The Shake Up Part IV

Even with the advantage of the rickshaws, the process of getting through the ruined city of Los Angeles was painfully slow. The road surfaces were cracked, and in some cases wide open, rendering any sort of meaningful speed impossible. If that was not bad enough in itself, not all of the roads were actually fully passable, and that was not always immediately apparent as they started along them. This lead to them having to double back, or even carry the rickshaw, down or up as the case might be, in places where the road had lifted or fallen away. Then there were the slow streams of water and sewage from the burst pipes; they knew that they had to have flowed in torrents at first, but now, a day after the event, they had all but ceased to move. As they moved through the city, they quickly noticed what landmarks had gone, the Hollywood sign for a start. They were also silence as they headed from street to street, no-one in the mood for chatter as they were chastened by the sight of ruined hospitals and public buildings, and of the fires that still burnt ferociously; in one place, several blocks had been reduced to little more than charred ruins.

At first they had hoped to see flashing red and blue lights around each corner, or a crowd of rescue workers, signs that the city's organisations were still working. Instead the only evidence of the emergency services they saw were crushed vehicles, in many cases buried under the rubble of the buildings that had once housed them and the people that used them. It seemed that all of the construction over the years that had been boasted of as 'earthquake proof' was no match whatsoever for the big one; in fact, it seemed that it was the older buildings that had fared best as the ground had shaken beneath them. The course that they were taking brought them past the apartment building that Mercedes had called home; all that was left of it was a huge pile of smoking rubble. That sight made her thank God that the earthquake had not come in the middle of the night; had it done so, she would not have stood a chance…

As the sun began to set, they had covered a good deal of ground in the direction of the base that Puck had sent them to. The fading light meant that it was not safe to carry on; it was hard enough navigating in the bright light of day, but in darkness it would be impossible. They found that luck was once more on their side as David made the decision that they had to stop. They turned a corner to find themselves outside a supermarket, set back from the road in a parking lot, with a city bus parked right outside. Across the street a fire still raged in a row of stores, most of them now totally gutted by the blaze. It was in many ways the ideal spot in which to stop. The bus could be opened, and it would provide them with shelter for the night; even the hard bus seats would be better to sleep on than the ground. The supermarket looked to be at least partially intact, and would be worthy of exploring, to see if it could yield then more food. More importantly, the fire would provide them with the heat source that would allow them to cook a hot meal.

Thus they sat down that night to eat hot dogs, albeit in slightly stale buns, with instant mashed potatoes and baked apples, the latter cooked in the glowing embers of what had once been a thriving row of businesses. Water was heated in a saucepan liberated from the store, and mugs of hot chocolate were eventually served up, much to everyone's satisfaction. Then as the skies turned black, they all retreated into the bus, settling down as comfortably as they could on the hard seats. Mercedes had found some towels in the supermarket, and had folded them to act as makeshift pillows. As it was summer, they did not need to worry about covers, as the nights were merely cooler, not cold, and also quite short. Peter had fallen asleep almost at once, clutching his bunny tightly to his chest, and David draped his jacket over him protectively. Once he had dozed off, Mercedes allowed herself to relax, and she swiftly fell into slumbers, Unique following her. However, neither David or Jake found it easy to doze. It had been a traumatic 24 hours, and it wasn't over yet by any means. They still had to navigate the rest of the way to the air base, and then there was the one thing that they both realised was missing, but did not wish to voice. They had heard no sound of any form of rescue plane or helicopter, and by now they would have expected to hear several. They both knew what the other was thinking, but said nothing, not wanting to bring the reality to the fore by acknowledging it…

It was dark by now on the bus, apart from a faint red glow. They assumed at first that it was from the fire, but it did not alter in intensity as flames would do. Eventually David got up from the seat he was lying on and went to look out of the window to try and see what it was. It didn't take him long to see it; a bulb glowing red on the top of a pole above the supermarket… With a gasp, he quickly put two and two together. It was not just a pole, but the remnants of a cellphone mast; it had to have a battery of some kind giving it emergency power, thus keeping the light on - and maybe, just maybe… He pulled out his phone and saw a solitary bar; in a second he had speed dialled Thad, not caring about the fact it was 2am in Ohio.

The call seemed to take an age to connect, and then the phone rang for a lifetime, but eventually it stopped, and a groggy voice said "Ello?"

"Thaddie, it's me."

On the other end, the voice was immediately more alert. "David, okay, so are you all okay?"

"Yeah, all five of us. We are heading out of the city now. Tell Sebastian Peter is okay."

"I will do. Take care."

"We will. See you later." David hung up, and turned back round to see Jake smiling at him. Now at least someone knew that they were alive.

In Ohio, Thad also didn't care what time it was. He immediately called up Sebastian, and was unsurprised that his call was answered in a heartbeat. There was no voice on the other end, so he spoke. "David just called. All five of them are okay."

