Previously: The tremors begin again, causing Anne to fall onto of Phillip. He groans as she lands on him but wraps his arms around her with the strength he has left. Anne buries herself into his heaving chest as the roof above them crashes loudly and collapses on the couple.
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Anne stirs for the first time since the rubble fell on top of her, which knocked her unconscious 15 minutes ago. Pain shoots throughout her body, causing her to whimper out in agony. Her head pounds as she picks up on the abundance of odd sounds around her. The ear-piercing blare of sirens, the crackle of fire in the distance, the worried chatter of survivors and the crash of rubble as rescue workers look for victims of the natural disaster. Suddenly everything comes rushing back. The crushing weight of the collapsing building. The screams of terror as people are awoken from their slumber. The overwhelming fear coursing through her body. Phillip. She then realizes she is still resting her head sideways on his chest, which raises and lowers shakily. Anne freaks out, her eyes opening quickly. The rising sun blinds her as it peaks over the horizon. She snaps them back shut tightly, afterimages of the terrain she briefly saw are projected on the back of her eyelids.
She starts to shake relentlessly from fear, the sudden movements accompanied by acute pain from her ribcage, neck, head, and left ankle. Her breath comes in ragged, quick intervals. After waiting a few seconds, she attempts to survey her surroundings again by opening her eyes centimeters at a time. At last, her eyes are able to take in the land around her. She sees large pieces of the hotel scattered around her, a piece the size of a twin sized bed missing her and Phillip by a couple feet. They both could've easily been killed just a few minutes ago. Fine dust particles still hang in the air, creating a dense cloud of grey to cover the ruins. She sees smoke drifting into the orange-red sky as the fires burn just as brightly and strongly as the rising sun. Anne looks down at her partner. Dust settled on his face and in his usually light brown hair, giving him an unusual complexion. Blood slowly seeps out of a new wound and forms a deep red path down his temple.
Anne makes an attempt to roll herself off of Phillip, making sure to not hurt him in the process. She tries to move her right arm to push herself over but as she starts to push up her body weight a sharp pain coming from her midsection causing her to collapse rather roughly back onto Phillip. He groans slightly in response but otherwise remains unconscious and still. Tears come to her eyes as she breaths heavily, waiting for the pain to surpass. After it dims she tries again to roll herself over. She bites her tongue roughly to stop from crying out, eventually tasting the metallic taste of blood. She manages to roll herself over to look at the morning sky.
Pain reverberates throughout her body again from many different hotspots. She grinds her teeth together and squints through the black that's flooding her vision, knowing that she had to get Phillip to a medical professional. She then uses the rest of her strength to push herself into a sitting position, slumping against the large piece of rubble. Although slightly weaker, the excruciating pain still pulses from her injuries. Anne decides to follow the pain to its sources. She notices how her left ankle bends oddly, obviously broken. She then takes in the many scrapes and bruises on her bare legs. Her pale pink nightgown is torn in many places, exposing some of Anne's soft brown skin. Her eyes keep traveling up her body, now stopping at her side a little bit away from her hip. She notices how most of the silky fabric is torn in that area and how her skin around her last rib is severely bruised. Broken.
Anne leans her head back onto the rubble, a protruding piece of metal skimming her head and tangling in her dirty hair. She pulls her head roughly away from the metal, yanking out some of her hair with it and freeing herself from its grasp. Making sure to not hit anything, she repositions her head on the rock and angles her ching upward. She strains her eyes to see the clear blue sky, but only sees pitch black smoke. Fire. She starts to panic, swinging her head around to catch sight of the nearby fire. She finds it to be coming from about 50 yards away.
She then hears a familiar voice call out her and Phillip's name. The voice echoes out again, desperate. Anne tries to call back but only a whimper comes out of her mouth. She tries again, this time using all of the energy she has left. She finally yells out, an incomprehensible one but a sound none the less. She cries out in pain after she yells, her diaphragm messing with her newly broken rib. Their rescuer seems to hear her call and calls back. Before their savior could reach her though, Anne passes out against the rock.
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Anne slips out of her unconscious state a few minutes later. She sees a blurred familiar face above her, tears streaming down the person's dark-toned face. She scans her memory quickly to find the identity of the person. One person stands out in her mind that resembles the tearful figure, her brother W.D. She blinks repeatedly, focusing keenly on her brother. He is holding her in his arms, her legs draped over one arm and her upper body being supported by the other. He starts to walk, quite quickly to a medic. Anne cries out as her broken rib radiates a sharp pain once again. He stops, looking down at his beloved sister with a petrified expression. "Annie? Are you okay?" W.D asks, addressing her softly by Anne's childhood name. Anne manages to croak out "slow" before wincing in pain. He nods and sets off in a slow gate that doesn't jostle her around as much.
