The dark cloud ascended from the streets of Newark unnoticed by those in the much larger city of New York. Even the large towers covered any sight of it from the city. He switched on his television; the latest news on Britney Spears was the top story. He stared at the screen blankly waiting for the weather to slide its way into the news. The sky was already dark with clouds and he predicted rain, sitting on his couch in blue boxers and a t shirt the weather finally presented itself. He had already started putting gel into his hair to get ready for work. He was sitting alone in his studio apartment sitting in Queens with dull white walls and the one painting his sister had made for him before she moved to attend art school in London.
He stood and stretched and soon walked out of the room to get dressed. Some reporter was speaking about a fire in New Jersey as he walked away. Getting dressed he heard thunder outside and looked at the window, he grabbed his umbrella yet there was no rain yet. Minutes later he grabs his keys and walks out of the door. He looks up at the dark sky as he begins to make his way to the train station. The air was oddly smoky like there was a barbeque somewhere close. He walks through the streets as the wind picks up and begins to burn his eyes.
Sirens make their presence known as the horns scream from blocks away. He looks to his left and sees over a dozen fire trucks rushing through the rush hour traffic. He’d never seen them moving so fast; the wind from the trucks as they passed pushed him to the side. Soon the crossing light gave him permission to continue, he crossed the street and descended into the subway below.
He stood on the platform awaiting the arrival of his train, the station was crowded and he stood behind a woman who was waving to someone from another platform across from them, the younger companion waved goodbye as his train pulled in splitting the two, soon the train pulled out leaving the station oddly quiet. An announcement over the speakers interrupted the unusual silence; it soon informed everyone that the trains were being delayed because of an ongoing incident in the city. He heard and placed his headphones in his ears already knowing that he was going to be late for work.
A train pulled in, it wasn’t his people made their way past the other commuters who weren’t leaving quite yet. He became annoyed as a second train pulled into the station and again it wasn’t his. This train was also packed and people began to become hostile as they tried to push their way onto the train, a fight broke out further down the platform and the police had arrested someone as the doors forced themselves closed leaving people’s faces rubbing against the Plexiglas windows on the doors.
Soon his train slowly made its way into the station, he was luckily placed right in front of one of the doors, and he moved aside to let people off and soon pushed his way onto the train. He made it to the middle before he was faced with the preexisting crowd. He maneuvered his arm between people in order to hold onto one of the metal poles in the train, soon the doors closed and he was crushed in between dozens of people. The train jerked forward and made its way further away from the station.
He stood there uncomfortable, someone was breathing on his neck while a person sitting near him began coughing uncontrollably. The train took an abrupt stop in the tunnel underneath the East River. There were no announcements and the train sat in the same position for ten minutes. The conductor was suddenly begun arguing with the motorman over the radio. He stopped his iPod to hear what they were saying. He only understood that they didn’t want to go into the city.
Minutes later the train began to pull forward they slid into Lexington Ave. He was able to relax as more people began to get off the train the further they went into the city, he had noticed that the train was beginning to go faster and more people began crowding onto the train, unusual for a morning rush hour. Soon the train came to a stop at his station, he stepped off the train. The doors shut behind him; only four other people from the entire train had disembarked. The area around him was odd 23rd street was never empty like it was now. There were no people in the station and he began to walk to the one exit in the middle of the platform. Pushing his way through the gates he began to walk up the stairs the other three people had gone to the other side.
He began to cough as he had reached the street level; the air had become a thick unbearable smoke. He covered his mouth and ran the two blocks to his office building. There were people lying on the floor, he didn’t know if they were dead or not but he did hear people coughing as he ran. He made it to his building and panicked as he tried to wave his id over the lock on the door. He was running out of air and he didn’t want to breathe anymore of whatever he was in.
Soon the keypad turned green and he made his way into the building, he ran up the stairs breathing the air in. It was no longer smoke so he felt safe breathing it in. He swung the doors from the stairs to his floor to see three people in the office. They were sitting on the floor staring at the window. He ran over to them to see if they knew anything, they had been sitting on the floor since the smoke began to pour in.
He walked to one of the computers and looked for any news. He couldn’t find any updates because no news source had updated their information since hours earlier. He soon made his way to the BBC website where he saw the first headline. “New York Being Devastated by Massive Sulfur Storage Fire” he continued to read the news about how the city was being choked of air and thousands were already pronounced dead by being burned from sulfuric acid that they had breathed in.
He turned around to see that the three people had left; they were going to run back to the subway and catch a train home. He considered doing the same but knew that the smoke was getting worse and knew that he wouldn’t be able to handle any more because he was allergic to sulfur. Soon there was another explosion far away. The lights shut off this time and he sat on the floor and looked out of the window.
Every once in a while he would hear people outside screaming for air, he couldn’t see the street anymore because the smoke had grown so thick. Hours had passed and his cell phone began to ring, he had forgotten that he had it. He looked at it and saw that it was his sister from London calling. He answered and assured her that he was okay.
Tears began to roll down his face when he rested the phone onto the floor. He sat in silence as the sun began to take away its light. He looked out in the direction of the fire and saw an amazing glow of colors. The city had become horribly silent, he felt alone as he drifted off to sleep. A while later he was awoken by the sound of large jets flying above him. He then heard a loud scream from them there was another explosion as one of the planes accidentally crashed into the growing fire.
Days had passed and he was still trapped in his office, he began to lose his grasp on reality. The smoke had not let up his cell phone battery died three days ago and so contact with his sister had been aborted. He began to imagine that there were people in the office; he believed that they were taunting him. He hadn’t eaten in a week since the last bits of food in the office refrigerator had been eaten.
He slowly walked to the hallway window and opened it; he couldn’t see the street below but he knew that he was seven stories above. There was a rumbling sound coming from his left, it continued to develop in his brain. He believed he was going insane, there was nothing left to do and so he stood onto the ledge. There was no time to have second thoughts because he began to choke and stumbled out of the window slamming into the ground below.
There were screams from dozens of people who had just seen the man jump. A little child was waving goodbye to his mother before her train was pulling in to take her to work. He screamed as the man jump onto the tracks. The train pulled in and ran over the man as it slammed on the brakes. The scream of the metal wheels rubbing against the tracks pierced the station and everyone turned and saw what had just happened.
The man’s head rolled onto the other tracks and his body began to burn as his bloody neck slammed onto the electrified third rail. The man’s eyes were still open and when his head settled he was staring directly at the boy on the other platform.
The puddle of blood began to collect under the train.
10.2.08
27.1.08
matter in the streets
The screams woke him from his sleep. Keeping his eyes closed his mind registered where he was and the environment around him. The ground shook again, as it had been for the past few days and a glass from the kitchen had fallen and shattered. He opened his eyes to see the orange glow from the window. The fires were still going on yet the police sirens that where here yesterday had gone silent.
He turned the television on to see if anything was showing up. There was still the snow screen and the deafening sound. He turned it off and walked to the window, thirty floors above the city he looked down to see the sun rising above the smog from the fires. The riots were still raging on; once the computers crashed the city went right along with them. Maybe it was the world he couldn’t tell.
