"Look." Angela pointed to a black corner, where thick, sloppy mud was still spilling around the front of the theater. "Is that a Blazer?"
Marc sounded relieved. "Mud must have pushed 'em out. Maybe we'll get lucky."
Angela smiled. "Think we already did. I hear Dog."
"Come on. Let's get down from here before the whole mall collapses."
"We need rope."
"It's in the Blazer with my bag."
Marc was reprimanding himself for leaving his kit when she pointed to the dead telephone wires. "Can we use those?"
Marc frowned. "It's the grip that's hard. The poles and wires are sprayed with a flame retardant chemical that makes it slippery. We'll have to braid a rope together."
He began fishing in his pockets. "We'll hope the pole wasn't loosened by the mudslide." He cut the phone, cable, and electric wires, and quickly wove them together.
"Will this work?"
He shrugged. "We're gonna find out. If it breaks, try to go limp."
Angela watched as he stood up, eyeing a dark patch of brackish mud that she was sure covered a deer that had been impaled by the thin branch of a walnut tree.
Marc wrapped the braided cord around his fist, and then his waist.
Angela scowled fearfully. "Is this the best we can..."
"Hang on!"
A second later she was tight against his body, feet in the air, and then they were dropping off the side of the building.
"Semper Fi!"
His shout gave her the courage to wrap her legs around him and keep her head up as the ground flew closer.
Marc had swung them toward the pole, hoping to slow their descent. He put his feet straight out so that they slammed into the wood with a jerk that had their grip on each other tightening painfully.
Legs holding them to the slippery pole, Marc's eyes picked out a shallow-looking patch of mud and swung them for it just as the braided cord snapped under their weight, dropping them to the ground with a hard, wet thud.
They landed with her on top, legs pinned around his waist, and she winced as the layer of mud shifted beneath them, putting more pressure on her knee.
"You okay?"
His eyes were closed, and she leaned closer, muddy hands feeling his pulse. "Brady?"
Dazed, but aware she was getting upset, Marc opened his eyes and said the first thing that came to mind, "Never have I seen anything so beautiful."