“Where are you folks headed?” he asked.
“Not sure,” I replied before Jake could say something stupid. “Some place safe.
“Where you coming from?”
“Atlanta...Bankhead”
“Bankhead?” he echoed. “That place was evacuated.”
“Well, obviously they missed us,” Jake retorted.
It didn’t take him long to start pissing people off. The man tilted his head to the side and gave Jake a stern look. I took it to mean, “I’ll snap your fucking neck, son.”
“When did they evacuate?” I asked trying to resolve the tension. “And what is going on?”
“Last night, anyone left behind was as good as dead.”
“Well we made it out this morning. Maybe there’s more survivors.”
“Unlikely, the quake that hit, it was the biggest ever recorded on the east coast and we think it’s just starting.”
“What’s just starting?” Brent asked.
The man ignored him. “Anyone that survived that would’ve been incinerated by the gas.”
“The gas?”
“Came up from the cracks, kinda like steam or something from the lava, at least that’s what the scientists say. Scorched everything, burned people to less than nothing.”
Cindy gasped and covered her mouth. We’d all seen the evidence of that, we just had no clue what we were looking at. But now we knew why we didn’t see anyone.
“Anyway, I’m Captain Estevez. We’re taking people north to Cartersville. There’s room in the truck.”
“What’s going on?” Brent asked as he finally found his voice. “What’s happening to everything?”
“You see it. Earthquakes, as crazy as it sounds, that’s as much as I know. Now, we can’t stay here long so it’s best you come with us.”
“We’re trying to get to Calhoun, any chance you can get us there?”
“Calhoun?” he replied and gave me a strange look
Cindy did the same, but didn’t say anything. I’d planned on telling them later, once I had a chance to make up a believable story, but with everything that was going on I needed to take advantage of having a military escort.
“HSA?” Captain Estevez asked.
“Yeah…yeah I work there. I really need to get in touch with some people.”
He skeptically bored into me. I smiled then reached into my bag and pulled out an ID badge. He took it and looked it over then handed it back to me. Scratching his head, he looked us over then put his helmet back on.
“Hop in the truck. I can get a Jeep to re-route you once we get into Cartersville.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
We headed around the back and climbed into the panel truck. There were fifteen other people, mostly families inside seated on the bench that ran the length of the truck bed.
“HSA?” Cindy asked once we got situated. “You work there? And what is in Calhoun? What happened to Marietta? You better start talking.”
“Yeah,” Jake and Brent added in unison. “This should be good.”
I took a deep breath and cleared my throat. At this point, everything was going to come out anyway. It was time to tell it all…or as much as I could make up.
CHAPTER 9
WE’RE NOT SAFE HERE
The drive to Cartersville was bumpy. The roads had been ripped apart by the quake and we spent most of the time navigating dirt trails and narrow passes through dense forests. I think everyone was a little taken aback by how much damage an earthquake could do.
Cindy gave me the death stare for most of the ride, awaiting my explanation that so far, I’d avoided by listening in on the other occupant’s conversations. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep her at bay, but it was much more pleasant to learn about the truck full of people.
There was a family of five there from Florida. The Jefferson’s, a young couple with teenage triplets. They’d just started their winter vacation and planned on seeing the aquarium when disaster struck. The wife was crying nearly the entire ride, she’d left her mother and father along with their youngest back in Florida. From what they’d heard, that state wasn’t doing too well.
That was the other shock. The earthquakes weren’t just isolated to Atlanta or even Georgia. There was a guy from the National Guard seated back there with us. He was an older guy named Lincoln. According to him earthquakes were popping up all over the country. The earliest started over a week ago. The military had been coordinating evacuations and things were happening so fast news outlets didn’t even have time to report them.
It made sense and my model predicted it, but confirmation of what I suspected was something I didn’t want. For once in my life, I wanted to be wrong, I needed to be wrong.
“Where are they taking everyone?” Brent asked.
“Not sure really,” Lincoln replied. “Just trying to stay a step ahead of it. They’ve got some guys studying patterns, telling them where the next one is gonna be. They just keep pushing north, hoping to outrun whatever this is.”
“They’re not gonna outrun this,” I mumbled.
“What’s that?”
“Never mind,” I replied and turned away.
There was another family seated right across from me. The husband’s name was Phil. He’d been on a business trip in Atlanta and he’d decided to bring his wife and toddler along. They were some of the last people to be rescued from Atlanta and while we somehow survived the worst of it, they were around to see all of the death and destruction. Things like that never went away.
“Max,” Cindy said as she nudged me with her elbow. “You’ve waited long enough. Start talking.”
I looked her in the eyes. I was sure after all of this she was never going to talk to me again. But if she was gonna lose it, it was probably better she did in the back of the truck.
“You can’t be mad at me,” I said. I wasn’t sure why I said it and as soon as I did I realized how childish it sounded.
“I can’t be mad at you?” Cindy echoed. “Are you serious!”
“You’re screaming.”
“So, what if I am. You feed me bullshit and when you decide to come clean you try to tell me I can’t be mad. You’ve got some nerve, Max.”
