PLOT SUMMARY: A leisurely stroll in the Promenade turns into a fight for survival for Melissa and her best friend Jennifer.
Chapter One
On a hot July evening, the Promenade should have been empty and devoid of people trying to escape the stifling humidity, but to Melissa’s surprise, there were people all around her. She could spot families with little kids having picnics on the small patches of lawn under the palm trees and college kids either on mobile phones or sitting around and talking.
She crossed her arms as she walked with her best friend Jennifer, who was talking to her about a new pair of shoes she wanted to buy but were unaffordable for her at the moment. Melissa found her thoughts wandering throughout but was comforted by the thought that her friend wouldn’t really notice that she wasn’t paying attention.
Melissa nodded and smiled at her, pretending to feign interest before turning to look at the boutique right across the street. Everything was so beautiful on this street. There were two more boutiques beside a small grocery store, a fast food joint, a small cafe and a movie theatre right across the road from where she was. On her left, was the vast lagoon, resembling a dark velvet blanket. Every tiny ripple on the water surface shimmered from the lights of the buildings and street lamps. She gazed up at the sky and saw that it was lit up with twinkling stars and the crescent moon.
Everything was so serene, and Melissa should have felt exactly like that, but her thoughts returned to what had happened two months ago. The memory refused to leave her mind and let her enjoy this beautiful evening.
You are so not wearing that dress!” Jennifer said and Melissa almost jumped.
“What?”
Jennifer frowned at her. “You weren’t paying attention, were you?” she complained. “Anyway, I was telling my roommate, Riya, the other day that she shouldn’t be wearing that new dress she bought. We’re studying fashion for heaven’s sake, so how could she even consider wearing that awful dress? The colors don’t go with each other, the cut is all wrong. And don’t get me started on the material.”
“Maybe...”Melissa started to say, but Jennifer shook her head quickly.
“You should have seen it!” Jennifer said. “There was blue and red and pink and yellow all over it! It was ghastly.”
“Well then it’s a good thing you gave her some fashion advice.” Melissa said and looked towards a group of college kids sitting on a nearby bench. The girl giggled as the two guys she was with said something. She saw a couple walk towards them and join them.
“So, you’re coming, right?” Jennifer asked.
“Hmmm? Coming where?” Melissa asked.
“My party?” Jennifer said and cocked an eyebrow. “I’ve been talking about it for like, forever!”
“I don’t feel like it.” Melissa sighed and stared down at her shoes. Her sneakers were old yet comfortable, but she knew she should buy new and trendy ones before her friend made a derisive comment about her lack of interest in fashion.
“If it’s still about Mark, I think it’s time you got over him already. He’s so not worth it.”
Melissa hugged her handbag. “You don’t understand what’s it like. I left everything for him to come here so we could be in the same school only to find out that he was cheating on me.”
“Screw him!” Jennifer said out loud. A family who was sitting nearby looked up at them as they walked by and Melissa felt her face getting warm.
Jennifer had never been in love like she had been, so obviously her friend wasn’t going to understand how heartbroken she still felt. Her parents had wanted her to go to law school; instead she had fought them on this decision and told them she was going with Mark to a culinary school even though she had no interest in it all. Mark wanted to be a chef and open his own restaurant someday, and that had been enough for her. She would help him with his dream even if it meant going against her parents. They didn’t understand her or her love for Mark. So right after graduation, she had applied to the Culinary school and been admitted to the spring batch alongside Mark. Her parents were furious with her decision, but all she could think of was her future with Mark.
Her boyfriend had been surprised when he learned of her intentions and she thought he looked reluctant too. She should have seen it coming. Her red flags should have been up when he tried to dissuade her from joining him. He had tried to get her to stay with her parents and make amends but she hadn’t and been insistent on coming with him. Now that she thought about it, his smile hadn’t been one of happiness after all. He had seem distracted and displeased with her decision and she had been foolish enough to believe otherwise.
