Paphos

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Surrounded by the remains of their shattered elevator, Athen was able to stand with help.  It was keeping her leg straight that gave her the most trouble.  Her pain meds worked overtime to calm the nerves, but blood seeped anytime her leg bended, breaking what little coagulation had formed.  The narrow metal rod in her leg, which Dublin was kind enough to cut proportionately, kept her from bleeding out for now.  They couldn’t remove it until they were back to the quadrohuts where Dmitry had access to better medical equipment.  At least he did a good job of numbing the pain, or most of it.  Athen was quickly learning which ways she couldn’t move her leg.  She tried walking without assistance at first, out of a false belief that she could do it on her own, but reality had other plans.  She was hoping the wreckage held a usable walking cane but everything was too bent or broken or otherwise just wouldn’t do.  She watched Carolina for a moment, hoping the little kid didn’t go any further.  The girl was waiting at the end of the hallway, looking expectantly after her father.  She was such a precious little girl, Athen figured the guys should be back any minute now.

Then something happened.  Energy filled the walls, audibly swelling with power, like a generator coming to life deep within the compound.  Suddenly every light in the hallway beamed brighter, she was so used to the dimness from before that Athen had to shield her eyes.  “What was that?” Helena asked having nearly jumped.  Athen probably would have jumped if her senses weren’t deadened, the lights had just flipped on so suddenly. 

“Maybe the guys figured out how to power up the place,” Orlean said hopefully, looking at the lights.

“Something is wrong,” Carolina said.  She was peering down the hallway to the stairs where her father and the others had disappeared to.  “We need to go.”

Athen winced, though she didn’t mean to.  Carolina unnerved her, the child was not herself lately.  “I’m sure everything is fine, sweetie,” Athen finished saying just before something crashed.  A terrible metal sound flooded the hallway, the source of it was not very far away.

“What was that?” Athen asked. 

“We need to go, right now,” Carolina said.

This time Athen didn’t argue.  She slung an arm over Orlean and Helena each as they practically dragged her down the hallway.  Whirring motors and sensors buzzed in the walls around them.  The hallway ended and stairs led down to a huge open warehouse.  Carolina bounded ahead leaving the others no time to think.  The floor fell far beneath them as the stairs became a web of suspended platforms.  Athen’s stomach sank.  She could only imagine how this was going to feel with her leg.  Before she stepped out onto the rickety platforms another explosion burst from the building, followed by a pyre of flame. 

“Where are we supposed to be going?” Helena cried, her wide eyes stared fifty meters down to the floor below.  She looked very afraid of falling, not that anyone blamed her.

“We need to find the others!” Orlean said.

“Hurry,” Carolina urged.  Athen struggled with her leg and hustled as hard as she could using Orlean for support.  The loose platform swayed ever so slightly causing her to reach for a handhold, but there wasn’t a side guard or railing to grab.  For just a split moment she felt like she had already fallen, and realized that she was squeezing Orlean to the point that his face was turning colors.  Helena felt it too, she looked ready to crawl on her hands and knees to keep from falling off. 

Carolina bounded down the maze of platforms, way ahead of the others. 

“There’s an elevator, over there!” Orlean shouted.