(Chapter 10: The Design Revealed)
Nick Romero sat at the opposite side of the table as Mike and Sarah had and listened as they laid the whole scheme of things out. They saw it happen before it happened, the wreck, Rhonda, and some other clue they had yet to identify. Then they brought out information relating to a history of incidents such as their current situation, including the infamous urban legend of Flight 180. Sipping his coffee and trying his best to keep his hand from rattling too much, Nick poured in another packet of sugar.
"So what you're saying is that because we were all supposed to die in that boat, but since we didn't, death is out to get us again and we're all going to die a horrible if overly-elaborate death in the coming days?" Nick said, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible.
"Yes," Mike said.
"And you need the pictures I took the day of the accident to see if you can find out who is going to die when so you can try and break the pattern," Nick said with some hesitance.
"Yes Nick," Sarah said, trying to sound reassuring, "I know this sounds crazy, but-"
"Actually," Nick said cutting in, "this is about the sanest thing I've heard in some time. You guys saved my life from some form of divine intervention, you saw this in a vision and now you're having visions again. I don't want to die, nor do I plan on dying anytime soon. I already lost one person I know and cared about, I don't plan on losing any more of them anytime soon."
The pair who sat across from him looked a little shocked by his bluntness, but soon got back to smiling.
"I'm glad you're with us on this Nick," Mike said, "we could save some lives if we can figure out the design."
Reaching into his backpack, Nick began pulling out dozens of black and white eight by ten's, spreading them out on the table.
"This is everything from the day of the accident, at least everything I took inside the boat. I hope you guys can see something in one of these."
No sooner had he spread them out than Sarah and Mike started ripping through them, trying to find anything that could be of use. The pictures were scattered in content at best. One of a seal. One taken of Nick's feet. One taken looking down Tanesha's cleavage, to which Nick blushed slightly. Another one of them pulling a net full of fish and mollusks aboard the ship. All shots from the boat, none of them any use. Finally reaching the bottom of the pile, Mike found a picture that got his attention. It was one taken when they were underwater, in the glass bottom portion of the boat. Nick had stationed himself at the front and took the picture looking back, getting a look at everyone and where they all sat. Rhonda was at the end of the boat by the engine room
"Guys, I got it," Mike said as he showed them the picture.
"The explosion started here, near the engine room and traveled up the boat. Rhonda would have been the first to die when the accident happened," he continued.
"So it's going in order," Sarah said with a sudden realization.
"It's going by where we all would have died in the accident, by where we sat when the boat tilted up."
"Well that's great guys," Nick said anxiously, "but what does that mean?"
"It means," Mike said referring to the picture, "that Rhonda was the first to die and that the design is continuing. It means that Darwin is next, then the rest of us."
There was a nervous and awkward moment of silence as the three sat at the table and didn't know what to say. Mike started to back down in his seat, already defeated. Trying to comfort her friend, Sarah gave him a warm hug.
"We're not going to let it come to that Mike," Sarah said, "we're going to watch for the signs and try and prevent this from happening, it can happen. We're going to beat this together."
"Okay guys, first thing's first," Nick said, "I'm all for the pair of you going off and getting married now, but we need to find Darwin and make sure he doesn't' screw up."
As Mike and Sarah parted, they locked eyes, trying perhaps to comfort each other. As he stood up, Mike took the picture with the plan revealed, folded it up and put it in his pocket. Nick, Sarah and Mike then left their seats in the comfort of Kaldi's Coffee House (or as the neighborhood often called it, Skaldi's) and hit the sidewalk. The rain had long since stopped, the ground now wet while the sky chose to remain a dull and frightening gray. Traffic that drove along the streets was minimum, the vehicles that did pass along spraying large amounts of water into the air. As she walked further out onto the sidewalk, Sarah got hit in the face with a large drop of water. Looking up, she saw that it came dripping from one of the large windows of the office complex that Kaldi's was built under, with water still dripping off of it steadily. In the moment that she looked at the glass, she saw a reflection she had not expected, that of a white pickup truck crashing into the curb. She could hear the metal rend and see things fly from the back of it and onto the sidewalk. Looking to the street, she could see no truck and no debris, the traffic pleasant and subdued as it tended to be on rainy days.
