As We Fall

by Jack Hunt

  “Well, I hope you wore your big girl underwear,” Chase said before cracking up.

  “No, I’m serious.”

  He stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have to go, do you?”

  “No, but I might.”

  “And we might be trapped in here overnight,” Chase said. “Do you hear me whining?”

  Harper burst into tears.

  Anna got up and put an arm around her and made a gesture with her mouth to Chase. Well done, now look what you’ve done.

  He put out his hands and looked upward. “There has to be an exit. Okay, maybe it can’t be opened from the inside but…”

  “There isn’t,” Harper said. “I know.”

  “That’s right because you’re an elevator expert. Which reminds me, what are you majoring in? It can’t be psychology. I mean with your anxiety and all, I’m not sure what help you’re going to be to a client.”

  That only added fuel to the flames. Anna couldn’t believe it. She shook her head and glared at him. Chase got the message and looked away.

  “We aren’t getting out of here, are we?” Harper said.

  “Of course we are,” Anna said. Truthfully, she had no idea but Harper was already in a bad state and she didn’t want to make it worse.

  “Actually, I was wrong, I need to go.”

  “What?” Anna asked.

  “I need to go.” Harper pointed down.

  “You are joking?” Chase said turning around.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Well you can’t go in here. Fuck, there’s barely any oxygen as it is, and if you go and take a piss this place is going to stink. That is what you need, right?”

  Harper shook her head indicating she needed to defecate.

  “Oh, hell no!” Chase said before turning towards the door and banging hard and screaming at the top of his voice just as Harper had only minutes earlier. “Help!”

  Harper quietly chuckled to herself and Anna knew she’d just lied to get back at him.

  Several vehicles were on fire, and a wall of black smoke drifted across lanes as they rounded a corner. Multiple vehicles had collided, and one had veered into a store setting the front half of the building on fire. Mason struggled to keep up, as they got closer to the university. He would stop and rub his hip and then have to jog just to keep up with Sam’s pace. This was nothing for Sam. After years of patrolling in Iraq and Afghanistan under extreme conditions, a routine of jogging three to four miles a day kept him in shape long after he’d left the military.

  “Oh don’t mind me. Just keep going. I’ll keep up,” Mason said.

  Sam turned and walked backwards while still talking. “I thought you transit guys are always on your feet.”

  “Not unless we have to, and we certainly don’t walk this far.”

  Taxis were out of the question, as most of the roads were blocked by vehicles that weren’t operating. It seemed that whatever had taken down the Internet, communication network and power had affected a vast number of newer vehicles. He recalled the article in the paper mentioning how hackers had remotely killed a Jeep on a highway back in 2015. With most newer vehicles having computer chips containing as much as 100 million lines of software code and being hooked up to an outside network, it didn’t take much to gain access through Bluetooth, radio data systems or cellular and Wi-Fi. Once hackers found their way in, they could manipulate some of the critical safety features like adaptive cruise control, hands-free parallel parking, collision prevention or lane-keep assist. Even the engine control unit, doors, steering and braking system could be tampered with through the onboard computers.

  Right now they were witnessing the beginning of it.

  “Holy crap,” Mason said catching up with him and panting. He leaned against a wall and they looked at the charred steel bones of a car. “I hope they got out.”

  Sam pressed on.

  “Hey wait up, Sam.”

  “We’re nearly there,” he said not looking back.

  “This is crazy. If it’s like this in the city can you imagine what the highways are like?” he hollered. “And what about planes? Didn’t he say something about that?”

  “Just hurry up, Mason.”

  They jogged the last stretch of road and arrived at Harvard Yard. Mason leaned against the archway grimacing. “Just give me a second.”

  “Look, I’m heading to Thayer Hall. You see that building over there? I’ll be there.” Sam took off at a fast jog, passing several students who looked lost and scared as they clustered together in groups discussing what was going on.

  When Sam arrived, the door was locked. He banged hard on it several times and yelled for someone to open up. When he didn’t get any answer he came back down the steps and stood back from the building looking for an open window. As a few students approached he asked if any of them had access to the building but they just shook their heads and continued on. Sam returned to beating on the front door until a student opened it. Sam brushed past her and started calling out Anna’s name.

  “Anna!”

  “She’s not here,” the frizzy-haired girl said.

  “Where is she?”

  “Over at William James Hall. She’s got psychology.”

  “Where is that?” he said as he flung the door open and nearly crashed into Mason who had finally caught up. The girl stepped outside and gave them directions.

  “It’s northwest of here. Cross over the Plaza, go between the Science Center and Memorial Hall, and then head west up Kirkland Street. It’s about four buildings down. You can’t miss it. It’s a fifteen-story gray building.”

  Sam thanked her and they melted into the crowd of students.

  “Seriously, do you not run out of breath?” Mason asked.

  “Not often.”

  “What did you use to do?”

  “I was a SEAL.”

  Mason chuckled. “You’re joking, right?” He didn’t reply but continued jogging. “Well that explains everything.”

