The condo building was much larger than the Sea Sons motel had been before its collapse. It had, as Theo suspected, also fared much better. Theo figured Ryan and Michelle had entered through the parking garage but the entrance was partially blocked by a large, yellow bar with “14’ maximum height” printed in large black type. The bar had fallen off one of its two chains and landed on a car that was stopped in the entrance. The water reached to the top of the car’s tires, but the vehicle appeared to be empty.
“Should we move that bar out of the way?” Bill asked as he walked to the entrance.
“No,” Theo said, surprising himself again with his quick and decisive reply. “It’s too dark in there and we don’t know what we’d be stumbling into. We need to find another way to get to the stairs.”
“Well this won’t work,” said Bill as he pulled on the lobby door. Locked.
“I have an idea,” Kylee said, “if one of you gentlemen would give me a hand.” She ran toward the boardwalk side of the building, slowing as the pooled water from the monster wave got deeper.
Bill and Theo followed. Kylee reached the end of the building where some fortunate condo owners had balconies that looked out over the beach. Not so fortunate anymore, Theo thought.
“Ok, someone needs to help me up here.” Kylee pointed to the second floor balcony. Bill splashed over to her and positioned himself to launch Kylee upwards. She jumped off his hands and grabbed the ledge of the balcony. With impressive strength she pulled herself to a crouching position. The balcony door was shattered, as were most windows and doors they could see. Kylee disappeared into the darkness of the condo. Theo had enough time to start to think this was a very bad idea. They had no clue who or what was in that apartment.
There was a click of a bolt rotating and Theo turned to see Kylee emerge from the lobby door. “I know,” she said, “I’m awesome.” Theo smiled. He had to agree.
Emergency lights had powered on in the stairwell, but several had failed either from the damage to the building, the moisture from the wave or just lack of maintenance. Either way, there was just enough light to make sure they didn’t fall on the slippery concrete.
The stairwell seemed endless. Theo lost track of the number of floors as they climbed. Glancing at the building from the outside he had guessed there were maybe twenty but as exhausted as he was it seemed like more.
Finally, they arrived at the door to the roof. Theo had a moment to consider what they would do if the exit was locked, or maybe sealed by damage, but then Bill pushed on it and it clicked open.
The roof was shockingly free of debris. The wave had only reached the first few floors of the building, and the earthquake seemed to have had little effect. Theo tried to spot Ryan and Michelle but could see very little. The stars had been subdued by the debris and smoke in the air.
“Oh man I thought you guys were dead!” Ryan’s voice called from the shadows.
“Ryan!” Bill shouted. “Where the hell are you?”
“Behind you.” Ryan stepped out from the blackness. Michelle was hiding behind him. Bill made his way over to them. Theo observed that whatever spark had existed between his friend and Michelle earlier tonight had been extinguished by the trauma of what had transpired. He glanced at Kylee and wondered for the first time where they would go from here. Where would any of them go?
Ryan eyed them with dawning realization. “Where’s Mark?”
“He and Jamie were in the Sea Sons when it…” Bill’s voice trailed off as he turned away from the group.
“Oh no.” Ryan’s face fell.
Theo stepped forward and took Ryan by the shoulders. “We don’t know anything yet. We aren’t even a hundred percent sure they were still in there and if they were there’s a chance they could be okay. We had to get away from the tidal wave and we haven’t been able to go after them.”
Kylee put her arm around Michelle. Bill was sitting on the roof a few feet away. He was lost in his thoughts.
Theo released Ryan once he had determined his friend was processing everything in a reasonable way. “Bill said you came up here to look for a cell signal. Any luck?”
“Not even close. I figure either something is blocking the signal within some radius that we can’t determine yet or something took out the nearby towers.”
“You think?” Kylee said, a little smirk crossing her face, “Maybe it was, I don’t know, the earthquake?”
Ryan didn’t seem to see the humor. “The earthquake may have been the particular culprit, but I think it, and the tidal wave, are symptoms of something bigger at work here.”
“Okay,” said Kylee, sitting down in a cross-legged position, “what do we do?”
Theo saw her deep eyes looking at him hopefully. “There’s not much we can do now but wait for the morning. Ryan, how many people are in this building? Any idea?”
“I’m sure there are a few refugees hanging around, but by and large most of the people are gone. We saw them streaming out when all the craziness started. And besides, the ones on the first few floors, well…” He didn’t have to continue.
“Fair enough,” said Theo. He walked over to Bill and extended his hand. “I think the higher we are, the safer, for now at least. Let’s go down to the top floor and see if we can find a vacancy.”
The group of weary teens made their way down to the highest hallway. Ryan used his iPhone’s LED light to illuminate a few feet in front of them. They all tried various doors and found them locked. Theo was about to suggest that they break in when the edge of the small light found a door that stood partially ajar.
They cautiously entered the apartment. Moving in a tight pack, they explored each room. Pictures had fallen off the wall and shattered on the marble in the living room. Dishes were scattered and broken all over the kitchen. Mostly, though, the place was in good order considering the unusual disaster that had befallen it.
Theo suggested that the residents of this penthouse suite had bolted and forgot to close the door. It seemed a plausible enough explanation. Ryan claimed a guest room down a marble hallway. He left his phone light on in the center of the living room. To Theo’s surprise, Michelle slowly followed Ryan. He turned and saw Bill also watching as Michelle departed. Bill sat dejected on the living room couch and pulled his feet up.
Theo felt terrible for Bill. The night’s events had hit him hard. But then, whatever this was had impacted all of them. It occurred to Theo that he had no way to get in touch with his family. They couldn’t know that he was alive and unhurt and he knew nothing about their safety. Had this thing hit Philadelphia? That thought led itself to another question, one that followed him as he entered the master bedroom with Kylee and curled up in the king size bed with her in his arms.
As Kylee dozed off, Theo stared at the seemingly endless darkness above him. Finally sleep came to him, and as he drifted away that one thought kept floating through his mind. If we are in the midst of a huge disaster, where is the media to cover it? Where are the National Guard helicopters? Where is everybody?
Chapter 3
Waking once in the middle of the night, Theo had considered the possibility that somehow dawn was never going to arrive. Maybe the sun itself had gone out along with the bright lights of the boardwalk. When he woke the next time though, sunlight was trickling through the blinds on the bedroom windows.
Theo slowly got out of bed, making sure not to disturb Kylee, and went to the bathroom. He pressed the handle and the toilet gave a weak, brief flush. Theo shook his head. He should have realized that the plumbing wasn’t likely to work. He turned on the sink and got just enough water out of the pipes to wash his hands before the tap ran out. He walked out to the living room and saw that Bill was already up and gone. Ryan and Michelle’s door was closed.