Disclaimer: Victorious and its characters are the property of Schneider's Bakery and Nickelodeon. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. No profit is intended or wanted for this story.

Note: A short story inspired by the earth tremor scenes in Andre's Horrible Girl (season 3, episode 6).

Forward

The crust of the Earth, the lithosphere, is divided into fifteen major tectonic plates. These plates float atop the viscous upper mantle, the asthenosphere, in a slow ballet of growing, colliding, scraping, climbing over or diving under each other.

The movement is so slow, it makes stellar movement seem hyperactive.

The relative motion of the plates create certain types of boundary. These are convergent, divergent or transform boundaries.

Convergent boundaries occur when two or more plates collide, causing one plate to dive under the other and become remelted into the thick, almost tar-like mantle. One example is the Indian Plate sliding under the Eurasian Plate, creating the Himalayas - which are still growing at a slow, steady rate. Another is the Pacific Plate plunging under the Filipino Plate. One consequence of these tectonic movements are often volcanoes (Japan, the Philippines, the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest) and earthquakes (California, Alaska, Central America, and Japan). In short, the Pacific Ring of Fire, for a prime example.

Divergent boundaries are the location of plates sliding apart. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is such a boundary. There, the North and South American Plates move west away from the Eurasian and African Plates as the Atlantic seafloor grows. Growth is between just under a half inch to slightly more than one and a half inches per year – about the speed of fingernail growth.

Transform boundaries are the areas where plates slide, or more often, grind against each other. The best, most famous example is the boundary between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate. There, the Pacific Plate is moving northwest while the North American Plate is moving to the southwest. The rate of slippage along the fault line ranges between one and a third to one and a half inches a year. This is the legendary San Andreas fault

Oddly,one of the strongest earthquake in American recorded history was southeastern Missouri, in the central Midwest region of North America - the middle of the North American Plate. A series of earthquakes along the New Madrid Fracture System in 1811 and 1812 changed the landscape of the region, caused the Mississippi River to flow upstream, rang church bells in the Carolinas and toppled chimneys in Philadelphia, nearly a thousand miles away. This fault is an ancient fracture – over 750 million years old, leftover from the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Rodinia.

The Richter Scale, used to measure earthquakes, was developed by Charles Francis Richter and Beno Gutenberg at the California Institute of Technology in the early 1950s. Based on this system, magnitude 1 would equal the detonation of four hundred and eighty grams of TNT. Each whole step up (from one to two or two to three) the scale increases the magnitude by a factor of ten. The San Fernando (or Sylmar) Earthquake in 1971 was magnitude 6.6, equal to one hundred and twenty kilotons of TNT. The Northridge Quake of 1994 was magnitude 6.7, one hundred and seventy kilotons. The 1811 – 1812 New Madrid Earthquakes estimated to be between 7.0 and 8.1 (four hundred and eighty kilotons up to twenty-one megatons) making those four quakes (with accompanying aftershocks) the strongest in the continental United States east of the Rockies

Relevant to this account, there are two areas where the relative plate movements along the San Andreas hang up causing a constant, slow build of pressure. One in northern California near the San Francisco Bay area which caused the famous 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Based on remaining evidence, that tags in at 8.0 – fifteen megatons of TNT. Just under a century later, the 1989 Frisco Quake (officially known as the Loma Prieta Earthquake) was 6.9.

Oddly, a lot of the damage in the city was an area built up on landfill of rubble from the 1906 quake. And, with San Francisco the National League's team in that year's World Series, vying with the Oakland Athletics, this was the first major quake recorded on film. All major networks had teams on site and managed to record the effects of the quake at Candlestick Park.

The Anchorage Earthquake, also known as the Good Friday Quake, of 1964 was a magnitude 9.3, nine hundred and fifty megatons. (For comparison, the strongest nuclear device ever detonated, the Soviets' Tsar Bomba Hydrogen Test in Siberia, created seismic waves equivalent to a magnitude 8.35, roughly fifty megatons. The Hiroshima atom bomb, Little Boy, was a fifteen kilotons equivalent to a magnitude 6.0,.)

Most seismic events in Southern California, while numerous and of varying magnitudes, haven't been nearly as severe as the Anchorage, New Madrid or the San Francisco Earthquakes.

Not yet.

1 The Earth Moved

Timing is everything for some. When the quake hit, there were still several students out around the Asphalt Café as the lunch period neared it's end. Among these were Jade West and Tori Vega.

Jade and Tori were in the middle of yet another argument which was so heated, the others in their group of friends headed back into Hollywood Arts early.

"I know what I saw Vega!"

