Chapter 177
- Evan -
Josh's cyan wings ignited like twin flames behind him.
"Let's fly!" he shouted.
Duke and Babby didn't hesitate.
Their wings burst open in flashes of pale light, the feathers catching the dim artificial sunrise as they stepped forward, as if the air itself belonged to them.
Micah lifted her hands.
The wind responded immediately.
A spiral of air curled beneath her boots, lifting her lightly off the flooded pavement.
Four of them rose into the air at once.
I watched them launch toward the warehouse roof where the workers stood trapped.
The floodwaters were already swallowing the lower loading docks.
Cars bobbed like toys in the current.
"Come on," I said, turning back to the civilians climbing the incline. "Keep moving. Stay together."
Kaysi helped the older couple from earlier up the last stretch of the road.
Becky guided the teenager and toddler beside her.
James stayed near the back, watching the rising waterline like a hawk.
Above us, Josh landed first on the warehouse roof.
"Hey! If you four want to live, then get over here."
One of the workers nearly fell while running toward him.
Baby landed beside them with quiet grace and grabbed the man's arm to steady him.
Duke touched down next, scanning the surrounding streets like a battlefield commander.
Micah hovered just above the roofline, the wind holding her steady as the storm currents whipped around the building.
"Alright!" Josh shouted. "Evac shuttle time!"
Up on the next street, city district 3, I kept the crowd moving.
"Up the incline!" I called. "Don't stop moving!"
I needed to make space in case the water surged onto the next platform before the doors sealed.
Water was already spilling and surging around our boots and rushing through the lower neighborhood streets like new rivers being carved through the city.
We may need to evacuate to the city in the 4th District.
The emergency doors are closing more and more.
Flashbacks of the last time the massive steel door slammed shut.
James looked toward them.
"If the doors close all the way, the water pressure will double. There is no way they can survive."
"I know..." JOSH KICKS IT INTO OVERDRIVE! "
Josh grabbed the last worker.
Duke lifted one worker and was already halfway to the upper district platform.
Baby is following steadily behind.
Micah guided the third man in the air across the gap, the wind holding them as she carried him through the air.
The man clung to Josh as if his life depended on it. Which it did!
Duke, Baby, and Micah touched down as Josh's wings expanded. He shot through the last bit of the sliding doors like a rocket.
The man immediately tightened his grip on Josh's jacket.
"My daughters!" He said breathlessly. "You saved them!
I slapped Josh hard on the back, throwing him a bit forward.
"Hey!"
"Way to save it to the last minute for dramatics! Glad you're safe."
He blinked and straightened up with a big smile.
"Well, that's one hell of a family reunion."
Down below, the emergency doors were fully locked shut, with the dying sound of the waters once again slamming into them.
Everyone on the upper incline turned to watch.
Some gasped, some cried. Their homes were down there. Gone.
For them, it was their first time; for us, it was the second, and this time everyone made it through, but it wasn't any easier watching hundreds of people lose everything over again.
As we stood there thinking about our next moves, the lights flickered.
The entire street dimmed, then brightened again, and faded dimmer the second time.
James looked up toward the few power towers.
"Each city had its own power source, but the main plant that supplies the rest of the grid is going down. They can only function on what is left. It looks like the city is going into power-savings mode."
"Yeah," I replied quietly to James.
The crowd ahead of us was growing fast now.
Residents from Districts 1 and 2 were now packed along the upper streets.
Then our evacuees started arriving.
Wet, exhausted, panicked. The tension started almost right away.
District 3 resident: "You can't bring all these people up here!"
Civilian of District 1: "Our homes are underwater!"
District 3 resident #2: "This district is already at full capacity."
Civilian of District 1: "The governor sealed the doors shut. Where do you expect us to go!?"
Voices began rising across the barricade lines.
Josh walked over beside me, folding his wings back onto his back.
"Well," he muttered.
"This is going to get ugly."
I watched the crowd carefully.
Fear was shifting.
Not running anymore.
Turning on each other.
And if the power went out completely—
This city was going to fall apart faster than the flood ever could.
The arguing spread like a ripple through the crowd.
Not a riot, not right now.
People were soaked, shivering, clutching whatever they had managed to carry out of their homes. Some held bags. Some carried their children. A few had nothing but the clothing they were wearing.
District 3 residents stood near the barricades with tight expressions.
Their morning had started normally. Until now, when hundreds of strangers enter their street.
District 3 resident: "How did you even expect to just bring everyone up here? There's not enough housing. Where will all these people stay?!"
A woman beside her snapped back immediately.
"My house is 100 feet under water; where do you—EXPECT— me to go?"
Another voice cut through the crowd.
"Where is the governor right now?"
That turned a lot of heads.
Josh folded his arms.
"Here we go," he muttered.
I scanned the crowd instead of answering him.
This wasn't fear looking for direction.
And right now, the city wasn't giving anyone answers.
More evacuees gathered closer behind us.
Micah helped two more elderly people.
Baby and Duke, the angels, moved through the crowd with a strange calm that made people instinctively step aside.
That helped.
For now.
But the tension was still building.
The lights flickered again.
This time is longer.
The entire street dimmed to a dull orange before the emergency light kicked in and stabilized the glow overhead.
A low murmur spread through the crowd.
"What is above us?" James asked someone in the crowd.
Hospitals are where we take the sick. Our markets on this floor were meant to distribute goods made by the warehouses to the other city levels, but now we will be low on resources as well."
"If we are in the markets and the hospitals are above, they may be diverting the energy to life support systems," he said quietly.
"If the flooding continues, what does that mean for those people?" Becky asked.
"It means if they're diverting energy away from anything nonessential, it's going to shut down, and in the worst-case scenario, that means people left in the hospitals may be left behind."
Josh raised a bow. "We have already seen the governor sacrifice a few workers for the safety of many, but will he go far enough to end the lives of many weaker people in the hospitals?"
I would hope not, but we all seem to be we are at the mercy of a sinking ship in the water. At some point, it will be every man for themselves. Let's hope we can make something happen before then. But we will need a miracle.