Millennium Zero G
Page 33
“Fuck!” Dylan shouted as he kicked his feet. His echo reverberated through the underground parking bay.
“Come on now ya'll. We all have to go up now,” Bobby said. His wisdom kept him calm.
“We have no choice, it’s too far to go back, plus we don’t know what the city streets are like after that earthquake,” Leon said.
In front of the group was rubble. The ceiling had collapsed. They were going to by- pass Hammed, time was shortening, but the obstacle in front of them stopped any further travels underground. The only way out was a door that led into the stairwell of Hammed's work place.
Lecodia cried. Dylan hugged her tight. “We can make it,” he said.
Lecodia felt her parents worry again. They would be ill with it. She couldn't stop thinking of them.
“Come on. The longer we moan the less likely we are to make it,” Leon said. “We either go back or go up?”
They all moved to the door and entered. They climbed the first winding steps of the basement level, then reached a red door that stated, 'Stairwell Ground Level'. They entered a polished tiled, giant round room, and looked up.
The stairs coiled like a snake around the circumference of a huge shaft that reached five-hundred-meters from floor to roof. A winding wood handrail rimmed the stairs with golden spindles supporting. The stairwell shaft piped the centre of the sky scraper like a hollow tube. The entire stairwell was open planned all the way up. Its walls glistened a glossy black marble, with imbedded spotlights that glimmered like stars from within. Its diameter was a wide fifty metres. It would take allot of time to climb each floor, let alone to the top.
Lecodia looked up to the raining shaft where paper, computers, files, lockers, desks, and pretty much everything that occupied an office, fell down its tubed centre. Some heavier objects bashed their way down and echoed disaster around the open stairwell. The top disappeared into blackness.
She said, “How far we got to go, guys? That’s allot of steps. And are you sure the building won’t come down?”
The steps coiled the circumference by the thousands. The ground in front of them was a rubbish tip of fallen objects.
“I have no idea,” Dylan replied as he began climbing in front of her.
“The building’s been shaken pretty bad,” Bobby said, whose breath already strained. “But I think it’ll hold.”
Bobby was looking for his wife. She’d been trapped here, three floors under Hammed. He’d received a call for help. Lecodia couldn’t believe his tragedy. He wanted to find his love, so he could die with her. The heroic nobility and sweetness of his plight was warming, a good human among the madness. He was on his way here before he bumped into Leon.
“Why don't we use the lift,” Lecodia said.
“No way. The shafts probably wrecked,” replied Dylan.
For what seemed hours, the group climbed and climbed. Every ten floors they would rest and catch their breath. Lecodia passed the door to floor a hundred and ten, when the building shook like its foundations were weakening.
Everyone eyed each other until the vibrations stopped. Dylan’s protection was all that kept her sane. The worry for her parents pecked her deep inside, but she hopped Dylan would get her there. She was too young to be thinking of dying, but she was. Everything felt otherworldly.
Bobby, struggling for breath, said, “Hey guys, let’s stop for a second again. Y’all in better shape than I am. Just a minute.”
“Just a minuite Bobby,” Dylan said fit and determined.
They rested for a moment on the steps, breathing deep. The raining, flaming debris echoed in the shaft. Lecodia peered through the spindles. The shaft faded into shadows below from the sheer height of the climb.
Bobby said, “Y’all have to make it, understand? This old man has got nothing left. Not much time, y’all hear what I’m saying? Y’all have plenty left. You should be respecting that.” His eyes were wise. “What I'm trying to say is, you should be on the ships already, we, mankind don’t stand a chance without you youngsters. Y’all that’s left, y’all carry all hope.” “We’re going to make it,” Dylan said.
“What do you think has happened above? All the debris,” Lecodia said.
Leon replied. “The earthquake has damaged the top floors. I hope we can get to where we need to go.”
Bobby said, “Guys, I know this building really well, and my wife said a lot of people are trapped on her floor and every floor above.”
Something fell from above, clipped the stairwell and rebounded. It was big and was falling hard from above. Bobby stuck his neck out and looked up at the object. He said, “Ya’ll duck in, now.”