"Five…you said five?"

"Yes, Sebastian. Peter is with them. They are heading out of L.A. as quickly as they can…"

Thad stopped then, conscious that Sebastian was no longer listening, and had probably dropped the phone. He was too busy screaming at the top of his voice. "Jules! They've got him! Peter is alive!"

The hours leading up to Thad's early morning call had been tense in the Karofsky-Smythe household to say the least. After they had met on the side walk, it had been several minutes before the two brothers had actually made it inside the house, the two of them crying on the sidewalk and not caring one iota about who saw them doing so. Dave had taken Isabelle into the house, where she had been escorted into the living room by Trent; she then found herself staring at the TV footage, and trying her best to convince herself that the smallest of those blobs might be her new stepson. She had told Trent that she did not think that it was wise for Julian to see it though, unless it had already been mentioned to him by Sebastian. He had also made the same decision though, and although there was no way that they could prevent Julian from watching the news channels, they could try and ensure that he did not see that particular moment; as luck would have it, the majority of the channels had also decided that to keep that footage on repeat was in bad taste.

As the light of day faded and the night drew in, all of them began to feel a desperate need for news of any sort; just something that let them know what was going on. Neither of the Smythe brothers would eat, not even prepared to nibble on one of the batch of cookies that Nick had prepared in an attempt to tempt them to do so; they did however consume coffee as if it was going out of fashion. Neither could they bear to try and sleep, not when their minds would be filled by nightmarish images in which a small boy would be the focus…

It was at around 10pm that Nick and Jeff finally headed home, taking Trent and Rory with them. There was nothing that any of them could do around the house that would possibly help, and they all agreed that they needed to try and get some rest, just in case the following day brought fresh horrors. As promised, Bette had called up just a little before then to see if there was any fresh news, and vowed that she would come back in the morning, a gesture that meant so much to them all. Isabelle too had support from her employer, with Ms Wintour herself calling up to tell her to take all the time she needed in the circumstances. As the four young men took their leave, a taxi arrived, finally bringing Eloise and Julian's mom to Murray Hill, after delay after delay en route from Canada. Mothers had embraced their sons, and more tears had been shed as a result. As she watched, Isabelle could not help but wonder in how many other homes around the world such scenes were taking place as the world came to terms with what had happened…

When the call came just after 2am, Sebastian had still been wide awake, sustained by cup after cup of strong espresso coffee; Julian had just moments earlier headed to the kitchen to refresh their cups. Dave was dozing on the sofa, whilst Isabelle was trying to sleep in the master bedroom; in the guest room, two mothers lay in a wakeful sleep. Seeing the word 'Thad' on the caller display had never stirred Sebastian's emotions quite as much as that night, and he was quick to answer, praying for the good news that they all wanted and hoped for. He heard nothing that the Head Warbler said after he told him that Peter was with David. It felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders as he screamed out to his brother. He heard the crash of two coffee cups as they fell to the floor in the kitchen, and then the sound of rushing feet, before he had his arms full of his brother. They were both crying again, but this time they were tears of joy.

Dave was on his feet by then, guessing that something good had happened, as did the three ladies as they rushed in at all the shouting. There were a few moments of confused celebration before they all took a seat, and Sebastian repeated word for word what Thad had told him; then he grabbed his phone again, and was not surprised to discover that his friend had ended the call.

"He said all five of them?" said Eloise. "If one of them is Peter, and the other four are we assume your friends, then we have to ask what has happened to Peter's mother…" Her words caused the room to fall silent again, the joy they felt now tempered by a new reality.

"If he has lost his mom, his grandparents, all his friends…" began Sebastian sadly.

"Then he is going to need all the love and affection that we can give him," Isabelle stated. "It won't be easy for him to be a survivor, particularly if…"

"He is alive, and that fact is what we have to focus on for now," said Julian. "He is going to need his dad, his stepmom, his uncles…"

"We all love him, so very much," responded Isabelle, taking her husband's hands in her own. For her part, she was worried about how he would react to having her as a stepmom; and also about the fact that he wasn't out of danger yet…

Sebastian managed to persuade his brother that it was not a good idea to try and phone David directly after that. It was late after all, and he had no idea how much battery David had left, or even if the signal would still be there. Isabelle then used all her powers on him to make him head to bed, pointing out that he would be no use when his son arrived in the city if he was exhausted from lack of sleep. He had to reluctantly concur, and so he headed off with her, followed by the two older women. That left Dave on his own with Sebastian.

"Of course, they're not out of the woods yet," Sebastian whispered to his husband the moment that his brother was safely out of earshot. "I am certain that Isabelle knows that too, but she doesn't want to raise that point in front of Jules. I just wish that I knew exactly where it was that they were heading. I know that it is somewhere that Puck told Jake to go, but that's it!"