“If you ask me,” Jennifer said, breaking into her thoughts, “he was way too dominating. He wouldn’t even let you go anywhere by yourself. I mean, if Riya hadn’t told me about this place, we would have never even found this.”
Melissa smiled at her but said nothing. Mark had been like that. Ever since they had come here, Mark had taken her to malls and drive-ins, but never for a walk in such a beautiful place like this. She could feel the extra pounds she had put on after the break-up melting away in the July heat. Even now as she thought about all the ice-creams and éclairs she had hogged on, she could feel nothing but contempt at her herself. How could she have let herself go like that?
Jennifer paused suddenly and leaned against the railing. “The lagoon is so beautiful.” she remarked.
“It is.” Melissa said and put her hands on the railing. Her hands were sweaty and her hair hung down in damp tendrils. Her t-shirt was uncomfortably clinging to her, but Melissa could feel nothing but invigorated. She could feel the pain in her heart subsiding as a drop of sweat rolled down her face. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
“Dude, that’s an urban legend!” she heard a boy guffaw.
A gust of cold wind brushed her face and Melissa opened her eyes and blinked.
“Did you feel that too?” Jennifer asked.
“That was weird.” Melissa turned around and saw the group of college kids she had seen earlier. One of the boys looked really serious as he explained something to his friend. The girl who was with him appeared sullen.
The cold wind swept over her again and Melissa shivered. She turned to her friend whose face was contorted in puzzlement as she stared across the road. Melissa followed her gaze and knew why her friend looked so confused. There were people coming out in large numbers from the shops and cinema and walking away from the street in a hurry. Shops were shuttering down and people were getting into their cars and driving away.
“This is really just absurd.” Jennifer said, watching a car pass them by. “Is there a fire or something?”
Melissa saw a family, who was sitting on a bench, frantically gather their things. She walked over to them and handed them a plastic bag that had dropped from their table. “What’s wrong?” she asked the woman.
The woman snatched the bag from her hands and looked at her husband as he caught the hands of his two young sons. She saw fear in their eyes and they seemed to be communicating telepathically.
“Nothing’s wrong.” the man said. “We just have an appointment elsewhere and we completely forgot about the time.”
Melissa looked back at the woman who was busy stuffing everything into her tiny bag. “Everyone is in such a hurry all of a sudden. We were wondering if there was an emergency or something.”
“It’s nothing.” the man said. “It’s always so busy on these streets.”
“Yeah but people tend to be busy on the streets rather than running away.” Jennifer added.
The family ignored them and left without another word. Melissa felt a shiver run down her spine as the wind blew on her.
“I must be coming down with something, because I’m starting to freeze.” Jennifer said. “What’s gotten into everyone?”
Melissa shrugged. Even though almost everyone around them were leaving, the group she had spotted earlier, were still there huddled and speaking covertly.
“I think we should leave too.” Jennifer said. “This is just too weird.”
Melissa nodded in agreement and felt her skin crawl with gooseflesh when she heard the low howl of the wind. The streets were empty now, except for a few abandoned cars, the group of people she had seen earlier, and them. The buildings behind the shops looked deserted too.
Jennifer took her arm and started to walk faster as the temperatures started to drop lower.
“Did you hear that?” she asked and Melissa looked at her, not understanding at first. Seconds later, the night was filled with the dull roar of motorcycle engines. Melissa saw Jennifer’s mouth drop open. She clasped a hand over Melissa’s.
“What the hell is that?” Melissa peered into the darkness and in the distance, atop a bridge, she saw five figures get off their motorcycles and lean forward on the railing. They appeared to be watching…her?
There was something ominous about their presence and the way they appeared to be just standing and watching the scene unfold.
“Run!” she said in barely a whisper, and both girls started to sprint.
