Disclaimer: I do not own Final Destination. All of the characters in this story, however, are of my own creation.
Author's Note: I'm not sure if I'm going to complete this story. It all really depends on the reception it gets. If people like it and want more, I will make the effort to write. If no one cares, it will die.
A Thousand Suns
Chapter One
Renee said it would be fun, and that's what it always came back to because everyone liked Renee; she was funny, intelligent, witty, beautiful; what wasn't to like? But I had different thoughts about her road trip idea. Being stuck in a vehicle for hours on end and staying in dingy motels wasn't my idea of fun, and I voiced those opinions.
"Come on, Ashley. I swear you won't regret it."
"Can't we…you know, just go to the beach or something? Why do you want to travel to the other side of the country?"
"It's California, honey. You have to go there at least once in your lifetime."
"Okay, then why don't we fly?"
"This is going to be bonding time. You, me, Hayden, and the guys. It'll be great!"
I wrinkled my nose. "By guys who do you mean?"
"Cassidy, Alistair, and Corwin."
"Why would you invite Alistair? We hardly know him."
Renee let out a frustrated sigh. "He's Hayden's boyfriend."
"Ew. Since when?"
"Since a week ago. Where have you been?"
I lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug.
"So are you coming, Ash? Please? It'll be fun. I promise."
And so I caved.
"I can't sit back there."
I scowled at Alistair. "Why the hell not?"
"I get car sick."
I sucked in a deep breath and held it before slowly letting it back out. I knew things were bad when we hadn't even gotten in the car, yet, and I was already trying to figure out how I could kill Alistair and get away with it.
"Fine. I'll sit in the back," I said, pushing past him to climb in the side door of the SUV and into the way back.
Cassidy, my brother, crawled over the seats to sit beside me. Hayden took the seat directly in front of me with Alistair next to her. Renee was driving and Corwin sat in the passenger seat.
Renee glanced back at all of us, grinning. Her eyes lingered on me. "Don't worry, Ash. You'll have fun. California is awesome."
"Yeah. Whatever. Let's just get there as fast as possible. Speed if you have to. I don't care."
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, doll."
I huffed in annoyance and glared at the back of Alistair's skull, deciding that he should be the one to bear the brunt of my death glare until we reached our destination.
"Hey…"
My eyes opened, and I felt something prodding my head. I sat up, realizing I'd been sleeping on Cassidy's shoulder and it had been his finger poking me. I looked at him, wiping a hand across my mouth to make sure I hadn't drooled all over him.
"We're here."
"California?"
He laughed. "No. The hotel."
"Oh. Right."
I followed him out of the SUV and blinked in astonishment at the building. I'd been expecting a rundown, crappy little piece of shit, but this place was huge. I stared upwards, trying to guess how many floors it had.
"Who's paying for this?" I asked, turning my attention to Cassidy.
"Renee is."
"Where'd she get the money to pay for something like this?"
"Beats me."
He walked to the front doors with me trailing behind in bafflement. Inside, the cool air was like an Arctic wind, and I shivered violently.
"You okay?"
I glanced at Cassidy. "Yeah. Just a little cold."
He started to take off his jacket, but I held up my hand. "No, it's fine."
While everyone else made their way to the elevator, I hesitated, feeling another shiver pass through my body, though I didn't feel cold anymore, just uneasy, almost afraid. I shook the feeling off and hurried to catch up, slipping into the elevator just before the doors slid shut.
"What floor are we on?" I asked, shifting nervously in the closed compartment.
"Twenty-four," Renee said, smiling.
"Fucking phenomenal. Couldn't you have gotten a room on the first floor?"
"We'll have a great view of the city from up there. Don't be such a poor sport about this."
"I'm not. I mean…I just feel a little off."
"Are you sick?"
I shook my head. "No. I…"
The elevator jolted to a stop, and I looked away from Renee. The doors opened and three more people squeezed inside. I bit my lips, looking up to see which floor we were on: seven. The doors closed.
We reached the twenty-third floor when the elevator stopped again.
"Oh, come on," I said, wanting to be off the damn thing and deciding that once the doors opened I would just take the stairs up the last flight even if it took longer, but the doors didn't open. I turned to find Renee. "What's going on?"
"Don't worry. This happens all the time; it's just a little glitch."
Right. I pressed my hand to my head. "Can we pry the doors open?"
