Chapter 3

California Goes Down

Heatherfield, California

December 21, 2012, 9:00 AM

Irma was at her house with Elyon, Cornelia, Caleb, Edward, Bella, Alex and Jennifer.

Robert was in his truck rushing back to his house where Irma and the others were waiting for his arrival.

After hearing the warning from Charlie in Yellowstone, he was desperate to get them out of California.

He picked up his cell phone and dialed Irma's number. "Hello?" Irma said as she answered.

"Irma, stop what you're doing, we need to get everyone out of there now! Listen to me, I've rented a plane, I'm gonna be there in five minutes." Robert replied.

"A plane? What? Why? I thought we were gonna spend some time with the others? Cornelia, Caleb, Elyon, Jennifer and the kids, they're all here and we're waiting for you." Irma replied, wondering about Robert's intentions.

"Irma, California is going down! We gotta leave now!" Robert replied with an urgent tone.

"Yeah, I don't think so, the governor just said that everything's OK." Irma replied in a disbelieving tone.

"The man's an actor, he's reading a pre-written script! It's always the same thing every time! Whenever they say that's it's over and they tell you not to panic, and they say that everything's going to be okay, THAT'S WHEN YOU RUN!" Robert replied as he got close to the house.

"I'll see you in a bit, hopefully, you'll be a bit more calm, bye." Irma replied as she hung up.

"What's gotten into Robert all of a sudden?" Elyon asked. "I don't know, he's normally never like this." Irma replied.

They continued watching the program in which the governor had just said that the worst was over.

Suddenly, just as he had said that, as if on a cue, the house and everything around it began shaking violently. "SHIT!" Irma shouted as she and the others dove under the table.

Just as the shaking started, Robert pulled up in front of the house. He rushed in, trying not to lose his balance from the shaking.

He opened the door and rushed to the table where Irma and the others were crouched. "COME ON, GET IN THE VAN! WE GOTTA GO" Robert shouted as debris fell around them.

"I THINK IT'S SAFER UNDER HERE!" Jennifer replied. Robert knew that staying put was a bad idea. "GET IN THE FUCKING VAN, NOW!" Robert shouted.

Irma and the others rushed out and followed Robert to Irma's minivan.

Irma got in the passenger seat while the others got in back. Once they were in, Robert sped off, just as all of the houses around them, including him and Irma's, were collapsing into piles of rubble.

Robert rushed down the cracking road, avoiding debris and parked cars. Behind the van, the ground literally rose up and collapsed, destroying everything on it as a massive chasm began to open up.

In front, the pavement cracked and split in some places, and huge slabs rose up, forcing Robert to drive through the front yards of several houses.

"HOLY SHIT!" Elyon exclaimed as she watched the carnage unfolding around them. "ROBERT, PUNCH IT, LOOK BEHIND YOU!" Irma shouted.

Robert looked in the mirror and saw what was happening behind them.

Suddenly, the road ahead went into a sharp incline. "HOLD ON!" Robert shouted as the van went over the incline and was airborne.

Everyone grunted as the van landed. "WHERE DO WE GO NOW!" Jennifer asked. "WE HAVE TO GET TO THE AIRPORT!" Robert replied.

"WE SHOULD TAKE THE FREEWAY, IT'LL BE HALF THE TIME!" Cornelia replied. Robert saw the I-5 freeway collapsing in some places.

"DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THAT'S HAPPENING!" Alex said.

"HANG ON, EVERYONE, WE GOTTA GET TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FREEWAY!" Robert yelled as he floored the accelerator, skillfully dodging falling cars.

Everyone screamed as Robert sped under the collapsing freeway overpass. The roof of the van scraped against the bottom of the massive roadway as they barely made it out.

He swerved just in time to avoid a cement mixer that rolled off of the collapsing freeway and into a gas station, both erupting in a huge explosion.

As they approached the area near the airport, they had to dodge toppling high-rise towers near downtown. "HANG ON!" Robert shouted as he sped into the glass window of a collapsing tower.

"OH MY GOD!" Irma yelled as Robert drove through, skillfully avoiding crumbling support columns and raced towards the other side. After bursting through the window on the other side and dropping four feet, the van landed on all four wheels and kept going.

Meanwhile, Adrian and his colleagues were monitoring the situation. "It's been upgraded to a 10.9 by the guys at Harvard." Scotty said.

"What do the guys at Caltech have to say?" Adrian asked. "The whole city of Pasadena was wiped out just a few minutes ago. This is just coming in live from Coachella Valley out near Joshua Tree. That huge canyon? That wasn't there this morning, and 400 miles further north, Point Reyes, same thing." Adrian's assistant said as he showed Adrian the satellite data of the stricken areas.

"The San Andreas Fault is shifting." Adrian said in realization. "Yes, and all major sister faults in the Bay Area, the whole Pacific plate is destabilizing." Adrian's assistant replied.

Eventually, Robert and the others reached the airport and rushed out of the now-beat-up van. They ran up to the flightline and went up to the fueling area.

"WHO'S THAT? IS THAT MARTIN?" Irma asked as they found a body near the fuel pumps. "YEAH, HE'S OUR PILOT!" Robert replied when he recognized the body.

