Don had just gotten changed when the apartment started to shake. Earthquakes were not unusual in LA, so Don was used to this sort of thing, but this was no normal earthquake. It was stronger than ones he had been through in the past. He immediately raced to the doorway, but it was no use.
Then the walls started caving in.
N_U_M_B_3_R_SMegan was trying to get her bearings. She was on the ground and saw that desks had fallen over, but the building itself was intact.
"That was some earthquake," said a man beside her.
Megan had to agree. She got up and walked towards the window.
"Shit," she whispered.
N_U_M_B_3_R_SDavid was spluttering. He looked around but could see nothing through the haze.
"Colby!" he shouted.
He tried to get up but found himself pinned down by a slab of concrete.
He peered through the darkness again and saw the silhouette of a man walking towards him. But it was not Colby. It was Minnon.
Minnon looked at David and continued to walk away.
"Hey! Come back!" shouted David, but Minnon just continued to walk.
N_U_M_B_3_R_SCharlie ran over to Amita and said, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine, just some bruises," she said, brushing some dust from all the fallen chalk off her clothes.
The immediately walked out of the room and straight into Larry, who had obviously come to make sure they were alright.
"Are you unharmed?" he asked them.
"Yeah Larry, we're good. What about you, are you okay?" Amita asked him.
"I myself are unharmed, you should come with me," he said, walking down a corridor.
They walked out the front doors of CalSci to see a total wreckage of buildings.
"Oh my God," said Amita.
"It gets worse. That was a terrible earthquake," said Larry, "All the unstable buildings in the city are collapsed. I don't know which ones."
Charlie gulped. He ran over to his car and Amita and Larry followed him.
"Here," said Amita, taking his keys, "I'll drive. You call your dad and Don."
N_U_M_B_3_R_SAlan heard his phone ring and immediately grabbed it off the table. He had been watching the news and had been seeing pictures of buildings all over town that had collapsed. He was worried. It had been reported that the earthquake had been an 8.0 magnitude on the Richter scale and that over a dozen buildings had gone down, trapping an estimated 900 people.
"Dad?" asked Charlie over the phone.
"Yeah Charlie. Are you okay?" he asked immediately.
"Yeah, we're fine. Amita and Larry are with me. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. This house it as stable as an old oak."
"Have you been able to get a hold of Don?"
Alan froze, he hadn't realized it but he had been pacing up and down the living room.
"Dad?"
"No Charlie. I haven't tried to be honest."
There was silence on the other end. Then…
"He was going to his apartment to change, and then heading back into work. He couldn't have made it that far though, not in the time he left CalSci, which means he was either close to or at the apartment. But I called there and his phones been disconnected-"
"Charlie," Alan interrupted, "Half the power in LA's been cut off-"
"Dad I'm looking at the 'LA Search and Rescue' website. It says Don's apartment was one of the ones to collapse."