Final Awakening (Book 1): Dawn

by J. Thorn

  “Let’s head through there and see if we can find a staircase,” Neil said. “We need to get to the top level if we can.”

  “I can’t see shit.”

  Neil paused. The kid was right. Walking them into a dark hallway was probably not the safest move. But as he stood there, the windows on the external walls allowed a bit of sunlight to penetrate the darkness and his eyes adjusted. He believed he could see enough to navigate the hallway... at least as far as they could go before finding the stairs.

  “Don’t worry, kid. I’m sure everyone fled this place like they did the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. We haven’t seen anyone around.”

  Isaac nodded, and Neil almost believed his own lie. There could definitely be people hiding in here. But what choice did they have? The stench of the water had intensified in his nose.

  “C’mon then.”

  Isaac led, with his rifle up and the safety off. Neil stayed a half-step behind, his eyes flitting back and forth from one side of the hallway to the other. Some of the apartment unit doors remained closed while others had been flung open, revealing the littered chaos inside. Neil almost gagged on the odors of rotten eggs and spoiled poultry. As bad as it was, though, they had not seen any other people.

  They came to a door at the end of the corridor with a sign above.

  Stairs.

  Neil had to get his face within an inch of the plate to see what the sign said.

  “Kids, stay close and hold hands,” Chloe said.

  Neil turned toward the sound of Chloe’s voice. “Are you going to be able to climb to the top floor?”

  “I should be fine,” she said, handing one of her crutches to him.

  “Stay close and listen for anything out of the ordinary,” Isaac said.

  They climbed the first set of stairs slowly. Neil listened for the sounds of the children. The darkness in the stairwell was so thick that Neil lost all sense of space. The stale air had to have been twenty degrees warmer than it was in the hallway, the humidity so high that even blinking made him sweat.

  When Neil felt his feet hit the landing between the first and second floor, he suggested that they stop to take a break. They jostled and groaned until they were sure everyone was there. Neil listened but heard nothing except everyone’s labored breathing and the squeaks and groans of an old building.

  “Let’s keep moving.”

  Neil felt a hand on his arm as Chloe spoke. He nodded, forgetting that she couldn’t see him.

  “We’re going to keep going up with Isaac in the lead. We’re not going to stop until the steps do. Is everyone okay with that?”

  He heard a few mutters, but nobody protested.

  “Good. If I counted right on the outside, that means three more floors until we reach the fourth. Let’s go.”

  They continued climbing. Neil heard squeaks and hisses coming from the darkness, and twice he felt something brush against his ankle. He shivered despite the heavy, cloying humid air inside the stairwell. The children groaned too, knowing full well what was running around on the steps with them.

  Neil was now shoulder to shoulder with Isaac, climbing the steps with one hand on the railing and the other straight out in front of his body, like a cop stopping traffic at an intersection. His palm hit the smooth surface of the steel door, and his feet kicked at the last step. Neil could almost taste the air trapped in the top of the building’s stairwell. It stank of mold and garbage, and it choked his lungs no matter how deeply he inhaled. He heard the boys coughing, but nobody else had said a word despite the fact that he had stopped them on the fourth-floor landing.

  “Now what?”

  Isaac’s question made Neil pause. He could almost feel the tension radiating from the teen.

  “I’ve got the handle. You keep the rifle on the door.” Neil turned slightly to address the rest of the group. “Everyone else go back down to the third-floor landing until we find out what’s on the other side of this door. Stay out of the direct line of sight. If you can’t see them, they can’t shoot you.”

  Isaac tensed.

  “What?” Neil said, whispering.

  “I think I heard something.”

  “I’ve been hearing all kinds of things. Let’s go. I can barely breathe in this stairwell, and I’ll vomit if I feel another rat run across my foot.”

  A shriek interrupted the conversation as someone stepped on a rat tail. Someone else’s foot came down on a rat, the rodent’s bones snapping under the pressure.

  Isaac hesitated and shook his head. “All right. On the count of three...”

