The Shake Up Part II

When David had called Thad, he had been less than half a mile from home. He could normally cover that short distance in a few minutes, but as he and Mercedes finally reached his block, a glance at his watch told him that it had taken him three times as long. There had been so much debris to climb over, so many things to pretend that he wasn't seeing. The neat orderly neighbourhood that he had left that morning was almost totally wiped out, the houses that had seemed so substantial then being reduced to little more than heaps of rubble. He blocked out the sight of the handful of bodies that he could actually see, and hoped that Mercedes was able to do the same. The thing that haunted him most was not those remains, but the fact that in the whole course of their walk from the Bowl, they had not seen or heard another living soul. They had seen other living beings though, with wings like their friends, engaged in their essential task. If they even saw two living humans in the midst of the devastation, they did not acknowledge them; nor, focussed solely on getting home, did they attempt to speak to them. After all, each one they saw meant another death.

Now as he neared home, David realised that his footsteps had begun to slow and falter; his mind was saying that given all that he had witnessed so far, it might be better not to go on and confirm what he now feared so much. In his mind he could almost imagine arriving at the house just in time to witness Kurt and Blaine coming for the souls of his two roommates... It would be easy just to pretend that they had been there and checked…

"We can't," came a voice, and he realised that he had spoken his thoughts out loud. "We will have to look everyone else in the face after this, and I can't lie to Puck. I just can't."

David nodded at Mercedes, then rallied himself, building up the courage to walk those last few yards to arrive at his home. The first thing he realised to his horror was that there had been a fire, and his house was charred as well as collapsed. The fire was still burning on one spot in the middle of the lawn. To his absolute delight, he saw that there were two wingless figures sitting by that blaze…

Jake and Unique had not had the easiest of times from the moment that they had run out of the house in terror as the quake had struck, disobeying all of the official advice in doing so. They had always been told to remain indoors and shelter under a strong part of the structure, such as a doorframe. At first, they thought that they had made the biggest mistake of their lives. Having made it to the centre of the lawn with difficulty, so that they would be clear of falling trees and street lamps, they were both flung to the ground as the earth started to roar up and down below them. Jake instinctively crawled towards Unique, grabbing her hand, grateful to feel its warmth even as it trembled with fear. The shaking seemed to be getting worse moment by moment, and with it the sound of crashing as all around them the world was ripped apart. Jake found himself praying, and knew that Unique was doing the same.

Then there was a horrendous groaning noise, followed almost immediately by an explosion and a sudden burst of heat. At that moment, Jake began to feel that this was the end, that they were not making it out alive; but then, the ground stopped moving so violently underneath him, and although the crashing carried on, the shaking ceased as abruptly as it had begun. How long the two of them lay there on the lawn, in silence, they would never know; they were unwilling to get up in case it all started up again. Eventually, with caution, Jake lifted his head; one look at the scene before his eyes made him want to close them and not open them again, hoping it was just a trick of the imagination. But he knew, in his heart, that it was all too real. He managed to raise himself up on all fours, before gently helping Unique up too, then just sitting there, stunned and dazed, as they drank in the new reality around them.

It was Unique that broke the silence. "We did the right thing. If we had stayed in the house…"

Jake nodded, his eyes once more viewing what amounted to the complete destruction of his life. How much of the house had still been standing at the moment that the electricity pylon had crashed onto it, crushing all that remained under its weight as it did so, was academic. The sparks from the severed cables had ignited a fireball which had immediately engulfed the entire property. Even if they had managed to survive the house falling on them, they would have been incinerated moments later by the flames. They hadn't been, but he knew in his heart that the bulk of their neighbours had not been so lucky. They were not that close to any of them, just greeting them as they passed in the street, but he just had a horrible feeling that they were alone in the area at the moment. There were no calls for help, or of other people's names; no sound of anyone digging frantically in the ruins of their homes. On top of that, there's was not the only house that was being consumed by fire.