"Damn it Jade! It wasn't me! I don't even watch the MAM…"

"MMA! Mixed Mar…"

The argument was cut short when they felt the earth move under them. A quick thump then a deep grinding noise as everything started to shake.

"EARTHQUAKE!" Tori yelled.

"GET UNDER THE TABLE, VEGA!" Jade called as she dragged her frenemy down with her under the round, metal table.

The roar of the quake was louder than a freight train. Combined with the sound of shattering glass, cracking concrete and falling masonry, the screams of the girls was practically non-existent. The pair held each other, screaming as the ground shook and bounced under them.

Each girl was wrapped in an eternity of fear. Death, or even major injury, suddenly loomed large in their individual, formerly safe lives.

The quaking seemed to go on for hours as debris fell onto the table top, ringing in their ears like a giant cymbal.

In actuality, the seismic action only lasted forty-nine seconds. The source was the Santa Monica Fault which passed under the Hollywood Hills – the epicenter just north of the school with the focus several thousand feet below the surface.

Even as the seismic waves began to ebb, a louder clang deafened the girls as a small part of the school fell on the metal table top, temporarily deafening Tori and Jade.

As the quake finally died, Tori and Jade slowly, carefully crawled out from under the partially crushed table. Except for the ringing in their ears, it was strangely silent in the aftermath. Almost funereal.

They both were staring at the far wall of the school parking lot behind the café. The wall was gone. Beyond, the street was in chaos – cars crashed into each other or other objects. A fire hydrant was now a fountain of water. Directly behind the spray, the Jet Brew was on fire – probably due to the car that had crashed through the front windows.. And down the cross street, another fountain arced up through a sedan that had rammed a fire hydrant. Nearby, sparks showed where live wires were lying on the streets.

The low story building near the school looked fairly intact – mainly shattered windows. A couple of those windows had frames that had been twisted to a noticeable degree. But these were new buildings built under post-Sylmar earthquake code requirements. But that didn't necessarily protect the structures from fire.

Even so, the CVS Pharmacy on the other corner was in flames which, before their eyes, spread to the Kinko's next door.

It was all strangely silent though.

Slowly, Tori realized her hearing was extremely muffled. As if from far, far away, screams, car, fire and other alarms and even old air raid sirens could be vaguely discerned. This was a common, disconcerting affect for soldiers and civilians caught in a blast zone experience.

Barely heard, a voice from behind Tori caught her attention.

"tori, are you alright?'

Tori turned to see Jade trying to talk to her but she shook her head. Pointing at her ears, she said, "i can't hear you very well."

"what?"

Tori realized Jade had the same problem. She leaned in and yelled, "i can't hear you very well. Must've been that loud bang."

They turned as one from the street to the table. The top was crumpled by a large piece of the upper performance platform that overshadowed part of the Café. Their gazes moved up to the platform. Immediately in front of them, aside from the piece that almost crushed their table, it was still intact but further back, it had collapsed onto the shaded dining area.

Then they looked at their school. Even though it had been built under the same earthquake codes as the relatively intact buildings along the street, the upper level was gone. It had pancaked onto the ground floor which, fortunately, held the load. For the moment.

Slowly, as their hearing returned, the sounds of alarms, nearby and further away, mixed with the more human sounds of cries, shouts and screams, was becoming more strident.

Suddenly, Jade realized she was hearing screams from inside the school.

Tori heard those cries too.

They turned to each other and silently knew what the other was thinking. Several students and some adults staggered out. Many were bleeding and all were covered in dust, disguising their identities. Both girls were reminded of the survivors of the World Trade Center attack in their contemporary history class.

Without another second wasted, they moved to the collapsed platform. The only sign of anyone there was a bloody hand and arm draped over a slab of concrete with a steel support beam pinning it to the concrete. Tori gasped at the sight and even Jade was taken aback in shock.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Tori knelt to feel for a non-existent pulse, Jade surveyed the pile and called out, "ANYONE HEAR ME? ANYONE TRAPPED?"

Tori stood and shook her head. Sadly she noted, "He's gone…"

A few more bloodied, dirty students staggered out of the school doors – dazed, shocked expressions the common factor.

Again, without words, they agreed on their next move – into the school to look for their friends.

The air was full of dust and the ceiling of the entry hall sagged in several places. The stairwell was completely blocked by debris. Emergency lights, the ones still working, cast weird, shifting patterns across the remains of the first floor.

Down one of the corridors, the groaning sound of support beams, straining against the unexpected, localized weight, echoed. The floor was littered with books, papers, purses, backpacks, satchels, musical instruments, electronic devices and both small and large chunks of the ceiling with pulverized sections of the murals that had been painted above the lockers.

