Thunk, thunk, thunk. The sound of someone banging on the roof of the car woke Caitlin, Frank and Pete after they'd drifted off to sleep. It'd been hours since the building had collapsed. The light of a torch shone through the front passenger window, straight into Franks face.
"Ow! What the Fuh... Dge!"
"Well done Frank." Pete patted him on the shoulder. "Gettin' there."
"I am trying Pete."
"I know you are dude. You're very trying."
Frank looked at him. "Ha, bloody, hah!"
Pete leaned back and patted Caitlin on the leg. "Wakey, wakey, little lady. Look's like the boss has got to us."
"Yeah, yeah..." She yawned. "I'm awake."
"Good, good." Pete threw her a hoodie. "You look like a fetish model from one of Franks magazines. Put that on before we go up."
"Hey!" Exclaimed Frank.
"Why don't I just get something out of my suitcase." Caitlin looked back to see the black remains of their gear. "Oh."
"Yeah, your friend cannibalised everything it could to keep us alive. Well done, by the way."
The screech of concrete being pulled away pierced the car, and the door made a loud creak as it was pulled open by a firefighter covered in a thick layer of concrete dust and rebar rust.
"Holy shit! You folks alright!?"
"We'll be better when we're not underneath a collapsed skyscraper." Said Pete, holding out an arm. The firefighter grabbed it.
"Gotta be quick. I've got four harnesses and lines. Everything's pretty unstable. I'm gonna hook you up and lift your asses outta here." He handed out masks. "You don't want to be breathing in the dust. I'm Mike by the way, and yeah, I drew the short straw."
They piled out of the car, and Mike-the-firefighter quickly got them to step into the prepared harnesses before leaning into the radio on his chest. "Everyone's secure. Lift, lift, lift." They were quickly hoisted into the air.
It felt like an age as they travelled up through the hole that had been dug. Small metallic machines were clambering everywhere. "Yeah..." Mike shouted. "Some kind'a new rescue robot from a local company. They turned up almost as soon as the building came down. Couple'a big trucks filled with these things. They'd already got to work digging by the time we knew there was anyone left in the building. The P.D. had already cleared mostly everyone when we heard shots being fired and the building pancaked. That wasn't you was it?"
Frank and Pete glanced at one another. "No." They replied in unison. Caitlin couldn't help herself and laughed loudly as they emerged into the outside scene of utter devastation.
"Jeezus!" Frank looked around.
"Holy shit!" Agreed Pete, earning himself an evil look from Frank.
Mike grabbed onto a bipedal robot who was operating the winch and pulled himself over before unhitching the harness. Then he grabbed Caitlin and then the others in turn.
"Quickly now. Follow me. There's a painted yellow line leading us down. Stick to the path. Try not to disturb anything if you can. We're going to go as quickly and as carefully as we can."
They headed down the remains of the Hancock tower. Following the yellow paint, Caitlin couldn't help but think of a weird combination of the yellow brick road and Alice in wonderland as she followed the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole. Except maybe they'd just come out of the Rabbit hole into the wrong story.