by Watts, Russ
Crossing the rooftop I noticed that the rope ladder we had secured a couple of weeks ago was still secured in place. After the Stamford collapsed we had to come up with an escape route. Truthfully it wasn’t so much of a rope ladder as a length of rope with knots in it. The collapse of the nearby hotel had forced us to think about what we would do in the event of our own building collapsing. With Manny’s help, I’d searched the empty rooms of the complex and found some rope in one of the maintenance rooms. We tied it together and took it up onto the roof. One end was wound around a ventilation shaft and the other was draped over the side of the building. We managed to get a few knots in it every few feet, so that when we had to crawl down it there would be some footholds. It wasn’t much but it was better than just jumping into the water. With the rope in place, I propped open the door to the roof and made everyone pack a bag of supplies, in case we had to leave in a hurry. The other part of the escape plan was largely out of my hands. It involved a boat, my old friend Jonah and a whole lot of trust.
I approached the edge of the building and looked down. It had to be fifty or sixty feet to the water. It was calm but from up here the impact of hitting the water would probably break a bone or two, at the very least. The rope looked solid and I tugged on it. It held fast and reached down to the water. It would have to do.
“Where is he, Luke?”
Pippa’s question made me jump. I turned to see her standing right behind me. Her arms were folded and she was beginning to look a lot like mom again. She leaned in closer. “Where is he?” she hissed.
I had no idea where Jonah was, but I had to trust he would come. I had no other options. If the building went down before he picked us up in his trawler then we would be right out of luck. The only other boats in the vicinity were too far away, and swimming to them was far too dangerous. Plus, I don’t think any of us actually knew how to sail. I was relying on Jonah and beginning to worry myself. He had no ties to us, no commitment to rescue us. Hell, we weren’t even related. Jonah was an old friend who I would trust with my life. It felt as if I was about to put my trust in him to the test.
“Mom, give Uncle Luke a break. You sound like a stuck record,” said Chelsea.
“Chelsea, I told you to wait with Manny. Can you just leave me and your Uncle alone for a minute?”
“Fine, get your argument over with.”
I watched Chelsea return to Manny.
“She’s not a kid, Pippa. She knows what’s going on,” I said, trying not to antagonize my sister any further, but knowing whatever I said would do just that. I could’ve presented her with a million dollars and she still would’ve bitten my head off for not getting two million.
“She won’t be anything if your friend, Jonah, doesn’t show up soon. We need to get on that boat, Luke.”
“I know, I know. Look, he’ll be here. He doesn’t go far. He probably got caught up with something.”
“What is there to get caught up in? There’s nothing to do anymore except fish.” Pippa threw her hands up in the air. “Jesus, Luke, this is just typical of you. It’s just so—”
“I’m sorry, okay?” I lowered my voice. When Pippa got started on one of her rants it could be hard to stop her. I loved her dearly, but a tantrum right now wouldn’t help anyone. It amazed me how calm and collected Chelsea always was, whilst Pippa was always flying off the handle. Another common trait she shared with our mother. I started to explain how Jonah could be trusted. She’d never met him, so she had her doubts. Fair enough. But I knew he would come, and he would have a good reason for being late. We’d made a pact. He would watch out for us and take us onto his boat when the time came. In turn I would supply him with fresh water. We’d laid out a whole bunch of buckets, pots and pans, and even rigged up an old tent we’d found to collect as much as we could. There had been a huge amount of bottled water and drinks left behind in the complex too, so we had more than enough for the few of us left behind. Out on his trawler he had to rely on trading for it, so was more than grateful to set up a deal. I figured he must have the same deal with people up and down the coast, and not just for water but food and gas too.
Jonah had been captain of his boat for longer than I’d known him. When I worked at the fish market down on Dock Seven I got to know him quite well. He had no family of his own and never talked about anything but his trawler and the ocean. I think his crew were the only family he had. Even when I finished up at the docks and moved on, we stayed in touch. I would go down there most weekends and listen to his tales of life out on the ocean. It was romantic but dangerous. I was under no illusions that our lives were about to get a lot harder. I had never actually stepped foot on his boat and certainly not a fishing boat. He had a Beam Trawler, older than even he was. The closest I had gotten to sailing had been a few trips on the Staten Island Ferry.
