Just a quick note to my regular readers about my posting schedule over the next few weeks. As I will be away from home, I intend to post on Thursday next, followed by Wednesday. Hopefully it will be normal after that. If I can post next Sunday, then I will...

The Shake Up Part I

The week immediately after Julian and Isabelle's wedding passed quickly. Sebastian managed to get past his fears, largely because he had so much on at work that he had no time to dwell on what might happen in the future. Julian too was able to dismiss his worries, as he enjoyed the high life on a transatlantic voyage; he had to agree that it really was the best way to cross over to Europe when Isabelle said it. True, there were still little moments when his blood ran cold for a second, but both he and his wife, whom he had confided in, agreed that it was just a minor worry. Then again, they had not been told that just an hour before Mercedes jet had touched down in the city, L.A. had been shaken by another quake, although it was dismissed as just another earth tremor, and no cause for concern. For most of the inhabitants the view was the correct one; after all, the city had so many from time to time that it was no longer a cause for concern…

The week had been a busy one for Mercedes, as she prepared for the culmination of her first big national tour. She was after all going to be performing in her dream venue before a sell out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl. She had rested for a few days after getting back to the city she thought of now as home, catching up on life there and just spending quality time with David alone. They both enjoyed it, but then on the Friday of that week it was time to face the inevitable and head back to work. They made the trip together out to the Hollywood Bowl, so that she could check up first hand that the set was being assembled correctly, and that all of her costumes, props and personal effects were in place in her dressing room.

When she arrived at the Bowl with David at her side, the place was a hive of activity, her entire entourage engaged in work to ensure that everything was perfect. She saw that her dancers and her backing singers were also there, rehearsing on stage in a set that was already built and ready. To her eye it all looked spot on, and she took a moment to stand there at the microphone stand centre stage, close her eyes, and just imagine what the place would be like the following day, with the crowd assembled before her and all shouting her name… When she did open her eyes once more, all she could see out in the auditorium area was David. To her delight, she saw that he was in the middle of a conversation with Wes, who hadn't been around as much as usual in the last few weeks…

David had been sitting in a seat, quietly contemplating the set from his position when Wes had suddenly materialised at his side. The stage at the Bowl was very different to that at the other venues that Mercedes had played, and so the whole set had been configured as a result in a very different way - and to his untrained eye, it just did not sit right…

"You're right, it does not look quite as perfect as it has done until now, but it does still look magnificent, at least from here, close to the stage. It might of course look very different to those that are seated right up at the back," mused Wes as he landed next to his oldest friend.

"You might have a good point there," David conceded, "and of course to Mercedes, those people are every bit as important, if not more so, than those seated down here at the front, that have paid the big bucks for the privilege. I should take a stroll up there and just check it out."

"You probably should, yes," Wes replied, "and tell that beautiful girlfriend of yours to take five minutes and head up there with you; she has plenty of time to get things right for her big show."

His last words were delivered in a tone that made David pause and stare for a moment, wondering why he seemed to be so determined that Mercedes should head up there with him. As ever, David bowed to what his friend was suggesting, and made his way over to the stage to speak to the love of his life. He did not see what was going on behind him as he did so; did not see Wes glancing with horror at his watch, or the looks of frustration and heartache he was giving to both of them as she tried to stay where she was… It was just as he was about to lose his cool, to blurt something out that she suddenly looked right at him, and then, whether it was because of something in his face or not, she changed her mind, and climbed down from the stage. She shouted to the others where she was going, and ignored the smutty comments that some of them made about why she was heading up there. What did strike them both as odd was the fact that as they made their way back through the ranks of seats, away from the stage, Wes simply smiled, and then vanished without a word of a goodbye…

Across town, Jake and Unique were both in the sitting room of the house that they shared with David; the former was playing a computer game, whilst the latter was reading a new and thrilling novel.

Not far away, Peter Smythe was in his bedroom, reading all about London in the book that his father had given him before he had left. Downstairs, his mom and grandparents were discussing a proposed trip up to Washington State the following week to visit family.