  When they arrived at the building, Sam pushed his way through the rotating main entrance into the lobby. Although it was still light out, none of the lighting was on in the building so it was dark for the most part. It lacked the appeal of the historic buildings on campus and reminded Sam of a government office building. Mason switched on his flashlight and they headed for the stairwell.

  He shone the light up. “Oh, c’mon! My thighs are killing me.”

  “Wait here,” Sam said, taking two steps at a time. Mason followed but lagged behind. Floor by floor they went checking rooms but the place was deserted. The first six floors were nothing more than classrooms and professors’ offices.

  “Anna?” Sam called out on every level.

  By the time they made it to the top floor, both of them were out of breath.

  As they came back into the corridor heading for the stairwell, Mason suggested they head back to Thayer Hall and wait there until she showed up. They had made their way down to the seventh floor when Sam heard banging, and voices.

  “You hear that?”

  “What, the sound of my heartbeat about to stop?” Mason replied.

  “Listen.”

  There was silence. Nothing.

  “You’re hearing things.” Mason took a few more steps down ahead of Sam when it started again, this time he heard it. Sam entered the seventh floor and he could clearly tell it was coming from the elevator. He hurried over and pressed his ear to it. Sure enough, he heard people yelling for help, and the echo of steel being struck.

  “Mason, give me a hand.”

  They tried pulling back the doors but because the locking mechanism was in place it wouldn’t budge. “You need a drop key,” Mason said. “They usually keep them in an elevator box or document cabinet. There has to be one on the lower floor.”

  “All right, stay here while I go search.”

  Sam headed off down the stairwell, checking each of the corridors as he went just in case it was located on one of
those floors. It took him close to twenty minutes before he found it inside a locked office on the ground floor. He had to bust in the window on the door to get inside but it was there alongside one other drop key.

  When he returned Mason was lying on his back with his eyes closed, he craned his neck up and looked at him. “Ah I see you found it. For a moment there I thought you’d got lost.”

  Sam inserted the key, gave it a turn and then both of them wrenched on the door to pull it apart. Once it was open, Mason shone the light down.

  “Hello!”

  Immediately they got a response.

  “We’re down here.”

  “Anna?”

  “Dad?”

  The elevator wasn’t stuck that far down. It was between the sixth and seventh floor but if it dropped it was deep enough that it was liable to kill them. Long, thick, oily cables stretched down into the dark hole.

  Sam turned and headed about halfway down the hallway to a red fire hose box that contained the hose and extinguisher. He shattered the glass on the front with his elbow and pulled out both items. He stretched the hose down the hall then dropped the end over the edge.

  “Do me a favor, hang on to the hose while I go down. There’s no telling how strong that thing is and I really don’t want to break my back,” Sam said as he climbed over the edge with the flashlight in his mouth and slid down the hose. It didn’t reach all the way down but it was long enough to let go. He landed hard and the elevator shifted. The thud let out an echo and he heard a girl scream inside.

  “It’s okay,” he said.

  Sam washed the flashlight’s beam over the top looking for a hatch and found it in the far right corner. However it had a lock on it. He called up to Mason. “Hey, toss down the extinguisher.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Just toss it down.”

  “You know, I think I’ll just lower it,” Mason said pulling up the hose and spending the next minute or two tying it around the extinguisher before lowering it. Sam could have caught the damn thing. It wasn’t that far up. Once it was lowered, Sam had to jump, hang on to the hose and undo it before dropping down again.

  “What are you doing?” Anna shouted as he beat away at the lock with the end of the extinguisher until it gave way. He tossed it to one side, lifted the flap, and then pushed out a panel. Immediately light flooded the shaft of the elevator.

  “I thought there wasn’t a hatch?” a guy said to another girl in there.

  “I didn’t say there wasn’t. I said it can only be opened from the other side on the new models.”

  “She’s right. They don’t have them accessible from the inside,” Sam said. “Safety reasons.” He leaned down and extended his hand. “Ready to get out?”

  “You couldn’t have come at a better time,” the guy said flashing the other girl a nervous look. As one by one Sam pulled them up, a look of relief spread across their faces.

  Anna brushed herself off, and for a second looked as if she was about to hug him, instead she just thanked him.

  “You ready, Mason? Hold the other end tight.” Sam gave each of them a boost up to the hose and they began to climb.

  Once they were up, the questions began.

  “What’s going on? Why are the lights out?”

  As they made their way out of the building and headed for Anna’s dorm for the night, Sam brought them up to speed on what they knew so far and the possible connection to the Russians.

  “They think it’s a cyber attack?” Anna asked.

  “We don’t know for sure but if it’s true and they were behind the Ukraine power outage and multiple attacks over the past two years, then yeah, we might find ourselves at odds with them.”

  “That would be a disaster,” Chase said. “We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  Sam was about to reply but opted to hold his tongue. The public had no idea of what the U.S. military was capable of or how many of their troops were stationed around the globe. However, they couldn’t attack an entire country if only a small group of individuals were behind it. That’s what made fighting such a war challenging.