He walked to the kitchen to clean up the mess; all of the explosions were knocking down his dishes. The coup began three weeks earlier and had escalated into a national movement that bordered on civil war. The fighting slowly made its way across the nation and within days of starting in Washington, DC fighting began in New York. That’s all he knew, the internet had been shut down nationwide after a massive computer attack destroyed all military computers at the Pentagon.
There had been transmissions over the radio, but they were just random numbers that he didn’t understand. He walked past the table in the hallway that was days old, the headline reading “Fighting Ravages City, Evacuations Halted.” He turned the kitchen light switch on to see that a glass had fallen from the counter. He began to clean it up after he slid a pair of blue slippers on. Another explosion went off in the distance as he bent down to sweep the glass into the dustpan, a tear slammed to the ground as the silence resumed.
He walked back to his room to gather some clothes; he was going to take a shower and soon would be leaving his home for the first time in a week to look for his ex wife and their son. He hadn’t heard from either one since the cell phone signals were shut off three days prior. He walked to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror; he’d never been paler and realized it was the fear running through his blood. Sighing he stepped into the shower and turned the water on and let the steaming water fall over his face. Minutes later while he was finishing his was and violently scrubbing shampoo through his thick black hair the lights flickered for nearly thirty seconds. The water soon turned cold and suddenly shut off.
Walking out of the shower and grabbing a towel, he turned to the bathroom sink and turned on the faucet which also turned out to be empty, he then walked quickly back to the kitchen and the sink their also failed. He dried his hair and walked back to his bedroom, he stared at the red walls as he prepared his departure. Grabbing his bag he placed a day’s worth of food, a flashlight, his camera, a cell phone, clothes, and a knife.
He grabbed the keys to the apartment and looked out the window one last time in order to get a general idea of the outside world. There were dozens of fires coming from downtown Manhattan, luckily he was going uptown. He had overheard his neighbors saying that it was safer above midtown that was where the military was.
He turned around and faced the door, minutes later he walked out of the entrance of his building. The streets were filled with a light coating of smoke from the fires and a distinct smell from the teargas. Garbage was strewn about on both sides and almost every store was broken into, the Dunkin Donuts next to the building was on fire because the stove had been smashed.
He stood in the middle of the once popular street, now it lay lifeless and trashed with cars seemingly thrown about. No one was around yet there was yelling and shooting off in the distance, this grabbed his attention and he began to walk towards his ex-wife’s home twenty blocks north and on the other side of town. He began to walk and placed his camera around his neck; being a photojournalist he knew people were going to want to see the destruction of this vast metropolis. Snapping pictures he soon noticed two men staring at him with guns drawn.
He jumped and fell back over a garbage can that had been thrown in the street. The surrounded him and began asking questions. He soon realized they were the government and not the militia, he swiped his federal id and press badge over the portable scanner, the screen on it lit green and they let him go telling him to go north to Madison Square Garden where evacuees were being gathered and put on trains to leave the city. They warned him that the violence had increased and the militia was beginning to take hostages.
He walked away wondering how the conflict would end, he remembered a few years before when he was sent to photograph a terrorist attack on the Long Island Railroad where there were four suicide bombers in Jamaica, Queens and others throughout the city. Recalling that soon after the movement gained much popularity when the draft was called back into effect. He was one of the photographers during an interview with the leaders before the Declaration of War was set upon the federal government.
He could never imagine that it would become so violent and dangerous. Just then a jet flew over the island and dropped bombs alongside the FDR Drive. Gunshots rang out and soon men came running into the streets with large guns, he ran into a looted Duane Reade to hide and take pictures. Looking at the street sign reading 19th St. He heard cheering and shooting immediately before a loud screeching sound then a large explosion; the plane that had just flew over him was now in flames over across the river in Queens.
He decided to jump up and run for the next block over, they didn’t see him. Soon his run slowed back to a walk, it felt more like a hike. He no longer recognized the places he had grown up around, the smog was beginning to burn his eyes and the layer of ash flew in the air with every step. There were large fires in the small tenement buildings he loved so much, people were screaming from tall towers because they were trapped. Others lay dead on the floor from jumping out of the buildings or being shot to death.
He soon approached the Evacuation Center, knowing he still had to make his way north to look for his family. There were barbed wired gates and many people were sitting outside on the floor. It didn’t look welcoming and in fact it was reminiscent of third world prisons. He ran back before any guard could notice him and he continued his trek uptown.
There were more fires north of the city, and it seemed as if the government jets were doing more of the bombings than anyone else. He walked through Times Square to see that many of the buildings had been leveled. The New Years Ball lay on the street in millions of pieces and rats were running through the street in every direction. The Ferris wheel in the Toys R’ Us had fallen into the sidewalk, dozens of people crushed and killed underneath it.
Fliers were blown into the air when another jet flew over; he grabbed one and read it. It was an invitation to the first protest of the government. This occurred days before the fighting commenced and gained national attention because of the accusations of police brutality. He folded the paper and placed it in his back pocket and began to snap pictures of Times Square, which was now in ruins. As he began to leave there was a large explosion behind him blacks south. He couldn’t see but he thought it was Madison Square Garden because of the screams from so many people.
Flinching he continued to walk north along Broadway. Soon he made his way to the area where his son lived. He began to scream out his son’s name as a plane flew in from the distance. Minutes later he heard someone screaming as a door flew open. It was his son; they had gone to a neighbor’s home a block south. He turned around to see his son and ex wife standing in the middle of the street.
He started to run to his son and the boy screamed out because his mother wouldn’t let him run in all of the rubble. He tripped of a fallen street light and cut his hand; he gained his composure and looked up. He put his hands on the ground in order to push himself back up when there was the familiar whistling sound. He screamed as the metal object flew from the sky and pierced the New York City Street.
The explosion was greater than he could imagine, the street exploded from beneath them. He was flown from the ground further back and his child’s screams were cut short by the massive sound. He hit his head on the street and was knocked unconscious. The street now wore a massive hole and pipes bled water and sewage to fill it. He was awoken by the sound of someone screaming, looking up he realized it was his ex-wife.
He ran on the side of the street to get to her side, he stopped in his tracks when he saw her. She lay on the ground without any legs. He immediately looked for his son as she screamed out for him to help her. Ignoring her he saw his son in the corner of his eye, the little boy’s lifeless body was crushed underneath a car that had been thrown in the air during the explosion.
Horror and blood ran to his face, another plane flew overhead, his ex-wife screamed helplessly in the street and blood from his son’s head drained onto the street.
He stood there.
31.12.07
postponement
ohh personal literature how i miss you so.
i've gotten plenty of work, all for a better future i suppose.
i should have my next story up sometime in late january.
happy new years.
i've gotten plenty of work, all for a better future i suppose.
i should have my next story up sometime in late january.
happy new years.
