2042: The Great Cataclysm

by Melisande Mason

  All the while the thin man remained aloof and silent, his penetrating eyes roving around the apartment, stopping to rest when he spied something of interest, then moving on, covering every area of the room. It was unspoken but Nick realised that this man was in charge.

  His cultured voice spoke slowly. ‘I’ll watch these two.’ Indicating Karen and Nick. ‘While Daddy here and his lady give you a personal tour.’

  Jilly and the bandanna man marched Bill and Veronica ahead of them out of the dining-room into the foyer, just as the lift doors were opening to reveal Graham inside. Veronica called out and made a dash towards Graham and the lift. The bandanna man raised his hand gun to fire at her. Bill, realising what was about to happen threw himself between Veronica and the gun. There was a loud explosion as the gun went off and Bill spun around. As he fell against Veronica, a searing, blinding pain clutched at his right shoulder, and they both went down on the floor. Graham froze in the lift facing the frightening scene, the bandanna man had his gun trained on him. At the sound of the shot the three others rushed from the dining-room to find Jilly leaning over Bill, as he writhed in pain on the floor. Veronica was sitting on the floor beside him crying hysterically.

  ‘Good Lord man. What did you shoot him for?’ The thin man growled. ‘Bobby said no killing!’

  ‘Shut up! I didn’t kill him, he’s only winged. Good thing too, show them we mean business. Who’re you?’ He said to Graham who remained rooted to the spot.’ Where’d you come from?’

  ‘I’m a neighbour.’ Graham said thinking quickly, horrified at the scene confronting him.

  ‘Get in here and shut your mouth. Don’t do anything stupid’ He said as he patted Graham down for a weapon.

  Karen rushed to Bill’s side. ‘Look out of the way!’ She demanded. ‘I’m a nurse. Bill, let me see that wound.’ His shirt was stained red and blood was flowing profusely from the gunshot wound.

  ‘Cut his sleeve.’ She ordered Jilly.

  Jilly whipped out her long-bladed knife and hacked at Bill’s sleeve. ‘Euww,’ she said as blood oozed from his arm.

  Karen examined his arm, wadded the material and pressed it against the wound. ‘It’ll be okay, the bullet went straight through. I’ll need to sterilise this and wrap it up. Here, hold this tight against the wound.’ She instructed Bill. ‘I’ll go look for some first-aid equipment.’

  Karen knew she had her kit in the Veto and started toward the lift. Graham shook his head, warning her not to let them know about the Veto. She paused, understanding Graham’s silent signals, they shouldn’t let the looters find out about the Liberty.

  ‘Veronica, where do you keep your first aid kit?’

  Veronica looked up. ‘We’ve got a good kit. It’s in the kitchen, above the fridge.’ She blubbered.

  Veronica continued sobbing. She was amazed and grateful that Bill had thrown himself in the path of the bullet, and stroked his good left arm with a tenderness that she hadn’t felt for Bill since they were first married.

  Karen wasted no time finding the kit. The looters didn’t try to stop her, and watched silently as she dressed and bandaged the wound. Nick and Graham helped Bill to his feet and led the others back to the living room, settling Bill gently into a chair while Nick went to the bar and poured him a stiff scotch.

  ‘Thanks.’ Bill mumbled gratefully. ‘For once I really need this.’

  ‘He’ll be okay,’ Karen reassured Veronica. ‘I’ve taped the wound shut. The bleeding’s stopped. It’ll be painful for him but it should heal with no permanent damage.’ She glared at the bandanna man who was still holding the gun in his hand. The thin man waved the gun at Graham and inclined his head toward the other lounge chair.

  ‘Hud?’ The bandanna man said.

  The thin man he called Hud spun around and scowled at him.

  ‘Idiot! Search the place while I keep an eye on these people.’

  Jilly and the bandanna man began systematically searching the lounge room, opening cupboards, pulling everything out onto the floor with no regard to the amount of damage they wrought. They smashed vases to see if they contained any valuables, pulled priceless paintings from the walls and hurled them onto the pile of items gradually accumulating in the centre of the room. Veronica started to whimper, despondently watching her treasures being desecrated. Karen placed her arms around her offering comfort, there had always been an unspoken rivalry between the two women, and a show of affection from Karen was completely foreign. The looters continued in this careless manner until they were satisfied they had not missed anything, then they moved into the next room to repeat the exercise.

