Explosion [COMPLETE]

Floor 25- The Beginning

Cari's eyes slowly fluttered open. She felt weak, and she could see that the building around her was slowly crumbling as large chunks of rubble fell down from the ceiling. Cari attempted to stand, but her legs felt so weak that she immediately sat back down again. As far as she could see, there weren't any survivors, certainly none who were on the same floor as her. Now, she scanned the room for helpful objects. Finally, she saw a large chunk of wood, conveniently shaped with a flat edge towards the top, and two triangular sides going inwards. This could serve as a crutch.

Using her new makeshift item, Cari found the strength to stand, and proceeded by walking towards the visible fire exit. Cari tried to remember her purpose and how to get out of the building quickly, but she simply couldn't bring herself to remembering a single thing, except her name, her birthday, and a fuzzy memory of what looked like a package in a drawer.

Cari lifted up her crutch ready to walk on, but something caught her eye... She tried to continue walking, briefly glancing at her crutch, but only then did she see the words etched into it- "You wanna get outta here? Then follow the trail till you meet one more clue."

A trail? What could it mean?

Cari carried on walking forwards, trying to ignore the clue, but she simply couldn't forget the words. After some deep thought, Cari decided that she would carry on walking on, and if this 'trail' happened to be nearby, she would follow it.

As she continued walking, she saw a long line of rubble chunks. The trail! Cari directed her crutch towards the right, and began to follow the rubble. She walked on for a while, but when she reached the end of the trail, there was nothing. Well, nothing of great significance. In front of her was an enormous piece of rubble. But as Cari edged closer, she saw the words "Watch out" carved into it in the same style as the engravings on her crutch. "Watch out"? What could it possibly-

Cari's thoughts were cut short by a strange sound. It was as if someone was cutting a piece of wood, yet it was different...

Cari scanned her surroundings, looking everywhere. She then looked up, about to curse her luck, when she saw it. Someone was using a sharp tool to cut through the ceiling! Cari used her crutch to get to the corner of the corridor, away from the cut rubble. Just as she got to the edge of the room, the piece of the ceiling fell with a loud crash, The large piece of rubble, which had given Cari the two life-saving words, "Watch out", had another piece of writing etched into it on the side. Cari smiled when she saw this: "Well done."

Now Cari had to concentrate on getting out of this floor of the building. Larger chunks of rubble were falling now, so there was a slim chance that Cari would escape these ones. Also, someone, or something, was trying to kill or harm her badly, judging by the noise she heard and the sharp tool she saw. Surely Cari couldn't be the target... maybe there was a misunderstanding, or whoever this thing was targeting must look very similar to Cari. But then, the messages that had saved her life and helped her- it was as if there was someone trying to help her at the same time. And whoever it was, they must have been an expert in human behaviour because they knew exactly where Cari was going to run, and exactly where she would be standing, or what she was going to do- it was as if someone was privately accessing everything, as if someone knew more about her than Cari herself. It was an unpleasant feeling. Oh well, it could all just be a large scale misunderstanding that Cari had somehow wound herself into.

Then Cari remembered; she had to get off the top floor!

Cari lifted and lowered her crutch as fast as she could, yet she wasn't able to go very far with her leg injuries.

"C'mon, girl, you can do this!" she muttered to herself.

There was a crash behind her.

"C'mon! C'mon!"

Cari kept going as quickly as possible. She then tried to run, but collapsed with the effort. Tired and hungry, she scanned her surroundings for any supplies or provisions. The place was bleak and empty, save for a sign on the wall. Cari had seen it before. Suddenly, it came to her. Her memory of the package... the package in the drawer... it became clearer. She could see that same sign on it!

And then she saw small words underneath the sign on the wall:

DANGER: IONIZING RADIATION.

Nuclear weaponry! Now what? This day was getting weirder and weirder.

More rubble fell to the ground behind her.

Cari somehow found the strength to stand, and she headed towards the left turn. She finally saw green signs showing the way to the fire exit, and she followed them. But the questions wouldn't leave her: Why was this "standard office building" where Cari probably worked dealing with nuclear items and weaponry? Why was someone trying to harm(and save) her? And did the whole nuclear thing have something to do with it all? Why was Cari embroiled in this entire fiasco?

The fire exit finally stood in front of her. Cari, fatigued by her venture and injuries, slowly edged towards the exit, yet something was wrong. There it was again- it was the same sound from before, when the sharp tool was cutting into the ceiling! And this time, Cari could see what looked like a chainsaw cutting through. Cari tried to run into the exit, but she once again succumbed to her injuries. She just couldn't stand, no matter how hard she tried. She was going to die.

Cari closed her eyes, ready to embrace death-

Hands. Warm hands pushed her towards the exit. Or were they hands? Cari didn't know. It was like she was sleeping. In a dream. A warm, soft dream...

She hit the cold stairs, and tumbled down to the flat area. She felt like she was dying. It was so cold; her warm fantasy had abruptly ended. She could feel the pain, as cuts opened on her body and crimson liquid dripped down her legs, further causing her pain. Her legs were already substantially damaged. She may not be able to walk again. She wouldn't die now. Yet, she could not see any more. Her heart skipped a beat. Her hands fell limp. Her mind gave in to the darkness and she fell into a cold, deep sleep.