Much thanks for the first chapter reviews, I was absolutely stoked all of you were readers of my previous fics! I wanna give you all a virtual hug! COME HERE YOU.
Chapter 2: Break Free
I had no idea how fast I was going, but I knew it wasn't fast enough, because although I could see the nearest elevating land from where I was the junk-filled water was beginning to surround us. I dared to glance behind me for a quick moment and I saw people scrambling up walls and buildings, and others cling helplessly to trees. I thought it was because I was an selfish, apathetic monster that I never once turned around to save them. I could excuse it by saying it was instead my will to survive, but maybe accepting what I really was would help the guilt wash away faster. I saw a junkyard of cars, furniture, rubble, clothes, mothers, fathers, sisters and toddlers chase after me ruthlessly and I wondered if I would survive or end up a part of the dead mass, I wondered if the blonde man sitting behind me would come out of this alive. I didn't even know his name, and he didn't even know mine. Neither of us had said a word as we drove on, desperate to get away – well at least I was.
I heard my engine die with a peaceful sigh.
"F-Fuck! Not now!" I cursed, my voice slighting quivering. I turned the throttle several times hoping by some miracle the engine would burst into life again. I turned the ignition on and off, on and off. "No! Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Whatever chances I had for saving the blonde or myself was swallowed up by this tsunami. I felt my eyes water at the sense of hopelessness that suddenly overcame me.
"What's wrong?" the blonde asked, his face pale from the ride. Being the passenger, he must have had the time to witness much worse than I'd seen. "Why aren't we moving?"
"The engine…I don't know!" I cried, feeling a mass of hysteria rise in my throat. I tried turning the throttle again and again. "It won't budge! This piece of crap just won't budge!"
For a while we were left stranded in the middle of a drowning street, helpless as I tried to somehow get my motorcycle working again. I was beginning to shake from the overwhelming panic, I could hardly bring my fingers to hold my keys steadily as I turned the ignition repeatedly. I had abused my throttle with so much force that my hands were blistering, but I was too afraid, too much in a frenzy of terror to even notice the pain. I didn't even realise we were now three inches deep in the muddy water that was rising at an unstoppable rate. Suddenly, I felt my helmet fly off my head and firm hands lift me off my bike. My boots moistened right away as I was set down, but before I even had a chance to open my mouth and protest, the blonde had painfully grabbed my arm and began to drag me down the street at running pace. I almost tripped a few times and yelled at him angrily, "What are you doing?"
"Saving us, what does it look like?" he yelled back, though minus the hostile tone. The water had now reached waist level by the time he stopped us near a fairly small motel. The entrance were barely a few feet away, but a sudden brutal current threatened to sweep us away. It was nothing like I'd ever felt before, I couldn't even move without risking my footing. The blonde was more daring, or maybe just stupid, he dove forward and managed to hug onto a wooden post before he could be taken by the current.
The water had now risen to my chest and just as I was pushed off my feet by the powerful force of nature, the blonde had grabbed my hand and reeled me in. My arm felt like it was about to break, but he somehow managed to make his way into the building while I was hanging onto him like a rucksack, pushing passed the floating tables, chairs and knick knacks that obstructed the way. He was stronger than I thought, and I was glad for that.
The water was now too deep for either of us to be standing, and sooner or later the entire floor was going to flood. I was now glad I was wearing my cardigan and not a heavy coat that would probably weigh me down.
"What's your name?" he said loudly over the noisiness of the destruction.
I hardly thought this was the most convenient time to be introducing ourselves, but I replied, "Erika!"
"Okay, Erika, do you see the staircase over there? Well, I'm going to need you to swim ahead of me in that direction so I'll be able to help you if anything goes wrong!"
I was not in the position to argue with whatever plans he had. He obviously knew what he was doing, and I regretted underestimating him back on the beach. I nodded, and slowly paddled my way through the grimy seawater, careful to dodge any sharp or heavy objects hidden underneath. I was about halfway there when I heard a sudden cry behind me. I turned around, treading water to keep afloat, and saw the blonde was now holding onto a table while scrunching his face into a painful furrow.
