(September) Prompt #2 - Ten Years Later

[Chat Noir]

The second prompt of September is the phrase, Ten Years Later.
Also note, due to the delay of updating, you will have until the 8th of October to earn a badge instead of the 1st.

[Chat Noir]

If you have any questions about how to participate in this event, please visit the rules (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=63004) thread or PM me (http://role-player.net/forum/member.php?u=27079).

Happy writing!

[Setsa]

All the signs and warnings were there….scientists had been watching for years. Always striving to use the newest technology or method and apply it in the field. Into Yellowstone’s Mega Volcano and other volcanoes like it around the world. But there was only so much that technology could give back. No matter what, it was up to us to take information, add in human instinct, then make a hypothesis based off all this. To estimate when the next big volcano eruption would occur and what or who would be affected.

Apparently the leaders of the world listened to the wrong collection of scientists and researchers. They were the best in their fields from around the world, and thought they had the right handful of hypotheses and scenarios of aftermaths figured out.


Lesson one for the New World:

No matter how outrageous it sounds, listen to the others that know their stuff. Even if you don’t want to ever believe it possible. If the idea is sound, give them the time of day.


There were before the incident, only a group of 6 people that held the right theory that was devised during their time in college together. Having spent after graduation, every moment making their own names in their respected fields. While preparing for what was to come 6 years before the catastrophe. They were the smart ones……

In the summer of 2013. Yellowstone had been experiencing many earthquakes for three week’s time. This wasn’t considered abnormal and many earthquakes occurred there each week. What did grab the country’s attention was that many people that came to the National Park were being turned back around. First the government claimed it to be lack of funding with some odd bill not being passed in DC. Of course this was a weak ploy to buy them time. The fact of the matter was that the geysers were slowing down considerably. Old faithful now blasted up every four hours and no taller than fifty to seventy feet at times. It was those small towns that rested outside of the National Park who first leaked out to the news that something wasn’t right.

Why?....... Because the animals were leaving the park and not even the government could hide that over the people’s eyes with a security blanket.

But then it only got worse, as earthquakes were being detected by the University of Utah’s various seismographs as well as by the University of Nevada, Reno’s own. Both had many all over their respective states that were watched at all times. It was when both universities contacted the government after their own conference that hinted there was something else going on which linked up to Yellowstone’s abnormal activities. As to what we can only speculate as the rest quickly became classified. Yep, classified as in the government doesn’t want the rest of the country; let alone the world’s population know what’s really going on.

On July 21st, 2013... now known as the day of many beginnings. Only a third of the towns within 100 miles of Yellowstone’s center were evacuated as a precaution. The small group that had things right had stopped pleading with Washington to get more people out of the danger zone as of last week. To try and get everyone freaking possible out of the country just wasn’t going to be heard. No matter how they tried from their unknown place near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From there the group of six watched their television, and were glued to their phones at the hip just in case anyone thought to call.

Yellowstone was had no one in the park, the nearest scientists and researchers were all in Casper, Wyoming watching all their equipment and computers as if leaving for more than a restroom run would kill their own lives.


On that day, it happened...


The giant cauldera had enough waiting around, and erupted with fury of pent up frustrations. The Super Volcano by then named "Mount Sirene" for the way it attracted so many visitors from all over while it had laid in wait. Blasted tons of debri and ash high into the air that could be seen well past the 100 mile radius that had been deemed the initial danger zone.
She sang out high and loud that day. The shock wave from the eruption made sure all would be standing up from their seats at attention for her performance. With a pyroclastic flow that reached out to serve as her arms and destroy all in her reach. It wasn't that, nor the ash being fed into the atmosphere, or the lave in the center still arching up and out. That was the worst...you'd think so. Many did...but the true puzzle of what happened was only just forming.
As within a half hour after the Super Volcano Mount Sirene erupted and the News stations around the country and world were just beginning to get the word out. Did something only they had warned about begin. For the magma deep below was huge and was under many states.

Dormant volcanoes in Northeast Utah and Nevada suddenly erupted as well much like a chain reaction. What did the government think would happen after the universities reached them about earlier earthquakes? Just that Sirene was going to be one big, nasty bitch....not this...
By that afternoon the puzzle of her was starting to come together more during the chaos within the United States. Many were fleeing to Mexico as the News was advising and if they couldn't make it... Try the coasts where there would yet be a way out..just get away from here was the message. The President coincedently was in London that day, the lucky bastard. Having made a brief statement for people to help eachother. Go down to their nearest shelter if they can't make it anywhere else. That they'd receive help soon. An hour after this televised statement. Volcanoes that made up the Ring of Fire along the United States' West Coast were beginning to erupt selectively.