Many of the lockers themselves had popped open, spilling more detritus across the floors. Jade's was intact but Tori's, across the atria, had exploded out. The electrically-wired door was nearly bent in half and across the hall, leaning against one of the lower lockers.

There were screams suddenly echoing out of the Black Box. These were matched by others from the remains of the first floor of the school.

"That's Cat!" Jade shouted, recognizing the screaming voice.

Jade dashed to the theater door, followed closely by Tori. The doors were closed and, as Jade quickly discovered, jammed by the shifted structure.

Tori gripped the handle above Jade's hands and they pulled hard on the stuck door.

"Help me, Vega!"

"I AM!"

The door finally shifted, grating against the rubble on the floor. It was open a few inches. Jade tried to push herself through the door. She could get an arm through but her frame was too large.

Jade muttered, "Like that damned hamburger!" She and Tori began to tug again. The gap slowly widened before movement stopped. It was still too narrow for either of the girls.

"Let's try the other door," Tori suggested, realizing the narrow gap was enough to allow the other door to open. Like many double doors, this could only be done once the right side door was opened.

They again yanked and pulled desperately on the other door to no avail. Until…

The second door gave way as the hinges broke off the door jamb. Suddenly, Tori and Jade were on the floor with the heavy door on top of them. In any other circumstance, it would have been hilarious but now the stakes were too high to allow frivolity.

Pushing the door off, they scrambled to their feet and dashed into the theater.

From the emergency lights, they saw the wreckage of the main catwalk blocking their way into the large, relatively empty room. Spotlights, burst sandbags and other equipment littered the floor. The far wall had collapsed inward, exposing what was left of the backstage dressing and makeup area.

"Cat!" Jade called out.

"Jade? Help me! I'm over here!"

Jade started to climb over the tangled metal. Even as she followed the Goth, Tori called, "Jade! Be careful!"

From the pile of rubble, they heard a pained whimper. Tori came up and helped Jade up and over the walkway after her skirt was snagged on a piece of jagged railing.

The shadows cast by the bent pillars and drifting dust threw moving pools of darkness across the rubble. Cat was lying in one of those areas of shadow, covered by broken cinder blocks from the waist down. There was a small gash on the back of her head that was bleeding lightly, caking the dirty white-gray dust covering her faux red hair..

"Cat! Are you alright?" Jade suddenly realized how stupid that sounded. "I mean, are you hurt bad? Can you feel your feet?"

The girl was sobbing but managed to say, "I think so… But it hurts too bad. I can't move. I…"

They started to shift the blocks off Cat, Jade saying, "We'll get you out. You'll be okay…"

Tori spoke up, "Yeah, Cat. We'll have you out in a minute…"

Within minutes, most of the blocks and fragments were moved and Tori gasped. Cat's left leg was exposed and she could see a horrid gash along the back of Cat's thigh. The torn jeans were sodden with her blood.

Tori whispered, "Jade, she's bleeding badly. I don't know if…" She paused and recalled her first aid training – her father made Tori and Trina take extended lessons a year before. Fortunately, it didn't look like an arterial injury. The blood was flowing but not spurting. "We have to get her out and try to stop the bleeding."

Exasperated, Jade growled, "So? What the fuck are you waiting for?"

Rather than reply, Tori resumed freeing Cat, Jade following suit.

Soon enough, Cat was free. Tori pulled off her blouse, leaving her in a tank top. "Cat. This'll hurt but I have to do it."

In a small voice, the girl replied, "Kay-kay."

Tori pressed her shirt where the worst of bleeding seemed to be welling and held it tight.

"Jade, I need something to hold this. Your belt or boot laces or…"

Pulling her belt off, Jade said, "Why not your belt?"

"See me here? See me holding this?"

Jade tried to slide the belt under Cat's leg. Tori eased up on the pressure so Jade could lift the leg enough to get the strap under and to the other side. In seconds, she had it tight across the makeshift bandage. Tori yanked it tighter, causing Cat to cry out.

"Sorry, Cat. I need to make this tight to hold my shirt in place.

"kay-kay…" Cat replied in an even quieter, wavering voice.

Once Tori felt she had sufficiently stemmed the blood, Tori gripped Cat's foot.

"Cat? Can you feel this?"

"Yeah… A little."

Tori pulled off her other tennis shoe and gripped Cat's right foot. "And this?"

"Uh, yeah… I can."

"Thank God!"

Jade was addled by the rapid course of events. "What's happening?"