I knew Pippa was just worried about Chelsea. She’d had it tough bringing her up on her own. I’d helped as much as I could after her ex did a runner, but I hardly had enough money to get by myself. Chelsea was everything to her and I had to admit she was everything to me, too. She and Pippa were my only family since mom and dad died, and I treated Chelsea as if she were my own. Mom had been gone ten years and dad went long before her. I guess we are what you’d call a ‘modern’ family.
Pippa listened to me tell her about Jonah, explaining how it was going to work, and she calmed down a little bit. All the while I spoke to her she kept looking at Chelsea and Manny. I thought I might detect a hint of jealousy seeing them get along so well, but Pippa had nothing to worry about. Manny was a good man and Chelsea would never do anything stupid.
Suddenly the building rocked violently and Pippa grabbed me. It was as if a bomb had gone off. The roof top lurched and for a moment I thought we were all going to end up in the ocean.
“Chelsea, are you okay?” shouted Pippa.
Manny had hold of her hand.
“Yeah, I’m good,” replied Chelsea. There was fear in her voice. She was calm on the outside, but I knew inside she was terrified.
The building seemed to settle after a minute. I looked over the edge at the water. We had several hours until the sun went down but the water would be icy cold already, and I wasn’t convinced the building had minutes left, let alone hours. The roof was now stuck at an angle and standing upright was becoming difficult. With Pippa holding onto me, we made our way past the buckets and pans to Chelsea.
“Mom.”
Chelsea flung her arms around Pippa and I had to admit it was my turn to feel jealous. Was it wrong to love your niece more than your own sister? I had seen her grow up and spent so much time with her that I felt like a surrogate father.
The door to the stairwell abruptly swung open. Mr. Johnson staggered through it, still wearing his moccasins and looking like he had just wandered in from an all-day bender. The bottom of his pants were wet, and as he made his way across the roof he left wet footprints on the concrete. His eyes were wild and he seemed to be struggling for breath, as if he had run up the stairs to us.
“The water!” he exclaimed. “We’ve got to get out of here. The water’s here… it’s coming up the stairs.”
CHAPTER 2
“Steady,” said Manny, as Mr. Johnson tumbled at his feet.
Manny helped him up, but as soon as he was back on his feet Mr. Johnson ran to the lip of the roof. He stopped quickly when he saw just how far down it was to the surface of the ocean.
“Damn it, I’ve got to help him,” I said to Pippa. “Stay here.”
Manny came with me and together we ushered Mr. Johnson away from the edge. One more jolt like the last one and we would all go tumbling over to our deaths.
“Don’t you see? We have to go,” said Mr. Johnson. “Right away.”
So much for staying in his apartment, I thought. The old man had a growing case of the heebie-jeebies. He had scared himself half to death.
“There’s a boat coming. You can come with us, but you’ve got to calm down.” I tried to
catch his eyes but they were darting all over the place. His pupils danced like a bee around a rose. I wasn’t about to drag him along with us in such a state. “Tell me what happened. What about the water?” I asked.
Manny looked at me as if to say he thought the old man had lost his mind. I had to be sure though. I had to know for all our sakes.
“The bang. You felt the bang, right?”
Mr. Johnson pulled on my arm, dragging my face closer to his. His breath smelt no better than the rest of him, and I tried not to breathe in. I nodded. “Sure. A moment ago. Probably one of the lower floors,” I suggested. “Or perhaps a car or a bus. You know how they get stirred up sometimes.” The abandoned vehicles drift around the submerged streets and occasionally hit a building. One sunny day we were all relaxing on the rooftop when a subway train appeared right beneath us. It burst up and gave us all quite a shock. “What did you see?”
Mr. Johnson pulled me closer. “I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay with Grace.”
