Nick turned to Graham and Bill fear contorting his face. ‘I don’t know if the building can survive this! There’s going to be extreme shaking. You better brace yourselves.’
The minutes ticked by as the great wall of thundering water advanced, slowing now. Nick guessed its speed at less than eighty kilometres. Trillions of litres of water were almost upon them, piling higher and higher as it neared the shoreline. The great green hulk curled its head like a swaying enraged Cobra as it hovered ready to strike.
The terrified group steeled themselves, cringing together on the floor by the revolving floor Karen felt her eardrums threatening to burst as the loud roar of the primal horror approached. Closing her eyes she prayed with a vengeance of a woman possessed.
Nick on the end of the line, looked down at the wave with a detached fascination, its crest loomed only ten metres below them. This meant it would take out everything below the twenty-second floor of the building. He prayed too, that the steel foundations of the building would hold. Time seemed to be suspended. He felt the earth shaking and suddenly, with a sickening wrenching thud it was on them.
Nick grabbed Karen’s hand as the floor beneath them heaved and swayed. There was a screeching smashing explosion as the Navilon windows behind and all around shattered instantly, sending clouds of debris inward. The blast of the wind hit them with force, almost sucking their breath away. The roar of the wave was now accompanied by the piercing sounds of furniture and objects around them exploding and shaking so violently, their bodies vibrated as well. Graham tried to stand but fell back as the floor rose up beneath him and the entire building trembled. Nick detected another sound. A high-pitched scream. He turned his head to see Veronica who was at the other end of the line lying among the shattered flying objects, blood seeping from cuts all over her body. He tried to call out to her, but the clamourous noise obliterated the sound of his voice.
Nick felt the building begin to sway, imperceptibly at first, then with a gentle rhythm. He watched fearfully as huge cracks opened up the walls, pictures jumped from their mountings and chandeliers quivered before falling to the floor, their shining crystals dancing excitedly before smashing into small pieces resembling crushed ice being dropped from a height. All around was carnage. Veronica’s beautiful furniture and artefacts were demolished like matchsticks. He had never known such terror, even when they had been trapped in the Bunyip by the volcanic blasts in the Bering Sea, and he had been threatened with a watery death. His mouth was dry, saliva refusing to flow, his throat ached and his heart pounded threatening to burst.
His eyes searched for Karen in the fading light. She lay only a metre from him, face down on the floor with her arms around her head, her body shaking uncontrollably. He edged toward her and reached his arm over her shoulders and she turned to face him, tears streaming down her white face as she clutched wildly at him in a frantic effort to stop the fear.
They lay huddled together; Nick protecting her from flying objects until eventually there was nothing left to fly, and there was only the sound of the pounding sea. They held their breaths as the building continued to move with a gentle rhythmic sway. Nick looked up at the ceiling, cracks appeared everywhere but it was holding! He sighed in relief and the blood in his veins began to flow again. The worst was over. Something jolted him and an emptiness filled his soul.
Brian! Something’s happened to Brian! He thought.
Darkness closed around them, swiftly throwing her blanket over the stricken group as they lay quiet, afraid to move and face the devastation they knew surrounded them.
‘Are you all right?’ Nick asked Karen, pushing the hair from her damp face.
‘Oh, Nick. I’ve never been so scared in my whole life.’ She replied. ‘Thanks.’ Her face was close to his as she gazed into his warm brown eyes, and just for a moment her heart skipped a beat. She pulled back abruptly. ‘What about the others?’ She asked, slowly rising to her knees.
‘Graham! Bill! Where are you?’ She cried.There was a groan from behind an upturned shattered couch lodged against the revolving floor where Bill lay. She stood gingerly, Nick rising with her, steadying her by the arm. He tore the makeshift line from his body, ignoring the howling wind that threatened to pull him into the sea.
‘Here, take the torch and look after Veronica over there.’ He pointed. ‘She’s got some bad cuts. I’ll see how the others are.’
Karen found Veronica whimpering and cowering in the corner now opened to the elements at the edge of the room, her arms wrapped around her knees. Blood was congealing in dozens of cuts over her arms and legs. Karen could see none were serious, so she simply pulled Veronica into her arms and consoled her.
‘It’s over now.’ She soothed. ‘It’s okay, we’re all right.’
‘My God, Karen. We’re alive! I never thought we’d survive. Where’s Bill?’
‘He’s over here.’ Nick called out above the wind. ‘He’s fine but he’s in a lot of pain. His wound’s bleeding again. Karen can you come and take a look?’
Graham was on his feet now and had also gone to Bill’s assistance. Together they slowly helped him to his feet. ‘I’m afraid there’s nowhere to sit you down.’ Graham said. ‘Over where the girls are seems the best place.’ They untied Bill and led him over and lowered him down against the wall, where Karen removed his shirt to examine the wound.
‘We’d better check around for structural damage.’ Nick suggested. ‘We have to get out of here before the next wave comes. I doubt the building can take another blow like that. It’s a miracle she’s still standing.’
‘The next wave!’ Graham exclaimed. ‘Bloody Hell! You mean to say there’ll be more like that!’
‘Yeah, ‘fraid so. Probably bigger! We don’t have much time before the next one. We’ve got to get up to the roof to Liberty, it’s our only escape now.’
‘If she’s still there.’ Graham said. ‘I anchored her down well on the Veto pad, but in all that shaking, anything could’ve happened.’
Nick walked to the balcony cautiously, afraid of what he was about to see. The strong wind howled around him, whipping his hair and stinging his eyes. A new moon had risen, giving just enough glow to see the lush parklands below gone, replaced by a boiling frothing, cauldron. Glancing to the right he was unprepared for what faced him. The south-east tower of the Phoenix complex was still standing, but in the gloom his eyes couldn’t make out any other buildings! He could not see his building nearby. He blinked in disbelief and rushed over the broken glass and debris to the other side of the room. The scene confronting him there was similar. The two western towers of the Phoenix were still planted firmly amidst the froth, but he couldn’t see any other buildings! Yellow shafts of light from Veto’s searchlight beams filled the sky to the west, he squinted but he was unable to distinguish any other details.
The sounds changed. The deafening roar of the tsunami as it beat it’s way inland was now replaced by a different sucking sound that Nick recognised as the murderous sweep of the backwash, as the ocean receded. The gentle sway of the building increased to a frantic tremble again, as the ocean roared back, stripping anything that remained in its path, lashing at the foundations, trying to pluck them from the solid rock that anchored them. Nick backed away from the yawning hole where the windows had disintegrated in horror.