Page 51 of Waves of Fury

Back to the whole surviving gig, which quite frankly is getting old.

The earth starts grumbling again and I grab Tyler’s hand on instinct. All around us, the trees sway back and forth, creaking and groaning. Branches snap and then a whole tree crashes to the ground. My teeth seem to rattle inside my mouth as we ride out yet another terrible tremor, which lasts longer than the ones last night.

Almost over.

Any second now.

Instead of calming, the shaking intensifies. A sharp cracking sound echoes from nearby and then makes its way toward us. The ground beneath Gerry splits open, revealing a twelve-inch gap. He hops over it, shooting me a terrified look.

Another loud crash of a tree falling over is followed by crunching and shattering glass. I whip around to see a massive oak has landed right smack dab in the middle of the camping office, obliterating the damn thing.

“Is it ever going to stop?” Tyler croaks out, hands squeezing mine.

The ground continues its complaining and then several seconds later, it dies down until there’s nothing to be felt aside from the chilly breeze whipping at us from the west.

Tyler frowns in the direction of the wind, expression pensive. “It’s a little cold for this time of year.”

He’s right.

Had it been this chilly when we’d been trapped at the top of the building, we’d have all died of hypothermia.

“Come on,” I say to Tyler. “We need to grab our gear, make a pit stop at the general store, and then get on the other side of that mountain.”

“You think it’s safe over there?” he asks, searching my eyes.

“I hope so. Anything’s safer than where we’re at right now. For all we know, California is about to fall off into the ocean like every moonie’s been predicting since Gerty first hit.”

Tyler cringes but gives me a nod of understanding. I let go of his hand so he can help me round up the others. Gerry, with his back to me, stares down at the huge crevice that’s formed on the asphalt.

“This is getting bad,” Gerry grunts, shaking his head.

“It’s only going to get worse.” I clutch onto the back of his neck and give him a comforting squeeze. “Which is why we need to get moving.”

Once the truck is loaded up with all our people and gear, we slowly drive away from Gunter, Mike, and Nicky. While we prepared for our trip, they cursed us and called us every name in the book. At one point, I thought I was going to have to physically restrain Jesse from killing all three of them for sport.

Thankfully, we managed to get the hell on the road without casualties. Wayne, who opted to drive, Elise, and Hope took the front bench seat while Dan, Judy, Hailey, and Silas took the back. The rest of us guys piled into the bed of the truck. The plan when we stop at the general store is to send us guys in to raid for more food and water but also to grab jackets for everyone. The sudden drop in temperature is alarming.

As soon as Wayne pulls up to the store, we all hop out. The building is in worse shape than yesterday, no doubt from all the tremors. The windows in the front are shattered and debris flies out of the store, skittering off with the wind.

I take the lead, stepping through the broken glass door and into the building. The floor is sticky from broken soda bottles and I’m not sure, but I think I get a whiff of gas.

“We need to get in and out,” I bark out. “Half of you grab the jackets. The rest of us will grab water and food.”

“I smell gas,” Gerry says. “You smell it too?”

“Like I said. In and out.” I gesture for him to move quickly. “Let’s go.”

The group of us make quick work scrambling around to grab what we need. If there’s a gas leak, all it’d take was another earthquake to ignite the gas and start a fire or cause an explosion. I want to be far from here if that happens.

I stuff my pockets with protein bars and little bags of nuts before grabbing a case of water near the broken drink coolers. Jesse rushes past me on my way out the door, arms full of various jackets. Looks like he just scooped up the entire rack.

I’m just loading the truck when the ground begins to shake again.

Fuck.

“Everyone out!” I bellow toward the building as Kyle comes out, arms loaded with canned goods. “Hurry!”

Kyle picks up speed with Gerry lumbering behind him. Aaron darts out next, more camping supplies in his grip. I wait for Tyler to emerge next.

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