He looked around and then his face sank. “I left her behind. I didn’t have time. When I heard that sound I rushed to my balcony. I thought something had crashed into us again. I remember in the war. The things that I saw. Poor Grace. I shouldn’t have left her. Oh, poor Grace. She’s lucky she didn’t see what I did. That monster below the window. It went right through the walls. It was… it was—”
Mr. Johnson trailed off and I looked at Manny. I really wanted to go and look for Jonah but Mr. Johnson was beginning to ramble. I contemplated leaving him with Manny as I tried to pull myself free of the old man’s grip.
“It was… a shark.” When Mr. Johnson finally spat it out he let go of me. It was as if he had saved up all his energy to tell us what it was that he had seen.
“Sure you did,” said Manny. The skepticism in his voice was obvious. “But that wasn’t what crashed through the walls. The noise was the sound of one of the lower floors imploding. It’s the building. It’s creaking and groaning, and making all kinds of strange noises. Okay, Mr. Johnson? I know this is scary, but we’re going to get out of here. Just stay with us and—”
“Get your hands off me. I know what I saw. And I saw a shark. It was as big as a submarine. I should know, I served on a Gato class sub’ back in ’62, so don’t test me, young man. My mind might be old but it hasn’t completely gone yet. And that shark punched a hole right through the wall. I don’t know where it went after that. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
I sighed and looked at Pippa. I wasn’t sure if they had heard him but if they hadn’t, I had no intention of telling them about the old man’s dementia and visions. “And the water? Your pants are soaked. Is that from the stairwell or did you trip over one of the buckets? I know you have your own stash on your balcony, Mr. Johnson.”
He looked at me then with pity and shrugged. “Don’t believe me? Go, look for yourself. I don’t care anymore. My poor Grace. All alone now. Oh, poor Gracey.”
Mr. Johnson’s mutterings became inaudible and I looked at Manny. “Do me a favor and go check out the stairwell, will you?”
Manny looked exasperated. “Really?”
“I know, I know, but just to satisfy him and ease my mind. Please? I need to go check on Jonah. If he’s close enough we should get moving down the rope. I don’t like the way the building is leaning. Any further and it might go.”
As Manny departed for the stairwell, I left Mr. Johnson and approached the corner of the building. All around me I could see the ocean. Many of the taller buildings were still protruding above the surface and I wondered how many others still persisted in trying to live in this dying city. How many people had given up and headed inland? Not everyone had been able to leave and we had been unfortunate enough to get cut off, unable to escape. We had stayed one winter too many and as a result the waters had washed in, replacing the roads with rivers. I guess I lived in hope that the waters would recede, that some sort of fragile infrastructure might be rebuilt and we could start over. The government was still out there somewhere, not that we ever heard from them. As I looked out over New York I caught sight of the Statue of Liberty. The torch was still visible but the lower half of her was gone. Most of the city was the same. As I looked around I realized I couldn’t even see any land. In the past I had been able to see a patch on the horizon, somewhere over toward Newark. Yet all I could see now was the ocean, encroaching over the land. The waters weren’t receding at all, but taking over our domain, rising and rising until one day there would be nothing left.
As a loud groaning sound echoed through the building, I finally caught sight of movement. About three blocks away something glinted in the sunlight and moved between the buildings. I watched carefully, daring to hope that it was Jonah. I knew I had to be sure before I got everyone down the rope. A lot of boats drifted aimlessly, unsecured with nobody on board to steer them. A lot of other things floated around the city too. Anything that hadn’t been tied down before the waters came was free to roam the world now: cars, furniture, office desks, garbage; worst of all was the bodies. We didn’t see very many anymore. I think the fish ate them or they got swept out by the currents further down the coast. But sometimes a body would surface. It wasn’t pleasant.
Finally, the thing that had caught my eye came around the block and I saw it. It was his trawler all right. Jonah was waving at me and I saw a couple of his crew milling around the deck. The boat moved slowly, but surely, navigating the difficult streets. There were lots of hidden objects, street-lamps and trucks that could cause a serious problem if he wasn’t careful. He had been around here before though and knew the safest passage. We were lucky in that our complex was close to the ocean anyway, only a few blocks away. I turned to the others.
