A Day of Terror

A Day of Terror
By Nichole Knight

I sat down and started to write this piece just after the 'Attack on
America'. This is my way of giving my condolences to friends and family
of the deceased in the separate attacks yesterday, in hopes that this
will make the reader happier in their heart. I posted the first part of
the story the same day as the attacks on the fkfic list.

Please insert the usual disclaimer and permission to archive here.
Everything that is in apostrophes {'...'} are the characters' thoughts.

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A Day of Terror (1/5)

(Manhattan, USA-shortly after 9am; September 11, 2001)

Dr. Natalie Lambert is among her promised tour group from the
International Manhattan Coroner Conference somewhere near the middle of
the North Tower of the World Trade Center. When all of a sudden she
hears a big bang, reminding her of the plane explosion that killed
Donald Schanke and Captain Amanda Cohen, coming from above her. Using
her instincts, she dives underneath the nearest desk now wishing she had
taken Detective Nick Knight upon on his offer to go with her. From her
supposed safety position under the desk, she watches as everyone is
stamping toward the exits like buffaloes going to a water hole. Toward
the end of the crowd, she emerges from her hiding place and taking in
the present situation. Her train of thought is again interrupted as
she watches out the south window of the offices and sees a second plane
crash and explode into the middle of the South Tower. Looking at her
watch, she finds that it was only 15 minutes from the first explosion
and decides that was no accident. Upon her discovery, she makes her way
toward the exit.
"An explosion like that to this building would bring it down
with in an hour," she says out loud to no one, it takes her that long to
make it to the first floor. She makes it safely to the lobby door where
true terror finds her.

(Toronto, Canada-about 10am)

Detective Nick Knight is sitting on the couch watching
television after waking up from a very haunting nightmare. The program
he finds very interesting is interrupted with a breaking news update
coming from Manhattan, New York USA. As soon as he recognizes the city
the station is showing on the screen, he checks his clock. According to
the agenda Nat gave him before she left to her conference, she should
still be on her tour of the two burning buildings in the foreground of
the screen of his television. He immediately picked up the phone and
dialed the foundation to ready the *special* car for his immediate trip
to the USA. He was originally going to take the jet, but then heard
that all flights into the USA have been diverted into Canada. He didn't
want to go to Canada, he's in Canada. He wants to get into the USA.
After hanging up from the foundation, he rushes into his room to pack
for his unexpected trip but not before he calls in to the precinct to
book off for the rest of the week. When he is finished with his
packing, he just shut his suit case as he hears a car horn coming from
outside of the garage. He turns off the television set as the screen
shows the first tower that was hit, crumble down into the city's
streets.
"Please, Nat. Be okay, I don't want to lose you," he said under
his breath in the lift. Then he turns around and says a silent prayer
to a god he barely believes in anymore.

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Day of Terror (2/5)

(Manhattan, USA-shortly after 10am)

Natalie watches from the front doors of the lobby as body after
body is plumed from the upper half of the towers to the ground with a
sickening thud. She tries to will herself to move out into the streets,
but fear of the death that seems to linger outside keeps her rooted to
the spot she occupies. Next thing she finds is plaster debris floating
into the lobby from the outside. 'Damn it! I waited too long to leave
here safely.' She looks around for a safe place to crunch up in. She
spies a coroner that looks pretty stable for a collapse event such as
this. As the plaster breaks off from the coroner, she can now see the
heavy steel beams used to hold up the building when it was built. She
moves into the corner and assumes the position as a person would do in
case of a tornado touch down, and says a silent prayer hoping she
survives. She screams as a huge piece of concrete lands in her corner
creating a stable protective pocket and allows some air flow into her
space. All she can do now is wait for someone to rescue her.

(Hamilton, Canada-around 11am)

Now more than ever is Nick glad he *convinced* the designer to
place a television set in the *special* car. He has it tuned onto the
station that is broadcasting live shots of the crises, and watches as
the second tower collapses onto the first collapsed tower ruble.
'Please, God. Let her have gotten out safely, or at least be alive in
the ruins. Please!' He almost broke the glass he was holding a little
too tightly. He had now came to the conclusion that this was no
accident, when the channel had earlier shown two other crash sites that
happened in a short time span from the two crashes of the World Trade
Center. Another plane crashed into the pentagon, and a second one
crashed in Pennsylvania just outside of Camp David. He knew a terrorist
act when he saw one, and this is definitely a terrorist act. 'Question
is who would be stupid enough to attack the United States?' He sits
there a long time deep in thought making the driver wonder if he is even
alive. The only reason why the driver does not stop to check to see if
he is not a statute, is the fact that his eyelids are blinking giving
his eyes some moisture.

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A Day of Terror (3/5)

(Manhattan, USA-around 11am)

As Natalie is crouching in her air pocket, it dawns on her that
she may not survive this crises. 'Nonsense, Natalie. You will survive
this crises. Nick will be waiting outside with his arms open to accept
you unharmed. So stop doubting your courage, Natalie Lambert.' She
also knows to stay calm in a situation like this. To help keep her
sanity, she remembers happy times she shared with Nick. Her thoughts
are shattered as she screams in fright at the sound of the second tower
collapsing on top of her and the previous tower. 'Nick, hurry up and
get your immortal butt here and help me!' Granted, he had almost killed
her, but she does not trust just anyone to save her from this place.
Judging form her experience, she knows that real rescue efforts will not
start probably until the dust and debris die down, which might not start
until nightfall. 'Good, at least Nick would be able to look for me
also. If he shows up.' She mentally reprimands herself for doubting
Nick's love for her. 'Nothing do now but wait for help. Maybe I can
get some sleep now, yeah right. Just stay calm.'

