She could feel her fingers going numb and her teeth start to chatter. Ok, maybe the air con was a little banged up. All she had to do was ask someone to manually turn up the heat a little. Rita picked up the telephone and dialed the control room but the line was dead. She tried again and still came up with the same result. She did not know what was going on and for some reason she got the sense of deja Vu.
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Gosh it was freezing. And as if to further solidify her thoughts, the glass widows started gathering frost. At the same time, Samuel came out of his office. “Why is it getting colder?”
“I don't know Sir.” she answered.
“And the control room?” he asked.
“I've tried. I can't reach them. I think the line has gone dead.” she replied, rubbing her arms faster.
“I think it's time we left.” he said. She could not agree more. All Rita could do was shiver and nod. She grabbed her bag from the desk and made her way to the door.
To her shock, there was no one around. Everyone was gone. And it looked like they had left in a hurry. She would too if she had a chance to escape from a room that felt like standing in the middle of Antarctica. It was worse than inside the office. Something was wrong and they really had to leave. They made for the elevator, Samuel tried the buttons but nothing was working.
“Try your phone.” Samuel said whipping out his from his pocket in a flash. It took her longer to fetch hers from her bag because unlike him, she was freezing. It took her even longer to dial a whole number. It was as of she was getting slower and slower. No signal. She wondered why she even bothered. Her phone had been acting out a lot. If she made it out of this, she was going get it changed.
He had more luck than she did though. “Hello? Peter what the hell is going on?”
“What the hell do you mean?!”
“My assistant and I are still inside!” So no one else knew they were up here? The thought had her growing panic in her gut.
“Peter? Goddamn it, get us out of here! Peter?!” Samuel roared.
“W-w-what h-h-happened?” she asked. Her teeth could not stop chattering.
“Something went wrong in the control room.” he replied looking around.
“D-d-did they say anything about getting us out?” she asked. She could see her own breath now and all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep.
***
Why the fuck did the security system not act up when something like this was going on?
“D-d-did they say anything about getting us out?” Rita asked, shivering. He could hear her teeth chattering. Samuel ground his own teeth together. This temperature was not good for her, she could not stand it like he could.
They had to get out of her soon, the only other option if they did not was to warm her up himself. She did not need him so close to her. Not after what he had done. And he could not trust himself around her. Not when he still wanted her. Not when he was not sure how his wolf would react with being so close to her
“I don't know. I couldn't grab hold of what he was saying.” he replied. Not liking he did not have good news to offer or his incapability to provide one or even a solution in the situation they were in.
He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her. She grabbed onto it and held it tighter against herself.
The room was starting to frost over. The elevator was almost completely covered now. In these kind of temperatures, humans either stayed awake or fell asleep and Rita looked to be leaning towards the latter. He had to keep her warm and awake.
He was about to scope her up in his arms when her eyes lit up and she turned to him. “H-He-ating pad-ds.” She rushed back into her office. He was a bit disappointed. He could keep her much warmer than any heating pad. He knew his thoughts were selfish but he did not care at this point. Had she read his mind? He followed her into the office and found her behind her desk, frantically looking searching for the heating pads.
Samuel's phone vibrated. He narrowed his eyes. Confused. His phone was never on vibrate. He pulled it out if his pant pocket and woke up the screen. It was not a call. What greeted his eyes instead of caller ID was a timer, steadily counting down from twenty-five. Samuel's mind took a second to register what was in his hand. A damn bomb. He threw his phone into his office. He heard it shatter on the wall. But it was far from over.
Samuel picked up small beeping sounds. Sounds so small even an regular shifter would not be able to pick up. There were three in total. One in his office, another just above the elevator and the last was below the very desk beside him.
‘Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me!’ He growled to himself.
Questions flooded his mind faster than a centrifuge could spin but first and foremost both he and Rita had to get out of here. The doors would be useless and there was no telling if there were anymore bombs beyond it and the elevator was a plain trap. That was if they managed to get it open, anyhow.
All exits were closed off, whoever the hell did this was good and he was going to kill them for it. There was only one way out. He jumped over the desk and grabbed Rita around her waist. “Wha–” Before Rita could get all the words out, Samuel had tucked her into him and with all his strength charged through the reenforced glass wall.
****
His arm had moved so abruptly that Rita was convinced her heart had taken up permanent residence in her mouth. He could not have been that angry about the file right? Or maybe it was the caller? Rita did not know which it was, but she heard the Samsung Galaxy break to pieces when it hit the wall in the other office. Samuel's head whipped to face her and Rita drew back at the molten gold that had filled his irises. With a speed and grace she could barely track and had not seen coming at all, he had jumped over her desk sending everything flying to the floor. She did not even register when his arm went around her waist until it was too late and he had tucked her into him. What he did next sent the air surging out of her lungs.
Samuel's shoulder connected with the glass wall, Rita clamped her eyes shut and held on to a fistful of his shirt as the glass shattered, pieces cutting into her exposed arm and neck. What the hell was he thinking?! A scream ripped through her throat as they plunged down only to be drowned out by a deafening boom. Rita made the horrible mistake of opening her eyes. Her vision that was not covered by her boss' shirt stared at a roaring explosion. A giant plume of black smoke was already rising in the air and to her extended horror, debris falling towards them. Even worse was the view the corner of her eye provided. The ground that was coming up fast.
This was it. She was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. Rita's heart beat roared in her ears, the muscle beating twice as fast as a jet engine as her life flashed before her eyes. All the times when she was little, the joys, the pain, her little body taking hit after hit. Everyday at school, how her life fell apart. And meeting the very man that had taken the liberty of plunging them to their deaths.
She hated him but undeniably, he held a piece of her heart. Even after all these years, even after he dashed her heart to the cold hard floor and swept the broken pieces into that rolling sea. Rita took one look at him, probably her last. His eyes, pupils brimming with gold, were totally focused on the ground, as if he could do anything from this high up. Unless he was also part dragon or mage they were going to splatter on the concrete below as a morbid puddle of red and bone and the falling debris would make it even more grotesque.
Their clothes whipped ruthlessly around them as they continued to fall. The slight drizzle pelting them as they rapidly descended. If anything, Rita was glad she would not die alone, even if the person she was dying with was someone she both hated and maybe even had a deep regard for. She wished she could at least say goodbye to her family and the guys at work before, you know. Kicking the bucket. Ending up as literal goo on the side walk, pavement or wherever they landed. Maybe a little hug here, a small kiss there, a smile, a few last words that were not shrill screams. If Rita had known she would be dieing today, she would have had a more delightful breakfast that was more than a small sip of coffee, maybe even had lunch early and had a really nice last meal.
They were close to the ground now, she could feel it. She could also hear screaming that was not hers and the crashing sound of debris.