"NOW WHAT? THE CITY'S CRUMBLING AROUND US!" Cornelia replied. "Wait, you can fly us out, can't you?" Jennifer asked.

"Yeah, can you fly that?" Elyon added. Robert turned around and saw the Cessna Grand Caravan.

"Yeah, I can!" Robert replied as he grabbed the keys that were lying on the tarmac next to Martin's body.

"Come on kids, your uncle is gonna get us out of here!" Jennifer said as she and her kids rushed towards the plane behind Elyon.

Robert and Irma got into the cockpit and the others rushed into the cabin. Robert got the plane started and lowered the flaps to takeoff position.

"Uh, Robert, you better hurry!" Cornelia said as she looked out the window and saw the massive chasm approaching the end of the runway.

"OK, HANG ON!" Robert said as he pinned the throttle.

The plane began to run down the runway as the chasm reached the runway. "C'mon, hurry!" Elyon said as the chasm got closer.

"Come on, Robert, take off!" Cornelia said. "We have to get to at least 85 knots!" Robert replied.

"80's good, 80's good, just get us up!" Irma replied. "Fuck it, here we go!" Robert said as he pulled the control yoke towards him.

The runway collapsed under them as the plane began to go into a shallow dive.

Everyone screamed (mostly the girls) as they found themselves flying in the chasm!

"C'mon, C'MON!" Robert said as he struggled to get the plane into a climb.

"Higher, higher!" Elyon said as Robert tried to build up airspeed in order to climb. He managed to avoid a subway train that had come out of the tunnel in front of the plane's flight path.

The train slammed into a gas storage facility and exploded behind the plane.

Robert managed to avoid hitting the street below and at one point was just inches from hitting cars as he managed to start gaining altitude.

Bella covered her eyes as she saw cars and people falling into oblivion from the collapsing street. Robert flew out of the chasm and into the sky.

There was just one obstacle left: the downtown high-rises that were falling right in front if them.

Everyone held on for dear life as Robert maneuvered between the crumbling buildings. Cornelia watched in horror as she saw people falling from several floors of one building.

Robert barely managed to avoid being hit by one of the towers as it toppled over.

Finally, they breathed sighs of relief as they ended up in open skies. "Bella, go sit with your brother." Jennifer said. Bella went to sit with Edward and cried on his shoulder.

"Cornelia, are you alright?" Caleb asked. Cornelia fell into Caleb's arms sobbing. "Oh my god, I've never been so scared!" Cornelia replied as she wrapped her arms around Caleb.

"It's all right, we're safe now." Caleb replied.

Irma looked at Robert in disbelief. "I don't understand, how did you know that this was going to happen?" Irma asked.

"It's not just California, the whole damn world is going to shit! I met this guy in Yellowstone, this crazy guy, but he's been right about everything that's happened so far, and he said that the government is building some kind of ships, spaceships, I don't know what, but something." Robert replied.

"Ships?" Elyon asked. "Yeah, places where we can be safe, he knows where they are, he's got a map." Robert added.

"Robert, that sounds crazy!" Irma said.

"Irma, you gotta trust me on this, okay?" Robert replied.

"Guys, look." Caleb said as he pointed out the window.

Robert and the others looked and were horrified by what they saw: Heatherfield had literally split apart and the huge masses of land were sinking into the ocean like a modern Atlantis!

Robert noticed that tears were building up in Irma's eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

"What? Oh, I...I was thinking about our other friends, the ones that didn't make it: Martin, Will, Hay Lin, Taranee, Erin, Alchemy, their families. I can't believe that this happened!" Irma replied as she started to cry.

"Hey, at least we made it out. That's what they would have wanted." Robert replied as he wrapped his arm around Irma to comfort her.

Elyon cried at the thought of her other friends dying in the massive super-quake. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, come here." Jennifer said as she hugged Elyon.

Cruise ship "Genesis" in the Sea of Japan

Harry and Tony had just finished performing a jazz show. "Harry, there's a call for you, you want me to take a message?" one of the ship's employees asked.

"No, that's all right, Kevin, I got it." Harry replied. Kevin led Harry into one of the galleys where the phone was active.

"Hello." Harry said. "Dad" Adrian replied. "Adrian." Harry joyfully responded. "Remember when I told you about that dam in China?" Adrian asked.

"Yeah, Harry replied. "It's happening, Dad." Adrian replied. "They'd probably shoot me if they knew that I told you." Adrian added.

"Nobody's gonna shoot you, son. They need you." Harry replied.

"The president has ordered us to clear out the White House." Adrian replied.

"About time somebody cleaned up that mess." Harry said jokingly. "Where are you, Dad? What exactly is the course of the Genesis right now?" Adrian asked.

"It's all good, Adrian, don't you be worrying about your old man now. You got more important things to do now. Now you lookie here, the Genesis is a pretty big ship, son, so don't you write your old man off just yet. Besides, you know I couldn't leave Tony alone. You know that old fool can't keep decent time by himself." Harry replied.

"I love you, Dad" Adrian said.

"I love you too, son." Harry replied tearfully as they hung up.