The young woman broke into fresh tears, and buried her face back into her hands.
Mike sat down beside her and put his arm around her in an attempt to comfort her.
“Is your husband here?”
“Not married,” she said, “There was a guy... A few years back. He's stationed somewhere in the Middle East,” she finished, as she looked at Mike.
“Sorry,” Mike said, “how long have you been out here?”
“I called this cop that had given me his card... He said the police would come so I came back out to wait, but they never showed up, so I just sat here. I didn't know where else to go or what to do! I've been here ever since, just watching the street crack.”
Mike looked around at the street.
“It happened all at once?”
“I don't know,” she replied, also staring at the street. “One second it was still whole, the next it wasn't. But it's still going on. Every little while a crack will just appear and then another section will tilt or drop a little. Sometimes there's no noise, other times it's this horrible groaning sound... Like it's alive or something.”
“Is your power on?” Mike asked changing the subject.
“No,” she replied, “went off right after the ground started shaking.”
“Mine's off too,” Mike replied.
“The power lines fell while I was out here, arcing all over the place. Scared the shit out of me too, and then they just quit... Went dead,” She said.
“Listen... I'm going to walk downtown... see if the police department is open, or see maybe if everyone is there somewhere. You're the only person I've seen so far... do you want to come with me?”
“Sure,” she said, as she stood and brushed at her jeans, “no use sticking around here I guess, is there?”
“I don't think so,” Mike said. “I think... you know that everyone else is probably downtown. Getting organized or something,” his eyes betrayed the worry he felt. He hoped that everyone was downtown as he had said, but he wasn't convinced himself. We have to find someone though, he thought, don't we?
He stood up and they both walked off down the street toward downtown Watertown.
“Mike, “ he told her. Talking to you for an hour and didn't even know your name.”
She laughed, halfhearted, but it instantly lifted the mood. “More like fifteen minutes if that... Candace.” She told him.
They exchanged small talk as they walked and it seemed to help quell the fear they both felt.
They wondered about the rising temperature as they walked.
“I wonder if it’s some sort of fall out from the earthquakes? Can it be radiation, Mike?” Candace questioned.
“Maybe. I flunked science, so I really don't know. I don't think so though. I mean, if it was, wouldn't we be sick? I think ash is a possibility, maybe if they triggered volcanoes? Makes me wish I had paid attention in science class, or physics, history, one of those.” Mike said.
She laughed again, this time a little more fully. “No,” she replied. “I don't think so either... I mean the earth shook... like an earthquake. I didn't know we could get an earthquake up here.”
“Oh yeah... Lived here all of my life. It's more than possible, happens all the time... You from here?”
“No... Syracuse, before that Texas.”
“Ah, the big city... Well up here we don't have a hell of a lot to do so they teach us about fault lines, earthquakes. We have a huge fault line that bisects this entire region and continues on south to the Gulf.”
“All the way to the Gulf?” Candace asked. She patted his arm. “Big city my ass,” She laughed. “ You should see Houston you want to see big city, buster.”
Mike laughed and nodded. “Seen Houston once... I mean, a long time ago. And then only the Greyhound station downtown.”
She stopped. ”Get out, really?”
“Really.” Mike told her. “Very bad place too,” he seemed apologetic.
“Yeah.” her eyes had suddenly gone sad. “Very.” She started her feet moving again. She had come close to telling him just how well she knew that area of Houston, and had nearly bitten her tongue to stop the words. Emotional situations... You never knew the things that would just jump right out of your mouth, she thought. Leaving you all kinds of vulnerable too.
They talked back and forth as they continued down the street. When they reached Fourth Street they turned and walked the short block to Main, turned left this time, and headed into the downtown area.
Old Towne: Katie's diary
This is not a diary. I have never kept a diary. They say, never say never, but I doubt I will.
I have never been this scared. The whole world is messed up. Is it ending? I don't know, but it seems like it's ending here.
It started early this morning while I was still at work. Earthquakes, explosions. And then I was nearly killed by some people who picked that time to rob the store. I'm cut up and bruised, but I made it home.
I tried to call the cops several times last night once I got my head clear and I was thinking straight again. Nothing. Wah, wah, wah on the phone line, never even rings, and then just before sunrise even that stopped. It's completely dead now.
When the sun came up this morning I expected to see police, fire or emergency people, but I've seen no one all day. It's nearly night. I think that's a bad sign. I have a Nine Millimeter that used to be my Father's. I've got extra ammo too. I'm staying inside.
Harlem: Tosh's Notebook
March 2nd (Last night into today)
Quakes, at least three. Warmed up fast, and all the dirty snow that was piled along the streets has melted. Torrential rains. Thunder and lightening in the snow storm that came after sunset. Didn't last long; turned back to rain. Parts of the projects are burning. Jersey is burning. The sky is red-orange, like everything across the river is on fire. No one has come.
Rain 'til noon. Destruction widespread. Then horrific quake just before dark. Started to rain again, very heavy, then later at night it turned to snow. Lightening in the snow storm.