"So call him up and ask," said Dave. "Sure it's late, and he might not be able to answer, but then again, he might. Or we could try Quinn; he might have said something to her that he wouldn't tell us."

In the end, it was Dave that called the number that they had for Puck; getting no reply, he sent a text message instead. That was more fruitful, and yielded a reply in just a few minutes.

'Not able to answer my phone. Thanks for letting me know they're alive, I was worried sick. I told then to go to the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County.'

On being given the name, Sebastian immediately did a quick search on Google, then sighed as he checked the results. "It is over 80 miles from Peter and David's neighbourhood! If they are walking, and I am pretty sure that driving will be out of the question, it might well take them days to get there, particularly as they will have to go at Peter's pace. I don't know how Jules is going to bear all the waiting…"

At his side, Dave could not think that the waiting would be every bit as hard for Peter's Uncle Bazzy…

That night everyone managed to get some sleep, albeit fitfully in some cases, on both sides of the country. In New York, everyone woke up early, with the exception of Sebastian; after nearly two days with no sleep, his body demanded rest, and he was left to snore by everyone, his welfare being their only concern. After all, by the end of the day yesterday he had deep bags under his eyes, and to all of them he had looked ill. His maman resolved that when he did finally wake up, she would make him eat a proper meal - and if he attempted to refuse, she would feed him herself by force if she had to, as a mother was surely entitled to do. Julian's mother and Isabelle had also used the same harsh treatment on him. As they had both pointed out, they knew now that Peter was alive, that he was with a group of people that would safeguard him from danger and harm, and by now the armed forces were on their way; they had said so on breakfast television.

In the West Village, all of those residing in a row of houses had woken to find a text from Thad on their phones, informing them that David had called, and that everyone, including Peter, was safe. That news lead to a happier tone for the day; they would remain concerned until they saw all of them in the flesh, but at least the worst had to be over now. Artie knew that Puck would not rest until he knew that his brother was safe, and Mercedes too for that matter. He only doubt in his mind was whether the air force would actually let him go into the area if they knew he had family and friends there; they might well say it was a conflict of interest. He quickly quelled that by reminding himself that Puck was smart enough not to have mentioned his connections to the city; that assumption was naturally correct…

On the other side of the nation, David had woken up just as soon as the sun had shown itself, rising over the rubble of what had once been one of the best known cities in the world. He stretched carefully, stiff from a night trying to sleep on a hard bus seat, then quietly headed out to stand and survey the area around him. He could hear birdsong that morning, and it made him smile, but was only a reminder of just how much had changed in a short space of time. Normally the noise of the city would have drowned out those birds; now there was nothing else. There were no planes droning overhead as they headed into LAX, no roaring traffic congesting the roads, no sign of human life other than his friends…

"It's frightening, isn't it?" said Jake, and David nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden appearance of his friend.

"Yeah, it is…when you think of how many people would normally be here right now in the city… It's like being in a computer game, or one of those crazy apocalyptic films."

"Only there is no heading back to replay the level; no closing credits or a big name hero," replied Jake thoughtfully. "Anyway, we have breakfast first, and then we pack up and carry on towards March base. You know, when Puck told me that was where we should go, it never seemed quite so far away as it does now. Then it was just over an hour by car, but now…"

"If we didn't have the rickshaws, we would be in big trouble. Thanks to them, I would guess we might be just over halfway there. I doubt that Peter would have been able to walk the distance required at any pace, and if the rest of us had been forced to take turns carrying him, then we would have all been tired sooner, and that would have slowed us down all the more," said David, and Jake nodded in response. "I can only imagine what it must be like for Sebastian and his brother right now; I imagine Seb is stressed out, and as for Julian - well I can only guess at how much it must hurt to imagine that your only child is dead. I don't think you can truly realise that until you have kids of your own."

"I am guessing that our own parents will be stressing out too, and our friends, even although they will all know from Thad that we are alive."

"They will, but I don't think that any of them will be able to stop worrying until we are physically back with them," replied David. Suddenly he thought about what this must be putting his own mother through; she had lost one son already after all. He dismissed the thought quickly though; for her sake, he had to concentrate on staying safe…

That was still the number one priority as they set off again after breakfast. They went at a sensible pace, keeping their wits about them, scanning the road ahead for holes and drops, the roadside for potential hazards. Peter was another concern for them all. With the trauma of rescue over, he had now had time to think, and his thought had naturally turned to his mom and his grandparents, now lost forever to the ocean, along with everything that he had ever really known. Mercedes sat at his side, watching as his face shifted from curiosity to grief in the blink of an eye as some little thing reminded him. All she could think was that he was definitely going to require counselling after they got out of here; heck, they all would. In some ways the victims were the lucky ones in this scenario…