"What should we do, Jake? My first instinct is to get the hell out of town, but…"

"David and Mercedes; we need to find out what has happened to them," said Jake, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He noticed that the screen was cracked, no doubt when he had been thrown to the ground. It still switched on though, but were the bars would normally be he saw the words No Service. He tried to make an emergency call, but that too was impossible; all of the networks were down. He sighed, then spoke again. "As I see it, we have two options. We head towards the Bowl and try and find them, or we stay here, in the knowledge that they will head here to check on us if they are still…"

"Don't say it!" gasped Unique. "I vote we stay here, at least until tomorrow. If we go walking off, we could miss them on the way. They will come here, because of the promise they made to us, and to Puck. We make ourselves as comfortable as we can, and wait."

"Until tomorrow; if they aren't back by lunchtime tomorrow, then we head out," replied Jake. With a little reluctance, Unique agreed to his plan.

It was Jake that decided that they should build the fire in the middle of the lawn, and did so for two reasons; firstly, he knew that it could get cold at night, even at this time of year, and there was no potential shelter to retreat into; and secondly, it would provide them with light, given that the power was gone. It was easy to gather the wood that they needed from the destroyed trees that now littered the neighbourhood. Another stroke of luck was that although Jake's car had been crushed at the front by a falling tree, the back was okay; he could still access the trunk and retrieve the small tool kit he kept for emergencies. Inside it he had a small axe, which allowed them to chop up the larger chunks of wood. He also kept an emergency stash of food and water in the trunk, and that was equally welcome. In the course of his scavenging for wood, Jake had come across one of the neighbours, but it had been far too late to help them…

He had said nothing to Unique, not wishing to upset her any more than he had to. It was the total silence that had descended on the city that made things worse; not even the birds were singing, all having abandoned the city in fear. As the sun set on the City of Angels, the night fell, and soon it was pitch black outside the glow of their fire. The nickname for the city was never more apt than now; try as hard as they might, they could not stop thinking about all the friends that they had potentially lost in a few moments of mayhem. Unique fell asleep in the end, leaning on Jake, but he was determined to stay awake as long as he could. In his head he hoped that his brother was already on his way with the rest of the air force. He mused on that for a while, until he was disturbed by a noise, as someone's foot disturbed the rubble…

Jake would later confess that his first reaction on hearing that movement was to grab for his axe; the city had its moments of lawlessness. It appeared that the usual forces of law and order had ceased to exist, and he would now have to defend himself against anyone that made to attack. In the darkness of the ruined city, unlit in a way it had never been in generations, it was only at the last moment as his hands tightened around the handle of the axe that he was able to distinguish who it was. To suddenly see those two familiar faces filled his heart with a joy that was unparalleled in his lifetime; it was the confirmation that in the face of such devastation, at least two of the people that he thought of as friends had made it. He leapt up from his spot, jolting Unique into wakefulness. Moments later all four were in a tight group hug, relief filling all of them. No-one said that they had been thinking the worst, but they all knew it had to have crossed each others minds.

As Unique and Mercedes settled down by the fire, David took Jake off to one side to talk to him. "It's the whole city that is like this; not one corner seems untouched by a wave of devastation. On our way here we didn't seen one other living soul; certainly none of the emergency workers that should be teeming on the ground just now. We did see…" David stopped and shivered, and Jake placed a hand on his shoulder, knowing full well what he was talking about.

"I know; I saw a few around here too, whilst I was gathering the wood for the fire. And angels; dozens of them... Look, I think that as soon as the sun rises, we need to head out of here. Puck always told me that if this happened, I should head to a certain spot, and that is exactly where I propose we should go."

