Bridge to Nowhere

Extra Company

Los Angeles Wednesday-Friday

Friday Morning

The west coast of North America, from Juneau, Alaska to Santiago, Chile suffered through a devastating night of fire from the sky. Streams of red, yellow, and green smoldered in the sky as asteroids ravaged the city of Los Angeles throughout the night.

Many meteors flew far out over the Pacific Ocean. Others exploded brilliantly in the sky followed by air bursts and rocky debris destroying houses, buildings, cars, and roads. Large space rocks crashed through the atmosphere, slamming into Earth wreaking havoc on the cherished objects and things built by man. The meteor blasts devastated the neatly arranged homes and streets of modern suburbia scattered across the continent. Homes, buildings, shops, and malls burnt to the ground, leaving only ash and bone. Burned-out washer/dryer units and water heaters are the skeletons of a once vibrant society. Untold thousands died that fiery night.

Everything is not destroyed. Everything is not dead. The storm may have destroyed a building or house may while the next building stands untouched. Entire areas remain miraculously the same as the day before, but it isn't the same.

Sirens howl. Smoke from a thousand fires fill the air. Power and data networks are out in many areas rendering bands and VUE lens useless. AutoCars, noms, and actualizers sit idle unable to receive instruction. Survivors emerge at dawn. Some take advantage of the chaos to loot stores. Some wander aimlessly while others sit alone in their homes crying.

For most people, the reality of their world is entirely digital. Life is a stream of data enabling social connections, work, meal preparation, transport, and entertainment. Life as they know it is out of service destroyed by fiery rocks crashing from the sky. Life has ended before death arrives.

The one form of communication still working this morning when others have failed is AM radio. The government requires Smart-Band and VUE lens designs to include AM radio for emergency messaging. Most people don't know their device has a radio but this morning, for many the single shining ray of hope comes from a tinny voice transmitted over an amplitude-modulated radio wave.

The governor's voice announces that people can find shelter in an underground city called Edendale, built beneath the tall skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles. She tells people there is food, shelter, and room for all. Everyone from Los Angeles and Orange counties are to make their way to this city prepared for them. The message provides directions to several entrances of the underground city. The governor directs people in Northern California to another city, named Ambrosia located under Sacramento.

Everyone receives the message, and it's rebroadcast every five minutes. Roads jam quickly. Vehicles of every type converge from all directions on downtown Los Angeles.

As people arrive downtown, they leave their autos and move to the underground city entrances. The line of empty cars and trucks becomes so long that all movement on the freeways stops. Freeways become clogged for miles and miles with abandoned vehicles. There is no choice but to abandon transport and walk. A parade of people of every type, color, shape, and size slowly wander their way toward the hope of shelter and safety. 

--------------------------------

Wednesday Night–Los Angeles

When Eddie Martinez arrives at his house the night of the Pasadena meteor event and announced to his wife Selena that they will leave their perfectly good undamaged home to go live in an old mine. A weird project she didn't fully comprehend funded by some old lunatic. She flatly refused.

"Rodrigo is heading up there with Isabella, Inez, Edgar, and the kids. We need to go. It's happening just like old Rob said," Eddie pleads.

Selina looks down at her newly manicured nails turning her hand this way and that studying the deep red hue applied by the manicure nom. She slowly looks to Eddie with a flick of her head that tosses her hair over a shoulder. "We're meeting Gloria and Louis for dinner and drinks. We haven't seen them in ages. Louis booked a table at Le Domaine. I've been dying to go there. God knows you won't take me, so we're going. Get cleaned up and dressed."