The Aftermath

"Dalia, stay here with Jolene, please. I'll look for the others," John said.

Dalia nodded and put Jolene's arm around her neck, helping her to sit down. She watched as John's broad back disappeared around a building.

"Stephanie! Octavia!" John shouted, but there was no response. He rested his hand on his waist and cupped his chin to ponder for a minute. He had to assume that they were either dead or unconscious, probably inside a building or trapped by debris.

John continued his search by including the ruined buildings. Everything was littered with the debris of destruction: massive chunks of concrete, unrecognizable wooden furniture and rotting corpses, monsters and humans alike.

The only sounds were the sound of John's hard boots crunching against the gravel and the distant rumble of thunder. John could not see the end of the destruction, and the thought of his friends and lovers lying among the rubble, possibly injured or worse, filled him with dread.