concussion it would explain the change in her mentality- her self control. She knew she needed help or it would be too late and she'd lose herself completely. She needed help. 

"Mike-" she croaked. Even if Michael had heard her, she would not have been able to hear his response. She needed to move. Had to find- "Daniel..." she called, knowing that it was futile to do so. Still, she had to find them.

A line of dust fell, when the house shifted, on her head- blanketing her further in the gray white, fine, powder. She shook her head and brushed it out of her short hair, now colored a sick gray. Narrowing her eye, one winked closed in pain, she looked around the shadowed crypt.

The ground was covered in broken furniture, walls, bricks and splintered banisters and support beams. In some areas, the ground glittered in sunlight from a porthole in the ceiling- broken glass littered the deadly obstacle course. She looked up again and realized they'd fallen a floor down from where they had been standing. They'd fallen into the basement and had two floors of debris hanging precariously above them.

Her stomach sank and her heart began to beat faster with the realization. Her breath hitched and she shuddered. "Mike?" she whimpered.

She felt sick. Hopeless. Alone.

Ella's arms began to tremble more, she could barely hold herself up on her hands and knees. She had to move or she would die twenty feet under. This wouldn't- couldn't be her coffin.

Just as she moved to crawl away from where she'd landed, the support beam under her twisted under her weight shift. She clawed and the debris around her to keep from falling but it was in vain. She landed on her side, hard. Her ribs connected with a hard slab on stone from a fireplace hearth, her leg got caught between the shifted beam and what remained of step ladder.

She cried out, her lungs constricted painfully until she took a sharp intake of air.

Her hand went to the thigh of her trapped leg and she tugged weakly in a futile attempt to free herself. Suddenly, bile rose and she turned her head to the side in order to prevent herself from choking. Her stomach was now completely emptied and she turned her nose up away from the smell of it.

Twice now she puked. Something was very wrong.

She tugged again on her leg with one hand while her other arm pushed her up from the ground in order to reach higher. When pulling did nothing, she shifted her weight so that her whole body was twisted onto her right side. While her right arm pushed to lift her body higher, her left hand tugged at the beam and she jiggled her leg back and forth.

Her arm burned and her sweat plasted the dust to her face. She felt her arm was going to quit on her. A cry escaped her lips in her desperation and frustration. When she felt like her leg was about to tear out of her hip she gave one final push on the beam.

With a sickening pop, her leg slid out just as her right arm collapsed and she landed in a pathetic heap on the ground, sobbing quietly.

Finally freed, Ella rolled over on her back and stared up at small spot where the sun was coming through. It was so far away but she felt like she could touch it if she reached. She didn't. Her arms were jelly at her side. Her left leg burned. Ella didn't dare look to see if it was bleeding. She didn't have the strength.

"Hello?" she rasped, hoping for help. However, for all she knew, Michael and Daniel were in worse condition. Dead even. The idea brought fresh tears to her eyes but also renewed resolve.

She rolled over like a newborn doing it for the first time. Her shoulders led the way, her head the last to turn. Now on her stomach, the slab cutting into her belly, she pushed herself to her hands and knees. Hoisting herself up on the support beam that had betrayed her earlier, Ella found her feet and willed herself to stand.

The lightheadedness came back full force and she nearly fell over. She was nauseas. Her head was spinning and she felt as though she would hurl again- dry heaving. "Mike- Daniel...." She called again but the ringing was all she could hear, she wondered if it was the same for them.

When she began her trek over the debris, she was forced to limp. Her injured leg disallowing full motion. With each movement, Ella winced. Her arm wrapped around her middle, she tried to brace for every step she took to exacerbate her tense muscles and sore chest.

The debris shifted under her and she had to test everything she stepped on to be sure it wouldn't give out and trap her or injure her further. It was becoming harder and harder to see with each step she took further into the darkened crypt. She began to wonder if she'd be able to find either man. Coughs racked her body when she tripped over a banister and took a sharp intake of breath.

Ella doubled over, wrapping both arms around her chest as she coughed- her eyes pinched shut in pain.

Her breathing evened after several moments of calm breaths and she realized she hadn't been helping anyone. She had been calling out to deaf ears and only looked on the surface. They could be buried under layers of rubble.

Adrenaline rushed through her body at the sudden revelation and she was able to move more efficiently. The situation had just become dire. They could be suffocating.

Even as she found new energy to help Michael and Daniel, her vision began to blur. She blinked rapidly to shake the feeling. When it didn't go away she continued on, she didn't have time to dwell on it. Ella pushed through the headache and started to lift away pieces of rubble.

She skirted along the obstacles, pushing away debris and digging under rubble. Disoriented, Ella couldn't be sure where they had once been standing or where they could have fallen in comparison. As a result she looked everywhere. Throughout her search she had to stop from time to time due to coughing fits, dry heaving, or vertigo.

As she lifted a table away and pulled at a large piece of drywall, she collapsed on top of it – exhausted. Ella rolled onto her side, propped up on the slanted drywall, in order to prevent directly inhaling the dust to coat her throat again. She could barely see past the shadows and gray clouds that hung in the air. Her eyes drooped and blinked wearily.

"Hello?" she croaked.

The ringing continued and her head hurt. As she lay there, looking into the abyss of the demolished mansion, she realized how isolated she was. If she didn't find Michael and Daniel, she would die alone and never be found. And so would they. Her heart constricted and she thought, for a moment, that it had stopped beating. The reality of the situation crushed her more than the house ever could.

It was so dark. The darkness was just as suffocating as the dust. Ella couldn't choose between wanting water or a flashlight more. What she wouldn't give for those two things.

She opened her eyes, searching for a source of light. It was so far away. A beam of light came down on the other end of the house through a gap in the collapsed foundation. The sunlight hurt her eyes but she needed it – she needed to escape the isolation the darkness induced.

As she forced herself back to her feet, she began to call out for Michael and Daniel again, alternating their names every other step. Only a few steps and debris crawls away, she finally saw it.

Movement.

Her breath left her all at once, her chin quivered. She found one of them. "Mike? Daniel?"

An arm appeared through the rubble, the hand limp and covered in a thick layer of dust. Ella stumbled to reach the arm, running the best she could over the debris.

"Hello?" she cried, louder.

The fingers twitched and she was spurred on to go faster. She came to a hasty stop and grasped the hand in her bloody one. Their thumbs linked and their fingers wrapped around the others hand.

Ella squeezed tightly as tears streamed down her face, leaving dark trails against the light dust. She'd yet to uncover the rest of the body but whoever it was squeezed back- their grip strong. Her heart raced. Not with fear but with elation.

"I've got you... I've got you...." she assured.