“Pippa, Chelsea, he’s here. Grab your stuff. It’s time to check out.”
As they picked up their gear I saw Manny come out of the stairwell. He scooped up his bag as he ran over to me. The look in his eyes told me all was not well.
“The old coot’s right. Water’s gushing up the stairwell. It’ll be here any second.”
“Shoot. I thought we had more time,” I replied. “Jonah’s close but it’ll take him a few more minutes to get here. We have to wait.”
Manny looked over the edge. “We could use the rope now, get down to one of the lower balconies and wait there. It should buy us enough time for Jonah to get here.”
“Right.” I looked at Mr. Johnson. He was on his knees, still muttering, his legs wet and his eyes tearing up. “What are we going to do about him?”
“I’ll get him,” replied Manny. “You make sure your sister and Chelsea get on that boat. They are your priority.”
“Thanks, man.” Before Manny could go and get the old man I stopped him. Ever since Mr. Johnson had mentioned seeing a shark I had an uneasy feeling. I had to know. “Manny, what else did you see? Was there… you know, anything else in the stairwell?”
“You mean, did I see a shark?” Manny looked at me plainly. “No, no I didn’t see shit. It’s dark and nasty in there, but I didn’t see any shark. I think the old bastard’s lost it.”
I nodded as Manny left me. Our only concern was the building lasting another five minutes. I knew that there could be sharks out there somewhere, would be, but none that could bring a building down. And there wasn’t one swimming up the stairwell. I couldn’t believe I had almost fallen for it. The idea was ridiculous.
“What’s so funny?” asked Chelsea.
“Nothing. Just something Mr. Johnson said.” I pointed out Jonah’s boat. It was already much closer. “There’s our ride.”
“About time.” Pippa tugged on Chelsea’s shirt and ensured her backpack was on tight. “Chelsea, just make sure you hold on tight to that rope. You’ll be between me and Uncle Luke, so any problems you just stop and yell. Okay, honey? It’s not a race. We just need to get down safely and—”
“I got it, mom.” Chelsea smiled politely, but she hated being fussed over. She was more of an adult than
a child these days. She had to be. I suppose to Pippa she would always be her little girl.
“Manny’s going to bring Mr. Johnson,” I explained. “Let’s get started. Pippa, you go first. Make your way down as far as you can. If Jonah isn’t here by the time you reach the water just wait on the nearest balcony. Chelsea, you’re next and I’ll be right behind you. If you get into any trouble just yell. We can—”
I stopped. I realized I was sounding just like her mother and I could see Chelsea’s eyes glaze over. She didn’t need another lecture.
“Let’s just go shall we?” I grabbed the rope and gave it one last tug. It wasn’t going anywhere. As long as the building held up we’d be fine. “Pippa?”
She took it and jumped up onto the ledge. Turning around so her back was to the ocean she wrapped the rope loosely around one arm and then leant back as she braced her feet against the wall.
“You can do it, mom. Focus on me,” said Chelsea.
That kid was so brave I couldn’t believe it. As Pippa nervously disappeared over the edge of the building Chelsea scooped up the rope and followed her without hesitation. It was as if she had been abseiling her whole life. There was a faint breeze bringing with it the smell of salt and sunshine, tinged with diesel from Jonah’s trawler. I was confident we would make it. Chelsea’s head dipped below the ledge as she followed her mother, and I picked up the rope ready to follow. As I braced myself and turned my back to the ocean I saw the door to the stairwell. Water was pouring steadily out and onto the rooftop. Manny was right. The water was coming. I guess the structure of the building had been compromised. The water must have breached the sandbags and begun to churn upwards, forced up as the building sank down into its own foundations.
“Manny, you set?” I called out. He had an arm around Mr. Johnson and was slowly making his way over to me. He nodded.
“Right behind you,” Manny said through gritted teeth.
I wanted to help him, but he was right; I had to make sure Pippa and Chelsea got to that boat before anything or anyone else.