2042: The Great Cataclysm

by Melisande Mason

  Although he didn’t know when the quakes would start, Nick’s bones told him it was closer than anyone realised.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Tuesday, June 6

  A loud crash rang out from the kitchen just as Bill mumbled to let in the daylight. ‘Curtains.’ He said, and his hand flew to his eyes as bright sunshine flooded the room, pricking his inflamed eye balls and exacerbated his hangover. The bedside clock showed eleven-thirty.Holy shit, he thought,Brian will have my balls!

  He jumped out of bed, quickly showered and donned his grey body-suit. ‘Bloody things.’ He muttered, gazing in the mirror examining his reflection. He patted his swollen abdomen. ‘Doesn’t give a bloke a chance to hide the old gut.’ He sighed and picked up his knee-length jacket. ‘At least this helps,’ he said, tossing it over his shoulder.

  He found Veronica busy in the kitchen, making salad. As usual she was immaculately dressed in an apricot body suit with a knee-length, sheer chiffon overblouse, and with her long blonde hair swept up into a classic French roll, she looked like she had just come from the beauty parlour. His mouth dropped. ‘Why the hell didn’t you wake me?’ he snarled taking some milk from the refrigerator.

  ‘It’s not my job to be your baby-sitter.’ She snapped. ‘After last night I wasn’t game. I’m not in the mood for one of your tirades. I’ve got a blinding headache.’

  ‘My tirades! Look who’s talking. You’re always pissed off about something.’

  She slammed the knife on the table. ‘Because you’re the one that’s always pissing me off. I’m sick of seeing you drunk.’

  Bill’s face turned red. ‘I’m sick of you running around with you’re so-called friends. If you’re not with them, you’re at that bloody church.’

  ‘At least I have friends. Your friends are users, if they’re not using you, you’re using them.’

  Veronica burst into tears, which was the only way she knew how to stop the continual arguments. Bill usually stomped off leaving her to her misery, but this time he stunned her by grabbing her into his arms.’

  ‘I’m sorry Vee,’ Bill muttered, calling her by the pet name he hadn’t used in years. ‘I know this is scaring you.’

  Veronica pulled away from him and her eyes wandered over his face. ‘Brian called while you were asleep. Karen wants us to move up there. I think we should.’

  Bill pushed Veronica away. ‘I’m not moving out of here.’ He waved his arms around. ‘I’ve worked all my bloody life to get this, I can’t just walk away! The Pheonix was built to stand up to the worst cyclones. Shit, we’ve even been through some. That’s it you hear! Don’t mention it again.’

  ‘But, Nick said.’

  ‘To hell with Nick.’ Bill slammed his glass on the bench, gabbed his eye-phone and walked out.

  He immediately jumped a Trancab for the yacht club, where his twenty-metre luxury cruiser, My Lot, was moored. He often sought solace from the pressures of the office and his wife, by taking her out for a few hours, sometimes taking a friend of the female persuasion along. Today he just wanted to escape everything.

  The yacht club appeared deserted, so he bypassed the office and went directly to the marina. Bill’s skipper lived on board, maintaining My Lot with the assistance of a deck boy. He greeted Bill with a firm handshake. Bill grinned, he had high regard for the man and was always pleased to be in his company.

  ‘Take her out Mike, we’ve got a lot to talk about.’

  ***

  Brian was not in when Bill arrived at the office later that day, nor was his secretary, and the presses had gone quiet. He flopped into his chair and swivelled toward the expansive window that overlooked the Gold Coast City Council premises, and the high-rise buildings, with the ocean in the background. Several army Veto filled his field of vision.Shit, he thought,Suddenly it’s like living in a bloody war zone!

  ‘Phone Brian.’ He ordered.

  There was a brief pause. ‘Yeah Bill.’

  ‘Brian get back here immediately!’ Bill had worked himself into a fury on the way in. ‘The bloody presses have stopped. This’s a newspaper, or have you forgotten?’

  ‘Okay. Calm down Bill, I’ll be there.’

