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MARQUETTE COVE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
Vincent Moore tears off his sweater, using it to cover his mouth as he storms into the quickly deteriorating hospital. Knowing his mother would be on the second floor where her obstetrician's office is, he heads toward the nearest stairwell.
The doorknob is searing hot as he grabs it with his bare hand, quickly pushing it open and then clenching his fist to fight back the pain.
The stairwell is twisted and mangled. Vince ascends the steps, careful not to touch the railing which is surely as hot as the doorknob. Once he finally reaches the second floor, he kicks in the door and barrels forward, squinting in the dark and searching for his mother.
"Mom! It's me, Vince!"
Seeing nothing down on end of the hallway but swinging electrical chords, he turns to the opposite end. If not his mother, maybe his sister is on this floor. He'll search every floor until he can find them both.
"Mom! Akilah!"
"Vince!"
It's neither his mother nor his sister, but he recognizes the voice.
"Eric?"
He could be trapped in the hospital for eternity for all that Vince cares.
"Vince! Jessica is in the room with you! I think something happened to her, you have to find her!"
"Jess?" Vince says, glancing around the hallway. "Where?!"
"I don't know, I'm still trapped in the other room! I have to find a way out!"
"I'll look for Jessica," Vince says, almost to himself. "How in the hell did any of this happen?"
EMERALD LAKE
The lake is calm and serene, completely belying the events that transpired minutes earlier. A car crashed through a railing, sailing into the lake and sinking below the surface.
The car belonging to Tom King rests at the bottom of the lake, now entirely filled with water. And amidst the contents of the car...his laptop...several books...sheets of papers...
...a DVD.
It floats in the water, pressed against the glass window. Deep, deep beneath the surface of the lake.
They spot Robert Bale, standing near Felicia, Simon, and Matt. Once they pass through the perimeter, Sean is met with a tight hug from Robert.
"Are you okay, buddy?" Robert says.
"I'm okay," Sean says. "We weren't inside the hospital, but we were outside when..."
"Space rock."
"Huh?"
"Just go with it," Robert says.
Felicia sits up on the gurney she's resting on, removing her oxygen mask. "Are you ladies okay?"
Leslie begins to speak, but Denise cuts in front of her. "I need to see a doctor! I'm bleeding, there could be something wrong with my baby!"
"I'm fine," Leslie mutters. "Robert...is Vincent with you?"
Robert doesn't immediately respond.
"Robert! Where is my son?"
"He went inside," Matt pipes up. "To find you. And Akilah."
"Oh God," Leslie gasps, gripping Sean's arm.
"They'll be fine, Leslie," Sean says, pulling her into his embrace. "They'll be fine."
Denise watches momentarily as Sean holds Leslie. Rather than feel sorry for herself, she brushes past everyone else and grabs the nearest EMT. "Help me. Now."
MARQUETTE COVE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
Vince shoves a pile of debris to the side, scrambling to see if the hand sticking out from underneath it belongs to Jessica. As he prepares to lift the woman's head to get a clear look at her face in the dark, he is startled as the nearby wall suddenly tears away.
Eric Hanley bursts through the wall, seemingly stunned at the idea that he just ran through several inches of plaster.
"What in the hell?" Vince coughs. "When did you become the Kool-Aid man?"
"This hospital is fucking cheap," Eric mutters. "These walls are paper thin. Is that...is that Jessica?"
"Yeah, it's her," Vince says, finally getting confirmation. "Help me get her up."
Eric obliges, crossing to Jessica's body and helping Vince hoist her onto her feet. "It's probably better she's knocked out, so she'll stop wailing in my goddamn ear."
Vince rolls his eyes. "You're a real class act."
"Hey! I helped save her life," Eric insists. "Otherwise she would have ended up like..."
"Like what?" Vince demands.
"Alec and their son, Phillip," Eric answers. "They were struck when the ceiling caved in, and..."
Vince nods slowly. He understands. But he doesn't have time to process any of that. Not the loss of his ex-girlfriend's child, or the loss of his former best friend. He needs to get Jessica to safety, and then he needs to find his family.
"Let's move," Vince says. "Quickly."
OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL
Blake Thomas feels like he's coughed up both of his lungs by the time he exits what's left of the hospital's entrance. Akilah pushes him forward to help him out, and also in an attempt to get away from Aaron Maddock as quickly as possible.
"What in the hell was that?" Akilah whispers.
"What was what?" Blake asks. "And why are we whispering?"