After a whirlwind of nurses and medical professionals checking her out, Anne is finally brought to the hospital. She is placed in a pristine white bed and Anne sinks down into the comfortable matress. She takes a look around the hospital wing in order to familiarise herself with the new surroundings. She first sees a nurse meandering between each bed to keep an eye on all the patients, stopping ever so often if a nearby patient was in distress. Then Anne looked the opposite way, not expecting to see Phillip laying in the bed a few feet away from her. He stares at the ceiling, a blank expression on his face. He appears to not know that Anne lay next to him only 3 feet away. The reason the beds were so close in proximently was because of the limited space in one of the only upright hospitals, let alone buildings, in San Francisco.
Anne sits up slowly in the bed, her weak muscles straining. The pain that had recently accompanied Anne when she moved was numbed by the pain medicine. She stretches out her arm, having to lean slightly over to reach him, and gently touches Phillip's forehead. He flinches at her sudden touch but then turns his head to look at her. His piercing blue eyes don't sparkle with the familiarity in which Anne is accustomed to. The instant he registers who she is, he smiles softly. His bandaged broken arm lays limply at his opposite side and when he shifts around to get a better view of Anne, he squeezes his eyes shut tightly as the pain passes. Even numbed by the painkiller, the pain of a broken arm is excruciating. Anne lays back down, being extremely careful not to disturb her bandaged ankle. Although she wants to talk with him and ask if he was alright, she doesn't knowing that he needs rest as does she. So instead she turns her head in Phillip's direction and reaches out a hand for him to take. He gladly does and returns a tired smile. The two fall asleep, holding hands.
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"How long you think it'll be until P.T lets us back into the circus?" Phillip asks Anne, who is sporting a new white plaster cast on her ankle and a large bandage pressing ice on to her rib. She shrugs and looks down at her cast. "I mean the doctor said I'd have the cast for at least six weeks and it'll take around the same time for my rib. Depending on the severity of your fracture, which they can not be sure of, yours may take longer." Phillip nods in agreement, looking at his new white cast. Anne carefully touches the area where her curly locks were removed so the doctors could stitch up her wound. All of the sudden, a large group of people burst through the infimary doors. Instantly, Anne starts to recognise several faces from the large crowd. Lettie, P.T and many others. The two break into wide smiles as the group works their way to the couple. "Anne!" Lettie exclaims, pushing through the crowd. She then comes up and takes Anne's hand in her own.
"You had me so scared Anne." She says with tears in her eyes. Then she turns her head towards Phillip, gives him the safe fearful glance and then says, "You too Phillip." Anne squeezes Lettie's hand in reassurance and shoots her a kind, sympathetic smile. Just as she starts to apologize for scaring Lettie, Anne is interrupted by the doctor working his was past all of the Oddities and reaching the two small twin beds. "Excuse me, Ms. Wheeler and Mr. Carlyle? You are free to leave, the both of you." The Oddities burst into chatter from excitement but PT quiets them. The doctor continues. "Ms. Wheeler, we have a wheelchair out in the lobby. Mr. Carlyle, here is a sling to help ease the weight of your cast. Let me help you put it on." P.T rushes out the door to grab the wheeler chair as the doctor helps Phillip put on the soft fabric sling.
"Thank you so much Doctor. Thank you for taking in people like us. We are usually seen as outcasts. You were able to look past out physical appearance and still give us proper medical attention when we needed it. Please allow others in the future that are apart of society's minority to have the same experience we did. " Anne gestures to Phillip and the Oddities, a look of pure gratitude on her face. The doctor smiles and responds with, "There is no need to thank me. We are all human are we not? Everyone deserves proper medical care, no matter what." P.T, who had parked the wheelchair at the end of Anne's bed, walks over to the doctor and shakes his hand. "Thank you." He says, truthfully. The Oddities echo back the 'thank you' to the docoter and he flushes slightly, a tinge of pink on his cheeks.
Then, a nurse comes, talks quietly with the doctor and then escorts the group out of the infirmary politely. P.T and W.D lift Anne by the arms carefully and help her into the wheelchair. Phillip stands up and walks along the wheelchair, his non-broken hand gripping the chair for support. "Phillip?" Anne questions, looking up to him. "Yes Anne?" He looks down at her, a puzzled look on his face. "Do we have to ride that stupid train again?" Anne asks, acting as if she was frustrated with the fact. Phillip bursts out into laughter as does P.T, who is pushing the wheelchair, Lettie and W.D. Every thing was going to be all right.
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A/N: Thank you so much for reading Part two to Tremors. I really enjoyed creating this part so I hope you enjoyed reading it! I really do appreciate all of you support and thank you for all of the amazing comments on the last chapter.
Have an amazing night/evening/morning/afternoon! 💗
~wildmustang4002~