Saturday, August 20, 2005

End of Days part 2

End of Days (Part 2)

Chapter 2: Safe in a Crazy World

"Open the gates!! Come on!!" Vash roared at the guards, who scrambled to open the gates for the sleek Lexus to pass through. Already, hundreds of people had ran to seek shelter within the Titanium clad building, confident it would hold out against any possible attack or danger.

Vash skidded the car to a stop as the gates clanged shut, motioning his friends to get out of the car and head for safety. "Get the girls to the basement!" Wolfwood and Vash quickly organised the people to head towards the basement with food and drink, while gathering some men to organise the defence, although against what, neither young man had any idea.

The chaos had been raging for over an hour and a half now, and seemed to be subsiding. Certain electrical gadgets seemed to be working properly again, as thousands of people started to calm down throughout the country, trying to put out the fires and rescue the people injured or trapped by the destruction around them. Yet Vash had a terrible feeling in his gut that things weren't really over, and this was just the beginning.

"Vash! Good to see you here, old friend!" Clarence Coffman, previously Vash's guitar student, now stood before him wiping his sweat off his brow. "Its been one heck of a night."

"Yeah mate! Who'd have thought we'd meet once again in such a situation!" Kenneth Watanabe, the world famous breaker popped up from behind Clarence.

Vash grinned. It was good to see old friends back in this old church. It seemed like years or even decades had passed since they once attended this church together. Now they had a huge multi-storey building in the business district, and seldom came to this place anymore. Vash didn't trust many people, but these were friends he knew he could count on.

"Try to get the TV working, and switch to channel newsasia or CNN.. I want to see how large scale this disaster is.." Vash motioned to his friends.

Suddenly, a woman started screaming in pain, clutching her head as if having a major headache. Her husband quickly caught her in his arms, just before she collasped to the ground, still giving ear-splitting screams and struggling hard. Elsewhere, a young boy started bawling and pressing his hands on his head as well, as his mother tried to comfort him. A few more people began to pressed her palms onto their temples and groan in severe pain, a few collasping to the ground as the pain was too much for them to handle.

"Oh man! Will this night ever end??" Wolfwood immediately kicked into action, helping to drag one screaming man onto mat in the corner of the lobby, where the people with the headaches were laid to rest, and paramedics rushed to attend to them.

"No! Leave him! I need you guys to come with me now!" Vash yelled over the noise.

"Oh alright!" Clarence put down the fire extinguisher and let the job of putting out a small fire to another tired-looking guy.

They got into Vash's car and Vash sped off with a hardened look on his face. Alarms were ringing in his head, was he beginning to get affected by that giant magnetic impulse whatever-thingy as well? No, he had to stay focused on what he needed to do. He stepped on the accelerator harder.

"Where are we going?" Kenneth asked, wishing he was back at the church helping to put out fires and help the injured people.

"Back to my place." Vash replied.

"For what??" astounded, they asked in unison. They were even more shocked at the reply.

"For weapons and ammo." Vash saw the unbelief in their eyes. "Trust me, you'll need it. I don't know how I know, but I just do." Wolfwood saw the cold gleam in his eyes, and realised that despite of how ridiculous it sounded, Vash was right. He leaned back on his seat, trying to get some rest and wondered...

---

"what caused the terrible destruction on our island. Electric power is down 50% as more than half of the power stations have been destroyed by the powerful magnetic impulse sent by the earth's core, just hours ago. The prime minister will now issue his statement."

In the basement, people's eyes were transfixed on the giant LCD screen, only a few still tending to those with the painful headache. Meryl asked Rachel, "Are you alright?" Rachel offered a half-hearted smile and replied, "Who can possibly be alright? Listen to him." and pointed at the screen where PM Lee had begun his statement.

"...worst disaster since the SARS outbreak last year. This, however, is not confined to our local country, or even the ASEAN region. This phenomena which occured mere hours ago has affected the entire globe. Our island has been hit sparringly, compared with the level of disasters in other countries. Russia and France have reported of nuclear missile sites exploding or lauching themselves simultaneously, killing thousands of people, costing billions in damage. Various asian countries have reported huge aircraft spinning out of control and crashing into their cities, oil tankers and ships crashing at sea, and massive fire outbreaks at oil drums in our neighbouring countries. Compared to them, we have been merely scratched by this catastrophe.."

"What? Oh the nerve of him!..." an angry mother in tears shook her fist at the prime minister, having lost her son and daughter in an accident not too long ago, her husband putting his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. Meryl remembered the bricks crashing and squashing hundreds of construction workers to death moments ago, and this is just a scratch? Anger swelled up in her too.

"...military, civil defence, fire brigade, police have all been activated to control the situation and help the citizens of this country. The danger is not over yet. Please do not leave your homes unless absolutely necessary to seek medical aid..." Someone switched the channel to sports, where Manchester-Liverpool match was being replayed.

"Roarrr!" A middle-aged woman actually roared, an ugly sound coming from her throat, and then choked and gasped, while still pressing her forehead in pain. Then she bared her teeth and opened her blood-shot eyes for a second, before jerking her head back in pain again and screaming aloud. The noise sent shivers down Meryl's spine.

"GGrrrr..! Woof, woof, woof!!" The guard dogs were beginning to go crazy as well, barking out their lungs, leaping into the air and biting at invisible enemies. A few lights flickered and burst, dimming the basement. Vash, where are you??! though Meryl.

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