David nodded. "I agree, and Puck will have knowledge that makes his judgement better than ours. However, there is something that we have to do first. Believe it or not, the cellphone tower up at the very top of the street is still working, just, and so I was able to make a call to Thad. He reminded me of something, and so there is somewhere I have to go first thing; someone I have to check on, although to be honest, given all that I have seen, I don't hold out much hope. I have promised to head a few blocks over, and go and see what had happened to Sebastian's nephew…"

Jake sucked air in through his teeth, then sighed. "You're right, he lives… David, judging by all that we have seen, I would say that the chances he has made it at very, very slim. If I recall, his home was an old one, and looked a little ramshackle. It was just wood, and that will just have gone in seconds. On top of that, there have been fires…"

"I know, I know, but I promised that I would look. I owe that much to Sebastian. What if by some miracle he has made it, and I don't go, and he ends up dying, scared and alone? No, it won't take me all that long to go over, and at least then I will be able to look Seb in the face…"

"Okay, but there is no way you are going alone."

"I'm not prepared to risk…"

"And I am not prepared to face the others if I let you go alone, and there is a big aftershock, and you don't make it back."

"I say that we all go together," said Mercedes, startling them. "There is no way that I am letting you out of my sight, David Thompson. I have lost far too many other people today, and I am not going to lose you."

"And that goes for me too," added Unique. "We go as a group, or not at all."

David suddenly felt so torn between his duty to his Warbler brother and his duty to protect the three people in front of him. Part of him now wished that he had said nothing to Jake; that he had just waited until they were all asleep, and then left a note and headed out alone. Now, he had no other option that to agree to their frankly dangerous demands…

They all agreed that there was no point in adding to the danger, and that they should wait until sunrise to head over; they should all attempt to get some rest. The lawn was not exactly comfortable to lie on, but it was safe, and they all soon dozed off. It still seemed like only seconds later that the light of the early morning woke them all up. The fire was still burning somehow, and they had food and water left for breakfast from the items David and Mercedes had scavenged the night before, but it was a poor substitute for coffee and pancakes. Then it was time to go, to leave what had once been such a happy home, with nothing but the three prepared grab bags. David had not yet opened his, and did not know that there was an extra item in it.

The walk to the house where Peter Smythe, his mother and grandparents lived should not have on a normal morning have taken more than ten minutes at a leisurely stroll. It took almost ten times as long that morning, as they negotiated the fallen debris, a torrent of water running from a burst water pipe, and a section of road that had now been folded almost vertical. They passed the little convenience store they had all used at one time or another, and saw that it had partially collapsed. Unfortunately, it was the area where the clerk had been stationed that had been crushed almost flat. The windows were all shattered, and they could see all of those supplies just waiting in there…

With a good selection of practical foodstuffs, they carried on, to discover what they had all been expecting. The house was just a pile of broken and shattered wood, with no obvious signs of life. David felt his heart rip in two the moment he viewed it, and pictured the look on Sebastian's face as he had to break the news to him; worse still, he could see Julian's face too as he told him that his only child was dead. Mercedes was in tears at his side, and the other two just averted their eyes from the spot, trying to blank it out. All of their effort had been for nothing it seemed…

And then he heard it.

A tiny, faint noise. A whimper of fear…

"David, we need to go. We have to get out of here. That hillside up above the house looks like it could give way at any moment. If there is an aftershock, and we all know that is highly likely, then it will go, and if we are here…" began Jake quietly, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"I heard something. I think that he is alive under all that. I heard him," David replied.

"David, I know you want him to be, but how can he be? The whole house is in bits, and at the back there is a huge boulder, that has crushed one corner totally flat…" said Jake.

"I heard something, and if we all could just be quiet for a second, maybe we would all be able to hear it!" David barked back.

Jake looked at David as if he was mad after his sudden outburst; Mercedes just shook her head sadly, whilst Unique stared at her shoes - and then it came again, and this time they all heard it. It was faint, but it was unmistakeably a whimper. Mercedes gasped, as Jake and Unique at her side started in horror. David meanwhile just thanked whatever God had heard him and let the noise come once more.

