THE SECOND WAVE

5.3K 122 4
                                    

The Second Wave was a literal wave: the Others dropped some form of a metal rod from the height of the atmosphere onto one of the earth's fault lines, which then resulted in earthquakes and massive tsunami waves that wiped out all coastal cities on all seven continents. This including several major metropolises such as New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and Los Angeles. Cassie reasons this was because a great degree of the human population lived by the coasts.

———

Lola thought the worse way to die was to drown. You can feel the life slipping from you, and the tightening in your chest from lack of oxygen makes it unbearable.

When Lola was 8 her best friend drowned.

Megan was a great swimmer, much better than Lola, they were at the beach on the first day of summer, they packed a dinner and planned to spend the day. They went into the water and after 10 minutes of playing, Megan got caught in a riptide.

Lola was struggling to stay afloat in the first place and she would have put herself in great danger if she went after her. So she didn't.

She stayed where she was, sputtering out water every time a wave went over her, and watched her friend die. She tried getting the attention of nearby people or the lifeguard but nobody saw for a while. She cried and screamed and thrashed in the water until the lifeguard came over.

The lifeguard was too late.

Lola watched the lifeguard perform CPR on Megan while her Mom and sister approached slowly. Trying to figure out if they were really seeing Lola watch her friend die. A crowd had formed around the three of them but nobody stopped Lola from watching. Megan was announced dead at 3:26 on June 22nd at Mohegan beach.

When the ambulance took Megan's body away Lola screamed until her throat hurt and she couldn't breathe. She felt like she was drowning.

Megan was the first person she watched die, it wasn't the last.

Lola didn't swim after that day. She never went to pool parties or to the beach. She never went to her Lake house and didn't ever dream of it. She would never be stronger than the water no matter how good of a swimmer she was.

Sean didn't feel safe at Lola and Jamie's house. He was worried that the water from the pond could overflow and put them in danger. As many times as Lola explained it to him he still didn't understand. The water from the pond was brackish, meaning it was a mix of salt water and freshwater. The ocean wasn't for miles and if there was flooding it wouldn't be from the ocean.

Lola found herself constantly in the kitchen, sadly that meant that Sean would be there too considering he loved food. The confusing part is that he didn't come to eat the food when he came, we had no food to spare for snacks. Lola always thought that being in the kitchen comforted him, knowing that in that room he could get what he wanted.

Lola's parents stayed out of her bedroom most of the time. They respected her space and didn't like bothering her but the day of the second wave Lola was glad they did.

Her mom didn't knock before she opened the door, but opened it slowly.

"Hey hun, can I sit?"

Lola moved her legs to the side, creating space for her mom to sit.

"How are you? How are you holding up?"

Lola played with her covers, toying with telling her how she really felt. She was scared, she was scared to leave her house. She missed Brittany, and her cheerleading team, and the people who always hung out with the cheerleading teams. She missed going to the movies and she missed going on dates. Even though she hadn't been on one in a while.

"I'm fine, just tired, and anxious"

Her mother caressed her leg, not knowing what to say. Lola was worried she thought she was lying, but she was it wouldn't matter. Nothing could be done about it.

A yell broke the silence. It was Jamie, she ran to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up at the two of them.

"The water from the pond is overflowing! We have to run!"

The two of them shot up, Lola grabbed she had packed for emergencies and ran, hand in hand with her mother. By the time she made it outside along with her mother, father, Jamie, and Sean the water was flowing closer to her patio.

Lola couldn't help but look back every few seconds as she ran. The water was growing bigger and surged.

She could drown in it.

She was even worse of a swimmer than she was on the day at the beach but the water would always be stronger than her. It could pull her under and end her life in less than a minute. No matter how good of a swimmer she was.

The five of them ran down the street, seeing several other families leave their homes as well. The water was getting closer to the streets and had passed all the homes. Lola wondered what it would do to her house.

Sean yelled for them to turn right, towards the town, and they listened. Lola could see her father getting tired and slowing down but Lola grabbed his hand and ran with him.

They ran for what seemed like forever until the reached the entrance of the forest. Wiseye Forest was nowhere near any water and could keep them safe.

They walked, silently, as if there was someone around to hear them. They all followed Sean blindly who walked almost as if he knew where he was going. Lola cut her ankles on low lying branches and tried to ignore the pain. Jamie noticed and wrapped Lola's arm around her shoulders to help her walk.

They reached a clearing where there was only a small wooden cabin. By the looks of it, it was used for hunters, but hadn't been for a while.

Lola's father entered first, then Sean. Her father turned back to the three girls with a hopeful look.

"This may do for now, its safer here than at home"

But what her father didn't understand is that they were never safe. There was always going to be something stronger than them. No matter how much they grew and changed they wouldn't be able to be at the top.

The water will always power over a human. No matter how good of a swimmer you are. The water will end your life in seconds and there's nothing you can do but be afraid.

1048 words
--
I hope the chapters about each wave isn't too boring. I have plans for them to get exciting later on, they will help explain things in the normal chapters. I know very little people are reading this but I still like writing this.

Princess; b.parish (EDITING)Where stories live. Discover now