7.10.07
cival war
The train station was unusually crowded, every time she rode the train into Colombo with her father she didn’t remember it being this crowded. But today wasn’t usual day, she was with her mother and they were on their way to Colombo’s airport. The only way they could afford to get out of the war torn country and into Germany was to catch the train to Colombo and then take a flight to Berlin where her father already was working and received legal resident status.
She looked around the train station to see that many were doing the same, the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE had only grown more violent in the past year. The previous night militants began to storm the city and there were rumors that the members of the LTTE were in the town of Medagama a few kilometers from her home in Kandy in central Sri Lanka. The news reporters had predicted a showdown between the two groups in the next few weeks. As a result many were evacuating central Sri Lanka.
The train began to pull in from the distance yet everyone heard it three minutes prior. The screeching sounds of metal covered everyone as the station became silent. Soon the brakes forced the trains pause. People began to push on to the train that was once empty, she and her mother luckily were the few people to claim ownership to a seat on the humid, now crowded train. They sat there and she stared out the window looking at the people climb to the roof, people waiting for other train arrivals, people sadly separating. She missed being a child, back when she played with all of her friends’ everyday on the road after school. She missed being yelled at for not completing her chores before she left for class. She missed her brother who joined the LTTE militia a few years ago. She turned to look at her mother’s face, took hold of her hand and whispered “we’ll be safe soon”.
Soon after the bells began to ring and an announcement was made over the intercom but she couldn’t hear. The train jerked forward and slowly made its way out of Kandy Rail Station. She looked at the platform to people waving goodbye with tears in their eyes and to late passengers running to grab a niche in the train’s exterior so they could hold on. Seconds later the train was entirely outside and making it’s way toward the nation’s biggest city. Cutting through people’s backyards and piercing through lush green forests she felt like she was finally free from danger. Amazed at how smoothly the train was moving she forgot about the oppressive heat that consumed the train, she ignored the traffic jam on the two lane highway that partnered with the rail every now and again.
The rain began to fall onto the train and she kept her window open letting the water fall onto her face, anything was better than sitting in a hot train with the windows closed. She jumped when another train in the opposite direction swiftly passed her window, she laughed with her mom at how scared she got. She was happy to see her mom smiling, ever since her father left for Europe her mother was in a state of depression working on the fields all day and coming home barely speaking. She spent her past 17th birthday working for her mom because she was sick and needed the rest, but they needed the money since her father still wasn’t working, although today things were looking up.
She was amazed by how beautiful nature was. Staring in awe as the train crossed one of the many rivers on its trek to Colombo. Birds flew beside her when they went through clearings; kids were playing rugby when they passed open fields, huge flowers and trees littered the floor every time they would pull out of another city or town. She’d never seen so many colors in just a few hours. She was amazed at how easy the fare dodgers made riding on the side of the train look and cringing every time she saw someone walking on the other track worried that a train might hit them.
Eventually she fell asleep, dreaming of what she left behind. She woke up sweating and in a state of depression. Her mother asked her why she looked sad and she began to cry. She’d never see the small home she’d spent her entire life in. She was leaving her home city that once seemed huge to her; it was now a fraction of the size of where she was moving to. She was leaving all of her friends and moving to a new country with a different language. Her mother gave her a hug and assured her that everything was going to be alright.
Just as she shifted back into her seat the trees and all of its nature disappeared. Shacks and houses began to fill the windows off in the distance the distinct Colombo skyline could be seen hovering above the thousands of homes. She was shocked at how tall the World Trade Center was, she’d never seen structures above seven stories, so seeing two 40 floor towers from the distance was amazing. She looked at the ground to see how busy everything was, every road was full of cars and people were everywhere. The sun reflected off of the ocean that from far away seemed as if it rose above the city.
She turned to ask her mom if they had time to go to the beach before their flight, when there was a large noise. One second later the train that was moving at 100 kilometers per hour (55mph) was lifted off of the tracks. All twelve cars were slammed onto the side and pushed across the other two tracks coming to a stop in the embankment beside the tracks. The entire train snapped into pieces and some of its cars were lying on top of crushed houses.
There was a moment of silence, the only sound that could be heard were flames off in the distance. The odd silence was soon broken by a baby’s scream. Sirens could be heard off in the distance first there were emergency vehicle sirens from across the city moments later the civil defense siren went off. She opened her eyes when another sound of an explosion far off shook her. Other people began to regain consciousness and started to realize what happened. Another train that sounded like it was above them slammed on its brakes. She held her ears because of the high pitched screech. Looking down she realized that her hands were bloody. She began to look for her mom; the train was upside down so she stood up on the roof with about a dozen other people.
She looked at all of the bodies and began to scream for her mom. She turned some people over in hopes that she was trapped under some people. She soon saw a hand move outside of the train, running over she realized it was her mother. She covered her mouth with her bloody hand as she looked at her mom who was on the verge of death; half of her body was trapped under the train. She screamed in terror as her mom struggled, she ran over and shifted her body up so her mother was in her lap. Her mother slowly went in and out of consciousness but her last words were to tell her daughter to go to her father and get away. She wiped her mother’s forehead as she stood up and wept.
She slowly walked up the embankment to go back to the level where the rail tracks were. As soon as she reached the top of the hill she realized what happened. There were four gas storage tanks situated next to the tracks and three of them were aflame. She fell to her knees and cried uncontrollably firefighters ran past her as drool ran down her face when she looked up into the sky that was no longer blue but filled with smoke. She looked around at the rest of the city and there were four other places where noxious fumes were billowing from the ground. She heard military jets and helicopters pass above her.
Following her mother’s orders she lifted herself from the ground and began to walk, she went back into the train to retrieve her plane tickets and her one bag of luggage. Then she began to walk alongside the tracks to the city’s main station. Emergency workers began lining bodies on the side of the tracks; she walked past hundreds of corpses and their weeping survivors. Children, Mothers, Fathers, Spouses, anyone you could think of she saw. The afternoon light began to make way for the sunset’s glow as she got to the main station. There was a large crowd of confused people demanding to know where the trains were. One man grabbed her as she made her way out of the stations and onto the bus that was labeled “Airport”, “What happened out there?!” He asked with fear on his face. “Everyone’s dead” she replied as the doors on the bus separated them. He stared at her and she glanced back as the bus pulled off.
She sat in silence as the blood on her hands dried, rocking back and forth as the bus made its way north of the city to the airport. The bus driver glanced back at her and yelled “all flights are canceled tonight” as he obviously saw the Condor Airlines tickets she clutched in her hands. She stared at the rear view mirror and nodded her head “I just need to get out”.
She stepped off the bus and looked at the airport terminal. There were large crowds as the flights had been canceled. She stood in line to check in, standing over an hour with mostly tourists she discovered that the LTTE had commenced an air raid on the city and bombed five locations in the city. with the death toll estimated at 4,000. She was shocked and didn’t realize that it was her turn in line until some American tapped her shoulder.
She walked up to the counter and the agent asked if she was checking it. She nodded her head as it was explained to her that no flights would be leaving until the next day. “You’ll be okay” the woman told her “what’s your name?”
