I ran, as fast as my legs could carry me, the rain and cold slowing me down. Good thing my mom had put me on the track team. I was a fast runner, but waves were a little bit faster. Well, a lot faster. The wall of water sped toward me, sweeping up cars, hot dog stands, and screaming people. They all disappeared in the vast blue liquid. I couldn't outrun it, but I wouldn't end up like them. Shelter was what I needed. I searched for the tallest, strongest building I could find. My eyes fell on the famous Bellbow Hotel. It loomed over 30 stories high, made out of brick, wood, and who knows what. Hopefully it could withstand the wave. Without any other choice, I ran through the revolving doors, and into the hotel.

I gasped as I saw the scene. But not because of the glamour of it all, well that too, but because people milled around as if nothing was happening. My eyes fell on a baby, asleep, being pushed in a stroller. I realized they hadn't been warned. They didn't know they were seconds away from dying. But I did. I had to act. Quick.

"Get up the stairs!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. People stopped what they were doing and stared at me. Blank faces. Blank stares. "Move!" I shouted again. "There's a wave coming! Move!" They did nothing. Maybe they didn't believe me, or maybe they didn't care if they died. "Move!" I shouted for the last time. If these people were so arrogant, then they could die. I didn't care.

Suddenly, the building shook, and screams errupted from the dining area. Water spewed from the hallway leading to the diner, only 20 feet away from me. My head whipped around, searching for the stairs, and locked in on them. I ran through the door marked STAIRS, people following after me, and up the spiral staircase. I skipped up them -two at a time- and watched the water rise quickly below me. The civilians far below me scream and push as they get enveloped under the fast rising water. I paused for a second when I saw a mother push her baby up to a young man, higher than she, then vanish under the water, her baby wrapped tightly in her arms. It made me want to weep, and curse nature, but I didn't have the time.

"Get out the way!" Someone shouted behind me. Several people shoved past me; a family it seemed. I flattened myself against the railing to avoid getting trampled, the family disappearing through a door. All was quiet. The screams had stopped; all those lives gone. Below me, the water had stopped rising, and was instantly freezing over. I shivered; the cold seeping into my bones now that I had stopped moving. I needed to get warm. I climbed.

(^._.^)

I shuffled through the mini-fridge, looking for edible food. Food that was un-frozen. The power had shut off right after the attack, making the fridge useless. It wasn't needed anyway, the room felt like a refridgerator. Scratch that. The room felt like a freezer. Luckily, I had found a coat stored in a closet, plus the comforter on the bed in the room helped keep warm. But still there was no heat, no TV, no internet, no reception, no nothing. Was anyone going to rescue me? Probably not.

"Ugh," I said, spitting out the frozen, stale bread. My stomach grumbled. Icecream sounded really good. But there was none. The kitchen, which was on the first floor, was under tons of frozen water. Why did they always have to put kitchens on the first floor? Hadn't they ever thought that if a gigantic wave killing most of the population of Manhattan swept through the hotel the kitchen would be soaked and covered? No.

Why did this happen so suddenly, anyway? There was absolutely no warning on TV, nor on the radio. The image of the mother and her baby flashed in my mind. Mother. My mother. What happened to her? Was she still alive? The odds weren't in her favor. I pushed the thought away; I couldn't cry now. I was alone. Well, actually, I wasn't sure. The first thing I had done after the water stopped rising, was find a coat, room, then a bed, and sleep. It hadn't occured to me that going through the hotel to explore for survivors could be an effective thing. Now it filled my head.

I stood, abandoning the contents in the fridge, grabbed the red satchel I had found, and swept out the door. The hallways were dark, and quiet. Creepy almost. I was on the lowest hotel floor to the ice. It might've made the cold even worse, but if I needed to get out quickly then I wouldn't have to jump from a window onto the hard, compact ice. I had searched this floor a little before, and found no sign of life. Me, all alone, with my own floor of a hotel. That did sound awesome besides the fact that a wave had just buried Manhattan under tons of ice, and that there was no electricity, reception, or heating. No heat, that was the worst. And it was below freezing. I didn't understand how eskimos did it.

I sighed and trampled up the stairs to the floor above me, then searched.

A few hours later my satchel was bulging from bottom to top. I found a few valuable things; icecream, a full bag of Lays, a blanket, a box of matches, and some toiletries (though the water didn't work), but I took it anyway. Sadly, I didn't find what I was looking for; life. Actually, I did find life. A puppy. As I was wrapping up my search for that floor, I rounded the bend of the last unsearched hallway, and stopped. In the middle of the hallway was a puppy.

A cocker spaniel. It was sniffing the floor, for food most likely, but looked up at me when I entered. It yelped, trying to bark and scare me away, but did no such thing. Instead, it backed away. It seemed scared out of its mind, and I understood. No parents. No owner. Where was its owner anyway? If it had one then they should've been around here somewhere. Unless they were dead. Were they? Probably.

I bent my knees, patting them. "Come here, doggy. No need to be scared." The puppy backed away more. I sighed, standing. Well, that didn't seem to work. It made it worse. So I tried a different approach. Reaching into the satchel, I pulled out the bag of lays; taking out one. Bait. I got down on my knees and waved the chip in front of me. Hopefully dogs weren't allergic to Lays. "Here's some food," I said in a quiet, sweet voice. The dog shuffled forward.

"I know you're hungry." The puppy was a few feet away from me now. "Come on, take it. It's good." It hesitated. "Come on, it's not poisionous, if that's what you think. See?" I took a small bite from the chip. Yumm. I refrained from tearing the bag open and stuffing my mouth. I would have time for that later. Hopefully. "I know you want it. Come and get it." The cocker spaniel leaped forward and snatched the chip from my fingers.

I smiled. Success. "Good girl." I rubbed the puppys rich, black fur. "Or..." I checked, confirming its gender; girl. "Hmmm," I continued patting her. What shall I call you?" The dog didn't answer. Surprise, surprise. "No suggestions? I guess not." I tilted my head to the side, thinking. "How about... Hope?" She let out a yip, happy with my choice.

I smiled. Hope.

I stood, Hope in my arms, and headed to the stairs, but it seemed that Hope didn't like that idea. She barked and wriggled in my arms.

"What's wrong girl?" I said. She wriggled some more, urging me to let her go. I did. As soon as her feet connected with the ground, she took of running back the way she came. "Hey!" I shouted after her. Hope stopped and turned to look back at me. She barked. Come, she seemed to say. I followed. She took off running again and suddenly disappeared around a bend. "Wait up!" I yelled. Puppies could be so hyper. I turned right into the perpendicular hallway to find Hope perched in front of a door. She barked at it.

"What's this?" I asked. Of course, she didn't answer, she just barked again at the door. Then I noticed it. The door was cracked open a little, and something glowed from within. Someone was in there.

I slowly pushed the door open; it creaked. I forged on, until I was fully in the room. My gaze traveled around the room; similar to the one I'd discovered. But, no one was in there. Wait. My gaze fell on a huge lump in the middle of the bed. A body, I realized. Alive or dead? Asleep or awake? I tiptoed closer to the bed and poked at the body. I couldn't tell who it was, for they were covered completely with golden sheets.

"Hello?" I said. Nothing. I poked again. Nothing. I punched the body. This time he/she rolled over, facing me. The covers fell from his face. I gasped and jumped back, almost knocking over a desk.

The familiar name flew out my mouth. "Wesley?"