The group tucked in and squeezed tight against the wall, as a massive chunk of stone slammed into the stairwell five feet below them. It exploded hard and belted through the stairs with crunching force, taking out a ten-metre length. The steps leading to Bobby collapsed and the stairs dropped from beneath his feet.
He screamed and clutched at the steps above him, grabbed them and held on.
A few mangled reinforcement rods poked the wall from where the chunk of stairs had been obliterated.
Bobby lost his grip on the steps, but grabbed hold of a bent rod, just a few feet off the intact steps where Dylan, Leon, and Lecodia were. He swung precariously, then stilled to a dangle.
Lecodia screamed. Her hands covered her mouth. She didn’t want to experience any more death today.
Dylan shouted, “Hold on!”
He and Leon quickly positioned themselves on the edge of the broken stairs and reached for Bobby.
Lecodia stepped behind them and watched the concrete boulder smashing onward ten levels below with a thudding echo. It punched through floor after floor. A fifty-foot drop now awaited bellow them.
Bobby said, “Steady boys, steady. I got a good hold.”
“You’re not dying today,” Dylan said. But Bobby was just out of reach.
Leon moved behind Dylan and held his legs as Dylan reached with one hand and supported himself with the other. He almost touched Bobby.
“Bobby, I need you to let go and reach me. I need you to grab my arm.”
“Dylan be careful,” Lecodia said. The thought of losing him now was unbearable.
“In three seconds, kid,” Bobby said. “Ready?” His face was awash with worry. “One.” He swayed his body, ready for the lunge. “Two.”
The thin rod snapped at the wall. Dylan could do nothing.
As Bobby dropped away, his eyes were wide, his mouth open, his look incredulous. His arms cycled the air as he clutched at nothing.
He fell two floors, picking up speed, before he clipped the edge of a broken stair by the leg, and violently flung around in a limp roll. Lecodia covered her eyes before he hit the stairs way below. Vertigo overcame her. She felt faint, unable to move.
Dylan held his hand to his forehead and cried, “No!”
“Dylan, turn and grab me!” Leon said, beginning to strain. “We have to be quick or it’ll be us next!”
Lecodia stood back against the wall as Dylan took Leon’s hand and stood up, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Leon hugged him.
Then Dylan pulled Lecodia to him. “I’m sorry we got you into this. We should have gone back and bypassed.”
She kissed his head and smoothed his hair, forehead to forehead.
Leon said, “There’s no time for that now, guys. Come on before we take a tumble.” He turned and started up the remaining stairs. “Hammed will know a way out. It’s our only chance.”
Dylan took Lecodia’s hand. Together they followed Leon. Her heart was thumping with fear and fatigue. Dylan held her hand and pulled her onward like the guardian and leader of her soul.
The stairs began cluttering with debris. Slabs of stone, steel, and building all stood in their way. They climbed over and reached the door Bobby had wanted to open. A large lump of stone, jagged and beaten, was jammed against the door. Knocks and screams began sounding from behind it.
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br /> As they cleared some of the debris, Dylan said, “Let’s push together. Lecodia you too, this side on three.” He readied his weight behind the stone. All three pushed hard with grunts and strain. The slab rolled and thumped down the stairs for a few meters. The door released and burst open into the stairwell.
Dozens of people all rushed out at once.
“Calmly, please!” Dylan shouted. “Calmly!”
Lecodia stepped up a step, out of the charging detainee’s way. Dylan and Leon joined her.
Rows of corporately dressed males and females streamed out quickly, all shouting in panic. Downward they went in a line.
One older woman exited, stopped, and looked back. “Are you looking for Bobby?” Lecodia shouted.
The old lady’s eyes were weary and wise, and as she looked at them, she realized what had happened. The panicked people brushed passed her as she made her way back up.
Her clothes were old-fashioned compared to the slick glossy suits and skirts of the others. Her white blouse was covered with a richly coloured cardigan, and her knee-length skirt dressed a striped autumn colour. Her demure was simple, a short-tired lady, the kind of lady that would politely cook a cake for a friend’s birthday.