"Hey Sarah!" a feminine voice yelled excitedly. Sarah looked down the sidewalk to see that it came from Tina, who was bounding up excitedly in her heavy rain slicker. Tina came up and began babbling away at a mile a minute, not quite as fast as usual but enthusiastic as always.
"Girl, this has been one hell of a storm huh, I mean I'm wet all over here and not in the good way either," Tina said enthusiastically.
"Tina, there's something we need to tell yo-"
"I mean bad things happen in storms, look at Rhonda last night, then there was the accident down by the community college, it's like a full moon or something, all the weird stuff happens during a storm," Tina continued.
With a sick feeling in his stomach, Mike remembered that Darwin lived near the community college, where he was attending classes, "What happened by the college?"
"Oh," Tina said as she first realized that Nick and Mike were both standing there, "there were a bunch of ambulances and fire trucks by one of the apartments nearby, so as always you gotta ask, kind of like a car wreck. Anyhow, I go up and they say this guy was trying to tip something free out of a vending machine and it tipped over and crushed him. Like a bug. They said it was one hell of a mess."
Mike remembered the night before, seeing C7 pop up on his clock radio. C7, like a choice on a vending machine. Letter meets number. Dear god, it got Darwin.
"Darwin," Sarah said softly as she looked to Mike, "Mike, who's next?"
Nervously reaching into his pocket, Mike pulled out the picture and began to unfold it. As he lined up who sat where, all he could say was, "I am."
---------
Clinton had been drinking the night before, and remained a little tipsy. Rhonda was a good chick, one hell of an athlete and a good writer. Why do the good have to die young? He sped around the streets of Braiwood on his motorcycle, particularly enjoying going through the deep puddles. She would have died a month earlier if you hadn't fought Mike. Mike, it's all his fault. You're alive now because of him Clinton, he thought, but Rhonda died. Why couldn't Mike save her this time like before? Why?
Taking one corner a bit too fast, Clinton could see that he was approaching Kaldi's. Get some coffee, shake it off, wake yourself up and take away the hangover. As he revved up the engine, he could see Mike standing with Sarah, Nick and Tina. God, what an ass. Why don't you show him who's boss Clinton, that'd make things right.
"Yo Mike!" he yelled as he lifted one hand from the handlebars of his bike, using it to flip the bird to Mike. That's showing him Clinton, you got him this time. Smiling and quite proud with himself, Clinton revved the engine of his bike and proceeded to speed through another puddle. Unbeknownst to him as he drove through the water, the puddle hid a large pothole. As the front wheel of his bike sped through the hole, it caught on one end and upended the bike, throwing Clinton through the air.
"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!"
---------
Mike and the others simply watched as Clinton flew through the air off of his bike and rolled another forty yards down the street, his helmet, leather jacket and jeans having kept him quite protected from the road rash one would normally get, though he would definitely be a bit worse for wear later. What did catch their attention was his bike as it flipped over in the pothole and skidded further along the road. Sarah watched with certain horror as the bike continued on its path, right into an oncoming white pickup truck with the words "Campbell's Medical Supply" written on it. The truck swerved, losing traction in the rain and impacting the bike with its front fender. Spun slightly, the truck lost control and slammed into the corner near Kaldi's. The group all jumped out of the way, in separate directions. Standing up, Mike watched as the truck settled, pieces falling off and the driver stumbling out quite dazed. As the vehicle lurched to a final stop on the curb, a tank of compressed oxygen that had been in the flatbed tilted and fell off and hit the ground. Hard. The regulator top immediately broke off, sending the tank flying like a rocket in Mike's direction.