  Brian arrived ten minutes later and was greeted by Bill with a glass in hand.

  ‘How can Nick be sure these quakes are going to all happen at once? We’re bloody miles from the Arctic circle, I can’t imagine Australia being affected.’

  ‘He said the destruction will be global.’

  ‘Rubbish! Maybe we’ll get some rough weather and flooding, but monster tsunami? Never! How the bloody hell did he get the Government to swallow this yarn?’

  Brian was lost for words. ‘Bill, whether you believe it or not, it is going to happen.’ He said soberly. ‘The experts have agreed with Nick, you don’t think they would just take his word do you?’

  ‘Pig Shit! You can’t convince me! It’s rubbish! I’ve spent years building my reputation in the publishing business, I’m not going to let this bloody fiasco ruin everything. I don’t want any part of it!’

  ‘Fine. If you want to be pigheaded Bill, don’t be a part of it.’ Brian said. ‘Just know this, ignore it at your own peril.’

  ‘If you don’t mind I’ve heard enough for one day.’ Bill said heading for the bar for yet another drink.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Karen

  Karen was surprised by her uncles attitude, as he’d always been such a reasonable man. If he reacted this way, how would others react? Then she remembered that he had reacted in a bad way when they had been told the news of her parent’s accident. Was it really over fifteen years ago? She still felt the pain as if it were yesterday, and tried unsuccessfully to push the thoughts away. As bad as things had been with Sean and the years of grief since then, this was the last thing she wanted to think about now. Yet it was too late, no amount of self-talk could push the crushing flood of those tragic memories from her mind.

  Her mind flew back to early August 2021 when she was fourteen. She had been staying with her Uncle Bill and Veronica. She awoke that morning with a splitting headache and opted out of school. Bill had gone to his office, and Veronica was out shopping, which was an every day event for her.

  She heard the telephone ringing but was suffering too much to get out of bed. The tablets Veronica had given her earlier were strong, but they did not alleviate the headache, just made her woozy and sleepy. Something nibbled at her inner-conscious and she was immediately afraid. A feeling she could not explain enveloped her as she drifted back off to sleep. She was unaware of the passage of time, and was startled awake to find Bill standing by her bed.

  He didn’t need to speak, his face told the story. She sat up so quickly the blood rushed to her head and stars flicked behind her eyes. There were tears in his grey eyes, and his hair dangled out-of-place over his forehead. He sat quietly on the bed, ready to clutched her to his chest to stop the pain he knew she was going to feel. ‘There’s been an accident, it’s your Mum and Dad!’ he sobbed.

  A dark shadow enveloped her and she closed out the words that followed, instinctively knowing they were bad.

  When her parents had left for their holiday in Perth three months earlier, she had experienced a cold dread as she watched them walk through the boarding gate. Her mother had voiced her dislike for flying and expressed her wish to stay home many times. Karen had exams at school and she couldn’t go with them, but her father had insisted they go. Premonitions had haunted Karen her short life but she always pushed them aside, gave them no credence, because they were vague and sometimes undecipherable. This time they were not vague, Karen feared she would never see them again.

  ‘Oh, God! I knew it! If only I had listened to my hunch, maybe I could’ve prevented it!’ she cried.

  ‘No, no, no. It’s not your fault.’ Bill uttered. ‘Your father was driving a rental car along a deserted country road somewhere. He collided head-on with a truck.’ Bill sobbed. ‘Your Mum was killed instantly, she did
n’t know what hit her.’

  Karen began sobbing, her eyes wide tears flowing freely. ‘What about Dad?’ She spluttered.

  ‘He’s in hospital in some backwoods town.’

  Karen wrenched herself away from Bills embrace. ‘I’ve got to go to him. Can you arrange it for me?’

  ‘I’ve spoken to his doctor, and that’s the first thing I asked.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  Bill hesitated.’That it would be too late. They didn’t expect him to survive.’