Back at the Bowl, David and Mercedes had finally reached the point behind the very last row of seats, an area clear of trees, and were now looking back down at the stage. Both had to admit that from up here, it certainly did not look as perfect as it had done from the front rows. They began to discuss what they should change…

Later, the scientists would say that the earthquake that struck Los Angeles at that moment, measuring nearly 10 on the Richter Scale, was actually the strongest earthquake to hit anywhere in the world in living memory.

As the tremor built up in violence, both Jake and Unique concluded suddenly that the advice that it was best to stay inside was wrong on this particular occasion. As they half ran, half stumbled from the house, they grabbed for their most important documents, stored in boxes at David's insistence, and grabbed his too from his room. On instinct whilst he did so, Jake also grabbed the framed photo that Thad had left him when he had moved out and headed back east. Then they were out on the lawn, which was rippling like a stormy ocean. The look they both saw on each other's face at that moment was enough to tell them that they both thought that this was hell on earth…

Nearby a young boy abandoned his new book on the top of his bed, and half rolled, half dived underneath it, grabbing for his favourite toy as he did so. As the crashing noises around him grew, so did the sounds of screaming and yelling, and suddenly, clearly amongst the whole cacophony of sound he heard someone yell out his name. He could not go to his mom, he had to stay where he was, where it was safest, and then the bright room suddenly went dark as the floor and walls seemed to collapse around him…

At the Bowl, the initial tremor had seemed like nothing special, but then at once it was as if the whole world was shifting below David and Mercedes, the ground almost becoming liquid in character. Mercedes suddenly found herself knocked off her feet and flung down on the ground face first; it had not been the earthquake that had caused it, but her companion, who then flung himself on top of her, trying to protect her as the earth moved in a terrifying, unnatural way. They could hear crashing; a great rending noise as if the world was being torn asunder. There were human screams, growing in intensity, but then, just as quickly as they began, they fell silent…

As the whole city shook, all that the residents had ever known was at risk from a wave of destruction. Across the metropolis, clocks juddered to a halt at the moment the worst came, recording for ever that it had all happened at 7:13pm…

Across on the east coast, hundreds of miles away, the heart of a young Broadway star was suddenly troubled, for no apparent reason….

A teacher in an Ohio school found that his mind was suddenly screaming in warning that something, somewhere, was very, very wrong…

On an ocean liner, a honeymooner suddenly sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for air and drenched in sweat, his new wife waking up next to him and wondering what was so wrong…

Meanwhile, high above them all, four angels crossed their fingers, and hoped. Then they got themselves ready for the work that would occupy their every waking moment for the next few weeks; assisting an overwhelmed California section…

For all those that were present in the City of Angels at the moment that the earthquake struck, the shaking seemed to carry on for hours on end, never seemingly reducing in intensity; if anything, it seemed to worsen as the time went on. It would later be revealed to them all that the quake itself lasted for just less than a minute, but it had been a devastating and fatal one.

Up at the Hollywood Bowl, David's first reaction as the ground began to move was that it was just another tremor, and he had not been unduly concerned as the ground began to shake. As the shaking had become more and more violent though, he quickly realised that he had got that wrong, and this was not going to be a run of the mill event. Sure, there had been a reasonably substantial quake during his freshman year at UCLA, and it had been quite the wake up call for himself and Thad. That quake was nothing now in comparison to what was unfolding. He became acutely aware of his surroundings all of a sudden, looking out for any danger overhead, but with a start he noticed that here there wasn't anything at all; in fact, he and Mercedes were standing in the one place in the entire area where there was nothing that could fall upon them. It would be staying upright themselves that would be the issue, and he guessed that if they fell without warning, they could easily wind up being hurt… With that thought in his head, he had pushed Mercedes to the ground, face first, and then, just in case of flying debris, he lay on top of her, shielding her head with his body as he placed his hands over his own. His first priority was protecting the woman that he loved and cared for with all his heart. The ground beneath them was bucking and swaying now, and he found it hard to maintain his position. His ears were being assailed by the sound of crashing as the world around the was being torn apart; as everything began to disintegrate. The noise drowned out most of the screaming. To his horror he realised that as the shaking went on, the screaming lessened and then stopped; and in his mind, that could mean only one thing…