He hardly had time to react as the compressed air exiting the tank rocketed it towards his face. At the last instant, he dodged it slightly, the tank only grazing the side of his head and instantly bloodying his face and knocking him unconscious. He fell to the ground in a heap.
"Mike!" Sarah screamed.
The tank continued on its way, busting through Kaldi's front window and ricocheting off of a chair. Travelling at a few hundred miles per hour, it turned upwards and shot through the ceiling like a bullet. Finally losing some pressure, it turned once more and shattered through one of the massive windows of the office complex. Having lost most pressure by then, it flew about in the street, hit the brick wall of a nearby building and died out. Sarah rushed to Mike's side, with Nick and Tina in tow.
"Jesus Christ, that's how it happens?" Nick said bewildered.
"How what happens?" Tina said, completely confused.
"It, death, we're all going to die Tina, we cheated death before on the boat when we were supposed to die, now death is coming back for us. Rhonda, Darwin, they're already dead."
Tina looked around and then started to laugh, "Girl, what've you been smoking?"
"She's not crazy, it's happened before," Nick said trying to prove a point, but not quite getting it out.
One large shard of glass hung from the window frame, barely held in it's place by a simple piece of plastic. It swung in the wind slightly, held in place by tenuous threads. As it swung back and forth, a simple gust of wind knocked it out of place, sending it down towards the prone Mike like a dagger from the sky.
A shadow passed in front of Sarah's eyes, a curious one she had never seen before. It seemed, unnatural. She had a feeling that it wasn't over yet. Looking up, she caught the glint of light as it passed through the falling piece of glass. With cat-like reflexes, she reacted, grabbing Mike and pulling him out of the way. The massive shard of glass exploded on the ground right where Mike had been lying just moments before.
As he regained some consciousness, he could see Sarah looking down upon him.
"Am I in heaven?" Mike asked groggily.
"Not quite," Sarah said with a smile, "you all right? We almost lost you there."
"I'm fine," Mike said, trying to sit up and wincing as he steadied himself, "one hell of a headache, but I'm all right."
As he sat there, a realization came to mind, "I was next. I should be next."
"I intervened," Sarah said, "I had a premonition and I intervened. It's one way of cheating death."
"But it then goes to the next person in line," Mike said with further sobering dread as he looked around the group.
"All right, time out everyone," Tina said, "just what in the hell is going on here? You're all talking some crazy alien language about death, intervention, premonition, what in the hell is going on here?"
"Tina, just listen to me again, we cheated death before when we were supposed to die on that boat. We aren't supposed to be alive. When that happens, death has a way of circling back and killing all those who avoided the design."
Backing away from Sarah, Nick and Mike, Tina looked accusingly at them, almost irrationally. Looking to Nick, the only one who wasn't saying anything, she asked, "You really believe this voodoo bullshit?"
"Every word of it," he said deadpan.
"Tina, I've never lied to you before, I'm on the level here, just believe me and we'll take this one step at a time," Sarah said as she started to get up and walk towards Tina.
As they talked below, the windows of the office complex above them shuddered, several knocked a bit out of place in their standings by the impact of the flying oxygen tank. One fell completely out of its frame, remaining vertical in its descent to the ground.
"That's crazy, you're all crazy, and I'm getting the fu-" Tina said as the falling window hit her. Coming down on it's edge, it sliced through her like a hot knife through butter, going through her shoulder and slicing her through to between the legs. The glass itself shattered upon hitting the ground, sending the two vertical halves of Tina flopping to the ground, spraying blood and innards every which way. Sarah, Mike and Nick became drenched in her blood and dodged shards of bloodied glass as they flew their way. The three of them simply stood confused as they looked at the bloodied halves of their one time classmate and friend. Looking at her former best friend lying in pieces on the ground, Sarah could do nothing but cry for a few seconds before breaking down and fainting as she fell to the ground.