"I don't think there was any spinal or nerve damage. I mean nothing severe."

Everything started to rock again. Tori pulled Jade down over Cat then covered Jade with her own body.

Fortunately, the first aftershock was small and short-lived – what would've been a barely noticeable tremor before lunch. Still, loosened ceiling fragments fell onto them.

As soon as it ended, Jade announced, "We have to get Cat and ourselves out of here!"

"Beck…" Cat muttered. "Beck was helping me with my lines for the play…"

"Okay, Cat. Take it easy. We'll get him," Jade declared. Even after the last, final break-up, she still cared for the Canadian and meant every word.

Tori agreed, "We'll find him. Don't worry."

They managed to move Cat away from the rubble and then Jade climbed over the catwalk. The quake caused the walkway to be twisted as it fell. This left a small gap between the warped metal and the floor. Tori slid Cat under that and Jade pulled her on from the other side. Soon Cat was in the doorway – the safest place in any earthquake.

Then Tori said, "Stay with her. Keep her talking. Don't let her fall asleep if she starts to not off. That hit on the head may have concussed her."

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"To get Beck!"

Tori returned to the fallen wall. Guessing the scene they were working on, from Cat and Beck's earlier discussion at lunch, Tori went to the right of where Cat had been trapped and began to move the cinderblock chunks and shards. Before long, she saw the red plaid shirt Beck was wearing that day. Guessing, she moved over to try to uncover his head. If he was okay, she wanted to make sure he could breath more freely.

Far too soon, Tori pulled off a nearly intact cinder block and saw that her work was in vain. A large piece of one of the blocks had crushed his skull.

Tori sat back, shock on her face as she choked back a cry. Tears weren't as easily stopped. She quietly cried over the death of one of her best friends.

"Tori! Did you find him?" Jade called from the door.

"I… I…don't…" She shook her head, "Jade, I'm…sorry but…"

She was interrupted by twin cries of anguish from her friends. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to her feet.

Climbing over the metal barrier, she came up to Jade and Cat. She reached out to Jade only to be rebuffed.

"We don't have time to grieve, Vega. We have to get Cat out."

Tori nodded, "We can grieve in our hearts though. We can remember him in our thoughts."

They got Cat out to the parking lot which had even more survivors from the wrecked school. Laying Cat down among the other injured that had been saved, they looked at each other.

"I'm going back. I have to see if I can find Andre."

"And Robbie," Cat spoke up.

Jade stared at the singer. "Tori… Don't… Please be careful."

"I will. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Tori walked back into the ruin that had been their high school. She glanced up at the wreckage-blocked stairway. Heading into the dim corridor leading towards the dancing classes, Tori recalled both Andre and Robbie had another, advanced ballet class after lunch.

She reached the door of the ballet studio. It was open and she was able to enter. There were two bodies near the windows. For a horrifying second, she thought at least another one of her friends was dead too.

Getting nearer the bodies, she saw one was a chubby blonde guy – a shrugger from one of Sikowitz' class. The other was a freshman girl.

Moving further into the room, she turned around scanning the room, seeing the wall-length mirror was shattered with shards of silver-coated glass across the floor. Then she turned and saw someone trying to pull someone else out of the room.

"ANDRE?!"

"I know it's not Grandma. Must be Tori Vega!" came the strained reply.

Tori couldn't help but smile. "We're in the middle of all this and you crack wise?"

"Crack wise? You still watch too many old movies on that Turner channel," Andre chuckled before groaing.

Andre and his friend were about halfway towards the door from the rear of the studio. Andre was attempting to drag an unconscious Robbie out of the room. It was hard for the tunes-smith. His right arm was obviously broken in at least two places. As she neared them, Tori saw where the broken end of one of his forearm bones had torn through the skin. The blood was still oozing and creating rivulets in the dust caked on him.

He lowered an unconscious Robbie to a sitting position against the wall. He then slumped next to his friend, mindful of his fracture.

"Tori, help Andre. I got Robbie," Jade said from the door. Her voice startled Tori for a moment before she felt relief flow through her that she didn't have to help her two friends by herself.

"But Cat?"

"The school nurse is looking her over," Jade said as she heaved Robbie over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Don't waste time, Vega. I don't like the looks of that ceiling."

Nodding even though Jade was already out and down the corridor, Tori helped Andre to his feet, Tori started to lead him out of the school ruin when another aftershock struck.

Andre twisted and pushed Tori away towards the door in an attempt to save his friend. She hit the wall even as it fell onto her. The ceiling fell on top of that.

Before a slab of the ceiling plaster crashed onto his head, Andre yelled, "TORI!"