  Time was marching on and Nick was nervous. Three o’clock! He looked out the window to see the afternoon shadows deepening. Didn’t these idiots know they were risking their lives; they could never escape now, it was too late. His eyes scanned the horizon anxiously looking for any sign of the sea rising.

  The man with the bandanna stormed angrily back into the room waving the bunch of keys he had found on a hook by the stairs entry. ‘The lift won’t go up to the next floor! These keys are no good. Needs some sort of code! Get up, all of you! Jilly, bring them!’

  They moved into the foyer that was littered with debris from the bomb blast. ‘All of you, into the lift. What’s the pass code?’ He demanded, pushing his gun into Nick’s side.

  ‘I don’t know!’ Nick pleaded. The man raised his gun, but Veronica called out first.

  ‘Please, don’t hurt anyone else. I’ll do it.’ Veronica cried.

  Jilly pushed Veronica into the lift and motioned for Veronica to punch in the code. The lift moved silently to the next floor, stopping with a soft hiss.

  ***

  The accommodation floor of Bill’s penthouse was as sumptuous as the one below. The marble floors had given way to thick plush cream carpet that caressed the feet and softened the sounds. The walls were covered with velvet wallpaper, but in soft pastel tones creating a feeling of tranquillity and silence. Bill had all the interior walls insulated and the windows were of the soundproofing Navilon, so once one entered a room and closed the door they would be completely divorced from any sounds from other rooms or the outside world. Each room was a suite containing its own bathroom, dressing room and a sitting room.

  The looters began in the master suite, tearing open all the drawers just as they had done downstairs. They hooted with delight at finding fifteen hundred dollars in old money Veronica had stashed in her bedside table. Bill and Veronica sat grim faced side by side on the king size bed, watching the destruction of their prized possessions, while the others found seats around the expansive suite.

  Jilly was busy picking out pieces of jewellery, shoes and clothes from Veronica’s walk-in wardrobe. ‘Holy shit, this’s like a department store.’ She commented, pulling out sequinned gowns. ‘I’ve never seen so many posh clothes.’

  You’ve only seen half of it Nick thought, thinking of Veronicas fur coats, cashmere sweaters and leather clothes she had taken up to the roof.

  ‘What’s on the next floor?’ Jilly asked Veronica.

  ‘The gymnasium and pool.’ She answered matter-of-factly.

  “The gymnasium and the pool!’ The bandanna man parroted as he ambled toward the lift. ‘I’ll check it out, make sure this bitch’s not lying.’

  They all held their breath as the lift door closed behind him.They prayed he would be stupid enough to see the gardens, pool and gym, decide there was nothing there and not continue onto the roof. Minutes ticked by as they waited in silence. The thin man had followed them around the apartment watching them closely, and now a smirk crossed his face as he watched Jilly stuffing jewellery into a pillow case stripped from the bed, and admiring the ring she had commandeered from Veronica’s finger.

  Nick sat on Veronica’s chaise lounge in the corner shaking his head in disbelief.As if things could get any worse,he thought.Here we are facing the most terrible natural disaster and this bunch of imbeciles are picking pockets! They must know ab
out the tsunami, how on earth do they expect to escape? Knowing they would surely die, he did not feel sorry for them. His curiosity prompted him to ask. ‘You do know about the tsunami coming, don’t you?’

  ‘Yeah. D’you think we’re stupid.’ Jilly said. ‘That’s why we’re here. All those stupid bastards left their places wide open, just asking for us to help ourselves.’

  ‘Just how do you plan to get away?’ Nick said.

  ‘We’ve got our bikes downstairs. Soon as we see it coming we’ll head for the hills. Probably be a fizzer anyway.’

  Nick smiled inwardly at the thought of them trying to outrun a giant wave travelling at around one hundred and fifty kilometres per hour. Even if the streets were clear, they could never escape.