His heart immediately ached for the people that they had left behind, back on the stage. He had become so familiar with all of them in the course of the last few weeks and was on first name terms with so many of them. The majority of them were fairly young, and every bit as excited to be out on the road performing as Mercedes had been. They had families, friends and partners, all of whom would be left devastated by their demise, if indeed what he was surmising had taken place. Then again, if those people had also been here in the city… It was so lucky that they had been here, out of harm's way…

'And that is entirely thanks to Wes,' he suddenly thought. He got it now; why Wes had been so insistent that they come up here to check things out. He had known that this was coming, and had made a life-saving suggestion to his best friend. It was not an intervention per se, as he had been considering heading up here at some point. But if it hadn't been for Wes, would he have come up here at the right moment? Would he have brought Mercedes with him? He silently thanked God for his angelic friends, and just hoped that Wes would not end up in trouble for what he had done. He wondered if someone had made a similar visit to Jake and Unique… He hoped beyond all hope that those two were safe; the whole of his house could be reduced to a pile of rubble, just as long as those two were alive, and not badly hurt…

It was then that he came back to reality; then that he noticed that the world was no longer moving beneath him like the swell of a stormy ocean. The air was no longer filled with the sound of things being torn apart; instead there was an eerie silence, punctuated only by the sound of his own breathing, and that of another human being. That latter was a comfort, but the lack of cries for help from elsewhere was not… He slid of Mercedes gingerly, and then just lay by her side for a moment. "Mercedes, are you okay," he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. There was silence for a terrible moment, and he thought the worst, until there came words that filled his heart with a little joy once more.

"I think so, although being body slammed into the ground face first isn't exactly the best or most romantic of things in the world… I get why you did it though, and I am glad that you did. I just laid here and prayed to everyone that would listen for it all to end…"

"I did as well. I think Wes…"

"He knew," replied Mercedes. "Couldn't come right out and say it, but he knew. When I think about it, Kurt and Blaine were acting strangely too last time I saw them… And this must be why Kurt was so insistent that I didn't ask everyone to come here to see me perform; he had to keep as many people he cared about out of danger as he could. We'll have to thank them, but I have a feeling that might have to wait a while; they'll be busy for days…"

"Yeah," said David with a shiver. "This was no ordinary quake; that was the big one, the one they've predicted and feared here for decades. I think there will be a lot of people that have just earned their wings…"

There was silence then as they both just lay there and contemplated what he had just said. Then Mercedes announced, "Well, we can't lie here forever. We need to get up and see if anyone needs our help, and then we need to get out of here. I want to go home, back to Ohio - and right now, I might just stay there forever. First, we need to check on the others…" She paused, seeing that whilst she was talking, David had risen to his feet, and had turned to face the Bowl. His face was strained, so grim at what it was that he could see. Mercedes could guess what he was seeing, and it broke her heart. She wasn't sure if she was strong enough to face it herself…

David found it impossible to speak. Not less than 5 minutes earlier, he and Mercedes had walked up here from the iconic stage; through all of the rows of seating to stand here, looking down at the venue as it nestled amongst the trees. It was all gone. The stage was nothing more than a mangled pile of rubble, all traces of the actual set for the show gone. Those on it, or working around it had been given no opportunity to escape when disaster struck. The sloping seating had slid forward down the hill towards it, as the earth below it had slipped, and that had begun just feet from where they had been lying. As for the trees, they had more or less all been felled, the few that still stood having been gouged apart, looking as if someone had taken a giant axe to them and reduced them to matchwood. He had seen many disaster movies over the years, not to mention the harrowing TV footage of places elsewhere that had been devastated by natural disasters, but there was nothing that could prepare you for the harsh reality of it actually happening to you. Nothing at all…

