This week I received an extra review on my little story, and as a tank's to them for their kind words, and because I am feeling generous, I thought that you all deserved an extra chapter for once. Normal schedule resumes after this.
Thanks for reading!
The Shake Up Part VI
The crew of the helicopter had begun to spot the worst as they had approached the outskirts of the city. The live film from Andrews had been shocking enough, but here the situation was real, and things looked much worse. Smoke rose steadily in all directions from fires, many still burning ferociously three days after they had begun. There was no trace of the tall building of the central business district rising above those plumes, which was a sobering thought. If those mighty earthquake proofed buildings had gone, then the rest of the city had to have toppled too. The freeways that approached the city were littered with abandoned vehicles; accidents had taken place, leading to fires; bridges had collapsed, and the mangled condition of the vehicles they could see was a testament to the most destructive forces that nature could unleash. What made it all the worse was that as they approached the city, flying low so they could scan the landscape, was the complete absence of any sign of human life.
"This is epic; they said that things had to be bad, but this is so much worse than I think they anticipated. The quakes that happened here were nothing short of an annihilation event. The people that were in the city when it struck did not stand a chance. They won't be able to rebuild this place, not in a million years. To all intents and purposes, Los Angeles had ceased to exist; it is extinct," said Colonel Kelly, and nobody disagreed. Puck was desperately trying not to cry out, as he felt his hopes fade.
"Right, March Reserve base is dead ahead," continued the Colonel. "We take a look, and see if we can land; if we can, then we inspect what is left of the facilities there. From what I am seeing below right now, though, I doubt that there is anything left there that can possibly be utilised…"
As they had come ever closer to their destination, Puck's heart had sunk lower and lower. He had known it was bad, had understood that, but he had never pictured that the devastation would be quite so bad. So much of what had been built in the city in recent years was designed to be earthquake proof; had passed all of the tests, and should therefore be standing right now. Maybe the scientists had not tested them quite hard enough, never predicting that a quake of the magnitude registered on the Richter Scale on Friday night would ever hit the city. What was all the more striking as they flew on was that the few properties that did seem to have survived the three successive earthquakes were older ones, built in an era before any sort of regulations. He winced as he passed over a collapsed building that had a red cross painted on its fractured roof; the people that had been inside that now pancaked concrete structure had probably assumed that they were safe…
He blinked back his tears as he realised that even the street grid had been destroyed to some extent, which must have made communication and travel hard. He guessed that the cross town journey he had set his brother and his friends would have been as daunting and difficult as crossing Antarctica, or scaling Everest. He scanned the streets below as he flew in across the ruined city, looking for any sign of movement, which could be them. He was worried that they would not have reached the base yet, and that could be an issue. He saw nothing though, and that was quite a disturbing thought; in such a large city, there should have been some movement, some sign of life…
Then he was on the final approach to the base; the roads here were clearer, but that was largely because the buildings had been lower in height and set back from the road, so their debris had spread less far. Fires had burnt here too, and the main road towards the base was cracked in two by a gouge that widened as they neared it…
"Sir, I can see movement on the runway. There would appear to be some civilians there, but not many…"
As Puck's co-pilot uttered those words his heart leapt; he dared himself to hope, looking up now to see three figures by the tarmac. He instinctively took the helicopter higher, so as to avoid sending a wave of disturbed air right at them as he approached.
"I can see them; there is even a crude SOS made out of rubble… We have survivors, which given all that we have seen is nothing short of a miracle. I only hope that there are more than three…."
Puck said nothing, his concentration now being on ensuring that he managed to set the aircraft down safely on the ground; nonetheless he did check out the figures as he searched out an even spot to land upon. That was when it hit him; there were two women, and one man; a man that was definitely not Jake. Then he realised too that the youngest member of the party that Thad had told him to expect was also nowhere to be seen. 'He has to be somewhere else, taking care of the little boy. That's it. He and little Peter are somewhere else. My brother has made it…' he thought, his eyes looking around for any indication that there was other life on the base. As the wheels of the helicopter came to rest gently on the ground, he suddenly saw that whilst the others had their hands down, Mercedes was facing the front of the aircraft with an arm raised, and her hand held up, fingers wide spread, showing all five… He hoped that it was a signal to him, just in case he was the pilot and was worried by the numbers. Now he was there though he had a new concern. He hoped that all of them would remember to stay quiet about how they had chosen to come here. One slip now, and there would be big trouble ahead for him…
For those on the ground, waving in desperation until the helicopter had began its descent, the waiting had been agonising. There had always been the risk until it actually landed that this was just a reconnaissance flight and would not land at all, just fly over; or worse, it would land short of them. That would have been heartbreaking and would have shattered their spirits. Instead it had flown low over the road they themselves had walked down.
"Please let them see us, please let them see us," Unique had muttered over and over as it approached.
