Morning all. Hope you had a fabulous weekend. I could have used a third day off. I can’t lie. But Monday is here and so we will get this week started. Timers set for the morning prompt and off we go.
Not sure how I would play this, but there are interesting elements to weave into a story. Just don’t know what the story is yet.
Monday, April 14th: It is crucial we avoid creating a panic.
“It is crucial we avoid creating a panic,” Martin said. He looked around at the ring of faces. “Avery you go towards accounts and get everyone there together and moving towards the west exit. Marliee, you take HR towards the east exit. John you and I will take the rest. You take your group towards the main exit and I will take mine towards the back. It will keep us all from clumping together at the doorways. Just keep everyone calm. Tell them it is a drill if you have to.”
Everyone nodded and they all moved off towards their designated locations. He and John hung back slightly wanting to give the others time to start their exit. Martin figured that if they all stood and started towards one of the exit at the same time then it would cause the panic he was trying to avoid.
Avery reached accounts and they watched the group stand and moved in a calm orderly fashion towards their exits. Marlee reached HR and Martin and John moved into their areas.
Everyone knew something was going on, but no one had a panicked look to their faces. Many thought of it as a nice break from their desks. Most had cell phones and he knew they planned to sent messages or even play games once they were in the parking lot.
‘Hopefully we will get to the parking lot before they realize the cell service is down.’ Martin took a deep breath as he guided his group towards the back exit. From here they would walk around the side of the building and join up with the others. He heard casual chatter behind him. They made it through the door and out into the back lot.
They thought it was a systems test. Everyone turned to him as he called for their attention. “We will need to rejoin the others in the front of the building,” He told them.
“Why couldn’t we just go out the front door then,” Tyler asked.
“Clogged doorways,” Martain said. “Faster if different groups go to different doorways.”
He figured it was true enough as far as things went. At least everyone accepted it. He turned his group towards the west side of the building.
“Hey my cell has no service,” Kelly said. Martin took a deep breath as he heard the others reaching for their phones. The explosions caught everyone off guard. They started at the top of the building and for a moment all anyone could do was look at each other and then look up in surprise. Martin looked up as well but he knew the explosions weren’t going to stop.
“Angle away from the building,” he shouted to his group. They were still walking west but no longer following the building’s perimeter. He thought they had more time. ‘At least we got everyone out of the building,’ he thought. ‘On our floor at least. His group raced forward, Martain pushing them fast enough that there was no time for questions. They saw Avery’s group, joined them and all continued on a course away from the building.
More explosions sounded overhead. Thus far the debris was falling n but soon Martain knew there would be strewn bricks and other building bits shooting out over them. They needed to get clear.
They kept moving. Behind him, they heard other people start to leave the building.
Ten til Midnight 