"It's bad, isn't it?" came Mercedes' voice into his consciousness. "It had to be, with the way that the ground was moving, but I am guessing…"

"It's all gone. All of it. The whole world has been turned upside down. What makes it worse is the silence. You get so as you never notice the background hum of the city as it goes along, but now… There's no traffic noise, no sirens, no voices…"

"Well, we can't be the only people left alive in the city; that isn't an option," responded Mercedes forcefully. "Do we need to go down to the stage, or…"

"I don't think it would be worth it. Even if by some miracle someone has made it through the quake, and survived the collapse of everything that was there on top of them, they would be so badly hurt, and there is nothing that we could realistically do for them to help…" David stopped, as he had to wipe tears out of his eyes, then he held out a hand to Mercedes to help her to her feet. "We do need to head towards my place and see what has happened there though. It would be nice to just head out of the city right now, and it is so tempting, but promises were made. It isn't our fault, but we did say that we would take care of them, and even if…"

"We have to go and see for ourselves, one way or the other," answered Mercedes. She had made it to her feet, but was keeping her back firmly to the stage, not trusting herself not to fall apart if she looked down there. She was grateful that she had been wearing sneakers for the rehearsal; after all, they would have a long walk back to the western side of the city, and to whatever remained of the house that David had called home for so long…

It was not an easy walk by any means. The access road to the Bowl was littered with fallen trees, and cracked and shattered in many spots. Water was running down part of it from a fractured main, but the flow was starting to dwindle; after all, the pumps that drove the water had failed as the quake cut off the electricity supply. There were also downed electricity and telephone cables to contend with too, the former sparking at one point, a sign that not all of the power was out. The roads and streets that they walked along as the sun began to set over the ocean were no longer lined with smart houses or apartment blocks, but large piles of rubble instead, some of it strewn over the streets themselves. There was a strong smell of gas in some parts, and in others there were fires burning out of control. And yes, there were bodies; people that had been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and had not stood a chance…

They walked on, hand in hand. They found a hardware store on one street, the building largely intact but deserted. David had made Mercedes wait outside as he climbed through the smashed display window into the store itself, quickly locating torches and batteries; they knew after all that even the few street lamps that were still standing would not light that night. They came across a diner not much further on, and spotted a refrigerated cabinet that still somehow had cans of soda and bottles of water in it; and also a quantity of wrapped sandwiches. They ate, glad of the food and drink, sitting on a bench that was twisted out of shape, but still had surface that they could sit on reasonably comfortably. It was whilst they were there that David suddenly had a thought, and he headed back to the hardware store. He discovered that it did have a section with camping goods; he collected four rucksacks, sleeping bags, a camping stove, with the necessary gas canisters, plates, cutlery, a kettle and mugs. He was going to leave money for the proprietor, but then he spotted an arm sticking out from a collapsed area of the shelving, and he knew that it would be pointless…

Along the way they also felt aftershocks, none of them that strong thankfully, but still so disconcerting to them both. As the sun finally set in the west, they were still some way from home; they decided to keep on going, moving along in the light of a single torch beam, ignoring the orange glow behind them that came from the centre of the city, which seemed to have been consumed in a massive fire. They had looked back at first, but the combination of missing landmark buildings and the towering infernos that were the skyscrapers that had survived was just too much to stomach. Both of them could only think of Jake and Unique though, praying that they were okay, but getting more worried about what they would find as they passed more and more destruction.

