TAMARA

Tamara jumped into the Bentley in the back of the plane. She turned in the seat expecting to see Sasha's hulking figure fly down the stairs to join them. But she only saw Gordon run down alone she felt a sick feeling in her stomach. Gordon jumped into the car next to her slamming the door shut.

"Where's Sasha?!" She cried.

"He said he's fine, he says we should get out of here before he touches down." She felt another pang of sickness and fear.

"No, no we have to wait for him!!" She was on the verge of tears still looking back at the ladder leading up the front of the plane. She was debating deep inside herself to get out of the car and run up to see him, or stay put like he'd asked for them to do. Soon everyone, including herself, was yelling about something. She kept telling Gordon they needed to go back for Sasha. He insisted that he wanted them to get out of the plane without him.

"SHUT UP EVERYBODY." Startled by Yuri's yelling, Tamara stopped talking. All that could be heard was the alarms of other cars going off, the slamming of the plane as it hit the ground and lifted up into the air, and the howling wind outside. "Engine, start." Said Yuri in a clear voice, then she heard the car's engine rev as it started up. Before she knew what was happening, Jackson pressed the gas, and they flew out of the plane. Everything seemed a giant blur. They seemed to be spiraling as Jackson tried to get the car to a complete halt. In the headlights, she could see the other cars coming out of the back of the plane, smashing up around them. She prayed that one would not hit their car. She closed her eyes and covered them trying to pretend she was anywhere but here. When she felt the car come to a complete halt, Tamara was the first to burst from the car. She looked frantically around and spotted the plane still sliding at a treacherous speed towards the cliff side. It felt like an icy knife to heart when she thought of Sasha still sitting in the front, so close to what could be his death. She wanted to run after the plane, but what would that accomplish? She wouldn't be able to get back in. She suddenly regretted the fact she hadn't gotten out of the car back when she had a chance, and run up to Sasha.

The plane started slowing down as it neared the edge of the cliff. She silently prayed with all her heart to God to let Sasha come out alive and safe. She felt warm relief flow through her as she saw the plane come to a stop with its front edge tipped precariously over the side. She stared intently at the open back of the plane waiting to see Sasha jump out of it so she could get feeling back into her body. But she felt absolute cold horror when she heard the dull, sickening, cracking sound of ice and rock. The whole plane began to lurch forward and was soon out of sight as it slid forward down the mountain. She stood unable to move, in shock. They could hear the explosion when it happened, and the flames from below lit up the dark atmosphere.

Tamara remembered it like it had just happened yesterday, the struggle for survival, and the plane crash, especially the plane crash. The very thought of it haunted her constantly, giving her the notion nobody cared about her anymore, and that she was alone. Of course she was now good friends with Jackson, Kate, and his children. She had become very close with Kate. Perhaps they were in similar situations, Kate had lost Gordon, and she had lost Sasha. But Kate had fallen back into love with her ex-husband Jackson and couldn't have possibly loved Gordon as much as she had loved Sasha. She would sit deep in thought, often times blaming herself for what had happened. She should have gone up and talked him into leaving with them. Would there have been enough time?

Since she had gotten on this ship she had been depressed about the whole situation. She remembered the first time he had been hired as their pilot. She remembered how happy Sasha had made her when Yuri had smacked her around or told her what to do. He had seen the cruelty Yuri had been doing to her. Afterwards, he came to her and asked her if she was ok even though he had no idea who she was. Soon they began meeting in secret regularly she would go to him in all the rough times and she would pour out her troubles to him. Soon that special bond between them turned to love. Being beautiful and married to a billionaire wasn't as glamorous as it sounded. Yuri had only used her as something to show off. She was 23 and he was 55.

She had never wanted to be with Yuri, it was her own mother's wishes to why they had even gotten together in the first place. She realized how big of a mistake she had made when she started living with him. Then, when he had forced her to get a boob job. That had been the worst decision she had ever made. She had let him take control of her body and corrupt it. Sasha had been furious when he found out. He had even threatened to give Yuri a piece of his mind but Tamara had convinced him to not say anything. If Sasha had challenged Yuri he would have obviously won, but Yuri would have fired him and that would land Sasha on the streets. Before he had come to work for them, he had been a poor boy living alone where ever he could outside since age 12. He had only enough money to take pilot lessons which had been his dream since childhood to learn to fly. Without his job as their pilot he would make no money. Another reason she convinced him not to fight Yuri is because without him around, she probably wouldn't be able to stand her life. The only reason she had kept going was because of their daily meetings.

She had honestly thought she looked better without the implants and hated them. When they were out in public she always held her head proud and acted like she was the best thing to ever walk across a person's path. Truly, it wasn't her real personality, she was so insecure with herself the only way she dealt with feeling better about herself was to put down other women.

