Dance Moms - Lorelei (2) Finding Clara

Chapter 7 : Hope

She woke up by a beam of light, coming through the gaps between the rocks. She made a routine check for injury, and then carefully pushed away the rocks that buried her.

As if climbed out of her own grave, Chloe inhaled deeply, and gasped at the astonishing scene behind her.

Pressing over the brick wall was an overturned fire truck, and leaning on the truck was a sixteen-wheeler, the two giant vehicles were pushed up to an angle, forming a ramp that caught a pile of smaller cars like a net, resulting a mountain of cars piling over each other.

The wall that sheltered her suddenly collapsed, causing a landslide of cars falling to all directions. Chloe climbed to the top of the mountain, stood on high ground to find her bearing.

Not far away she saw the remains of a shopping mall, it was intact at both ends, but the middle was completely gone, like it was sliced away by a giant knife. The floor has caved in, revealing two levels of underground parking.

"The tornado last night must have sucked the cars out of the basement, that would explain all these cars." her reflection studied. Unlike Chloe who was covered in dust, the reflection was untouched by the disaster.

Chloe shivered, witnessing the destructive power of Mother Nature.

She climbed down from the metallic hill and moved towards the building, the road has collapsed into the hollow earth, a result of the empty basement. She kept her path close to the foundations, until she was within the mall premise.

"There must be a food court somewhere." Chloe found herself telling her reflection.

She search from store to store, careful not to fall into the big wide crack that sank to the lower floor. Then she spotted something.

Down by the parking lot was an office, the glass store front was shattered, but behind its fallen wall revealed a vending machine.

Chloe made her way down, climbed over the cars and rocks, stood in front of the machine lying on its side. She reached into her pocket for change.

"That was stupid." the reflection cocked her head.

Chloe cursed, picked up a brick and smashed the glass, reached in and grabbed a handful of Snickers. She hasn't eaten anything for the last twenty-four hours, so hungry she bit off the cover and gulping it down.

"You're going to gain a lot of weight eating all that sugar!"

"I'll work on it later!" Chloe ignored her reflection and chewed.

She ate four Snickers in a roll, storing as much energy as her body could take, then took as many her pockets could carry.

She went back to the shattered office in search for useful tools, among the broken desks and fallen cabinets she found scissors, paper cutters and duct tape, and a first aid box that has fallen from the wall, then she stopped at a floor plan on the wall.

It was for visitors to find their desired shops. Chloe ran her finger down the index and found what she was looking for.

The third floor of the East Wing was wiped out by the tornado, leaving a hollow frame of what has been the building.

"You're not going to find anything there!"

"Maybe not." Chloe said. "But there's always hope!"

She climbed up the rubbles piling as high as the second floor, clothing and racks were scattered among fallen bricks. She dug through the rock pile, working her way towards what has been the location of the store.

"You're wasting your strength!"

"Maybe." Chloe bit her lip, her face was covered in dirt. "Burn all that sugar, right?"

"You need some for your way back!"

She dug with her bare hands, her nails chipped and fingers cut, but she kept digging, until she struck gold.

With the foundation collapsed, the store of Mountain Hardware and Sports sank directly to the second floor, with stocks of merchandise pressed together like wasteland.

"Dumb luck!" the reflection snorted.

"Luck I can use!"

Chloe spent half an hour gathering the things she needed, a backpack, water bottle, a Swiss Army knife, a flashlight with multiple functions, and a pair of hiking boots her size.

She strapped the boots to her feet, secured the flare and insulin that Arroway gave her into her new backpack, stuffed as many energy bars as she could into the remaining space, and threw a coil of climbing rope over her shoulder.

On her way out she passed a mannequin dressed in mountain gear, carrying a sign saying "Walk the Wild!".

"I may just do that!" Chloe took the pair of hiking sticks from those plastic hands.

She climbed to the top floor and unfolded a map she found from the piling stocks. It was a hiking guide for the West Virginia country side, not exactly helpful, it did not show the location of the church, but it carried a simple lining of the city.

With much of the roads flooded or destroyed, it was hard to pin point any spots, but she could make out the big land of water ahead, bending in the near shape of the Summersville River.

Clara! I'm coming!!