“You’ve got it! Pull yourself up!” Lexi grabbed at Simon’s legs as they flailed around her head. “Climb UP, Simon!” His bare feet pushed against her palms with new purpose and she felt the pressure ease as he hauled himself up into the pocket above them.

Lexi staggered back, breathing hard, and watched his skinny form disappear through the gap. She stretched upward, rising on her toes, but the tips of her fingers stopped more than a foot below the lip of the opening. Searching, she saw some handholds off to her left. She grabbed one, and climbed.

Esme sobbed wildly, unable to hold in her panic. The pain had swallowed her whole. It ripped, burned, stabbed, and crushed her body. The men had no time to be gentle, and they strapped her to the stretcher with rough efficiency.

“Let’s go!” They each gripped a handhold and lifted her in unison, like pallbearers raising a coffin.

Marcus crawled to the mouth of the cavern below to check on Lexi and Simon. The boy clung to the floor, his hips and legs out of sight.

“Simon!” he called out, but got no response. Lexi’s barked commands rose from below, and Simon scrambled up through the hole. He scooted over to the side and resumed the fetal position, face to his knees.

Marcus watched for Lexi, but couldn’t see her. “Hey, buddy, let me help you up here.” Simon didn’t budge.

“Daddy?” Matty’s tremulous voice sliced into Marcus’s consciousness. He hesitated for a moment, and turned around. His kids needed his attention — all of it.

“What washes up on tiny beaches?”

“I’m already groaning,” Sofia said, but her grin belied her words.

“Microwaves,” Jax blurted halfway through a laugh. Sofia joined in along with a few teenage boys nearby who heard the pun. Their snigger floated up to join the white noise of a thousand conversations mixed around them.

“Where do you get this stuff?” Sofia asked in mock exasperation.

“I eat a lot of Laffy Taffy.”

“We’re out,” Sofia said.

“Of Laffy Taffy? No shi–”

“No, out of sandwiches. We’ll have to get some more.”

“I can do that,” Jax said lightly. “No prob.”

“Great, ‘cause I really need the bathroom. Do you know where it is?”

Jax pointed, squinted an eye. Sofia followed his gaze and saw a pitch black crevice in the stadium wall across a sea of flashlights. When she didn’t move, Jax rested a hand softly on her back.

“You have a light, right?”

Sofia jumped at the touch, then blushed. Quit being an idiot. “Yeah,” she said aloud and fumbled in her pocket to find the thin cylinder.

“Want to meet back here?”

She threw a quick glance his way. “Sounds good.”

Lexi panted and grunted as she pulled herself up from the wall of broken metal and stone. “Ouch. Shit,” she yelped as the top of her head hit a steel I-beam. She peered over at the fissure leading to her son. It was a good three feet away.

Narrow pipes crisscrossed the makeshift ceiling. Lexi gulped. If she fell, she’d have no strength to try again. Gritting her teeth, Lexi pushed against the wall and gripped a pipe. Her legs swung under her, unsupported.

A greasy film coated the pipe, and Lexi’s fingers slipped. With a guttural scream, she swung her body forward and reached for the next pipe.

They were out. Out of the building. Outside. Marcus wanted to jump and scream with relief and glee, but they had stepped out of hell into an inferno. The wind pushed and pulled, bullying and unrelenting. Marcus found it hard to keep his feet and held on tight to Matty’s hand. Bella screamed on his hip, enraged and bewildered.

He followed the firefighters who carried his wife as they carefully picked their way over the debris. Another man stood waiting for them.

“There are more people in there!” Marcus yelled over the whipping winds.

“We’re getting the old couple out now,” he shouted.

“And the kid and his mom?”

“We’ll check for them. You need to wait in the lobby next door until the ambulance gets here. It’s having a heck of a time on these roads. I’m Fitz,” he added. “I’ll be sticking with you folks.”

Marcus turned and looked at the wreckage. His gut clenched with guilt at the thought of leaving anyone behind.

Sofia approached the bathroom with growing apprehension. She hated the idea of being trapped in a pitch black room. Any creep could be in there. The restrooms sat across from her, with a cavernous hallway that snaked away on either side around the building’s curve and disappeared into another swath of foreboding darkness.

Taking a deep breath, she tugged the handle and cool air wafted over her in a wave. She sighed in pleasure at the abrupt relief from the suffocating heat and body odor that had been growing in the main room over the last few hours.

“Hello?” she called into the cavernous void.

Only silence and a slight echo returned her call. She stepped inside and the door closed behind her with a heavy thump.

“I did it!” Lexi said. She grinned and gasped as she used her last dregs of strength to climb up next to Simon. He kept his fetal position, but glanced over at her.

“Okay, one more level. Then we can get out.”

Simon tucked his face against his knees.

“C’mon, baby, we’ve got to go. This whole place is gonna fill with water.”

He still refused to move, and Lexi fought tears of exhausted frustration.

“Hey down there!”

Lexi saw a rope and harness drop in front of her.

“Can you hook up the kid?”

Relief bubbled up through her like a pot boiling over. Tears welled in her eyes, and she grabbed the rope and dragged it over to Simon.

She unbuckled a strap, but paused at a new vibration under her knees. She had to hurry.

Marcus backed up with Matty and Bella as the Paradise shifted. The rain fell in heavy sheets and visibility was poor, but he had gotten a few glimpses of the shore…and the rising sea.

Lexi fumbled with the nylon straps. “Simon, let’s strap this on you.”

Simon moaned and rolled away from her.

“Come ON!” Lexi said, panic rippled over her skin.

“You guys gotta move!” yelled the man above.

Lexi gathered Simon in her arms and screamed with exertion as she stood.

“TAKE HIM!” she yelled and staggered toward the man. She howled again as she lifted Simon over her head with adrenaline-fueled strength.

“I can’t reach!” He strained to push through the hole, but his fingers only brushed Simon’s hair.

A violent shudder knocked Lexi off her feet, as they both tumbled to the ground.

Sofia eased out of the door, eager to return to the crowd. As she passed the dark hallway, unease filled her. She searched for the source, but it was too late. A firm hand grabbed her wrist and yanked her into the shadows.

Marcus almost fell as the rubble groaned and shifted. Matty yelped, gripping his dad’s shirt. He scooped up his son, turned and ran, jumping from stone to bent metal, praying he didn’t fall.

Lexi hit the floor of the small space and heard a sickening “crack” as her right arm fractured. Agony exploded from her lungs in a torrential shriek. The surrounding ruins shook and debris fell with the rain.

She cradled her injured limb to her chest and scooted over to Simon. Their rescuer was nowhere in sight. Lexi lay down next to her boy, face to face. She drew his body close to hers and rested her forehead against his.

Her memories of motherhood lasted both an eternity and the length of a breath. Missed sleep and constant demands distorted the months and years past — masked sweet moments as they slipped by. She had trained all her focus on survival…on making it to another day.

I missed it. All of it. And now our time is up. Lexi held her baby close and breathed in his smell like she did the day he was born. “I love you, Simon,” she whispered, her breath painted his small face. His eyes met hers and his small palm rested on her cheek.

With one final shudder, the Paradise collapsed for the last time.