The cold air came in the building as Nick opened the door completely. Lauren screamed of joy. "We're outside!"

Nick put his arm around his waist and led her outside. "Ah, finally fresh air!" He said, breathing in deeply.

"There must be some sort of fire escape on the side of the building. There's gotta be a way to get down." Lauren said.

"Over there." Nick pointed at their left. They ran to the ladder and looked down. "Looks like it goes all the way to the ground. Lauren, in less than an hour we'll be home... Well, actually you'll be home, I'll be in my hotel room, but still."

She laughed and got on the ladder. "I'm getting down first. You won't get a chance to look under my dress this time."

"You know I didn't mean to." He smiled.

"I know. I was just kidding. Come on."

They both got down the ladder rather quickly. They jumped the last few rungs and dashed towards the main entrance of the building.

"Door's still unlocked. I hope nobody came in." Lauren said, opening the door.

The main room was dark, but there was a bit of lit coming from the street lights outside. Lauren flicked the light switch up, but the lights remained shut.

"The power is not back, of course. If there is a fuse burnt somewhere we'll have to change it. But we have some emergency stuff here." She said. She walked in the room to one of the desk and opened the bottom drawer. She got out two candles and a flashlight. "This'll do for now."

She tossed Nick a matchbox. "Light the candles, please." She turned on the flashlight and picked up the phone. "I hope the phones lines are alright."

Nick saw a smile spread on her face as she listened. "Phone's working?" He asked. Lauren nodded and dialed.

"Who are you calling?" Nick asked.

"Cindy's mom. I want to know if she's home. If she's not, it means everybody is still stuck in the basement."

Nick blew on the match to put out the fire and placed the candles on the desk. He listened the Lauren talk with Cindy's mother. He picked up from their conversation and the way that Lauren was trying to reassure her that Cindy had not come home. Lauren finally hung up and sighed. "They're still lost somewhere in the building."

"Should we call the police?"

"Yes, but I want to call my parents first. Let them know I'm alright."

"While we're at it, I'm gonna call our managers. They came here with us and they must be pulling their hair off their heads."

Once they had both made their phone calls, they called the police to explain to them what had happened and to ask for someone to help them find everyone else.

Go to Chapter 21
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