"Ashley. Honey. There's no need to pan-"
The lights blinked out. A couple people screamed, but I couldn't tell if it was my friends or strangers. Everything felt a little surreal. I reached forward and pressed the button to open the door, but nothing happened.
"Renee," I said, pressing the button again.
I felt her hands on my shoulders. "It's okay," she said. "They'll send someone to get us out."
Somewhere, I could hear someone screaming.
"Renee, something's wrong." The elevator shook, shuddered. I pounded the button. "It won't open!"
Someone grabbed me, but in the dark, I couldn't tell who it was. My arms were pinned against my own body, and I could hear Renee saying something, but her voice sounded distant. The elevator shook again.
"It's okay," someone said. "Just breathe."
I nodded my head, which was silly since it was impossible to see. I sucked in a deep breath and exhaled through my mouth, repeating the process until my nerves felt a little less frayed. I heard another scream in the distant, followed by what sounded like an explosion.
"What was that?" I asked.
No one answered and the elevator shook again, this time with more force, and suddenly it dropped. Everyone screamed, and the arms that were wrapped around me squeezed tighter. I wanted to cry, maybe I already was, I didn't know.
The elevator jolted again as we came to an abrupt halt.
"We have to get out of here," I said, my voice a panicked whisper. "We have to open the doors. Can anyone open the doors? Please, someone open the goddamn doors!"
"Ashley, calm down," Corwin said, and I realized it was him that was holding me. "We're working on it."
I gulped, feeling sick. "You can let go. I'm okay now."
"Are you sure?"
I nodded my head, and when he didn't let go said "yes" as I remembered he couldn't see me. Finally, he released me. There was a grinding-like noise, and faint light filled the elevator as the doors were pushed apart. We had stopped halfway between a floor, so we'd have to pull ourselves up onto the landing. I glanced at Corwin when he grabbed my arm and pushed me forward.
"Go," he said.
I grabbed the ledge and hoisted myself up, pulling myself across the floor until I was clear of the elevator. I waited as Hayden and Renee followed suit, followed by two of the strangers-a dark-haired woman and a man holding a shiny black briefcase.
"Alistair," Hayden whispered, and I saw his head pop out from the elevator before the rest of him followed suit. Corwin was next and then the third stranger.
There was another grinding noise.
"Cassidy," I screamed, moving towards the elevator. I saw his hands slip up over the edge and he pulled himself up halfway.
The grinding became a shriek. The next moment there was a scream and blood splashed across the floor and my legs. I stared in horror as my mind tried to wrap around what had happened and why Cassidy wasn't moving anymore. What was he waiting for? Why…
"Oh God, Ash." Corwin was standing next to me. He grabbed my arm and started to pull me down the hall, but I yanked myself away from him.
"We can't leave Cassidy," I said, rushing over to my brother. I grabbed his hands and dragged him forward, but only half of him came with me; the other half had been taken away with the elevator.
"Ashley, stop. We have to go."
"We can't leave Cassidy."
"He's dead. I'm sorry, but he is."
"We can't leave-"
His arm wrapped around my waist and he forcibly pulled me backwards. I lost my grip on my brother's blood-slicked hands and soon he was lost in the darkness of the building.
We ran down the hallway, listening to the explosions and screams of people in the distance. Everything shuddered, and I stumbled, barely keeping my balance. Corwin still hadn't let go of me, and his grip was starting to become painful as his hand tightened with every scream, every shriek, every shudder the building made. We burst into the stairwell, and the man with the briefcase, who had been leading us, cried out, his arms wind milling as he tried to step back away from the broken ledge that had once been the stairs, but his momentum wouldn't allow for this, and he plunged forward.
His scream broke off.
The building shook again.
"Come on," Renee said. She crept closer to the edge of the floor. "I think we can make the jump down to that landing. After that, the stairs are intact."
She took a few steps backwards and then ran, leaping off the ledge and landing on the other side. Everyone else began to follow suit: Hayden, Alistair, the dark-haired woman, me, Corwin. As the third man made the jump, his foot slipped and his jump was short. His chest crashed into the landing, his hands scrabbling for purchase. I grabbed his arm.
"Hang on," I said. "Please, hang on."
The building shuddered, and I felt my balance tip forward. My mouth opened, but before I could scream I felt arms wrap around my midsection, keeping me from falling to my death. I couldn't say the same for the man, though; I lost my grip on him and he felt down the stairwell, his body crumpling when he hit the bottom. I stared in open-mouthed shock.
