Swept Away

The sky was bright. The wind blew across the square. The sun shone straight at the center fountain, yet it was as cool as the most secluded shade.

The children playing were walled within invisible rails rooting from a pre-marked circle, about fifty feet in diameter, on the ground. Their parents surrounded them outside of the boundary. They chased, they fired their equally invisible space blasters at each other, they got frozen when they were shot and only resumed play seven seconds later. The almost cartoonish sound effects of explosions and lasers gave the hint to those who passed by. One called the shots, the others bargained and questioned if the metaphorical projectile managed to hit or not.

“Do you remember this?” Kevin tore off a bit of his slice of cake with his teeth.

“Yeah. Nine, ten years ago.” Irene treated herself with a decent bite. “I don’t let up in that circle.”

“Easy for you to say. I won’t forget about the days where I had to save you from being bullied by those fat kids.”

She smiled. “The mom was nice, I found out. Brought us cake and candy.”

“I brought the knuckle sandwich!”

Irene laughed as he caught a piece of cake in his windpipe but managed to cough it out.

“You’re no better than what I fared.” She giggled. “Don’t die.”

“Nah, I came through.” He took a sip out of his drink.

“I respect your opinion.”

She dug into her pants pocket, and unearthed a small metallic cube. Four sides were empty. One inscribed with the manufacturer and the product’s name. She had it sat on a blue carbon fiber table, and double-tapped the only side with a circle that housed a projector within. A white line surrounding the lens enclosed itself in a circle before the engine inside warmed up. The logo lit up. The picture floated faintly a few inches above it, before she tilted the display so that its edge barely touches the shaft of the umbrella, when the image was restored its full color.

It was the footage of a beach visit. Her friend looked very much the same back then, albeit slightly shorter. Both of them and the couple shared the shade from the canopy, though Alex and Angel were merely friends at that time. The video only contained three people and the first-person views of Irene.

Kevin ran out of the shadows for a swim when the waves are coming in. He rushed to it, before completely throwing himself into the oncoming water.

“You totally should join me!” The sixteen-year-old hollered from the sea as her vision strained to focus on the glimmering reflected from the sun. “This is amazing, I mean, screw the weather!”

“You need a floater? You’re drowning in your own ego.” Irene projected her voice.

This remark was met with a chuckle from Alex.

“Uh… No. I don’t know how to answer yes.” He struggled to keep his voice above the waves.

The water on him receded, and it started to bubble.

"Run! Get out of the water! Head up, head up!"

Alex and Angel sprung up, and picked up some of their possessions before standing still in wait.

The image in front of her shook violently as she hurried to where the sea once sat. Irene yanked him out of the water, where she retracted her arm and turned around to head upstream. Alex slacked Angel over his shoulder as Irene secured him by the shoreline before tossing a shirt back, in which Irene caught. He could feel Angel’s arms warming up against his shoulder, though he paid no mind to it specifically.

They took the sack which contained a small vial of cough syrup and a few wallets when the pair that were closer to sea passed by their makeshift tent.

They abandoned it. Beside them were approximately a dozen people who took note of them among some 80 beachgoers. Some ran after them. Some simply stared.

No sound of the sea so far, but they kept pace.

They made it to the end of the strip of beach after what must be twenty minutes. A street of asphalt led to a backdoor of a mall two stories high. They ran up the moving walkway, and pulled the heavy door open. Through sparse crowds the four loomed over windows on the side of the complex facing the beach. It was barely distinguishable, having hidden behind a column of trees planted on the side of the road.

Alex held onto who would later be his girlfriend throughout the run.

"Thanks?" Angel blushed at an impulsive thought.

"Absolutely." He pursed his lips together after a slight nod.

Alex lowered her to the ground gently. She recovered her footing before attaching herself to him.

"Is there someway I can help you?" He found himself oddly delighted.

"No… not really." Her frame wrapped itself around his right arm. "I think— I think— I need a minute."

"Any type of minute." He held her again.

"Crap. It's coming this way." The comment Kevin made prompted the newly-minted couple to suspend the indulgence.

The water far, far in the distance came at a roar, as if a hurricane whipped up a village next door. The waves climbed twenty feet in the air as it steadily approached the bay, overwhelming the sea walls the instant it struck. The muffled pandemonium was covered shortly by the advancing water. It's madness one second, deafening silence the next.

Irene covered her mouth.

"Holy moly, how many you think—"

He was interrupted by a crowd of shoppers who stopped their activities to come close to the window in curiosity. The four moved closer to the window, and the sector virtually stood still to watch the event unfold.

The water splashed against the brick curb separating the beach from the rest of the city, creating foam in the air while a steady stream of water flowed into the street. The wave slowed, yet it was still quite a few feet deep. Tiny steel seawalls rose out of the side to control the flow.

"Attention shoppers - Due to extreme weather conditions, the exits are now sealed to protect the mall. Business will continue as usual. There is no immediate danger, but please refrain from leaving until the situation clears up. We thank you for your patience." The voice of an enervated mall manager announced the shutdown.

“Looks like we’re not getting out of here any time soon.”

The hall was filled with the collective ahs from the surprised patrons. The frothy waves blanketed the street completely. The water the color of mud splashed up and down as it flows over the concrete flower pots on the side of the road.

All of them watched in absolute awe as the ground beneath them was swept away.

"I don't know how will I go home. Taxis won't land.” Angel’s voice shook.

“Well, of course, because it’s the sudden shock and the sealing mechanism. That thing could fail, right?” Kevin shot him a look.