She responded “Nilanee”
She looked around the train station to see that many were doing the same, the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE had only grown more violent in the past year. The previous night militants began to storm the city and there were rumors that the members of the LTTE were in the town of Medagama a few kilometers from her home in Kandy in central Sri Lanka. The news reporters had predicted a showdown between the two groups in the next few weeks. As a result many were evacuating central Sri Lanka.
The train began to pull in from the distance yet everyone heard it three minutes prior. The screeching sounds of metal covered everyone as the station became silent. Soon the brakes forced the trains pause. People began to push on to the train that was once empty, she and her mother luckily were the few people to claim ownership to a seat on the humid, now crowded train. They sat there and she stared out the window looking at the people climb to the roof, people waiting for other train arrivals, people sadly separating. She missed being a child, back when she played with all of her friends’ everyday on the road after school. She missed being yelled at for not completing her chores before she left for class. She missed her brother who joined the LTTE militia a few years ago. She turned to look at her mother’s face, took hold of her hand and whispered “we’ll be safe soon”.
Soon after the bells began to ring and an announcement was made over the intercom but she couldn’t hear. The train jerked forward and slowly made its way out of Kandy Rail Station. She looked at the platform to people waving goodbye with tears in their eyes and to late passengers running to grab a niche in the train’s exterior so they could hold on. Seconds later the train was entirely outside and making it’s way toward the nation’s biggest city. Cutting through people’s backyards and piercing through lush green forests she felt like she was finally free from danger. Amazed at how smoothly the train was moving she forgot about the oppressive heat that consumed the train, she ignored the traffic jam on the two lane highway that partnered with the rail every now and again.
The rain began to fall onto the train and she kept her window open letting the water fall onto her face, anything was better than sitting in a hot train with the windows closed. She jumped when another train in the opposite direction swiftly passed her window, she laughed with her mom at how scared she got. She was happy to see her mom smiling, ever since her father left for Europe her mother was in a state of depression working on the fields all day and coming home barely speaking. She spent her past 17th birthday working for her mom because she was sick and needed the rest, but they needed the money since her father still wasn’t working, although today things were looking up.
She was amazed by how beautiful nature was. Staring in awe as the train crossed one of the many rivers on its trek to Colombo. Birds flew beside her when they went through clearings; kids were playing rugby when they passed open fields, huge flowers and trees littered the floor every time they would pull out of another city or town. She’d never seen so many colors in just a few hours. She was amazed at how easy the fare dodgers made riding on the side of the train look and cringing every time she saw someone walking on the other track worried that a train might hit them.
Eventually she fell asleep, dreaming of what she left behind. She woke up sweating and in a state of depression. Her mother asked her why she looked sad and she began to cry. She’d never see the small home she’d spent her entire life in. She was leaving her home city that once seemed huge to her; it was now a fraction of the size of where she was moving to. She was leaving all of her friends and moving to a new country with a different language. Her mother gave her a hug and assured her that everything was going to be alright.
Just as she shifted back into her seat the trees and all of its nature disappeared. Shacks and houses began to fill the windows off in the distance the distinct Colombo skyline could be seen hovering above the thousands of homes. She was shocked at how tall the World Trade Center was, she’d never seen structures above seven stories, so seeing two 40 floor towers from the distance was amazing. She looked at the ground to see how busy everything was, every road was full of cars and people were everywhere. The sun reflected off of the ocean that from far away seemed as if it rose above the city.
She turned to ask her mom if they had time to go to the beach before their flight, when there was a large noise. One second later the train that was moving at 100 kilometers per hour (55mph) was lifted off of the tracks. All twelve cars were slammed onto the side and pushed across the other two tracks coming to a stop in the embankment beside the tracks. The entire train snapped into pieces and some of its cars were lying on top of crushed houses.
There was a moment of silence, the only sound that could be heard were flames off in the distance. The odd silence was soon broken by a baby’s scream. Sirens could be heard off in the distance first there were emergency vehicle sirens from across the city moments later the civil defense siren went off. She opened her eyes when another sound of an explosion far off shook her. Other people began to regain consciousness and started to realize what happened. Another train that sounded like it was above them slammed on its brakes. She held her ears because of the high pitched screech. Looking down she realized that her hands were bloody. She began to look for her mom; the train was upside down so she stood up on the roof with about a dozen other people.
She looked at all of the bodies and began to scream for her mom. She turned some people over in hopes that she was trapped under some people. She soon saw a hand move outside of the train, running over she realized it was her mother. She covered her mouth with her bloody hand as she looked at her mom who was on the verge of death; half of her body was trapped under the train. She screamed in terror as her mom struggled, she ran over and shifted her body up so her mother was in her lap. Her mother slowly went in and out of consciousness but her last words were to tell her daughter to go to her father and get away. She wiped her mother’s forehead as she stood up and wept.
She slowly walked up the embankment to go back to the level where the rail tracks were. As soon as she reached the top of the hill she realized what happened. There were four gas storage tanks situated next to the tracks and three of them were aflame. She fell to her knees and cried uncontrollably firefighters ran past her as drool ran down her face when she looked up into the sky that was no longer blue but filled with smoke. She looked around at the rest of the city and there were four other places where noxious fumes were billowing from the ground. She heard military jets and helicopters pass above her.
Following her mother’s orders she lifted herself from the ground and began to walk, she went back into the train to retrieve her plane tickets and her one bag of luggage. Then she began to walk alongside the tracks to the city’s main station. Emergency workers began lining bodies on the side of the tracks; she walked past hundreds of corpses and their weeping survivors. Children, Mothers, Fathers, Spouses, anyone you could think of she saw. The afternoon light began to make way for the sunset’s glow as she got to the main station. There was a large crowd of confused people demanding to know where the trains were. One man grabbed her as she made her way out of the stations and onto the bus that was labeled “Airport”, “What happened out there?!” He asked with fear on his face. “Everyone’s dead” she replied as the doors on the bus separated them. He stared at her and she glanced back as the bus pulled off.
She sat in silence as the blood on her hands dried, rocking back and forth as the bus made its way north of the city to the airport. The bus driver glanced back at her and yelled “all flights are canceled tonight” as he obviously saw the Condor Airlines tickets she clutched in her hands. She stared at the rear view mirror and nodded her head “I just need to get out”.
She stepped off the bus and looked at the airport terminal. There were large crowds as the flights had been canceled. She stood in line to check in, standing over an hour with mostly tourists she discovered that the LTTE had commenced an air raid on the city and bombed five locations in the city. with the death toll estimated at 4,000. She was shocked and didn’t realize that it was her turn in line until some American tapped her shoulder.
She walked up to the counter and the agent asked if she was checking it. She nodded her head as it was explained to her that no flights would be leaving until the next day. “You’ll be okay” the woman told her “what’s your name?”
She responded “Nilanee”
30.9.07
better world
Originally uploaded by eyetwist
The sky was a dull charcoal gray and the streets were littered with leaves as if it were a fall day. This, unfortunately; was a mid summer day. The city of New York lay lifeless with no traffic to be seen. A few military convoys were making their way away from the city towards the airport on the Long Island Expressway; the city’s main artery for transportation was mysteriously empty. In fact the only other proof of life was in the John F. Kennedy airport, hundreds of people were waiting for numerous flights. All sitting in the last transit center open in the country seeing as the rest of the nation was nearly evacuated.