It was almost midnight when they finally reached the last street corner on their journey, and were at the start of the long street that passed by David's front door. It was there that they got a massive surprise; there was a cell phone mast there, and although it was twisted and hanging down, it still had on the red lights that indicated it had power. It took them a few moments though to comprehend what that might mean; it might mean that they would get a signal…

Mercedes did not have her phone with her; she had left it in her bag when she had gone up to the back of the auditorium with David, and it was now crushed along with everything else that had been inside it. David was able to pull his out of his pocket though, and turn it on, glad that he always kept it charged and used a battery saving mode. To his delight, he saw that he had bars; not many, but enough. The problem now was exactly who he should call. It was just before 11pm in the remains of the city, which made it just before 2am on the east coast where the majority of his friends and his mother lived. She was still his first thought though, but just as quickly he dismissed the notion. Waking her up now would do nothing more than worry her to death, and to do so was pointless. There was also no point in calling up the emergency numbers stored in his phone; there did not appear to be any kind of emergency services in L.A. anymore.

Then he knew who to call; the person that had told him that he could call him any time, day or night, and he would always answer. He pressed the speed dial code for them, and crossed his fingers as the number was contacted, and as the call was connected. The sound of it ringing on the other side of the country, normally such a mundane occurrence was now the greatest sound ever. Then it stopped, and a very sleepy sounding voice said "David!? You do recall perchance what time it is here?"

"Thad, you need to listen, as I might not have long. The big one has come. Everything is gone. I am okay, and so is Mercedes, but we aren't sure about Jake and Unique yet."

There was the shortest of pauses, and then a much more awake Thad said, "The big one! Holy hell… Okay, I get it. What can I do?"

"Call my mom, let her know I am okay; get her to call the Jones' too. Keep your phone on. As soon as I know about the others, I will call you again, okay?"

"Right, I will do, but David, what about Sebastian's nephew? Could you check on him too?"

David suddenly remembered that he and his family existed, and instinctively replied "I will do. Right, talk later Thaddie." He hung up before his friend could reply. Turning to Mercedes, he said, "Peter Smythe. We need to check up on him and his mom too. They live so close to me, and I'd plain forgotten…"

"I'd forgotten about them too," confessed Mercedes, in a quiet voice. "But yes, we have to check on them too. If anything has happened to them…" She said no more. David pocketed his phone, and the two of them set off again, walking the last few yards to the place that he had called home…

At Dalton, Thad had been unable to just return to his bed; he was now in his sitting room, scanning the news channels. To his surprise, there was no mention whatsoever of the quake on any of them. He found that strange at first, given the way that news was so instantly given in the modern age, but then he realised why; things had to be so bad over in Los Angeles that they did not want to worry those on the east coast in the small hours of the morning. He decided that he would leave making the promised call to Mrs Thompson until a better hour; in fact, he would go and actually tell her the news face to face. He shook his head at the prospect, then went online to see if there was any news available on there. Naturally enough there was nothing, although he did notice one thing. The website of the Los Angeles Times was offline, as were the majority of the Hollywood based blogs. That was confirmation that something major had happened in the city…

It was those showbiz pages that made him realise that there was someone else that he should contact; someone else that was blissfully unaware and deserved an early warning of what had occurred. He had a feeling that there would be no need to call up Puck to let him know about Jake, as the military were probably the only group that had been made aware, as they would be drafted in from across the country to help with the rescue effort. Sebastian though would be as much in the dark as everyone else, and it unthinkable to Thad that he should find out from the television news in the morning when he was aware of what was going on right now. It would also give him a chance he hoped to contact Julian, and break the news to him, a task he did not envy him. He checked the clock, and noticed it was fast approaching 3am. He dialled the number, and braced himself for a string of expletives from the other end of the line…

Sebastian was sitting as it happened in the living room of his home in Murray Hill at that moment, as he had been unable to sleep. Something had started to worry him as he left the theatre, and that uneasy feeling had not yet abated. He had decided that there was no point in even trying to sleep, and rather than disturb his husband, he had come to sit in the other room and try and work out what was so wrong.

When his phone began to ring, it was a shock, and when he saw who it was that was calling, he hesitated to answer it at all. He knew instinctively that Thad was not calling for a pleasant chat, not at this time of night. His phone did not stop ringing, and so in the end he picked it up with a shaking hand. "What's happened Thad? Something has to have, or there is no way you'd be calling me at this time of night…"

"Yeah…so, are you sitting down?"

