Waves of Fury (Surviving Earth Chronicles)

Chapter Six

Tyler

I dial Aaron again. For the millionth time. Then Jesse.

Nothing except the too late alerts popping up on my phone.

This is not a drill. Tsunami warning. Seek higher ground immediately.

Fear claws its way up my throat and panic sets in, sending a tremble down my spine. My brothers. Fuck. My brothers are out there and I have no idea what to do about that.

Sirens go off all around the city.

My customer—Kellen, as the delivery app had said—has gone eerily quiet. All anger from his cold sub is nowhere to be found.

The ground rumbles again, this time audibly. I grab onto the thing nearest to me—Kellen’s arm—to keep from losing my balance. Beneath his suit, his triceps muscle is surprisingly firm. I internally chide myself for noticing something like that when the world appears to be going to hell.

Lights above us hum and buzz, flickering nonstop like we’re in some fucked-up apocalyptic office party rave.

“Holy shit,” Kellen hisses. “Holy shit.”

I refocus my attention beyond the glass rather than what’s happening in his office, searching the bay for signs of water. Nothing but a drained bowl of rocks. My gaze skims toward the storm clouds and stop when I find what I’m looking for.

Dread twists my gut as I attempt to make out what it is I’m seeing. It’s water. Endless amounts of it, swelling up—high, high, high, higher. It’s as though it’s being vacuumed away from the city and into the sky.

Are my brothers being sucked away too?

Have they capsized and been swallowed by the sea?

My fingers tighten their grip on Kellen’s arm. He must be as stunned as I am because he doesn’t gripe or push me away. We’re both frozen in terror, it would seem.

A scream pierces the air beyond his office, followed by someone crying and another yelling. This thing with the water— tsunami —is happening. It’s swelling and building and strengthening. We’re powerless to do anything but watch in horrified awe.

“W-What do we do?” I croak out, unable to bring my voice above a whisper. “What the fuck do we do?”

Kellen shrugs, making me aware of the fact I’m still clinging to him like he can save me. I forcefully wrench my hand from his arm, once again captured by the growing mountain of water.

Mom, Dad…you were right.

Seven years too soon, but you predicted the decimation of life.

Bitterness sours my tongue. It was easier believing they were crazy than accepting their fear was warranted. Fear of… this .

Dad was supposed to kill us all. That was their plan. However, the second he shot our mother in the head, the guilt was too much to bear. He couldn’t do that to his children, too, and put the gun in his mouth.

Are they watching from somewhere? Heaven? Hell? Another reality?

Are Aaron and Jesse with them now?

Am I all alone?

Someone makes a guttural, pained sound. I’m shocked to realize it’s me. The grief is threatening to drown me far quicker than any catastrophic wave.

Bile burns my esophagus. I try to swallow it down, only making myself more nauseous in the process. It’s then I’m aware of the cloying scent of marinara sauce and heavily seasoned meatballs. Absently, I zip up my satchel to keep from gagging.

Funny what you fixate on when your life is flashing before your eyes.

Like Kellen’s cologne. It smells fucking expensive. Until this moment, I always wondered what it would be like to have everything I ever wanted. Of being able to whip out a black AMEX and buy whatever I damn well pleased.

My brothers are drowning and I’m thinking about Lamborghinis.

I’m losing it. I’m losing my mind.

Another rumble of the earth has me grabbing onto Kellen again. This time, I don’t let go because I’d rather cling to my rude customer in the last few seconds of my life rather than die alone.

I’m all that’s left.

My ears pop and then I hear it.

A roar.

Softly at first and in the distance, somewhere beyond the wailing sirens.

Then the pressure in my head builds as the rush of sound grows in intensity. It takes me a second to realize the sound is from the sea.

“It’s coming,” Kellen hisses, gesturing wildly at the glass. “The water is coming back!”

Sure enough, the wave remains an imposing tower as water below it surges back toward the city. It’s like the biggest dam in the world has burst open, sending all the water in existence heading our way.

All I can do is stare, a captive to its impending wrath, unable to think of anything aside from the demise of my brothers.

There’s no way they could have survived this… thing .

It’s exactly that. A thing. Never in all my eighteen years of life have I ever read or learned anything about this. Sure, I know what a tsunami is or severe flooding. I even remember learning about Noah’s Ark on a YouTube video I stumbled upon once.

Nothing compares to what’s about to devour this city in one gulp.

Tsunami doesn’t feel like a big enough word to describe it.

Something tickles my jawbone and it takes a second to realize it’s a teardrop. The loss of my brothers physically aches. Soon, though, I’ll be gone too.

But what if they made it?

What if Aaron came back when he suspected something weird was going on with the weather?

What if they docked the Angler-traz and are sitting in our apartment, waiting for me?

I release Kellen’s arm and swipe at my wet cheek. I have to save them. I have to get to the apartment. And what about Tabby? Aaron will want me to save her too. I can grab her on the way.

Stumbling backward, I try not to think about the water that’s going to flood the city any second now and start for the door.

“Where are you going?” Kellen bellows after me.

“I have to find my brothers,” I choke out, my voice raw like I’ve swallowed razor blades. “I have to go before it’s too late!”

He’s on me in the next instant, snagging me by my backpack and keeping me from exiting the office.

“Let go!” I yell, trying to untangle myself from him. “Let go of me, you asshole!”

“It’s too late,” he whispers, voice resigned.

He physically turns me toward the windows once more. The roaring outside is louder, but it’s now accompanied with ground-rattling crashes as the water bulldozes its way through the piers and boats along the shore. Without any regard to past sea levels, the salty, monstrous water surges forward, rolling over buildings, cars, and most likely thousands of people below.

“Fuck,” I hiss.

The entire building trembles as water crashes into several structures nearby. Glass shatters, popping over and over like mini explosions all over the place. And then water consumes this building, making the entire thing vibrate like we’re on a violent rollercoaster.

Tabby.

I think of her and that crying toddler on her hip swimming for their lives, trapped inside a daycare on the first floor.

No one there will survive.

My gut twists and I stare helplessly out the window. Screams can be heard all over, but this particular office is silent as me and Kellen watch the extinction of San Francisco unfold. The water keeps surging forward and I can see it getting deeper and deeper, completely submerging some buildings.

How much water will we get?

Will we be safe at the top of this building?

The water continues to flood below us, rising rapidly, but surprisingly, that isn’t my entire concern.

No, my biggest fear right now is that wall of water in the distance that swells higher and closer with each passing second.

The worst is yet to come.