"Again?"
John, Amanda's coworker was watching her put on her personal protective equipment while her clipboard and safety inspection kit were on the desk. "Yep!"
"Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'? Why do you care?"
"You're always going on safety inspections!"
"So?"
"You're supposed to be a lab rat like me!"
"I am! Why do you care so much?"
He gave her a look and looked around the lab and sighed "We just have so much work. And you going on these inspections doesn't help the backlog."
"And I do more than my fair share! John, I can knock off double the work you do in a day so stop giving me a hard time about safety inspections. If you have an issue, go talk to the lab manager! But beware, it might turn against you!"
Amanda had finished putting on her gear, grabbed the kit and walked towards the door. She was livid. That John would even dare hint that her safety inspections were impeding her work really disturbed her. Any day she had a planned inspection, she always made sure it wouldn't impact her throughput. Just yesterday, she'd managed to get the whole week's worth of verifications and calibrations done in addition to the daily samples while John had only managed to get his daily samples done. And there was not that big a backlog! If he got off his dang phone, he might help with the backlog himself!
Amanda angrily opened the door to leave the lab and stomped out. Turning to her left to go towards her inspection partner, she walked right into someone tall and strong. Instinctively, the person's arms went around her to prevent her from bouncing back and falling on her arse.
"Whoa young lady!"
It was Keith, the maintenance planner she was supposed to go do the inspection with. And he was there, with his arms around her. Her body reacted with a warmth she hadn't felt in a while and she looked up. He lightly released his hold on her and their eyes met. Immediately, her conscience spoke to her "Get a grip girl! This is no time for hormones to get all topsy turvy!"
He asked "You okay there?"
She took a step back and nodded.
"Are you in that much of a hurry to go do this inspection? Or is it me you're in a hurry to see?"
There was laughter in his voice. She really liked his voice, it was quite velvety. She'd heard him sing before too and his singing voice was really mellow. But now, here he was, teasing her and she knew she deserved it so she was not going to get upset at him at all. She smiled "I love safety inspections! You ready?"
Keith smiled too "Let's go!"
They made their way out into the plant and started looking at various areas and items. They took notes about good things and items that needed to be improved. It was their first inspection together. Keith and Amanda noticed different things and commented on how they seemed to complement each other. Eventually, they found themselves in a rather secluded area of the plant, entering through the one door at the bottom and making their way to the top of the building to start their inspection at the top.
"This place is a pigsty!"
Amanda laughed at Keith's exclamation. He wasn't wrong though, the place was indeed in the worst shape she'd ever seen it. She'd heard some of the patrollers complain about the area and how downright dangerous it was becoming. They made their way to the third floor of the five floor building and were crossing the floor to the other side where the rest of the stairs were when they felt the building shake.
All of a sudden, there was a huge crashing sound, more shaking and then a bunch of dust descended upon them. Keith pulled Amanda into his arms and moved them both close to one of the big pillars. Both of them just waited until the dust settled and the shaking stopped. Though it lasted only a few seconds, it felt like much longer than that.
Keith only partially relaxed his grip on her, looking around and assessing the scene. "We're not in an earthquake zone are we?"
Amanda shook her head "No, we're not! What was that?"
"Well, there doesn't seem to be any damage around us. Should we keep going up or go back down?"
Just then, they heard the evacuation sirens in the distance. Keith's cell phone beeped so he checked it "The plant's being evacuated. Let's go down."
They made their way back down the stairs carefully, assessing the stairs' stability, looking for any signs of danger before each step. When they got to the door, it wouldn't open. Keith tried to pry it open but just couldn't get it to budge.
"Stop, Keith, don't hurt yourself. Let's go through the top elevated passage."
Indeed, this building was linked to the main building by an elevated passage where there was a belt conveyor and space for people to walk along it. They made their way to the top floor and stopped at the top of the stairs. There, what they saw left them speechless. Where there used to be the passageway, there was only a big gaping opening. Part of the floor was gone too.
"Holy shit!"
Amanda just said "wow." Then, she added "Let's get back down."
"But we already tried the door."
