Chapter 12: 12. Death by Safety.
Mandy could see, just before the reinforced doors closed, a giant ship came straight for them within the waves. The doors locked and there was silence. A mocking tranquillity just before all the chaos.
The impact was massive. The room buckled and everyone was thrown off their feet. Hard to fall in a cramped space. Her body swung wildly to her left and she hit the floor hard. The lights went off, darkness swallowed them. It was suffocating.
Would the room survive the surge? It must! She needed it to. It had to. Someone's knee pushed hard on her ribs. An elbow jabbed her neck. The room jolted again. Bodies ground into each other. If the flood didn't kill them, the body on body impact sure would. A familiar voice let out a death cry from beneath her.
"Ben, is that you?" she yelled above the deafening blackness.
"Your knee…" he whispered perfectly, painfully.
"Oh shit!"
That's when she grasped the cause of his pain. Her knee was digging into his groin. Ouch! Before she could adjust, another boom and they were tossed around. Like puppets on a maniac's string. The lights came back on. Had the waters subsided? All around, people began to get up. No one seemed dead. She offered Ben a hand up and he obliged.
"Are you okay?" she asked apologetically.
"I'll be f...fine," he righted himself. "But we, n...n…"
"We what?" Mandy asked, concerned about the look of horror in Ben's eyes.
He bit his jaw in pain and looked up. He pointed to a slot on the ceiling. It was cracking. The very concrete was vaporizing above them. She turned back to see Ben take out his hearing aid. He was also clutching at his other ear in discomfort.
"You okay?" He simply responded with a nod. "Okay, we need to get these people out of here."
All around people were trying to find each other, oblivious to the peril they were in. She couldn't spot George. She cursed her short stature. All she saw were heads but none was familiar. She looked at the ceiling again, it was getting worse.
Out of nowhere, Ben carried her and sat her on his shoulder with a grunt of effort. From her lofty position, her eyes were a satellite. George was standing by the door talking to a frantic woman.
"George!"
She jumped from Ben's shoulder. The way to the door was not long but the people between were a sea that needed to be parted. Mandy called hoarse. Her voice was taken from her throat by the crowd around her. Finally, he was in semi-plain view. Ben swept her up once more. She had forgotten about him. He pushed faster through and deposited her at George's feet.
"Are you kids okay?" George asked, examining her. From his look, she must've looked like crap.
"We need to get out," she ignored the prior question. "Look at that."
George's jaw dropped. He pushed a man from the keypad and punched in the number. A woman's scream. Everyone saw the secret enemy. The roof was turning to dust. It would be on them in mere moments.
"Everyone get out!" George screamed behind her as the door opened for an eternity. Then George turned to Ben. "Make sure she gets out."
Hoards of hungry to live people pushed past her. The scores kept coming. They swept over and under her until she was outside. A death grip lingered on her arm. It was Ben.
For just a moment, she saw through the fray. George had one arm on the wall, trying not to get swept away. The other hand was punched on the buttons. He had a smile fixed on her as she was swept further away. He wasn't going to let go. She knew it.
"George no!"
Her screams still didn't matter. As the voice inside her died tired, the last of the structure collapsed. A ship sat on it. She buried her head down and bit on something. It was Ben's shoulder. Her silent savior. Just like that, Mandy had lost everything.
STEVE GREY.
Steve shook off grey dust from his head. The ground he stood on was soaked. All around was the wreckage of the lodge. Logs sat in the corrupted sand, snapped like twigs. People picked themselves from the ground and ran away screaming. They were all fortunate. One cry rose above any other noise. He knew that voice. It was Mandy. Upon approach, he heard what she was saying.
"George!"
She sat on the ground in Ben's arms. Steve ran to them and fell to their side. Upon seeing him, she fell between them but Steve was quick to catch her. He remembered rushing past George. Why didn't he make it? His eyes began to burn. It was happening again.
Steve wondered if he really could see through walls like he had with his sister. Everything began to go sepia. The ground beneath. He stood up, his eyes painfully adjusting. Then he looked at the former refuge. He saw something beneath the mull. He had to focus and there it was. George was trapped under something.
"He's still alive!" he shouted.
"What? Where?" Adam's familiar voice asked, his frame a yellow blob.
"There, under the pillar." he pointed to another yellow thing before four figures rushed to the site.
"Steve, your eyes are glowing." Josh whispered.
"Is any of this normal?" Beth asked. Steve wasn't sure either.
Just as his vision began adjusting, they carried George away from the wreck. As soon as Mandy and George had reacquainted, he knew they had to do something.
"We need to all go back to the book."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone