Before the Quake

December 23, 2034 - Before the Quake
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Warm morning. Happy family. Perfection.

My wife hands me the coffee, like it's a normal morning. I smile back at her, unknowing of what is coming.

My 6 year old child comes running down the hall, his HoloTablet in his hand, displaying 3D pictures of dinosaurs that popped out of the screen. He calls for me to look at the Tyrannosaurus. I smile at Max as he pushed a button on his tablet, making the Tyrannosaurus roar. Technology has came a long way. I remember 20 years ago, when we simply had pathetic iPhones and game consoles - now look at us. Interactive holograms. Immersive videogames. It is a wonderful decade to be alive. World peace. No conflict.

I take a seat on the couch, staring at my TV screen. I listen in, hearing Chick Ralphie, our local news reporter, speak.

"Hello, America! And welcome back to Chick Live! As the holidays near, fellow Americans gather around the virtual fireplace caroling away! Now, back to the weath-"

Chick was interrupted as a man in a dark suit walked up to him, whispering to Chick in his ear. The man showed Chick a set of papers. Chick's jaw opened. I could hear him whisper, 'Oh my God...' The man handed Chick the set of papers and walked off. Chick glanced at the camera and announced,

"We....uh...we just got confirmed reports of... of... the quake is coming...earlier than expected.."

Chick flipped his page, then shook his head side to side, denying whatever he was reading.

"Uh...reported tremors near... Los Angeles....minor earthquakes curren-"

The man in the suit interrupted Chick again and handed him a new set of papers.

"God ...Scratch that - large...large shakes near Los Angeles.... locals report...cracks growing in streets...buildings swaying side to side -"

Chick flipped the page once more.

"This - this - earthquake scales report that - that - My god.... This 'quake' has a magnitude of....the likes we...we never seen before..."

Suddenly, dirt sprayed from the roof of Chick's set.

"Oh - crap! Everyone get down - under a table!"

Chick yelled as the studio began to shake. Personnel screamed, as a chunk of the roof suddenly dropped onto the table Chick was hiding underneath - the table crushed under it's weight as the screams of Chick were cut off.

Then -

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

Sarah glanced at me as Max skipped down the hall with a smile, obviously with no knowing of what was happening. I quickly shut off the television and glanced at him.

"Daddy, wanna go to the park later and ride my new hoverboard?" He asked me skipping around the couch happily.

I stared at him, blankly. "Sorry, Max - uh, it's too hot outside - it'll catch fire...or something." Max whined. "Aw, please daddy? C'mon!" He asked, making those puppy-eyes I find too hard to look at without smiling. "Fine. We'll see." I say with a fake smile. Max cheered to himself as he skipped back to his room.

Sarah glanced at me. "Is this really happening - Tony, we gotta prepare for this - we - we can notify the U.S.O. I heard they got one of those underground shelters operational - we can give them a call." She said, activating the holophone. I stopped her before she could dial the number. "No! The paperwork would take forever to finish,the - the earthquake would reach us by then. We could drive to Arizona, my parents would let us stay at their place for a while..." I said. "Tony - we probably won't be able to drive there in time - who knows if there'll be an earthquake at Arizona, too?" Sarah glanced out the window, and I followed her point of glance outside. The neighbors were panicking, stuffing suitcases into the back of their hovercars. I saw old Jeff, the hunch-backed 100 year old, still surviving on bionics, shouting at his computerized autopilot to take him to New Jersey. "Fine." I muttered. "Call the U.S.O." Sarah dialed the number on a device connected to the hologram displayer. The hologram displayer hummed to life as it displayed the number of the U.S.O in 3D, making a dialing sound. Whoever was on the other line got the call, and the numbers faded away. It then displayed the symbol of the U.S.O - an icon of a cracked planet Earth with the words 'UNDERGROUND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION' revolving around it - and an overly excited voice on the other end announced,

 'HELLO - AND THANK YOU FOR CALLING THE U.S.O - the UNDERGROUND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION THAT WILL GIVE OUR FELLOW FRIENDS AND FAMILY A BETTER TOMORROW - UNDERGROUND! WHAT IS THE NATURE OF YOUR CALL?'

Sarah glanced at t he hologram displayer and whispered, "We - we'd like to enlist for a place for three in the shelter near Fair Springs... is there any room for us...?"

 'PLEASE WAIT WHILE WE CONTACT THE OVERSEER OF THE OFFICIAL -'

There was a pause as a new deeper, computerized voice said,

''' 'Fair. Springs. Shelter. 1 - 0 - 1. Contacting. Now.

The original excited voice took over once more -

 'AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR CALLING THE U.S.O - A BETTER TOMORROW - UNDERGROUND! '

After 15 minutes of nervousness, almost half the neighborhood had fled. I was filling out the forms the entire time - listening to almost all channels interrupted as President McKenzie addressed the nation.

Our holophone hummed back to life as the excited voice returned to announce,

''' 'HELLO - AND THANK YOU FOR CALLING THE U.S.O - the UNDERGROUND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION THAT WILL GIVE OUR FELLOW FRIENDS AND FAMILY A BETTER TOMORROW - UNDERGROUND! '''

'''IT APPEARS YOU ARE IN LUCK! THERE ARE CURRENTLY -"'''

The deep, computerized voice spoke again -

"Three. Un. Occupied. Spaces. Left. At. Fair. Springs. Shelter 1 - 0 - 1."

I jumped a little as the excited voice exclaimed again,

"THEY ARE PREPARED FOR YOUR ARRIVAL NOW! AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR CALLING THE U. S. O - A BETTER TOMORROW - UNDERGROUND!"

