I scream so loud my voice scratches through my throat. ‘Move!’
Esther races ahead of me, through the fire-escape door I propped open when I came up to the roof, into the dark stairwell. We run. We fly, spinning round the turns. My fear is like an animal, strong and terrible and chasing me. I can’t get everyone out. My mind flashes to the people I know are in this building. Enid. John. Esther. Pat. Dylan. Meg.
We might be safe out of the building. These stairs zigzag down, eventually opening on to an alleyway through a heavy metal fire door.
Neon emergency exit lights point the way to safety. Their light is so weak it makes everything ghostly. My throat’s burning from running. There’s a whoosh from above. Was that the bombers or the blood roaring through my head? In my mind, I see the planes taking their first run over HQ, dark silhouettes against the dawn sky.
Esther stops dead in the dark stairwell. I run into her, barely holding us both upright.
‘Don’t stop!’ I yell.
I only realize what she’s stopped for when an alarm cuts through the air. The ringing so loud I can feel my brain vibrating.
I grab Esther’s sleeve and pull, and now we’re falling down the stairs again, as fast as we can move. We stumble, holding on to each other, then we’re up again and running, hands knotted together. Her face a pale mask of fear.
Halfway down.
People come from one of the corridors, dawdling to start with, but when they see us running the fear infects them, and they chase after us.
If those planes took a turn, we might make it. If they swung out over the ocean to get their approach right, we’ll have a chance.
My breath rakes my chest. Heart’s beating so hard it’s going to break through my ribs.
We’re at the ground floor. There’s the fire-escape door. Please, please let it open.
Esther slams into the door, pushing the bar down. Sunlight streams in. We keep running. The others follow. Soon as we step outside, the blare of the fire alarm is joined by the sound of plane engines. Right here. Right above us. A glimpse of the underside of a bomber, wings outstretched. A black shape against the washed-out sky.
All I can think is run. And then the air shatters, and the world shakes, and somewhere above there’s an explosion. I take Esther’s hand again. Force myself to move.
I’m hit from behind, from above. I slam into the ground. I taste dust and blood.
I see Esther lying in the rubble.