[IC] Chapter 1: The City has Fallen

Konstatos was working in the State University of Gardassia Central Nuclear Laboratory, down in the sub-basement, when he heard sirens sounding distantly above the ground level, fifty feet above him. The sub-basement shielded civilians from any potential radiation problems. It also shielded Konstatos from the thermobaric weaponry that was deployed against the civilians.

When the lights switched over to battery backup, Konstatos secured his equipment and shut down the fuel cell quality check process. He looked around the lab and grabbed the first three useful things he saw.Then, hesitantly, he checked in with his coworkers. He hadn't really been close to them in the past year. His foreign education had made him a suspect in the gathering political storm. Now, everyone knew the Severnans were invading. Konstatos' co-workers just looked at him silently when he asked whether they should go see what had happened, whether they could help.

Katerina had had a terrible day. Her heel had broken, she was late for work, and she struggled through the morning hoping her regular walk in the park at lunchtime would brighten her mood. Plopping on a bench, she had received a message from her best friend Ioanna. She wanted to go out and the thought appealed. Katerina excitedly had responded that she hold meet Ioanna after work and get to her side of town. Despite having a good time, around 0:30 Katerina’s mood dropped. She wasn’t really feeling up to the rest of the evening and as Ioanna had come to her to tell her that the group were going on to another club, Katerina declined. Grabbing the keys to Ioanna’s basement studio, Katerina hurriedly walked back to rest and unwind on Ioanna’s sofa.

When the first explosions happened, Katerina, in a deep sleep, thought she was dreaming. As the building began to shake and crack like thunder, all she could do was sit panicked in the dark until after the end of the torment. Frozen to her spot on the floor she could hear practically nothing but the occasional thump of heavy things hitting the floor - she would later discover this was rubble from the nearby buildings.

It took a long time for her to brave pushing open the door past the debris and putting her head outside to see the carnage that awaited her.

The sirens were what tore her from her unsettling dreams. First the sirens, then the shaking.
Maeve awoke in her own bed. Drowsy she glanced at the radio clock beside the opened bottle of red label scotch on the nightstand. 2 a.m. She had barely slept for three hours.

Lena. Lena had told her to go home. Told her to sleep. It had been a rough couple of days and Maeve had been spent. Lena said, she would take care of the bar.
Lena.
Maeve subconsciously reached for the small silver medal around her neck.
Another siren.
Lena?

The woman got up and looked out of the small bedroom window that usually was a natural light source to the subterranean apartement. She grabbed a pair of jeans, shirt, jacket. Maeve put on her boots. What was happening?

Lena.
She had to get to Lena.

As she was about to leave, she thought of the tape. She had promised. Mave went back into the small kitchen. Another window showing a stretch of dark pavement. She bent down to reach the drawer....when she saw the balls of fire from the corner of her eye and suddenly ...

...the world ended.

Dan was buried deeply in ledger sheets for one of his troublesome clients. The pressure to cook the books was a constant occurrence and double-checking the supporting documents was always a chore because this particular client often altered the documents. He was thus engrossed when he felt a compression wave. It felt like a thwump! He was so focused on analyzing numbers that he only looked up from the screen. Then he heard louder bangs and explosions and pushing his chair back alarmed he immediately booked it to the basement where all the archives were stored.

It was cool and comfortable down there but his anxiety was getting the better of him. Smoothing his dark brown, medium-length hair, he started to pace as he punched his wife's number into the phone. He knew there was unrest in the city....

"Dammit!" Dan tapped at the screen of his phone a few times as if it would help matters. His anxiety was at an all-time high as he rushed up from the basement frantically fighting with the basement door on the way up which clued him into the fact that the building itself was probably badly damaged.

Maybe it's the basement blocking the signal, Oh god I hope they are alright.

As he felt his way up the now darkened stairway his hands gliding along the cheaply papered wall, he kept seeing his family in his mind's eye and that terrified him.

Once safely at the top of the stairs, a thick haze floating around the hallway made it difficult to see anything clearly but he could just make out the double glass door exit ahead. Dense smoke blocked his view of the outside but only for a second as it slowly cleared, perhaps displaced by a puff of wind. He tentatively stepped outside, sniffed the air and scanned the area as far as he could given the clouds of dust and smoke and piles of rubble.

"Maeve? That you? What's going on? Does your cell phone work? Dan taps his phone again already knowing it would be futile and sees Katarina and Konstantinos together a few yards away. "Come on, there's Katerina and Konstantos."