“Attention…flight 783 to the American Orbital Habitat is boarding. All passengers please have your transport permit, immunization card, and social security number with you.” The captain of this flight turned away from the counter of the Starbucks to look through the window. He stared at the massive space shuttle that once led research missions for NASA, now it had been retrofitted for passengers and was a passenger shuttle for the biggest evacuation known to man. He still had the gas mask around his neck from when he was riding the AirTrain exiting Jamaica. The air had never been this bad, but he knew it would only get worse and was glad that this was his last flight. It had been 49 months of trips back and forth along with 300 other space shuttles and countless others from different nations of this evacuation.
He turned around to get some sugar for his coffee when he realized that the Starbucks had closed and the employees were making their way to the gate. Taking a deep breath he began his brisk walk to the gate himself, there were three last flights scheduled before the North American evacuation was complete he walked passed a large group of people that weren’t scheduled to leave for another 15 hours. He smiled at a toddler who had been waving at him from one of the benches. Grabbing his ID he told the flight attendant to stay safe as she closed the door behind him.
“Attention passengers this is flight 783 from JFK to the American Orbital Habitat Transit Complex. Our flight time will be approximately 17 hours and we should arrive there sometime in the afternoon, I’d tell you the weather but I know at this point anything is better than this stuff” laughter filled the cabin of the 364 nervous refugees. A flight attendant took over and began the safety instructions. He was alone in the cockpit. His co-pilot had refused to go back to earth so this was a solo flight.
He yawned as he received military clearance for space-transit. The engines roared as he hit switches and dialed numbers. The aircraft pulled away from earth as a normal plane would and the passengers held onto their armrests as the force was unlike anything they’ve felt before. The aircraft lifted above the city, he was sad that he couldn’t see the skyline for the last time but the pollution had gotten so bad that everything in the sky was grey. As he made his way through the endless wall of pollution he saw that he was over Chicago where he once resided. The AOH Times had stated that hundreds of people were killed last week when there was a canceled flight and a riot broke out in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Darkness began to fill the cabin as the grey slowly dissipated. He was now in outer space, as with every flight he could hear the gasps of the passengers as they looked back at earth. He felt sad every time he glanced at it, but now it was the last time he would ever see it. The green and blue sphere he would see on television and in pictures was no longer there. The sphere no longer held any beauty, it looked as if it were a dark mars. Only one color of darkness, no landmarks could be seen. He was amazed at the damage we did to our own home.
The auto-pilot was now in control. He was allowed to sleep for the next few hours as there was no communication it this distance. He was now flying in a black zone. Only American space crafts were allowed here, but with nothing else scheduled to return he was the only thing flying. He looked at the Starbucks anxiously waiting for the next ten hours to pass so he could get some more. He then drifted off to sleep.
Screeching alarms woke him up and the cabin was lit red. There was a comet cluster nearby and he was required to take the controls from the computer. The only problem was that he had woken up late and was now dangerously close to the cluster. Hitting the “seat belt” button he grabbed the controls and swerved the ship out of the way of the group of rocks, swerving the ship left and right. One by one the alarms began to shut off and he began checking all of the screens to make sure nothing was damaged. After a reassuring announcement to the frazzled passengers he sat back down in his seat and took a sip of his coffee that was now half empty and fifteen hours old. He looked out of the window and saw all five of the Orbital Habitats. American, South American, Asian Pacific, Middle East/Africa, and European Orbital Habitats all sat in the middle of space like something out of a science fiction novel.
He loved staring at them, Often times forgetting to make contact with the American Transit Control Tower. But today he remembered because he wanted to get home to his family in District Albany. He had a week’s vacation before he started work again, making shuttle flights between the America and Europe colonies. He was excited because the five hour trip was a lot better than the seventeen hour trek he was used to.
He was now twenty minutes away from the dock and had made the announcement. He was in dire need of a coffee but couldn’t take another sip of that Starbucks. The skyline of the destination began to show, the hundreds of modern towers made the new home look daunting and cold. He knew it was, everything felt sterile even his home. It was as if he were living in a world described in 1984 except he had the right to complain. He began to drift off, not noticing the beeping sound and the one flashing red light. He then heard screaming over the radio, another space shuttle from Asia had lost power and was now floating dangerously close at a high speed. He remembered that since he was landing there wasn’t any way to take over the Auto-Land system. He stared at the vehicle as it grew closer and close his face filled with horror as the reflection in his eyes showed Asian characters from the side of the ship. Screams came from the cabin as the passengers realized what was happening. A woman clutched to her two kids sitting beside her, and old couple hugged as they sobbed. A baby left alone as her mother went to the bathroom was violently screaming because of all the noise. A business man dialed his satellite phone to call his wife but it was too late.
The explosion lit up the sky, residents from all five Orbits reported seeing the flash. It was so close to the Transit Hub that it tore large holes into the habitat. Destroying the Transit Hub and the surrounding community as air escaped killing a few hundred thousand new residents. Others back on earth were trapped because they didn’t have the security clearance for any other orbit. His body was incinerated as were the rest of the passengers in the two ships. Chaos soon followed as pieces of debris began to crash into other sections, killing an un-estimated amount of citizens of the “better world”.
10.9.07
the season
He stepped onto the train, it was the first stop and no one else was aboard. He looked at his Rolex to see that it was 5:30. The first train of the day usually pulled out within the next couple of minutes. The typical morning London fog lingered in the air. The train began to crowd as the time approached rush hour. Someone on the other end of the car was coughing uncontrollably, he paid no mind to it seeing as it was flu season. He looked up across the tracks into the trees, the vapor that was fog drifted in between them. His radio told him that the day would be full of clouds and rain; he slowly got out of bed to his gray window on his first day back to work after a holiday week spent in Africa. Here he sat an hour later at the first station on a train a few minutes before it was supposed to leave and head south into London. Just as he changed the song on his iPod his stomach began to turn, ever since he got his inoculation shots for the trip he was feeling a little sick, but today was better than during the trip. Just then the train’s motors started to hum and the lights lit up.
“This is Mill Hill East. This train terminates at Morden…Please mind the doors.”
Someone in a business suit ran to the train just as the closing doors siren started to go off, he go his arm in just in time to block the door, he leaned back on the closed doors once he made his way in. Typical starts to the morning’s rush hour the man with the iPod thought as he began to zone out and stare at the mass of trees that were passing just outside of the window. He slowly drifted off to sleep, further into the trip the train began it’s descent into the tunnels when the train came to an abrupt stop waking him.