  On the mark, Neil pushed the bar, and the door swung open, revealing the long hallway of the fourth floor. Pockets of light shone through the doorways left open. Although not pitch black as the stairwell had been, the hallway was still dark enough to hide threats. He looked down the steps and saw hands on the railing, but everyone had stayed below the landing, as he had suggested.

  “It doesn’t look like anyone’s in here, but we’ve gotta be sure. Keep that rifle up and the safety off.”

  Isaac started down the hallway, one slow step at a time. He turned to face the first open door on the right when a man stepped out, his arms in the air.

  “Please don’t shoot me.”

  Isaac jumped back, and Neil braced himself for the blast. He’d covered his ears, but Isaac hadn’t fired.

  “What the hell, man? I could’ve shot you.” Isaac gripped the gun and pointed the barrel at the man’s face. “Still might.”

  Neil looked at Isaac and then at the man who appeared to be in his early sixties. He wore cut-off jeans and a faded t-shirt which had once been bright white. The man’s hair hit his shoulders, and his beard extended almost to his chest. And he didn’t appear to be armed.

  “I don’t want any trouble.” The man now spoke to Neil despite the fact that Isaac had the gun pointed in his face.

  “Are you alone in here?” Neil asked.

  “Yeah. My buddy Cleveland left a few weeks ago. Don’t know where he went, but I’ve been alone ever since. Please don’t hurt me. I’m just a homeless guy trying to survive. I’ve got nothing.”

  Neil turned as Chloe came down the hall with Monica and the boys behind her. They hadn’t waited for him and Isaac to clear the floor, and Neil hoped she wouldn’t regret her impatience.

  “Put the gun down, Isaac,” Chloe said. “This guy isn’t going to hurt us.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “She’s right,” the homeless man said, arms still raised. “I’ve been staying here for months. If you want the place, you can have it. I promise I won’t hurt nobody.”

  Neil stepped past the man and into the unit he had been squatting in. Ragged and torn underwear hung from a rope strung from the window to the ceiling fan. A thin, dirty sheet had been draped over the window for privacy, but it still allowed natural light through. Two couch cushions lay on the floor next to a pile of aluminum cans, and a shopping cart tipped onto its side.

  “Put the rifle down, son.” Neil pushed the gun down, aiming the barrel at the ground instead of the homeless man.

  Isaac winced but didn’t resist. He took a step back to let Neil approach the man.

  “Thank you, sir. Thought that kid was gonna pop me one.”

  Neil wrinkled his nose as he stood in the homeless man’s unit. He was almost starting to miss the dank stairwell.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Douglas. But everyone at the shelter calls me Doug.”

  “Well, Doug, it doesn’t look like you’ve been at the homeless shelter in a while. You’ve got yourself a sweet set-up in this old abandoned building.”

  Doug grinned, showing black spaces where many of his teeth had once been. He shrugged and leaned against the counter in the kitchenette attached to the open living room.

  “I know, right?”

  Isaac and Chloe stepped forward.

  “I’m Neil. The kid with the gun is Isaac, and the woman with the brains is Chl
oe.”

  Doug nodded at everyone, even Monica and the boys who had gathered in the doorway but not worked up enough courage to brave the stench of Doug’s makeshift home.

  “Good to meet y’all.”

  “You’re the only one in this building?” Chloe asked.

  Doug nodded.

  “You’re sure?” Neil asked.

  “Positive. I’m only up here now because I was checking to make sure no one snuck in. I usually sleep on the second floor. It’s too hot up here.” He looked at the gun in Isaac’s hands again. “Can you please put that down? You’re making me nervous.”

  Neil looked at Isaac, and he set the rifle in the corner of the room.

  “So how bad is it out there now?”

  Neil wasn’t quite sure how to answer Doug. Instead, he walked into the apartment and to the window. Neil removed the dirty sheet from the window, and opened it and looked out. Doug joined Neil and stood by his side.

