Dare You To Move

Chapter 14 - Oxygen

Collyn's chest burns as he lets out a sigh of relief. Elli starts groaning, hand coming up to her head while her eyes stay closed and her ears are clogged just as Collyn's were. But, Elli can hear the alarm blaring above them and it just makes her think it's Parker's alarm going off, that is until she felt the warm and sticky liquid on her forehead.

"What the f-" Elli's eyes open as she brings her hand in front of her face.

She sees the dark red liquid, the bookshelf and everything in front of her blurred with her vision focused on her hand. Her heart starts to jump at the sight of the blood and then, just as it did with Collyn, everything rushes back. Her legs ache, pressure building. The room is literally burning and it's hot. Her chest hurts, eyes burning, and her throat feels like sandpaper. The hearing starts to return and sirens can be heard from outside but that doesn't stop the panic from spreading through her body.

"Collyn?" She looks to him, hands coming to the floor for her to try and sit up despite her legs being trapped.

"You're okay." Collyn says with relief. "We gotta lift this, okay?" He says without waiting a beat.

Elli nods and the two of them try to move it off of her but it's too heavy. It's laying horizontally across her legs and they can't physically lift it up. Maybe if Collyn had two working arms, they could lift it just enough to slide her legs out from under it but not now. And it's too heavy to just push off of her. If they push it off, it could cause more damage. It could cut her. Elli's adrenaline is running ramped through her bloodstream so for all they know, she could be cut and not know it and sliding the shelving off her could make it worse. So, she's trapped.

"Go," Elli coughs out. "Get out." The coughing continues as Collyn puts his hand on her back and shakes his head.

"I'm not leaving you." Collyn says and takes off his hoodie.

"Get help!" It's a whine now, a hoarse whine leaving her lips. "You have to get help."

"They're outside." Collyn reassures and gives her his hoodie. "Put that over your mouth, okay?"

"But we don't know how long--" Elli bursts into a coughing fit, making Collyn grab her hands and put the hoodie over her mouth for her. "Please," Elli whines once the coughing subsides enough for her talk. Tears swell in her eyes and she's trapped.

Collyn shakes his head. "No." His voice is soft. "It's gonna be okay."

Collyn says it'll be okay but will it really? She's stuck in a fire after an explosion. She's coughing up a lung, she's bleeding, and both of her legs are trapped. That doesn't sound okay to her. Her chest is burning and it hurts everything in her body to even swallow. Optimism isn't her friend in this moment and she swears this is going to be her end and tears just start falling.

"You have to get out, okay?" Elli pulls the hoodie from her mouth. "Please, just go, okay?"

"I am not leaving you." Collyn grits his teeth, tears swelling behind his own eyes. "I'm not."

"What about Parker?" Elli starts sobbing. "He could be here and we wouldn't know. And if he knows we're here and he's out there, he's gonna--"

"Stop." Collyn cups her face. "Look at me." A few tears fall down Collyn's cheeks. "He wasn't here. He might be outside but no one is gonna let him in here. He's fine and you're gonna be fine and I'm gonna be fine. But you have to be calm." Collyn tries to suck in a breath but all he does is start coughing, hands falling from her cheeks.

"I don't wanna die here." The cries are quiet and weak as she leans forward against Collyn.

"Well, we're not gonna die." Collyn says, tears coating his cheeks freely.