Melissa could feel her heart thudding rapidly and she tried to tell herself that the motorcycles belonged to the cops, but her gut told her otherwise. Something was wrong and something bad was going to happen. Those men in the motorcycles had something to do with this bizarre incident, she just knew it.
They had barely taken a few steps when they heard a loud crackle.
Jennifer let out a scream and Melissa hugged her. They turned around to see the street lamps going off one by one. The rows of houses across the lagoon were suddenly plunged into darkness and Melissa put her hand over her mouth to stifle her own scream.
They heard another loud crackle as the street lamps shut off one by one, and before Melissa could catch a breath, the last of the lamps went off, leaving the street in complete darkness.
Chapter Two
It took Melissa several seconds to realize that she had been holding her breath. The streets were completely dark and it was so quiet, she could hear Jennifer breathing heavily. She counted to ten in her mind; telling herself that any second now the back-up generators would come back on and everything would be fine.
It’s only a blackout, she told herself. And even if the street lamps might not come on, one of the shops in the street is bound to have backup generator.
She felt a hand on her upper arm and almost screamed before realizing it was only Jennifer.
“Let’s get out of here!” she gasped. “The darkness...I can’t breathe.”
Melissa hugged her friend tight, trying to comfort her but realizing that she too needed comfort. When they were kids and used to have sleepovers, Jennifer had always been the one to create a big fuss whenever the lights would be switched off. Melissa had thought that her friend would have overgrown her fears by now, but seeing her best friend trembling in her grip and gasping, proved otherwise.
“It’s going to be okay.” Melissa whispered to her. “We’ll just turn around and walk back. In a few minutes, we’ll be on familiar streets. Or if we’re really lucky, we might find a cab.”
“Call Riya.” Jennifer said. “Have her come pick us up.”
Melissa nodded and then realized that Jennifer couldn’t see her movements. “Okay.” she said and quickly took out her cell phone. She switched it on and frowned. “No service.”
“What?” Jennifer asked and snatched her phone from her fingers. She stared at the screen for some time before pulling out her own. “I don’t have any bars!”
“We have a Plan B.” Melissa told her. “We’ll walk back the way we came and we can use the lights from our cell phones to guide us.”
She saw Jennifer give her a small smile as she pushed a few buttons on her cell phone. “Fine, but we better start walking faster, because my battery is kind of low.”
“We’ll make it.” Melissa said and took Jennifer’s hand. She swallowed when she saw that Jennifer’s hands were freezing cold in her own. She hadn’t wanted to alarm her friend, but why was it getting colder? It was the middle of July for heaven’s sake. She tried to listen for some sounds and heaved a sigh of relief when she heard voices beside them.
“I knew it!” a boy’s voice said. “We should have left when we had the chance!”
“Ooh! Is the little baby scared of the dark?” Another boy teased.
Melissa clenched her hands into fists. Something had happened and all these boys could do was make fun of everything. People were running amok. Jennifer was scared. She felt terrified.
Where are the police to make sure the civilians are safe and able to make their way to their homes? What kind of city is this?
Melissa stopped suddenly when she heard a low metal sound. “What was that?” she whispered to Jennifer.
“I don’t know.” she said but moved her cell phone towards the sound.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
The soft metal sound echoed all around them and Melissa could feel her heart thudding. She squeezed Jennifer’s hand who squeezed back.
“It’s coming from right ahead.” Jennifer said.
Melissa shone her cell phone downwards so that she could see where she was walking. She hoped they would get off the streets soon before the battery went out.
“Hey!” someone called them from behind.
Jennifer let out a small gasp and pulled Melissa’s arm, signalling her to stop.
A boy came running towards them with a pencil light waving in front of him. “Do you girls have a signal on your cell phones?”
“No.” Melissa said, taking a deep breath. She shaded her eyes as the boy shone his torch on her face.
“That’s weird, don’t you think?” the boy said. “I’m Shane, by the way. I was talking to my brother when the call got disconnected. And then the blackout. How weird is this?”
