4 Out of Time (2)

Seeing that no one was listening to her, Lila didn't bother to waste her time there any longer.

By time Lila made it to the 24-7 store near the orphanage, the sixth tremor began. Buildings collapsed, car alarms were blazing, and water from the fire hydrant spumed everywhere.

Soaking wet and exhausted, Lila used the little strength she had left to bang on the store's door.

"Mr. Shen!...Mr.Shen! Are you there?" Lila waited, listening for a while tried again before assuming Mr.Shen and his family made their way to a safe house.

"Damn, and I wanted to replenish my energy with some snacks..."

Leaning against the store's door, Lila tried to recover her strength.

The water on the streets was now reaching her ankles. She needed to get moving, or she'll be treading through water soon enough. Swiping the sweat away from her face, Lila was about to continue on her way when the door she was lean against disappeared making her lose her footing.

"Lila...? What are you doing here!?" Mr. Shen caught her just in time before her body hit the floor. After helping Lila to stand up and move out of their way, Mr. Shen, his wife, and daughter rushed out before re-locking the door.

"Aww...my snacks." Lila pressed her face to the window in sadness.

Turning around, Lila wanted to ask Mr. Shen if he could open up for just a few minutes so she can grab some chips when she saw him and his family going the in the direction she just came from.

"Wait! Where are you doing?..."

"Lila! The snacks can wait...there's an emergency right now!" Mr. Shen chided before grabbing his wife's hand and his daughter's.

"Geez...Give me some credit, I wasn't talking about that..." Lila felt heat color her face. " Though it would be helpful right about now.." Lila mumbled the last part underneath her breath.

"You can't go that way. That way is towards the epicenter, the tremors are much more severe in that direction. Follow me towards the orphanage.." Lila didn't wait to see if they would listen to her or not. She had already gotten used to people ignoring her by now.

Lila continued walking making her way to the orphanage before another tremor took place.

Standing in front of the main gate, Lila shook her small fist up at the air, she couldn't believe her luck.

The main gate was firmly locked.

Too tall for her to climb over, she no other option but to try the back gate. Even if that gate is locked at least it's short enough that she could jump over the wall using the dumpster...that is if it is still there.

Water was now reaching knee level, treading as quickly as she could to the back gate, Lila was ecstatic to see the dumpster was still there.

Carefully treading towards the dumpster, Lila will need to lift herself to get on top of the dumpster, to then climb the wall to jump over.

Hands grasping the top of the dumpster lid, Lila held on as the water continued to gush all around her. With the smooth surface of the dumpster cover and her stamina depleted, Lila couldn't find the strength to pull her legs out of the water.

Wet hands and smooth surface, a slip was bound to happen, and Lila's body falls sideways into the flowing water.

Expecting a mouth full of water, instead, Lila's face met Mr. Shen's.

"Oh! Why, Mr. Shen, you do care about me..." Lila looked up into the face of the man who caught her twice already from a face plant.

"Are you done playing around yet?"

"Yeah..yeah, I'm done."

"Good. Now, what do we have to do to get to safety?" Quickly explaining the situation, Mr. Shen told Lila what needs to be done.

"I'll lift you and my wife up first, then I'll pass my daughter to my wife. You'll jump over the wall catch my daughter then my wife and I will follow. Okay?" Mr. Shen explained the course of action they should take to get everyone over the wall safely.

Mr. Shen lifted Lila's body out of the water's grasp and placed on top of the dumpster. Mr. Shen waited until she had firm footing before he turned to help his wife. Once the two stood on top of the dumpster he quickly picked up his daughter and passed her to his wife.

Once everyone was over Lila pointed the way.

"This way, the orphanage has its own safe house."

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"Ms. Joy! Open up, it's me, Lila! Ms. Joy!" Lila knocked on the metal door as hard as she could.

Opening the door, Ms. Joy didn't even question why Lila was here, and just ushered everyone in quickly. As Lila was closing the door behind everyone, the seventh tremor came.

In the safe house, huddled together everyone waited for the tremors to stop, but it felt like an eternity before they did.

___

The destruction of the earthquake went passed collapsed buildings, flooding and the down electricity. The fault caused the whole Country Q geographical structure to change.

When the war ended, the only reason why Country Q, M, and K were able to survive when other countries didn't, was due to their high elevation. It allowed them to escape the toxic fog that lingered close to the ground.

With Country Q's mountainous terrain being a natural barrier between the wastelands and the three countries, they had stayed safe for the time being.

However, now this earthquake has changed everything for Country Q, M, and L. The natural barrier has shifted, leaving the three countries with no protection, they are now left out in the open.

Their less than nine years countdown has just hit zero. They were out of time. The needed to leave now.