Her head swam with the overwhelming destruction of it all. None of this was real, a dream. But the biting chill of reality forced Katerina on through the maelstrom. Oddly framed in the orange wash glow of the night was Konstantos, a strange beacon of normality.

Dr Amapis?
Whe…wha… Katerina stammered, it a spurge of gibberish. She had wanted to ask what had happened. She had even thought of asking if they were dead. All manner of questions that would have been right to ask but for which there was no reason Konstantos would know the answer. Instead she managed Why?

Voices from behind Katerina had stirred further from her stupor. She whispered under her breath Maeve,..Mr Hicksman

"Uh," Konstantos says uncertainly. "Katerina?" he looks around in the hellish glare of the burning wreckage. "We should probably get away from here," he says, "or ... maybe bombs don't fall twice?" He laughs anxiously.

Maeve followed to the small group of familiar people. She nodded in greeting. For a few moments, she just stood there. She put the crowbar she had grabbed somewhere on the way down, leaned it against her boot. Then she reached in her pocket and took out a cigarette. After a few drags she absent-mindedly wiped away some of the blood over her left brow with her hand.

"Sure. I need to get to the bar." It wasn't far. Maeve needed to see whether ....there was anything to see. She needed to know. Nothing else mattered right now.

The woman lifted the prybar, turned in the familiar direction and started walking again.

"I have to find my family. The cell towers must be shot, maybe literally. Oh my god this isn't real. Can't be happening." Muttering away, shaking his head in disbelief he follows the others for lack of anything better to do. His family would be on the other side of town if they were still ......

No! He wouldn't give credence to that thought by forming the words.... and he'd never get to them the way things looked at the moment.

Konstantos touches the hammer tucked through his canvas belt. He's still wearing his lab coveralls, he hadn't taken time to put on regular clothes. Now the working clothes are all he has, perhaps. He stares at the drone, trying to decide what to do. "Let's leave," he blurts out anxiously. "We don't want to find out what this drone does."

Katerina had pulled out her phone. Desperately she tried to message Ioanna. Where the hell was she?

I live on the other side of the city. Maybe it’s safe there? It would be a long walk but the promise of a hot shower and a warm bed after this evening would be to tempting to give up. After all, what ever had happened was probably just around here.

Severnans. Damn. So that's what was happening.
Later they'd have to think about their next steps.
Now people could still be saved.
"Leave then." Maeve said and walked towards what was left of her establishment. She could still taste dust and soot on the air, smell the burning ... things. As she got to the rubble, the woman tried to assess who could be helped. Maybe Lena had gotten away in time? Maybe somebody had seen her?

She heard the bzz bzzz a little distance away. She grabbed the crowbar a little tighter.

"I'm coming with you, Katerina. Maybe you're right. Maybe the other side of the city is ok."

Dan was also thinking that maybe there would be a working cell tower along their route. Or even a few, and maybe, just maybe this really was an isolated event. But the drone seemed to suggest otherwise and that sent chills down his spine.

Rubbing his hand over his hair, he noticed particles of ash flutter down gently to the ground. It was surreal, all of this was, and he realized his head must be covered in ash and dust. He hadn't noticed.

"Come on," he said to Konstantos, "Let's follow Katerina." Maeve he didn't care about. Self-preservation had kicked in. That and the thoughts of saving his family.

"Yeah. Sure. You said it yourself, the cell towers are shot. No reception. No information. Does this sound like it is a local thing to you?"

Maeve sighs, then hesitates for a moment, then moves backward close to the group of acquaintances. Although everything in her screams to just run towards the flames, she moves and hopes the red dot will disappear as she gains distance. Desperately she looks at the wreckage all around her.

"The Severnians have been gathereing troops at the borders. The president told us this might happen. What do you think this is then, hey? We're at f*** ing war!" The distraught woman tastes a bitterness in her mouth again. She looks at the others, standing there wide eyed - ready to flee. What about the people they were leaving behind, without even trying to help? What about Lena?

"Look. You don't know me very well. But you know Lena. She might be alive in there, as might be others. She is a good person. So are you.
You don't know me very well, but let me tell you - I don't ask for help - ever.
But now - I'm asking."

Her voice gets smaller, breaks at times. She feels like everything is dissolving around her.
"What if it was your family? Please help me help those people over there. Help me save them - maybe save Lena. I need to know if she's alright, or if ..."