She had once gone to an exclusive runway show with Yuri for one Russia's top designers and watching those perfect naturally beautiful girls walking down that catwalk had murdered her. She would look at them and pick out her own flaws and compare herself to them. Afterward, they had gone to expensive bar for the after party and Yuri had gotten drunk and brought some of the supermodels home with him. She was instantly kicked out of their house for the night left alone in the cold night. Sasha had been there for her then to once he found her sobbing by the back door of their mansion. He had taken her to his room and that's where they had slept for the night. Soon after, during their meetings together, they started doing a lot more than just talking and had come close to being caught by Yuri more than a few times.

Then there were his spoiled twin sons, Oleg and Alec. Both were extremely stuck-up and acted as if everyone should bow down to them. She was constantly running around to serve their lazy asses. Although they didn't call her mom and just Tamara, they treated her like their mother, and wanting to please Yuri for some twisted reason, she agreed and did everything for them she could even when they were mean to her. She often wondered what Yuri's ex-wife was life and how she could have ever wanted to marry a man like him. She had seen several old pictures of her. She and Yuri looked like a perfect match, the same age, both very overweight, and with the same facial features. She did not feel any sort of hostility towards this woman but in a way admired her for being able to break bonds with controlling Yuri who had threatened her on several occasions that if she left he would track her down and find her, and make her come back. She didn't speak a word of what Yuri told her to anyone but Sasha. Out in public they seemed a happy couple but deep inside she was screaming.

She sat on the bed she had been given to sleep in for her stay on the ship until they reached their destination. Of course, they would be landing soon in Africa in the Cape of Good Hope soon, which was now the highest place on Earth, and had never been submerged in water due to it rising up over 1,000 feet because of the movement in the Earth's crust. She wondered what life would be like, in Africa, with no one but herself, no Yuri, worst of all, no Sasha, she had Oleg and Alec off her hands due to the fact that their also rich mother had herself purchased a green pass for the ship. She was utterly alone except for her friends. While at feeling saddened over Sasha's death she also felt strangely free for the first time in her life. Like she had just been let out of prison and was seeing the world for herself. From day one of her life she had been controlled by everyone around her. Her mother and her aunt had seemed to have her whole life planned for her when she was born.

Her father had died before she was born, but he, like Yuri, had been a rich Russian business man. Her mother had also been together with her father since a young age. When they had gotten together, her mother had been 20 and her father had been 47. Of course she had married him for his money, and that's what she wanted her daughter to do, marry young to an older extremely rich man. Her mother, rather than focusing on what her daughter would have enjoyed doing, such as playing with other children, focused on how well she walked, acted, and presented herself in public. She had criticized every movie Tamara had made. The day Tamara turned 20; her mother began searching out the "perfect" husband for her. Finally, when she turned 23, she found Yuri and instantly wanted him to be Tamara's husband.

Tamara's mother made sure both her and her daughter were on a guest list to an exclusive party that Yuri was going to so the two could meet. The minute she came face to face with the man she didn't like him. Spending the whole party with him like her mother had told her to do, made her hate him even more. But before she knew it Yuri had asked her to be his girlfriend and like she was told, said yes. She started living with him since they had been together.

He had pressured her to do all sorts of things that she would never have thought of doing before they had gotten together. She soon realized he didn't love her, but thought of her as more of arm candy. Tamara heard someone calling her name from the hallway of the ship. She broke from her day dreams and looked up to see Kate standing in her doorway watching her in a concerned way.

KATE

Kate knew what was going on with Tamara and had been constantly trying to cheer her up from her depressed demeanor. The first time she saw Tamara there hadn't been a visible flaw on her. Her blonde hair was straight and perfect. It shone in the light and looked extremely healthy with not one split end. Her smooth pale skin hadn't one blemish anywhere; her eyes had glittered with life. But now, her hair seemed duller, her skin was more of a sickly pale then her natural light Russian skin color, and her brown eyes seemed lifeless, and there were always dark circles under her eyes like she hadn't gotten sleep in days. If Kate had seen this woman on the streets when she had been healthy, and then seen her a day later in her unhealthy state, she wouldn't be able to recognize her as the same woman she had seen the day before. Tamara glanced up at her from her bed and said in her thick Russian accent

"What is it?"

"The captain is opening the gates to let us outside onto the deck, would you like to come with me?" Tamara stared blankly at her, taking a few seconds to register what had just been said to her. She lifted herself off the bed standing up and said

"Alright," The two of them left the darkly lit room and walked down the corridor. All that could be heard were their footsteps echoing in the silent hallway. Breaking the silence Kate said

"So what have you been up to," Tamara shrugged her shoulders, looking at the ground as if she were mentally far off somewhere else. Kate knew what Tamara's problem was. It was the loose of Sasha that triggered it all. Like Tamara, Kate had lost Gordon. It had been a horrible experience for her, but she had fallen back deeply in love with her ex-husband Jackson, and got over the fact that he was gone. But how long would it take for Tamara to move on? In their first month aboard the ship, Tamara had told Kate all about her past life with Yuri and how Sasha had been the only person to care about her, and how much they really had loved each other.

By the time the two reached the deck it had already been opened, and a few people stood outside enjoying the fresh air and gentle breeze from the ocean. She and Tamara walked over to the railing to lean against looking down below at the water.

