Chapter Three ~ Mike
Through the fog of sleep, Mike heard the alarm, his arm automatically reaching for the clock and the snooze button. But this morning, he knew that he really needed to wake up and get to class. English was not his favorite and at 9am it was definitely a class that he would fall asleep in, which is why he was stuck at school in July taking English again. Grudgingly, he pulled back the blanket and sat up. Feet on the floor…summer session was for the birds. All his friends were on vacation. Oh how he wished he could just take off and spend the day at the lake. Summers in Ohio were hot…very, very hot, as would be the classroom by about 10am. How he truly hated this summer and how he wished he had partied a little less last semester.
Mike pulled on his shorts, threw on a shirt, quickly brushed his teeth and hair, and grabbed his books and shoes. He headed over to the commissary, for a cup of coffee and went up the stairs to class. This time he decided that the best way to pass was to sit in the front of class, where the teacher could harass him when he started to nod off. Today, they were reading something from Shakespeare, all the more reason to sit in front and chug the coffee. About an hour into the class, he was daydreaming, when out the window, a bright light, grabbed everyone’s attention. But that was all there was.
The PA crackled to life, “Attention, Attention please. There has been some sort of an explosion off the coast of New York. Power has been disrupted so we do not have any further information. Professors and students, please finish up your classes. There will be no further classes today”
The class was effectively over. The professor looked at her class and just sighed; she knew that class would not be able to continue, so she dismissed them. Back in his room Mike, turned on the radio and the TV. No one knew anything, but reports of a bright light that streaked across the sky, an explosion over the Atlantic Ocean, and now a tsunami. The Atlantic shoreline had been transformed. Mike was just glad that he was not there. Time would only tell what would happen to the country.
Except for everyone being glued to the news at all times, nothing seemed different for a couple days. Then the clouds came, temperatures started to drop. July is usually very hot, but now everyone was starting to break out the sweaters and jackets. Daytime temperatures were only in the 80’s but nighttime temperatures were in the 50’s. And from there it just got colder, by the end of August, many were thinking the same thing, they just wanted to go somewhere warm. Some cars were still running and as soon as classes ended, Mike and some of his friends decided to head to the south. They would go till they couldn’t go any more; they would see how much of the land had been reclaimed by the sea.
On September 2nd, Mike and his friends Hunter, Murray and Bill, climbed into the car and headed south. By the second day, they had made it to Tennessee. They would have made it further, except for their need to find a bar every evening. After sleeping off the last night’s party, they went for breakfast and formed the plan for the day. They had heard that parts of North Carolina and South Carolina were under water. No one knew if Florida was still there, but the guys hatched a plan to head as far as they could to Florida. But before they got to their car, the earth began to move. Mike, Hunter and Bill were waiting in the parking lot for Murray when the shaking started. They immediately crouched down to keep from being knocked off their feet. About 30 seconds into the shaking an ominous sound came from the restaurant behind them, then the building collapsed into a pile of rubble. Mike, Hunter and Bill looked at each other in shock. Murray was in the building.
They immediately ran to the rubble, calling for Murray. They found one of the waitresses fairly quickly. She was alive but hurt. Then the cook and the other waitress, unfortunately they were not as lucky. Finally after digging through the rubble of the restaurant they found Murray, where the bathroom once stood. Murray had a concrete wall fall on him and he was no longer alive.
In shock, the three survivors sat on the ground and just stared into space. It was unbelievable; they didn’t know what to do or to say. They stayed in town that night and decided that they would bury Murray in this town; his parents had been killed in the tsunami on Long Island, so there was no reason to leave the area and no one that they could call to tell them what had happened..
After the funeral, they still didn’t know just what to do. But in hindsight, it probably was for the best. The ash started to fall, at first it was just a little, but soon it was becoming dangerous. The ash disrupted what power had remained and soon the cars were out of gas, with no way of filling them up. The group decided to find a safe place where they could stay, the suggestion was made for the group to go to a cave that was not far from the town. Mike was glad that he had Hunter and Bill with him. The march to the cave was surreal for the three of them.
Once they arrived at the cave, the three of them worked at helping to getting everyone settled. And once the group was settled they were one of the first to venture out for supplies. Once the ash stopped falling the snow started. By November it was snowing almost every day. And everyday they would head out to stamp down the new fallen snow so that the path would be clear. When the epidemic hit they were among the fortunate few that did not get sick. They thought it was probably because they were away getting supplies so often. Whatever the reason, they were spared.
They stayed for the winter months, but when spring came, the three started talking about finding someplace warmer. That was why they had headed south after all. But Mike felt he had found where he belonged and soon it was decided that Hunter and Bill would set out with the first expedition to look for warmer climes. If they were able to find a better place they would come back for Mike and the others. In June, the year following the disaster, a small group of 60 or so, headed off. Everyone saw them off and wished them well. Everyone hoped that they would return with news of the outside world.
Mike had made friends with some of the other survivors that were left in the cave, and within a year had fallen in love with a young lady named April. Soon they were married in what had become the new custom. They were both very giving people and were always looking out for the others in the cave.
But Mike always wondered what had become of his friends. He thought often of them and hoped that they would someday return so that he and April could get out of the cave. Two other groups had left but he stayed, he didn’t want to miss his friends, should they return for him. Day after day, he would look at the entrance of the cave and wonder. What if he had gone with them? He looked at April and felt guilty. He wanted so much for her to know that he loved her, but it always seemed to him that his longing to go was more than his love for her.
He wondered if he would always look at the cave opening and wonder…what if.
Total word count ~ 4936