"We'll work this one out." Alex found himself tugging her closer to himself by her bare shoulder.

“Plenty awful. It’s not gonna go— like in hours. It might not go at all. Just a heads up." Kevin held a grim prospect. "Screw it, let's attempt to call one anyway."

"That's the only way to get out of this, I'll concede." Irene sighed. "I'll give it a check."

She dug on her pockets.

"Can we call any of them?"

"That all depends if the airwaves is up," Alex requested. "Irene, does the headlines say it's blocked off?"

"It says ‘Just In - Southern California struck by massive ‘flash flood.” Her arm was the focus of this current picture. "'Certain ground-level services disrupted."

"Alright."

Kevin's finger made a swift circle on the film, which transitioned the display into a confirmation screen for a Taxi call.

Calling Airlift Taxi. Do you wish to modify this?

Leave as is. Change settings. Cancel altogether.

He tapped the first option.

Thank you for your flag-down. Your ride should commence in about three minutes. Some flood you got there, stay safe!

Restrictions applied onto your impending ride

Within California, less than six passengers, no heavy carriage.

"Oh?" The film's processor oscillated on her arm.

Ongoing update for flood 4/29/96 - 1453 - Santa Cruz mayor announces state of emergency for county, relief operations will begin immediately. Current tally: 53 in various degrees of injury, at least thirty missing, six fatalities since twenty minutes of its impact. Local relief teams, helmed by the grassroots Bearist Association of California, are reportedly rushing to affected areas from across the state.

"I think local has an update. Take a listen."

Irene tapped play on the attached media. She slid from the top-right of the display, and filled the box for "Sync to All Nearby Friends".

Anyone in the party can control playback that syncs back to the rest. Disable with the settings pane. Exit at any time by either pulling out your plug or by tapping the display.

All four pairs of wireless earphones started to pulsate white in unison and audio is routed to all four systems.

"I don't think anyone has seen that one coming." A cheesy shocked tone was upset by the cheerful tones you would associate with a morning show from the female anchor. “And for those who had to resettle on the waterfront, they have just lost yet another home. Unbelievable.”

"No, no one, and this one is the most widespread." The male co-anchor resounded.

"For those of you tuned in on the go and are trapped or in danger, do not hesitate to call the National Emergency Relief Aid Line. Operators nationwide will connect you to the appropriate rescue units to get you out of there. Those on your wrists you should see it popping up on your display. Remember, government units and local volunteers will be headed your way. If you see people in light blue life vests, those are Bearist Emergency Relief volunteers, we’ve been told. Wave to them and do whatever to call attention to yourself.”

And sure enough, it did for the four of them.

"Yes, it is always important for you to stay indoors until the situation is dealt with. There will always be a risk of relapsing when you're out and might face danger."

"Alright, this is boring and unhelpful." Kevin scrubbed the playhead until it mentioned traffic conditions. The headsets jumped to the new point at once.

“The Bearist Association of California has reportedly vowed, in a press release, its largest relief program in the association’s history. More details to follow on that in a bit. Moving on to traffic. Traffic out of the county is likely to suffer, of course," The male anchor read out of a cheat sheet. “National Traffic Authority director Steven Keegan has ordered that all traffic in the state be prioritized for rescue operations and humanitarian relief. Sync Metro California has been ordered to operate at a high capacity, despite protests from the California Department of Transportation that it has not been consulted on the matter.”

"And there we go." Kevin pushed pause. "I think it's apparent what our solution would be."

“The line for this train will truncate at Hilton Heights.” The public address announcement from the train caused the four to dart up at the speaker.

Angel whispered something into Alex’s ear with a concerned look that turned into an inaudible giggle.

Alex muttered something back to her, and both turned against one another, with Angel smiling out of the window. Her left clutching on the skirt while the right grabbed his arm shyly.

He threw his other arm around her, and he darted at her to catch her. She seemed to have felt his hand against her waist, and she turned to him and squeezed whatever smile she could to pretend to be normal, yet she couldn't hold in her actual feelings. Alex chuckled at her and gave her a smile before turning away and looked out the window himself.

The soaking below them tapered out as the train left the affected area into complete safety as rescue helicopters and aid vehicles went the opposite direction outside. The state seemed so much smaller.

Sync Metro

Irvine Intersection Point

Closest to Alex Fritz’s home. More info.

Detected through offline transcription. Disable this. This is inaccurate.

The whooshes came in as the hydraulic doors displaced from the carriage while the train came to a halt into the station. The sun peeked out of the clouds for illuminate the station.

A 45-second timer began ticking down to signal the time limit they have.

“Well,” Alex tugged her hand as they both rose. “Time to go.”

Kevin and Irene stared at the clasped hands, then their faces, which seem to be unaware of their collective reflex actions, then at each other. They broke into laughter, in which they quickly silenced.

“Have a great time!” Irene waved. “You gotta call us, okay?”

“A memorable one! Stay safe out there!”

Alex knew that they noticed. His grip on her hand tensed up. Angel’s expression looked like she was holding in a scoop of honey.

The display in the cabin turned red as the beeping signaled ten.

“See you in a bit.” Angel smiled.

The doors close just as they got off. The train managed to offer just enough time for the two remaining to look outside.

Alex held her by both arms, then he pulled her a little closer. They managed to catch a glimpse of their first kiss before everything turned into a blur beyond the window.

“Oh wow.” Kevin laughed. “That was swift.”

“I think they have a long time coming.”