“Attention passengers due to a sick passenger at the station in front of us we are delayed and will be bypassing Archway” announced the conductor. Minutes after standing still the train began to accelerate. It slowly made its turn into Archway station where he looked out of the window onto the platform. There were two people lying on the floor on stretchers, while another was being tackled to the ground by paramedics in hazmat suits. The man being tackled suddenly threw up onto the train’s windows; the disturbing thing was that he didn’t throw up food the red streaks of blood made their way down the plexi glass. He closed his eyes for the rest of the ride to work, something was going on in this city but he didn’t know what it was.
He got off at Euston station where he caught the 73 bus to University College London. As the double decker bus made its way past the UCL hospital he noticed that all of the ambulances were in a frantic rush. As he made his way off the bus and began to walk to his building in the college four ambulances sped past him with lights flashing and sirens blaring. He walked through the hallways while some of the students in the administration office were sitting and had their faces in buckets in preparation to vomit.
“Attention students and staff, today’s classes have been canceled until further notice. An unknown illness has affected many students and we want to ensure the safety of everyone else” read an email he read once he got to his office. Since he had no classes he would just finish some paperwork that he missed over the holiday. It was around 8:30 when there was an announcement that 34 more students had fallen ill and that all school property were being evacuated. He didn’t take this serious until now so he packed all of his belongings and quickly left the building. He stood at the bus stop and watched as the college buildings emptied out. He stood outside until 9:00 and still no bus had arrived so he decided to walk to the nearest tube station.
He walked past the UCL hospital and it was even more crowded that before. Hundreds of people were lined up outside of the emergency room and he began to shake in fear of what was happening. Just as he made it to Edgeware his mobile phone rang. It was a text from his wife who worked in an office in Canary Wharf, she was on her was home after the entire business district was closed off and evacuated. He wrote her back as he made his way to Euston station.
The northbound platform was crowded, usually it would be quite the opposite as it was rush hour, and people were making their way from London rather than towards it. A train pulled into Euston at 9:45 it was packed and the train slowly crept past the large crowd waiting at the platform by 9:50 the next train pulled in and opened the doors, this is when the fights began. The automatic “Please mind the Gap” announcements were covered by the screams and yells as people tried to push their way onto the train. By 9:57 the train had finally closed its doors with an announcement from the conductor “this train will not be making anymore stops within central London.” He sighed with relief as the train sped past the next stop as his face pressed against the door.
The train opened its doors at Finchley Central, he stepped off and a crowd of people followed behind. He walked across to the other side of the platform to wait for his shuttle train while everyone else left the station in a mad rush. Soon the train he exited had closed its doors and sped off. He stood on the platform alone and in silence. The outside platform was eerily quiet, no one was with him and no one was on the other platform back into London. “Attention passengers. Due to health concerns all central London bound trains are terminating at Finchley Central” said the computer system to no one. Minutes later the shuttle train pulled in. He walked onto the train that stayed empty another packed train pulled in but the shuttle closed its doors just in time. The shuttle train quickly left the station and rocked side to side as it made its way to its next and final stop, he sat there in silence thinking about what was going on.
The train pulled into the empty platform and he was the only one to get off. There were lines of cars waiting outside the station waiting for people to pick up; he walked home making his way past a newsstand. He read one of the headline paper boards that read “Pandemic flu hits major world cities” he began to shake again as he read that and began to rush home. There was no noise, cars weren’t playing music, kids weren’t screaming outside. The only sign of other life was the sound of a dog barking in what seemed to be like hundreds of miles away. He walked up the steps to his home and locked the door behind him; the house was silent, with the occasional fall winds whipping through the cracks.
He began to make a cup of tea for his wife when she arrived home and turned the television onto BBC. In London alone over 1,300 people were killed from the virus with hundreds more from random acts of violence and trampling on public transportation. Thousands of people were sick in New York, Mumbai, Paris, Madrid, Sao Paulo, Berlin, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai, Toronto, Los Angeles, Houston, Cairo, and almost every other major city in the world.
He sat in the living room with the television on for hours, his wife’s tea now cold. He looked at the clock it was 6:34 and she still hadn’t arrived home. He guessed she’d still be on the train as they were running without schedules and she was on the other side of London. He continued to stare at the news; reports were coming in that there were riots in South London Estates, there were three or for trains that had been discovered with hundreds of people killed from suffocation when the trains stalled in the tunnels. There were people in central London that were jumping off of skyscrapers. The airport had been clogged all afternoon and the Channel train to France was shut down in order to accommodate the thousands of people walking in them. It was 10:30 and his neighbors offered him a ride to the airport as they were leaving to the United States, he kindly refused stating that he was waiting for his wife’s arrival home, even though the trains were emptied out hours ago.
Everyone he knew had left the nation. His wife still wasn’t home, martial law was put in place in London and Manchester; anyone without clearance seen outside would be killed. Three days had passed and the death toll had reached 34,000 in London alone. Reports said that 73% of the city had evacuated and the military would begin mandatory evacuations, when he heard that the power shut off in the entire city. He walked upstairs passing his wife’s cup of tea that had been there for five days. He went to the bedroom and took out a box that contained old love letters. He stood there and read one while tears began to slide down from his face onto the beige carpet below. He walked to he counter and took out some painkillers, he took out fifteen to be exact and began to fill the bathtub.
30 minutes later his body laid face down in the tub full of water, his cell phone began to ring.
“…leave a message after the tone.”
“honey it’s carol. I hope you’re ok. I was pulled out of the tube and taken to a refugee camp. Please call me. I’d die without you…honey call me back. Bye luv”
31.7.07
exodous:the end(new colony)
the rain began to pour onto the dry road in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere, she rolled up her windows in the silver audi she had purchased last year. it was very dangerous to be out in the rain ever since the bombs hit three months ago.
she was on her way to Denver and was alone, the skies were already dark and the night was approaching. she sat there in silence thinking of everyone she left behind in Chicago. Everyone who ignored the evacuation plan. Now that the general public was being allowed to leave the United States she packed her bags and left the night before.
the Public Information Network, a federal government-run public channel, had stated that the war was only predicted to get worse. The East Asia Alliance had already destroyed Los Angeles and Los Vegas with massive air raids. While North America and Russia destroyed Shanghai, Seoul, and Taipei with severely toxic nuclear bombs. International trade with the two continents had been cut and all of China and America were at a standstill.
the president’s only course of action was to evacuate the nation due to high levels of radiation that were expected to reach the west coast within days. Americans that decided to heed the warning were being planed to Brazil. She had received her transport documents a week earlier, before she’d decided to leave, and now she was headed to Denver International Airport to catch flight #1107 to Sao Paulo the next morning.