  Nothing prepared her for the shattering effect of this accident. Suddenly the little town of Grayton in Perth became the most important place in the world. She adored her father and to think of him laying in a hospital bed seriously wounded, knowing her mother was dead, was almost too much to bear. She telephoned the hospital, but they would not let her speak to him, his injuries were too serious. The doctor was kind and explained his condition but Karen knew it was hopeless. He was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it.

  Her uncle Bill took it very hard, it was weeks before he would accept it had really happened. Karen felt that nothing mattered anymore. Everyone was very supportive, but she felt alone, abandoned. Even Veronica tried to placate her.

  That loneliness had never left her, and was another of the reasons she often wished she could go to sleep one night and not wake the next morning. When families and friends celebrated Christmas, birthdays and special events, she remained distant, the deep sadness of her loss overwhelming her. There had been many dreams since then, all depicting the return of her parents after many years’ absence, her father explaining that it had all been a bad dream.

  Since then she was convinced that her father’s soul was guiding her life, comforting her in times of trouble. Snapping back to the present she understood why Uncle Bill locked out the truth when he found it too hard to bear. Oh, Daddy, when will it end? Please guide me through this dreadful time. If you’re there, I need you now more than ever.

  Chapter Thirty

  The Northern Hospital Tuesday, June 6

  The staff at the Northern Hospital had all turned up for work that day, the first after the press release, and work carried on as normal, if normal was a word one could use to describe a hospital. Karen was proud of the nurses and doctors who could have been looking after their own needs, but carried on, albeit quietly without the normal banter with the patients and each other.

  Her own life meant very little to her, but she began to realise that maybe she could achieve something worthwhile at last. There would be stories of great courage and tragedy, many lives lost, others changed forever. She realised she was privileged to work in the service of others.

  She hurried out of the staff room to look for Alex. As she made her way to his generous corner office overlooking the central park, where spreading Poinciana trees provided large areas of shade over garden seats, she marvelled at the design and ambience of the Northern Hospital. The fifteen storied buildings had been designed to withstand flood, the lower three floors dedicated to visitors and staff parking. It was made up of four towers surrounding the central park, each connected by Navilon encased walkways on the fifth level. Each tower provided a Veto pad on the roof with fast lift access from every floor. The plan was always to evacuate the lower floors with speed, and more floors if necessary. They had also used the Navilon product in the windows, and this provided insulation and less work on the air-conditioning plants, and like many homes, most electrical functions were voice controlled: the windows, lights, air-conditioning and beds operated on commands. Shared accommodations were excluded, the Northern Hospital contained mostly private rooms, and it made those patients less dependent on the nursing staff.

  She found Alex in his office along with all the senior staff members, where he had just finished outlining the details of Star Flight. His swarthy skin was a noticeably lighter shade. Alex Videon’s parents had emigrated to Australia from Italy in the year 2000 and he was born in Melbourne shortly thereafter. His mother had left Italy pregnant with a burning wish to have her son born in Australia. He wasn’t a handsome man, but he was charming and fun-loving and well liked by all the staff.

  His dark curly hair clung in little curls around his face, like a fancy frame around a treasured photograph. Karen often teased him about his baby curls, all to no avail, as he was a man with confidence and high degree of self-esteem. He laughed often, fixing her with his dark warm brown eyes, telling her she was just jealous. When Alex dressed up, which he did with style and flair, he would draw admiring glances, and like many Italians he exuded charm.

  Karen took a chair in the corner and waited until the other staff members had gone. ‘More evacuation procedures.’ She said.

  ‘Yes, I can hardly believe this’s happening. I spent all day yesterday in Canberra with the minister for Health. They called in every hospital chief around the country. It was quite a day.

  It’s easy to do exercises and drills, but the real thing is frightening, and it couldn’t happen at a worse time, we’ve got a high number of critical patients here at the moment. We’ve got some work ahead of us. The army’s taken over the churches and public halls in the Hinterland, and they’ve allocated some to us. They’ve also given us a team of men and trucks.’

  ‘Some patients could die during the move?’ Karen said.

