Chloe's hands trembled, and for a moment, it was as if she had lost control of her own body. However, she quickly realized that the source of the tremors was external, rather than internal. She had moved to California after graduating high school. There had been a few decent ones during her time at Stanford, but even more when she had been incarcerated. She
knew what she had to do but for some reason, she couldn't move. She could just feel the vibrations pass through her. The smirking vision in front of her inspired a deep sense of dread, eating away at her.
There was no need to ask Ryan what he meant. The vibrations were increasingly violently and she could feel the weight of the gun against her head. She didn't have time to hope that Riley would avert her eyes - she didn't need to see this. There wasn't a moment to let the gun fall to the ground or even a chance to say goodbye to her twin sister. Her life didn't flash before her eyes - instead, she heard the sound of cuffs snapping on, the laughter of her cellmate. She smelled the smoke of a cigarette - one that she somehow knew belonged to Ryan - and the vibration of a guitar string against her fingertips.
Not more than a few seconds after the earthquake began, Chloe's finger clenched, pulling the trigger. Her death was nearly instantaneous, as the bullet penetrated her skull and her brains blew out behind her. The blood and grey matter spattered the wall, while her body dropped to the ground, the gun still clenched in her hand. It hadn't been the way she imagined herself dying. But her life was never the way she imagined it as well. There was little point in expecting the pattern to change at the very end.
She was twenty eight years old.
Six Years Ago
The Metropolitan Detention Center, Los Angeles, California
"Inmate 51434-499, with Griggs." The guard tapped twice against the cell door, staring expectantly at the shy girl from Indiana. Her hair was tangled and knotted, with her eyes swollen and puffy from crying at her trial. Despite a friend helping her to get a decent lawyer, it still hadn't been enough. Another had taken a deal and testified against her. There wasn't anything that could be done at that point. She was sentenced to two years in federal prison, but she would be up for parole in thirteen months. The sentence could have easily been far worse.
"Inmate 51434-499, we don't have all day," the guard stressed. Chloe jumped a bit before hurrying into the cell, carrying a pillow, blanket and toothbrush. They were her only possessions - anything else she wanted to have with her in the prison would come in a week if she was lucky, though it could easily be longer.
She couldn't tell if the cell was nice or not. Aside from movies and television shows, she had never seen a prison before in her life. But now, she was incarcerated in federal prison. Lying on one of the beds with a book was her cellmate - Griggs. In one hand, Griggs fiddled with a hamsa amulet.
"What day is it, girl?" Griggs asked.
"...Tuesday?" Chloe replied uncertainly, pillow and blanket still in hand.
"Huh. Now that's a white-ass name if I've ever heard one," Griggs mused. "First stint, Tuesday?"
"That's not my name...It's Chloe," Chloe said quietly. She wasn't sure as to whether or not she could place her things down on the other bed.
"Nah, stick with Tuesday. It's better."
Ravi Chakrabarti
Location: Funeral Home, North of Newman
The sharp
crack of gunfire snapped Ravi out of the hallucination. He let out a sigh of relief upon realizing that it hadn't been real and that his beard was safe from harm. However, the gunfire itself was troubling. The noise would attract walkers and live people to their location. If that hadn't done it, then the earthquake certainly would have. While others might have been terrified and horrified with the vibrations, Ravi was accustomed to earthquakes. His Seattle pride wouldn't allow him to be anything but.
"Yes...Yes, we need to go see if they need help," Ravi agreed. The chemicals could wait. And with the shaking of the Earth, they were lucky nothing had tipped over. Proper storage methods were not always followed and while chemicals were separated according to the consequences if they were to mix, there was no reason to assume that the code had been followed correctly.
He took off after Niesha, torch in hand. The home seemed to be relatively intact, from what he could ascertain. Not all buildings were able to adequately withstand quakes. They were lucky - the damage could have been far worse. But it was possible that Newnan itself had not fared as well...They would need medical staff. Yet at the moment, as far as Ravi was aware, only Froggy was there. The rest of the medical team was here, attempting to get the needed chemicals. Once they made it to the main floor, Ravi looked around quickly. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. His gloves were abandoned on the floor of the basement, forgotten.
"Riley? Chloe? Can you hear us?" Ravi called out.
Jack Hudson
Location: Outside Building One (Medical)
Froggy's voice helped to calm Jack's nerves, still gripped by the illusion of being trapped in the enclosed space. However, he still couldn't see. He barely registered Froggy and Sid dragging him outside of the building, and when the vision dissipated, it seemed to be replaced by another one. The ground was shaking and clouds of dust were rising.
"Froggy?" Jack called out, but he couldn't see the man.
"Froggy?! Froggy?!" Jack shouted, before his eyes fell upon a limp form - Sid. His heart stopped beating for a moment as he took in the sight and as it didn't vanish, he realized that it was real.
"Tatiana. Tatiana. TATIANA!" Jack shouted, attempting to get his bearings. There was a gigantic chasm in the ground and across the way, towards the distillery, he could see Tiffany. As his eyes scanned the chasm, he saw a ten feet stretch. It was the only place that it could be crossed - he'd need to do a running jump.
While it made sense for Tiffany to jump across to join him, he couldn't make that decision. His pregnant wife was in the house, waiting for the morning sickness medication he was supposed to bring her. He didn't care if he died, as long as he could get Tatiana out of Newnan safely. He wasn't about to have their marriage last only a day. They were supposed to grow old together, to do the white-picket fence life in this time of suffering and tragedy.
"Tiffany, Tatiana's in the house!" Jack shouted across the chasm to his friend.
"I gotta go get her!" He paused for a moment, before remembering that he had his walkie on him. Pulling it out, he put out a message:
"Tati, do you copy? Tati?" His heart was pounding furiously. If there was no answer, it would tear him apart.
Beatrice Decker
Location: The Meeting (Three-way intersection near the Hershall Norred Water Plant)
Beatrice's eyes widened as she felt the rumbling of the Earth. It had been years since she felt that - over four, to be precise. Earthquakes didn't happen very often on the East Coast, from what she had come to understand. But there wasn't another logical explanation for what was happening - unless a fleet of tanks happened to be coming their way, but she was fairly certain they'd only encounter one tank that day. Anymore than that and it would be excessive.
"It's a quake," Beatrice explained to Ryan. He seemed to be nervous, but as far as Beatrice was concerned, they weren't in the absolute worst place to be during an earthquake. It was only natural that he was afraid - from what she remembered, he was from New York. They mustn't have had many quakes there. Her eyes widened as she saw the mushroom cloud rising above Newnan.
Maybe it had been a good idea to go with James on the suicide mission, after all.
She barely registered someone crashing into her and shoving her out of the way. Beatrice hit the ground hard, sliding forward and skinning her arms in the process. Blinking a bit, she tried to comprehend the events that had just happened. It had all been so fast but then...Then she realized what had happened.
"That's not how we do it downtown," Beatrice whispered. She was normally completely composed, even stone cold at times. Yet her breath caught in her throat and silent tears slid down her face. Her hair had fallen forward, hiding her eyes slightly from the others. James, Ryan, and Tiffany were her only friends. Ryan and James had just died in front of her and judging from the smoke coming from Newnan, Tiffany wasn't among the living either.
She prided herself on having a certain healthy detachment. If only she actually could perfectly repress her emotions...
"Yeah, I'm good," Beatrice answered as she took Gavin's hand, but her voice broke.
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