Wearily, Boone got up and started towards the shell's closest wall.
But as he did so, the ground seemed to come alive beneath his feet. Crackling and crumbling it tilted so sharply that he was pitched from his feet.
Then earth and flower-sod alike were sliding. Loose loam cascaded over Boone. Desperately, he tried to find Eileen amid the welter.
"Here, Fred! Behind you!"
Floundering, Boone craned to see her.
She stood close to the shell's wall, braced against it.
Then another tremor threw him flat; half-buried him.
Clawing, cursing, he wallowed towards the girl.
She darted forward in the same instant. Her hand locked on his. With a final effort he shook free of the clods and lurched panting to a place at the wall beside her.
Another jolt. Again the earth slipped from beneath his feet. Yet now, since he had the wall to brace him, the surge of movement did not fell him.