The Shattered Earth: Book 3 of the Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series: (Surviving the Fall Series - Book 3) by Mike Kraus

Author:Mike Kraus
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-07-06T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The Day of the Event

Three hours ago, the noise and lights of the Las Vegas Strip overwhelmed the intensity of even the sun itself. As the city woke up for yet another day, the unusual heat of the season had no effect on the workers and visitors to the famous location. Thousands poured out of their hotel rooms, heading for air conditioned buildings to eat, spend their money and engage in activities of varying moral standards. Three hours ago it was just another day in Sin City.

The fires were the first to tear the city apart, spreading through the streets faster than anyone could have imagined. Bumper-to-bumper traffic on nearly every main road didn’t help the situation and contributed to the tortuously painful deaths of thousands. As emergency services tried—and failed—to respond to the fires, they quickly spread from the vehicles to buildings, catching homes and businesses ablaze.

In places that were spared from the fires due to their distance from the streets and vehicles, survivors gathered and waited for some word about what to do next. Less than an hour after the fires began, however, the initial survivors would be the next to fall. Earthquakes—small at first, merely rumbles beneath the ground that were dismissed as figments of the imagination—shook the city. At first the buildings merely swayed, but as the rumblings grew louder and more fierce, more people realized that the quakes weren’t some sort of side effect of the fires as some had hoped and expressed.

Water mains and gas lines ruptured as the ground buckled, sending explosions of water and fire rocking through the city. The worst of the earthquakes were felt across the Strip and to its east. Buildings that had gone up seemingly overnight in an effort to capitalize on a virtual gold rush were the first to fall, crumbling like a gingerbread house set out in the rain. Shoddy construction and cut corners were revealed in the most horrifying of ways as roofs and walls collapsed inward on those seeking shelter from the heat and flames outside.

The larger, older buildings suffered immense structural damage, but most did not fall. Their interiors were left in shambles, their upper floors were unstable and they would have to be demolished and rebuilt, but people who took shelter inside were spared from the worst of the destruction.

Hours after the worst of the quakes are over, aftershocks still ripple through the city and surrounding areas. Most of the dead are buried or burned beyond all recognition. The survivors flee the center of the city for the edges, bartering with the gangs that have risen up and taken power. People sell the clothes off of their back—and more—for the promise of a warm place to sleep and a few scraps of food. The few vehicles that are left intact are used to flee the city for the hope of shelter elsewhere, though there is little to be found.

Small clusters of survivors band together in buildings around the city as they resist the gangs and try to find enough food and water to extend their lives for a few more days.

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