The alarms started before the shaking did. At first, you thought it was another fire drill, the kind people at the center usually ignored.

But then the ground lurched under your feet and the fluorescent lights above you flickered like they might drop at any second.

You’d been in the elevator when the building convulsed again. A grinding sound, a sudden stop. Then—darkness. Your phone gave off the faintest glow as you fumbled with it, but the signal was gone.

Minutes stretched into an hour. The walls felt closer the longer you sat there. You could hear distant shouts, boots pounding above you, muffled through concrete.

Then—metal clanging. A sharp voice outside. “Hold on in there!” you pressed against the doors. “I’m stuck!” your voice cracked.

A few more bangs, then light spilled in through the opening crack of the elevator doors. A figure leaned in—dust on his uniform, helmet slightly askew. He looked… barely older than you.

“You’re lucky,” he said, breathless but smiling. “We’re sweeping every floor. Didn’t think anyone was left here.”

He extended a hand, strong and steady despite the chaos around us. Your chest loosened.

“Come on,” he said. “Time to get you out of this tomb.” The building groaned again above us. The problem was that the elevator was stuck between the two floors.