Night, no moon, no stars. Storms stopped for a while, still no stars. Then the storms came back harder.
FIVE
March 2nd
Mike and Candace
They both stopped short as they topped the small hill at the crest of Main Street, and stared down at the downtown area on the other side of the river.
It appeared to be more of a war zone than a city. The buildings that were still standing leaned crazily to the left or right, and only the tallest seemed to have been, as yet, untouched. Candace wondered aloud at that.
“The taller ones are not that old. Built with federal monies. Earthquake proof.... To an extent. When I was a kid the tallest building was the Baptist church tower.” He pointed to a gray stone spire that reached into the air.
There was a small crowd of people milling around in the center of what had been the Public Square.
“It looks bad to me” Mike said softly. He pointed. “City police building?” He met her eyes with his own. “Gone... There should be thousands of people down there...”
Candace shook her head. “Ought to go down.” She looked up to see what he thought about it.
Tiny people walked aimlessly around the square or stood, seemingly transfixed, by the huge gray spire of rock that capped the State street end of the square. The sight of the people broke the spell. Mike nodded once and they began the walk down the hill.
They stopped and looked over the bridge that crossed the Black River. It seemed fine, almost untouched. It was so strange a sight that Mike laughed.
“What?” Candace asked.
“Doesn't it seem strange to you? Everything destroyed and the bridge sitting here untouched?” He looked from side to side before he stepped out on the steel decking and began to walk. As they neared the other side they could see that there was a crack that ran from side to side and the road dropped down more than a foot. They leapt easily down.
“That makes
me feel better. It just seemed too weird that it had no damage at all.”
Candace nodded and they continued to walk into the downtown area.
The walked up a small rise that had once been the bank of the river just a few hundred years ago, before the dams, mills, and reservoir projects had changed the water flow, Mike thought. The Public Square spread out before them.
“At least there are other people,” Candace said aloud. “Last night when I was sitting there all alone I was wondering whether there were.” She breathed a sigh of relief which was echoed by Mike.
When they reached the first people at the bottom of the hill, they could tell that many of them were in shock. An older woman wandered by completely naked. Blood ran down one calf from an ugly looking wound, and she was covered with dirt and grime. When Mike attempted to talk to her, she tried to hit him with a baseball bat she had been holding at her side.
“Leave me alone, you bastard,” she screamed into his face. And then she had run off towards one of the still standing buildings.
Mike was shaken by the experience and jumped when Candace touched his arm.
“...think,” he caught as he turned around to face her.
“Wha-What?”
“I was saying, I don't think she knew what she was doing,” Candace repeated. “Hey? Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he answered, in a small voice.
He was still a little shook up when an older man began to approach them, and he found himself wishing he would turn and head in the other direction. He didn't even recognize him until he was nearly upon them.
“Bob,” he asked, “is that you?”
Mike had worked for Bob driving truck at the gravel pit two summers before, when things had slowed down at the mill. Bob Dove owned the gravel pit, and most considered him a hard guy to work for.
Mike had liked him though. He seemed to be honest; always paid on time, and he always bought Mike a beer when he ran into him. He was forever trying to talk Mike into leaving the mill, and going to work for him fulltime. Today he seemed old and tired. Mike supposed he didn't look much better.
“How are you, Mike,” Bob asked, “some vacation, huh?”
Mike had run into Bob just the week before down at the Rusty Nail, and had told him he'd be leaving, but he hadn't given the vacation a second thought since he'd gotten out of bed this morning.
It seemed odd to think of it now. Wonder what the rest of the world woke up to this morning? He thought. It had only been a short time since he had awakened this morning, but it felt like years had gone by.
“I guess my vacation got canceled,” he said, trying a grin on his face. “Hell, looks like a lot of vacations got canceled,” he continued, as the grin slipped from his face. “Did you see any of this happen, Bob?”
“No,” he replied solemnly. “I was out at the pit, and I didn't come into town until this morning. But I saw plenty out there, thank you just the same.”
“As bad as this?” Mike asked, waving his hands at the damage that surrounded them.
Bob paused and looked around at the destruction.
“Pretty damn bad,” Bob said, as he shook his head in agreement. “I was moving the trucks down to the loading area, down the bottom there, and the ground started to shake and the shaking threw me right out of the cab. I jumped down and got the hell out of that pit in a quick hurry, let me tell you. Good damn thing I did too, as about ten minutes after I did the bottom just cracked open and she started to fill. Spent the night in the woods and when I walked out this morning the water was up the top of the pit. Never seen nothing like it.” He paused and looked around the small town square. “So I came down here, but I've been over to city hall, nobody's there. The police department, you know,” he gestured helplessly with his hands.
“Gone,” Mike agreed.
“Seen you coming across here and figured to see what you might know,” Bob finished, nodding.
Mike shook his head. “You can ask Candace,” he said pointing to the young woman beside him, “she saw it on the television last night.”
Bob looked expectantly towards her.
“Well... not like I know it all, but I was watching the TV last night, and they said...”
