Waves of Fury (Surviving Earth Chronicles)

Chapter Seven

Kellen

“B race yourselves!” I bellow to anyone who’ll listen.

The kid, now pale and cheeks wet with tears, remains immobile. He’d mentioned his brothers like he could go rescue them.

He can’t.

They’re gone.

Everyone, soon, will be gone.

With my office being half windows and a destructive wave that’ll hit us within seconds, I make a quick decision to try to protect us from the glass.

“Help me flip this!” I snap at the kid, gesturing wildly to my desk.

He remains frozen as I shove everything—laptop, folders, decorations—flying into the floor. Grabbing hold of the front of his T-shirt, I yank him to me so I can make eye contact.

“Desk. Now.”

I get a wobbly nod and then he snaps into action. Together, we flip the desk on its side. I shove him onto the ground behind it, taking one last glance at our impending doom. Slowly, I ease down onto my knees, keeping just my head above the edge of the desk so I can watch from relative safety.

The wave has lost some of its height, allowing me to see the dark storm clouds above and beyond it. But as it becomes less of a tower of water, it becomes more of a ravenous beast feeding on buildings in its wake.

Lights flicker and then the power goes out for good this time, thrusting us into muted darkness. As if a giant tsunami wave wasn’t terrifying enough all by itself, now we have to deal with it in the dark.

The building rumbles and quakes, making me wonder how well this structure made of steel and concrete can hold up against Mother Nature’s fury. Booms and crashes can be heard all around—a deafening cacophony of the apocalypse.

Water slams over the building, blinding me from seeing through the windows. It reminds me of a car wash as you wait for it to clean your vehicle while you sit safely inside to keep from getting wet.

The glass splinters into a giant spiderweb on one of the windows. And then another. Then, because this can’t get any more horrifying, a hole the size of a quarter pops open and water starts rushing into my office. Around the hole, the cracks grow bigger and more plentiful. I take that as my cue to look away. Falling to my ass beside the kid, I let out a strangled groan.

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” he asks, brown eyes wide.

Rather than answering his question, I gently take his hand, an unusual urge to offer him some sort of comfort—and maybe myself for that matter—and shake my head.

Liar.

It’s only a matter of time.

We’ll all be dead soon.

“What’s your name, kid?” I rasp out, squeezing his hand.

“T-Tyler,” he stammers. “You’re Kellen. The app told me.”

Sounds of water as it rushes into my office through what now seems to be multiple holes are distracting. He shudders and my blood turns to ice. Rather than letting fear consume us, I meet his gaze.

“Don’t worry. You’ll still get your tip,” I deadpan.

He blinks several times and his features transform from the scared little boy to the taunting guy who’d walked into my office with my cold-ass sandwich.

“Better be the best damn tip of my life,” Tyler says, flashing me a grin that feels out of place due to our situation. “After all I went through to get h—”

His words are drowned out—pun intended—as icy-cold water rushes past us, submerging us to our chests. I’m still holding his hand, but this time I’m clutching onto it as if my life depends on it.

Because it does.

What little life I have left.

“Is this a bad time to let you know I can’t swim?” I yell, clenching my eyes shut.

“Fuck!”

His response echoes inside my head as we’re swept away from the cover of my desk and are both slammed into the wall by my door. Water surges up over us and completely reaches the ceiling, trapping us in this tank of despair. Something hard slams into my side—and sharp—tearing through parts of my suit in an instant. I’m jolted with it, but Tyler’s hold on me is unrelenting. He yanks me away from the debris.

It’s too late.

We’re underwater and we’re going to die.

Then we’re being sucked in the opposite direction, like suds being pulled down into a drain. The thought of getting dragged back out to sea is so terrifying, I nearly black out. My other side crashes into what I think is my desk and then I’m being heaved out the window.

Out. The. Fucking. Window.

I’m dead.

A sharp pain in my shoulder has me exhaling what little breath I had left in my lungs. As the water rushes out of my office and attempts to take me along with it, I realize I’m still holding on to Tyler. Or, better yet, he’s holding on to me.

The water recedes out of my office just as quickly as it came in and I’m immediately aware that I’m on the outside of my building. When this water finally drains away, it’ll be a long-ass drop to the pavement.

I suck in much-needed gulps of air as I try to process my situation.

Pain assaults me from every direction, but right now, I’m more focused on staying inside my office where the water is leaving. Where there’s air and relative safety.

“I’ve got you,” Tyler hisses, pulling with all his might. “This tip better be really fucking good.”

I bark out a hysterical laugh. It’s better than blacking out in terror.

“Is thirty percent not the standard when someone brings you a cold, now-wet sandwich but saves your life instead?”

He grunts, not bothering to answer, and drags me back into my office with a splash. Another wave tries to pull me back out, but he finds purchase and drags me away from the window. The building appears to be leaning. One corner of my office isn’t dry per se, but isn’t knee deep in water. He pulls us over to the corner, both of us stumbling and falling into a heap of exhaustion.

It takes only seconds for me to realize I’m half on top of this stranger, gasping for air like I may not ever get it again. He’s trembling so hard I have the urge to hug him to me to make him stop.

Despite being completely exhausted from my near escape of death, I manage to sit up and put my back against the wall. My eyes travel to the windows—or where they once were—and I survey the damage.

I’ve never in my forty years seen anything like it.

San Francisco is completely flooded.

Thankfully, the massive monster wave is gone, but the water continues to rush around the building, not receding any more than the bottom of the top floor.

I can’t hear anything beyond my office aside from the gushing water, creaking of the building, and occasional earth rumblings. Did my staff perish in the wave onslaught?

The floor below us never had a chance. If, for some reason, they managed to hit the stairwell and head up here, they might’ve survived, but considering the lack of voices, it’s doubtful.

Frannie.

I force myself not to think of what’s happened to her. I won’t mourn her until I see her body. Until then, I’ll believe she’s fine. I need something to believe in right now.

“What do we do now?” Tyler asks, voice quavering slightly.

I wish I were like my father in this moment, or even Knox. I wish I could look this kid straight in the eyes and lay out a plan to rescue him from this madness. I wish for a damn boat while I’m wishing.

Of course, none of that comes to pass.

“I don’t know,” I admit with a strained grunt, the stress of our situation finally crashing into me with the weight of a thousand tons. “I don’t fucking know.”