Chapter Nine ~ Carlos
At 1am, Carlos finished working at the small Spanish restaurant that his family owned. He was really tired but he knew that he would never be able to sleep. He planned to head home, open a beer and watch television for an hour or so, before going to sleep. He knew morning would come around very quickly. Carlos was taking classes at the local college, he wanted someday to graduate and get a good job. He wanted to get out of the city. He didn’t like the crime and noise.
Carlos had lived in New York City all his life, but he had family that lived in a town about an hour away. It was a nice quiet town; he wanted to someday buy a house with some land, where he could have his parents live with him, when they were older. With a business degree, he would be able to take over the restaurant and maybe even move it out of the city.
Fortunately for Carlos, his classes didn’t begin until after 10am, so after an hour of TV to unwind, he headed off to sleep. He knew he would have to wake up a little earlier in the morning to finish the homework he couldn’t finish before work. Setting his alarm, he went to sleep, and before he knew it, the alarm was blaring in his ear. He really didn’t feel like he had gotten any sleep at all.
Making himself a strong cup of coffee, he sat down at his kitchen table and looked over the paper he had written for his business class. He had typed it up the day before, but wanted to review it for his oral report, that he had to give in class. Everything looked good; he finished his coffee, and put his books in his backpack. Today, he only had two classes, which meant that his bag was only about twenty pounds instead of forty. Grabbing his keys, he headed out the door, and down to the bus stop. He would have to make it on the next bus, if he was to be to school on time.
The bus arrived on time, which was unusual, the bus traveled out to the outskirts of the city. When the bus got to the school, he had about ten minutes to get to class. He met up with a couple other people from his class, they talked for a few minutes before the Professor arrived. As 10 am approached, so did the professor, and the students all took their seats. The Professor started speaking to the class, when the whole building shuddered and the windows and light bulbs broke, showering glass onto everyone in the classroom. Some of the girls were starting to get upset, and there was shouting from the hall. Someone was yelling for everyone to get out of the building. Carlos grabbed his friend by the arm and they both crawled out the door. The hall was becoming crowded but everyone moved quickly enough. They started heading down the stairs when Carlos felt something or rather someone, on the floor at his feet. He bent down to help the person up, when he saw that the lady was not alive. He didn’t wait around, what he saw scared him more than he could say.
Carlos and his friend got to the main door of the building, when the blast wave hit. The door was slammed shut against them. They attempted to push on the door when they felt the incredible heat and heard screams from outside the door. Confused he tried to push the door again, but still it didn’t move. He tried a few more times, before turning and pushing himself through the crowd that was behind him, he went to the other side of the building and another door. This time the door opened, but when he stepped out the sight made him sick.
The blast wave had killed or nearly killed all the people outside. The trees were scorched, leaves were burnt. The buildings, though they were brick, looked like they had been burned in a fire. Carlos didn’t know what to do. Swept up in the crowd, those who had been in buildings when the blast wave hit, he wandered. Confused and unsure what to do, he just walked. It wasn’t until he heard more screams, that he was able to focus. He looked in the direction of the screaming and saw the wave. People were running before the wave, trying to avoid being caught up in it. Carlos had just enough time to find a place he thought that he would be safe. A still smoking tree. The bark was still hot to the touch but it wasn’t on fire, so he climbed, and hoped that it would be enough. Once he was up about twenty feet he thought that he should be ok, and the water started to rise.
He watched the water climb up the tree many feet at a time. It wasn’t until the water was about 5 feet from the branch that he was standing on, that he thought he might not be high enough, so he climbed up a little more. He climbed as far as he dared. Looking down, he just knew he would not be high enough. But he also knew that if he left the tree he would be in real trouble. The water rose, and soon he was up to his chest, holding on, and pushing debris from hitting him when he could. He didn’t know how long he held on, before the water started to drop, but it seemed like an eternity. He finally climbed down, and sat on the ground at the foot of the tree. He didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t know if it was worth it to try to find his family, they had been in the city and from what he could see, it wasn’t any better there than it was where he was now.
Carlos looked around him, wondering where his friends were. He didn’t know if any of them had survived, and he was afraid to look. There were some people still wandering around, but he didn’t recognize anyone he knew well. A group of people was walking around with purpose, checking on all those they came across, gathering those that they could, and walking on. Soon they came to Carlos; they helped him to his feet and escorted him away from the tree that had saved his live. They kept walking. Carlos didn’t know where they were going, but he was being guided by the group.
This is how Carlos survived for the next few days to a week, he wasn’t sure just how long. He was just being moved by those around him. At some point they ended up at a school that was being used as a shelter. He was fed, though he didn’t remember eating and he had a cot, though he didn’t remember sleeping. And soon, they were on the move again, but this time, they were in a bus, he didn’t know where they were going; he just vaguely remembered being told that he was going south, to a safer place.
The new shelter was somewhere in Pennsylvania, but he didn’t know where. He was brought to someone who asked him a lot of questions. He talked to the person, but it seemed to him like he was watching someone else. The person told him that he was suffering from Post Traumatic Syndrome or something like that. They handed him some pills and told him that he would have to take the pills once a day. He shook his head and went back to his bed.
Once he started taking the medicine, his head became a little clearer. He could think about the things he had seen, and reason it all out. He thought about his family, and started checking lists to see if their names were on it. They were not. He asked about New York City, and was told that it was virtually destroyed. There was little left of the city that anyone would recognize.
The temperatures were starting to drop, because of the clouds that now covered the earth, and the group was slowly moved to another shelter further south. So once again, he and a group of people boarded a bus, but the bus made Carlos feel sick. About 8 hours after getting started, the bus stopped so that the passengers could get something to eat, It was then that Carlos wandered away from the crowd. He stayed in the town that the bus had stopped in, he didn’t have anywhere to stay but soon found a nice family, who invited him to stay. He was fine while he had medication, but when he ran out of medication, he started to withdrawal again, inside his own mind. Thankfully, the family figured out what was going on with him and was able to give him the space that he needed. They also found another doctor for him to see and were able to get him more medication. Carlos still needed to be guided though, and followed those who became authority figures to him. So when the town decided to move following an earthquake, he did so without complaint.
They walked and walked, but all he could remember was the ash falling. It looked like when the TV doesn’t get a signal, the static and “snow” that you would see on the screen. It also sounded like it. There was a constant sound of falling ash. It was nice to get to the cave, the sight and sound of the ash had become a little more than he could bear. He settled into the cave and there he held on for a while. It wasn’t till after the first few months at the shelter that he started to come around and began to help out in the shelter. He did remember the epidemic when many got sick and died, but it wasnt until after that, that he started helping with the supply trips.
He didn’t have the courage to brave the unknown however, to try to head for warmer regions, when the three different groups left. He stayed, helped out and though he was getting better mentally, he was still very withdrawn. Over time he did start to get better, but still would dream about what he had seen, and was often seen staring into space, lost in the thoughts that he kept locked into his brain.