  Ten minutes had passed as Nick and Graham nervously eyed the lift doors, flinching as they heard the hiss of the lift settling beside them. The bandanna man emerged grinning. ‘Nothin’ up there but a fancy gym and a fancier pool, you should see it. This bloody dude’s got too much money.’

  ‘He sure as hell doesn’t keep it here.’ Hud drawled as he unfolded his long legs and stood waving his gun in the direction of the lift, forcing them inside again.

  The lift opened on the living area again and Hud pushed Nick into to the room. He looked toward the bandanna man and nodded toward the blown entry door.

  Bandanna man grinned and left the room. He returned after number of minutes motioning his companions toward the lift. ‘Let’s try some of the apartments on the lower floors.’

  ‘It’s a private lift.’ Bill warned. ‘It’ll only take you downstairs and then to the foyer below us or the ground floor.’

  Hud glared at Bill and the others. ‘You stay here, or somebody else will get shot.’ The lift doors closed in seconds and they were gone.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Trapped

  Nick turned to the emergency stairs beside the lift.

  ‘Wait!’ Graham urged. ‘Let’s make sure they’re gone.’ They watched as the lift stopped on the floor below Bill’s apartment. ‘Looks like they’re going to go out the way they got in.’

  ‘Just how did they get in Bill?’ Nick asked.

  ‘They would’ve come up the public lift that stops on the level below. Our housekeeper lives in an apartment on that floor, they must’ve found the key to the stairwell there.’

  More seconds passed and Nick and Graham walked cautiously toward the entry door to the stairs that was now a dark hole in the wall. They climbed over the rubble into the stairwell. Nick climbed the stairs to the next floors to find the door to the pool room firmly locked.

  ‘Damn!’ Nick thumped the door. ‘He’s locked it!’ He yelled down to Graham who had descended to the lower floor and found that door locked also.

  They returned to the foyer where Bill and the women waited, grim faced. Karen was pushing the lift button over and over, but there was no response. ‘It looks like they’ve disabled the lift somehow. I can’t get it to come back up!’ She said.

  ‘They don’t want us in their way.’ Nick said. ‘They’ve probably smashed the mechanism. Bill, they’ve locked the doors to the stair exits and taken the keys, is there any other way out of here?’

  ‘No, I’m afraid not, unless you can get the lift working. We’re stuck!’

  ‘We’ve got to get to the roof!’ Karen cried.

  ‘What about the balcony? Can we climb to the next floor from there?’ Nick asked.

  ‘There aren’t any balconies on the other floors.’ Bill explained. ‘Safety reasons. There’d be at least twenty metres of sheer Navilon windows between us and the roof top. The balconies below don’t line up with these on this floor either, a defence against spider-men.’

  Graham punched at his sat-phone phone. ‘It’s no use I can’t raise anyone, the lines are jammed and my batteries are running down.’

  ‘Phone.’ Bill ordered, and his house phone merely beeped.

  ‘Bill I s’pose this’s a silly question to ask, but d’you keep any tools on this floor, anything we could use to force the doors?’ He asked.

  ‘Even if I did, you’d never get through those fire doors, they’re over a foot thick, and I’ve had special security locks put on them. Same as the one in our foyer, those bastards had to blast their way in.’

  ‘What about the lift? Could we prise the doors open and lower ourselves to the floor below?’

  ‘No, it’s our private lift, it goes all the way down the ground floor, with smooth walls all the way down, nothing to hang on, another security measure.’

  The horror of their situation began to dawn on them. They were trapped!

  It was four o’clock, eight hours since the first warning had been received. Nick knew it would be any time now. Sweat began to seep from every pore in his body. The sweat of fear. He had not counted on this. They had run out of time. He thought of the Liberty, sitting silently on the roof waiting, their only escape. It may as well be a thousand miles away!

  ‘Then there’s nothing we can do but wait and pray.’ Nick announced, walking away from the group to shield them from his fear. ‘I’ll be out on the balcony.’

  ***

  Karen had cried herself out while trying to contact Brian, and sat on a couch beside Bill who was red eyed and silent. Veronica twisted a handkerchief in her fingers and whispered silently to herself.

  Graham paced the room while Bill poured himself another drink.