"Aaron kissed you!" Akilah cries. "Is he...is he on the DL?"
"No," Blake snaps. "Let's keep going."
"I saw what I saw, Blake."
"If you want to talk about DL, why don't you ask your brother about —"
"Children. Keep moving," Aaron says, his booming voice interrupting them. "We need to get to safety."
"I'm not a child," Akilah insists, as they run into Rebecca Li, hurrying out of the hospital with her son Kane. "Oh, great. More irritating people."
"Rebecca," Aaron says, taking her by the hand. "I'm so glad that you're okay!"
Rebecca frowns. "You are?"
"Yes, my love," Aaron says, pulling her into a deep kiss.
Blake and Kane watch with dumbfounded looks, as Akilah merely rolls her eyes.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't show discretion in such a time like this," Aaron insists.
"Yeah," Akilah mutters. "Because we're all about discretion."
MARQUETTE COVE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
Kyle Maddock affixes a surgical mask to his face as he wheels a frozen body out the hospital on a gurney. With all the chaos going on around him, no one notices as he hurries toward the exit.
He smiles, assuming everything is all in the clear.
Until he crashes into another gurney.
"Dammit," Kyle groans.
The nurse pushing the other gurney glares at him. He can't tell whether it's a male or a female, but he can see them pushing the body of a young African-American woman.
And unlike the body on Kyle's gurney, the woman is very much alive. Unconscious, but alive.
"I'm sorry," Kyle says.
The nurse doesn't say anything.
"You have fun carting your, um...patient," Kyle continues, catching a glimpse at the tag on the woman's arm. "Samantha Clark. Pretty name."
The nurse continues pushing the gurney out the hospital.
"Nice meeting you too."
OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL
"Do you think you can carry her to the police perimeter?" Vince asks Eric as they trudge out of the hospital. "I need to get back inside to find my —"
"Vince!"
Vince turns his head slightly to find Akilah standing nearby with Blake. She runs toward him, smiling as she kisses his cheek. "Hey sis. You're not dead."
"Go figure," Akilah says. "So you save her and not me?"
"Akilah..." Vince says softly. "She um...she lost her son in there. And Alec."
Akilah feels the wind being sucked completely out of her. "Alec? Alec is..."
"He didn't make it," Eric says. "A little help here?"
"I need to get back inside," Vince says. "Can you get Blake to help Eric with Jessica?"
"I doubt he wants to..."
"I'll help," Blake says, stepping forward to glare at Eric. "Just don't ask me not to punch you in the face afterward."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Blake takes the other half of Jessica's body from Vince, then he and Eric slowly take her toward the police perimeter. As Vince turns back to the hospital, Akilah grabs his arm.
"Vince! You are not going back inside!"
"I need to find our mom, Akilah," Vince insists.
"I know Vince, but..."
"Vincent! Akilah!"
Both siblings turn their head in time to see Leslie standing behind a row of police tape, surrounded by everyone else they know. Breathing a sigh of relief, Vince takes his sister by the hand and hurries toward their mother.
"Mom," Vince says, hugging Leslie. "You're okay!"
"Of course I am, sweetie," Leslie says. "Your father helped me. And someone else, I think. But I don't remember who. I couldn't see them through the smoke."
"Don't worry about it," Vince says, still not letting his mother go. "This is all over. You're okay. We're all okay."
MARQUETTE COVE BUS DEPOT
"Reports are coming in about the number of casualties from the catastrophe at Marquette Cove Memorial Hospital, with numbers reaching 45 deaths and..."
The bus driver shuts off the radio as he starts up the vehicle, finally shutting the doors behind the last of passengers. Emily Craw slowly walks down the aisle, taking a seat next to a young man with a shaved head.
He's furiously scribbling lines into a notebook.
"Writing some love poems?" Emily asks. "To a special lady for Valentine's Day?"
"No," the man responds. "I'm working on a piece of theatre. The next great American play. I'm talking some David Mamet, Neil Simon, Tracy Letts-type shit."
"Oh, well...that's exciting," Emily says, slightly confused. "Your clothes look awfully damp, young man!"
"My car went over a bridge and into a lake," the man says dismissively.
Emily shoots him a dubious look.
"I went swimming," he answers.
"What's your name, young man?" Emily asks. "I want to remember you when you're famous."
He sticks his hand out to shake hers. "My name's To...sorry, I mean my name is Michael. Michael Ross."
