Theo left the apartment and found his way back to the stairwell. When he emerged on the roof the sunlight temporarily blinded him. He blinked until his vision cleared. Bill was sitting on the edge of the building with his legs hanging in the air two hundred or so feet above the street.
Theo walked intentionally loud to signal his approach. “There’s no way they survived.” Bill spoke without turning.
“You don’t know that,” Theo said. He looked out over the edge. The beach was wet but the ocean seemed to be behaving normally. The boardwalk was damaged in some places but overall not too bad. The buildings along the boardwalk were a mixed bag. Some, especially the taller condos, were structurally intact, at least to the naked eye. Many of the smaller structures had suffered tremendous damage or had been wiped out completely. The dust clouds had settled to a height of maybe twenty feet.
“What I know,” said Bill, “is that Mark was in that building and the damned thing is just rubble and dust.”
“And what if you’re right? That doesn’t change the fact that we need to get home and find out what the hell happened. There’s some reason that nobody is down there digging through the debris. Maybe they somehow just don’t know. That means if we want to save Mark and anyone else who may be trapped or hurt we need to get out of here and get them some help!”
Bill sighed. He looked exhausted. Theo wondered if his friend had slept at all. “I guess you’re right man; I’m just scared. I don’t understand any of this.” He swung his legs back onto the roof and stood up. Theo nodded his agreement. Who could possibly understand what had happened- what was still happening?
When Theo and Bill got back to the apartment, the others were all up. Michelle was clinging to Ryan. Theo locked eyes with Kylee and she ran over to him. “Have you guys figured out what our next move should be?”
“Theo thinks our best hope at saving ourselves and…you know… is to get out of this damned town and get help.” Bill spoke from the foyer and he kept eyeing the door. He was ready to face whatever came next.
The five teens descended the dark stairwell and emerged into the hazy daylight below. Ribbons of dust floated in the current of sea air. The street and sidewalk, built as they were on tightly packed sand, had warped and cracked from the earthquake. Theo led his friends carefully back onto Atlantic Avenue.
They stopped and surveyed the destruction. More than a few bodies lined the streets. Michelle turned toward Ryan and began to cry, but Theo was impressed to see Kylee carefully compose herself and remain calm.
“I thought you said there were people all over the street.” Ryan said. “I don’t see anybody.” He gulped. “Not anybody alive anyway.”
Theo shrugged. “My guess is many of them got themselves to shelter just like we did. By now maybe most of them are on their way home.”
After some debate, they agreed to cut straight back toward the bay side of the island. That way they could get some idea of what was happening on the far end of the wetlands while they walked to the bridge.
They passed by a convenience store. Although the store had survived the earthquake and been nowhere near the tidal wave, the glass door and windows were broken. Bill ran across the parking lot and looked in. “Some of the shelves are empty. People seriously stole from a store in the middle of all this?”
Theo had seen plenty of news footage of looting during chaos. This break-in didn’t surprise him at all. “People do crazy stuff. It’s just one more reason to get out of here. Let’s keep moving.”
They left the raided store behind them and crossed Ventnor Avenue. One more side street would lead to the wetlands. Theo looked at his friends. They all had similar looks of grim resolve. He promised himself that he would see them all to safety and then do whatever he could to get help for Mark and Jamie.
The teens came out of the small street and onto Winchester Avenue. Theo walked in the lead. He scanned the horizon, expecting to see smoke rising in the distance. Surely the damage extended beyond the narrow strip of island. He was shocked that the bright light of the morning sun seemed unimpeded by any smoke. He squinted his eyes against the sun and looked again. The sky was bright blue. Below that…
Theo’s jaw dropped. Ryan walked up next to him. “What’s wrong?” He looked up and the widening of his eyes conveyed that he saw exactly what was wrong. Not only was there no smoke rising from the houses and shopping centers across the wetlands, there were no houses, no centers and no wetlands. The ocean waters lapped against the side of the raised street and in some areas the waves pushed onto the road leaving wet foam.
“I don’t understand, where is everything?” Ryan was backing away slowly. Michelle ran up to him and they embraced, frightened. Bill and Kylee approached Theo. Theo tightened his jaw. He had promised to save his friends, but what could have prepared him for this?
He suggested they walk down to the bridge anyway. They proceeded in silence, each processing his or her own thoughts about the impossible situation. As Theo expected, the bridge was gone. The twisted remnants of the steel beams jutted out of the ground like crooked teeth. Beyond that, nothing.
Bill darted forward. Before Theo could stop him, he jumped off the edge and into the ocean. With no time to think, Theo jumped in after him. As he splashed into the warm water, it occurred to him that his keys and wallet were in his pockets. Well, nothing to be done about that now. Bill was swimming ahead. There was no chance of catching him, especially with a few seconds’ head start. Fortunately, Bill came to a stop. He dropped below the surface of the water and was gone for a few frightening seconds before he emerged facing Theo.
“The ground drops out.” Bill shouted back. His eyes were wide. “It was barely more than waist height for a while and now I can’t even feel the bottom. We are way out in the ocean, man; this is the real thing.”
“Okay, just do me a favor and come back. We’ll figure this out.”
Bill threw his hands in the air as if to say “how exactly will we do that?” but he started paddling back to land.
The teens wandered back toward the center of town. By now other survivors were emerging from the buildings. They were heading in different directions, but Theo felt sure that eventually they would all discover what he and his friends had seen for themselves.
Michelle pointed out that they hadn’t had anything to eat in a long time. Theo hadn’t even noticed how hungry he was. Now that the issue was raised, he could feel the pangs. “Let’s see what’s left in the convenience store before it gets totally emptied.” He took Kylee’s hand. “Then, we can walk to the park and have a picnic.” He smiled, hoping that his forced positivity would be infectious.
The store still had some supplies, but Theo and his friends were hardly the only ones with the idea to do some discount shopping. Other survivors browsed the emptying aisles. Theo noticed that many of the refrigerated units were still full. Nobody had much use for frozen goods that were no longer frozen.
The teens gathered up cans of tuna, loaves of bread and warm sodas. On the walk to the park, Theo took Bill aside. He had decided that while Ryan had more technical knowledge about a variety of things, it might be best to keep Bill focused on a purposeful goal.
“We have some things we’ve got to figure out,” Theo started. He assumed this was better than “We’ve got a serious problem.”