She looked down at her dashboard, she was doing 95 on a two lane side road, no other car had passed her for nearly three hours. an hour later she was approaching interstate 76, the only way to get to the airport. she thought her eyes were deceiving her, staring at millions of red lights. the entire expressway had been turned into a parking lot. when she made the turn onto the on-ramp she realized how many people were trying to escape.
looking up at the sign informing her that she was 40 miles away from Denver she sighed, turned her car off and listened to the thunder.
the rain had ended twenty minutes prior and the sun was starting to peak out of the rocky mountains off in the distance. she was almost out of gas and the digital information signs told her "DRIVERS AT THIS POINT HAVE APROX. ONE HOUR LEFT" she turned her radio on to listen to a popular debate station, and as she predicted, they were discussing the mass evacuation and what the nation’s next step would be. she sat there and realized that she had no idea of what the future would hold for her. tears ran down her eyes as the military officer opened her door and asked her to take everything she wanted out of the car while he checked over her transport permit. looking up at the blue sky she took in a deep breath and dragged her two bags into the airport.
she turned around to see the crowd of what seemed like millions of people trying to make their way into the airport. she turned in with a moving crowd and disappeared into the glass building. she stood in line for what seemed hours. there was no security checkpoint there was no time for that. half of the airport had been closed due to flooding from the night.
she stood in line and went around in angles silently, staring at everyone there. people from almost every race made their way from around the country to get a second chance at life, no matter how deprived it would be. she looked down as a toddler accidently walked into her leg.
"everyone catching a flight to sao paulo, please go into line 12! if you’re catching a flight to buenos aires go to line 13!" screamed a transit worker.
she quickly go her bags and moved to the shorter line, looking up at the tv to see the time she realized that she would be on a plane to a different life in 45 minutes. the tv showed images of the carnage in asia and the west coast. it was estimated that 75 million people were killed in the past month and the toxic waste was only going to kill more. the news also reported that the president hadn’t been seen for three days and that he may have been place in hiding in another country.
she jumped as someone a few hundred feet began to yell and scream. a father was screaming because one of the transit workers said his son couldn’t fly because his travel permit had gotten mixed up. security came rushing in and tried to calm him down. he only got increasingly intense and pushed one of the guards. a military personnel member shot at him piercing his heart, before he fell to the floor the entire terminal had turned into a riot with screams and pushing. she stood there shocked staring at the man bleeding on the floor staring blankly at the ceiling while his little son, the toddler who had walked into her leg earlier, grabbed his fathers arm and screamed in hysteria.
a military guard pushed her with his gun and motioned to her to keep the line moving. she started crying as the transit worker asked her if she had anything dangerous in her bag. she said no and walked away shocked.
she made her way to the gate she was assigned and was crowded up against a window. looking out she saw that it had started to rain again. she took out her cell phone and made a call to her sister in new york. she was also at the airport waiting for her flight to sao paulo from jfk. her flight had been delayed because there was a plane crash in jamaica bay, someone apparently panicked during take off and ran into the cockpit and slammed into the buttons. as she wished her sister luck and hung up her flight had been called to board.
she handed the flight attendant her travel permit and waited to get it stamped. as she took the group of papers back she looked at the stamp as it said in red ink "US WAR REFUGEE #387594" she sighed and looked down the jetway bridge that lead to the airplane. she walked down and stepped onto the plane.
she caught a chill as she made her way to the last seat on the plane, at least it was a window seat she thought to herself as she closed the overhead luggage compartment. she sat and looked out of the small window as someone sat next to her and she shifted her body. she blankly looked out at the snow covered rocky mountains listened to the rain hammer on the roof of the plane. she laid her head back into the seat to the jetblue logo on the seat in front of her, all the domestic airlines were taken over by the government so jetblue no longer existed.
before she realized it the plane revved it’s engines and they were speeding down the runway. she looked down to what would be her last moment in america, as the plane took an angle and lifted itself off of the concrete of what was the runway her stomach dropped and she could feel the adrenaline in her veins as goose bumps revealed themselves from under her skin. she had just left everything behind. her family, her friends, her job, her dog, her home, her life all still remained in chicago and there she was speeding off into the sky to some foreign place in latin america. she began to sweat as the cold a/c fanned itself on her.
hours later she was staring at herself in the bathroom. her glow had disappeared, she had almost forgotten that she was pregnant. she remembered three weeks ago when she looked at the stick in her friend’s house and they both were screaming, now her friend was on a flight to buenos aires. tears started to roll down her eyes when the announcement came over the pa. that they were preparing to land.
she slowly closed the door behind her and slid into her seat, opening the shade she looked out of the window to see a clear night sky. the lights of sao paulo’s thousands of towers lit up the night floor. she had never seen a city so packed in it was bigger than chicago and new york combined she thought.
the ground grew closer. she braced herself and still wasn’t prepared for the harsh landing.
she sighed as the plane slowed down on the dark ground. sitting there she listened to all of the directions that had to be followed by the new residents of brazil. she learned that they were now considered partial citizens of the nation and were already assigned public housing. throughout the nation. her nerves started to pick up as she stood up to get her luggage.
she was the last to emerge from the plane to the terminal of sao paulo international airport. she looked around the well lit terminal to see thousands of people making their way to the immigration center. she followed and stood in a line that seemed to never end. after an hour her permit was stamped and she was told that she was going to be bussed to a stadium where her number would be called and she would be given the address of her new home. if it was in sao paulo she’d have to find her way around the city’s transit network. when she heard this she had gotten nervous again but this was soon overcome with fear as she got pushed and shoved in the crowd heading to the buses.
announcements in portuguese and english reminded her not to get on the wrong bus as she would be taken back to the airport. she looked at her papers and they told her to get on the "Pacaembu Stadium" she saw it and was relieved once she stepped foot onto the air conditioned bus, the humid air had made her feel really uncomfortable. she sat down and stared out of the window in amazement. the bus soon pulled off with a crowd on it obviously over capacity. she stared out of the window and noticed all of the busses were traveling together in a caravan. she didn’t even realize that they had begun to speed up on an expressway, it seemed familiar all of the traffic and lanes, it reminded her of her daily chicagoland commute.
but this was different, there were flashes from other cars, obviously cameras. and the news vans would speed up close to the buses to get an image of the new set of immigrants. she didn’t notice the black suv that had just cut off her bus, not until the bus slammed it’s brakes to a full stop. the shooting started and the bus driver among many of the people that were standing suddenly fell to the floor.
then the screaming started. the men stood at the front of the bus for a few moments as the people panicked and tried to make their way, unsuccessfully, off the bus since the doors had been locked. she stood still worried about what would happen to the baby. eventually the bus quieted as the intruders in the ski masks drove off. she stood up to look around and that’s when the bus threw itself in the air.
four buses were bombed in that incident. everyone on them were killed. now the americans weren’t safe anywhere they went. and the war only got worse as time went on.
she was on her way to Denver and was alone, the skies were already dark and the night was approaching. she sat there in silence thinking of everyone she left behind in Chicago. Everyone who ignored the evacuation plan. Now that the general public was being allowed to leave the United States she packed her bags and left the night before.
the Public Information Network, a federal government-run public channel, had stated that the war was only predicted to get worse. The East Asia Alliance had already destroyed Los Angeles and Los Vegas with massive air raids. While North America and Russia destroyed Shanghai, Seoul, and Taipei with severely toxic nuclear bombs. International trade with the two continents had been cut and all of China and America were at a standstill.
the president’s only course of action was to evacuate the nation due to high levels of radiation that were expected to reach the west coast within days. Americans that decided to heed the warning were being planed to Brazil. She had received her transport documents a week earlier, before she’d decided to leave, and now she was headed to Denver International Airport to catch flight #1107 to Sao Paulo the next morning.
