Part V: Walk to Columbus Circle
(Lily):
Listening to Jason cry was something entirely new to me. Like anyone, his was different, his own, but all the same, "Jason" and "crying" didn't seem click with his persona; I've seen him hurt, but to hear him actually sobbing (or trying not to) was frightening. And it was over a girl that he hardly interacted with unless she or I came to see each other. Neither of which was frequent. Marlena. She looked so terrible when I saw her; her skin was so pale, then there was the blood coming out of her eyes. What could've been so wrong with her that she had be to carried away from us, sent to a quarantine area?
I kept expecting Marlena to come around the corner with a sarcastic joke at the ready and dismissive comment when I asked her if she was okay. Marlena didn't come. Over for her, the man's words rang in my head like a bell. I only cried harder when I realized that I had to accept it. My forehead rested against the palms of my forehead as my cries were pressed by my lips, tightly pressed together. I bit down on the inside of my mouth until I tasted the copper tang of my own blood.
Behind me a pair of feet slid across the ground, I was hardly paying attention until I felt an hand around my arm. "Let's go. I shouldn't be doin' this shit," The soldier muttered to himself. I didn't move right away but I didn't resist when he pulled me away from the wall. I stumbled over my feet, wincing whenever my feet would bend sideways. The soldier walked away from me and over to Jason. Jason barely had time to regard the man before he was pulled to his feet by the arm.
"Get yourself together. Go, go," Jason sniffled with brief nod, wearing the expression of a kicked dog. The man ignored it, reaching over he grabbed me by the arm and ushered the two of us forward. "Come on. Come on." He pulled Hud forward a little before proceeding over to Rob. Rob didn't lover his hand from his face, he allowed the soldier to push him in the direction he wanted us to go.
We started down the service hall, through my the blur of my tears I watched as Jason angrily wiped his face dry of his tears with his free hand. Again, I found myself clutching his right hand, it had been become my security and yet it did nothing against the fear that was steadily rising again. "Lets go, come on," The soldier commanded, pulling me forward again. "Okay, okay," I muttered, quietly, picking up my pace. We followed the soldier down the hallway, the dim lights reflected the desolate atmosphere around us, the chilly air flowing freely through the halls carried with it the stench of blood and my own body odor.
"You gotta listen to me," The soldier said, turn his attention on Rob. "This girl, her apartment, its at Columbus Circle, right?" I watched Rob take his time answering the man, looking up from his hand he nodded. "Yeah?" He answered, as though he were dazed. We traveled hastily through the halls, several soldiers rushed back and forth through the halls, radio chatter echoing through the halls. The man placed a hand on Rob's arm. "Listen, if you wanna go out in this, I ain't gonna stop you. But you gotta know something; the Government is considering the Hammerdown Protocol. Their willing to let this entire area go," He explained hastily.
We all glanced up in confusion at his words, they were willing to this place go? As in destroy the city? My mind raced with fear. What did he mean by that? I thought shooting a teary eyed look in my boyfriend's direction. Jason's features maintained its blank expression, his eyes, however, were blinking rapidly. "You mean Midtown?" Rob inquired, sniffling. "No I mean Manhattan," The solider replied, stressing the last word. Hearing those very words my heart skip a beat, they were going to destroy half of New York to kill this thing? "We're taking one more shot at this thing. If that doesn't work, their leveling the whole goddamn city," He continued.
I could feel fresh tears rolling down my face, hopelessness boiled over inside my chest and I my knees felt weaker than before. They were going to destroy the city; this creature -- this monster -- was so strong they were resorting to this? I squeezed Jason's hand in a repetitive manner, trying to get the feeling back into my limbs. He returned the gesture, pulling me close him. The soldier didn't seem to notice us in the background, he grabbed Rob's wrist and regarded his watch. "Your watch, it still works?" He asked.
Rob glanced down at his watch nodding in the affirmative, the soldier let his arm fall back to his side with a irritated grunt of some sort. We were reaching the end of the hall, I spotted the gated exit and hiccupped with relief. "Airlifts are leaving at 40TH and Park. Last choppers wheels up at exactly 0600. If you can it make there, then they can get you out," He said, scanning over all of us.