For as the small team of six had theorized...if Sirene was to blow..she could set off a horrific chain reaction. Her huge magma chamber below was just so large as never seen before, and with other volcanoes nearby that shared this magma chamber or would feed from it. It was the domino effect... A few would erupt...and then movement underground from it would set off others..and so forth would they sing out as Sirene's chorus.




......Ten Years Later......



July 21, 2023..

Today is the ten year anniversary of the monumental day now known as the 'Day of Many Beginnings' named by the surviving World Leaders who managed to survive the event. Millions we know had died on that day if not a few billion from the darkened skies, the ash, the destruction of lands...

To this day no one really knows the body count, nor the real reason why proper warnings or precautions weren't met by the United States Government and by other countries. Us that theorized this would happen have survived here in our location for the last ten years. Now we lead the main drive to restore the world and it's inhabitants. It's still funny after the third year where the skies began to clear and the sun shined more through enough. How quickly the new United Leadership of Earth or U.L.E were able to contact us here in Brazil. Everyone that survived all over the world have for the most part been surviving in a Medieval way of life. The only difference is that we hold the knowledge of medicine, vaccines, and technology that has yet to come back to even the television.

Only this past year has certain companies been able to start up again and generate their own power supply. Towns are finally beginning to light up the night sky from space....even if one region like Eastern Australia is only a light specks versus defining the rim of their continent years before like many did as well. So we've heard at least...by means of radio and letters...
Slowly we are bouncing back as a human race..but the six of us here refuse to let it ever get this bad again. Least while we are still alive that is, within a few months there is an expedition being arranged to go to Mount Sirene and gather more information as we want to reestablish new seismographs all about her and many other volcanoes that erupted during that month after her. Technology is now a reincarnated child...with the memories of the past..and means of now. She is promising...but has a long way to go as do we all.

Today the town that we will not say we are at...though it's heaven for us. Is having a celebration; as we view this day each year as the day the world was reborn. Luke and Halie had their second child during this last year. He's as smart as them alright...and adventurous as ever even still as a baby. Our other children are growing strong as well, this new generation are being taught how to respect the earth, how to live on it well and not be as foolish as others were. Hopefully they and the others after them will to better.

But for now we are needed in the town square to help finish the preparations. The piles of papers and letters on our desk can wait a day..even the radios have been turned off. Today is a day to smile and count our blessings...
We will write again come next year...


Sincerely,
Drs. Luke, Haile, Jordan, Richard, Maie and Susanne

[Kicks]

He was once an innocent child. He had grown up with loving parents and a little puppy. His house had been big and decent. He had a yard he used to play in, make mud pies, roll around in the Winter snow, play in the rain, and chase bugs with his puppy. His life was sweet and as blissful as one's childhood could be. Those sweet summer nights he used to sit out on the porch with his mother and drink iced tea. She would tell him stories of old about how his parents met, how they fell in love, and how they had decided they wanted a little child to bring into this world and care for. She had told him that they wanted to raise him to be someone great.
A doctor, a nurse, a social worker. They wanted him to help the world. They wanted to raise him to be caring and kind. They wanted to raise him to extend a helping hand to everyone. They taught him to give the homeless money or food. They taught him to help out an injured animal. They taught him right from wrong and how to be the best he could be.
They told him never to intentionally hurt another person or thing. They told him to stand up for what was right.
And he cherished what they taught him. He wanted to make them proud. He wanted to show them that they had raised him right.
But never would he get the chance to show them that.
It was the day of his dad's birthday that it happened. He ran into the living room with his dad's poorly wrapped gift. He had tried to pick the best thing out that a five year old could get for their parent with what little money his mother had given him. It was a chocolate bar wrapped up in a grocery bag and taped poorly with clumsy hands.
His dad had smiled at the gift. When he wrestled with the wrapping and managed to open it, he found the chocolate bar his son had picked out.
He grinned proudly at his dad when the man turned to smile at him and thank him for the gift. Happily he was given a hug.
That night when they were enjoying the cake, the family turned their ears to shrieking outside in the neighborhood's street. His dad rose from the table and told them to stay where they were. So the boy stayed waiting impatiently for his dad to return. He could continue to hear struggling outside their front door. There was shouting added to it and then...
The noise hurt the boy's ears. Frightened and startled by the loud sound, he rose his hands up to his ears and pressed against them. The ringing was still in his ears when his mother was suddenly out of her chair and running to the door.
The boy didn't want to be left alone now! It was dark outside and after the sound, he wanted to be with one of his parents. Hurriedly he chased after where his mother had went. She had disappeared into her bedroom, and as he neared her door she had retrieved something funny looking. It was like a black stick with some kind of handle to it. He recognized the look of it from when his school officer had come in to teach the kids in his class what his job was and what he carried around to protect them.
He stumbled back when his mother rushed back. She was shouting something to him. Call a number. A three digit number. He knew that number from the school. They had an assembly about it. Firefighters and police officers came in to teach the kids at his school what the number meant and when to call it.
Suddenly he wasn't feeling very well. If she wanted him to call that number, then that meant something was wrong! He felt panic ensue.
With trembling fingers he grabbed their home phone. The three numbers to press came sloppily. He had to hang up and try three times before he successfully called the number. He didn't know what to say. He stammered over his words.
"There was a bang... a-and... a-and m-my mom sh-she..." He jumped when he heard another bang.
He dropped the phone onto the floor and ran to the door. Standing there in the doorway he saw the sight outside. There was a girl crying in the middle of the street. She was ruffled up as if she had been playing too hard outside or rolling around in the grass.
His dad was standing weirdly. He looked like how he did when he had hurt his knee or elbow. He held his arm just like that and was bending over someone. And his mother, with shaking hands had her funny stick held out in front of her. It was pointed towards a body on the ground.
The longer he stared, the more he became aware of sirens. From there it was all a blur to him.
The next thing he remembered was coming home from kindergarten the next day. He was dropped off by the bus. But he couldn't run straight to his front door. His home was taped off with yellow tape and there were so many people in his yard or in his home.
There was someone in a uniform who came to him, taking him by his arm and leading him over to a car.
The words came clearly to his ears. His parents... they...