She looked down at her dashboard, she was doing 95 on a two lane side road, no other car had passed her for nearly three hours. an hour later she was approaching interstate 76, the only way to get to the airport. she thought her eyes were deceiving her, staring at millions of red lights. the entire expressway had been turned into a parking lot. when she made the turn onto the on-ramp she realized how many people were trying to escape.
looking up at the sign informing her that she was 40 miles away from Denver she sighed, turned her car off and listened to the thunder.
the rain had ended twenty minutes prior and the sun was starting to peak out of the rocky mountains off in the distance. she was almost out of gas and the digital information signs told her "DRIVERS AT THIS POINT HAVE APROX. ONE HOUR LEFT" she turned her radio on to listen to a popular debate station, and as she predicted, they were discussing the mass evacuation and what the nation’s next step would be. she sat there and realized that she had no idea of what the future would hold for her. tears ran down her eyes as the military officer opened her door and asked her to take everything she wanted out of the car while he checked over her transport permit. looking up at the blue sky she took in a deep breath and dragged her two bags into the airport.
she turned around to see the crowd of what seemed like millions of people trying to make their way into the airport. she turned in with a moving crowd and disappeared into the glass building. she stood in line for what seemed hours. there was no security checkpoint there was no time for that. half of the airport had been closed due to flooding from the night.
she stood in line and went around in angles silently, staring at everyone there. people from almost every race made their way from around the country to get a second chance at life, no matter how deprived it would be. she looked down as a toddler accidently walked into her leg.
"everyone catching a flight to sao paulo, please go into line 12! if you’re catching a flight to buenos aires go to line 13!" screamed a transit worker.
she quickly go her bags and moved to the shorter line, looking up at the tv to see the time she realized that she would be on a plane to a different life in 45 minutes. the tv showed images of the carnage in asia and the west coast. it was estimated that 75 million people were killed in the past month and the toxic waste was only going to kill more. the news also reported that the president hadn’t been seen for three days and that he may have been place in hiding in another country.
she jumped as someone a few hundred feet began to yell and scream. a father was screaming because one of the transit workers said his son couldn’t fly because his travel permit had gotten mixed up. security came rushing in and tried to calm him down. he only got increasingly intense and pushed one of the guards. a military personnel member shot at him piercing his heart, before he fell to the floor the entire terminal had turned into a riot with screams and pushing. she stood there shocked staring at the man bleeding on the floor staring blankly at the ceiling while his little son, the toddler who had walked into her leg earlier, grabbed his fathers arm and screamed in hysteria.
a military guard pushed her with his gun and motioned to her to keep the line moving. she started crying as the transit worker asked her if she had anything dangerous in her bag. she said no and walked away shocked.
she made her way to the gate she was assigned and was crowded up against a window. looking out she saw that it had started to rain again. she took out her cell phone and made a call to her sister in new york. she was also at the airport waiting for her flight to sao paulo from jfk. her flight had been delayed because there was a plane crash in jamaica bay, someone apparently panicked during take off and ran into the cockpit and slammed into the buttons. as she wished her sister luck and hung up her flight had been called to board.
she handed the flight attendant her travel permit and waited to get it stamped. as she took the group of papers back she looked at the stamp as it said in red ink "US WAR REFUGEE #387594" she sighed and looked down the jetway bridge that lead to the airplane. she walked down and stepped onto the plane.
she caught a chill as she made her way to the last seat on the plane, at least it was a window seat she thought to herself as she closed the overhead luggage compartment. she sat and looked out of the small window as someone sat next to her and she shifted her body. she blankly looked out at the snow covered rocky mountains listened to the rain hammer on the roof of the plane. she laid her head back into the seat to the jetblue logo on the seat in front of her, all the domestic airlines were taken over by the government so jetblue no longer existed.
before she realized it the plane revved it’s engines and they were speeding down the runway. she looked down to what would be her last moment in america, as the plane took an angle and lifted itself off of the concrete of what was the runway her stomach dropped and she could feel the adrenaline in her veins as goose bumps revealed themselves from under her skin. she had just left everything behind. her family, her friends, her job, her dog, her home, her life all still remained in chicago and there she was speeding off into the sky to some foreign place in latin america. she began to sweat as the cold a/c fanned itself on her.
hours later she was staring at herself in the bathroom. her glow had disappeared, she had almost forgotten that she was pregnant. she remembered three weeks ago when she looked at the stick in her friend’s house and they both were screaming, now her friend was on a flight to buenos aires. tears started to roll down her eyes when the announcement came over the pa. that they were preparing to land.
she slowly closed the door behind her and slid into her seat, opening the shade she looked out of the window to see a clear night sky. the lights of sao paulo’s thousands of towers lit up the night floor. she had never seen a city so packed in it was bigger than chicago and new york combined she thought.
the ground grew closer. she braced herself and still wasn’t prepared for the harsh landing.
she sighed as the plane slowed down on the dark ground. sitting there she listened to all of the directions that had to be followed by the new residents of brazil. she learned that they were now considered partial citizens of the nation and were already assigned public housing. throughout the nation. her nerves started to pick up as she stood up to get her luggage.
she was the last to emerge from the plane to the terminal of sao paulo international airport. she looked around the well lit terminal to see thousands of people making their way to the immigration center. she followed and stood in a line that seemed to never end. after an hour her permit was stamped and she was told that she was going to be bussed to a stadium where her number would be called and she would be given the address of her new home. if it was in sao paulo she’d have to find her way around the city’s transit network. when she heard this she had gotten nervous again but this was soon overcome with fear as she got pushed and shoved in the crowd heading to the buses.
announcements in portuguese and english reminded her not to get on the wrong bus as she would be taken back to the airport. she looked at her papers and they told her to get on the "Pacaembu Stadium" she saw it and was relieved once she stepped foot onto the air conditioned bus, the humid air had made her feel really uncomfortable. she sat down and stared out of the window in amazement. the bus soon pulled off with a crowd on it obviously over capacity. she stared out of the window and noticed all of the busses were traveling together in a caravan. she didn’t even realize that they had begun to speed up on an expressway, it seemed familiar all of the traffic and lanes, it reminded her of her daily chicagoland commute.
but this was different, there were flashes from other cars, obviously cameras. and the news vans would speed up close to the buses to get an image of the new set of immigrants. she didn’t notice the black suv that had just cut off her bus, not until the bus slammed it’s brakes to a full stop. the shooting started and the bus driver among many of the people that were standing suddenly fell to the floor.
then the screaming started. the men stood at the front of the bus for a few moments as the people panicked and tried to make their way, unsuccessfully, off the bus since the doors had been locked. she stood still worried about what would happen to the baby. eventually the bus quieted as the intruders in the ski masks drove off. she stood up to look around and that’s when the bus threw itself in the air.
four buses were bombed in that incident. everyone on them were killed. now the americans weren’t safe anywhere they went. and the war only got worse as time went on.
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