Resisting the temptation to say that he had told them so, knowing they all already felt guilty, he shouted "Peter! Peter Smythe! It's your Uncle Bazzy's friend, David. If you can hear me, say something back!"

The silence that followed seemed to last an eternity, but in reality it was no more than a few seconds before a small voice said, "Hello! Is that really someone?"

"Yes honey, it's David and Mercedes Jones. You were at your dad's wedding…"

"…and you sang. Please help me! I'm stuck and I can't get out!"

"Where are you stuck?" asked David.

"Under my bed. When the earthquake came, I remembered what we were told at school, and as I was upstairs and the house was moving so much, I just hid under the bed…but then everything fell down, and now I can't get back out. I didn't think anyone was coming, because I shouted for help, but nobody came…"

Outside on the street they all heard the note of despair in his voice, the tears that had come or would do soon. However, the task that they now faced was a daunting one to say the least. Somewhere under a pile of broken wood, smashed tiles and mangled pipework was a small boy, the nephew of a friend. They could not leave him now, having raised his hopes, as they would never be able to forgive themselves, but where on earth did they begin?

It was Mercedes that realised that they needed to narrow things down. "Okay, Peter. Is your bedroom at the front or the back of the house?"

"It was at the back," came his response, sounding so final and resigned.

"On the left or the right if you were standing in the street?" she continued; the others looked at her questioningly, given that the right hand side of the house was squashed flat by the boulder. "He doesn't need to know about that just yet," she whispered, as he replied it was on the left. Carefully, David and Jake made their way around the remains of the house, taking care not to stand on any wires, or on broken glass. It looked as if Peter had been very lucky indeed, as the mound of debris was not much higher than a bed's height, and that was also a positive for them. "Okay Peter, was your bed near the windows, or the middle of the house?" Mercedes continued.

"The middle…"

"Right, Jake, we need to see if we can lift that big piece of roof over there up without disturbing anything else; maybe it would be better just to remove it tile by tile to be sure…" said David. Jake nodded, and began to help him in removing the tiles from a panel of the roof that was still more or less intact, and lying right across the spot where they reckoned that Peter's bed would lie.

They were soon joined in their work by Mercedes and Unique, all working to lift tiles, rafters and boarding as they tried to reveal the topside of the ceiling that had crashed down. All the time that they worked they continued to chat to the young boy below them, silently cheering as he told them it didn't seem so dark anymore, and then he yelled that he could see light. The four friends paused in their task, and saw it; the hole in the broken ceiling, no more than six inches across.

"That is where the light is coming in; we need to make that wider, but very carefully," said David, and then he asked, "Peter, is the light coming in at your feet, or your head?"

"Kind of in the middle."

"Is your head facing towards the outside, or the inside of the house?" David asked next.

There was a pause, and then Peter replied, "The outside…"

"Okay, so we are going to start breaking through the ceiling so that we can get you out, but I need you to turn your face away from the light, so that if we make splinters and dust, it doesn't get in your eyes, okay?"

"Okay, David, I'm turning now…"

David gave it a moment, then motioning to the others, they all began to use what they had to break the thick plasterboard. In the case of all of them except Jake, that was a broken bit of rafter; Jake was able to use the axe from his tool box to hack away at it. In the end, it did not take them as long as they had feared to break it away, but doing so revealed that their job was not as simple as they had thought. They could see the bed now, sitting there on the remains of the upper floor. What they had not bargained for was that the rest of the floor in the room would have caved in, and had plummeted along with a whole heap of debris into a basement level they had not anticipated…

Jake and David exchanged a worried glance, both of them knowing what this meant; it was no longer going to be a simple case of getting Peter to crawl out of his hiding place, and then lifting him up to the surface. They had to somehow figure out how to provide him with a temporary platform which he could move onto when he crawled free. The concept was simple, but the problem was that there was nothing of any substance left that could support such a platform… "Darn it all!" whispered David, anxious that Peter should not hear his despair. "How the heck do we sort this one out?"

