Guardians Ch.1

Chapter 1:



Virgil was already half way up the decrepit building before he realized just how high up he was. The staircase that had looked stable on the ground floor now looked much more unreliable as it groaned in annoyance of having someone race up it. He couldn't turn back now though, not without looking weak. Virgil slowed his accent up the staircase, but that did little to prevent it from swaying back and forth in the wind. Many of the pieces that secured the stairs to the side of the building had eroded long ago, and all that were left were broken little reminders about how dangerous this was. Only three more flights now Virgil thought as he slowly worked his way up.



'Why did boys have to do stuff like this?' he thought. Virgil knew that the old parts of the city were off-limits to everyone, especially to kids. No one had ever lived in this area, even before the crash. After decades of neglect almost all the buildings were close to falling over. Sometimes in the village everyone would hear a loud yet distant boom as one of the structures would finally give way. Virgil couldn't help but wonder if the people in his village would soon hear yet another distant collapse without even knowing that there was someone on that building.   



"Virgil! Virgil!" cried Anton.



It sounded as though Anton was screaming to him in actual concern instead of mockery. If that was the case then maybe the building actually was starting to come apart at the seams. But there wasn't time to stop now, and even if Anton was concerned, he would never let his younger brother forget how he had failed to get to the roof if he retreated now. The last few steps were the most harrowing as the staircase was almost completely unattached to the wall of the building, and several of the steps had completely rusted through. Virgil did the best he could and finally wrestled his way onto the roof. Despite how scared he was, Virgil felt a huge sense of satisfaction as he stood there. The satisfaction quickly dissipated however, at the prospect of trying to get back down without dying. Virgil decided to look over the edge and quickly regretted his decision. When he was on the ground with his brother, they saw that the building was only ten or so stories high. Looking down now made it seem like a skyscraper.



"Virgil! You have to get down now! I just saw a huge chuck of wall break off!"



Virgil had a hard time making out what Anton was shouting. It wasn't hard to guess what he was saying though when the building started vibrating and giving off a low rumble. Just as he put his foot on the first step to start his descent, the entire staircase gave way and made a terrible metal scream as it grinded it’s way down the building.



"Anton, run!" Virgil shouted quickly, but Anton was already gone. When the staircase finally landed in a giant metal heap roughly where Anton was standing, it triggered the official collapse of the building. The violent movements of the building combined with the strong winds made it hard for Virgil to even stand, not to mention plan his escape. He had seconds to come up with a way to get down, but the only thing he could think of wasn't much better than simply jumping over the edge. He looked for a weak spot in the roof and quickly found one. He picked up the biggest object he could find, part of an old air conditioning unit, and smashed it down with all his strength onto the crack in the roof. He instantly fell through to the next floor and began the process again, find a weak spot and hit it for a way through. Virgil quickly tired and his feet ached painfully all the way to his knees after each drop, but there was simply no alternative. His impromptu escape was only hastening the collapse and by the time he fell to the fourth floor, Virgil heard a huge explosion as the roof gave way onto the top floor and started the finale of the structure's demise. Virgil considered jumping out a window now that he was low enough to the ground, but he was pretty sure both his legs were broken and he no longer had the energy to crawl to a window. He did the last thing he could, which he knew wouldn't work, and broke yet another hole through to the lower floor. This time however, he crashed right through the third floor and the second, and landed as a tangled mess of plaster, concrete, bone and blood in the lobby. Virgil could see the exit, his salvation, but it was much too far to get to in time before nine floors of irony landed on him. Just as he began to realize this was it, a hand firmly grabbed Virgil's collar and pulled him from the debris he was pinned under. The figure cradled him in both arms and dove out of the building just as the higher floors touched down to the ground. The dust cloud and debris hit his savior squarely in the back, but after the building settled, the figure resumed his sprint with Virgil still in is arms. As he slowly faded into unconsciousness, Virgil saw that it was in fact is brother that had saved him.



"Anton...Aaannton" Virgil managed to wheeze out.

"Virgil, hang on buddy! Oh God mom's gonna kill me when she finds out."

"Anton ...did you see? I made it to the top, I really did..." Virgil was now coughing up small spurts of blood.

"I saw Virg, but if you want to gloat about it you're going to have to live"



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