Fictober Prompt 19: "I feel strange."
Engulfed
Raindrops pounded on Marona's head and sunk through her shawls. The icy cold droplets numbed her skin, numbing her. But she continued to oppose the Gzar, holding Lazarus' hand as he bellowed into his megaphone, demanding the Maliks feed their people.
While the raindrops were plentiful, so were the Grulovians. They had come out day after day to protest. The mistreatment, the poverty, the horrors of starvation, it had all stemmed from the Maliks. While they lived lavishly, devouring caviar without a care in the world, the people of Grulovia suffered. They toiled the earth and worked for slave wages. They had reached their limit after the war and roared with all the ferocious justice in their lungs at the castle, demanding the Gzar hear their demands.
But as Marona expected, he stood behind her. His general, the enemy of the people. Maligula leered at the protestors with such hatred and disgust that Marona shuddered. When did Lucrecia become so cruel? Had she forgotten the days where she hungered for a morsel more? Had she forgotten Gelsin's suffering during the previous war? Or was her patriotism so great that she'd punish anyone who spoke out against the Maliks? Gelsin had always been loyal to the throne. Maybe he imparted the worst in her when he passed.
Marona raised her gaze to the balcony plated in gold. Maligula's arm extended, and her other hand pressed against her temple. Her fingers moved as if she was playing the piano. She exacerbated the rain, soaking Marona to the bone. Children sobbed around her, and she wished she could have held them, their parents whispering in their ears overpowered by the thunder rumbling overhead.
She gritted her molars. Her skin prickled. Her glasses steamed, and she couldn't bother to wipe them. They'd be smattered with droplets in a matter of milliseconds with how quickly the rain doused on her.
"We demand food, Theodore! We're starving! Share the food!" Lazarus bellowed next to her, and her heart swelled as he jabbed his fist into the air. "The people of Grulovia deserve better!"
A chorus of agreement rose around him. She joined them, elevating her voice to a shrill boom. She locked eyes for a brief moment with her sister, or at least, she believed she did. Maligula only glared at the ensemble of villagers with such contempt before focusing on the water to protect her liege.
Maligula snarled. Marona had never seen such hatred twist her features. She reminded her of a viper, ready to strike, ready to kill. Marona's breath was still in her throat, her face growing long in shock. Maligula uttered a cry, her hair spilling out, thrusting her fist to the sky, and Marona clutched her shawl, the wrath tainting her sister's face imprinting in her mind.
The clouds overhead blocked out the last hints of sunlight. She feverishly glanced at her people, hearing their demands, examining the anger on their faces. They refused to give Maligula an inch. They refused to give in when they had already come so far. Marona loved them and wished her sister understood how deeply she loved them all.
Something cracked. In the darkness, something else flowed.
"I feel strange," Marona whispered to Lazarus, her husband cutting himself off at her voice.
"What do you mean?" he urgently murmured. "Marona, darling, what do you mean? Isn't the rain as it usually is?"
"Yes, but something is - something is-!"
The ground quaked, dominating the rolling thunder. Lightning flashed, blinding her, but Marona still heard the water. The voices of her fellow Grulovians were silenced. All eyes turned toward the Valermo Dam. Water spewed out in fissures, and as Marona gasped, Maligula screamed.
The dam broke.
All at once, miles of water flooded Grulovia. It smashed down upon homes, tearing them off their foundations. There was no time to flee. The water had already arrived. People of all ages were swept up in the waves, the liquid rolling and covering the surface of the town square, the village, the outskirts, the neighboring woods, but it never breached the castle.
Hundreds of thousands of bodies were swept away. Cries pierced throughout Grulovia, but it lasted a fraction of a sound. Their shrieks hit a fever pitch only to be hushed by the water. No one could run. No one could hide. They only heard Maligula's roar over the rushing water destroying everything in its wake.
"Lord, help us," Lazarus whispered.
"Run!" Marona commanded over the torrent.
Their hands found each other as they tried to escape. Lazarus threw his megaphone at the balcony. He ordered everyone to seek higher ground. Marona looked back, clenching her teeth, her heart pounding in her chest. She gasped for breath, nearly slipping on the drenched cobblestone ground, her people smothered by the waves.
But when she gazed at the balcony, she gasped. Maligula was wailing. Her eyes glowing white, her mouth stretched wide open. Her hands remained in their familiar positions as the rain poured and the water gushed, but she didn't move, frozen like a statue. Marona's fatal mistake happened when she slowed to stare at her sister, Lucrecia's anguish dripping from her like the rain she summoned.
"Marona! Look out!" Lazarus yelled.
Lucrecia snapped her head down at Marona just as the water crushed her from behind. She was flung from Lazarus. She couldn't see. Her glasses were torn off her face. Her shawl clung to her body and strangled her, just as her hair wrapped around her face. She flailed her limbs, hearing them snap, the water pressing her to the ground and dragging her with the current. Her fingernails chipped on the cobblestone. Blood spurted from her hands, and she uttered a submerged scream.
Her eyes flew open. She saw bodies whipping around her. Children drifted, motionless, among the broken rooftops. Debris punctured the water, crushing people, pinning them in place. Marona reached above her head, the rain beating the surface, but another powerful wave thrust her down, bashing her head into the ground. A sickly trickle of blood seeped from her brow, and she tasted it on her tongue, the metallic tang dizzying her.
She sank. The flood overwhelmed her. Her hands reached for the surface that grew farther and farther away. Bubbles leaked from her mouth. Her lungs and heart fluttered, her muscles weakening. Her vision grew spotty, mixing colors as she raised her hand to the water.
She thought of her son left behind at the circus waiting for her to come home. She thought of her husband drowning in the water. She thought of her people scattered around her, nothing more than corpses. She couldn't save any of them. Marona gagged, her chest heaving, her brain buzzing, her lungs begging for air, and the truth pained her most of all.
Then, while thinking of Lucrecia's smile, it all stopped, and she floated to the surface.