The Earthquake had struck very quickly. The trio in the hotel were caught by surprise, like the others on the street.
"I almost found something to pry the gadget open." Micky was saying when the building started to shake. "Whoah."
"Whats going on??" Davy asked.
"Earthquake." Chea said. "Find a doorway!"
"Theres only one!" Davy said. "The door out to the hallway. This must be a penthouse suite."
"Get to the door." Micky ordered Chea and Davy. He grabbed the gadget. It wouldnt do them any good to have the only thing to get them out of this time period destroyed by a earthquake.
Davy took Chea by the hand and brought her to the doorway. They quickly braced themselves against the tremors. It seemed to last forever, and it didn't feel like it would be subsiding anytime soon. Micky soon joined them at what room was left at the doorway. As he stood at the door, part of the floor gave way.
"We can't stay here, or we're serious DM!" Chea said. Davy nodded as they found their way to a stairwell. They ran down the stairs to the first floor as quickly as they could. They made it to the door as the tremors stopped. The quake stopped so suddenly, they almost propelled each other down the stairs in front of them.
After steadying themselves they walked down the stairs and surveyed the damage. A lot of buildings were damaged and falling down. They heard a loud crash behind them. They turned to find part of the hotel had fallen down behind them.
"We oughta move!" Davy said.
"Definately." Micky said. He grabbed Cheas hand with his free hand and ran with her.
"Easy!" She hollered. "These clothes are hard to run in."
"Back in the room, you said we would be DM, whats that?" Davy asked as they moved far from the hotel.
"DM. Dead meat."
"Ah."
Peter, Mike and Karen slowly stood after shaking subsided. The damage was unbelievable.
"Wow." Mike said.
"I know. You don't see too much of this in Texas, eh?" Karen asked.
"Everyone ok?" Peter asked.
"I'm fine." Mike said.
"No worse for wear." Karen said. "And I thought just being in 1906 was enough, we happened to stumble onto the day that the great San Fransisco earthquake happened."
"I didn't think it was great." Peter said. Karen looked at her. "You know, great-good, ah nevermind."
"We should find the others. I hope they got out of that hotel in time. It didn't look very earthquake worthy." Karen said.
"How can you tell?" Mike asked.
"Building materials are different in 2001. Now a lot of buldings are made, on the west coast at least, to handle a sizable earthquake." She explained.
"I doubt even high tech bulding material could have saved any building from this quake." Mike observed. Karen nodded.
They walked back towards the hotel. They stopped a block later though.
"Ok, how are we gonna find our hotel in this mess?" Peter asked. "The landmarks are gone."
"Landmarks?" Karen asked.
"Yeah." Peter said. "Like we passed a jewelry store, but its gone now, we don't know where it would have been. We could be going the wrong way and not know it."
"He has a good point." Mike said.
"Maybe she knows where the hotel is?" Peter asked pointing a young lady crossing the street near them.
"Go ask." Mike said. "Hopefully shes local."
Peter walked to the side of the street the woman was on. She was wearing a fancier dress than Karen was wearing, plus she was wearing long boots that had buttons all the up and down the leg. The woman came to a cable car crossing and looked both ways. As she crossed she got the heel of one boot caught in the rail. Peter sighed, and decided to go help her out of the rail. As hebgot to her, he noticed a cable car, empty, was reaching the top of the hill. It reached the tippy top. Peters face turned to shock.
"Oh my god." Mike said from the sidelines.
"I gotta get you out of this ma'am." Peter said to the woman. She turned her head to see what he was looking at. She screamed a shrill scream. Peter thought he almost went deaf, but he knew ne couldnt think about that now. He grabbed the womans ankle.
"We gotta hurry, or we're gonna be San Fran-pancaked." Peter said. "Pull!"
"I'm trying!" The woman said. "We might have to take the boot off."
"We don't have time for all those buttons!" Peter said.
Peter reached down and ripped the material to shreds. The boot came off easily then. With the same ounce of strength, Peter then shoved the woman aside as the cable car went by. The car crashed a couple feet from the curb. The car had only missed them by seconds! The car then jumped its track and hit a small building. The building then collapsed around the car, burying it.
"Oh my god." The woman said as Peter helped her up. "If it were not for you, I would have been killed."
"You're welcome." Peter said. "I'm Peter."
"Olivia." She said. "Though everyone calls me Livvie."
"Its a beautiful name." Peter said.
"Thanks." Livvie said as she picked up her hat. It had been fallen off her head when she and Peter went flying.
She had Black hair, and olive eyes. Her hair had been put up, but the clips that held the hairdo together were hanging off various clumps of hair. She winced in pain as she extended her arm to get her floppy hat.
"Owww." She clutched her left arm.
"Oh my." Peter said. "Did I hurt you?"
"No." Livvie said. "I think I landed on my arm."
"Are you guys all right?" Karen asked.
"I think so. My arm is very much in pain right now." Livvie said.
"We should get you to a hospital, ma'am. If there is one left standing that is." Mike said.
"Thank you." Livvie said. "I know of one a few blocks from here."
"We'll have to walk." Karen said.
Livvie held her arm as they started the climb up the hill. Peter eyed her. He then stopped her and picked her up in a bridal carry. She looked at him.
"You really didn't have to." She said. "Its just my arm thats hurt."
"Better safe than sorry." Peter said.
1968
Brianna walked around the house singing to herself. It had been the first time she had been totally alone in both houses. It had been several hours since she discovered the guys were gone. She was starting to worry
but at the same time, she was enjoying this time alone.
She sat at Peters small piano and sang while eating a little lunch.
"Feel when I dance with you, We move like the sea.
You, you're all I want to know. I feel free, I feel free, I feel free." She got up and went to the door. She went out on the deck. She stood there for a minute before doing down the path to her house.
"I can walk down the street, there's no one there.
Though the pavements are one huge crowd.
I can drive down the road; my eyes don't see,
Though my mind wants to cry out loud."
She walked towards the kitchen with her plate. On her way she almost ran into an open drawer. She sighed, and moved to close it. She put her hand on the drawer handle, but she didnt close it. She looked inside. Brianna then remembered that it was the drawer that the time gadgets were kept in. The original one, and the one that was made out of spare parts. That was was kept for emergencies. The regular gadget, was gone.
"They did go somewhere!" Brianna said. "Why didn't they take me? I may be sick as all get out, but I never wanna miss the chance to go to a new place." She huffed. She coughed a little bit. She almost wished she never dumped the cough medicine down the sink. Almost. She wasnt sick enough to want to buy more of it.
"Fine," She said. "if they want to go somewhere without telling me, then I'm going somewhere without telling anyone!" She stopped, and thought about what she said. There was no one to tell. Where would she go anyway? Babbitt didn't look the neighborly type. She looked at the empty bottle of medicine. She was gonna need something to keep her coughing down. She decided to get dressed and go to the drug store. They must have something good to take, without being nasty. Maybe she can get a magazine too. She put on her only sweater and thick pants, no sense getting sicker, and headed for the door. She locked the door. As she walked down the street, she finished singing her song.
"I feel free, I feel free, I feel free."