She looks at the floor. gathers air twice then continues in a calmer fashion:
"I can help you. I'll come with you, fight alongside you, help you get to your families - but now - please help me get to mine. We have to stick together, if we want to survive this." Maeve looks at each of them. "The time will come - you'll be the one who needs help - please don't just turn a blind eye now. We can attack this thing, we can distract it or hide and wait it out. But if you walk away now, you might save your skin, but you doom everybody else and you hand over the key to these murderers."

I will help you Maeve but be calm. Let’s just all move to different parts of the street either alone or as pairs. Then we can slowly walk to your bar. It only gets our attention when we are in a group. Katerina whispered carefully under her voice.

Katerina addressed the drone. Ye-yes sir. We are going. With that she began to move over to the side of the street as calmly as she could, wincing at every footstep has the click of her heel she felt drew her more attention.

"Ah fuck," Konstantos says abruptly, and he wrenches out his hammer and hurls it at the drone.

Dan only has a flashlight which may prove to be very important later, bandages, and some canned food. He grabs a can and flings it at the drone. Being the athlete of sorts that he is who stays in shape at the gym, his reflexes kick in as he prays that his aim is strong and true.

Maeve remembers getting her wisdom tooth pulled out. The feeling immediately afterwards has been somewhat similar to what she's feeling right now. Like the world has been packed in cotton or put inside of a snow globe. The world is muted. The world moves slowly.
Maeve blinks.
A part of her shocked brain signals for her to get away frantically, but it does not quite reach the rest. She looks at the beeping, blinking thing. What has just happened? Has she been shot? Has this been the plan? What about...
Away, she has to get away.
Confusedly and awkwardly she tries to bring distance between her and the bleepy blinky murdery thing. Maeve snickers. There is a warm wetness on her cheek. She has to get away before she falls apart. Cover. She has to find cover before...

Katerina felt the slump of an injured Maeve drop on top of her. Seeing that she had not quite made it, Katerina attempted to pull Maeve further in to the hole with her and shield her from that mechanical monster.

Seeing the bomb crater is full of Meave and Katerina, Konstantos runs away from the drone and dives for cover behind some rubble. He knows these things often are designed to spray up a cone of shrapnel when they're disabled, in order to dissuade people tinkering with them. At a horizontal distance and behind a ruined wall, he should be safe.

At first, Dan is thrilled to see that his shot actually hit home but when he sees the red blinking lights his fight or flight response kicks in, and being the athlete he is he can move unexpectedly fast. At least that's what he is hoping when he sprints towards anything that could potentially shield him from whatever the drone plans to do from its new position on the ground. Maybe it has a self-destruct explosive device on board.

"Aghh! help! I think I'm hit with something. Debris from the drone. Help!"

Dan crawls out from cover and limps over to the group as he clutches his bleeding leg, gritting his teeth in obvious pain. "I need help. Who knows first aid?

"I know a bit about first aid," Konstantos says - but his voice sounds doubtful. He looks at Dan's leg in the flickering orange light of the burning buildings. "Do you feel anything jammed into your leg? It's looking like a nasty gash, but if you don't have anything embedded in it, we can wrap it to stop the bleeding. Not too tight, not a torniquet, just a pad with pressure." He looks around. "Do any of us have any spare cloth?"

Maeve blinks a few times before she realizes she is still there, still whole. And also...she is pretty much hanging on to poor Katerina for dear life. She loosens her hug and looks at the young woman. "Thanks. I owe you." Her glance is sincere. She will not let Katerina come to harm if she can help it.

Maeve pushes herself up, then looks at the men. "There used to be a first aid kit in the bar. Let's be quick about it. You're right we shouldn't linger." She looks at the sky, where the flare had signalled to the enemy, then at what's left of the building. The groggy woman walks towards it.

"Yeah, I think, let me see." Beads of sweat are now rolling down Dan's forehead. He might be going into shock. He examines his leg, keeping the weight off of it as much as he can. "No, I think it passed through and I think I might be going into shock. I'm freezing."

He hears Mauve mention something about a first aid kit in the bar and tries to limp in that direction. "Someone help me get to the bar, will ya?"

"Got something to sterilize your wound and the bandages with." Maeve feels defeated as she walks towards Dan. Maybe it is good there is no trace of her partner. At least there's still hope. Hope. A concept just out of reach in this moment.