  ‘Yes, I know. It’s going to be almost impossible to avoid the risk of infection. Some of these patients are on around-the-clock care. It’s going to be a nightmare. Army personnel will be working alongside the nurses, and none of them are trained medical people.’

  ‘Matron will have everything organised, but what can I do to help you?’

  Alex sighed. ‘Just look after yourself. The patients aren’t going to like this either, there’s going be some difficult situations to handle. Matron’s going to have her hands full.’

  ‘I know. I’ve been thinking of nothing else. I’m scared Alex, I don’t know if I can get through this.’

  Alex placed his hands on her shoulders. ‘Yes, you can. You’re one tough lady. I know what you’ve been through in the past and this’ll be no different.’

  ‘But they were just my problems, this involves everybody. I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like. How can we survive in those mountains without everything we’re used to having? Like electricity, transport, communications? My God, how are we going to feed ourselves when the supplies run out?’

  Alex sensed her rising hysteria and hugged her to him. ‘You don’t need to worry about it.’ He soothed ‘That’s going to be the army’s job.’

  ‘I don’t envy them that.’ She said pulling away from his embrace.

  Alex looked down at the floor. ‘We have to survive first. Man’s very ingenious, we’ll find ways. We have to focus on the immediate danger. One step at a time. C’mon, there’s so much to do.’

  Once outside Alex’s office they found a frantic scene confronting them. Army personnel and staff carrying boxes and crates were scurrying everywhere. They’d already started packing equipment. A portly, agitated male patient stood by the nurse’s station shouting abuse at one of the nurses.

  ‘You’ve got a nerve! It’s cost me a fortune to come here, and I expect to be looked after, not pushed ‘round like this. You’re going to hear from my lawyer! You’re not taking me out of here in some army truck. It’s ridiculous! I want to see the person in charge!’

  The nurse was trying vainly to pacify him. ‘I’m sorry sir she’s very busy. If you go back to your room I’ll call her when she’s free.’

  ‘You’d better make sure you do.’ He yelled, as a wards man escorted him away. ‘You’ll have reason to worry about your job too!’

  ‘Good work nurse.’ Karen said as she approached the station.

  ‘Sister Torrens, the patients are all complaining, what are we going to do? All these army people are frightening everyone.’

  ‘Just do your job nurse, that’s all we ask. The patients will accept it
when they realise it’s for their safety. It’s up to you to persuade them that it is.’

  ‘I’ll try my best.’

  Karen walked away, not wanting to answer the nurses natural questions.

  The day wore on with Karen fielding complaints and questions from every direction. She had been on duty without a break for over nine hours, and she was bone tired. Many patients welcomed the excitement as something to take their minds off their pain, but just as many were as outraged as the man at the nurses station, and demanded answers she could not give. She dared not think what would happen when they were evacuated to the mountains.

  Brian telephoned, and his conversation did nothing to improve her mood. ‘Bill’s furious, I thought you said he was okay last night.’

  ‘I told you it’s no use talking to him while he’s drinking.’ Karen said. ‘Give him time. He’ll look at it differently tomorrow.’

  ‘Yeah, but when’s henot drinking. I pity Veronica.’ Brian commented. ‘He’ll be as angry as a brown bear pulled out of hibernation.’

  ‘That won’t be anything new.’ Karen added. ‘He’s always angry with her.’

  ‘I was just in Southport and the Trancabs are being bombarded with holidaymakers wanting to get home. The airports have cancelled all international flights, and can’t cope with the rush of people demanding to get on planes. It’s only a few steps away from mass panic.’

  ‘Won’t it be better if they all go home?’ Karen said.

  ‘Maybe so...... It looks like I won’t be home for a while. Will you be okay on your own?’

  ‘Yes, just keep in touch, okay?’ Karen hung up feeling slightly relieved. She liked being on her own sometimes, and after a day like today, she welcomed the thought of going home to be alone. She really should call Uncle Bill. Maybe he would come up to the house if he thought she was alone, and she could talk some sense into him. She decided against it, there was still so much to be done at the hospital. There would be plenty of time to be alone later.