One of Logan's first memories as a child was that of an earthquake. He could remember the whole incident vividly; the awful sound of his mom shrieking his name as he hid under the bed in his parents' room, drowned out by his hands clasped tightly over his ears and the loud rumbles as the ground shook below his body. Logan wondered if her fear of earthquakes, something his dad, Elias, often referenced, was his fault, since she spent several hours trying to find him that day, but that was something he tried not to focus on too much. He'd much rather remember the good memories of his mom than the not so good ones.
But the moment the first shock jolted through the ground, as the three Walker men sat out in the woods by their house, Logan had a gut feeling that it was not a normal earthquake. Living in California, all three of them had experienced more earthquakes than Logan would ever like to, and something just felt off about how the earth had shook. His dad tried to brush it off as a mere tremble, but it was quickly followed by another, and another; and rather than decreasing in intensity, they were increasing. Elias picked up the pace, Hesh following quickly behind with Logan speeding up as well, not wanting either of them out of his sight. And as soon as they broke clear of the woods, stopping on a nearby road, Logan's gut feeling was confirmed.
They were explosions. And they weren't going away.
Both Hesh and him froze, watching in shock as what appeared to be missiles fell from the sky, landing right in their residential neighbourhood in San Diego. The screams, the shouts, the loud booms all faded away as they stared, their minds attempting to catch up with the enormity of what was happening around them. It wasn't until the ground crumbled beneath Logan's feet, causing him to tumble into Hesh that they snapped out of their daze, Elias yelling at them to get moving back to the house while he ran off to find a mode of transportation.
Logan trailed close behind Hesh, trying not to think about anything but following his dad's orders, but was finding it difficult once they returned to their house. The front steps were already crumbling, turning to rubble underneath Logan's feet. Helping Hesh with an extra push to force the front door open, they walked into chaos. Their house still stood, but beams of wood had fallen from the second floor and debris was littered all over the ground, partially blocking their path to the back door.
Hesh was walking back and forth, muttering something about ODIN, which is what his dad had called the explosions, but Logan was actively tuning him out. He wasn't sure why Hesh thought he would know what their dad was talking about; with his selective mutism, he rarely participated in longer, serious conversations with their father in the same way that Hesh did. But that was all besides the point, because all that mattered right now was the three of them getting out of the city, hopefully all in one piece. After the next series of loud, ear-splitting bangs, and creaks and groans that the house let out in response, Hesh seemed to agree, motioning for Logan to head out the back door.
Logan paused for a moment, closing his eyes as he tried to overcome the urge to stay in the house; the house that he and his brother had grown up in. All he wanted to do was to go back up to his parent's room and hide under the bed again, cover his ears, and pretend that everything would be fine in a couple hours when his mom came and found him. His eyes flashed open at the sudden tight grip on his elbow, as Hesh latched on and started to drag him from the house, drag him back into reality.
As they ran through the streets, through buildings, and narrowly escaped an exploding tanker truck, Logan continued to push the urge to hide to the back of his mind. He chuckled softly, shaking his head at Hesh's odd look as Hesh and Elias helped him into the back of the truck bed, trying to reassure himself that laying down in the back of the truck bed wasn't the same as hiding.
Leaning up against Hesh, he cradled his bruised ribs carefully with his left arm. His body felt sore in so many places, having fallen through a floor while going through one building and being tossed like a rag doll across the street when the tanker had exploded, but he was unable to pinpoint any other specific injuries. As much as he wanted to close his eyes, to avoid watching his city go up in flames under the unrelenting missile strikes, Logan forced himself to keep his eyes open, knowing that he should stay awake in case of a possible concussion.
As the city faded into the distance, the orange glow from the explosions persisted in the sky, along with the shroud of smoke and ash. Logan's gaze never faltered, continuing to stare back at the place they once called home. No more hiding or thoughts of hiding crossed his mind. This wasn't the time for fantasies about hiding under the bed or having his mom around. He wasn't a child anymore, he was sixteen. His mom was dead, thousands more were going to be, and his family still needed to find someplace safe to go.
Logan winced as the truck bounced back and forth over the cracks and potholes in the road, only further aggravating his injuries as his dad pushed the vehicle to its' limit to get out of the city.
"Everything will be okay Logan, we'll get you looked at as soon as we can," Hesh said, squeezing his knee gently, having heard Logan's small grunts of pain.
Logan nodded his head to reassure Hesh, but mentally, he was disagreeing with his brother.
Because nothing was going to be okay, or normal, ever again.
