Page 1 of Quake

Prologue: Gianni

Friday, September 13, 2024

“Come on, Alex, it’s too late for this shit. We can just call him an Uber or something. The guy doesn’t evenlikeyou. Why would he ask you in the first place?” I ask my best friend, confusion and frustration lacing my words and a grimace firm on my face.

He looks at me with his light brows pulled taut and that small pout he knows I can’t say no to. “Gi, does it matterwhyhe texted me? Maybe the guy has no one else, and if he hates me as much as he tries to make you believe…” His choice of words strikes me as odd. Makemebelieve? Notus? But before I can ask, he’s already moving on. “Isn’t that even more reason to help him out? Because it means he must be really,trulyalone in this world.” He pleads with me to change my mind, though I know he’s going anyway. And if he’s going, so am I. That’s howit’s always been.

I groan, grab the keys off the kitchen counter, and head to the door. “Fine, but we get him, dump him at his place, andleave.Nothing more, got it?” I ask.

Alex jumps up and down, clapping his hands together before heading to toss on a pair of sneakers. “You’re the best, Gi!” he shouts.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s make this quick.”

***

“Please remind me why we’re picking up a grown-ass man from a fucking party?” I groan, making a right onto the road Alex just told me to turn onto.

I can feel, rather than see, him roll his eyes at me playfully. “Because,Gi, he asked for our help, so we’re doing this.”

One of these days, Alex is going tohelpthe wrong fucking person, and it’s gonna get him in trouble.

“Okay, now make a left onto Swanberry,” he instructs, pointing across the road. I stop at the red light, waiting as Alex messes with the Bluetooth, swapping the song from “Teenage Dirtbag”1 to “Dance, Dance.”2

The light turns green, so I pull out, making the left onto the one-way street within the smallcommunity.

Seconds later, a massive white truck comes flying around the corner of the road ahead, turning left instead of right and heading straight at us. Their headlights nearly blind me as I try to swerve off to the side of the road.

My heart is pounding, my mind going fuzzy as my tires skid through the wet grass and into a tree. It makes direct contact with Alex’s side of the car, and when we’re finally stopped, my gaze swings straight to him.

He braces his hands against the dashboard, his head hanging between his shoulders. “Alex,” I breathe out, my throat constricting with worry.

He slowly lifts his gaze to mine, and those bright eyes of his are now glossy and dull. “Call nine-one-one,” he chokes out, each word leaving him looking more and more pained.

My vision blurs with hot tears as I scramble in my seat, reaching for my phone, but before I can pull it out of my pocket, red and blue lights are pulling beside us. My stomach drops to my toes, bile climbing my throat.

This can’t be happening.

Alex reaches his hand out to grip my thigh, and it’s at this moment that I knowI’m about to lose him.

1. Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus

2. Dance, Dance – Fall Out Boy

Chapter one

Gianni

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Iwake up to a dark room, the blackout curtains preventing me from telling what time it is. My head is pounding already, which doesn’t bode well for the day. Soccer practice starts up again in a couple of weeks, and I have no idea how I’m going to manage this time around. Every day, it gets harder and harder to care about my career, or anything else, for that matter.

Alex’s death is the single worst thing to have ever happened to me. And yet, I feel mostlynumb.1

I toss my legs over the side of the bed, righting myself and grabbing for my phone. I check thetime.

2:37 p.m.

Shit. I didn’t fall asleep until after three this morning, but I didn’t think I’d sleep in this late. I have two hours to get my shit together and head to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner.

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