The cadence of the chopper blades broke the silence.
There should have been sirens, there had been sirens but the mechanical wails that were drowning out the wails of panicked people had long since run down. Batteries only last so long. Horror only lasts so long.
And then came the silence, gravid with the weight of the waiting.
The San Fran Shake had shamed the planet's 1906 attempt, opening the ground in great bites, swallowing heritage homes, main roads, valuable art and priceless lives. The bridge supports slept beneath the water now, the metal cables reaching skyward like revealed ribs of a massive carcass. Only recently had the dust and smoke cleared enough to allow for the air support people could distantly hear.
Taylor had been waiting, directing on the authority of something that was not even human. In the middle of the madness, the Precinct-patrols were unable to contain the mass panic. The best she and what able-bodied Donned could do was to assess and organize the willing. After all, if people were bent on losing their minds, there wasn't much to be done about it except stay out of their way.
The individuals with the devices on their hands had done their best to conserve power, but three days of heavy usage was too much. Two days ago, Seattle had told all precinct-patrollers that Taylor was the Region Commander and had essentially left her to it.
Taylor had no idea why.
Unlike the Precinct-patrol personnel, the Donned, Taylor was untrained in any of these things. Why Seattle had put her under Disaster Response when Taylor wasn't even rostered with the elite group was no small mystery. But the command structure and the voice that had cut through crackling city speakers had been quite clear: Donned were to clear their actions and receive orders from Taylor Forge. So either Taylor said something or did something or none of them would be permitted to act.
What had happened here was far, far beyond a single person or even an elite group of people. So Taylor had spoken with what available personnel there were in a brief meeting through the comms HUD on the hand devices. These people were trained. But it was like anyone taking a first aid course; just because you were trained and knew how didn't mean you were prepared to implement that training.
It had been easy for Taylor to give much of the power associated with leadership away. The woman hadn't wanted it in the first place, certainly hadn't needed it either. She, like everyone else, was in just as much shock by what had happened. The ground was supposed to be solid, steady, the thing that never failed you even when childhood dreams and life partners did.
She was just as prone to the nightmares, when she slept at all.
Don't die.
It would not be long now. The waiting was nearly over.
And then there would be war. Taylor had no idea what it was, but something had changed. The moment she had emerged from the remains of her small apartment building, she could almost smell it. It was more than the smell of smoke that signaled fire eating up worldly possessions, more than the gritty dust clogging her eyes and nose.
The breaking of the silence was just one more thing that whispered to Taylor. Things had changed. And so had she.
Unlike the Precinct-patrol personnel, the Donned, Taylor was untrained in any of these things. Why Seattle had put her under Disaster Response when Taylor wasn't even rostered with the elite group was no small mystery. But the command structure and the voice that had cut through crackling city speakers had been quite clear: Donned were to clear their actions and receive orders from Taylor Forge. So either Taylor said something or did something or none of them would be permitted to act.
What had happened here was far, far beyond a single person or even an elite group of people. So Taylor had spoken with what available personnel there were in a brief meeting through the comms HUD on the hand devices. These people were trained. But it was like anyone taking a first aid course; just because you were trained and knew how didn't mean you were prepared to implement that training.
It had been easy for Taylor to give much of the power associated with leadership away. The woman hadn't wanted it in the first place, certainly hadn't needed it either. She, like everyone else, was in just as much shock by what had happened. The ground was supposed to be solid, steady, the thing that never failed you even when childhood dreams and life partners did.
She was just as prone to the nightmares, when she slept at all.
Don't die.
It would not be long now. The waiting was nearly over.
And then there would be war. Taylor had no idea what it was, but something had changed. The moment she had emerged from the remains of her small apartment building, she could almost smell it. It was more than the smell of smoke that signaled fire eating up worldly possessions, more than the gritty dust clogging her eyes and nose.
The breaking of the silence was just one more thing that whispered to Taylor. Things had changed. And so had she.