Nick Romero sat at the opposite side of the table as Mike and Sarah had and listened as they laid the whole scheme of things out. They saw it happen before it happened, the wreck, Rhonda, and some other clue they had yet to identify. Then they brought out information relating to a history of incidents such as their current situation, including the infamous urban legend of Flight 180. Sipping his coffee and trying his best to keep his hand from rattling too much, Nick poured in another packet of sugar.
"So what you're saying is that because we were all supposed to die in that boat, but since we didn't, death is out to get us again and we're all going to die a horrible if overly-elaborate death in the coming days?" Nick said, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible.
"Yes," Mike said.
"And you need the pictures I took the day of the accident to see if you can find out who is going to die when so you can try and break the pattern," Nick said with some hesitance.
"Yes Nick," Sarah said, trying to sound reassuring, "I know this sounds crazy, but-"
"Actually," Nick said cutting in, "this is about the sanest thing I've heard in some time. You guys saved my life from some form of divine intervention, you saw this in a vision and now you're having visions again. I don't want to die, nor do I plan on dying anytime soon. I already lost one person I know and cared about, I don't plan on losing any more of them anytime soon."
The pair who sat across from him looked a little shocked by his bluntness, but soon got back to smiling.
"I'm glad you're with us on this Nick," Mike said, "we could save some lives if we can figure out the design."
Reaching into his backpack, Nick began pulling out dozens of black and white eight by ten's, spreading them out on the table.
"This is everything from the day of the accident, at least everything I took inside the boat. I hope you guys can see something in one of these."
No sooner had he spread them out than Sarah and Mike started ripping through them, trying to find anything that could be of use. The pictures were scattered in content at best. One of a seal. One taken of Nick's feet. One taken looking down Tanesha's cleavage, to which Nick blushed slightly. Another one of them pulling a net full of fish and mollusks aboard the ship. All shots from the boat, none of them any use. Finally reaching the bottom of the pile, Mike found a picture that got his attention. It was one taken when they were underwater, in the glass bottom portion of the boat. Nick had stationed himself at the front and took the picture looking back, getting a look at everyone and where they all sat. Rhonda was at the end of the boat by the engine room
"Guys, I got it," Mike said as he showed them the picture.
"The explosion started here, near the engine room and traveled up the boat. Rhonda would have been the first to die when the accident happened," he continued.
"So it's going in order," Sarah said with a sudden realization.
"It's going by where we all would have died in the accident, by where we sat when the boat tilted up."
"Well that's great guys," Nick said anxiously, "but what does that mean?"
"It means," Mike said referring to the picture, "that Rhonda was the first to die and that the design is continuing. It means that Darwin is next, then the rest of us."
There was a nervous and awkward moment of silence as the three sat at the table and didn't know what to say. Mike started to back down in his seat, already defeated. Trying to comfort her friend, Sarah gave him a warm hug.
"We're not going to let it come to that Mike," Sarah said, "we're going to watch for the signs and try and prevent this from happening, it can happen. We're going to beat this together."
"Okay guys, first thing's first," Nick said, "I'm all for the pair of you going off and getting married now, but we need to find Darwin and make sure he doesn't' screw up."
As Mike and Sarah parted, they locked eyes, trying perhaps to comfort each other. As he stood up, Mike took the picture with the plan revealed, folded it up and put it in his pocket. Nick, Sarah and Mike then left their seats in the comfort of Kaldi's Coffee House (or as the neighborhood often called it, Skaldi's) and hit the sidewalk. The rain had long since stopped, the ground now wet while the sky chose to remain a dull and frightening gray. Traffic that drove along the streets was minimum, the vehicles that did pass along spraying large amounts of water into the air. As she walked further out onto the sidewalk, Sarah got hit in the face with a large drop of water. Looking up, she saw that it came dripping from one of the large windows of the office complex that Kaldi's was built under, with water still dripping off of it steadily. In the moment that she looked at the glass, she saw a reflection she had not expected, that of a white pickup truck crashing into the curb. She could hear the metal rend and see things fly from the back of it and onto the sidewalk. Looking to the street, she could see no truck and no debris, the traffic pleasant and subdued as it tended to be on rainy days.