Dylan said, “Lecodia, we need to keep moving.”
“I know. Just one second. She deserves to know.”
Lecodia said, “I’m sorry, but your husband was lost. He wanted to free you from the building, and he gave us the only accessible route to our friend.”
The woman’s eyes were aching sadness as she asked, “How? What happened?”
Lecodia shook her head. “I—I can’t.” She paused. “He didn’t make it, that’s all. But he loved you very much. He wanted to spend his last moments with you. We wouldn’t be here without him.” Tears rolled her checks.
The woman looked at her with more heartbreak than anyone should have to endure. A reservoir of tears welled in her eyes.
Lecodia said, “We’re sorry. So sorry.”
She didn’t know whether to hug the woman or leave her to mourn.
But the woman made her own decision.
As Lecodia looked back at the boys, their faces winced with shock.
Dylan cried, “No! No!”
By the time Lecodia turned back to the woman, she was already falling silently down the large shaft.
Screams echoed from below as the falling lady passed the panicked lines of workers.
Lecodia turned and buried her head in Dylan’s chest, sobbing with grief. “She’s in a better place, she’s in a better place,” Dylan said. “Come on. We need to keep moving.”
Lecodia was wiping her eyes when a loud whining whistle sounded all around. “Guys, I don’t like the sound of that.” Dylan grabbed her hand and stepped her up to the stair’s handrail. She looked down the shaft, where hundreds of people coiled its circumference. Each soul sped the steps and the whistling grew ever louder. Lecodia’s ears were attuned well and it sounded like something was moving fast far away, nearing quicker every second, like a high-octane ballistic missile.
The building began shuddering, the groans growing louder from the pit of its belly, and the walls began to crack. The souls treading its steps screamed with fear.
Leon said, “Something’s coming! Hold on!”
A massive thump rocked the building, and another, and another, like a giant machine blaster had unloaded an entire clip.
A tiny asteroid blitzed through the shaft in a blur below.
Office workers vaporised and were thrown into the void like discarded objects. Sections of the stairwell were obliterated in the heat trail that left an impression on the eye from its sheer velocity. The Doppler sound of its whine carried it through the building.
Another asteroid tore through the shaft, and another. Dozens of people vanished in a blink as the objects entered and exited. Their tracing trails simmered an orange hue. Each asteroid held a shield before it, a shield of heat, pressure, velocity, and energy, that blew people all over the shaft. Bodies bounced from walls, stairs, and each other. They were like flies compared to the blows of God that attacked.
Then a much larger asteroid, the size of a sky-mobile, blasted through, killing most of the descending people. The noise was deafening, like the biggest bomb had exploded while traveling at speed. The shaft crumbled as its heat disintegrated all and everything living below. Fires ignited the depths.
Dylan shouted, “Move! Now!” Lecodia grabbed Dylan’s hand and ran for her life. Every office worker that exited the freed door, now turned and came straight at them. Upward everyone climbed. The hordes of zombie like creatures that followed were not human anymore. People clutched and pushed at each other like a stamped. A few were trampled, while a few were forced over the stairs’ handrail and to their death.
Lecodia could hear another small asteroid whine closer. It tore through thirty meters behind. She witnessed, over the bobbing heads of the chasing workers, dozens disappear in a blaze of heat and speed, like they were erased. The asteroid crunched through, throwing large chunks of debris into the shaft like a bomb had detonated behind the wall. The Doppler whine screeched.
Over the edge of the stairwell, the shaft filled with smoke and smoulder. Flames engulfed the coiling beaten stairs. One hand in Dylan’s, and one hand pulling the rail, onward she ran. She caught Dylan’s eyes, they were filled with fear. He looked beyond worried. Leon too, they both looked terrified by the sounding rocks that had travelled from the heavens.
