Authors: Michele G Miller
"Everyone okay?"
She doesn’t know who yells it first, but as the sounds above ground begin to dissipate, the sounds from where they are get more terrifying.
She hears a girl crying; wailing, really. There are moans, curses and screams for help, and even some prayers.
"We're going to be buried alive!" the girl wails, and Jules knows it’s Lola.
Someone shouts for help and soon the others join in.
"We can't panic," West mutters with a cough, and then stronger and louder, he yells, "We can't panic! Stop and listen!"
Jules flinches at the loud shouts in her ear.
"Sorry," he whispers; his face close to her cheek. "Are you okay?" Her head is pounding and she feels sick to her stomach, but she nods and squeezes his hand once to let him know she hears him.
"Yo!" Ruben's deep voice rises above the rest and echoes off the walls. "Chill out, everyone."
The voices die down until the only sounds are a few sniffles and hiccups, and the shifting of whatever debris has fallen on them.
"Jeff?" West shouts, and his voice carries a note of uncertainty.
"I'm good man, and so is Katie." Jules starts to tear up when she hears her friends aren’t hurt. "Mark?" Jeff calls.
From there, a roll call takes place. Mark accounts for the people in his corner; Lola, who continues to cry, Simon and Debate class kid; she now remembers his name is David. Jules tries to remember who else she saw huddled in the corners when they came down the stairs.
Mark calls out more names. "Will? Tony?"
"Yeah man, we're good."
"I'm okay," another voice Jules doesn’t recognize calls out. "I've got a Rossview guy here, though. I think he's knocked out."
There are sounds of shuffling and boards banging around, then something topples over and Jules whines as the pressure on her leg increases.
She feels West jerk slightly at her strangled cry. "Jules? What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?"
"There's something on my leg," she grits out between clenched teeth and tries to pull it free.
Lowering her hand from her head, she reaches out to feel around her. Only inches above her face she feels fallen boards and sheetrock, and she swallows back her panic. Inches! Carefully, she stretches her arm in front of her and tries to gauge their position. Hope starts to grow as her arm straightens and then her hand stops. She hit more debris… They are trapped.
"West? Are you up against the basement wall?"
"Yeah, I'm leaning against it. Why?"
"We're trapped. There's stuff everywhere in front of me...sheetrock, plywood...oh, no! The whole damn house fell on us, didn't it? How are we going to get out?" Her voice rises in octaves as she panics at their predicament.
"Jules!" Katie's worried shout sounds above her own whining. It sounds muffled through all of the debris on them, as if she was far away instead of in the same room. "Jules, what's wrong?"
"Katie! I'm all right, I'm not hurt," she shouts through the wreckage to her best friend. "How about you? You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I fainted. Where are you?"
"I'm with West and we're in the back corner. We're trapped under a bunch of debris."
"Hey West, man
—
can you guys see our cell phone lights?" Jeff calls out. She hears him order the others to hold up their lights.
Jules feels West shift a little behind her and she flinches; nervous he might disturb things around them.
"I can't see anything but black," he replies, and asks her what she can see.
Jules moves her head slightly and tries to look in all directions. "Nothing."
"Um," he mutters a curse softly. "Jeff, we're pretty deep in the rubble here. We can't see a thing."
"Yeah...it looks like all the debris stacked up in the corner where you two are. We're pretty good over here."
"Good, then go get us help!" Jules orders, which makes West snort.
"Jules, hun, you know I would love to, but the stairs are gone. We can't get out."
Her breaths speed up as she pictures herself being crushed to death.
"Hey, hey," soothes West; his fingers touching her face. "Don't freak out on me, Buffy. We're gonna be fine. Our parents will be looking for us, and the cops will know to check the Shack."
Her breathing becomes harder and faster as she starts to hyperventilate. "What if they're all dead? What happened to everyone else, West? There's only a handful of us down here. Where did they all go?" She breaks down and fear causes her to shake uncontrollably.
West's hand rubs her arm, then her hip and the side of her thigh vigorously. "Jules, you need to calm down. Slow breaths, or you're going to go into shock."
Her teeth chatter as she tries to reply. "I...ca...n't."
"Dang, girl. I thought you were Buffy? You're ruining the fantasy here," he tries to tease while his hand rubs over her.
"I'm...noooottt. Waaant home," she mumbles.
"I know, Jules. Me too," he admits. "We're going to go home, I promise. You need to calm down for me. Close your eyes and try to breathe. Can you do that?"
She nods, closes her eyes and concentrates on slowing her body down; on being quiet. She focuses on West's hand maintaining its tight hold on hers; their fingers locked together similar to puzzle pieces. She lays there and envisions the strength he carries flowing from his fingers into hers, and allows his energy to fill her up.
"That's it, keep doing whatever you're doing," he encourages. She feels him shift ever so slightly again. He seems to be moving just enough to put him more behind her than on top. A board by their feet shifts, and she cries out at the pressure hitting her shin again.
"Don't move!" she shouts at him, although it is more of a whispered shout.
"I'm sorry! Sorry…is this...let me see if I can get whatever it is pressing against you off."
"No, no, no...it hurts and might collapse
—
don't, please."
"Jules, I'm going to see if I can lift it with my boot enough for you to pull free. I won't move anything. We'll go really slow."
"I'm pretty sure I might pass out if you touch it, West. Please leave it."
He ignores her and pokes his boot around the area; the tread scratching at her bare shin. She bites down on her lip when he kicks the board that seems to be pressing against her.
"Damn it, you're taking this Spike thing too far!" she barks; mad he didn't listen to her.