Ten years later.


The coffee had grown cold in its cup holder. His eyes were alert on the building across from him. His car was turned off, but it was still warm from when it had been running so the cold of the winter didn't seep in to bite him.
He was waiting for the cue. The cue to at last drag in the criminals of multiple murders.
He knew these criminals personally. They were a sort of gang. They had been around since he was a little boy. One of their members had been drunk a fateful night. And his mom had shot him dead. And they found out one of their members went down. They had to do something about it. So they killed his parents while he was at school. Because of them he had become what he was. He was an officer now, working to protect people.
In a way he should thank them for making him what he was. His parents may have taught him his values. But these people made him realize what he needed to do with his life.
The voice came over the radio. The simple cue. It was time to get the show on with. It was finally time to take avenge. I longed to relish in the moment and taste the sweetness of vengeance when I cuffed one of them. To see them in squad cars. To be taken away.

[m139]

Part 2 and 3 of the September Story
Previous Instalment (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=65397&p=2593582&viewfull=1#post2593582)
Next Installment (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=65399&p=2593604&viewfull=1#post2593604)
"Come on, Miranda!" A man, somewhere around twenty five, but looking mid thirty, shouts as he hikes up the side of a mountain. He looks somewhat tired as he walks with a large pack on his back to a level place. He pauses, waiting for his companions.

"I'm coming." a woman, about the same age, responds. She, too, looks around the same age as the man. On her back, she, too, has a pack. In one hand, she holds a walking stick, and in the other, the hand of a seven year old girl. She reaches the clearing. "We need to rest." she says to the man, "Lyra is getting tired."

They both turn and look at the little girl. She has let go of the woman's hand and sits on a rock. Her forehead is covered in sweat and dirt, and her pale cheeks are greatly accented by the flush of red. She is very tired. They have been moving rather quickly these last few days, and it is definitely taking its toll.

"Can't we rest for a day?" The woman asks. She already knows the answer, yet, for some reason, asking seems comforting.

He shakes his head, then looks at the girl again. "It's a shame. I wish we could. But we need to get over this mountain before others start coming. People are getting desperate. We don't want to be there, like we were that time in Tyra. If only..." He trails off.

Still, she knows what he is thinking. They both know. But neither wants to speak of it. The memory of these last ten years has been to harsh, and the echoes of that moment ten years ago somehow was still as painful as the event itself.

"Maybe it's better this way." the woman says suddenly, "At least she wasn't born into a lie." Her voice is bitter, and she stares at the ground.

He looks at her, with pity. It was worse for her. At least no one directly betrayed him. No, he was only one of the regular people, one who was betrayed by people he did not even know. But her...

He takes a step towards her, and places his arm around her shoulder comfortingly. Then, he whispers into her ear, and with a soft voice, whispers, "At least we all know the truth now."

She jumps back, at first surprised, then angered. His efforts, although well intentioned, have done nothing to calm her. Instead, they produce the opposite effect. "The truth?" she shouts, "What good is the truth! All it leads to is... is..." she looks around, trying to find something to point to, "This!" she yells at last, pointing to some ruins further up the cliff. Then, she stops shouting. She looks at the ruins, somewhat confused.

Had they always been there? This was the first time she had seen them on the way up the mountain. In fact... If she moved even slightly, the glint of the lone white shell of a building became completely hidden in the trees. "Paul," she says, her voice a little shaky, "come see this."