Then the helicopter had begun to climb again, and that was heart stopping; they waited for the aircraft to turn, veering away to some other place without them, but it didn't. It came closer, and then the air around them began to be disturbed by the movement of its rotors. They stood and watched mesmerised as it began to make its landing not that far from them. It was real; it was actually happening; their nightmare was about to end. David began to blink back tears as beside him his two companions openly cried.
"Is it him? Is it Puck?" Unique asked.
It was still unclear though. Suddenly Mercedes gave a gasp and held her arm aloft, spreading her fingers out as she stared right at the windscreen. "If it is him, then he will be panicking by now, seeing only three of us here…" Her two companions quickly replicated her gesture to reinforce it.
"Okay, so remember, even if it isn't Puck, Jake is not his brother," David reminded them. "None of us know him; to us he is just a helicopter pilot, an airman." As he spoke, the rotor blades above the helicopter began to slow down to a standstill, the draught from them lessening. None of them moved towards it, giving the crew on board time to prepare before stepping out. They watched as one of the two pilots, a woman, climbed out of her seat; then the other moved too, taking off his helmet to reveal a face that they all recognised even at this distance. Puck had made them a promise, and he had kept it.
Now that he had arrived, Puck found that he was having to exert a lot of self-control upon himself. A large part of him was screaming inside for him to leave the aircraft and run straight over to his three friends and ask where his brother was. He couldn't, as that would create a situation that would benefit nobody; instead he let his co-pilot go, running through all of the usual post flight checks he had to carry out upon landing, noting the positions of the various dials, ensuring everything was turned off and secured. He did it that day with more diligence than he had since he had passed out of training. Eventually he did take off his seatbelt, having already removed his helmet to see all three of his friends holding up those five fingers. He then joined the rest of the crew at the door, glad that he was not the one that had to remain onboard to monitor the comms systems. The call had already been made back to Denver that it would be possible to use March for helicopter landings, but that was all until they had time to carry out a proper assessment of the runway's condition. As they disembarked, Puck found himself leading the way at Colonel Kelly's request. All he could hope as he approached the three people waiting was that they would remember the one thing that he had drummed into them time and time again; that they did not know him…
"Oh, thank God! We didn't think that anyone was coming. It has just been a nightmare," said Mercedes, looking away from Puck and right at the man with more stripes.
"Well, ma'am, we've had a few issues, but we are here now," came her reply. "Are there many other people here, Miss…"
"Jones; Mercedes Jones."
"Wait, are you the Mercedes Jones?" exclaimed Puck's co-pilot suddenly. "You are… I saw you in concert in DC not two weeks ago!"
"Guilty as charged. I was due to be playing at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, but…" Mercedes paused, making it clear that something tragic had happened there that she did not want to talk about. "In answer to your question, sir, I'm afraid that there are only five of us here in total; myself, my boyfriend David Thompson, and his roommate Unique Adams. His other roommate Jake is in a tent just over there along with a young boy named Peter Smythe. He is the nephew of a school friend of my boyfriend. He lost his mother and grandparents in the quake; his father and uncle are in New Jersey."
The officer nodded, having not noticed that she had failed to give Jake a surname, although Puck had, and was now wondering how they were going to deal with that issue when it arose. David then spoke, interrupting his thoughts. "Jake had a bit of an accident during the big quake earlier today. We think he might have broken his ankle; none of us are that hot on anything other than basic first aid. We have taken some medical supplies from the stores here, and have done our best, but we really need it properly checked out.
"I'm a fully trained first responder," the co-pilot said. "Show me where he is and I'll check out Mr…"
"Wade. Jake Wade," said Unique, and Puck was immediately grateful for her quick thinking. It was inspired, and so obvious to the others. "We would be really grateful if you could look Peter over too. He is fine, but…"
The co-pilot nodded, knowing what Unique was implying; he was fine physically, but mentally might be a very different story for someone so young that had lost so much.
"I'm sure that he will be a lot better once I get him to his dad and his uncle Seb," said David sagely. "Not to mention his new stepmom, Isabelle."
"Wait… Smythe and Wright? His stepmom is the Vogue editor?" asked the co-pilot, and David just smiled as he nodded. With that he started to lead the way to the tent, and the crew followed. What he didn't know was that the co-pilot was suddenly reminded of something. She remembered that Puckerman and his girlfriend had been at that wedding, something she was jealous of. He had been there because he was a friend of the groom's brother, and ergo that had to meant despite his attitude so far, he knew all of the people here…
Inside the tent, Jake had heard the sound of the helicopter landing even in his blissed out state from all the medication. His ankle still throbbed even with all of it, but the pain no longer ripped his nerves apart.
"Mr Jake, has that helicopter come to save us?" Peter asked him quietly.
"I hope so, little man; someone should have come by now…"
"Will it take me to my daddy and Uncle Bazzy?"
