TOTAL DARKNESS

CHAPTER: 2

We ran outside the house after we saw the wall shake. We are scared that we might be buried alive. The horn started again while the ground was continuously shaking. We saw houses and three-story grocery stores that collapsed and street cracking, dividing one street into two, causing the trees to break and the animals to die.

We saw people running from everywhere to save themselves from significant shaking, but some fell into holes. We heard screaming from people who were terrified by the earthquake, which worried us. I remember my bag, and even though I know it was suicide to return to the house, I still do it to get it.

"Sheria!" King shouted, calling me not to return to the house, but still, I did because I needed my bag. It does not matter if it is a life between deaths. That is how important my bag is.

I immediately picked up my bag on the couch and ran outside because the house had collapsed.

"Robo"

I grabbed Robo and carried him when he was about to run to the house to check on me because he was worried about what was happening. The horn was too loud, making him crazy and shaking the ground. I hugged him when he continued to bark. I am trying to tame him, but shaking and horns make Robo mad and wild.

"King!" I screamed while looking for my buddy, whom I thought was waiting for me.

"Here, " he answered, and I ran to the hole where his voice was coming from and saw him hanging from a piece of iron that saved him from falling.

"Grabbed my hand," I told him because I would try to lift him.

"I can't. I feel like my left arm was broken."

"Try. You wimpy boy."

He tried to lift his left arm to reach my hand but could not. Instead, I heard him screaming in pain because his left arm was broken. Robo keeps barking because he is worried about King. His steel legs grow longer, and like a claw, they hold King and lift him, which saves him from falling. King is safe now from falling and thanks to Robo, but the horning is not yet over, as well as the shaking after saving King. I accidentally dropped my bag into the hole.

"No," I whispered while trying to see my bag, but it was too dark. This implies that the hole was deep.

"Come on, come on. Forget about your bag."

King pulled me away from the cracking ground. The shaking did not stop, even though it had already damaged many houses and establishments. I saw bricks falling from the collapsing house that hit running people on their heads, immediately putting them to death. This could not be because 20 minutes had passed, and too many people had lost their lives, but the shaking still did not want to stop. I know this is not an ordinary earthquake because it is much more on the end of the world for me.

"Aaahhh!" I heard a man screaming while running with his broken foot. I saw his foot bleed, and the bone came from his skin.

I wanted to help him, but it was too late because the large rock ran over him and crushed his body into the ground. King and I tried to find a safe place, but people panicked because they were scared about shaking. Some people tried to drive away, while most ran and looked for a safe place to cover. We do not know where we are going because there is no safe place to go, regardless of how we run. There is falling debris everywhere and crashing vehicles.

"Watch out!" King said and pulled me away from the uncontrollable car that hit the electric post, and the post fell, crushing the car and causing the driver's sudden death.

"Everyone! To the field!" The man screamed and wanted everyone to follow him in the field. This is an excellent idea because the field is open ground without falling debris, but the uncontrollable bus runs over to the man that kills him instantly.

I closed my eyes because I already saw too many accidents due to the earthquake, and I felt pity for the man because he wanted to save others' lives, which led him to his death.

The shaking and horning suddenly stopped, but we were not triumphant because we were waiting for an aftershock. After a long quake, there will be a terrible aftershock, and we waited for it to happen, but it did not happen. There was no aftershock, even though the earthquake lasted an hour, because we could no longer take another earthquake.

I looked around and saw many casualties, which made me wonder how I survived the earthquake. The dead were everywhere, the ground cracked, and the houses and buildings collapsed. The people died terribly, which I could not imagine.

"Are you alright?" I asked King, who was moaning because of his injured arm.

"I am fine, but I can't move my arm," He answered, and Robo licked him to show his concern to his fur parent.

"Thanks, buddy," King said after Robo licked his face.

After a minute, the paramedic arrived to help the injured people, including King. The woman exited the ambulance, kneeled before King, and checked King's arm. She took a mini laser point from her bag and pointed the laser at King's broken arm. It is like the light I saw in my dreams, but the difference is that the laser light she held is real because it is one of our government's high-tech inventions. This helped heal the broken bones in just seconds.

"Move your arm." The woman instructed King. He moved his arm to check whether he had completely healed.

"You are okay now," The woman said, putting her laser back in the bag.

"That's it?" I asked because it was too quick. The woman looked at me and answered."Yes"

"What happened? Why is there an earthquake?" I asked her if she had any news about the earthquake.

"I don't know."

"Is this part of M.C.C?"

"Hell no, but the earthquake is all over the world," She said, and she hurriedly rode back to the ambulance and left us to help other casualties.

I sat beside King while I wondered about the shake and what we could do now. We do not have a home to live in because of the shaking collapses, but I am grateful because we are safe. I checked the USB inside my pocket and was glad it was still inside.

"What the hell happened?" He asked while looking around because a huge earthquake devastated the city.

We heard cries and screams from people in pain asking for help while others were bleeding and no longer moving. The one hour of shaking caused widespread damage, and it was all over the globe. I can't believe it.

"What now?"

"We have nothing to do about it. Come on, let's check the house."

We walked back to check if a portion of our house was left, and we were glad that half of our house did not collapse. We pick up things we can use to save it from further damage. I looked at the hole where my bag fell, hoping to retrieve it, but I could not see it.

"Forget about your bag. I am sure your laptop inside is already broken." King said, and he was right; even if I retrieved my bag, my laptop inside was already crushed, and it would be useless.

The city where we are ruined and damaged. The number of dead was hundreds or more. What the paramedics told me echoed in my ear that the earthquake was worldwide. I do not know if this is part of the 'the big one, ' they are saying, but I know the earthquake is too much. I looked around to see things I could still use if there were another horn again that would bring terror to us. I would be prepared to survive.

"Good thing that my coffee cup is still here," King said, picking it on the ground and wiping it with his shirt.

At least he saved some of what he owned because the only hope I could get rich was down in the hole, and I could not bring it back—at the same time, looking for things we can survive. We heard another horn. We had not moved on from the first horn but heard another again, louder than the first one. We cover our ears because blowing the horn hurts our ears and, simultaneously, our brains. It would explode if the horning did not stop. I saw Robo panicking and restless again because of the horns.

"What the fuck is that?" was the only thing I asked while covering my ears.