  Black smoke billowed into the sky, and the gunshots continued at about the same rate they had been for weeks. But Neil immediately knew the last of the pumps had run out of diesel. And nobody was coming to refuel them. The water had risen over the curb, spilling onto the sidewalks and into the grass. Several people stood on the sidewalk, trying to figure out what was going on.

  “Jesus.”

  Isaac’s voice startled Neil. The teen had crept up and was peering out of the window behind them.

  “It’s getting worse,” Isaac said.

  Neil looked at Chloe, who now stood in the hallway, talking to the kids.

  “It’s going to continue to get worse,” Neil said, keeping his voice low so only Isaac and Doug could hear him. “I think the last of the diesel has been delivered to the pump stations. I haven’t heard a tanker truck in days.”

  “What does that mean?” Doug asked.

  “It means that this entire city will be underwater, and without help from the government, we’re all going to die.”

  20

  Neil convinced them it would be safe to spend the night on the second floor. He told Chloe that the pumps would not all run out of fuel at the same time, and so the water wouldn’t rise as fast as it had during Hurricane Katrina.

  She hadn’t been sure how she was going to be able to sleep on the fourth floor. Even with all of the doors and windows open, the heat smothered them. She could handle it, but she knew the children couldn’t. Every summer, people died in this kind of extreme heat. Isaac had tried getting on the roof, but the access door was locked.

  Doug led them down to the second floor, into the room where he had been spending most of his time. He had spread his scavenged belongings into two rooms, but he had a free run of all of them. It had been years since the apartment building had fallen into disrepair, and at least a decade since people had lived there, other than homeless people who squatted on the first floor. One of Doug’s rooms didn’t have windows, but the other did—this was where he stayed when the heat intensified.

  “That water smells awful.” Doug covered his nose with his hand.

  “It’s only going to get worse,” Neil said.

  Chloe poked her head through the open window. The water continued to crawl down the street. It now ran over the curbs and had begun to spread out into the lawns and parking lots like black ink. The sun had dropped to the horizon, and she guessed that they had about an hour and a half until it was fully dark.

  “We need fresh water,” Neil said. “The more the water rises, the less likely it is we’ll be able to get out and make runs. We won’t survive without fresh water and food.”

  Isaac looked at Doug. “How much food and water do you have?”

  “No offense, kid, but you came to my home.” Doug chuckled. “This is my building. I don’t think I’ll be sharing anything with y’all.”

  Isaac gritted his teeth and stepped toward the homeless man. “You son of a—”

  Chloe hobbled between them, placing her hand on Isaac’s chest.

  “He’s right, Isaac. His food and water isn’t ours to take.”

  She saw a flicker of light in the teen’s eyes. He shrugged off her hand, holding his gaze on Doug. Chloe then turned her attention to Doug.

  “But I can tell you right now, if you don’t help us, you won’t survive this either. You’re going to need more than what you have stashed.”

  “A great flood is coming,” Neil said. “And that water down there is toxic.”

  Doug sniffed at the air and wrinkled his nose. “So then what do you suggest?”

  Chloe turned back to Neil and Isaac.

  “We need to send a search party out for food and water before the streets get any worse.”

  Neil nodded.

  “I’ll go,” Isaac said. “The rest of you can stay here and look after the children.”

  Chloe shook her head. “You’re not going out there by yourself. I’m going with you.”

  Isaac rested his hand on her shoulder. “No way. You can’t go. It’s too dangerous.”

  “And that’s exactly why you can’t go alone.”

  “Then Neil can go with me.”

  “Neil needs to stay with the children. He’s the only one who really knows what’s going on, and if something happens, he has two legs and can help get them out of danger.” Chloe looked to Doug. “He’s going with us, too.”

  “Me? No way, sister. You can count me out. I’m not getting caught up in your mess.”

  Chloe narrowed her eyes.