"If we had a rope, then we could lower it down to him, get him to tie it securely around himself, then haul him up and out; but we don't, there is no time to start looking for one, and in any case, he might not tie a secure enough knot," replied Jake in equally quiet tones. He fell silent, then began to do the math in his head. The hole that had now been revealed was deep, but the actual drop from the top of the debris to the remaining floor under the bed was only about four feet at most. Suddenly it came to him; it was a mad idea, stupid in the extreme, but it might well be the only possible solution…

"Okay, so I have an idea, and hear me out before you dismiss it out of hand. If you guys lowered me into the hole head first, I would be in a position where I could grab onto that remaining piece of floor; I could then guide Peter to climb up using my body as a ladder, so to speak. You guys could help pull him up as he climbs me, or he could cling tightly onto me and you pull us both back up. I know that it sounds stupid, and dangerous, and totally mad, but I think that it is the only way that we can do this. I am volunteering myself as I am the lightest of us all, the most flexible, and I'm strong. It is worth all the risk to get him out."

David just looked at him wide eyed, and shook his head. "You're right, it is mad, but you are also right in saying it's the only way to get him out with a rope or an actual ladder. My concern is that is anything then happens to you, Puck will never forgive me for it."

"You're forgetting that if the worst does happen, I will be an angel, and I will be able to go and tell him that it was all my idea, and my fault. David, we don't have time to dither on this; let's get started, and get Peter out of there."

The next two minutes were spent with David dealing with strenuous objections from both Mercedes and Unique, whilst Jake remained at the hole, introducing himself to Peter; he told him very simply what had happened to his bedroom floor, and that he was going to need to be very brave in a minute or two, and trust him and David. Peter was very quiet for a moment after that, but then responded that he was scared, but that he trusted them not to hurt him. Then it was time. Jake emptied his pockets, and then with the other three holding tightly on to his ankles, he began to slowly inch his way over the debris and down into the hole that they had made. He had to move along on his back, to ensure that he would be face to face with the young man that he was going to rescue. In the back of his mind as he did so was a prayer that there would not be an aftershock now, because he knew that it would be fatal for him at least, and probably for the others too…

Then he was on eye level with the underside of the bed, and he saw a pair of wide green eyes staring back at him from a face that was blackened with dust; the tracks of his tears made all the more visible as a result. "Hey, Peter. So, this is what happens next. I am going to lower myself down just a little bit further, so that I can get a good grip onto the edge of the floor. Once I say go, you need to crawl out from under your bed, and climb up my body slowly and carefully. I am strong enough to take your weight on me, and the others have a firm grip on me up top."

"Do I climb right up, Mr Jake?"

"You can if you think that you can manage it, but if you don't want to then just say, and the others will pull the pair of us back to the surface whilst you cling onto me, okay?"

"Okay…" replied Peter, a waver of uncertainty in his voice.

Up above, the three on the surface braced themselves for the increase in weight as Jake lowered himself that little bit further. Then he told Peter that it was time for him to start crawling out. Looking over the edge, they all saw a pair of dirty hands emerge, then pause.

"It's okay, honey, we will not let you fall. Just keep on going, and use Jake as a ladder to climb up like he said," said Mercedes, sensing that nerves had got the better of the young boy. Her reassuring words were enough to get two arms and then a head to appear. As they all braced themselves and prayed it would work, Peter did what they had hoped. He held tightly on to Jake's sides, and began to wriggle his way up oh so carefully. His body appeared inch by inch from below the bed that had saved him from certain death in the destruction of yesterday's quake. They all felt relief on the surface when his feet finally appeared, thankfully clad in sensible shoes, and he continued his slow progress upwards.

Unique then spoke up. "If you two keep a firm hold on Jake, I will pull him up and out, then we can all pull Jake back out."

