Countdown

A young man around the age of 18 groaned, finding himself lying face up and looking at the cracked ceiling. His vision blurred in and out, and he blinked his blue eyes in order to make it clearer. He took a glance at his legs to see two concrete slabs covering them in the shape of a teepee, leaving just enough space in the gap for his legs to be squeezed underneath, long cutting off the circulation. He groaned and felt around for something to pry the large slabs so he could have room to move his legs...He found a large pipe and propped it up, beginning to slide out with difficulty, he braced his abdominal muscles together in efforts to help his process. Inch by inch the young man slowly slid his lower legs out and let out a huge sigh at the effort, laying back on the ground to catch his breath. He shuddered slightly at the tingling sensation in his lower legs, wondering how long they had been like that. He leaned with his head back, closing his eyes before gathering his thoughts.

“What just happened? I can’t remember anything…. Wasn’t I..? I was in school right? .. where am I?”

Kane’s face twisted as he tried to piece together his day, but everything was fuzzy. He scooted up again and turned his head to the left, only to have his cheek brush against something metal.

Kane blinked open his blue eyes and noticed a heart shaped locket, slightly dirty from the air around it. In the minimal lighting he was able to make out that it was gold colored and it was about half the size of his palm.

He reached over and grabbed at it with his hand to inspect it.

It had leaf engravings on the front side, leading into a rose in the center. He brushed the locket with his thumb to clean the dirt off of it, turning it over to inspect the back.

Written on the back of the locket were the words, ‘You are everything in my life..’

Kane felt his heart warm at the words and began rubbing at his legs with his other hand. He didn’t have much else to do while he waited for the feeling to return to his legs. And he began to wonder what the inside of the locket looked like. But out of respect for the owner’s privacy he decided not to open it.

With a cough he slowly propped himself up, looping the chain of the locket onto his belt and sticking it in his pocket. “Maybe I’ll give this back to whoever owns it as soon as I get out of here and figure out what happened..” He looked around, noticing that his memory of this place was starting to come back. He was in the basement of the college he was attending.

He limped around, looking for a way back to the surface and groaned at the sight of the stairway. Most of them, if not all of them were broken with only a bit of the ledge and railing left. There was no way that he was climbing that, so he looked around for old filing cabinets and desks so that he could make himself a makeshift staircase.

With several grunts and efforts later, he was able to make a tower that ascended towards the upper floor. There was a discarded first aid kit that he grabbed and strapped onto himself, thinking that he might need it for later..

Bit by bit the teen climbed up the pile, slowly because his legs still hurt.

When he made it over the top, he saw more and more damage, which made more memories come into his mind.

He gasped and rolled on his stomach to the floor in front of him; ”It was a massive earthquake.” One like no one has ever seen before, the kind that scientists say only happen once every 5 million years.

Bracing himself to stand, he looked around at the broken windows, the sky outside looked orange, but he wasn’t sure if that meant that it was dusk outside. The hall that he was in was trashed with debris, and he was careful to avoid glass.

His mind went to his family; his mom and dad. What happened? Are they ok? His heart rate quickened at the thought of his parents’ safety and he coughed again at the dust in the air.

He needed to go home; but first he needed a mask in this air. He knew there was a maintenance closet that had some supplies and masks, so the boy limped over to the location and prodded inside the already cracked open door. He spotted a gray mask with two respirators, snatching it and slipping it on his face. He also decided to load up on safety goggles and spare filters while he was there.

As he finished his looting and looked for the nearest exit he noticed the odd lack of people. .. This place was filled the last he was here, where was everyone else? He just hoped his friends and teachers made it out O.K..

The doorway was blocked over with debris, however the windows were egress so he was able to climb through with difficulty due to his injuries. He got a good chance to look outside and noticed how every building had damage, if not destroyed totally. Power Lines were down and some straggling people were wandering about, as if they had no idea what was going on.

Even though streets were cracked and everything looked decimated, he still knew which way was home, so he made a beeline for his home where his parents were.

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A woman paced her living room out of nervousness, wondering when her husband would be back. She wasn’t just any woman but she was a mother, and an extremely worried one at that. She’d join her husband when he went out but she had people to take care of; their home had become sort of a refuge for people. It was one of the places that had the least amount of damage, most people’s homes were completely destroyed and thus they had nowhere to go.