Mike turned to stare out at the people who stood nearby in small groups, as Candace spoke to Bob.
“Shit, don't that figure,” Bob exclaimed, when she finished, “So another politician lied to us. All last week they said that meteor would be no problem. Yesterday morning there was some yak attributed to the web about Yellowstone being closed down and already in a bad way and they denied that too,” He swore under his breath. “Figures. Seen any sign of the Guard around, or the Army?”
“We just got down here ourselves,” Mike answered, “but I expect they'll be here soon, don't you?”
“That's right!” Candace exclaimed, “They should be coming, shouldn't they? I mean, we're alive, hell of a lot of people are alive, they've got to come, right?”
“Maybe,” Bob said slowly, looking from one to the other, “but it seems as though they should have been here already, doesn't it? I mean, if they were coming, it ain't that far to the base... Eight miles? I mean, well, hell, it ain't a long way for them to come.”
Mike nodded his head. “Well, if they aren't here by noon... Anybody got a watch?”
Candace nodded and held up one hand so he could see the slim silver dial on her wrist, 9:32 he noted.
“Well, if they ain't here by noon, I vote we go look for them.”
“Sounds good to me,” Bob said, as Candace nodded her head in agreement.
They spent the morning wandering between the few remaining buildings and talking to the small groups of people that had formed around the huge church spire in the middle of what was left of the city’s downtown.
Candace found several other people with similar tales of the destruction they had witnessed the through the night. A few had slightly different takes on what had happened. One woman was convinced the end times had come and spent most of an hour trying to convince Candace to repent of her sins and join her. She had been polite and firm as she told her thanks, but no thanks. She had also stuck closer to Mike after that. Mike was disheveled. He probably hadn't realized he'd forgotten to even comb his hair when he had walked out of his house this morning and witnessed all the destruction. His eyes were a little wild looking. People tended to shy away from him when they saw him.
She sat at the bus stop bench overlooking the square and wondered what had happened to some of the people. Mike sat quietly beside her, lost in his own thoughts.
One woman had stopped by the bench and tried to convince them that flying saucers were to blame, and she actually had several people convinced of it. They formed a small protective group around their leader. Candace supposed that with the way things were this morning, that it wasn't as far-fetched as it may have been just yesterday. She listened cautiously, courteously, and they both breathed a sigh of relief when she became distracted by a small after shock and then moved on, her group hovering protectively.
“Jesus please us,” Mike said.
“Amen,” Candace agreed.
They had discovered earlier that though none of their cell phones worked, some phone lines were still working. Well, sort of, Candace amended as she thought about it now. You could call out, but all you got was static or a busy signal. There was a bank of old style pay phones in the Arcade Mall. Mike had tried for over twenty minutes, calling every emergency number in the telephone book. He had finally given up about ten minutes ago, and had ambled back over to sit beside her on the bench.
“You still want to go out to the base?” he asked now.
“No.” she replied, as she released a deep sigh. “I really don't see a reason for it... I mean, if they were there, and everything was up and running, they would be here by now. So I just don't see a reason for it. We were fooling ourselves to think that they would come. Let’s face it, they're probably at least in as bad shape as we are.”
>
Mike, who had been feeling the same, nodded agreement.
“So what do we do then?”
“I don't know, Mike. I don't know what we can do.”
The conversation ended, and they once again sat staring out over the square, neither knowing what to say.
Bob wandered back over from a small group of people he had been talking with, and sat down next to them.
“What did you find out?” Mike asked.
“Well,” Bob began, “mainly a lot of strange stuff. For instance, you know Lilly Roberts over there?” he pointed at a tall woman, standing with the group he had just left.
Mike and Candace both nodded.
“I know of her,” Mike said, “she ran that little diner out on River Road, didn't she?”
“Yes,” Candace confirmed, “I worked out there last summer, part-time.”
“Well,” Bob continued, “she said she was at home with her husband and, well... You guys know him?”
They both nodded their heads to indicate that they did, and Candace said, “Kind of hard not to know him, or at least to know of him.”
Earl Roberts, Lilly's husband, had established his own church three years before. The local paper had published numerous stories about him, and the church itself. He had obtained his license through a mail order ministry, and the church was based on the book of revelations; specifically on the principal that the planet Earth was in the last years. Jesus was on his way back, and not the easy going Jesus of the New Testament, a darker, angry Jesus.
“He's the guy who had the church out in Fort Drum, right?” Mike asked.
“The same wacko,” Bob said. “Well, anyway, they were at home last night, having an argument about that church of his; she says they were awful close to divorcing over it. So they're arguing and she's telling him how she doesn't feel as she knows him anymore, and bang the first quake hits... She says there were three, at least three,” Bob said and paused.
“Maybe five,” Candace said... “At least I felt five.”
“Bob nodded. “Better number. That's what I felt, but I didn't correct her. … So, he just turns away from her and stares at the front door for a few moments and then leaves. She's chasing him down the street, but he's making for the river fast... Snapped.”
Earth's Survivors Box Set [Books 1-7] Page 7