Everyone in the truck was staring at me and I felt like I’d been sent to timeout or something. I lowered my head and scooted closer to Cindy.
“You’re making a scene,” I mumbled through clenched teeth. “Calm down.”
“You calm down!”
“Jesus…I can’t tell you now. You’re already pissed and I haven’t even done anything.”
“Max,” she said sternly.
“Fine…fine. I don’t even know where to start.” I paused and leaned closer to her. I didn’t need the rest of the truck listening in.
“Start by telling me what the hell HSA is?"
Brent and Jake slid closer as well and created a type of semi-circle. We looked like a group of gossiping teenagers.
“Homeland Security Agency,” I said lowly.
“What do you have to do with that?” Brent asked.
“I kinda work for them.”
“No, you work for the National Weather Service,” Cindy corrected me.
“Well, it’s complicated.”
“Max, how complicated can it be? You leave every morning and drive into Peachtree where you sit at your desk and tell people about fucking storms. Did I miss something?”
“I wrote a paper,” I said. It wasn’t a defense, but the only thing I could think to say. I felt like I was being interrogated by the KGB.
“What’s in Calhoun?” Cindy asked.
“It’s a satellite office for HSA and emergency management personnel. Everyone will have reported there now that the south is out of range.”
“What the hell are you talking about, dude?” Jake snapped.
“You said you wrote a paper. What does that mean?” Brent asked, trying to keep their interrogation on track.
“Back in college, I w
as studying climate change and the different heating trends. The Earth, it’s like a giant oven…like a giant pot of spaghetti with a paper-thin lid.”
“Um ok?” Jake scoffed.
“My paper said the lid might break…we were cooking the spaghetti too much. Some really important people took it seriously.”
“What does any of this have to do with that?” Brent asked as he waved his hands around in the air.
“Look around, Brent. The fucking lid just broke.”
Cindy twisted her face and bit her bottom lip. She turned away from me and lowered her head. I reached out and wrapped my arm around her and she pulled away. Wiping her face, she straightened then slowly twisted back around.
I couldn’t tell how she was feeling. Her face was blank and she refused to look me in the eye. But I knew this would push us to the breaking point, I just wanted her to be safe.
“So, what do you actually do, Max? Where do you work?” she growled.
“It’s complicated. I mean, I do work for the National Weather Service. But I lead a project directed by Homeland Security.”
Cindy beamed at me then turned away. She whispered something underneath her breath, but I ignored her and kept going.
“Look I can’t tell you anything else. At least not here. I’m sorry, Cindy, but this was top secret, I couldn’t tell anyone.”
Jake started to laugh. “Dude, you can’t be serious. Top secret? Leading a project for homeland? Come on, man, you couldn’t lead us out of Atlanta.”
“Screw you, Jake!” I spat.
“Screw you!”
“Guys, come on,” Brent piped up.
I took a deep breath and turned my attention back to Cindy. “When we get to Cartersville…I’ll tell you everything.”
That didn’t seem to make her feel better. She wrinkled the corner of her mouth and leaned back, but there wasn’t anything else I could say. I’d already told her enough to land me in prison and the looks and stares from the others in the truck couldn’t have been a good sign.
Brent glanced at me then stared toward the ground. Jake wouldn’t even look in my direction. I’d had about enough of them, I wished I’d left them back in that damn apartment. If we were gonna survive, it’d be because of me, not one of them.
What didn’t they understand? I’d led them from that nightclub, I’d kept them safe, and because of me they were all still alive to hate me. That’s all I’d been trying to do for years…save the world.
The truck started to slow and I could hear elevated voices in the distance. I quickly sat up and started to look around.
“Hurry up!” someone shouted from outside. “We’re evacuating now.”
The truck came to a complete stop and I jumped up. “Something’s going on,” I said.
Cindy grabbed my hand. I was sure she was still pissed at me, but she was scared. I pulled her up next to me and we quickly moved to the edge of the truck bed.
Captain Estevez stepped around the corner. He had a worried look on his face and was motioning to someone in sharp movements. There was a lot of commotion going on outside, just out of view.
Cindy’s hand trembled, or maybe it was my own. Something bad was coming. My throat dried and my voice felt like a twisted bone lodged in my neck. The fear that I thought we’d left in the apartment was creeping back.
Estevez turned toward me and took a deep breath. “There’s a truck leaving now, they’re heading to Calhoun,” he said. “If you hurry you can catch a ride.”
“Let’s go,” I snapped and grabbed my bags.
I jumped out of the back and turned around to help Cindy down. She was terrified, but eventually climbed out of the truck. Brent and Jake stopped at the edge and gave me an odd look.
“Let’s go,” I said again. “They’re leaving.”
“We’ve been talking,” Jake started. “It’s probably best if we stay here. Wherever they are trying to take survivors is probably safest.”
“Are you kidding me?” Cindy suddenly shouted.
“You can stay too,” Jake replied. “But we aren’t going.”
“Fine, stay here. Cindy, let’s go,” I growled and tightened my grip on her hand.