The expression on Rob's face was a mixture of relief and shock; I couldn't blame him; This man was breaking the law by allowing us to leave, but I was all too thankful to even care beyond hoping he wouldn't get court-martialed. Rob processed the information quickly then nodded. "Oh.. Okay. Thank you," He breathed, but the soldier paid little mind to his thanks. Grabbing his arm, he maneuvered Rob closer to the open exit. "58TH street's right there. Go, move. Move, move, move," He chanted, gesturing with his arms. Rob vanished behind the exit doors, Jason and I went after him, avoiding the firm hand of the soldier.
We traveled through a brief darkness, at the end I spotted a flashing light the silhouette of Rob's stretched shadow moving further away from us. I expected to hear Jason demand his brother to wait up, but he kept silent and continued to jog over to the exit, dragging me with him. "Guys, wait up!" Hud's hoarse voice cried out. "Don't leave me behind!" I stumbled to a halt, the fear in Hud's voice pulled at my heartstrings. Out of all us, he was more than likely feeling the absence of Marlena's presence.
Jason, however, wasn't feeling so sympathetic. With a frustrated sigh he wrenched his hand out of my trembling grasp, continuing onward. His reaction surprised me. "Jason?" I called, hiccupping. "I'm fine, Lily. Just leave me alone," He responded, shortly. Jason barely gave me a glance, he ran his hands through his hair, and walked on. Hud finally caught up with us, his sweaty face showed signs of relief when he saw me. "Come on, Hud," I said, waving my hand. He said nothing, just nodded and followed after me.
When we caught up with Rob and Jason, I slowly realized that our surroundings had changed; Were now outside the building in an alleyway. Rob turned around to face us, his face was starting to break as he spoke. "This is like a nightmare. You know?" He blurted, raising his arms up. My mouth trembled in agreement, my mind scrambled to make sense of everything. Ahead of us, I heard Jason stifle what sounded like a laugh but upon hearing it the second time, I recognized his choked sob.
"It all happened so fast, I really couldn't see what happened to her," I replied, my voice struggling to maintain. "I mean, did you see it? Did you see anything Hud?" I looked over to Hud who continued to "document" us with the camera, in spite of everything. "N-no…" There was a pause in his response, my back was turned to him as he attempted to continue. "Her eyes started bleeding, and then they were screaming she was bitten… she wouldn't stop bleeding… and then…," Hud's voice trailed off. My pace slowed. Turning around I found Hud fighting back tears behind the camera.
Sympathy overrid the automatic timer in my head, counting down the minutes to the last evacuation. I strode over to Hud and placed a hand on his shoulder. "…You okay?" I asked, trying my best to be supportive. Hud's brown eyes shifted up their downcast position, something resembling a smile crossed his lips. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm okay," It was the most unconvincing tone I'd ever heard from him. I choked back a sob, placing a hand on my hip. From behind me, I could hear Rob approaching us.
Jason, at heart, was an understanding, or even sympathetic person. In spite of the flaws many would make a point of dragging up about his character, Jason tried this best to ignore them and made sure he was there when it counted. Now, however, Jason was angry. Angry at his brother, angry at the creature stalking them, and most of all himself for letting things deteriorate as much they had.
There were so many regrets in his mind, he wished he had forced his route on the others, he wished that he was somehow there to knock Marlena out of the way before that freak of nature bit her, and he wished that he hadn't seen Marlena die like she did. Her final moments continued to loop over and over in his head, her strangled scream was like a symphonic nightmare made especially for him. Things like didn't happen to people, it just wasn't fucking possible! Not fucking possible! He wanted to strangle Rob for even thinking that the tunnels were a "good idea". She was dead -- most likely because -- Jason stopped himself from completing that thought.
