Nebulous || Evan Buckley [1]

chapter seventeen

another one bites the dust

After Josephine and Eddie recuperated from the life threatening slip up in the hotel room, the trio and Ali retreated to the staircase. Eddie led the four down the dark flight of stairs with Josephine on his trail, and Ali and Buck in the back.

Both Eddie and Josephine were clearing a path by the minimum lighting of their head gear and taking cautious steps as Buck coached Ali through walking on her bare feet. "That's it. You're doing great." He said, observing her taking ginger steps. "You've, uh, you've done this before, haven't you?"

"Yeah. It was, uh, my major at the Rhode Island School of Design." She remarked then retracted. "Sorry. Sarcasm is my fallback for pretty much everything."

Buck nodded, "I totally get it."

Josephine lends hand out to Ali as she and Eddie waited for the latter ahead. "I got you." She assured.

"Okay." Ali pulled forward on the railing to Josephine when she paused. "You think he'll still be on the sidewalk when we get down there?" She peeked over her shoulder at Buck.

The three firefighter's face faltered at the question about the incident. Buck shook his head with no hesitation. "No. And we're not going out that side, anyway."

"Let's hustle up, you three. We don't want to be here for the next aftershock." Eddie quipped.

Ali's eyes enlarged in disbelief. "Wait, what do you mean, the next aftershock?"

"Welcome to California," Josephine mused, raising her outstretched hand in Ali's reach.

Buck encouraged the blond haired woman, "Come on. There we go. You're gonna be fine."

Josephine continued to guide the woman panting in distress. "You're gonna be fine. He's right behind you." She reminded her of Buck's presence.

"Okay." Ali swallowed, gripping onto her hand, and walking down the steps.

Eddie jumped down the to bottom of the staircase when he and Buck flashed their lights at the pieces of debris blocking their pathway. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me. We're not getting out this way." Buck stated.

"Now what?" Ali asked the trio.

Josephine looked up to the flight of stairs they just descended from. She exhausted a sigh, "We go back up." She enthused much to their dismay yet ideal situation to escape this building.

Ali darted at her, "Back up?"

When they turned around, Bobby voiced through their radios. "Ladder 118, respond. This is Captain Nash. I need a head count."

"Ladder 118 responding. Diaz, Buckley and Santiago, we're good, Cap." Eddie accounted.

"Castillo and Jackson responding."