Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Monsters or aliens would be an easy answer and something to fight.
Mother Nature is unstoppable and not exactly fair when she goes to war.
There’s no stopping this, whatever this is.
The black clouds begin to lift and dissipate, turning into a brilliant shade of dark blue.
Is the storm weakening? Is it going to give us our bay back?
It’s then I realize the clouds aren’t dark blue.
The clouds are gone.
No, the blue from the horizon to as far up as the eye can see, is a giant wall.
A giant wall of fucking water.
Sirens finally wail their warning, but it’s too late.
Holy shit.
Tsunami.
Tyler
I dial Aaron again. For the millionth time. Then Jesse.
Nothing except the too late alerts popping up on my phone.
This is not a drill. Tsunami warning. Seek higher ground immediately.
Fear claws its way up my throat and panic sets in, sending a tremble down my spine. My brothers. Fuck. My brothers are out there and I have no idea what to do about that.
Sirens go off all around the city.
My customer—Kellen, as the delivery app had said—has gone eerily quiet. All anger from his cold sub is nowhere to be found.
The ground rumbles again, this time audibly. I grab onto the thing nearest to me—Kellen’s arm—to keep from losing my balance. Beneath his suit, his triceps muscle is surprisingly firm. I internally chide myself for noticing something like that when the world appears to be going to hell.
Lights above us hum and buzz, flickering nonstop like we’re in some fucked-up apocalyptic office party rave.
“Holy shit,” Kellen hisses. “Holy shit.”
I refocus my attention beyond the glass rather than what’s happening in his office, searching the bay for signs of water. Nothing but a drained bowl of rocks. My gaze skims toward the storm clouds and stop when I find what I’m looking for.
Dread twists my gut as I attempt to make out what it is I’m seeing. It’s water. Endless amounts of it, swelling up—high, high, high, higher. It’s as though it’s being vacuumed away from the city and into the sky.
Are my brothers being sucked away too?
Have they capsized and been swallowed by the sea?
My fingers tighten their grip on Kellen’s arm. He must be as stunned as I am because he doesn’t gripe or push me away. We’re both frozen in terror, it would seem.
A scream pierces the air beyond his office, followed by someone crying and another yelling. This thing with the water—tsunami—is happening. It’s swelling and building and strengthening. We’re powerless to do anything but watch in horrified awe.
“W-What do we do?” I croak out, unable to bring my voice above a whisper. “What the fuck do we do?”
Kellen shrugs, making me aware of the fact I’m still clinging to him like he can save me. I forcefully wrench my hand from his arm, once again captured by the growing mountain of water.
Mom, Dad…you were right.
Seven years too soon, but you predicted the decimation of life.
Bitterness sours my tongue. It was easier believing they were crazy than accepting their fear was warranted. Fear of…this.
Dad was supposed to kill us all. That was their plan. However, the second he shot our mother in the head, the guilt was too much to bear. He couldn’t do that to his children, too, and put the gun in his mouth.
Are they watching from somewhere? Heaven? Hell? Another reality?
Are Aaron and Jesse with them now?
Am I all alone?
Someone makes a guttural, pained sound. I’m shocked to realize it’s me. The grief is threatening to drown me far quicker than any catastrophic wave.
Bile burns my esophagus. I try to swallow it down, only making myself more nauseous in the process. It’s then I’m aware of the cloying scent of marinara sauce and heavily seasoned meatballs. Absently, I zip up my satchel to keep from gagging.
Funny what you fixate on when your life is flashing before your eyes.
Like Kellen’s cologne. It smells fucking expensive. Until this moment, I always wondered what it would be like to have everything I ever wanted. Of being able to whip out a black AMEX and buy whatever I damn well pleased.
My brothers are drowning and I’m thinking about Lamborghinis.
I’m losing it. I’m losing my mind.
Another rumble of the earth has me grabbing onto Kellen again. This time, I don’t let go because I’d rather cling to my rude customer in the last few seconds of my life rather than die alone.
I’m all that’s left.
My ears pop and then I hear it.
A roar.
Softly at first and in the distance, somewhere beyond the wailing sirens.
Then the pressure in my head builds as the rush of sound grows in intensity. It takes me a second to realize the sound is from the sea.
“It’s coming,” Kellen hisses, gesturing wildly at the glass. “The water is coming back!”
Sure enough, the wave remains an imposing tower as water below it surges back toward the city. It’s like the biggest dam in the world has burst open, sending all the water in existence heading our way.