Cataclysm
One
It wasn't supposed to happen like this. Serendipity Lawson did not sign up for Natural Disaster 101, but apparently it signed up for her. As she lounged on one of the plush sofas, staring out the large windows of the Reed Mountain Resort Lodge she could only marvel at the snow pouring down from the heavens. She hadn't seen so much snow in her life. Then again she was from Los Angeles; the home of warm and sunny weather 24/7/365.
Not anymore. She reminded herself, turning over to face the cushions. Her teachers hadn't wanted them to watch the coverage of the disaster back home, the tornados and such, but they had. There was no way to keep that from them. Calls had already come to some in the group that part of their family had died. Reina Ryuko was the most unfortunate of them all. Her entire family, her mother and two sisters had been killed.
"I don't know what everyone's bitching about," she overheard Craig Belisarius as he was coming down the stairs. Since the beginning he had been complaining about how everyone was so depressed. This is exciting! He had cried, slapping his friend Gerry Batten on the back. But it wasn't exciting. Death and disaster wasn't fun, and neither was sitting around thinking about how it would probably get worse and it was probably you were going to die, too.
"Yeah, well, not everyone's as fortunate as your family, Sarius." Antonio Reyes countered from where he was sitting in front of the fire. The flames danced dangerously in his dark eyes and there was a touch of warning in his accented voice. Apparently he, too, was tiring of Craig's constant prattling. This was a serious situation and he was making those who had lost people feel worse. He was making people nervous, and to top it off he was pissing everyone off. Angry people weren't logical people. Tony knew this.
"You would know about those less fortunate, wouldn't you, Reyes?" Craig cracked, his lips curling into a malicious snarl. He was poking at the Reyes family financial situation, and everyone knew it. They hadn't had much money before, but now that Rita and Tony's dad was sick in the hospital their living was getting tight with all the bills adding onto their normal everyday expenses.
Seren shook her head. Craig was such a jerk.
"Hey, man, come over here and say that to his face!" Armand Wills, Antonio's best friend shouted, jumping up from his seat. Antonio grabbed his arm, keeping him from leaping over the couch and going to meet Craig and his buddies for a fight. He gave Armand a look, as if to tell him to calm down.
Seren heard him mutter, so Craig couldn't hear it, "we can't afford to be fighting each other now, all right?" Armand nodded, but Seren, and probably everyone else, too, knew he wanted to rip his arm from Tony's grip and beat the hell out of the "Posh Squad" as some called it.
Seren wished she could say something to help the situation, but neither side would welcome her words. She was an average kid, not too popular, not too unpopular. She could probably be accepted into Craig's crowd easily. She was pretty, not to mention her father was a doctor, lending the Lawson family a sizable amount of cash in the bank. However, Seren would rather burn in Hell than join Craig's little club of misery-makers.
On the other hand, Tony and Armand would never trust her to really be on their side. They were so used to being treated like trash by those of Belisarius' stature that if someone like Seren came up to them she would probably get the cold shoulder - and that was the positive scenario. Most likely they, or rather Armand, because Tony was very quiet about things, would find some way to insult her, make her question her motives for being nice to them. Armand was always pushing it. Sometimes she wondered if Antonio felt trapped by his best friends cynicisms.
"Aw… C'mon there Wills," Gerry prodded. "Not tough enough to mess with us?"
Armand jumped, but was once again restrained by Tony.
"Leave it alone, Gerry," Craig said, "Its like Darwin said. The strong survive and the weak perish. I guess weakness runs in the genes, cos Reyes' dad can't cut it and neither can he."
Shit. Seren knew that was the metaphorical straw that broke the camels back.
Antonio lunged at Craig. The brunette jock was overpowered quickly, knocked back onto the floor under Antonio's weight. There was no argument who was the stronger of the two.
"Yo, man, kick his ass!" Armand shouted.
Seren jumped from her seat and rushed over. Someone was going to get hurt. Frankly she didn't care if Craig got his nose busted or not, but she knew if the fight continued much longer one of their chaperones would come running in there and Antonio would get in trouble. Craig wouldn't even get a slap on the wrist. He would say Antonio just went berserk and the words of Armand and Seren wouldn't mean crap to Mr. Hanson.