"Is there a medic among you?" she asks the bystanders.

Katerina was feeling numb. This was the worst kind of dream. So many people hurt, so much destruction. The tears had already begun to stream down her cheeks. With no little naivety she returned to Dan and Maeve with little to offer in help.

I’ve got some painkillers

"Whew, I am really glad to hear that Maeve. I am not ready to bleed out and die just yet. I have a family to find. And I'll take any painkillers on offer too, Katerina. If you can help me get to someplace out of all this commotion and smoke we can at least patch me up and plan the next moves."

Dan groans as he tries to move his leg.

"I'll take those painkillers, thanks. But I think we need to hustle away from here and to someplace with some semblance of safety if such a thing exists right now. Hopefully, I can move quickly enough and not hold everybody back. But I don't feel so great so I need to get someplace where this injury can be treated and maybe get some antibiotics from a drugstore somewhere before infection sets in."

His head was now pounding, and he was sweating profusely. He was clearly struggling but still trying to put on a brave face. He was just an accountant for chrissakes. What the hell was happening?

"Wrap my leg would ya Katerina, before I bleed out?"

"Ahh much better." The painkillers have started kicking in and now all Dan can feel is a dull, thudding, much milder pain, kind of like a fullness in his leg that hurts a little.

Katerina was frantic with looking. This was a nightmare and the sounds of terror through the night we’re getting to her. Approaching the now destroyed drone with care, she bent over it to take a closer look. If she could find anything, maybe Konstantos would know of it.

"Katerina," Konstantos says anxiously, touching the younger woman's elbow tentatively, "we must get out of here. Danger will come for that flare." He looks past her at the device she's examining. He knows a bit about technology, and specifically recalls some things about the research that his buddy Anton was doing at Universtat Severnapol.

"I may only be an accountant," Dan says as he limps along, "but it seems to me that we should get as far away from the beacon as we can, or plant it somewhere nowhere near us, and quick!"

"I very much agree," Konstantos agrees. "Should we ... where ... does your family - I mean ... " his demeanor demonstrates panic setting in.

Maeve finds that following any rational train of thought is hard. She feels her thoughts racing while at the same time she feels stuck and every new idea feels incomplete, not fully formed or thought through. What is happening? Usually she is able to stay composed, even if everything around her falls apart. Standing here right now, however, surrounded by desperation and debris, Maeve feels ... overwhelmed.

She looks left and right, looks at the little crew of survivors. Safety first - proper strategy later.
Maeve walks towards Dan, puts his arm around her shoulder and supports him in a way that will prevent further strain on his injured leg. Being tall is definitely an advantage. "Let's scram. The military camp will be a natural target, I think. They might have a place for the survivors, but there will be fighting and who knows if we can leave again... Best head for the hills and find shelter there, or the burbs. Maybe we can find an old school radio and see what's what." To Dan she says: "Where are your folks? We could hide and rest up a bit on the way. Let's get going while we still can."

"My family....." Dan drifts off for a moment, a spacy look in his eyes. "Just over the rise there."

He waves in the general direction of there, which of course no one can see due to the particles of debris and dust hanging like clouds across the landscape.

"Hills yes. That makes sense. Thanks."

Dan hitches an arm around Maeve's waist and limps along. The pain is better but he is still feverish and in need of better care.

Konstantos walks with Katerina - he hopes she's coming!, following Maeve. "Hills sound good," he says. His voice shakes.

Abruptly, he darts back to grab his hammer - he sees it lying on the ground, over there.

"Could be some kind of resistance maybe. Let's wait and see what they do. Might help us figure out who they are or at least what side they are on. The drone could prove useful if they happen to be on our side. Everyone agreed?"

Dan sits down slowly and stiffly, grunting at the pain in his leg.

As long as neither of you decide to throw things at them, I am sure we will be fine. But let’s be careful.

I found some food. We should eat and rest a little. I have some water to share as well.

Maeve wraps her arms around herself more tightly and snuggles into the fabric of her jacket's collar some more. She sits on the floor, back against the wall. She feels spent. Their situttion feels hopeless at this moment. Everything important is gone. And now some makeshift combatants come to raid what's left - which doesn't seem to be a lot.

Maeve nods in Dan and Kat's direction, then listens to the commotion outside. What language are they speaking? Is there anything she can make out?

