"It's too dangerous," I replied.
"What? Those people are dying Max...we have to do something."
"We have to get the hell out of here. Brent, Jake almost died. Hell we all did...in the club, just now, we just need to get home. We can call someone from there."
More of the building fell and another scream blared out. The ground started to shake again and I could feel the hairs on my arms spike. Cindy shivered and pulled her arms in tight. I grabbed her and started down the sidewalk.
"Come on," I said. "We're going home."
CHAPTER 5
DOWNWARD SPIRAL
I don't know what I expected once we made it home, but it wasn't what I saw. Maybe complete chaos, maybe the outer walls burning or the entire complex engulfed in flames. But not this.
The lights outside were on, the ones on the street and around the building. Everything looked orderly and untouched by the clumsy hands of disaster. Even the automatic doors slid open as we walked into the lobby and soft tunes of classical piano greeted our ears.
Herman, the doorman, was standing near the front with an uninterested look on his face. He seemed bored, like he’d welcome a natural disaster or any kind of reprieve from his regular nightly duties.
"Rough night?" Herman asked as he gazed at us.
I looked down at my ripped, jeans covered in dirt and grime. Blood stained my hands and shirt and I could feel it drying like plaster in my hair. It had been a rough night and from the looks of it, he didn't even know the half.
"Is everything okay here?" I asked him.
"Um, yeah...just another day, living to serve," he replied sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes and continued, "What about the earthquake? You guys didn’t have to evacuate or anything?"
Herman smiled then started to laugh. He pointed at me then threw his hands into the air and shrugged his shoulders. With a red face, he doubled over. "You young people and your drugs."
"Dude are you--," Brent started, but I cut him off.
"Have a good night Herman. We'll see you tomorrow."
“Yeah…looks like you potheads had enough fun for all of us. Try not empty out the vending machines in the clubhouse,” Herman snorted.
I nudged Brent forward and we headed to the elevators. Once we got inside Brent turned to me with a snarl.
"What the hell man?" he growled.
"Jumping down the doorman's throat isn't gonna fix anything. Look around, obviously nothing happened here."
"Well shit Max, I'm not a super scientist like you, but there's no way they didn't feel that over here."
"I don't know...we all just need to calm down."
Brent sighed and leaned back against the wall. He growled under his breath and rubbed his face. He was cracking and I didn’t blame him. This was more than anyone should have to handle.
With a ding, the doors slid open and we stepped into the hallway. The dim lighting and soft tones meant to put people at ease did nothing to calm my nerves. I scanned the shadowy corridor as my arms erupted in a field of goosebumps.
"What now?" Brent asked. “We just go to sleep like none of this ever happened?”
"I don’t know. We need to sit down somewhere and figure all of this out. You guys coming in?" I asked.
"I need to take a shower," Jake replied.
"Me too,” Brent added We'll run by our place then head over in a few.”
"Sounds like a plan."
With Cindy holding my arm, I headed to our apartment. She was still pretty shaken and hadn't said a word since the train station. She had me worried, but so did a lot of things.
"I'll get you some water," I said as she sat down onto the sofa.
She nodded and I made my way to the kitchen. I was still amazed that the lights worked, that anything worked. I expected more destruction, but nothing had happened here, it was just another day in Atlanta.
"Here, drink this."
Cindy took the glass and brought it to her lips. She drank a few sips then took a deep breath. "All of those people," she said in a low voice. "We left all of those people to die."
"We would've died with them," I replied. “There was nothing we could do Cindy, but now, now we can call for help.”
I grabbed the house phone and turned it on. There was an optimistic dial tone so I punched in the numbers 9-1-1 and waited.
It felt like a lifetime, but eventually the busy signal started to beep. Grunting, I hung it up and tried again. The same thing.
"Lines are busy," I said lowly and took a seat next to Cindy.
“We left them,” she groaned again. “We didn’t do anything.”
“It’s not our fault Cindy. Things happen and we can’t control that.”
"I'm scared Max... real scared," she cried and leaned her face into my shoulder.
"It's gonna be okay. Look around, we’re safe here."
"I just...what if this is it? What if this is the end of the world?"
I laughed slightly then straightened my face. "Come on Cindy. It's not the end of the world.
Everything is gonna be fine."
"But what if it is? What if this is just how it starts? I don’t want to be one of those people that thinks everything is okay, until it’s too late to do anything about it.”
“Cindy, come on…it’s not, it’s not the end of the world. Alright?”
“I'm serious Max. I 'm really scared...and, and there's something I need to tell you," she said as she turned to me with tears in her eyes and grabbed my hand.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want anything bad to happen and I never said anything. I just...I just have to tell you."
"Cindy, what are you talking about? Nothing bad is gonna happen. What's bothering you?"
Cindy took a deep breath. She bit her bottom lip and clenched her fists. Her face was pained and contorted. It was more than tonight that was bothering her.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and stuttered, "It's...it's just that--"
Suddenly, the door burst open. Cindy jumped back and let my hand fall. She turned to the door as Jake and Brent stormed in and rushed into the living room.
