The chalk line split before Kellan reached the maintenance door.
A crack ran across the tile and opened beneath the edge of the hall. The floor dropped a few inches with a grinding sound. Deren caught the stretcher before it slid, while Sera pulled the shelter worker back toward the side exit.
“Everyone away from the center!” Kellan shouted.
The upper room emptied into the side corridor. One resident tried to return for a bag, but Iri intercepted him and carried it herself. The worker counted the people crossing the threshold and called the number to the volunteer outside.
The floor shifted again. A beam above the maintenance passage sagged, dragging plaster from the ceiling. Kellan raised his hand. A translucent barrier formed beneath the beam just as a section of masonry fell against it. The impact drove him back a step.
“Sera, route!” he called.
She stood at the marked edge, concentrating on the current beneath them. The strongest signal had spread toward the lower hall. The side exit remained outside it, but the line she had marked earlier was now too close to the moving floor.
“Along the outer wall. One at a time. Don’t use the center.”