  “Our mess? Did you not hear what we’ve been talking about? This isn’t only our mess. The whole city is going underwater. As far as we know, the whole country is offline. No one has come to New Orleans to help us.” She stepped toward him, stopping inches from his face. “Besides, you remember all that stuff you said about how you won’t share your food and water? Well, if you don’t come help us, then we won’t be sharing what we find. What’s ours is ours, and what’s yours is yours... So I hope you’ve been able to keep the rats out of your food supply.”

  Doug thought for a moment, then sighed. “Fine. I’ll go with you. I’m starting to catch a little bit of cabin fever anyway. Even got me a few of those fancy supermarket sacks we can take with us to carry the stuff.”

  “Then help Isaac gather whatever we’re gonna need on the streets and let’s go so we can get back before the sun goes down.”

  Chloe could tell Doug had been on his own for a long time. The homeless man walked several yards ahead of Chloe and Isaac, splashing through the water without a care despite the foul stench rising from it.

  She struggled to maneuver through the sludge, but Isaac remained at her side.

  “Dax ain’t coming back,” Isaac said.

  “That’s his problem, not mine. You and I need to get supplies back to Neil and the others.”

  Isaac smirked and let loose with a light chuckle. “Don’t know what you saw in that guy in the first place. He’s kind of a dick.”

  “He can be selfish.” Chloe hobbled faster, trying her best to outrun the conversation and the rising water.

  “He’s more than selfish. He’s... reckless. I mean, does he really think he’s gonna find his sister and stroll out of NOLA?”

  “He can do what he wants, Isaac.”

  “Yeah, and that clearly don’t involve you. The people who really care about you are still here.”

  She didn’t have the time or energy to deal with this now. They had found each other, yes, but Dax was from a long time ago. He was the past, not the future.

  “We need to catch up with Doug. I like that he’s not holding back because I’m handicapped, but the three of us can’t get too spread out.”

  Isaac nodded and skipped ahead without another word about Dax.

  They headed down the street, moving in the same direction as the water. As they’d witnessed from inside the apartment building, people had come outside to watch the streets flood. Each time a person hung around long enough to have a conversation, one of the three of them wou
ld ask if he had any spare water or food. Some folks gave them a bottle of water and others laughed, asking what they had to offer in return. Nobody seemed to care how many legs Chloe had.

  Chloe thought Doug was going to hit one woman who called him a “dumbass white boy” after he’d thought she was going to give him fresh water. After a brief shouting match, though, Isaac pulled Doug away and down the sidewalk. Doug shrugged free of Isaac’s grip, cursing and moving ahead of the teen and Chloe again.

  Chloe stopped on the sidewalk in front of a house to catch her breath. A woman had gone inside, slamming the door behind her.

  “Where are we going to find water? It seems impossible.”

  Isaac watched Doug stumble through another yard before answering Chloe.

  “We’ll find some. We have to.”

  They turned onto the next street and stopped in front of a suite of old office buildings. The neighborhood had been mostly empty, which had raised the hairs on the back of Chloe’s neck. Sure, people would be seeking higher ground once the city began to flood, but these neighborhoods had been home to thousands of people. Where were they now? Other than a sedan missing one of its wheels, there were no other vehicles in the parking lot. Doug was already standing at the front door, using a rock to pound at the doorknob.

  “Wait for us,” Isaac said.

  Doug ignored him, smashed the lock, and swung the door open and headed inside.

  Isaac scoffed. “Idiot.”

  The water hadn’t yet crested the higher curb bordering the parking lot. Chloe hopped over it and used her crutches to swing up to the door.

  Doug had stepped into the building and through the darkness. Isaac had looked back to Chloe and taken a step forward just when a gunshot rang out from somewhere inside. The sound of the explosion sent Chloe stumbling backward, and Isaac instinctively held up his gun. He was about to take another step into the building when Chloe took hold of his arm.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Doug might be hurt.”

  “We need to go.”

  Isaac looked back at the door. He paused and ducked down, trying to see any movement inside. Chloe had climbed two steps and was already making her way across the raised parking lot. Isaac had turned to run when he heard the unmistakable click of a pump-action shotgun.