"Just tell me Thad…"

"David just called me; they've had an earthquake in L.A. - and he says that it was the big one…"

Thad got no further; Sebastian's quick brain put two and two together, and suddenly he knew exactly why he had been so troubled all night. Peter was there, in that old wooden house, which wouldn't have stood a chance in a big quake… He did not even know he had dropped the phone and was screaming in agony until Dave rushed in and grabbed him. He fell into his husband's arms and sobbed, not even able to tell his questioning husband why he was doing so. Seeing the phone on the floor, Dave picked it up, and then Thad repeated the message to him in a tearful voice. Dave managed to get as far as thanking him and hanging up before he too burst into floods of tears at the thought of what might have happened to that poor little boy…

Eventually Dave realised that Sebastian was no longer crying, and that his screams of pain and anguish had stopped. He was still however trembling like a leaf in his arms. He guided him back to the chair in which he had been sitting before Thad had called and sat next to him, holding his hands gently in his own. "Sebby," Dave began, "I know that this is no comfort, but there is nothing that we can do about this. Thad told me that he has asked David to go and check things out, and we both know that is exactly what he will do. Until we discover what he finds in L.A., all we can do here is cross our fingers and pray. Peter is a sensible kid, he's smart, and you told me that he knew exactly what to do in a situation like this."

"Knowing what he needed to do is one thing; but in the actual event, will he have done those things? I've had an uneasy feeling about something for hours; I knew that somewhere, someone I love had just seen things go very badly wrong. Now that I know why I felt like that, it's worse!" sighed Sebastian. "It's worse, because now I have to make another call. After all, the Queen Mary is due to dock in Southampton today, and so that makes them five hours ahead. Jules will be awake, and he can't find out something like this from a news broadcast."

"Sebby, there is nothing on the news…"

"Not yet, but there will be soon enough, and then… I can't have him finding out from the BBC that his son has been caught up in a huge natural disaster, not when I know, because I would never be able to forgive myself for not saying anything. If the worst has… I have to tell him. I don't have a choice. I have to…"

It took a glass of brandy before Sebastian could actually bring himself to dial the number that his brother had supplied him with for emergencies whilst he was on board the ship. At first, he thought that he had dialled incorrectly, as there was nothing but a stony silence on the line, but eventually the call connected, the result of the wonders of modern satellite technology. He heard the phone at the other end ring for what seemed like hours before it was eventually answered by an operator. Then he was but through to his brother, who answered with a cautious greeting; after all, there was no caller display at his end.

"Jules, it's me. Is Isabelle with you?" began Sebastian.

"She's here, yeah - and the fact that you asked that, and you're calling already has me worried. What is it Sebastian? What has happened?" replied Julian.

"Can I quickly say hi to my sister-in-law first?"

"Look, I will put the call on speakerphone! My love, it's my little brother, and he doesn't think you are here; could you say something for me?"

Isabelle spoke, and Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief that at least he wasn't alone. "Right, okay…this is so hard…there's no easy way… Thad just called me; he had a call from David Thompson. Jules, the big one that everyone feared has happened. According to David, L.A. is a pile of rubble…"

The silence that followed his words was the longest of Sebastian's life so far. It was broken by a half strangled cry of "Peter!"

"David is going to go and check up on him, okay. I just… It's not even on the television yet, which in this day and age means that it must be very bad, and someone is censoring the story right now…"

"We will be on the first flight back we can get," replied Isabelle, in a tearful voice. "Julian's fainted…" she added, which did nothing to soothe Sebastian. "Thank you for calling; it can't have been easy for you. If you hear anything…"

"I will call, good or…"

"It will be good," interjected Isabelle forcefully. "It has to be…"

"Yeah," said Sebastian, praying with all of his heart that it would be…