"You okay?" I asked, struggling to stay afloat and losing energy fast.
He took a moment to recollect himself, I had no idea what was wrong but soon enough he starting swimming towards me again. I swam to whatever was left visible of the enveloped staircase and clambered onto the steps. I turned around and pulled the blonde up by his arms, his damp sleeves making it hard for me to keep a grip. Once he was out of the turbulent water he limped forward and urged me to run up the stairs. The motel itself was only two stories high so we could only go so far. I looked out the broken window and gasped at what I saw. What was once the suburbs of my hometown had become a wreckage within a sea of grey. I could feel bile building up inside of me, and what struck me even more was that the wave, god knows how tall, was coming our way!
"We've got to move higher, it's all we can do," said the blonde, having gone near the water from downstairs to pick up a floating piece of wood. He smashed away the last bits of shards sticking out on the window and chucked the plank aside. He poked his head through the rectangular opening and I watched him slip through and disappear above.
The water had seeped onto our level now, and I once again found myself half-deep within a flood. Scared that he might have left me to climb on my own, I poked my head through the opening. I let out a squeak as I felt myself be lifted onto the roof with the same strong hands that had picked me up off my motorcycle, but this time I felt his strength waver. He groaned as he dragged me up, and dropped tiredly on the tiled surface of the roof. We both lay there, panting and catching out breaths. I was the first to sit up and examine my surroundings, there were others perched onto the rooves of nearby houses and buildings, and some had just made it by the hair.
The waves crashed through, eating away the rest of the untouched land and people that had not made it disappeared without a trace. I stared in horror, my body trembled from both the cold and the catastrophe. It was hard to imagine only moments ago I was sitting in a café, drinking coffee and thinking idly to myself what a handsome guy this Italian was, and now…and now…
The blonde came up beside me, his body leaning over the edge of the roof to pull something up. I helped him with the little strength I had left, and together we heaved up a person that had been caught in the current. The sight of the mangled, bloodied body was the tipping point of the bile I had held in. I turned from the corpse and vomited, emptying whatever was left in my stomach. I fell to my knees as I did. I felt the blonde's hand patting my back gently as I coughed hoarsely. I didn't even care that he had to see me in such an ugly state. I felt sick.
"Sit down, you look like you're about to collapse."
"Tell me this is all a dream," I croaked.
"It's all a dream," he said with a voice so calm I was doubting whether this was even a shock to him. I turned to look at the mangled corpse again, and I would have vomited a second time if I had anything left to throw up. I gagged, and felt his reassuring hand rub my backside. To think I was supposed to be the one saving him in the beginning, but look at me now.
When I was done with feeling sick and looking as unattractive as ever, I turned over and sat on my rear, watching the destruction with a little less reaction than before. The other survivors that were sitting on rooftops or high ground looked as shocked as I was. Namimori was helpless against the sea, and I watched until the end, not knowing what was to become of everyone.
I thought back to when I was sitting at the café and laughed internally at myself once I realised the irony of everything. I had wanted the blonde to notice me, and wasn't it what I got? I was sitting beside him.
"Hey," I said, not looking away, "What's your name?"
"Dino," he replied.
"Think now is a good time to get to know each other?" There was a time and a place for everything, my mind was obvious fucked up enough to be making small talk like nothing was happening around us. I could be going crazy.
"Let it be now or never," he said simply, smiling as he did. If the world was about to end now, I really wouldn't mind having him as the last person I talked to.
"Italy huh? Where do the connections come in?"
"I was homeschooled by a family friend, he came here to teach another younger boy after I graduated. I've become close with the boy and his family since, and I often visit him and my family friend. I know, it's a strange link," he chuckled.