Thinking back on Marlena's trepidation toward the entire satiation felt like salt in wound. Suffocating, Jason felt crowded in and foolish. He pulled away from Lily before he could snap at her for stopping and just walked quick enough to gain ground over his brother. Now that the two were stopping to console Hud, Jason felt his composure crumbling.
Dropping behind the parked vehicle, he buried his face behind his hands and resumed crying. No matter how hard he tried, Jason couldn't pull himself together, it was too hard. God, please don't let this continue. Just stop off all it, end it. Please. Inhaling shakily, he wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt and tried to get a hold over his sobs. The task wasn't as hard as he thought it would be, the rapid footfalls of Lily's heels snapped him out of his grief. Rubbing his face dry, Jason struggled to stand upright.
The throbbing in his side reminded him that he was still injured, grabbing the side view mirror Jason pulled himself into a standing position. Rob, Lily, and Hud ran past him. For a moment they didn't notice him standing next to the truck until Rob realized his brother was missing from their group. Blue eyes watched them growing further and further away from him the faster they ran, did it really matter if he came with them? Rob turned quickly so that he was running backward. "Jason, hurry up, man!" Rob shouted over his shoulder.
It may not matter you… but it matters to Rob, Jason thought tiredly. He exhaled heavily, smothering any thought outside of reaching Columbus Circle, Jason bolted forward. The rush of air pushing against him stimulated his senses, he became more aware of surroundings. At this point in their journey, Jason wasn't sure if saving Beth was still important to him, but he would keep moving -- if only for Lily and his brother. Marlena's death would mean nothing otherwise. Using the momentum behind his body, Jason caught up with the others as they exited the alley and ventured out into streets.
What shocked them the most was how terrible things had become on the surface, in such a short period of time. The city was in ruins, dozens of buildings were marred or reduced to nothing. Piles of ruble were a monument to what used to be. Empty bullet shells littered the ground along side the discarded bodies left for dead or forgotten; several corpses showed signs of what Jason remembered seeing on the dead soldier from earlier, inadvertently bringing his thoughts back to Marlena. Blood puddled occasionally around the bodies on the ground, other times it was running down into the gutters and manholes.
The stench of their bodies was almost too much to bear. It made the thought of the crab-spider still roaming above ground made a terrifying prospect. Jason suggested that they all stick close and keep a look out. To ensure that they weren't taken by surprise, the foursome stuck to the middle of the streets, only diverting their path slightly at times. The further they ventured into the city, the worse the damage became. Gunfire sounded off in the distance, alerting them to the proximity of the battle and perhaps the creature itself. Jason's body tensed, ready to run when the time called for it. Hud walked next to him, fiddling with the camera's Velcro handle. "Do you really think the military's loosing to this thing?" Hud inquired quietly. Jason turned to regard his friend, knowing man knew what the answer was. Running his hands through his hair, Jason replied, "I don't think they would lie about this, Hud."
"Well, yeah, maybe, but--I dunno. It just seems kinda impossible, you know?" Hud rambled. Jason watched him adjust the strap around his neck uneasily, once he was happy with how the camera's weight was hanging on his left shoulder, Hud glanced up at Jason again. "I mean it's the US Military." The words that came from his mouth lacked their usual resonance, the first line of defense for the United States felt weaker -- less meaningful now. They could beaten.
Jason scratched his nose. "It was bound to happen sometime, Hud. The army's not invincible," Jason replied. "I don't think anyone expected this though…shit." Hud glanced up from behind the camera in question, Jason was leaning forward, pressing his hand against his side. The blonde's face was contorted in pain, Reaching out, he placed a hand on Jason's arm only to have it roughly brushed off. "Hey, dude, are you okay?" He asked, never bothering to lower his voice.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Jason groaned tightening the torn piece of fabric around his waist. "A little dizzy, but I'll live." Hud lowered the eye of the camera on Jason's injured side. Blood had come through on the blue dress shirt, staining it, though it was nowhere near as the bloody as Jason's Slusho! t-shirt. He glanced up to see if Rob or Lily noticed the lag in their pace, the two were still walking ahead of them. "Are you sure, 'cause we can stop…?" Hud trailed off, realizing the error in his words. They couldn't stop, not if they wanted to get out alive.
