THE SPACE WAS too tight for Diana to get on her hands and knees. The best she could do was raise herself up onto her elbows and wiggle backwards inch by annoyingly and terrifyingly small inch.
Something hard jabbed into her elbow. She yelped and forced herself to keep going, because staying here wasn’t an option. Not unless she wanted to die.
“I’m not going to die,” she said, coughing as she scooted backwards again. She bit back a whimper as something tore through her jeans and into her flesh. Don’t think about it. Just keep going and get out of this.
Her head spun as she tried to decide how far she’d come. A foot. Maybe a bit more, and that had taken forever. Or maybe it just felt that way. Her heart raced as she gulped in air and coughed from the dust and smoke. She shouldn’t have been here. She should have said Screw it when Mrs. Kennedy told her to finish up what she was doing.
Diana looked over her shoulder. The light was brighter. She was going to get out of here.
She moved faster, pushing with her arms and wiggling back with her hips. The ground beneath her slanted a bit. That made it easier. Come on. A little farther. The light was closer. Just a few more shifts, and she’d be free.
She shoved herself back again, and something cracked. Loud. The ground beneath her shuddered and tilted, and then she started to slide.
Metal groaned.
Tile and debris and shards of metal scraped her arms as she desperately reached for something to grab on to. Anything. There had to be something to grab. She wasn’t going to—
Her hand cracked against something hard. Pain shot up her arm. She screamed. Then she couldn’t breathe, because suddenly, there was nothing beneath her legs. She was going to fall. Oh, God.
“Help!” she yelled as her searching fingers wrapped around something cold and hard—a desk leg. She jolted to a stop and struggled to keep her hold. The weight of her legs pulled at her, threatening to make her lose her grip, which was slick with sweat and probably blood. This was bad.
“Help!”
Diana struggled to hold on while moving her other arm to grab hold as well. Got it. She felt a surge of triumph that faded as she tried to pull herself up and barely moved an inch. Come on, Diana. You can do it.
Metal groaned again.
The desk leg she was holding moved. Everything around her was moving, and now there was enough light that she could see the large metal filing cabinet looming above her head.
The desk leg trembled. She kept her grip, barely, as it jolted to a stop, but other desks around it were moving, and the cabinet above started to tilt.
“Help me!”
The cabinet was going to come down. She was going to be crushed.
Everything creaked and moaned and shuddered, and she did the only thing she could do to keep from dying as the metal cabinet started to fall. Diana closed her eyes, and, feeling the scream build in her throat, she let go.