Callie whimpered, as much out of frustration as pain, although the pain in her leg was truly astonishing. When she’d first come to her senses in the rubble (it could have been seconds, minutes or hours after Trocution had collapsed, she wouldn’t have been able to tell), she had been sure it had been the pain that had roused her. She could tell that her leg was broken. She could just see her foot and ankle sticking out at an odd angle from beneath the concrete girder that had her pinned. That accounted for the pain.
The frustration had come when she’d realised that she couldn’t reach her wand. She could see it. She’d had it in her pocket when the floor had given way beneath her but it had ended up a few meters away, just out of reach. She’d tried to stretch out across the rubble to reach it but the agony caused by the extra pressure it put on her pinned, broken leg had made little bulbs of coloured light pop in front of her eyes.
Trying to force herself to breathe deeply, to stay calm, Callie lay her head down against the dusty ground beneath her, ignoring the places where debris dug into her already battered body.
“Hello?” she called, turning her head from side to side to try to peer around herself. “Can anyone hear me? I’m trapped down here!”
Alex didn’t know how long she had been unconscious but a voice calling for help brought her back to life. She tried to move her right arm but as soon as she tried, she felt a sharp pain going from her fingers to her shoulder. She looked down at it and yes, her arm was definitely broken.
As her body started to wake up the pain did too. And Alex realized not only her arm was broken. She had trouble breathing and felt pain on her side, which she guessed it meant she had ribs broken. Her legs didn’t feel that great either. By the amount of pain she was feeling whenever she tried to move them, she knew bones were broken there too.
She pushed a broken chair off her with her left arm and tried to sit up, but the pain in her chest kept her from doing. She whimpered but tried again, managing to push her upper body just enough to see around her. She thought she had seen something moving not too far away from her, and then a voice came from that same direction.
“I’m here,” she called. “Are you okay? Can you move?”
Callie’s eyes widened as she heard a voice reply to her shout.
“No,” she cried, craning her neck to try to see where the sound was coming from. “No, I’m trapped. I think my leg is broken.” She stopped talking for a moment as a terrible thought dawned on her.
“Hold on, are you okay? Can you move?”
Alex tried to move again to try and help the other girl, but the pain was getting too high to move anymore; and the more she moved, the more trouble she had breathing. “I can’t. I’m pretty sure my ribs are broken, and my arm... and at least one of my legs,” she said. She looked up at where the ceiling should’ve been and took a slow deep breath, wincing when her ribs punctured her lung a little more.
“Stay calm, okay? I’m sure help is on its way.”
“Merlin,” Callie muttered under her breath, low enough that the other girl wouldn’t be able to hear her. It sounded like she had got off fairly lightly, with just one injury, even if it was a bad one.
“I know it is,” Callie agreed, trying to inject as much certainty into her voice as possible. She was certain that Paul and her family would be doing everything they could to find her, she just didn’t know how easy that would be or how long it would take them.
“What’s your name?” Callie asked, wondering whether she knew the person at the other end of the voice. “I’m Callie.”
Help had to be on its way, she reassured herself. Her father was in Mako, but she was sure Tai and her Mom would be looking for her once they saw she wasn’t in Medical. And Danny. Danny would be looking for her too. She had to calm herself down and breathe slowly so it didn’t hurt her lungs more.
“Alex,” she replied. “I’m one of the healers at Medical.” At that moment she couldn’t remember if she knew Callie or not. The pain was taking over her mind a little.
“Hi,” Callie said, giving a somewhat hysterical little laugh. It was a weird way to introduce yourself to someone. Her natural instinct was to say she was glad Alex was there, that she wasn’t alone in this Hell, but how selfish did that sound? She wasn’t at all glad that she, or anybody else, was trapped. “I’m glad neither of us is alone right now,” she settled on, hoping Alex would understand what she meant. “I think talking might keep our minds off of… everything else.”
Alex smiled, even though Callie couldn’t see her. “Yeah, it’s a good idea. We can’t let each other fall asleep in case we have a concussion... Or worse.” In her case, her worse was internal bleeding, she guessed. Oh God, someone better find them soon.
“So... What do you do, Callie?” She asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
Or worse. The words sent a shiver through Callie. She was fairly sure her leg was the worst of her injuries but it sounded as though Alex was in a bad way.
“I work for Atlantis News; I’m a photographer. And I’ve just finished school,” she said, pairing her life down to the bare minimum. “What kind of healer are you?” She didn’t want to linger on herself - it was plain to her that Alex was the one who needed to keep talking.
Alex winced a little at the pain she was feeling, and tried to control her breathing. “I guess you could say I’m a magical healer, though it’s not like Harry Potter magic,” she said. “I can heal people with my hands,” she explained. She had never tried it, but the thought of healing herself crossed her mind; but she wasn’t sure she had the strength to do it.
Callie wasn’t sure whether Alex had referenced “Harry Potter magic” because she knew she was talking to a witch or just because it seemed to be the most prolific kind of “magic” in Atlantis, excepting the island’s own special brand. It didn’t matter though; she couldn’t reach her wand so her magic was as good as useless at that moment.