Sarah jumped from her seat and dashed to Max's room. "Come on honey - Ma - Max - Max, for God's sake, put your clothes back on - we're leaving!"

I stood from the couch and shut off the television - then - the sound - the last sound of a lost world I would never get again -

''Rumbling. ''

Dust trickled down from the roof of my house. Sarah ran to the living room, glancing at me with wide eyes as she looked outside the window. "T-T-Tony..." She whispered. She put her hands over her mouth in shock. I slowly turned around to look at the window, only to see a large crack in the floor opening up in the streets - dirt falling into the large crevice as it opened up and expanded. Cars from the neighbor's driveways fell into it, and I saw old Jeff, slipping down the elevated peice of land his house rested on - and fell into the crevice, screaming out in terror. I couldn't watch. I yelled at Sarah, "GET MAX! QUICK!" She made haste and ran into Max's room and back out with a fully-dressed Max. I led them out the front door- only to stop them when we were halfway outside. Our hovercar had fallen into the crevice- and our house was leaning over the large crack. "Oh god..." A peice of land we were seperated from where the next house to our right was the only peice of property with a hovercar. The owners of that house probably were already in the bottom of that crevice - or worse. "Quick - jump!" I shouted, jumping over to the other peice of land. Sarah and Max barely made it over. I punched my fist into the glass of the Hovercar and I unlocked the front and back doors. We boarded in as I shut down auto-pilot and activated it by stomping onto a button on the floor in front of the drivers seat. I backed up, hovering above the crevice. "The one time a hovering car is actually useful and not for show.." I mutter to myself, and step onto the floor-button, accelerating the car forward. We drove over the crevice, into a bit of road not touched by the quake. Houses began to fall into the crevice and I saw our long-time neighbors - long time friends - fall into the crevice as they looked at our Hovercars driving away. There was no time to be a hero - I knew- I had to keep on forward for myself and my family. We drove down the road until we got to a hill - where a large gate stopped me. Men in combat armor made us step out. "Where did you get this vehicle?" One of them barked at us from under the protective masks. "We should be in that shelter!" I shouted, pointing at a large door built into the front of the hill, with the number '1 0 1' engraved onto it. The man looked down onto a set of papers on a clipboard. "Where are your papers?" He asked. I handed him the virtual set of papers loaded onto the HoloTablet. "Adult male.. Adult female... Young male... alright - you're in . Open the gates!" He barked to a scrawny boy on the other side of the gate, his fingers pressing buttons onto a control panel at a fast rate. The gate slowly opened, and me, Sarah, and Maxwell ran through. We all lined up in front of the large door - shaped in a gear with '1 0 1' on it - as a man in a suit took rollcall. The crevice was expanding behind us - only about a mile behind us. After he quickly sped through rollcall he shouted into a walkie-talkie - then - the floor beneath us began to shake. The gate nearly collapsed, swaying closer to the floor as we began to shake uncontrollably. "Oh - damnit!" The man in the suit cussed to himself, then spoke again to the walkie talkie. "Open the shelter door." He barked. The men and women and children panicked as another crevice grew directly beneath us. I watched in horror as the land beneath my legs split into- the land seperating slowly. My right leg on one peice of land and my left on another - i quickly jumped to the left side of the seperating land. The large door slowly creaked to the side, and desperate civilians rushed inside - but I didn't ran inside, as I should - because I saw Max, hanging on for dear life - on the other end of land, his fingers barely keeping him on the edge of land. I heard Max scream and I couldn't find Sarah anywhere - only to hear a scream from down the crevice.

''"TOOONY! MAAAX!" ''

It was Sarah - to my dread - I knew - she was dead - she fell... Max glanced over his shoulder at me as the two peices of land got farther from eachother...

Then Max's fingers slipped.

And what did I do?

Nothing... I watched him fall. I watched him and Sarah both fall. And I did nothing. I only stared. A man in combat armor grabbed me by the arm and dragged me with great force toward the opened shelter door - and threw me inside. Suddenly, the door closed, creaking to the left - and I had the last glimpse of the outside world.

The outside world - cracked in half, and filled with the screams of innocents and the rumbling of the ground. And the door closed - locking everyone inside, and all natural light locked outside. The indoor lights hummed to life, dim and shady. I looked at the people next to me, all gathered in crowd - some crying, some shocked, and some hugging eachother in relief. But me? I stood. And stared. And looked around at the metal floors and walls. This was where I was going to spend my life. In the underground shelter. Then - the floor gave way - and began to descent. We were in a giant elevator - and we were going to be taken deeper into the underground. The man in the suit - possibly the shelter overseer- barked out orders.

"Stay together! Don't stay close to the sides- stay in the middle! We'll be in the shelter in no time! Is anyone hurt? Did we lose anyone?" But I didn't listen. I stood still, thinking about Max and Sarah - and that I did nothing for him...

Who was I to call myself happy? Who was I to call myself a good man? Look at me now - witnessing the end of the world and society - everything I ever loved and cared about - falling into a crack in the ground - never to be heard from again.

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So here I am. Tony of U.S.O Shelter 1 0 1. Recording my earliest memories onto a HoloLog.

In the Shelter, I'm alone. Nobody to relate to. It's been...five ... four years... I don't keep track anymore - I don't care anymore. Over four years and I haven't seen or heard from the outside world - and Hell - I don't think I want to - because here in the Shelter -

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Nobody ever goes in...

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And nobody ever goes out.

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There was once a world. A world ruled by the people.

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There still is.

.:END:.

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