  FIVE - DARKNESS

  Harvard Yard was full of students going to and from dorms. Many were trying to get through to family members by phone to let them know they were fine but obviously not having much luck. The overall consensus was that it was nothing more than a power outage and people expected the lights to come back on. Some were making the most of the situation and were outside partying it up with glow lights, and flashlights. Several small fires had been lit inside overturned steel trash cans. There were even a few laughing as if it was all one big game. Harper was the only one that didn’t head back to Thayer Hall dormitory that night. She’d been quick to part ways with them, her face a mask of embarrassment. The rest piled into Anna’s cramped dorm room, which was nothing more than a common area and a bedroom with two bunk beds.

  Sam hurried over to the window and looked outside. He wanted to monitor the situation. The second it got any worse they would leave immediately.

  “Get a bag together, we’re leaving in the morning,” he said to Anna without looking at her. “Make sure it’s lightweight. We have a long way to go.”

  “What are you on about?” Anna asked.

  “Your mom’s surgery. We’re heading back to Colorado. Remember?”

  “I told you I’m not going, not until I speak with my mother.”

  “Best of luck with that, the phones are out.”

  “Then I’ll wait until the power comes back on.”

  “Chances are it won’t.”

  “You don’t know that. There have been power outages before. Harper said her sister…”

  “I don’t care what Harper said,” Sam replied turning around and approaching her. “There is no Internet, no phone signal, no power and there is an ocean of vehicles stalled on the roads. This isn’t just some random power outage, Anna.”

  “And?” she snapped back.

  “And… things will get worse before they get better,” Sam replied turning back to the window. “And I don’t plan on being in the city when they get worse.”

  “Well I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Yes you are. If I have to throw you over my shoulder, I’m taking you home. I promised your mother and I intend to deliver.”

  “I’m not a package!” Anna stormed off into the adjoining room and slammed the door. Sam heard the door lock.

  “You can lock the door all you want, Anna, when morning comes you are going with me,” he said before shaking his head.

  She bellowed back something but the door muffled her voice.

  Chase and Mason looked on with an expression of disbelief, neither one commented but instead turned their attention to the situation at hand.

  “You think it’s better out west?” Chase asked taking a seat on the sofa.

  “If the guy we met at the hotel was telling the truth, then no, but staying here in the city isn’t an option. If this is the first wave of some kind of attack, the cities aren’t safe.”

  “Actually, slight correction,” Chase said. “I recently read a study on what cities would be the safest place to survive an apocalypse and Boston was actually ranked in the top five because of the concentration of occupational skills and industries.” Sam and Mason stared back at him blankly as he continued. “Yeah, it seems that even though Boston didn’t score high when it came to food, it was leading the way when it came to finding a cure.”

  “Well that’s great. I’ll remember that when a virus breaks out,” Sam said shaking his head and leaning against the frame of the window. From the third floor he could see right across Harvard Yard. Down below he watched students party and do what anyone might with no Internet or power. They mingled and acted like it was just a small break in their mundane lives. The fact was, had he not read the article that day about what had occurred in the Ukraine, or the multiple attacks on the U.S. energy grid by Russia, Sam might have not given it a second thought but his gut was
telling him this was the real deal. Vehicles didn’t just randomly stall in a power outage. When had the Internet, telephone and power grid gone down at the same time?

  “I should probably go and track my wife down,” Mason said jerking his head toward the door.

  “You mean your ex,” Sam corrected him.

  Mason nodded. “Ex, wife, it’s the same.”

  Sam smiled.

  He headed over to the door but before he went out he stood there looking down at the floor as if he was contemplating something. “Colorado has fresh waters, lots of wild game, right?”

  Sam turned to face him. “That’s right.”

  “Chances of survival would be higher out there than here.”

  “What are you asking?” Sam asked.

  “I’m just saying. If the power doesn’t come up in the next twenty-four hours, none of the gas pumps will be operational and the food supply will grind to a halt. After that we are going to see mass hysteria; looting, rioting, all manner of crazy shit.”

  “No doubt.”

  “Hold on a second,” Chase said rising to his feet. “Look, I will admit based on the data, the outlook doesn’t look promising but there is still a very good chance that the government will get us back up and running.”

  Sam turned towards him and walked over. “Chase, right?”

  Chase nodded.

  “Chase, you ever heard of ransomware?”

  “Yeah, it typically spreads through emails or from infected websites visited. It locks up your browser and usually demands a certain amount of money to unlock it.”

  “And you know what happens when you can’t find and remove that malware?”

  He nodded. “It keeps happening.”

  “Exactly. The government might be able to get the power up but for how long before it goes down again? Look, it took Atlanta five days to deal with their issues and that was minor. We are looking at something on a larger scale. Something we have never dealt with before. This isn’t a few government websites that have been taken down, we are talking about power outages across the country, and who knows, maybe it’s even global. No Internet, no communication, roads are gridlocked which means emergency services, the National Guard and the powers that be are going to have one hell of a job trying to get help to people. And that’s even if their vehicles are operating.” Chase stared back at him and Sam continued. “You know how many people are probably stuck in elevators right now? How many people are in traffic collisions right now? Or how many people were on planes when they came down?”