“Can you do anything to heal yourself?” Callie asked, trying to sound hopeful, although she knew Alex had almost certainly had the thought already. “Even a little?”
“I don’t think so... Everytime I try to move or even breathe, my whole body is in pain,” Alex said. Still, she tried to move her arm to put it over her chest. She focused hard on trying to heal herself, but nothing happened. She wasn’t sure if it was because she couldn’t or because she just didn’t have the strength at that moment.
“Don’t try then,” Callie replied, sounding a panicky, although she could hear movement and thought that Alex had probably just done exactly that. She hoped against hope that her suggestion hadn’t done more harm than good.
“Just… tell me about who’s going to be looking for you,” Callie called urgently, scrabbling for topics of conversation which might keep Alex conscious and focused on something, anything, other than her wounds.
“I won’t,” she said. She definitely wouldn’t try it. Again, that is. Alex tried to focus on her breathing and Callie’s voice. She could feel her body getting very tired, probably because she was losing blood. “My parents... My sister Tai... Danny... At least that’s what I hope.”
Callie could hear that Alex’s voice was growing weaker. It filled her with a sense of panic.
“Who’s Danny?” she asked. It was the only name Alex hadn’t elaborated on.
“Danny’s my...” but she paused as she thought about what exactly Danny was. They had kissed, been to dates... That made him her boyfriend, right? They hadn’t talked about labels but it kind of seemed like they were in the early stages of being a couple. “He’s my boyfriend,” she said. “We’ve just started going out.”
“That’s nice,” Callie replied with a sigh, letting her head rest back against the hard ground. She couldn’t help but think about Paul. They’d only been together for two months. It seemed like such a short time now, looking back on it, but it had been wonderful. Her eyes roamed the splintered, crumbling concrete and twisted steel that formed a canopy above them her, searching for any sign of life, any sign that rescue might be close at hand. She knew Paul would be coming for her, together with Alex’s parents, sister and boyfriend, she just hoped they reached them in time.
“What’s he like?” Callie asked, lifting a hand to her face to brush away tears which had formed in the corners of her eyes. “Your boyfriend?”
Alex breathed in and out slowly, trying to keep an even rhythm so her side and lung didn’t hurt so much. “He’s... he’s amazing,” she said with a smile on her face as she thought of Danny. “He’s a pilot from World War II. He’s smart, sweet and kind... And he doesn’t know how to tango,” she chuckled, making her side hurt. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
Despite the wetness that still lingered on her cheeks, Callie found herself smiling, listening to the warmth in Alex’s voice and the little wheeze of laughter that sounded as though it came at a cost. It sounded as though there was a story there and, when they got out of here, she wanted to hear all about it.
Alex’s question caught Callie off-guard. She’d never referred to Paul as her boyfriend before. It made what they had sound simple and ordinary when it felt anything but. It felt cosmic. It felt like destiny.
“There’s someone I love,” Callie replied, trying to find words to describe her relationship with Paul. “Someone who loves me. And I’m pretty sure there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do to find me…” I just hope he hurries up, she added in her head. “He’s called Paul. Paul Atreides. Do you know him?”
Alex smiled softly when Callie said she loved someone. They would make it out of there. They had people who cared about them and they just had to resist until they found them. “Is he from Dune?” Alex asked. She had seen that movie ages ago but she remembered that name.
“Yes,” Callie replied, perking up a little at the sound of the familiar name. “That’s right!” She had heard Paul call Arrakis ‘Dune’ before. It was the name that his people, the Fremen, had given their desert planet, he had told her once. It sounded like a harsh and unforgiving place and Callie had a hard time imagining it, despite the vivid way in which Paul described it. Still, thinking about it just then acted as a very timely reminder that Paul was used to dealing with far greater trials than what he faced here, in the ruins of Trocution. In fact, with every moment that passed and every time she allowed herself to think of Paul, she realised she was feeling more and more confident about their chances of getting out of the rubble alive.
“That’s so cool,” Alex said. “I can’t remember much about the movie, but I liked Paul... Maybe after we’re out of here we can meet, the four of us.” That would be nice... If they ever got out of there.
“Do you know what I can’t wait for when we get out of here?” Callie asked, letting her eyes close as she sighed out a deep breath. “A really big glass of wine. I think that’s only fair enough after the evening we’ve had.”
Alex chucked softly, which made her wince in pain. “I wanna eat a big double bacon burger.” And feed, she added. She knew she was losing blood and her body was starting to feel very heavy and cold. She was having trouble keeping her eyes open.
Callie smiled to herself. She didn’t tend to eat much meat but even she could have eaten the burger Alex described. The thought of it made her mouth water and almost made her forget how dusty and gritty her throat felt.
She was about to call out to Alex again when a sound caught her attention. Somewhere above her in the rubble, she could hear scraping, like rocks being shifted. Callie listened silently, holding her breath as she concentrated on the noise. Even as she did so, the sound grew louder, closer. It sounded as though someone was trying to get through to the pocket where they were.
“There’s someone there,” Callie exclaimed out loud, both for Alex’s benefit and her own.
“Help!” she called, raising her voice and ignoring the painful, scratchy dryness in her throat. “Help! We’re in here!”