“We’re making our way back to our college dorms.” Melissa said. “Do you guys know if we can catch a cab here?”
Shane looked at her thoughtfully. “You must be new here. No, this is a pedestrian only street. To catch a cab, you’ll have to take a right from the street corner and then walk for about two blocks.”
“Great!” Melissa said. “But can’t I call a cab...? Oh, no cell phone signal.”
“Hey, if you want, we could walk with you girls and make sure you’re safe.” Shane suggested. “We live in the dorms too.”
“That’s...uh...”Melissa glanced at Jennifer who still looked like a scared mouse. It was dark and scary and did they really want a couple of strangers taking them somewhere?
“Hi.” a girl said. “What’s going on here?”
“I was asking these two girls to join us. They’re new here and don’t know the directions.” Shane explained to the girl.
“Actually, we’re not that lost.” Melissa said quickly.
The girl looked at her thoughtfully and in the dim light, Melissa could suddenly see her break into a smile. “Hey, aren’t you Melissa Torres?”
“Yes? Do I know you?”
“I’m Fiona.” The girl said. “Fiona Beader? My Dad and your dad are friends. We met like six years ago?”
“Oh, yeah.” Melissa said and smiled back at her. Some of her uneasiness lifted. “How are you?”
“Standing here in the dark.” Fiona laughed. “Do you go to school here? ”
“I go to the Fawnstreet Culinary School.” Melissa said. “You?”
“Fair Wright Law school.” Fiona answered. “This is so great, seeing you here.”
“Do you live around here?” Melissa asked.
“No. I moved here like six months ago. We have like so much catching up to do.”
“Can we get out of here first?” Jennifer asked. “My phobia is kicking in. Can we please, get out of here?”
“You know what, we should all stick together.” Fiona suggested. “Rafe here knows the streets; he’ll guide us out of the darkness.”
“Let’s go!” Jennifer said.
Fiona called to her other friends. “Okay, quick introductions. This is Shane, Rafe, Keith and Sara. Guys this is Melissa and...”
“Jennifer,” she said her name quickly.
“We should hurry.” Rafe said and everyone started to walk behind him.
Melissa wondered again if it was a good idea to walk with complete strangers.
But Fiona isn’t a stranger, is she? On the other hand, we are barely friends.
Rafe stopped suddenly and waved his pencil light ahead of him. “What the hell is that?”
Melissa came up from behind him and put her cell phone closer to where he was looking. She sucked in a breath as she saw steel netting right before her. She let her cell phone travel upwards and a gasp escaped her throat.
“What’s going on?” Jennifer said in a frightened voice. “Why are we stopping?”
“There’s a fence here.” Melissa said. Shane walked on their right and followed the fence with his torch.
“It’s like fifteen feet tall.” Keith said. “Where did it come from?”
Melissa noticed Sara put her hand tentatively on the metal and wince. “It’s pretty strong. I don’t remember it being here before.”
“Find an exit, guys.” Rafe said.
Melissa put her hands on the cool steel and tried to push on it without much luck. Her hands travelled all over it, but found no opening.
“Let’s just go around the fence.” Jennifer said.
“It’s not a fence.” Shane said, coming back. In the dim lights of the torches, Melissa could see how pale his face looked. “It’s a cage. It goes all around. I couldn’t find an opening.”
Rafe moved his torch upwards and whistled under his breath. “We can’t scale it.” He said. “There’s nothing to climb on.”
Melissa caught a movement on the other side and pulled on Fiona’s sleeve. “What was that?”
“Hey!” Keith called.
Melissa peered through the gaps and saw a young man in a uniform. “It’s a cop.” Melissa told them.
“Get us out of here!” Shane called to him. “We need help!”
Melissa took Fiona’s torch and shone it through the gaps at the young policeman. She saw him looking through the steel fence at them with frightened brown eyes. “Can you help us?” she asked.