  The balcony on the north-east corner of the building off the living room faced the Pacific Ocean, and Nick stood there in silence, bracing his arms on the white aluminium railing. He lowered his head, focusing his eyes momentarily on the floor at his feet and clenched his teeth as the cold wind from the sea bit savagely into his flesh, drying the perspiration that moments before had drenched his clothing. He leaned over the railing and his eyes searched the building and the surrounding grounds below. Palm-studded gardens one hundred metres below formed an apron, reaching out and stopping abruptly at the long wide concrete dyke a mere fifteen to eighteen metres from the building, where the sea lapped its edge. There was absolutely no protection from the ocean and whatever wrath she decided to hurl against them. He shivered and retreated inside leaving the door open, moving swiftly to the next room for further inspection of the exterior of the building.

  Darting from room-to-room Nick found every view similar. No escape! He reached the south-western corner that overlooked the Navilon-domed walkway. From this perspective he could see it in more detail, the cross spanning the southbound highway below converged with the others at a centre point, where they were supported by a steel column stationed on the grassed medium strip between the two highways. From there it continued across the northbound highway to link the two western towers of the complex. It was only two floors below, but there was no access from any point on the floor where they were trapped. His attention was drawn to two shadowy figures running along the walkway toward the south-eastern tower. It could have been the looters, but he was unable to tell from here.

  He returned glumly to the group. ‘No luck I’m afraid.’ He announced calmly, careful to hide his rising panic.

  Despite the pain killers Karen had administered to Bill, he complained of a throbbing ache in his shoulder and his face was a light shade of grey. ‘I could do with another drink.’ He said.

  Softening to his plight Veronica resisted her normal sarcasm and responded. ‘I’ll get it for you dear.’

  ‘No.’ Nick said, ‘he’s had enough, we don’t want him drunk.’

  ‘At least I wouldn’t feel anything.’ Bill whined.

  Graham paced from room-to-room. He pulled Nick aside and asked in raspy tones, ‘How long have we got?’

  Nick didn’t answer immediately, he was gazing at the horizon. ‘The continental shelf’s about 80k’s from here. The wave could be travelling at over a 1000k’s an hour when it meets with it, which will slow it right down to eighty or a hundred.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘When
that happens, the ocean rushing in behind will pile up increasing it’s height over twenty times. We can see about 24k’s from here with the naked eye, so once we spot the rise on the horizon we’ll have about twenty minutes before it hits us.’

  Graham’s eyes locked onto the horizon. ‘Bill! He called over his shoulder. ‘Have you got any binoculars up here?’

  ‘I think so. Veronica, have a look in the desk, that’s if the looters haven’t taken them too.’ Bill said.

  ‘Don’t bother!’ Nick whispered. ‘It’s on its way. Look at the edge against the dyke below, the ocean’s receding!’

  Graham looked down in horror not quite believing his eyes. The sea began to retreat from the wall, slowly at first, then rapidly, exposing the sea floor to a degree never before witnessed, uncovering rocks, stranding fish. ‘Jesus Nick, what’s happening?’ He said white faced, unable to tear his gaze from the surrealist scene facing him. ‘You didn’t say anything about this!’

  ‘It’s normal.’

  ‘Normal!’ Graham squawked.

  ‘The quakes have collapsed the sea bed, creating vast depressions on the ocean surface. Then the sea instantly sweeps in from all sides to close those depressions, sucking water away from the coastal areas with such speed that it overfills the depressions and creates counter surges that flow back to the land as tsunami. Then there’s the added factor of new islands displacing more sea water.

  Remember in the past how the water receded from the beach a little before a wave came in. It’s the same thing only a million times bigger.’

  The others had gathered on the balcony as Nick spoke, and Veronica handed him the binoculars. They waited apprehensively as he peered wordlessly toward the horizon. Nobody spoke. Overcome by terror ordinary words seeming superfluous. They were struck dumb, dreading the inevitable event that until now had seemed like a story from a Hollywood disaster movie. ‘I see it!’ Nick hissed.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  The Tsunami

  The flat line of the horizon began to break up and undulate slowly. It stretched the entire length of the coastline like a black snake slithering from its lair, gradually eating up the distance between the sea and the dusk clouds in the sky.