"Not straight away I would think, but it will take us somewhere safe, where we can get washed and checked out, and from there you will be taken to New York. And of course, there will be telephones there, so you'll be able to speak to them too."
"They won't send me back here afterwards, my daddy and Uncle Bazzy? They will let me stay with them in New York?"
"Of course they will! Your dad and Isabelle will be so worried about you, and they will both want you there, as will Sebastian. It will be very different there though; not as sunny for a start, and there will be snow every winter, but it is safer. They don't have wild fires and earthquakes there."
Peter nodded, then said "I miss my mom so much… Do you think that she might be an angel, Mr Jake?"
"I am certain of it. She was a good person, and now she is an angel, she will always be able to watch over you, wherever you are. She is probably watching us right now, keeping you safe. Always believe in angels, Peter. Trust me when I tell you they are real, and as long as you are good, you will see your mom again one day…"
Moments later the flap of the tent opened, and Jake's three friends walked in with the helicopter crew. Jake tried not to react as he saw Puck, just as he did not as he saw the swathe of bandages wrapped round his brother's ankle. After all, he knew exactly where his ambitions lay, and if the injury he had sustained was as bad as it looked, then all of that was kind of over now.
"Mr Wade, I'm Airwoman McCormack. I am a trained first responder, so I am just going to take a look at your ankle. If it starts to hurt whilst I do that, let me know, okay?"
"I will, although the painkillers that they found for me are pretty good," Jake replied, having realised that he had to be Mr Wade; it had been on the tip of his tongue to correct her, but then he had remembered exactly who he wasn't, so to speak, so he had said nothing. He did smile at the thought that Unique had to have been behind his new name.
Mercedes had been searching for the box of painkillers, and now handed it over to McCormack; her eyebrows raised, and then she chuckled. "I'm surprised that you aren't out cold after taking these things; they are the strongest you can get, so they made a good choice." As she began to carefully unwrap the bandages, Puck watched from a distance, looking at her face to see if he could see any sign of what was going through her mind as she saw his injuries. He tried not to breathe a sigh of relief as her face did not fall on finally freeing the ankle from its protective cocoon; and then he saw that they had bandaged his foot with his shoes still on. "You did the right thing in leaving his boot on to give it extra support. I don't think from a cursory glance that it is broken, as the swelling is quite mild; I think we are looking at torn tendons and ligaments, coupled with a very nasty sprain. I can't be certain though until we get him properly checked out, so we will need to sort that out ASAP when we return to Denver."
In those words came the news that the five of them had been hoping for. They would soon be leaving the ruins of the city that they had once called home, on their way back to their friends and family in Ohio and New Jersey. It was quite a moment, but one that came with mixed feelings nonetheless. There was joy in the fact that their ordeal was coming to an end, but sadness in the fact that they had made good memories here. They had lost friends and neighbours, and in Peter's case, family. All of their time her would now be overshadowed by a destruction on a scale they had only ever seen in the celluloid images created in Hollywood - and now those images would be in short supply when you stopped to think about it.
Mercedes suddenly felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered that Hollywood had always been Artie's dream destination, his hope for the future. She was glad for once that a friend had not achieved what they had dreamed of; if he had been here, then his chances of survival would have been slim. How could he have escaped from a world of fractured roads and collapsed buildings in a wheelchair? If she knew him, she guessed that he would have been having those same dark thoughts at home in New York since the quake had happened, but that Kitty would be unaware of his inner turmoil. She made a mental note that she would get him on her own once she was out of the ruins, and make him talk it out…
In the end, it took them just under thirty minutes to be on their way. Now that the fact that March Reserve Base was usable was known, the control center had decided that it should be immediately designated as main base for the rescue operation. Other aircraft would soon be en-route with supplies and rescue teams, just in case there were still people buried under collapsed homes somewhere in the vastness of the city. To help facilitate that, only Puck, McCormack and the five civilians would be heading back to Denver. David quickly walked Colonel Kelly and the three other crewmen around the base, showing him the buildings that he had explored, all of them glad to know that there was a usable form of sanitation, and a small supply of food, supplemented by that which they had scavenged themselves. Their exploration also uncovered a generator, and when they tentatively attempted to start it, it roared into life, which was a bonus. There was an electrician on the crew, and all that now needed to be done was to establish how to connect it to the base's circuits. Then they would have the most valuable of resources; light, and a source of power for the mess kitchen.
This done, it was time for Jake to be stretchered aboard the helicopter, along with three relieved adults and one very excited little boy, thrilled at the idea of getting to ride in a helicopter. Once they were all strapped in, the rotors began to hum again, and then they were off, about to head east to the relative safety of the Rocky Mountains. On board, they all sat in silence, lost in their thought, with the exception of Peter, who was staring out of the window and keeping up a running commentary on what he was seeing.
