WAVE

Chapter 3

The world roars.

The cement under my body quakes, rumbling as if it could crack open at any second. I can't stand, can't get onto my knees. I'm throwing off my heels when hands seize my arms. Tristan's there, heaving me up.

Cars wobble, sinking as gaping holes form in the parking lot. Everyone's screaming, rushing back towards the resort. But Tristan's eyes are on the sky.

There are birds. Seagulls, so many of them.

And they are flying inland.

While everyone scrambles away, Tristan begins to tug me towards the unstable lobby. "Are you crazy?" I shout as we pass through the shattered doors, slamming into people trying to escape entrapment. Parts of the roof are gone, wooden beams dangling above us in midair.

It's chaos.

When my eyes can manage to still, as Tristan pushes through the last of the crowd, that's when I notice people hiding—everywhere. Tristan dives for the quaking staircase, shoving me in front of him.

"Higher ground," he says. "We have to get to higher ground!"

The carpeted floors break apart in front of my eyes, to my horror.

"Jump!" he bellows, shoving me, forcing me to leap. I just barely make it, wobbling to steady myself, but he's behind me, doing the work for the both of us. "Don't stop moving! Don't stop!"

Time loses all meaning.

I don't know how long it's been.

Seconds. Minutes. But it's still shaking. People are still screaming. Their cries echo in these shafts.

We scale the building until we see light seeping through cracked windows. The roof.

I shove the door open, and we're engulfed in heat, squinting under the blazing sun. Tristan releases me with a breathless groan, rushing to the metal railing overlooking the majestic water.

The ground stops shaking.

Everything, for a moment, goes completely still.

Surveying the damage, which spreads as far as the eye can see, the toppling buildings, the massive pits in the sand along the shoreline, I approach the railing, too stunned to be concerned with this structure's instability.

An earthquake.

I didn't think there could be words. That is until I notice the water receding, draining the tide. Fishing boars settling on wet sand, stretching out beyond the docks. Spectators still within the resort, like us, gaze out at the sea in awe.

Turns out, there is a word.

"Tsunami," I whisper, squeezing the railing. "Tsunami... Tristan."

His actions moments ago suddenly begin to make perfect sense. This is why he wanted us to get to higher ground.

Exhaling, he glances around us, probably for a place to secure ourselves, but there aren't any. Our only hope is that this two-story building is high enough and strong enough to withstand the impact. Looking down, all I see is pandemonium. People that know what's coming, and those that don't but others are panicking and don't know what to do.

I grab his arm. "We have to help them. They don't know—"

"The staircase is caved in, Genevieve. No one can get up here anymore."

My teeth crush down on my bottom lip to keep my face from breaking, from feeling the full weight of these moments...moments that are probably my last. This is really happening.