A stroke of luck found them on a stretch of highway that was relatively intact, and headed in the right direction, and that allowed them to make far faster progress than they had up until now. David guessed that there was still little chance that they would make their destination before night fell once more, but they would be within a short distance. To all of them now the base meant one thing - escape. It meant freedom from the chaos of a ruined city, and the chance to return to a degree of normality in their lives, if indeed that would ever be possible for them to have again. After all, they would suffer from nightmares about what they had seen for weeks, if not months, to come…

There were moments when they had to halt their progress as the ground beneath their feet shook once more in another aftershock, making it an impossible task for a moment to cycle, and causing the rubble around them to move again. Such things would once have left them all feeling traumatised, but in the world that they now inhabited, such circumstances were the new normal. The smell of smoke filled the air, and plumes of it rose menacingly from various points on the horizon. All that they could hope was that the March base was not one of those places that was burning.

They stopped for lunch at a diner that seemed to have defied all of the odds; from the outside at least it had seemed remarkably intact, with no damage other than a few cracks to the exterior. Inside of course it was a different story; there were fixtures that had fallen over, not to mention food that had now been sitting out in the open for a couple of days, which with no refrigeration was starting to rot. There was a moment when they all half expected to come across at least one body somewhere, but there was no trace of either staff or customers; that lead them all to hope for the first time in a while that someone else had survived all of the chaos and might have made it out.

They could not use the stoves to cook as the gas and electric were out, but they did all take advantage of the one facility that was by some miracle still functional, thanks presumably to a substantial water tank somewhere in the building. Once again they raided the food stores, using what was still fresh and edible to make sandwiches, allowing them to conserve the stores they had gathered at the supermarket for another mealtime. They did not linger inside for long though; they feared that a fresh aftershock could come along at any moment and destabilise the building, burying them all underneath it, with no-one around to rescue them.

As dusk came they were a mere five miles from the base, but they decided that it was not worth the risk to carry on in the dark, when pitfalls would be invisible in the black. There was no abandoned bus to sleep in that night, but as luck would have it they did come across a furnishing store, and set up camp in its parking lot; it was not a bad place to sleep, particularly once they had managed to liberate two mattresses and a pile of blankets and pillows, and made themselves a large impromptu bed. Nonetheless as they all settled down to sleep that night, there was one thing that had David worried. They were so close to the base and yet there was no noise from any kind of rescue activity. It had Jake worried too; he trusted that Puck would do his best, but it wasn't up to him. If those in authority had changed the plans at the last minute, his brother would be more or less helpless, and would not be able to reasonably disobey them…

His brother was not that far away at that precise moment. He had been moved to a forward post in Denver, Colorado; other units were now in place in Nevada, Oregon and Utah, groups of men that had been closer when the call went out and the nationwide mobilisation had begun. Puck's lie that he had no-one that he was close to in the city had been accepted without dispute, but as he sat and waited for action, he almost wished that it hadn't been. Just as Jake surmised, a new set of plans had been drawn up by the high command, a set of plans which concentrated every resource on Edwards Base. The fact that the base in question was closer to the homes of many of the richer members of Los Angeles society, and near pockets of voters that had strongly packed the current President was nothing to do with that decision at all, of course.

Now as Puck scanned the plans, he was devastated to find that all reference to the March Reserve Base had been removed. In his frustration, his first instinct had been to go and protest in the strongest possible terms, but then he realised that he couldn't do so. If he did, it might well indicate that he had some sort of connection in the city, which in turn would indicate that he had lied to his superiors. That would lead to trouble for him, and even less hope for his brother and his friends. Still, he was a pilot and he had been assigned a helicopter to fly. That could develop an emergency situation of some kind which would need to be urgently checked out, and if that happened as he was near the March base… If he then discovered a group of civilians there, then it would be his duty to effect their rescue at the time. If he was subsequently punished for doing so, he would accept it without reservation. It would be a price worth paying to save his brother and his friends.

Across on the other side of the country that night, anxious relatives still awaited news, as did close friends. Mrs Thompson had now been joined at Dalton by the Jones family, all concerned for the young couple. Thad had been astonished to hear from his friend's mom that Mr Thompson was actually on his way to Ohio, so concerned was he for his wife and surviving son. This was the first time to his knowledge that the man in question had been back since events in Alabama all those years ago. He understood why Mr Thompson had stayed away, as the guilt he felt over what had happened to Simon had consumed him. Now the possibility of losing his other son had spurred him to return, and Thad was all for that, just as long as David was okay.

That was still an unconfirmed commodity though. There had been reports of aftershocks all day, and images of massive fires burning out of control. All that any of those waiting could do was pray that their friends and family would be alright and make it out. All they could do was hope that Mother Nature had finished wreaking her wrath on California, and that after fires, mudslides and earthquakes, all disasters were finally out of the way…