"What's the first thing you want to do when you get out of here?" Jason's question came so out of the blue that Hud lost his train of thought. "Wah-what?" Hud mumbled, confused. Jason shot Hud an irritated look, the question wasn't a hard one to answer. Jason didn't bother to repeat himself, he started to walk faster. "When I get out of here, I'm going to propose to Lily," Jason replied. Hud wasn't sure what to make of that statement.
Hud certainly didn't know what he wanted to do when he got out of New York, aside from sleep forever, his mind too numb to think beyond dread. Yet, to hear Jason proclaim that he would propose to Lily was… well, it spoke in volumes. "You -- you love her that much?" He inquired. Jason raised his eyes to level with Hud's, for a moment irritation crossed his expression before a crooked smile spread across his lips. "Yes. Yes, I do," Came the honest reply. Hud had no response. The two lapsed back into silence, focusing their attention on moving forward. They caught up to Lily and Rob, falling into a casual pace next to each other. Hud remained behind the others, keeping a watchful eye through the lense of Rob's camera. It occurred to the young man that he could've stopped recording at any time, focused himself more on getting out instead of recording every level of ruin that befell the city. Yet, Hud was compelled to continue recording.
Now just a half a block away from Columbus Circle, Jason was getting antsy; They had less than twenty minutes to get to the evacuation point and the constant roar of jets flying overhead made him wonder how much time had actually passed since leaving the department store. Paper rained down around them like confetti, landing on the ground in the blanket of smoke that traveled across the streets and sidewalks. An alarm sounded off in the distance against the background of heavy gunfire that continued to echo around them, making its position impossible to locate.
Jason felt his side burning the faster he jogged to keep up with the others, he was literally behind Hud now. I really need a break, Jason mused, pressing his hand against his side. "Jason, hurry up!" Rob's voice echoed against the valley of the street. Jason reframed from responding, instead he focused moving faster and focusing his attention on Lily instead of his pain. Jason paused when Lily's jog came to a slow stop, watching her cautious body language until he saw it himself.
Jotting at a semi-quick pace down the street, was a white horse dressed down in flowing feathers, pulling a empty Hansom Cab behind it. The horse jerked its head in Lily's direction once then continued onward down the street. Raising up from his bent position, Jason started toward the others while they were still frozen in one place. Passing Hud, he came up beside Lily. She regarded him quietly going over every detail of his dirty face, he said nothing to her and kept his gaze focused on his feet. Rob watched the horse until it was out of his line of sight, casting a look over his shoulder he gestured to the others and took off jogging. They followed after him, moving quickly across the street.
Lily decided to be the one to break the ice. "…H-how are you?" She asked. Jason, who was struggling to regulate his breathing, run and pretend he wasn't in pain at the same time, raised an eyebrow. It was a question that seemed be the only thing they were capable of asking each other (or anyone else), a question Jason was now tired of answering. He honestly didn't know what to say outside of "Fine", which was an obvious lie. He was tired, hurt, and angry, for multiple reasons. He would express it to Lily, but didn't want the last thing he said to her to be so …angry.
Regret wasn't an emotion he wanted to be consumed by if they died. Swallowing nervously, he shook his head. "I'm not okay, Lily," Jason responded finally, kicking himself when he felt his eyes stinging. The astonished expression on his girlfriend's face had his brain calculating what to say next. As Lily scrambled to respond, he said, "Its not about being hurt…okay? I'm fine -- for the most part," Jason huffed, slowing his gait down. "It just…" Turning to face her, he grasped her hand tightly. Lily waited for an answer, hoping that with it, her constant worrying over him would diminish as well. Yet as they ran, silence reigned over him and Lily waited for fifteen more minutes before realizing that he was not going to answer. Not unless she pushed him. "Jason, please, tell me," She panted.