"Hey Sarah!" a feminine voice yelled excitedly. Sarah looked down the sidewalk to see that it came from Tina, who was bounding up excitedly in her heavy rain slicker. Tina came up and began babbling away at a mile a minute, not quite as fast as usual but enthusiastic as always.
"Girl, this has been one hell of a storm huh, I mean I'm wet all over here and not in the good way either," Tina said enthusiastically.
"Tina, there's something we need to tell yo-"
"I mean bad things happen in storms, look at Rhonda last night, then there was the accident down by the community college, it's like a full moon or something, all the weird stuff happens during a storm," Tina continued.
With a sick feeling in his stomach, Mike remembered that Darwin lived near the community college, where he was attending classes, "What happened by the college?"
"Oh," Tina said as she first realized that Nick and Mike were both standing there, "there were a bunch of ambulances and fire trucks by one of the apartments nearby, so as always you gotta ask, kind of like a car wreck. Anyhow, I go up and they say this guy was trying to tip something free out of a vending machine and it tipped over and crushed him. Like a bug. They said it was one hell of a mess."
Mike remembered the night before, seeing C7 pop up on his clock radio. C7, like a choice on a vending machine. Letter meets number. Dear god, it got Darwin.
"Darwin," Sarah said softly as she looked to Mike, "Mike, who's next?"
Nervously reaching into his pocket, Mike pulled out the picture and began to unfold it. As he lined up who sat where, all he could say was, "I am."
---------
Clinton had been drinking the night before, and remained a little tipsy. Rhonda was a good chick, one hell of an athlete and a good writer. Why do the good have to die young? He sped around the streets of Braiwood on his motorcycle, particularly enjoying going through the deep puddles. She would have died a month earlier if you hadn't fought Mike. Mike, it's all his fault. You're alive now because of him Clinton, he thought, but Rhonda died. Why couldn't Mike save her this time like before? Why?
Taking one corner a bit too fast, Clinton could see that he was approaching Kaldi's. Get some coffee, shake it off, wake yourself up and take away the hangover. As he revved up the engine, he could see Mike standing with Sarah, Nick and Tina. God, what an ass. Why don't you show him who's boss Clinton, that'd make things right.
"Yo Mike!" he yelled as he lifted one hand from the handlebars of his bike, using it to flip the bird to Mike. That's showing him Clinton, you got him this time. Smiling and quite proud with himself, Clinton revved the engine of his bike and proceeded to speed through another puddle. Unbeknownst to him as he drove through the water, the puddle hid a large pothole. As the front wheel of his bike sped through the hole, it caught on one end and upended the bike, throwing Clinton through the air.
"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!"
---------
Mike and the others simply watched as Clinton flew through the air off of his bike and rolled another forty yards down the street, his helmet, leather jacket and jeans having kept him quite protected from the road rash one would normally get, though he would definitely be a bit worse for wear later. What did catch their attention was his bike as it flipped over in the pothole and skidded further along the road. Sarah watched with certain horror as the bike continued on its path, right into an oncoming white pickup truck with the words "Campbell's Medical Supply" written on it. The truck swerved, losing traction in the rain and impacting the bike with its front fender. Spun slightly, the truck lost control and slammed into the corner near Kaldi's. The group all jumped out of the way, in separate directions. Standing up, Mike watched as the truck settled, pieces falling off and the driver stumbling out quite dazed. As the vehicle lurched to a final stop on the curb, a tank of compressed oxygen that had been in the flatbed tilted and fell off and hit the ground. Hard. The regulator top immediately broke off, sending the tank flying like a rocket in Mike's direction.