With the pressure of keeping the others safe finally over, David was finally able to check out his grab bag, unopened since Unique had handed it to him. He was overcome with emotion when he discovered amongst all his documents and papers that there was another item; the framed photo that his best friend had left for him on the day he had headed back to Ohio. Safe himself now, he turned away from the others, and finally allowed himself to have a good cry…
Unique noticed David's tears nonetheless, then saw what he was clutching in his hand. She smiled, then leant forward to speak quietly to him. "Jake told me that he grabbed that on instinct as we fled from the house. He knew how much that picture meant to you; we both heard you cry when you came back from your road trip to Dalton two years ago and saw it there for the first time. He must have assumed that it was worth more to you than all the money in the world."
"It is, I guess," said David in a hushed voice. "Thad isn't just my best friend, he's like a brother to me. When he left this for me to find, he was letting me know that although we were going to be hundreds of miles apart, he would always be there for me, whenever I needed him to be. He proved that this week; he was the only person I could call in the early hours of the morning back east that I knew would answer, and would stay calm, at least whilst he was talking to me. I know that he will have been looking out for my mom, in between dealing with the Warblers, especially Sebastian, and his own personal concerns as well. If I had lost this, then he would have bought me a replacement, no doubt about it - but it wouldn't have been the same…"
Nearby, Mercedes had heard every word, and had felt her own eyes grow moist. She had known of course from the moment that she had fallen for the charms of David Thompson that she was not just embarking on a relationship with him, but all of the Warblers. The closeness that those boys had with each other put the New Directions to shame at times. That had been so clear to her when Wes had died, and now, no doubt, they would all have been clinging to every scrap of news that Thad could give them. When they did reach Denver, she knew that he would be high on the list of people that her boyfriend needed to call…
With the weather set fair, and the autopilot on, Puck sat silently at the controls of the helicopter, deep in thought. He knew now that the instinct that he had had to send his brother and his friends to March, and not Andrews, had been the right one. Now all of the rescue effort was going to be centred there, and as he spoke there were hundreds of people in the air, en route to that base in Riverside County. However, he had the horrible feeling that it would all be too little, too late for many. Having seen the scale of the destruction first hand now, he concluded that the death toll from this event was going to make every catastrophe in the past look like a minor accident in contrast…
"I can keep an eye on things if you want to go back and talk to your brother…" The voice of his co-pilot, McCormack, suddenly cut into his thoughts and left him cold. If she knew… "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. If I had family in Los Angeles, then I would have wanted to be there too, and nobody would have been able to stop me. I would also hazard a guess that you were the one that told him to heard to March, and not Andrews? That was a very sensible choice as it goes, not that you could have anticipated that at the time. I am also thinking that you know the others too?"
"Yeah, I was in glee club with Mercedes; Unique joined it after I graduated, although she was Wade Adams then…"
"So that explains Jake Wade…"
"Yeah, that was fast thinking on her part. As for David, he was in our biggest rival club, the Warblers; we all got to know each other better when their lead singer, Blaine, and my best friend's stepbrother, Kurt, became an item. Since then, we might have had our differences, but events have drawn us all closer, to the extent that I am actually an honorary Warbler…"
McCormack was silent for a moment, then said "Show choir, eh? I wouldn't have ever had you pegged for that… Now, enough chatter, go and see your friends. You will owe me for this sometime, but it will stay our secret, okay…"
Puck smiled, and left his seat to go and sit beside Jake for a while. He could see that he was hurt and in pain, but it could all have been so much worse. If it had have been, then he honestly didn't know how he and the others would have coped with yet another tragedy…
Unusually, the military helicopter was cleared to land at Denver's main airport. The whole of the airline industry was in chaos right now, with flights to the west coast being in total disarray. Only Seattle was fully functional, with Portland severely restricted, and San Francisco being closed to all but military flights. Denver was on restriction too, to allow it to cope with the expected evacuation flights. So far, they had not come, and as the helicopter landed, Puck thought how strange it was to see so many people waiting for five survivors. He said his farewells once he had landed, as after a very short rest he would have to fly back west with more supplies and staff. He left Jake in the care of Unique, and she was the one that accompanied him as they were met by a group of doctors and nurses.
They insisted that all of the group should be checked over, and they agreed, but on one condition; that they had access to a phone. This was not an issue in the circumstances and soon they were all making those vital calls. Jake and Unique called their parents, ending the worst of their worries. Mercedes called her mom too, and had promised to call Mrs Thompson on David's behalf immediately afterwards. She didn't have to in the end, as the latter lady was with her mom and one call sufficed. As for David, he knew that he had one call that was a priority. It had to be made right now, regardless of the fact that it was just after midnight on the east coast. He had to call Sebastian, and put both him and Julian out of their misery over the fate of Peter…