❝ CHAPTER 3 ❞

Chapter 3 ─ Trapped In A Parking Garage

━━━━━ EMMA SAT DOWN with Daniel's sister. Susan sat on the other side of her. "Susan." Emma said, starting the conversation between the two. Susan placed her purse in the other chair that was at the table. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"You as well." Susan replied. "Now that Daniel's asked you to move in with him, things must be pretty serious."

"Yes."

"Hi, I'm Larissa. I'll be taking care of you today. Can I tell you about our specials?" Larissa asked, standing in front of the table holding onto a glass pitcher filled with water and a lemon slice.

"Please, I'd love to hear what you're─"

"Actually, could you come back in a few minutes, Larissa?" Susan asked her. Emma placed her eyes on the blonde woman that was across from her.

"Yeah. Sure." She turned around and walked away from the two. Emma tilted her head staring at Susan.

"So I understand you've been married before?"

"Uh, yes."

"And you have just the two daughters, right?"

"Right."

"Your other one drowned in an accident?"

"Yes, to put it bluntly."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that. I─" Emma's phone started to buzz. She looked down at it to see Ray's name.

"Um, can you just give me one minute?" Emma asked her. She grabbed her phone and stood up walking away from Susan. "Hi. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, uh... oh, I'm on my way to maintenance before we head out, and, uh... am I interrupting anything?" Ray asked her from his end.

Emma briefly looked back at Susan, but soon looked away. "Nothing important. What's going on?"

"Look, I just─ I wanted to tell you I was sorry for how I acted yesterday."

"No Ray, really."

"No, Emma, um, I just wasn't ready to hear about you Blake, and Basil moving in with someone else."

"I-I should've told you before."

"Hey, how do Blake and Basil feel about it?"

"You know, they'd like us to be a family again. I-I-I think it's gonna be hard for both of them to─"

Emma looked at the table, the silverware started to move around. The wine glasses started to shake after that. Suddenly the building started to shake, Emma fell to the ground as the other people fell down and or were screaming. Emma crawled over to the table and held onto it.

"Emma."

"Oh, my god." She said, holding the phone up to her ear.

"Emma." Ray called out to her again.

"We're having an earthquake." She said, looking around as everything was shaking. "Oh, Jesus, Ray. Uh-uh, I gotta get outta here."

"Where are you?"

"Um─ Uh, the Tate Weston." Emma answered. The building was starting to crumble, the table that she was holding onto was started to move away from her. She looked up and looked around at everyone that was in the room.

"Shit. You're on the top floor. Emma, listen, get as many people as you can and get to the roof. I'm in the helo and I'll get you from there, okay?"

"Okay, okay!"

"Okay. Get to the roof, honey."

───── ❝ ◂ ❚ ⊱ꕥ⊰ ❚ ▸ ❞ ─────

"All right. All done." Daniel said, walking back out towards Basil and Blake. The sisters looked up from the itinerary as did Ollie and Hugo.

"Okay." Blake said.

Basil grabbed her bag and stood up. She ripped the drawing she had done out of her book and handed it over to Hugo.

"This is for you." Basil said with a smile on her face. Hugo looked down at the drawing and saw himself. He then looked at the bottom and saw her number.

"Wow, you drew this?" He asked her.

"I did. I hope you like it."

"I do, very much. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Hugo." Basil walked away with her sister but the two turned around to look at the brothers.

"Well. it was really nice to meet you Ollie, Hugo." The two hook hands. "I hope you have fun while you're here."

"Yes, me too. Enjoy it!" Basil said, smiling at them.

"Bye, Blake. Bye, Basil. It was nice meeting you, as well." Ollie said.

The two went to walk away however Blake turned around and looked back at Ollie. Basil turned around shortly after.

"Oh, and, um, I almost forgot. Do you mind if I borrow your book for a second?" Blake asked him. Ollie handed it over to her and she took it. She flipped the pen over and clicked it, then she turned it back around and wrote her number down. She clicked it again and closed the book, handing it back over to Ollie. "Tell Ben that I'll put in a good word for him."

Blake and Basil walked over to Daniel as the elevator dinged. The two looked over at Ollie and Hugo. "Bye." The sisters said.

"Bye." Ollie replied. Hugo waved bye to them but sent a smile to Basil who returned the smile before she entered the elevator with her sister and Daniel. The elevator dinged and the three walked out. The driver opened the door for the two as Daniel walked around.