"Oh my God... Oh, my God…," Rob's voice drifted out from ahead of them, distracting Lily and Jason from their conversation. Lily watched Jason bolt away from her, the protective streak in him overriding all thoughts, except getting to his brother. The dust seem to part around his feet as he ran and vanished around bus. "Oh, my God. Shit!" The distress in Rob's voice was so clear. Hud and Lily ran across the street, passing an abandoned bus where they found Rob and Jason standing in a field of scattered debris. Dust floated above the ground, traveling slowly like clouds on the wind. "What? Rob, what?" Hud started to ask. Hud panned the camera around the desolate area up toward the Time Warner Center. The blood in Hud's veins ran cold at the sight before him. The second tower was leaning against the first in such a manner, he was surprised the entire structure hadn't collapsed on itself.
Zooming in on the semi center of the building, Hud could see jagged pieces of metal and concrete shifting, small pebbles of dust falling out of his line of sight. "Rob, that's not Beth's place is it? Is that Beth's apartment? Rob?" He rambled, breathless. Rob lowered his hands away from his face, still unable to process what he was seeing. "Tell me that's not her place," Hud said. "That's her place, yeah," Rob answered. Hud's stomach twisted in knots at the confirmation; Rob had to be fucking with his head right now. "Oh, shit," He muttered to himself as Rob and the others ran ahead into the center of Columbus Circle.
(Jason):
I gazed up at the semi-destroyed tower of the Time Warner Center, strangely calm. Despite my disbelief at the circumstances, I realized that nothing about this journey of ours was going to be easy. We finally made it to Columbus Circle, but now we face a new obstacle; Getting into the complex and reaching Beth's apartment -- wherever that was. Turning to Rob, I pointed a finger toward the ruined building. "She doesn't still live on the --"
"39TH floor? Yeah, yeah she does," Rob said. In the background I heard Hud mutter something behind me, obviously sharing in my dismay. I felt my legs go weak, leaning over I placed my hands on my thighs and struggled to take a breath. If I took another step, let alone climb up an unknown flight of stairs, I would kneel over. "How do we even get up there?!" Lily inquired, disbelief riddled her tone.
There was a beat of silence from my brother, whose attention seemed more transfixed on the building rather than trying to figure out how to get inside of it. Finally he responded. "I dunno, we just go inside… see how high we can get," The constant shrugging of his shoulders clearly meant he had no idea what to do. Rob was never one for planning ahead. Lily looked to my brother again with an apologetic expression on her face. "I don't think I could do that," She said.
"Yeah, we're going to need a better plan, Rob," I grumbled, flexing my bloody fingers. I watched the blood flake away from my skin, revealing somewhat clean spots stained with rusty colored residue. Glancing up at the building, I wracked my brain over how to get up to the thirty-ninth flood of the complex; All the ideas I came up with, when avoiding the desired use of elevators (they would certainly be out of order) lead to dead ends or our exhaustion somewhere on the stairwells if we tried entering in the second tower.
Plus, there was the integrity of the structure to consider; There was a chance that the building could fall right on us if we even disturbed the slightest thing inside of it. We'd kill ourselves, along with Beth before we could reach her. I didn't see how--
"We-- well, maybe we could try going up the other building, and see if there's a place to cross over onto her roof. …And then find some way down to her place," Hud suggested. We all turned to regard Hud with awe, the line of reasoning was obvious and to hear it come from Hud was… odd. Rob didn't think on it for another minute, he started running across the deserted intersection toward the first tower. Lily and I followed after him, tripping over the chunks of concrete scattered on the ground. "No, wait, never mind! That's a bad idea! That's a bad idea, I take that back!" He shouted. I could hear his footsteps coming up fast behind us, focusing on the shattered doorway in front of us. We reached the doorway, picking up my feet, I started up the pile of concrete.
The surface below my feet shifted uncontrollably, grabbing the largest stone in front of me I pulled myself over the hill and slid down onto ground. My eyes stung at the sudden flood of light, wincing I stood upright and passed over the threshold. The lobby was a shining testament of life interrupted, books and cups laid next to the overturned tables and chairs. The couches were missing their cushions, looking closer I noticed that they were small puncture holes in some places.
