Departure

Chapter 4: Savior

"It's getting loose!" Maria yelled in excitement and eagerness.
My hands were losing all grip on the pile of debris.
"Come on Maria!" Her dad cried.
With an enormous effort, Maria managed to slip her tiny limps between the gap of rubble.
I let out a great gasp as I dropped it back into place.
After she escaped, she lay there flat on the floor. Her dad rushed over to her.
"Honey, are you okay?" He said while placing his hands on her cheeks and kissing her forehead.
"Yeah. I'm okay." She let out.
The man looked up and met my eyes.
"Thank you! Thank you very much! You saved my daughter. I don't know how I could ever repay you." The man said with the upmost respect.
"Don't mention it. I would like to believe you and many others would do the same, if I was in your position." I yelled back.
He helped his daughter to her feet and shook my hand.
"Well, it takes a lot of courage to do what you've done. Your a great man, -" he paused, "I didn't quite catch your name."
"It's Candon, Candon White." I said.
"Well, Mr. White, pleased to meet you. I am-" he tried to finish. A loud boom shook the room. Then, the floor began to vibrate beneath our feet.
A fine crack started from my right and traveled under my feet, to the left. Then, the crack began to widen with a loud ripping noise.
Quickly, I started to sprint out of the direction, more south. The man grabbed Maria and set her on his back as they followed.
I turned back to see the major rubble start to disappear into the floor below. A ditch was swallowing everything in it's path.
Jenn.
I still needed to find her. Where could she be? Is she outside waiting for me? Is she stuck somewhere calling for help?
Thoughts of my love filled my mind, and that's all I could think about.

I kept my shirt over my mouth and nose as I ran. The smoke was becoming unbearable, and the treacherous flames seemed to be spreading faster and faster.
We kept a steady pace, dodging falling beams and ditches. My ears rang with a constant siren that sounded repeatedly.
Maria clung to her father and kept her face embedded in his shuffling back. She occasionally screamed during the times she didn't squeeze her eyes shut. The man mostly kept quite, only speaking to comfort his daughter. We seemed to make instinctive decisions together.
Also, as we ran, I kept a look out for the bathrooms. I told my situation to the man, and he said he'd help me if it came to it. We had only been in there for about 10 minutes, but it felt like a life time.
There was no other people this far back. No one alive we could see. Some lifeless bodies were scattered around. But besides the shifting of the earth below us, the falling of water from the ceiling pipes above, flames traveling to it's nearest victims, beams crashing into piles of debris, and smoke lofting and filling it's way into every crevice until the grayness of it is what consumes most of your vision, we were the only other motion this far south, deep into the tavern of the airport.
"Jenn!" I called out as we ran, but I received no answer. As I repeated her name, a part of me knew that I would never receive an answer again.