It really was, but I wasn't going to say that. Funny how social norms still applied in the middle of a natural disaster. I went on to ask, "How old are you?"
"Twenty two, you?"
I grinned, "Twenty one."
Dino chuckled again, seemingly amused by our minimal age gap. "So, Erika, are you studying?"
"I'm an art student," I said sheepishly. It was not something my parents were particularly proud of, but luckily they weren't your average parents from Japan and they accepted the fact their daughter wanted to pursue a career in painting. I guess to them it was either have your daughter successful and miserable or broke and content, which I was very thankful for.
Dino, sensing my shame, furrowed his eyebrows, "There's nothing wrong with that, did you really expect me, an Italian, to look down on you for pursuing art – one of the few things that my own country is proud of?"
I gave a sideways glance at him, my smile heightening. "I don't know anything about Italy," I admitted.
"Then I'll be sure to take you around if you ever decide to visit!" a childish smile spread across his lips, his teeth were so perfect I was sure he had braces at some point. I felt at ease with this guy, there was just something about him.
"The waves…they're going back," Dino said suddenly. I looked below and only then did I realise the water was about a metre gone, but not only that, the sea was taking all that it had destroyed back with it.
Dino and I could only watch as the land was left crippled and bare. I could hardly bring myself to look away from the destruction the tsunami had left behind. I had only a stranger to thank for the reason I was still alive, but who could those that had died thank? What about the people that had lost loved ones before their eyes? If my parents hadn't survived, at least I was not there to see it happen. I suddenly felt my insides tie into a knot at the thought of losing my parents, I couldn't even remember the last thing I said to them.
When it was all over, silence swept across the town of Namimori. We, the survivors, were unsure whether the tsunami would come back for us, but when the wait had dragged on for long enough, people were beginning to return to the grounds. I then wondered why Dino had not uttered a word this entire time, and saw that he was hunched on the ground holding the left side of his abdomen. He was wearing a black jacket, so I couldn't tell if he was wounded or not. I shuffled near him.
"What's wrong?" I asked, moving the flap of his jacket away. I let out a horrified gasp. There was a fresh cut, gushing with blood. I remembered he had cried out during our venture on the lower level, he must have gotten it then. I panicked a little, not knowing what to do, and then I remembered in all the movies the first thing to do was to stop the bleeding with some kind of cloth. I guess this proved that films weren't always just about entertainment.
I took off my cardigan and ordered him to move his arms. He did as he was told, and I could see his face was drained of blood. I tied it around him, just above the waist, and tightened it as securely as I could. He bit his tongue uneasily as I did. Hearing the helicopters and sirens, I knew things were beginning to move fast and helped Dino up as gently as I could. He needed some patching up – fast.
"I feel so useless right now," he chuckled.
"Better now than when the chaos was going on, besides, you saved my life," I said almost begrudgingly. I never meant for it to come out like that, but to admit weakness in myself was never easy. I was stubborn and prideful, even at times like this.
He shook his head as I struggled to help him down the slippery stairs, "You saved mine first."
"Because you helped me before that, while I was crushed under my own bike."
"Anyone would do the same, I just happened to be there."
I raised an eyebrow, "Are we really bickering about who helped who first?"
He looked at me and laughed. I found myself laughing with him, and wondered how we could be so care free after everything that had happened. Maybe it better like this, so I would forget about the fact that all the people I knew and loved could be lying lifelessly under a heap of rubble or be a floating corpse in the middle of the ocean. I laughed harder, suppressing any tears that threatened to spill, and kept on laughing until I broke down and cried. I hadn't even noticed I was now kneeling on the floor outside the barely-standing motel with face in my hands wailing out loud. Dino had his arm around my shoulder, his reassuring warm arm, and I wondered how a person could be so kind to a selfish brat me. I was sure he was as devastated as I was, he too had loved ones in the city, but here I was savouring his every comfort. This was the first time I had cried in a very, very long time.
