Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Collapse

It was just after one in the afternoon when the partial collapse of an old concrete parking garage downtown had been linked to anti-android gang activity. The gangs had been building pipe bombs inside the structure for future use at other places to act as domestic terrorists throughout Detroit. One of the stored bombs detonated prematurely from where it had been hidden, trapping several innocent people inside their cars beneath the heavy, crushing weight of the compromised concrete structure from overhead. A rescue was immediately underway in an attempt to save those who were buried in the collapse, but the odds of finding survivors were unnervingly bleak.

Due to complete chance and proximity, Connor and Hank had been only two blocks away when the bomb went off allowing them to arrive at the scene first to try to aid the victims trapped inside the ruined garage. Their hopes weren't high but they were determined to do everything they could to try to help as many innocent people as possible.

"Finding anything, Connor?" Hank asked as he waved a cloud of dust from his face while he and Connor carefully traversed the crumbling structure in search of survivors. The ice and snow had been disturbed by the blast and were keeping the remnants of the garage at an icy cold temperature. "Anything at all?"

"I can detect four people in total trapped in the destroyed portions of the garage." The deviant confirmed as his L.E.D. cycled yellow steadily. "There are nine other people currently attempting to evacuate through the undamaged sections further down to get to safety."

"Where's the nearest victim?"

Honing on the closest trace of human vital signs, Connor pointed to a partially collapsed pillar of concrete that was pressing down against the hood and windshield of a small red car only a few yards away. "There."

The two detectives rushed over together to the small car as Connor directed and peered inside the damaged pinned vehicle through the driver's side broken window. There was one woman inside the car, she was unconscious and looked to be approximately seven months pregnant.

"Hank?"

"Shit, I see her. We need to get her out of there." Moving quickly Hank grabbed onto the driver's door handle and tried to pull the jammed door open, but it was stuck tight. "Damn it!"

Connor stepped up and grabbed onto the door handle and began pulling at a steady clip until the locking mechanism on the door creaked loudly before snapping away as the hinges on the door finally gave way. Opening the door as wide as it could go in the limited space he took a step back and let Hank get down by the door next to the victim to check on her condition.

"Good work." Hank knelt down beside the woman through the opened door and checked her pulse, finding it slow but strong. Unclipping her seatbelt he gently put his hand atop of her belly and felt gentle kicks from the still active baby and he immediately felt more at ease. "They're both still alive. Thank fuck."

Outside a chorus of sirens filled the street with a high pitched ambience as emergency vehicles converged on the sight to aid the victims just as Hank and Connor had done no more than two minutes prior. The garage itself began to groan and clouds of dust wafted down from massive cracks in the concrete structure above as the rest of the garage threatened to collapse in on itself at any moment. With the lights of the circling drones shining onto the carnage the smoky dust appeared thicker than it actually was.

Connor's blue L.E.D. flashed to yellow and then to red as he noted the overall weakened structural integrity of the garage and estimated a small window of time before a second collapse destroyed what was left of the garage. "We need to move fast. We have four minutes and twenty-two seconds before-"