(Buffalo, USA-around 12pm)

Nick watches the news nonstop as the channel brings the updates on
'Attack on America' as the media now calls it. Listening as the death
tolls are being counted and reported to the media, praying that Natalie
is not counted as one of the statistics. The media has yet to report of
any rescue efforts for any survivors. According to the plan the driver
had show him while they were still in Toronto, he had planed to take I-
90 from Buffalo to I-81 which is about 210 kilometers. Nick has no
doubt that his driver knows where to go, giving him plenty of time to
worry about his mortal love's safety. 'Please. Just hang on, Nat. I'm
on my way. Hang on.' He removes his cell phone and calls his father.
When the familiar aristocrat voice answers the phone, Nick tells him the
importance of getting to Manhattan shortly after the attacks.

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A Day of Terror (4/5)

(Manhattan, USA-about 3pm)

Natalie is startled out of her reverie at the sound that had just
stopped three hours ago. Another building of the Center is starting to
collapse. Her doubt of survival returning to her once again. 'Make a
deal with me. If they don't find me in 24 hours, then you may take over
start to panic. Okay?' She is talking to her subconscious. Once again
she curses, 'Nick! Get your sorry immortal but here.' Not as fierce
she adds, 'Please, Nick. I'm truly scared this time.'

(I-90 and I-81 highway interchange-around 3pm)

The television shows a third building crumble to the ground in the
Center. Nick is starting to get agitated, because he can't help the
rescue efforts until sundown. Going at their present speed, they should
reach New York City in about four hours not including traffic. It might
not be dark enough for him to find Natalie. He growled in frustration.

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A Day of Terror (5/5)

(New York City, USA-about 7pm)

Nick emerges from the car into the night air, he is so glad there
was heavy traffic on the highways. It burnt deadly daylight for him.
He turned to his driver, "Make sure my bag is taken care of. Place the
cost of the room to the foundation. I will pay the foundation back
later."
"Yes, Sir. Not to be rude or anything, but would you like to rest
first, Sir?" He asks fidgety.
"No, I do not. I must find someone first and make sure she is
unharmed before anything else." Nick states matter-of-factly. He moved
back into an abandon alley and takes off into Manhattan, via the sky.
He heard on the way over that authorities were not allowing anyone on
the island, he has to get over there and find her pronto.

(Manhattan, USA-thirty minutes later)

Nick lands amongst the ruble in a rather large shadow. Listening
with his vampiric hearing for Natalie's familiar heartbeat, he can
barely hear it. He turns in a 360 degree circle to better hear which
direction she is in. Once he determines what direction she is from his
current location, he makes his way to her. As he draws nearer, her
heartbeat becomes more distinguished from other heartbeats he hears in
the distance of the night. 'Probably rescue workers.' As he walks, he
could tell that he is now standing directly on top of her. He kneels
down, not caring about his clothes. "Nat! Nat! Can you hear me," he
yells into the ruins of a great landmark.

(***************)

Natalie brings herself out of a *very fond* memory, as she hears a
familiar male voice call her name from above. "Nick! Thank God you're
here. Get me out of here," she yells back almost crying. 'I'm going to
make it!' She listens as sounds of concrete scratch against one another
come down through the debris, making her only guess what Nick was doing
now.

(*************)

Nick listens for a response from the object of his concern, and
gets one a few seconds later. It is not loud for a mortal listening
from top of the debris, but he can hear it with no problem. At the end
of her reply, he could tell that she is doing everything she can to keep
from crying. After he looks around for nosy mortals and finds none, he
starts to move huge pieces of concrete beneath him like a person would a
heavy wooden chair.

(One hour later.)

Natalie looks up to see that a hole has been made big enough for a
body to fit through. After she hears what sounded like someone throwing
rocks, a face appears from over the rocks. She gazes up in happiness as
the person she most loves is looking down at her from the top. "Nick!
Help me out!"
"Are you hurt," he asks reaching into the hole for her outreached
hand. He didn't need to ask it, because he could smell the blood
slightly from his position. 'It wouldn't hurt to hear her deny her
injuries.'
"No, I'm fine. Just a little scratched and scared, but fine," she
doesn't deny it totally, because she knows he can smell her blood from
right where he is. She grabs his hand, very tightly.
"Hang on, Nat. I'm going to pull you straight up and out the
hole. Okay," he explains to her.
"Okay. I'm ready when you are 'Hercules'," she replies playfully.
'He is my own modern day 'Hercules' after all.'
"All right, here we go." He clasp her hand and pull her straight
up through the hole. Once he has her out of her *air pocket*, he hugs
her tightly to his body. "I was worried about you, My Love," he
whispers in her ear.
"I had doubts about you coming here, but I was scared at the time.
Let's go home," she whispers back.
"We can talk about this later. Let's go back to the hotel room I
booked for us, and nurse those injuries," he answers in return.
"Okay. How did you get here in the first place," she asks. When
she had a chance to look around she could not find a mode of
transportation as far as she could see.
"Hang on tight, Love," he answers her in return. Pulling her body
to his, he takes off the hotel the had booked a room in just an hour and
a half ago.

****Fini****