Chapter 17
767 Words
Chapter 17
Guillermo had never seen simple air being this catastrophic. Trees broken and torn apart like weeds, ground flying off like sand from your palm when you blow it away, rain pelting down and bending aluminium rooftops.
They were safe in a field bubble. Guillermo walked in the mud next to her. They gave him boots made of hydrophobic material, which meant mud didn’t stick on them. She, of course, stepped on hovering disks that alternated and created steps for her, like flat rocks on a pathway. He was surprised to see Teddy being in the mud as well, though it didn’t stick on its body. For a fleeting moment, it appeared to him that the avatar was enjoying new experiences.
They walked towards a village, safe in their own circle of the world. Outside, it was an act of God, and God acted harshly.
Guillermo didn’t know exactly where in Africa they landed, somewhere on the west coast. He expected huts made of palm trees or something like that, and he felt shame for his preconceptions. The village wasn’t modern by any measure, but it wasn’t stuck in the stone age as he had assumed.
He swore he’d keep an open mind next time. The village was in need of amenities. Roads, cars, electrical wires, there was none of that.
But you could tell it was a normal neighbourhood just like any other. A DIY cellphone tower erected in the middle of the village from some bright young engineer, tilting dangerously by the wind. Carts, plastic containers for water and oil, Coca Cola cans repurposed for a million uses, children’s toys scattered next to stools where the women sat and went on with their chores while keeping an eye on them.
A home.
Ravaged by the whims of an alien princess.
“Did they evacuate?” Guillermo asked Teddy.
It looked around. “Yes. The village appears to be empty. Wait, no, picking up a transmission. Basic mobile communications protocol. SMS?” it asked. “Oh, Simple Messaging System. How quaint, no encryption whatsoever.”
“Nevermind that! What does it say?”
The cellphone tower lost an anchoring cable and angled towards a house.
“It appears there’s a human trapped inside…” the avatar moved its stubby arm like a dousing rod, “there.”
Guillermo’s instinct knew the answer before Teddy told him. Of course, it would be the one house that was in danger of the cellphone tower.
He lunged forward, away from the protection of the field bubble.
Kyveli tried to grab him. “Guillermo, what are you-” she asked, and then there was noise.
Impossibly loud noise. Pressure. Wind pounding on his skin. He remembered the one time he got on a roller coaster with Infanta Sofía, the crushing flow of air pushing him down like a torrent of water. It was like that, dragging him to the side. He angled his body against the wind at such a degree where he would fall if the hurricane wasn’t there.
He tried to protect himself with his coat. It felt no thicker than a leaf. He took a step towards the house. Then another.
He could hear nothing but the howling of an act of God.
A cable snapped and the cellphone tower fell even deeper. It crushed the roof of the house, and was moments away from making it all crumble.
Guillermo ran inside and searched frantically. Books, plates, toys, scattered everywhere. No television. No electric appliances. A poster of a Hollywood movie star torn in a kid’s room. He ran in there. Under the bed, he found a pair of scared little eyes looking back at him. He said something to comfort the little girl but he couldn’t even hear himself. She held an old-model phone in her hand, squeezing it. Tears ran down her cheeks.
She resisted for a moment, but then she hugged him and gripped on tight.
He ran outside the house.
The cellphone tower snapped in half from all the tension and crushed the house. Guillermo thought about turning the girl around to keep her from watching all this, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Every step was an immense effort. His boot plunged into mud, and the ground tried to pull him under. Debris from the village flew in circles at skull-crushing speeds. All he could do to protect the child was to hold her with his arms.
The safety of the field bubble was just three metres away. It might as well have been three kilometres.
His knees gave way and he fell, exhausted.
He lost consciousness for a moment.
When he opened his eyes again, he heard muffled sounds and saw the most beautiful girl in the galaxy leaning over him, worried. She said something.
And then faded into black.
- Writer
