Torrent

III - Tidal wave

Daily checkup on the town, nothing special.
Despite the grim atmosphere wafting throughout the town lying like an anvil on the soul, everyone seemed to do their own thing and be pretty content about it. Except for me, who passes her time by scanning the town for danger and imagining myself to be some sort of superhero shielding the common folk that I'm not.

I decided to stray from scanning the usual streets to check on the back alleys and empty places, so I jumped off to the backside of an once well known cafe. It was certainly darker there and the only thing that could be said about this place is that it contained some trash cans and a water pipe - which had quite the large pond of water pooling underneath it.
Something was off and I knew that.

"Greetings, young lady!"

A nice, middle aged man greeted me while sliding by on his kangaroo shoes, clutching his brown hat. I didn't want to be rude, so I nodded and smiled.

"May I ask what you're doing here-"

His speech was interrupted. The water pool under the pipe started vibrating and shaking uncontrollably. Bad sign.

"Do you see what I'm seeing?"
"We have to get away, now!"

"Torrent!!!"

The water pipe bursted, as a gigantic stream of water rushed through the alley, bouncing off of the wall and cresting into a wave.
Me and the guy slammed our kangaroo shoes completely synchronised into gear and we were ready to run for our lives once again - or much rather, jump.

I couldn't see him anymore because he jumped off into a completely different direction, but as long as he was safe, that didn't matter. Everything that mattered is the safety of the citizens, including mine.
Panicked but trying to keep cool, I shouted a torrent warning everywhere to make everyone flee to a safe space. The stream was so aggressive.
Aggressive, and ready to kill.

"Flee to the coastlines! Torrent is drawing close from the east!"

Mass panic ensued.
And I kept jumping.

Torrent flooded the streets. Rapidly. Mercilessly.
As I threw a swift look behind me to see how close Torrent was, I saw a couple getting hit and badly ravaged by the stream. Blood spilled everywhere.
You can't get these pictures out of your head.
I had to keep moving.
Further.

"Get upon high grounds! Torrent is picking up on speed!"

Drifting close to a local public elementary school, I saw all those teachers shooing their screaming and wailing little students in while contemplating if they would sacrifice their lives for them to shut the gate from outside.
While there was some resistance, all the students were shooed in.
Except one, who sat on the ledge and kept to herself.

"Hello?!" I shouted in a deafening voice, commanding her to go inside the building. Yet, she refused to listen.
She sat there, with an emotionless gaze.

Torrent drifted off into a lower alley, so that bought me some time to get her to talk.

"What are you doing out there? Get in the building!"
"Why?"
"So that you..."

Her response threw me off. I just couldn't respond to that.

"All my friends are gone. Mum is gone. There's no point."

Her nihilism shattered my heart into pieces. So young, and she already gave up on life.
I couldn't let her die like this, so I grabbed her and held her tight to me.

"What are you doing?!" she yelled, frightened.
"We need to go, now! Torrent is drawing close!"

And with that, I kept jumping for my life; My kangaroo shoes were set to maximum velocity and jump height.
If I were just one little inch closer to the stream, me and the girl would have died.

My heart was beating a mile a minute, when suddenly Torrent grew more aggressive and picked up speed.
I didn't know where to flee to, as there was only shore at the bottom of the street.
And then, like an angels' saving grace...

"Look there! A restaurant!"

Mounted at the top of a building, there was a pod-shaped restaurant with walls of glass.
I started to get ideas.

With one huge klick, my shoes lifted off and I jumped in the direction of the building.
A moment where I was dancing with death.

- Crash! -