"The captain said we'll be landing in Africa in around two days, it will be wonderful to set foot on land again." Tamara only nodded her head In agreement. In desperation to keep the conversation going Kate said

"I wonder how we're going to re-build houses and get more supplies; we only have what we brought with us." Yet again, the only thing Tamara did was sadly nod her head. Kate watched her closely, changing the subject she said

"Tamara it's been, almost a month since we got on this ship, don't you think it's time to let go of-" she turned on Kate and said

"Let go of what?!" Kate looked into Tamara's eyes, seeing the emotion of anger, hurt, and sadness. Not knowing what to say back she stood there staring back at Tamara. Taking a deep breath she said

"I just think it's a new beginning for us and for the world all together and we should just leave the past behind, and focus on our future and surviving whatever comes our way, like we did before we boarded the ship." Her gaze softened a little and she relaxed, backing off of Kate.

"I'm going to go back inside," Tamara turned away from her and headed back into the ship at a slow gait. Kate watched her go until she turned the hallway and was out of sight. Kate was worried about her friend. It seemed to get worse every day, and every time she tried to help, Tamara would block her out of the situation. Kate looked back out to sea but was surprised to see that storm clouds had started to gather since she last had looked into the sky. She heard the distant rumble of thunder and decided she too would go back inside. Thinking of the plane crash, she wondered if there could have been any way Sasha could have escaped; the plane had taken a nose dive straight into the ground with him in the front and then exploded. It was impossible, Sasha could have never survived.

SASHA

It was about -50 below outside; everything was covered in a sheet of frozen ice. The wind outside blew around madly like it would never stop, and like many other days, there was nothing for Sasha to do inside. He sat by a window watching the snow and wind swirl around. He had his face close to the window and felt the cold coming off of the glass. His breath fogged up the window, blurring his vision of the outside world every so often. The mountain, now island, of Mount McKinley had not changed much from how it had been before the world shifted. It was only an island now, but the climate, and weather was the same. The mountain itself had risen up due to the movement of the Earth's crust, but it hadn't switched its place to another area on Earth like Antarctica had done. Sasha spent much of his days indoors sitting and thinking about what had happened to everyone, especially Tamara, after the plane had crashed. He hadn't expected to live when he started to fall down the mountainside, he had thought it was the last moments of his life, but it hadn't been. Halfway down the mountain, even though the whole plane had been turned vertical due to the steepness of the cliff, he had attempted to get out of his chair and pull his way to the staircase to the lower part of the plane. It was then that the plane had hit the ground and exploded. He had passed out and landed farther away from the wreckage than he would have normally thought. He estimated he had been lying there for a few hours, because when he awoke, it was considerably darker out than it had been when he crashed. He remembered hearing Tamara's soft voice whispering to him desperately before they had boarded the plane.

He had taken a brief moment outside the plane with her before getting on, and after everyone else had gotten onto the plane to quickly talk to her. He knew they wouldn't be talking the whole trip there and had wanted to say something to her before they took off. He remembered staring down into her angelic face, and touching her soft blonde hair. Telling her not to worry about him, and if anything happened he'd always be there with her. He wondered if she was still alive, and if she was, had she gotten onto the ship safely, and where was she now? A few days ago there had been a report that the ships were headed to Africa. So far, the place he was in on Mt McKinley, and the ships headed to Africa were the only living human civilization left on the planet.

The place Sasha had been taken to was a shelter for people that were too far north or didn't have enough money to make it to the ships in China. At first, people thought Mt McKinley wasn't nearly high enough to avoid the tsunamis, but they had been wrong when it had rose about as high as Mt. Everest itself. People, mostly from Canada, Greenland, and some upper parts of the U.S. came to the shelter to stay safe. The building was built like a hotel, several floors high, and tons of bedrooms for people to stay in. when Sasha had awoken in the Himalayas after the plane crash, he had desperately searched for Tamara and the group but was unsuccessful in finding them. After walking around endlessly in the frozen wasteland, not knowing when death would come, he was picked up by a helicopter that had been flying over the mountains. The family inside said they were headed for Mt. McKinley and insisted that he come with them if he didn't want to die. He stared out the window the entire trip trying to find Tamara and the rest below but didn't see anything but a sad, barren, frozen wasteland that would soon be miles underwater. His head had still been pounding from whatever he had hit it on, and fell asleep for most of the trip. When he awoke the World had been covered in water, and he had reached the shelter.

The shelter itself was very well protected from the mountain's horrible weather. All the walls were made of steel that was a foot thick, the door itself was about 5 inches more. The windows were about 4 inches thick. Nothing could get in or out without a key to the door.

He glanced away from the window and saw the clock sitting on his nightstand it read 9:00. He sighed and figured he'd go to bed. Not only did he find Tamara in his daylight dreams, but he would dream about her constantly. It was such clear dreams it seemed almost real until he awoke and found that she was not in his arms, and he was in his room alone. He shut off the lamp next to his bed and climbed underneath the covers. He sat in the dark by himself waiting for sleep to overcome him.

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