Age of Monsters by John Schneider (books to read for self improvement .TXT) 📗

to continue, had burst into helpless tears.

Rosa had almost laughed – in the face of the world literally exploding around them, it was at once absurd, yet at the same time, the thought nearly brought tears to Rosa's own eyes – the tiny, helpless little thing – a much-loved pet that depended on you for everything – frightened and wondering where to find you when the end came.

And then throw in the fact that a cat was apparently all this young girl had.

On the other end, there was the kid – the security guard – 'Jeremy' – also with an identifying name-tag – Rosa could tell he was just dying to save the day.

“No,” he had told her, when Rosa asked, “they wouldn't let me carry a gun.”

Mostly, he simply moved around a lot – evidently from an urge to be proactive – he just didn't have a clue what to do.  So instead, he burned all that energy pacing back and forth in the small space.   He seemed to hover over the rest of them, like a self-appointed guard dog – an attentive fox-terrier.

He had also expressed particular concern over Nurse Julie – who had rolled her eyes in Rosa's direction.

Rosa sighed.  Men were always men.

The quietest member of their little group – excepting a few loud bouts of morning sickness – was Bud's lady companion, Allison.

She was an attractive woman, albeit in a hardened, dangerous way.  Rosa couldn't guess her age – she bore the sort of dark circles under her eyes that would make a nineteen-year-old look forty.

Of course, being pregnant didn't help.  Rosa recalled her own uncharitable thoughts right before she'd learned the woman had saved her life.

Still, Rosa had seen a lot of the type – trashy and knocked-up – the kind that brought all the drama.  It wasn't surprising she would be cool in a crisis – she probably wasn't afraid of a fist-fight in a bar, either.

And they always seemed attended to by a certain type of guy – usually after a long line of the other kind.

Rosa felt a moment's pity for the man who sat beside her – the one not responsible for those dark circles – but who would certainly be paying for them.

Rosa had seen a lot of Bud's type too.

She wondered, but did not ask if he was the father.

Cynical, she thought.

But she supposed it was something to think about – better that, than the reality around them.

Because the reality was, pretty soon they were going to die here.

In all the disasters Rosa had worked – even in hurricanes, even in the floods – even war-zones – she had operated out of protected areas – always just a chopper-flight away from safe-ground, far away from demilitarized madness.

This was something different.  There wasn't even any direction they could reasonably go.

The bombing raids alternated with missile strikes.  There was no effort to preserve the architecture – the city was a total loss – they were just trying to take the beasts down.

From the bottom of the collapsed basement of the garage, they couldn't see much of the battle – they didn't know how many planes – how many creatures – or even what effect the missiles had on them.

And somewhere in the middle, Rosa wasn't sure if the behemoths weren't just killing each other as well.

At least one plane had crashed within their view – almost right above them.  There were monsters in the sky as well – nothing they could clearly see – but things that were bat-winged and very BIG.

The jet had landed nearly on top of them – it sounded like it hit the tarmac somewhere beyond the neighboring block.  In the garage, they could smell smoke from burning fuel.

That had been on the last day of the bombings.

All at once, the air-campaign ceased.  The military retreated.

And whether that was cause or effect – Rosa wasn't sure which came first – whatever had hit the city, seemed to have receded as well.

Just as abruptly as the siege had started, the storm above seemed to have abated – no more thundering roars – no more earthquake-footsteps.

As suddenly as it began, it all just stopped.

But it wasn't until the second day after that, when they first dared creep back up towards the surface.

Chapter 6

The stairway to the street level was mostly preserved – the elevator shaft had deflected the bulk of the collapsing upper-stories off to one side.

But looking up the narrow path that remained, Rosa was still reluctant.

She recognized that psychology too – the paralysis that kept you from acting to save your own life.

As if to spite herself, she finally brought it up to the others.

“We need to at least see what's up there,” she said.  “Maybe we can get out of here.”  She looked around at their little group.  “Anyone with me?”

Bud had started to rise but Allison's hand latched onto his shoulder, pulling him back down.

He had glanced at Rosa, who nodded understanding.

Julie stood up.  “I'll go,” she said.

Upon hearing that, Jeremy stood as well.  His eyes were wide and nervous, but he swallowed determinedly.  “Me too,” he said.

Running over to the fire-house, he broke the glass canister next to it, pulling out the fire-ax.  Wielding it like a club he turned back, his teeth-set.

Rosa and Julie exchanged looks.

“You know,” Rosa said, “we're just going to take a quick look – maybe just the two of us.”

Jeremy started to protest, but Rosa reached out and took his ax.

“Here, I'll just take that with me, thank you.”

Jeremy frowned uncertainly, but subsided.

Allison, however stepped forward.  In her hand was a semi-automatic pistol.

“Here,” she said.  “Take this with you.”

Rosa regarded those dark circles once again.

“You