Lily stumbled past me, turning away from the couches I followed her across the lobby into the hall. Rob stood in front of the elevator panel, tapping furiously at the "up" button. "Shit, shit!" He hissed, rushing across the hall. "They're not working?" Lily asked, following after him. Wariness overcame me as I watched the two of them. Of course the elevators wouldn't work, the building's been damaged, the elevator shafts are most likely damaged as well. Calmly I walked past them toward the open exit door of the stairwell and moved toward the stairs. "Jason, dude…" Hud's words trailed off.
I started up the first couple of stairs just as Rob and Lily were entering the exit door. I stuck close to the railing, using its study frame to help me up the stairs. Glancing upward I noticed Rob turning the corner, already climbing the second flight of stairs. "Rob, wait up, man," Hud heaved breathlessly, jogging past me up the stairs. I heaved out a breath, I did not want to move from where I stopped; I was content with staying right here until the others came back. Yet, there were those crab-things to consider and I didn't want to be around if one of them showed up. "Jason?" Lily said. She stood on the landing, with her heels in hand, watching me with the usual concern. Gripping the railing I pulled myself up. Putting one foot in front of the other, I climbed the stairs as quickly as I could. "Come on, let's not fall behind," I mumbled. Lily nodded in agreement.
The journey up the stairwell was longer than anyone had anticipated. Many of the levels they passed were not properly marked, so every now and again, Rob had them stop to check the apartments outside the emergency exits. The tower continued to groan under the pressure its sister building was applying against its frame, the lights would flicker on and off giving off the buzz of electricity from its plastic prison.
Jason speculated it was probably worse inside the toppled building; Weak floors, weaker walls, the smell of death, people crying for help while trapped inside their apartments. The vertigo alone would most likely down him if he entered. The thought of all those trapped people made him shudder. Jason kept close to railing, using it to balance himself as he climbed the stairs. Heights was something that never bothered Jason much, but at the moment he was suffering from a serious case of vertigo; It was talking all his strength not to fall over whenever the room would tilt to the left, though he was sure everyone noticed his learning sideways.
"Hey. Did you guys see that guy's face when Lily asked him what that thing was?" Hud's voice echoed through the enclosed area, gaining immediate attention from his friends. He was struggling to keep his arm steady as he fixed the position of the camera. "I mean…They have no idea!" He panted, taking in a gulp of humid air. Peeking over the camera, he waited for an answer.
No one answered immediately, they continued up the stairs in silence. Deciding not to wait for answer any longer, Hud continued. "…Unless, their, like (you know), in on it." That got their attention. Lily, Jason, and Rob turned to Hud, perplexed or irritated looks on their faces. It was as if they were questioning his state of mind. "Jesus Hud," Rob muttered, turning the corner. Hud started climbing the stairs a little faster. "What?" He exclaimed, breathlessly. "I don't read the papers. Maybe our Government made this thing!" Jason rolled his throbbing eyes. The overactive imagination of Hud never failed to entertain, but at this point even Hud had to know he sounded insane.
"Yeah, well, does it really matter now?" Rob countered, glancing down at his friend. He was not in the mood to humor anymore of Hud's theories. "Yeah!" Hud said breathlessly. His arm titled to the side, causing the focus of the camera to veer upward. Hud struggled to readjust the camera, ignoring the soreness in his arms. "I have to talk about something…! Otherwise, I might actually shit my pants in this stairwell!" He snapped. The words escaped Hud's mouth so suddenly, that he almost regretted them. However, aside from the glare he received from Jason, neither Lily or Rob responded to his outburst. They climbed the final flight of stairs before coming to a stop on the landing; Jason leaned hard against the railing panting, while Lily and Rob remained in the center of the landing, bent over and struggling to regain to their breath. Hud remained on the stairs, feeling guilty. "Sorry," he murmured.
(TBC)
Authors Note: Terribly Sorry of the delays. Writers block and other distractions. The final chapter is being completed as I write this.