"We have to keep going," Corwin said, dragging me along behind him as he ran down the stairs.
There was a crunching sound above us, and I looked up to see the ceiling caving in. We picked up our pace. A chunk of plaster tumbled down, smashing against the stairs. Corwin and I swerved around it.
"Hayden!" Alistair yelled a moment before another hunk of the ceiling smashed her against the floor. Blood poured from her mouth as her hands reached behind her, trying to push the debris off. Alistair dropped down beside her and pulled the plaster away. He gathered her up in his arms, his face wet with tears.
"You'll be okay," he said, but she wasn't moving anymore.
Renee grabbed him, but he shook her off. "We have to keep going," she said. She sounded like she was about to cry.
"But Hayden…"
"Come on."
He lifted his head; his eyes were glassy, and I felt guilty for the way I'd hated him. It seemed he really did love Hayden.
Another explosion ripped through the building and the rest of the ceiling collapsed, burying Alistair along with Hayden's body.
"Oh God," I whispered.
Corwin was pulling me again. We followed Renee and the other woman, and we pushed the stairwell door open, running out into the lobby, which was in full chaos. The place was on fire, most of the large windows shattered, bodies strewn across the floor. We made our way towards the front of the building just as there was another explosion-this one far closer than any of the others had been. There was only the sound of shattering windows before both Renee and the dark-haired woman fell down, impaled with long shards glass.
I pressed a hand to my mouth, but neither me nor Corwin stopped. He busted out the front doors only moments before another explosion. I glanced backwards to see a blast of fire billowing behind us.
"Corwin, look out!"
He turned around and then pushed me aside. The fire enveloped him. I stared in horror for a moment before leaning forward and vomiting. Struggling to my feet, I started running again. There was another series of explosions, and a searing pain surged through my back. My legs collapsed beneath me. I got to my knees, glancing backwards just in time to see the building buckle and topple forward.
I sucked in a sharp breath and looked around in horror. Everyone was in the elevator already and the doors were beginning to close, so I quickly slipped inside, feeling my heart race.
"What floor are we on?" I asked.
"The twenty-fourth," Renee said, smiling.
I shivered. That was just a coincidence, right? It had to be. "Why not just get a room on the first floor?"
"We'll have a great view of the city from up there. Don't be such a poor sport about this."
Oh, God. No.
"Let's not stay here," I said.
"Ash, don't be crazy," Hayden said, reaching forward and patting my arm. "I just want to get to my room and take a nice, long hot shower."
"I'm serious. We have to leave. Now."
Cassidy grabbed my arm. "What's wrong? Do you feel sick?"
I shook my head miserably. The elevator jolted to a stop and the doors opened. I glanced up. Seventh floor. As the three people squeezed inside, I hurried out, holding my hand in the doorway.
"Please, guys, we have to get off. It's not safe. We'll die."
Alistair laughed. "Wow. Way to be paranoid, Ashley."
"I'm not-"
"I already paid for the rooms," Renee said.
I felt my eyes begin to overflow with tears. "Please."
Cassidy glanced back at everyone and then at me. He stepped out of the elevator, followed by Corwin.
"What the hell," Hayden said. "What's wrong with all of you?"
"Let's just get off the elevator and talk about it," Corwin said. "It's not going to hurt anyone."
Renee growled with frustration, but stepped off.
"This is stupid," Alistair said. "Let's just talk about it once we get to our rooms."
"Just get off the elevator," the man with the briefcase said. "The girl's obviously too scared to get on, and I don't want to wait here all day."
"You need to get off, too," I said to him.
He just laughed.
Hayden and Alistair finally consented, and I let the doors close.
"Okay, what's this about?" Renee asked.
I started down the hallway towards the stairwell.
"Ashley!"
"The building's going to collapse. We have to get out of here."
"Do you know how crazy you sound?"
"I don't care! We have to get out now."
I ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, my heart pounding much too fast to be normal. I reached the bottom and turned back to find every one else plodding down at a leisurely pace.
"Hurry up!"
"Ashley, please calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm-"
There was a distant explosion and someone screamed. Renee and the other's picked up their paces. We ran out into the lobby where a fire was already burning. People were rushing out the door in a panic, and we quickly joined the crowd. Once outside, he dashed to the SUV, piling inside. Renee started the vehicle and pulled out of the parking lot so fast that we bounced up onto the curb with a jarring jolt. I turned to look out the back, watching as windows blasted outward and the building slowly crumpled in on itself.