My previous joke may have turned into an actuality, my head drooping so low from exhaustion and fatigue that Jed had to click his fingers a few inches from my face to get my attention.

“Hey, Zeke, no sleeping on the job”, he spoke authoritatively.

I would have shaken my head side-to-side if I didn’t think it would cause me to become even sicker. Rotating my head upwards, my vision is greeted by the worried gaze of the man who may very well lose the use of his legs.

“Yeah, got it. Been a long day, drained the life outta me”, I reply with a chuckle.

“Almost free, hang in there man.”

“I’d be happy to sleep a whole week after all of this”, I reply as I try to push myself more upright.

“We may very well-” Jed starts, but is then cut off.

The escalator comes to a dead halt as the gears and belts give out a disheartening grinding noise as if a car had stalled at the top of a ramp. We all jerk forward at the stop of the motion, our bodies keeping some form of momentum from the ride.

Shit, shit, shit!

“What happened?” Meghan asks.

“No idea, maybe the wires got cut? I’ll see if I can get it to move from the top!” Neil shouts down to us.

It wasn’t much further to the top, maybe twenty steps or so, but it’d be a pain for Jed and Ashely to climb. Jed would have to push up on each stair and slam his ass on each one as he went up, whereas Ashely would either be hopping up with Meghan, or doing the same as Jed but with the aid of one leg.

The sound of tinkering could be heard at the top as Neil was fidgeting with the controls, every so often I could hear the chugging of an engine that has had enough of its poor treatment. It didn’t take long for him to bring us the bad news.

“Sorry, I think this one is busted. Fucking hunk of crap”, he shouted down as he kicked the panel closed.

We all gave out a round of heavy signs, mine was a bit more shallow and hastened, probably due to my weakened condition. With the bad news upon us, we did just as we had planned. Hops and lifts up and heavy landings on each step. It was lucky that none of us was too overweight or this would have been a lot slower and difficult to pull off.

I could easily see the pressure this was putting on both Jed and Ashely, their wounds causing the most issue on our ascent. We got there in the end, but it took longer, alongside taking from what little energy we had left in reserve. Neil spent his time sorting out the next escalator, hoping he could at least get that working ahead of time for us.

The new floor seemed to be awash with home electronics. From fancy lights that changed colours to personal assistant devices that you’d shout recipes and shopping lists at. The same flickering of dead monitors or static from sound outputs was again prevalent.

“Hey, if they are still getting power you think one of those home helpers uses the same jack as your phone, Zeke?” Meghan called over, helping Ashely to lean against a nearby shelving unit.

“Maybe, let’s check”, I reply as I dig my dead phone from my pocket.

I show the input to Meghan so that she can get a good look at it, leading to both of us scouring the small column devices for some power to steal away. We had hope, though I was unsure how useful it would be. I couldn’t get any service in the underground, even when I met Jed or the women. Maybe since we were higher up I could find something?

We spent a good few minutes scouring the shelves, Meghan calling me over every now and then when she found a close-enough jack for my phone. Eventually, we are able to find a jack that works for my phone, pushing it in out of desperation for any form of contact with the outside.

A bright light shone from my phone as the glorious sight of a green battery symbol appeared, showing that it was indeed charging. Meghan and I shared an eye-to-eye smile at our success. We inform the others as I turn my phone back on, the initial startup feeling like it was taking an eternity.

With my phone back on, I immediately call the emergency services, and to my surprise and elation it is picked up

“--- what is --- emergency?” the woman on the other side says through a static line.

“Hello!? We’re trapped in the underground, near Empire Rize!” I shout into the phone as if the lady was hard of hearing.

“--- calm, we are currently securing the area ---. Where are you currently located? Is there anyone with injuries?” she continues to ask through static.

“We’re in a homeware store, two floors up from the bottom. We have several injuries, my arm was impaled, a lady has a pole through her leg, a man has large shards of glass in his arm, and the last man had his legs crushed and frozen by a freezer”, I recount hastily.

The operator on the other side starts to list off a long speech of how to deal with each of our injuries, thankfully Jed was on the nose for a lot of what he told us.

“We have a team moving to your location ---, try to remain calm ---. The ground may still be unstable so move slowly ---.”

I can feel a rush of life from my stomach to my heart, flowing over my limbs. The others seem just as giddy as help is only a few steps away. I talk with the lady for a bit longer as my phone continues to charge in the outlet.

It seems the quakes have indeed stopped, though the ground is currently weak from the event. Some buildings are in precarious positions, so we are advised to be careful as we get to the exit. From what they can tell from observation, the homeware store’s entrance is mostly clear, a few cars crashed into it, but we should be able to get out well enough.

In the background, I hear the whirring of the escalator coming into life, as Neil finally gets it working. It seems like our last section might be another bumpy ride, but with the hope filling all of us, we’re determined to see it through to the top. I ask the operator if we should try and get to the ground level of the store, to which she says our injuries would have caused her to say yes, but with the instability of the area, it is actually safer if we get as close to the exit as possible.

Relaying the information to the others, they all agree it would be better to move ahead. Since Meghan is the least injured she stays with the phone currently plugged in, she could climb the escalator stairs without any real issue. So all of us, except for Meghan, mount the escalators and continue the rise to the third of four floors.

“Almost there, we’re gonna make it!” Jed says to me eye-to-eye with his wheelchair on his lap.

“I can’t wait to take an hour-long hot bath!” Neil comments from above, now aiding Ashely.

“Lazing around in bed for a month at least”, Ashely adds.

Our voices are complemented by the returning sound of the propeller blades of a helicopter above. A single ring of a police siren to turn on the lights lets us know that they aren’t far. The next thing that greets our ears is that of a voice over a megaphone, a man ordering onlookers to keep a safe distance, as well as another woman’s voice giving orders to move rubble.

We reach the next floor as Neil helps Ashely to rest on the glass barrier of the escalators, before moving to start up the next lot of our stairway to freedom.

“Meghan, come on”, I call down to our operator.

“Coming!” she replies with jubilation.

Her steps on the still-working escalator echo upwards, showing her enthusiasm to catch up with us. Alongside that, we all see the rolling wave from the light beams of a car up above. Detailing to us that the rescue team is moments away from entering into the building to come find us.

The chug of the next machine coming into life is all that is needed to bring us away from the floor that contained kitchen supplies. I would have taken a souvenir from this whole trip, if it wasn’t a travesty from the get-go. The one thing I would be taking with me would be scars, both physical and mental. And maybe, a few new friends forged in travesty.

“Hey, I can see shadows in the light! Hey, over here!” Ashely calls over to the next floor.