"Here you go." He said.

"Thank you." They replied. Basil climbed in first sitting in the middle. Blake got in after her sitting on the driver's side but in the back. Then Daniel climbed in sitting next to Basil. The driver climbed in and started to drive forward.

The ground beneath them started to shake, the card halted to a stop as some dust from the ceiling above fell onto the car. Basil leaned forward looking out the front windshield. They all looked around trying to figure out what was happening. Suddenly the car horns started to go off, the building was starting to rumble.

"It's an earthquake!" Blake told them.

"Well, go, go, go! Get us outta here!" Daniel shouted. The driver pressed on the brakes and started to drive the car. He turned the corner and headed closer towards the exit. "Oh, God."

More dust was following onto the car as they drove closer to the exit. Basil and Blake looked around the window to see a man go to climb into his car. However a piece of cement fell onto the car and crushed it.

"Yes! Go, go, go!"

They were almost out, they were almost in the clear. A piece of cement broke off and fell down onto the level they were on. It created an opening, the driver wasn't able to stop the car in time.

"Jesus Christ!"

The car drove down the ramp that had been created. The driver had his feet on the petal trying to get the car to stop. And eventually it did, they were stopped by a wall of course. Blake and Basil were holding onto their heads and screaming. The driver went to unbuckle himself; he then turned around to look back at them.

Another piece of cement broke off and fell on the front half of the car and killed the driver. It pushed the seat back into Blake's legs, not allowing her to get out.

"My legs!" She shouted. Basil looked around as things continued to fall down around them. The rumbling stopped, Basil assumed that the earthquake was over. She breathed in and out, fear running through her body. Daniel looked over at the Gaines sisters.

"You okay?" He asked them. Basil only nodded her head, though she was still in shock from what had just happened to give him an actual answer.

"Oh, my god. He's-he's dead! He─ He's dead."

"Blake? Blake? Blake." Daniel called out to her. Basil looked over at her sister, she then looked at her legs.

"He's dead."

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"N-No-no, I don't think- I don't think so. But my legs are stuck." Basil unbuckled herself and climbed onto the seat and tried to push it forward as Daniel did the same.

"Come on."

"Okay. Okay. We're gonna get you outta here, okay?" Daniel opened the door and climbed out. Basil looked at her sister.

"Go with him." Blake told her.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Basil said.

She climbed out of the car, looking around at the damage the building had taken from the earthquake. She moved around to the back of the car. Daniel was talking to himself while Basil looked around for anything that might be able to help them. The building started to rumble again, Basil jumped slightly. But it only lasted for a few seconds.

People were screaming to get out of the building. Daniel looked back towards the door. "Daniel?" Blake asked, looking at him. Basil placed her eyes on the man as he looked at Blake and then at Basil. Daniel moved away from Basil and ran over to Blake looking at her.

"Blake, I'm gonna go for help." Daniel told them.

"No, Daniel─"

"I'll be right back. Your sister will stay with you. I'll be right back."

"No, Daniel. Don't. Please don't leave us! Daniel! No, Daniel." Blake shouted out to him.

He turned around and left the Gaines sisters behind. A part of Basil knew that he probably wouldn't be coming back. Basil ran over to her sister and kneeled down, she held her hand out to her and Blake grabbed a hold of it.

"You're gonna be okay, Blake. He's gonna get help and we're gonna get you out of here." Basil told her sister.

"Okay, okay." Blake breathed out. The building shook some more and Basil held onto her sister's hand tighter. When the shaking stopped Blake looked at Basil. "You should go, Basil."

"What?" Basil questioned looking at her. "I'm not leaving you. If I leave its to find the help that Daniel clearly didn't find."

"Basil, just go, save yourself." She pleaded with her sister.

"No, I won't leave you."

"Basil, please."

"Okay, I'll go find help. I'm coming back. I'm not leaving you down here to die." Basil told her.

Blake nodded her head. "Okay, I love you Basil."

"I love you too, Blake." With those words Basil stood up and let go of her sister's hand heading towards the stairs where Daniel had gone. She made it up about half way before she ran into Hugo, Ben, and Ollie. "What are you doing here?" She asked them.

"Mr. Riddick came up and asked for help but then he left." Ben answered.

"Shocker." Basil paused looking at the three brother's. "Blake is stuck in the car. I can't get her out. I need help, please."

"Okay, let's go." Hugo told her. The four ran back down the steps heading to where Blake had been left.

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