Dan smirks at Katerina's comment. "It was a reaction in the moment. What can I say? So guys? We should tend to ourselves first I think. Otherwise, we will be useless out there. We have some sort of shelter. Like Katerina said, lets eat, rest and make a solid plan."

Having an analytical and ordered mind, Dan would have liked a fully fleshed-out plan before they made a move. But in his current state and with the immediate landscape being a horror show, that would be hard to do, and all this had the added effect of making him even more anxious than he already was.

Konstantos realizes that he has no food or water to refresh himself. Neither does he have his stash of weed. As these realizations rise in his mind, his hands begin to tremble and a twitch starts under his right eye. "Guys ..." he says wearily, "this sucks." He has nothing more to contribute.He looks around, hoping he can at least find a sip of water from someone in this rubble.

"Hey," Konstantos says hesitantly, running his hand over his shaggy hair, "anyone got a bottle of water or something?"

"I have some canned food. One got thrown, not sure what I have left. Let me look. No water though." Dan moves his injured leg by mistake and suppresses a howl.

I found some food earlier and I have this bottle of water. We must rest up as Maeve and Dan are hurt. Katerina placed the items in the center of the group. Standing up she made for the entrance.

Maybe I can find some more things - like a decent pair of shoes. Heels aren’t great for all this running. she forced a laughter to try to lighten the mood. I’ll be back soon.

Konstantos reluctantly dipped his fingers into the can and swallowed a couple of mouthfuls of white beans in tomato sauce. Then he passed the can to Katerina.Looking up, he sees the teenagers lurking on the old man. "Hey!" he says forcefully, hand on his hammer. "That stuff's not yours."

Konstantos gets up abruptly and a little shaky, anger or withdrawal hard to say. Gripping his hammer firmly, he moves quickly toward the teens. "Leave the old fellow alone," he says with his annoyed professor voice.

Dan ignores the commotion. He is hardly in any condition to do anything useful and rather wishes Konstantos would have done the same. Now all they have done is brought attention to themselves and their "hideout."

He feels bad for the old man but there were bigger things to feel bad about.

"Aw shit I'm out of cans." How Dan managed to make a sort of joke at a time like this totally baffled him. "Well I can't run but you guys can and maybe you should in different directions to split them up."

Konstantos looks to see if the armband people are carrying weapons. He tries to remember whether he knows who the Gregor Dubek guy was before this stuff went down.

Grant looks closely at the armbanded people and wishes he wasn't injured. "I ... I can't. My leg, I'll hold you all back. Maybe I can be a decoy for a bit and they might go easy on me since I am injured while you get away and follow the kids."

Wishful thinking at best, he figured he didn't have much to lose at this point. He couldn't do much incapacitated as he was. Maybe he could offer free accounting services to whoever this rebel band was. It was worth a shot and maybe buy him time and an in until he had a better plan.

I don’t think we should split up. Konstantos maybe if we can find a piece of board or something in this rubble quickly we could make a stretcher? I’m not very strong but if we can just make it to a new hiding place for a while we could try it.

Katerina pushed herself at the bottom of the stretcher and threw herself forward. They had to make it, they had to.

I don’t want to die.

"Oh my God could we just find a place so I can rest my leg!"

Dan knew Konstantos and Katerina we're doing their best but at one point he thought he would topple out of the stretcher.

Seeing the soldiers in their familiar uniforms helped Maeve push away some of the fog that had settled over her spirit, dampening the surroundings and all that is happening around her. She finds herself sighing in relief, though she knows there is no relief to be had just yet. Still there are others, there are people left - her people, the little group of survivors, and lots of other Gardassians clinging to life.

There is a bunker, there is help - maybe some form of resistance. She takes her place next to Katerina and Konstantos, crowbar tucked inside her jacket. "LEt's go then. Tell me if any of you want to switch for a while." Her head still hurts. Maeve licks over her cracked, dry lips. She has to help get these people to safety, has to watch out for her group.

"Oh thank God! Thrilled that he would be in friendly hands and maybe even stitched up to boot, his disposition became hopeful.

"Hey can you guys find out if my fmaily is ok? What extent is the damage in the city and can you send other soldiers out to find people?"

"But my wife! My kids! Please. let me see this colonel." He was both elated at finally getting treatment and disappointed that help for his family might be hard to come by.

Dan reflexively jumps at the explosion and cries out in pain. "God Dammit!"

Beads of sweat dot his forehead as he grips the sides of the makeshift stretcher.

Maeve tries her best to keep up and stay with her friends.