Chapter 183
- Evan -
Even from a distance, we could feel the impact of the barriers as they flickered against the floodline.
Even from this distance, we could feel the impact.
Josh saw it too—the faint flicker of the light pulsing.
His joking tone was all gone as he looked at me, but before he could say a word, I already answered him.
"Yeah."
I said, confirming our worst fears.
We both looked back at the hundreds of people still struggling to move up the incline, jammed in spots, as the massive surge-gate doors began to close slowly.
The crowd started shouting again.
"No!"
"They're shutting it down with all these people still trapped."
With our friends trapped.
Josh splashed forward through the waters, shoving his way up the incline.
"Oh, that's NOT happening today!"
Duke's voice thundered across the streets and crowds.
"RUN!"
A wall of water rose higher, just seconds before it would swallow us.
A frantic tide of bodies clawed and shoved their way up the slope, their desperate strength surging as the heavy doors groaned toward a final, narrow sliver.
When the hole was too small for anyone to crawl through, people pounded their fists against the doors.
People screamed.
"NO!"
"WAIT!"
"WE'RE STILL IN HERE!"
A woman in the back looked in horror, sinking to her knees, in the flooded water. Even up the incline, the water was already at our ankles.
"We have families, children, and the elderly. Someone help us." She prayed.
The doors sealed shut with a deafening clang.
Silence fell over the people, then panic again exploded. They kicked and beat on the doors as hard as they could.
"LET US IN!"
"PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE US OUT HERE!"
"WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"
Josh reached the gate and began to ignite his fist, the hottest I've ever seen it, and sent a beam against the doors. But no luck with cold water on the metal, and splashing against it kept him from making any progress anywhere.
"HEY!"
He shouted at the security cameras mounted along the wall.
"YOU JUST LOCKED OUT HALF THE CITY! "
Waters thrashed against us, nearly at calf level.
I turned back down the incline.
The flood had reached the bottom of the street in white walls, smashing into the buildings below like battering rams.
The faint flickering lights of the girls' barriers were flashing weakly.
Josh sighed as we looked beyond.
"The door isn't the only part of our problems. That barrier won't hold up much longer, and with it comes that massive crocodile demon we must face."
I looked back at all the people screaming and hitting the door.
"What can we do?" I thought aloud.
Then a loud static crackle burst from the speaker mounted above the gate.
Everyone froze.
Static braking through the sound of roaring waters and barely functioning systems.''
"Hello?" The familiar voice spoke. "I can see you on the cameras, but audio is shot here."
We looked up at the cameras.
Josh waved with his arms stretched wide.
"James!"
The speaker buzzed again.
"Yeah. He replied. "I can somewhat read your lips, but I'm not very good at it."
His voice sounded strained, with the faint sound of frantic typing in the background.
Josh pointed at the doors. He tried to gesture with his fist, bringing it together and pulling it apart like he was playing charades.
"Doors... Doors fan... NO, open..." He caught on. "I am already on it."
"THEN OPEN THE DOOR!"
Josh's body language and gestures were as loud as he was. It is almost comical, but right now we don't have the time for laughter and games.
A pause.
James answered.
"I am trying to override the system now. I believe I can hack the doors, but there is a catch! I can only do it once..."
The crowd went silent.
"But listen carefully."
His voice turned serious and calm, but still felt tense somehow.
"This gate is on the city's emergency flood control systems."
More frantic typing echoes through the speaker.
"The moment I override it, the doors will open manually, but the system will immediately flag the breach in the system."
We all tensed with him as he spoke.
"If that happens, the system is made to correct itself and switch to the emergency channel."
The typing stopped.
"And once that happens... I am locked out."
He paused a second.
"That means I will not be able to open the doors again from this network permanently."
A long silence hung over the incline and the people, but not for long, as the waters continued to rise.
I looked back towards the flood, then the gate. I couldn't make the call with our friends still out there.
"DO IT!" Josh shouted up to the camera.
James hesitated. He had to have seen that not all of us were there, including Micah, the only one of us he was closest to.
"If I do this, anyone still outside with it closes... they're done."
He nodded.
Duke stepped forward beside us.
"Open the gate," he nodded as well.
Another pause.
James sighed through the speaker.
"Alright."
I couldn't help the immediate panic beginning to ball up in my throat like a knot.
The hydraulics above the gate suddenly roared to life.
Metal groaned loudly.
The massive doors began lifting again.
The crowd erupted.
"IT'S OPENING!"
"GO!"
The gap widened slowly.
Too slow.
Josh turned to the crowd.
"MOVE!"
People surged forward again.
Climbing the hole before it was fully open.
Josh helped the elderly through the gap as well.
I lifted children to their parents, who trusted them to use them as they jumped through.
The more the gap opened, the more people pushed their bodies through.
Families dragged children through the water.
Others pushed friends ahead of them.
Becky helped two older women step over the gap in the vertical doors.
"Keep going," she shouted. "Make room for others to get through. Get your families to the hospital as soon as possible."
She said, waving more people through.
The waters slammed our legs harder now, up to our knees.
The flood reached the incline and spilled over into District 4.
Dozens, not hundreds, of people continue pushing past.
The hydraulics shuddered in rebellion again.
James's voice returned to the speaker.
"Hurry! The override won't hold much longer. Someone else is trying to override my command in the system."
"Damn it, someone is trying to close us off. This isn't a series of unfortunate events; this is cold-blooded murder!"
Duke looked over at me as he was about to say something.
Then slowly—
It started up again... The doors.
The last few groups ran through the gap, now starting to close back.
A slower middle-aged man who looked like he had just woken up took up the rear.
Josh grabbed him by the pants and shirt.
"HEY!" He shouted in detest.
"Better than being dead, slowpoke." He said, launching him through.
Dukes stood at the edge of the opening, guiding the final civilians further into District 4.
"Keep it moving."
We crossed the gap.
Josh turned back toward the flood.
"We can buy them more time. If we hold the door open like we did before."
"That only spared us a moment," I countered him.
"Every moment counts."
The barrier below finally shattered. A flash of light exploded between the buildings, creating a large ripple in the waters.
The demon croc was coming. My mind raced. Do they need help? Did they lose? My heart pounded out of my chest.