Chapter five

Rowan wasn't exactly sure what to do. Comforting wasn't exactly her thing. Sitting uncomfortably next to Lauren, she made her presence known by giving her a light pat on the back.

Lauren raised her head up.

"I'm fine, okay? You don't need to pity me. Like I said earlier, I can take care of myself."

Griffin, flashing a little glance at Rowan, sighed and moved a few inches away from her.

"So," Rowan said, trying to make conversation.

"Am I supposed to know you? From school?"

Lauren looked at Rowan and studied her for a second.

"I might recognize you. Your know-it-all, 'I'm so independent!' Attitude seems familiar."

Rowan looked at her with blazing eyes and shot back, "If you aren't aware, /you're/ the one who keeps pretending she's 'So independent!' If I were you, I'd save your rude comments for another time, like when we aren't stuck in an abandoned building that's slowly flooding!"

Griffin sighed and glared at them.

"C'mon, guys, stop fighting. We don't have time for this. The only words you two have exchanged are unnecessary and rude. We need to figure out a plan!"

Rowan and Lauren looked away from each other, both of them wanting to say something more.

Rowan sighed.

Griffin was right.

They really did need a plan.

Rowan got up and looked in the window again.

The sky was getting darker and darker, threatening the night that would plunge them into imminent darkness.

"It's flooding downstairs more and more by the minute."

"We should've thought this out before we ran in here." Lauren said subtly.

"We were in a panic, Lauren. We didn't have time to 'think it through'." Griffin said.

The three teenagers looked at each other.

Finally, Griffin broke the silence again.

"Lauren, where are your parents? Or, well, your mom?"

Lauren looked away, her blonde hair glinting in the small amount of light that was left.

"I don't know. After they called the evacuation, she never came. Neither did my dad. So, I took it upon myself that I had to go on my own. I had an extra pair of clothes in my backpack and the lunch I never got to eat."

"So... I guess we're all alone."

Rowan looked down at the ground.

She had felt alone many times before, but never like this. Never... truly, alone.

They all went back into the deafening silence with only the hard pitter-patter of rain against the ceiling.

"We need to get out of Los Angeles, that's definitely a must. But not now. We should wait til morning when we're rested up," Griffin said.

Rowan responded with a deep sigh. "But if we wait any longer, it'll be entirely flooded downstairs."

Then, it hit Rowan.

They didn't have to get out using the stairs.

They could do what Rowan did all the time.

"Fire escape!"

Lauren looked up at her in dismay. "What?"

Griffin's face lit up.

"That's perfect! So then, we wouldn't have to worry about trying to use the stairs!"

Lauren still looked confused.

"Wait, wait... so you're saying that we have to climb down a ladder to leave this place? With it raining like this? Doesn't sound too genius to me."

"Would you rather stay here and die, then?"

Rowan said, rolling her eyes.

Lauren rolled her eyes back.

"Fine. But if either of you fall, I'm leaving you."

Griffin sighed.

Now that they had their plan in order, they could finally lie down and rest for a bit.

"Let's get our energy up and go to sleep," Rowan said.

Grabbing her nearly-dry backpack and lying her head on it, Rowan played over all of the things that had happened today in her mind.

Was this a dream? Just some crazy dream that she'd wake up from tomorrow, wrapped under the covers in her bed with the dawn of morning filtering through her window?

But Rowan knew good and well that it wasn't a dream.

No matter how hard she tried, the reality was that now she and two other teenagers, one of which she'd never met, were now racing for survival.

And she had to win.