Coincidental Phenomenon

Chapter One: The Collision Part Two

Clarke Mitchell sat in a chair at the Cellular Center while he waited for his information to be swapped to his new cell phone. He watched the shoppers as they went about the mall. He tried to adjust himself but the tight chair was just too small. At 6'5 he was not your average male. He had a broad muscular chest as well as thick muscled legs. At 22, he had his body in peak condition. He had just graduated from the University of Tennessee a couple of months before with a Business Management degree. At the university he had played football for all of his four years.

He continued people watching when he noticed two girls checking him out. He gave them a flashing smile and waved them over. Their shock displayed over their faces as the blonde walked over first.

"Hello, we were just wondering how tall you were," She grinned.

"Well sweetheart, I'm however tall you want me to be."

They talked and flirted for a minute more and the blonde's friend mentioned something about a boyfriend and gotta go. Clarke smile to himself and shook his head. Too bad, he thought. He rubbed his hand through his freshly cut brown hair and continued to watch shoppers buzz around the busy mall. "Mr. Mitchell sir, your phone is ready." The phone technician announced.

"Thanks so much." Clarke turned away from the booth with his little bag of accessories to accompany his new smart phone. As he turned a small pair of hands hit his chest.

"I'm so sorry,"The dark blonde babbled," I really should have been watching where I was going!"

She began to pick up her shopping bags that she must have dropped when bumping into him. A brunette was helping but only succeeded in losing her armful of stuff as well. Clarke bent down and grabbed bags that had to weigh a ton.

"Can I help you ladies carry some of this out?" Clarke asked looking into a pair of beautiful blue eyes.

"I'd love that, but we're nowhere close to being done. My name is Charlotte. Thanks for the help, and sorry again for bumping into you."

"It's ok, it was an accident. My name is Clarke,and you are?" He questioned looking at the brunette.

"Brooklyn," The tiny girl supplied.

As she said her name the glass roof of the mall came crashing in as rocks of all sizes were falling in every direction. The mall went black except for flames erupting here and there.

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 Zachary Smith looked out of the security office door to see utter chaos. The power had gone out so suddenly. People were trying to escape the mall as pieces of concrete and steel were falling in along with the balls of fire. People were running over on another, trampling some to death. Screams were echoing all around. "Shit!"

Zach knew that the basement of the mall had an emergency exit that would lead him to outside safety. Grabbing his backpack with his street clothes in it he quickly filled it with granola bars and water. He knew if the mall was bad the world outside was probably worse. As the seconds ticked by, he started to hear fewer and fewer screams and cries for help. Just as he was turning to head towards the emergency exit the office door slammed open and a huge man rushed in dragging something behind him,

"Follow me, I know a way out of here." Zach said quickly, knowing that there would be time to get to know each other much later. Right now all that mattered was getting out of this hell hole and quickly! He finally noticed that the man was dragging two small females along. He recognized them both as girls from his high school the previous year. He had already graduated a few months ago. But he knew that there would be that time to catch up later. Turning his attention back to the task at hand, He motioned for them to follow.

He lead them down a dark hall by using his flashlight. The stink of stale air reached them as he opened the door to the basement. He searched along the top of the wall as he walked around the perimeter of the basement. His pulse quickening as every second went by that he didn't see the small door. The basement air was cold and made his hand feel clammy as his warm sweat cooled. Zach almost dropped the flashlight when he found the door. The latch was hard to maneuver as it had rusted and probably had never been used.

Zach looked to the big guy and didn't even have to open his mouth to ask. The guy hurried up and forced the latch to cooperate. The door was flung open as the big guy climbed up first and told him to help the girls. The girls still had shopping bags attached to their arms. If not for the situation it would have been almost comical to him.

Zach lifted the brunette first since she was the smallest. Then he helped the blonde through the emergency door. At 6'0 Zach was not a little man. Although he had a skinny frame, pale and buzzed black hair. It made him look more stern for his mall security position, he thought. He climbed out of the exit himself and froze.