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It was bad. Daryn knew it was going to be horrible. She fought screaming. Mike was on top of her, holding her to the cold tile floor. He was almost crushing her, his large, muscled body covering almost every inch.

He jerked and grunted above her. Terror for him filled her. She knew what injuries tornadoes caused.

She’d seen crushing injuries before. Her fingers slipped into his and she prayed. For them, for her friends in the building, for her brother who was somewhere on the job today, for Shelby—who might very well be waiting for her in the parking lot right now.

Shelby was out there.

Daryn fought terror. Shelby could be outside. Shelby didn’t like to come into the TSP if she didn’t have to.

Shelby could be dead out there. So could A.J. and Haldyn and Charlotte and all the others. Daryn just prayed harder than she ever had in her life. It only lasted a few minutes. That was it. Just a few minutes.

Long enough for the storm to pass over them.

She kept her eyes shut the entire time.

“It’s over. It’s over,” Mike said, one hand cupping the back of her head. “Are you ok, baby?”

Daryn tried to breathe. Tried to see.

She wasn’t injured. Nothing more than bruises.But there was something on top of them. “I’m not hurt, I don’t think. You?”

“Wrenched my leg, I think. But… we’re alive. I consider that a win.”

“For now.”The building could crush them at any moment. She tried to think of the floor plan, of the exits, of where people would be.

But no one ever thought this would happen to them. So they just didn’t think about it. She hadn’t. It was dark around them. From the building that had collapsed on them. It was going to come down on them at any moment.

She knew what could happen to them now. She fought the panic.

The fear for her friends and co-workers. They… it could have been the entire building. But maybe… maybe it was just the rear annex. The forensics and pathology labs. Maybe everyone else was ok.

Maybe it was just her and Mike here now.

It could have been. They… people she knew and cared about—they could be hurt.

“We have to get out of here.” She fought the panic and clung to his arm.

“You stay real still, baby. I’m going to move some of this off of us. I’ll get us out of this. I promise. Then… then you can take pity on me and buy me dinner at Mamaw’s to say thank you, to say how much you appreciate my heroics today.” His voice was tight. Pained. But the hand he ran down the back of her head was gentle, comforting.

If he hadn’t been pestering her, she’d have been in the annex loading bay alone. Maybe she’d even be dead by now. It took him several minutes to do it. Just a few minutes until she saw daylight above them.

“Thank God.”

They had gotten lucky.The concrete of the back bay of the building had protected them. He’d gotten them onto the ramp somehow. With the thick concrete support beside it.

He’d done that. Not her.

As Mike pulled her to her feet, Daryn looked around.And realized just how lucky they had been.

Realized this was just the beginning of the nightmare.People out there were going to need help. And lots of it.

“Come on. We need to go look for survivors.” Mike held out a hand for her.

Daryn took it, feeling something change between them in that instant. She looked around, seeing the destruction. Horror had her almost sick. She held on to the contents of her stomach with all the resolve she had.

“Daryn!”

She turned. And then the tears came.