Among those staying here were a couple of her son’s friends Shin and Tania. She has become sort of a mother to them since they haven’t been able to find their own parents.

Kassandra’s breath caught in her throat at the front door jiggling and twisting before turning and a man stepping through. She released the breath she had been holding at the sight of her husband, who just came back from foraging for goods and information.

The man tore off his mask as soon as he entered, closing the door behind him and scratching at the facial hair that had grown on his face due to him not being able to shave.. His wife intercepted the bag that he was holding with a question in her eyes.

Ian just shook his head, ”No… I haven’t found out anything… “ No one knows what happened to those who were at the university the day of the earthquake, most of the people there died in the accident. This made them more worried about their son Kane who was there on work study that day.

Both man and woman tensed up at the sound of the door handle jiggling, almost as if testing it to see if it was unlocked. Ian took a step forward in order to face any potential threat and watched as the door slowly opened and the image of a young man slouched through the door. He was wearing goggles, a large mask with two respirators and was carrying a small bag with a first aid kit strapped to his thigh.

“Mom? Dad?”

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Over the course of the next 4 days Kane was getting wounds treated, some rest, and also some information on what happened. Everyone was taken by surprise at the earthquake, and almost no one was prepared for it. He was happy that his two friends Shin and Tania were safe, but was left slightly worried about their parents, but didn’t mention it out of fear of making them anxious.

Even in these 4 days, humans have been trying to get back into some sense of normalcy, bartering food goods and people trying to set up trading businesses. He himself hasn’t gone outside much due to him still resting from his injuries.

Kane glanced lazily at the locket that he set on his desk. He was in his room while most everyone went looking for supplies. He brushed his index finger over it, tracing the engravings with a sigh. He was tempted to open it again. Maybe opening it would help him find out who the owner is so he could return it? It was all with good intentions. He just hoped that the owner wasn’t among the many dead at the university..

He looked around, almost feeling guilty about his curiosity as he thumbed open the locket and took a peek inside.

Typically, the first thing one would notice would be some cute picture or a note with something special written on it; but not this case.

Kane’s eyes widened in shock at the glass covered chipset in the locket. Over the glass was a green holographic circle made up of 19 straight lines. “19.. That’s strange..” Normally artificial things were made in even numbers, but he couldn’t be sure about this case since he’s never seen anything like this before.

Peeling his eyes from the strange circle to the left side of the locket, he saw what he assumed would be in there in the first place; a picture.

It was a family photo consisting of a dad, mom and a daughter who he would guess was about 11 at the time this was taken.

He looked at the green circle again with a furrowing brow, feeling a twist in his gut that this wasn’t just some ordinary locket….

While he was in the middle of his thoughts he heard a loud banging noise in the distance, any light that he had from his window was instantly blocked out by darkness and he heard screams from people outside. He moved to stand up only to fall to the ground as something like a shockwave beat against the frame of the house, making him lose his footing.

He couldn’t see anything and he didn’t know what was going on.

Seeming that the event was over with, he stood shakily to his feet and exited his room, looking around for anyone. He caught the door being flung open, and ash covered people flooded into the house, wiping at their eyes and splashing water on their faces from a bucket.

Shin coughed as he wiped his face, "The volcano erupted! I’m sure of it!” He stumbled over to Kane while everyone else cleaned themselves up.

Kane blinked at his friend, "But the nearest volcano to us is 1000 miles away.”

Shin wiped more ash and squinted at his friend, "Exactly.. We’re just seeing the ash..” He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow, "It’s strange..that volcano was said to not be active … it’s not supposed to erupt for another million years. .”

“Is this the same millions of years that we weren’t supposed to have that massive earthquake?” Tania wiped herself with a towel, walking up to the two males, "I’m starting to think that our scientists are equivalent to weathermen o r the facts are just wrong.”

Kane was going to say something, before the pulsing green light in his room caught his attention. His friend curiously followed him as he went to his room to find the strange locket. “What the?!”

The open locket went from 19 green lines to 18 lines. The light of the hologram began pulsing in a steady heartbeat.

Before the eruption, there were 19 lines… Now there’s 18..

What?