Despare moved as slowly as he could.  A misstep now, any miscalculation at all, could mean the end.  He had worked much too hard to fail like this. He pressed on, quietly. When he tried the catch again, it gave. 

     He let out his breath slowly and closed his eyes. He was in. 

     The light clicked on. 

     Shit. 

     “…Pat?” she asked, the sleep heavy in her voice. 

      He said nothing. 

     Shit! 

     “What the hell time is it?” she began to rummage around on the bed to look for her…

        Karl immediately ducked down when he saw the car slide by. He knew it was not THE one but it still demanded his rapt attention. His normally cloudy eyes were sharp and somehow brighter as they followed the vehicle’s progress down the road and turn onto Pine Boulevard. Presently, the car was gone and he released his captive breath. 

               He had been crouching behind the fallen Pillar for a few minutes, give or take. Felt like hours, of course.  He could hear the blood throbbing and pulsing…

It must have been the absolute absence of stimulus that woke her. Usually she had to ignore something to remain in slumber. That womblike sensation of insulation, of your interior always pushing against the outside world to stay under, asleep and recharging, was familiar. But she realized nearly at once that something was different this time. This time, there did not seem to be an outside world. 

               Still lying down, and motionless otherwise, she blinked.

              She blinked again.

…