He hardly had time to react as the compressed air exiting the tank rocketed it towards his face. At the last instant, he dodged it slightly, the tank only grazing the side of his head and instantly bloodying his face and knocking him unconscious. He fell to the ground in a heap.
"Mike!" Sarah screamed.
The tank continued on its way, busting through Kaldi's front window and ricocheting off of a chair. Travelling at a few hundred miles per hour, it turned upwards and shot through the ceiling like a bullet. Finally losing some pressure, it turned once more and shattered through one of the massive windows of the office complex. Having lost most pressure by then, it flew about in the street, hit the brick wall of a nearby building and died out. Sarah rushed to Mike's side, with Nick and Tina in tow.
"Jesus Christ, that's how it happens?" Nick said bewildered.
"How what happens?" Tina said, completely confused.
"It, death, we're all going to die Tina, we cheated death before on the boat when we were supposed to die, now death is coming back for us. Rhonda, Darwin, they're already dead."
Tina looked around and then started to laugh, "Girl, what've you been smoking?"
"She's not crazy, it's happened before," Nick said trying to prove a point, but not quite getting it out.
One large shard of glass hung from the window frame, barely held in it's place by a simple piece of plastic. It swung in the wind slightly, held in place by tenuous threads. As it swung back and forth, a simple gust of wind knocked it out of place, sending it down towards the prone Mike like a dagger from the sky.
A shadow passed in front of Sarah's eyes, a curious one she had never seen before. It seemed, unnatural. She had a feeling that it wasn't over yet. Looking up, she caught the glint of light as it passed through the falling piece of glass. With cat-like reflexes, she reacted, grabbing Mike and pulling him out of the way. The massive shard of glass exploded on the ground right where Mike had been lying just moments before.
As he regained some consciousness, he could see Sarah looking down upon him.
"Am I in heaven?" Mike asked groggily.
"Not quite," Sarah said with a smile, "you all right? We almost lost you there."
"I'm fine," Mike said, trying to sit up and wincing as he steadied himself, "one hell of a headache, but I'm all right."
As he sat there, a realization came to mind, "I was next. I should be next."
"I intervened," Sarah said, "I had a premonition and I intervened. It's one way of cheating death."
"But it then goes to the next person in line," Mike said with further sobering dread as he looked around the group.
"All right, time out everyone," Tina said, "just what in the hell is going on here? You're all talking some crazy alien language about death, intervention, premonition, what in the hell is going on here?"
"Tina, just listen to me again, we cheated death before when we were supposed to die on that boat. We aren't supposed to be alive. When that happens, death has a way of circling back and killing all those who avoided the design."
Backing away from Sarah, Nick and Mike, Tina looked accusingly at them, almost irrationally. Looking to Nick, the only one who wasn't saying anything, she asked, "You really believe this voodoo bullshit?"
"Every word of it," he said deadpan.
"Tina, I've never lied to you before, I'm on the level here, just believe me and we'll take this one step at a time," Sarah said as she started to get up and walk towards Tina.
As they talked below, the windows of the office complex above them shuddered, several knocked a bit out of place in their standings by the impact of the flying oxygen tank. One fell completely out of its frame, remaining vertical in its descent to the ground.
"That's crazy, you're all crazy, and I'm getting the fu-" Tina said as the falling window hit her. Coming down on it's edge, it sliced through her like a hot knife through butter, going through her shoulder and slicing her through to between the legs. The glass itself shattered upon hitting the ground, sending the two vertical halves of Tina flopping to the ground, spraying blood and innards every which way. Sarah, Mike and Nick became drenched in her blood and dodged shards of bloodied glass as they flew their way. The three of them simply stood confused as they looked at the bloodied halves of their one time classmate and friend. Looking at her former best friend lying in pieces on the ground, Sarah could do nothing but cry for a few seconds before breaking down and fainting as she fell to the ground.