"Agreed," said David. Mercedes nodded, and they both braced themselves all the more. Unique leant over the edge and grabbed for Peter's hands; she held them tightly in her own, and then began to gently pull the boy towards her and into the light of day. With that extra bit of momentum, it was no time at all before he was out, and sitting on the roof beside them, his eyes screwed up against the sudden brightness of the daylight after so long in the dark. Unique had left him, and headed back to assist in the other task; getting her friend back out. They did so at a gentle pace, allowing Jake to steer his way through the remnants of what had once been Peter's world. There were no hitches on the way, and soon he too was back up on the surface, his clothes now filthy from being dragged through the dusty remains of what had once been a safe home.

Jake did not emerge from the hole empty handed. As he had passed by the bed on his way down, he had noticed that Peter had a toy rabbit clutched in his hand; it had been abandoned as he had needed both hands to climb out. Realising that the toy had to be significant to the boy, Jake had reached out as he was being pulled back up and grabbed it, clutching it tightly in his left hand; if the toy had been important enough to be taken under the bed to safety, then it deserved to be saved. Then, as he was being pulled past the bed, he noticed two items that were lodged on the edge of it, held on by the plaster; a book, and an old photograph album. He made a swift decision; he grabbed the book with his right hand first, then transferred it to lie on his chest, held in place by his chin; then he grabbed the photo album too and held it in his right hand as he carried on upwards. Having his hands full made the trip back to the surface a little more interesting to say the least, and earned him a raised eyebrow or three as he was pulled clear. After all, he could easily have ended up being hurt in the process of grabbing them…

All thoughts of scolding him were abandoned though when they heard a squeal of delight from Peter, who had been silent up until that point. Jake got to his feet and solemnly handed over the toy, which the boy instantly clutched to his chest. "Thanks for saving Roger too, Mr Jake," came a small voice. "My grandpa bought him for me…" His voice faltered then for a moment, before going on sadly "My mommy and grandparents were down in the kitchen. I heard then screaming and yelling, and then there was a big crash… I know that they are gone, but they will have gone to heaven, won't they?"

"I am sure that they will have done, honey," replied Mercedes, blinking back her tears at the matter of fact way that Peter had spoken. "I have some friends, Kurt, Blaine, Finn and Wes, and they are all angels; I am sure that they will be taking care of them…"

"I hope so. I loved them all so very much…" said Peter sadly. Around him the others stood silent, contemplating the horrifying final moments of those three lives. The only good thing that they could take from it all was that the boulder's size meant that when it hit, their deaths would have been instant.

Eventually they all knew what they had to do. Mercedes took Peter's hand, and they began the walk back to David's home, or what was left of it; they had to get away from the crumbling hillside and cliffs. Despite the fact that they had a smaller person with them now, the walk back was quicker, as they knew where the hazards were. It wasn't long until they were back at the house, but they did not stop, just kept walking, heading towards the centre of the city, from where they would continue to the place that Puck had told them to go, south and east of downtown.

They were just approaching the mobile phone mast that had enabled David to call Thad, and where he hoped to be able to repeat the call to let him know the news about Peter, when they all felt it. The ground began to move once more. They all flung themselves to the ground, trying to shield each other as the aftershock began to grow in intensity. Around them came the sound of the debris shifting, of the last few remnants of standing walls giving way and crashing down on the other remains. Then in the distance came an even more terrifying noise; a sound like an approaching train, or thunder. They all instinctively guessed what it was. Sure enough, when the earth stopped moving again, and they got back to their feet, a glance back to where they had been showed them that the hillside on which Peter's home had stood was gone, the moving earth and rock taking everything that had been there down and over the cliff edge into the sea below.

It was a sobering thought for them all. If they had taken longer, then they would still have been there, and there would have been nothing any of them could have done to escape the collapse; no way to outrun the wall of earth and rock. Thanking their lucky stars, they got up and moved on, discovering that the aftershock had destroyed the mobile phone mast. With no way now to contact the outside world, all that they could do was keep on walking, heading to the place from which they hoped a rescue could be made…