"Dude have you seen this shit?" Jake asked and grabbed the remote control for the TV.
He hit the power button then scrolled through a few channels. He stopped on the news then sat back onto the couch.
I stared at the TV in disbelief. A banner scrolled across the bottom, but the headline and what the anchor was ranting about caught my attention.
"Underground gas explosion claims the lives of 56 at Atlanta night club.”
The anchor was going on about how the explosion caused damage to the underground transit system and may have impacted pickup times for the train.
It was complete bullshit. They were covering it up. There was no way a gas explosion caused any of that damage. I saw the ground moving myself, I felt it shifting underneath my feet.
"Can you believe this crap they’re spewing?" Jake snapped.
I felt just as angry as he did. I couldn’t believe they weren’t warning people or evacuating the downtown area. If I hadn’t been down there first hand, it would’ve sounded crazy, but I knew there’d been an earthquake.
“Maybe they’re not trying to panic the whole city,” Brent said as he stared at the TV.
“By letting everyone die instead. This is the same shit they always do. Nothing to see here folks,” Jake replied. “Just move it along.”
“What’d you expect them to say? Get out of town now, run for your lives. Don’t go all conspiracy theory on me. Give them some time to figure it out.”
“Hey at least we know they’re down there and someone’s helping the people at the train station,” I added.
Jake shrugged then let out a deep breath. For the next few hours we were glued to the television, watching update after update. The death toll at the club continued to climb and no one from the train survived. It was a sad day for the whole city.
I grabbed some extra blankets from the
closet as the temperature dropped. No one wanted to go to sleep though, we were too invested in what was going on and what we might miss. At some point in the night however, we all caved into exhaustion and passed out.
CHAPTER 6
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
It wasn’t the quake that awoke me the next morning. It wasn’t the falling picture frames or dishes that crashed from the cabinets. Not the screeching of tires or the sounds of sirens and shouts for help. Not even the sound of our door cracking and falling into the apartment disturbed my slumber.
I slept right through every bit of the destruction, we all did. I guess the combination of liquor and shock put me into some deep coma-like sleep. The adrenaline dump alone could’ve done it, but after seeing what we’d seen it wasn’t any wonder that a train crashing through the front door wouldn’t have awaken us.
You wouldn’t think it, but it was the quiet, the lack of sound, the lack of anything that sent an eerie chill through my unconscious mind. Something in my head screamed, “Wake up dummy! The world is ending!” And only, the uncomfortable feeling of silence, could’ve carried that message.
I cracked my eyelids and swam through a sea of darkness. For a minute, I wasn’t even sure if my eyes were open. There was nothing, not a flicker, not a twinkle of light anywhere. It was complete, pitch-black darkness.
Groaning, I slowly sat up, making sure to keep my hands firmly planted on the sofa. It was my only reference point and without it I’d be lost in a nebulous sea, screaming for help like a toddler.
“Think,” I told myself. I knew I couldn’t stay there forever. The world was falling apart all around me and I wasn’t’ gonna die in my damn apartment.
Brent and Jake were somewhere on the floor and Cindy had slipped off to the room. I racked my brain for just how I could get to her without killing myself. If I called her she’d probably walk right out of the window, but I risked the same fate.
Out of options I rolled off of the sofa and crawled in the direction of our bedroom. I waved my hand out in front of me, sweeping it back and forth like a walking stick. It was a tense couple of minutes, but my memory and sense of direction served me well.
As I felt the mattress of our bed I heard Cindy grunt and roll over. I grabbed her foot and slowly stood up.
“Cindy,” I called out. “Cindy wake up.”
“No!” she suddenly shouted.
Her foot jutted out and slammed into my stomach. I doubled over and her other leg snapped violently, catching me square in the face.
Stars erupted in my eyes and blood gushed from my nose. I staggered backward and hit the wall, reopening the tender gash in my head, before sliding to the floor.
“Shit Cindy,” I groaned.
“Max? Oh, my God.”
Cindy leapt off of the bed then stopped.
“Max…where are you? I can’t see a damn thing.”
“Just stay where you are,” I grumbled through my hands that cupped the flow of blood. “There’s no power. I’ll come to you.”
“What the hell were you doing? I thought you were a burglar or something.”
“I was trying to wake you up.”
I pinched my nose and wiped the blood away with my shirt. I still couldn’t see a damn thing, but I could feel the flow start to lessen.
“I’ll get the candles,” Cindy said.
“No, no stay in bed. I’ll get them.”
I stood up and leaned my back against the wall to steady myself. I felt a bit lightheaded, but the sensation passed quickly. Reaching my hands out, I slowly started to walk forward, blindly feeling the air in front of my face.
With a thud, I slammed into the dresser and let out an umph, intermixed with garbled swears. My knee bore the brunt of the impact and now I couldn’t tell if that or my face or the back of my head hurt more.
“You okay?” Cindy asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I replied and started to feel across the dresser for the candles Cindy liked to keep out.
She giggled at me, but I was on a mission. Ignoring her, I continued looking for the next five minutes with no success.