Cindy looked back into the truck and then to me. Before she could get out whatever words she was thinking something exploded and a loud boom rattled the ground.
“What the hell?” Captain Estevez groaned.
He circled the back of the truck then headed toward the front. Suddenly, a whoosh of air swept passed me. I felt my feet lift from the ground as the force pushed me backward, ripping Cindy’s hand from my own. I heard her yell something to me and then I was airborne.
The sky came into view, then the ground, then the sky again. I was spinning like a ragdoll, twirling through the air on a high-speed collision course with the unknown.
I could hear people screaming and things falling apart. There was a loud roaring in my ears as I swung my arms like a dying bird. I struggled to gain control, but I was moving too fast.
I couldn’t tell what was up or down anymore. I felt like I was going to pass out from the force of the blast alone or the constant spinning, like I was in one of those NASA centrifuges. Then, without warning, I met the ground and everything went black.
CHAPTER 10
I’M STILL BREATHING
My body ached. Every nerve, every cell screamed in pain. Was this what it felt like to die? I couldn’t hear, I couldn’t see, and I hurt so much I couldn’t determine what was actually injured.
All I knew was pain. As my awareness of self slowly came back, I continued to wonder if I was dead or alive. I guessed alive, death couldn’t hurt this much.
I could feel the hard ground against my skin. A rock or some piece of concrete was jarred into the small of my back. I could feel blood in the back of my mouth, the distinctive metallic taste, pooling on my tongue.
I was afraid to open my eyes. Afraid to find out if I was even able to open my eyes. So, for minutes I just laid still, and it was the most agonizing moments of my life.
I still couldn’t hear anything and that terrified me. I didn’t think everything had gone silent, rather something was wrong with my ears. Whether or not that would last was anyone’s guess.
The longer I lay on the ground the more my body hurt. The more uncomfortable I became and eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I opened my eyes and blinked wildly. Something hot was covering my face and suddenly I could feel it burning my skin. It was metal, hot metal. A slab of it had fallen on me and I squirmed in panic.
I’d been in an accident? I remembered that much. Something bad had happened and…and I wasn’t alone. Someone should’ve been with me.
With a heavy grunt, I pushed at the slab of metal and slid it to the side. I sat up and let out a roar. My back felt like my spine was trying to rip through it. My brain was rattling inside of my head and my eyes burned like my tears were made of fire.
Someone grunted a few feet to my left and I snapped my head around. A woman’s hand jutted out from beneath a pile of dirt and rocks. Blood was dried to her skin, gashes and scrapes were up and down her arm, but something, something was familiar about her…and then it hit me.
“Cindy!” I shouted.
Everything was coming back to me, the truck, the explosion, the earthquakes. Something had gone wrong. We were all just there, just standing there.
I scuffled to my feet and rushed to Cindy’s side. She was partially covered under a mound of dirt and small bricks. Her eyes were closed, but she was still breathing.
“Cindy…Cindy,” I called as I dug the rubble from around her.
I pulled her into my chest and squeezed. I could feel her heart beating, but she wasn’t responding. I shook her then grabbed the sides of her face and pressed my forehead to hers.
“Cindy, wake up. Cindy, can you hear me?”
She moaned again and then her eyes fluttered.
“Cindy?”
“Ugh,” she groaned.
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“Cindy?”
“What…what happened?”
She slowly opened her eyes and gazed at me. I felt my chest lighten and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“I don’t know,” I replied and looked past her.
About thirty yards away the military truck we rode in was toppled over. The ground behind it had rose like a mountain and in front of it a thin vapor spiraled from the ground. Bodies covered the floor, but I couldn’t see whose and I felt sick to my stomach, knowing that my friends could be among them.
“Are you hurt?” I asked Cindy.
She looked herself over then shook her head from side to side. I stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. I grimaced, but tried to hide the pain that I was in. It was something I would worry about later.
Smiling, I wiped the dirt from her face. As my brain seemed to be reconnecting everything, the shock of almost losing Cindy came crashing down. It felt like someone hit me with a sack of rocks. I staggered then gritted my teeth as I felt my stomach churn.
I grabbed Cindy by the arms and pulled her into me. “I love you. I don’t ever want to lose you,” I said.
“I love you too, Max,” she whispered into my ear. “Where’s Jake? Where’s Brent?”
I looked over her shoulder and wondered if they’d survived. No one seemed to be moving and the amount of vapor or smoke that was coming up from the ground was getting thicker and thicker.
“Let’s go find out,” I replied.
We slowly made our way back to the truck. It looked like we were walking through some kind of morbid construction zone. Pieces of metal and other debris were scattered across the ground. Chunks of burning vehicles sent acrid smoke into the air. And among all of that were the dead.
I could see the bodies of people up ahead. I knew they were dead, I didn’t need to get any closer to see the bent limbs and twisted faces. It was a nightmare and I could only hope my friends were alive somewhere in there.
“What did this?” Cindy asked as she wrapped around my arm and pulled tight.
“I don’t know. Looks like some kind of underground explosion. Maybe gases unleashed after the last quake.”
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