Debris hits my skin and slices me, but my focus is on her; I can feel her, which pushes me to keep moving through the pain and shock. Reaching the end door, I look back to see a hole in the floor from where the wall blew away and crashed through to the floor below.
Twisting the handle, I shove open the door to see a woman grabbing vials and shoving them in her pocket before snatching my baby from the table. My mind doesn’t even register the other person in the room until it is too late, and I feel myself being knocked back.
My stomach feels like it is smothered in acid, the wind being knocked out of me as I am flung backward out of the room. I see a man walking towards me, a shotgun pointed at me as the woman uses him as a shield, hiding behind him. Her red hair sticks to her face as her head whips around, and she sees me on the floor.
Standing up, my stomach turns, and I projectile vomit on the ground, slipping on my own blood as I reach for the woman, wanting my baby. I feel a hand touch me and I feel motion like a stone is thrown in a pond, a ripple effect, the room disintegrates around me.
“My baby!” I scream, and I find myself outside.
Gun fire is ringing everywhere, and I have no idea how I got here. Jumping to my feet, I see Orion’s body propped against a tree next to me. When I get to my feet, running across the field of dead bodies and blown apart trees and cars, I feel hands wrap around my waist, flinging me to the ground before being tackled and pinned.
“Thaddeus is getting them,” Imogen’s dirt-covered face hovers above mine. I know she is trying to reassure me.
Then I hear a groan, making me turn to see Orion coming to his senses and shaking his head. Imogen allows me to sit up, and I get to my feet. I can see a huge hole blown out the side of the brick building and a dark figure standing just inside the cavity. My eyes focus when I see them bend down to pick something up.
“Where is Amara?” Theo asks, looking around just as I feel the ground tremor like an earthquake and I’m being knocked backward by a gust of wind, seeing black as my head bounces off the ground from the force.
Sitting up, I rub my eyes filled with dirt to see the building has exploded, everything is on fire, and I hear the loudest screech as I start running toward the burning building as it starts to collapse in on itself.
Nothing but soul-shattering pain ripples over me, all-consuming pain as I reach the building. Ryland’s agonized screams beneath the rubble rip my heart to pieces. The sounds of a baby’s cry echoes around me as I try to find her. Trying to see her through the clouds of smoke billowing out, my ears ring when I see Thaddeus sit up. The cries get louder, pulling at my heart when I feel air blast past me, clearing the smoke until I hear things crash around.
“No, no, no!”
I hear her frantic screams as I find my feet, through the shock I see Orion, ripping pieces of concrete from the pile and tossing it as he digs through the wreckage. Tobias and Theo scrabble at the ground, channeling through it, while Imogen drops to her knees, clutching her stomach.
A heart-breaking hysterical scream tears out of her as she howls. As I run toward the remains, Thaddeus grabs my leg, nearly tripping me, and I look down to see my daughter cradled in his arms, covered in dirt and dust but unscathed. He pushes her toward me, and I grab her as he stands.
Thaddeus runs toward the crumpled structure and raises his hands. Slabs of broken concrete, brick, and rubble move at rapid speed, being hurled into the fields and trees. Watching as the dust settles and my vision clears, I gasp as the air lodges in my throat.
I see them drop, Tobias and Theo fall to their knees, and Imogen’s screams get louder. I stare in shock, not able to process what’s happening when I see Orion pull Ryland off the ground, his entire body white with dust. As he sobs, relief hits me at seeing him when I feel a wave of air move through the trees as Thaddeus screams, clutching her limp body to his chest. She is unrecognizable by the dust and blood covering her body, but I have no doubt who it is by the sounds of the cries; the guttural cries of a parent losing their child; that soul-crushing pain as I look at Imogen’s heartbroken face. Amara is gone, and I realize that is how I got outside, how Ryland is still alive; she sacrificed herself to save us.
Tears slip down my face as I watch Thaddeus clutch her body. Her head falls limp over his arm and her arms hang oddly as she lays limp. Tobias chokes on his sobs as he takes her from him, brushing her hair from her face and hugging her close like he can’t bear to let go.
Imogen’s cries go silent as he walks toward us and lays her next to Imogen. She clutches her daughter, rocking her back and forth, sobbing and humming. Her voice cracks, and all noise dies out except the sounds of her hums while she soothes her dead daughter like she can soothe away the pain of losing her.
Theo stands silently, staring off blankly, no emotion registering, like he just shuts down completely. I stare around, waiting to wake up from the nightmare we are trapped in. I’m praying I wake up, and this is all a dream my mind conjured up.
“She saved me,” Ryland says, his voice breaking. Orion is the only thing holding him upright as he staggers forward.
Imogen looks up at him. Tears roll down her face in a steady stream, leaving tracks on her skin as they wash away the dust from her cheeks. “She saved us all,” she whispers, and looks back down at Amara. Her thumb brushes her cheek.
Tobias takes Amara from Imogen, who clutches onto her, not wanting to let go of her. “Come on, hun, you need to let her go,” he says, trying to take Amara from her, but she refuses to and shakes her head.