He comes. When she had begun to shout, he had been annoyed with himself. Why had he said that? He was not good with words. But now he thought of that no longer. He was confused. She was no longer yelling, and she had yelled for less than a minute. This was probably the shortest rant about this subject that she had ever had. Usually, once she got worked up, it tool forev- At this moment, he looked up and saw it. The bit of broken building.

"It's not on the maps, is it?" she says, hearing his gasp, still looking at the far off building, "none of the maps. And yet, it looks like one of those..." she struggles to keep her voice steady as she finishes the sentence, "one of those... places... where... we used to live." She is practically crying. Her mind is filling up with memories of long ago.

He holds her, and the two of them sink to the ground. He pushes back the memories as they come, trying instead to think of the more practical matters. Still, it is hard. Why is the building there? Why hadn't they seen it on the map before? Once, when- No. He must stay concentrated. Is it safe? Is there time to get there? Can they risk it? And with the child?

Ah, little Lyra. Poor girl. They had found her five years ago. She was a little thing then. She still was. Probably always would be. He remembered. They had found her, with her mother, or at least what was left of her mother. It was winter, then. They were walking along one of the old roads, trying to find some shelter- any shelter- and then they saw her. She was wrapped in the arms of a frozen woman, her still body protecting the half frozen child.

They had taken her. She was cold herself, almost dead. Miranda had wrapped her in her scarf, and they had continued down the road. They had been lucky. Half-frozen themselves, they found a shelter some twenty feet away. The other woman had been so close...

But now... The questions. He must answer them. They did not really need to go there. It was not part of the plan, and time was short, anyways. Besides, it was not as if it could provide protection- in fact, it might actually be worse, if there were hostiles there- Those were all arguments against. It was not practical. Still...

What was it doing there? And why did it seem almost hidden? His curiosity was getting stronger. It was a mystery he was beginning to long to solve.

Miranda had composed herself. "Shall we?" she managed to say quietly. Without any signs of agreeing or denying, he helps her stand up again. His eyes are still focused on the rubble.

"Yes." he says finally, "Let us go. Lyra, come." The girl, having been starring at the path behind them, turns and goes to the two of them. Silently, she grabs Miranda's hand, and the three of them begin climbing further up the mountain.


The next day, late afternoon, they approach the first white building. It is obvious that this place was meant to be hidden: they had not seen the ruins since the time they stopped on that level place the day before. In fact, they likely would have passed it had it not been for the glint of the sun on a piece of glass.

All three of them looked at the first building in silence. It must have, at one point, been a watchtower. Now, however, it is only an empty shell: half collapsed, with vines growing up the sides, surrounded by bits of shattered glass. For some time the three of them stare at this silent memorial to a time long gone by, a pillar once of strength, now too dangerous to even enter.

From there, they follow what once have must been a path. From time to time, they pass a bit of broken white pavement. Mostly, however, they are just following the narrow path filled with bushes and other growth. They are surrounded by trees, yet no trees are on this path. It appears they have not had the time to grow in it.

Some time later, they reach a wall. It is dark colored, so as to blend in to the surrounding area. Directly in front of them, there is a small entrance way. A solid door fills it, and a small keycard swipe machine is to the door's right.

Paul and Miranda stop. He turns to her, "Well, I guess this is it."

She nods, and leans onto her stick. "Yes, I guess it is. I wonder what's behind the door."

They both pause, and get lost in their own thoughts.

"Auntie, Uncle? What's this?" They are startled from their thoughts by Lyra's voice. She has gone to the door and pushed it open. Whatever mechanism that had kept it closed must have broken. The two of them walk over to the door. In front of them lies a broken town. The buildings seem to have been destroyed by a mix of fire, vines, and human terror. But in the middle, there is one building that is less ruined than the others. It does not appear to be burned, and all that is missing from its side is some window on the third floor.

Fearing, yet all drawn by something, the three approach. Miranda clasps and squeezes Lyra's little hand.

They make their way into the building. It seems to be structurally strong: the three of them don't hear a single creak as they walk down the hallways, once white, but now yellowed with age.

Soon, they find themselves on the third floor. They peer into the various rooms, the doors having been removed. Most have sparse furniture in them: a desk, a lamp, a few chairs. They pass one that once was a kitchen. They pass another that was a reception area at some time. And then...

Then they come to a room with a closed door. The grim, dark wood stares at them, as if daring them to open it. Lyra reaches forward with one hand (the other is still held tightly by Miranda), and twists the doorknob and pushes. The door swings open, and Paul and Miranda gasp.

It is the same room from which, ten years ago, that announcement came, that announcement which had changed their lives forever.