“You gonna ask for help or just keep looking?” Cindy griped.
“Well if you know where they are why don’t you just tell me?”
“I moved them. They’re in my top drawer with the lighter.”
“Really?” I gasped.
Now was not the time for jokes and with everything that had gone on in the last few hours I wasn’t sure why she was acting the way she was. I was concerned, but not as much as I was about the apparent loss of all power.
As I flicked the lighter a warm orange glow grew and I immediately felt safer. I lit three candles and placed two around the room and kept the other one in my hand. It was one of those scented ones, lavender, seated in a glass jar that Cindy had painted with her nail polish on a boring Sunday morning.
“Let me look at you,” Cindy demanded.
I walked to her and she grabbed the sides of my face. The light flickered against her skin, exposing dried tears and puffy eyes. I reached out and swept her hair away then gave her an encouraging smile.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Am I okay? Jesus, I really did a number on your face,” she replied. “I was probably a ninja in another life. Why don’t you crawl into bed and let me show you how sorry I am.”
“Be serious Cindy,” I said with a frown. “How are you feeling today.”
“Be serious Cindy,” she mocked me. “Geez Mr. mood killer. Since when did you start turning down sex?”
With a deep breath, I swallowed my next words then ground my teeth. I leaned forward and kissed her forehead then stood back up.
“What the hell is going on?” Jake blurted out from the doorway.
Cindy jumped then snatched her hands away. I turned around and glared at him then shrugged.
“Power is off apparently,” I replied.
“There’s no lights anywhere.”
“Yeah, I just said the power is out.”
“In the whole world?”
“What the hell Jake?” I growled. “Don’t be stupid…not today.”
“Max,” he started.
And I heard something in his voice that I’d missed. It was fear, he was scared, terrified and his voice trembled with every word he said.
“There…there’s no light anywhere. No street lights, no moon, I can’t see anything out of that window. It’s like someone through a blanket over it.”
I swallowed and clenched my jaw. He had to be confused. A building outage…sure, with whatever went on last night a city-wide outage wouldn’t shock me. But there had to be light out there, somewhere…even in the distance there had to be light.
Cindy followed me and we walked into the living room. Brent was still asleep and Jake kicked him as we passed over him.
“What!” he shouted.
“Get up dude,” Jake replied curtly.
It must have been the seriousness in his voice, but Brent didn’t argue. He slung the blanket off and jumped up with wide, bloodshot eyes.
With Cindy squeezing my free hand, I walked across the room toward the wall to wall windows that normally gave a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree view of the city below. Jake had already pulled back the curtains and at that moment I wished he hadn’t.
“No…no, no,” Cindy started to whisper.
Her hand shook in mine and I tightened my grip. Not out of reassurance, but out of my own fear. The closer I got to the window the heavier my feet felt, the more I wanted to look away and ignore the grim reality.
I struggled for words and my brain tried to make sense of everything. What I was seeing and what I should’ve been seeing or what I expected didn’t match.
Eventually, I was face to face with the glass and only the reflection of me holding the candle was visible. It was so dark outside it was like I was staring at a black wall. It was unreal, a day ago, even at night I could’ve seen for miles. Now the world was blank, cast into
shadows hidden from view.
“I…I need something to drink,” Cindy stuttered.
She uncoiled her fingers from my hand and turned toward the kitchen. With a faint smile, she grabbed the candle from me then walked off. I watched her go for a moment then looked back to the window.
“What do you think?” Brent asked once Cindy was out of earshot.
“I don’t know man, I really don’t know. This is crazy,” I replied as I soaked in the darkness outside.
“The news said it was nothing.”
“I told you…I told you it was bullshit. Fuck!” Jake said angrily.
“Okay…so what do we do now?” I asked.
“It’s gotta be around five in the morning,” he replied. “The sun will start coming up soon and we’ll know something then.”
“You want to sit in here and wait for the sun to come up?” Brent asked.
“Hell yeah! I don’t wanna go wandering around down there in that dark city.”
“Oh, my God!” Cindy suddenly shouted.
Whipping around, I rushed toward the glow of her candle. I sped into the kitchen and found her staring into the dark with a glass of water in her hands. Broken glass was all over the floor. Dishes were spewing out of the cabinets and the light fixtures from the ceiling had fallen.
“Cindy?” I called. “Cindy!”
She slowly turned around and set her cup onto the counter. Her face was pale and she looked even more terrified than earlier.
“What is it” I asked as I reached out and pulled her close.
She pointed back toward the front door and I gasped. The thick, wood was cracked down the middle and had fallen inside of the apartment. Under the faint light, it looked like something out of a horror movie. I felt a chill run up my legs and I knew at that moment we’d slept through another earthquake.
“What the hell could’ve done all this?” Brent grumbled.
“Earthquake,” I whispered.
“What?”
“It had to be an earthquake…a big one.”
“No way! No way! You saw that shit at the club. You’re saying we slept through that?” Jake retorted.
The Mayflower Project: Deconstruction Book Two (A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller) Page 3