"Tony, stop." Seren grabbed his arm. "Stop!"
He spun around, like he was going to strike her, then froze, realizing that it wasn't one of Craig's asshole friends on him. Without a word he let go and strode to the door, yanking a jacket off a hook as he went.
"You shouldn't -" She called, but the door slammed shut. "Go outside." She finished with a sigh.
"Why you on his side?" Gerry demanded, his hand circling her arm tightly.
"Let go." She jerked away. "Why you talkin like a homeboy?" She shot back. "Cut your crap, you guys." She glared at all of them. "He's going through a tough time."
"Well, he should just head back to Mexico or something." Craig countered.
Seren's eyes shimmered with anger. "God, can't you say anything other than stupid shit! Asshole." Why did these jerks have to come up with these idiot clichés. Didn't they have anything better to do.
"Who are you calling an asshole, princess?" Craig demanded. "I sure hope its Reyes, cos me, I'm not anything but your prince charming." He pulled her to him, like he was being romantic. Instinctively her knee rammed into his groin, and Craig doubled over in pain.
Armand whistled from where he stood. "You go, girly." She flinched at the phrase but had to admit she was satisfied with the outcome of what happened.
She turned to go, but turned back with her parting shot. "By the way, Mr. Charming, Darwin's idea was a biological idea, the animal kingdom. Herbert Spencer was actually the first to invent the idea for people and the economy. You'd know that if you would have paid attention in Sociology class." Craig just writhed on the floor. "Bastard."
-
It was cold outside. Unnaturally cold. Antonio leaned back against the building, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He wished he hadn't been so rash on his way out. If he would have thought about it he could have grabbed a better coat. Damned windbreaker, he thought. He would freeze to death before he finished his cigarette. What a pleasant thought, frozen for eternity with a piece of rolled up poison paper stuck in his mouth. He had to laughed at that.
He turned his head when he heard crunching footsteps coming around the corner. He expected to see Armand come bouncing toward him. Instead he was surprised to see Seren Lawson, her long brown hair blowing frantically around her pale face. "Fuck, its freezing." She said.
"Never heard you cuss." He observed, taking another drag off his cigarette.
"Never saw you smoke." She commented in the same fashion.
"I don't."
"You don't?" She could have laughed.
"No. This is Armand's jacket. I quit a few months ago. It's a waste of money, and its bad for you." He tossed it down, watching it sizzle only briefly in the snow at his feet.
"I'm sorry for what Craig said back there." Seren said, offering a coat around her arm. "He's an ass."
"Yeah." He didn't look at her. "I shouldn't have reacted like that, but…" He sighed. "What he said got to me. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but my father died in the upheaval back home."
"Oh, God, I'm sorry." Seren cried, laying her hand on his arm. "I didn't know."
"I didn't want anyone to." He answered, meeting her eyes. "He was dying anyway, the storms just ended it before he had too much time to suffer."
"Tony-"
"Antonio, please." He insisted. "Only Armand calls me Tony, he thinks its cool." He flinched.
"Antonio." She corrected. "I really am sorry. Do you know about any of your other family?"
"Well, Rita is here with us." He said, "but our mother was with my father. She's gone."
Seren bowed her head. She couldn't even begin to understand his loss. Her family had gotten out of the storm's path She hadn't lost anyone. Her dog had even survived. "Do you know what you're going to do?"
"No, but I have the feeling our world isn't going to give us much choice in the matter."
"What do you mean?"
"We're not going home, Seren." He looked at her, "nothing is ever going to be the same."
She didn't know what to say. Was there anything to say?
This was done on a whim. Got kinda bored. Got inspiration. This came out. Tell me what you think. This is kind of a side project from my other stuff. If it's worth it I'll continue. If not… well, I got all my Stargate fics to yak on.
These are the characters I have planned to be in here: (All Original)
St. Thomas High School Students
Serendipity Lawson
Reina Ryuko
Rita Reyes
"Tony" Antonio Reyes
Armand Wills
Nathaniel Martin
Craig Belisarius
Gerry Batten
Amelia Rea
Teachers
Mr. Hanson
Miss Grier
Other
Mr. & Mrs. Cordell
Travis Cordell
Keaton Kerr
Sybil Crawford
Andy Francis
Among other minor characters…