Lecodia heard and felt the bombastic thumps that pelted through below as she ran. The rush of falling debris zoomed by, and the whoosh of flames crackled all around. It was chaos, like the pits of hell. A thick fear shrouded her. It numbed like an anaesthetic had been administered.
Leon shouted, “That’s Hammed’s door up ahead. Hurry!” Like the office door earlier, this one too was blocked. Then five whines and thumps came from above. Five tiny asteroids blazed through in sporadic blasts. Punch, punch, punch, punch, and punch blitzed the asteroids. Debris and chunks of the marble walls blew into the air, smoking and flaming. It was like the fastest race cars ever had sped through the building with unfathomable pace and velocity. They were so fast that the orange trailing hue dazzled the eyes, tricked them with time. Tons of rubble was heading straight at them from above.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” Leon shouted.
At the door, Dylan and Leon pushed and nudged a large bit of concrete away from the door. The crazed workers closed in on them.
Lecodia squeezed herself through the ajar opening. She had never been more grateful for her thin physique.
Dylan and Leon also squeezed through the small gap, and behind them a dozen others tried to force themselves through all at once.
Someone snatched Leon and held him with a fierce grip. Then there was a horrendous noise outside the door. Dust and smoke blew through the gap as everything outside was crushed. Half a dozen arms had severed and were all that made it through the door with them. Leon flew into the office floor as the dead hands released their grip. They were trapped, they knew it, and Leon winced and tossed the severed arm back to the door.
Lecodia started crying again. More tears had flooded the globe today than an eternity of life. “How the fuck are we alive?” Leon said. He smiled stunned, like a madness whiskered him.
Dylan shouted, “Hammed, where are you?”
From a distance came, “Dylan Ajax, is that you?” The office floors lights flickered with power. The group sat in a corridor which ran with a smooth cream carpet. The pristine and clean white office walls were splashed with reds and blues, like someone had a fight with paint cans. It was a trendy piece of abstract expressionism. Triangles, octagons, circles, and squares were all recessed into the walls. Precious vases and statues decorated within each groovy shaped recess. The company’s name was written in large fancy font, Contemporary Heights.
Hammed appeared. “Hey guys, what took you so long? It’s been pretty hairy up here. I have been creating a p
lan, we can do it together. Is that sound asteroids. Cause the windows are black. We need to get the fuck out of here now, before one kills us.”
Leon said, “Hammed, have you figured a way out from here?”
“I might have away, but it's dangerous. Follow me. I will show you.”
Lecodia and Dylan followed Leon and Hammed down the corridor, and they stepped into Hammed’s spacious office floor. Rows of symmetrically lined computer desks hurdled forward like church pews. There were ten computer bays in each row, and at least fifteen rows.
Lecodia asked, “Hammed are you here alone?” She blinked at each distant asteroid thud that hit the building from above and below.
“Yes, I am. I was not due to start back work for another few weeks. But I left something here. Then the earthquake hit, and my parents told me we had been selected for some lottery, then you communicated Leon and we got cut as, as the president was addressing everyone. I have been unable to do anything. The world is doomed. I thought I was going to die here alone, like a stranded man,” he said.
The floor to ceiling window, that spanned the entire level, was dusted with soot. The group passed through the computer bays, with connection lost flashing on each polytron screen.
“This way. I will show you okay guys,” Hammed said as they walked. “So, I remembered visiting a show room for a new sky-mobile that’s called the bird. You know the awesome wind defying vehicle that looks like a bird in flight. Their wings hold those rotatable propeller wings.”
Dylan said, “I’ve seen them on television.”
Leon said, “So what does this have to do with escaping here?”
Hammed said, “I know where we can get one. It isn’t far. Let’s go.”
He started a jog, and the others followed.
“And how are we supposed to get there, fly?” Leon said.
“I have already sorted it, look,” Hammed said. He opened a door and revealed a long conference room.
Its walls were splattered colour, its table a long, glossy, white glass, and the ceiling was ripped to pieces. Wires hung from holes all over, like an animal had gone to work on it. On top of the table rested a pile of tied coiled wire that run hundreds of feet in length.