"Ha, you know you like it, Buffy." He kicks at the board again and it shifts. "Okay. Look, all I have to do is kick it and it's going to slide off...easy, like Jenga."
"Jenga? This isn't a game, West. The whole thing could come crashing down on us!" she spits out and digs her nails into his hand to make a point, but he is determined.
"It's hurting you, I'm getting it off. Look, like I said, it's Jenga-"
"Oh my word, what does
Jenga
have to do with this?"
"If you'd shut up I’d tell you, geez!" he barks back and pinches her hip. "If the entire pile of rubble was resting on that board, I wouldn't be able to move it. Just like the game...how you move the easy pieces because you know it won't affect the pile
—
got it?"
"But what if you're wrong?" She wants the board off her leg. It’s digging into her shin and it hurts like all get out, but she certainly doesn’t want the house falling on them.
"If I thought for a second I could hurt you, do you think I would try this?"
"Ummm, I don't know. You're the crazy rebel, remember?" she points out.
"Wow…that hurts, Buffy. I know we're supposed to be enemies, but really?"
"If this doesn't work and that pile comes crashing down, I'm so hitting you with a stake to the heart." She gives a pitiful moan and tries to prepare herself.
"You already did, cheerleader," he acknowledges under his breath, and she freezes.
Jules takes a deep breath and sucks in a little building debris as she does so. With a cough, she covers her mouth and gives him permission to try and nudge the board away.
"On three, I'll push it and you try to pull your leg out at the same time. Ready?"
"Mmmhmmm," she says and nods.
West’s hand tightens around her and his free hand shifts to help cover her head.
"One...two...three!" Jules’ leg feels mild relief as his boot hammers small kicks at the board and it moves. Each time he kicks, his hips ram into her backside and pull her up close to minimize the movement. Grounding out soft grunts, he kicks again and the board moves away. The pressure on her legs gone, she pulls her knees to her chest and makes a ball as the pile groans and shifts around them.
A few shouts sound around them and she hears Jeff's anxious voice call out, asking what is going on, but she concentrates on staying close to West and prays they won’t be crushed.
"It's all good," West assures them. "We're just making a little room under here."
"Making a little room…you mean you're trying to kill me?" she replies sarcastically.
"Why not…the way I see it we already beat death once tonight."
"West?"
"Yup?"
"You're not funny."
"You're not stuck anymore and you've calmed down, right?" he asks, and Jules sighs when she realizes he’s right. "Don't knock the methods if they work."
They lay there in silence for a few minutes. She hears the others talking and moving around, so she crosses her fingers and hopes they’ll be able to figure a way out. Jules thinks she hears sirens in the distance, and her heart speeds up at the thought of help possibly being on the way.
Outside of their little space, she hears Katie arguing with someone and wonders what’s going on. Her mind goes back to English Lit last year when they read 'Lord of the Flies', and she imagines everyone stuck down here, jockeying for power.
Crazy thoughts
, she tells herself, and listens to the chaos.
"Just make me a base, then you stand up there and I'll climb it, Jeff. I'm a freaking cheerleader, I know it'll work," Katie snaps loudly enough for Jules to hear.
"It's a good idea," one of the guys agrees.
"And then what, K? Who knows what's out there, and I can't let you go alone."
"We need to get help."
"Hey, Jeff
—
you're strong enough
—
if we lifted you up after she climbs out, you could pull yourself out. We've got this. We'll get you both out, and you can get us help." Jules recognizes Mark's voice and calm demeanor.
"Okay, let's try it."
"What are you guys doing out there?" she shouts.
"We're going to get Katie and Jeff out of here so they can get help, Jules. We don't know how long it will take anyone to find us. Who knows what the town looks like, you know?"
She realizes that if they are talking about climbing out of the basement, it means the whole house must be gone. She tries not to think about the rest of the town as she pictures the Shack being torn apart.
"Whose idea was it?" she asks, although she knows full well Katie suggested it. Sometimes the guys didn't give the little blonde cheerleader enough credit.
"It was all me, Ju-ju-be." Katie laughs and Jules frowns at the nickname being said publicly.
"Ju-ju-be?" West snickers softly behind her. "I like that almost as much as Buffy."
"Way to go, K. Be careful!" she calls out, and shifts her shoulders a tad to speak to West. "And only Katie and Tanya are allowed to call me that, Spike."
"Duly noted."
"Did I ask you if you were all right, yet?" Her head is pounding again and she can’t remember if she checked on his health.
"Yeah, you did. I think I'm okay. I'm sure something took a chunk out of my back, but I can manage."
"What?!"
"I'm fine. It hurts and I can tell I'm bleeding, but it's not bad. I've had plenty of injuries, Buffy."
"We're trapped in tornado wreckage; think you could stop making fun now?" she mutters, and her voice sounds hazy and drunken to her own ears.
"Jules?"
"I don't feel so good. I feel dizzy."
"Dizzy? Did you hit your head? Jules, are you sure you're not injured? Are you bleeding any where?"
"I don't think so. I don't know...my temple hurts, though. West, are we going to get out of here?"
"Yes, most definitely," he promises firmly. She feels his free arm prod her head; his fingers running over her temple and forehead. "I don't feel any blood-”
"That's a good thing, since you're an evil vampire and all..." she murmurs, and her voice begins to fade away.
West growls at her, "Then you better stay awake, Jules. You wouldn't want me to take advantage of you, after all." His breathing picks up and she hears the panic in his voice as he shakes her arm lightly. "Jules? Jules...c'mon now, wake up!"
"Buffy..." she reminds him as she loses consciousness.