The policeman almost jumped and started to run, hesitated and then turned towards them.
“Hey!” Shane called. “Get some metal cutters, and get us out of here.”
The policeman took off his hat and just stared at them in fear. For a second, Melissa thought he was about to say something, but the policeman continued to look at them with fright and pity in his eyes.
“Help us.” Melissa said softly. The policeman was probably a rookie, and had gotten a little nervous. If she kept talking to him soothingly, he might help them find a way out of this cage. “Can you call for back-up? You have a walkie-talkie.” She pointed at his belt.
“I wish you guys had just listened to me!” Rafe said and kicked the fence. Melissa saw the policeman take a couple of steps back immediately.
“There must be something you could do.” Melissa told the policeman.
“He’s not going to help us!” Rafe said and Jennifer tugged on Melissa’s t-shirt.
“I’m sorry.” the policeman mumbled and took a couple of steps back.
“What are you sorry about?” Melissa asked.
“There was no other way.” The policeman said and took a few more steps back.
“You locked us in on purpose, didn’t you?” Rafe screamed. “If you don’t get us out in the next minute, I swear I’ll kill you!”
Melissa walked over to Rafe and nudged him back. “Don’t say that!”
“You have no idea, what’s going on!” Rafe said.
“Dude, that’s a load of...”Keith started to say, but Rafe pushed him away.
“I’m so sorry.” the policeman said and ran away as quickly as he could.
“Come back!” Melissa called after him. She pushed herself against the fence and almost lost her balance.
“Get back here, you scumbag!” Rafe screamed.
“Will you stop throwing insults at him?” Melissa said. “You scared him! He’s gone now!”
“Of course, he’s gone.” Rafe said. “I told you guys that we should have left when we had the chance.”
“What are you talking about?” Melissa asked.
Rafe punched at the fence and then rubbed his forehead. Melissa saw his skin break on the knuckles.
“They’re feeding us to the wolves!” he said and wiped his bleeding hand on his shirt.
Melissa looked at him, not understanding and then suddenly she heard the roar of motorcycles again. They were getting closer.
Chapter Three
Melissa leaned on the fence and listened as Rafe and Shane argued about the same thing over and over again. Rafe had warned them, they should have listened, end of story. But now they were all trapped. Couldn’t they stop complaining and find a solution together?
She spotted Jennifer leaning against the railing, sobbing quietly. She considered going up to her and try comforting her, but found herself being unable to even move. Terror had its icy grip on her heart, making her incapable of even thinking straight. The only thoughts that entered her mind provided little solace.
Something weird is happening here and by the looks of things, something dangerous is about to happen. Why else would the cop look so frightened? And those men on the motorcycles…
“Why don’t we...”Melissa started to say as an idea occurred to her and then realized no one was listening to her. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth again. “I think I have an idea!” she almost screamed.
Everyone looked at her in surprise and Melissa decided she should have used a different approach to get everyone’s attention. Screaming at them in this eerie situation wasn’t a good idea.
“There is no way out of here!” Rafe said angrily, quickly composing himself after her outburst.
“Will you just give her a chance?” Fiona snapped at him. “Go ahead. What is your idea?”
“We could put our legs over the metal fence, hang onto the other side and push ourselves to the left. Then we can climb back in once we’ve made it away from the fence.” Melissa said, without pausing for breath.
“That’s an idea!” Keith said. “It could work.”
“It’s too risky.” Rafe said quietly. “We could hurt ourselves.”
“It’s a plan and we’re going with it.” Fiona said determinedly and walked towards the railing.
“What if we fall in?” Jennifer squeaked. “I was never good on the monkey bars. I’m not good at climbing on anything.”
“You do know how to swim, right?” Sara asked.
Melissa saw Jennifer looking at her with fear in her eyes. Jennifer had never learned to swim, because she had a fear of water too. Especially since what had happened with her sister.“We’ll help each other.” Melissa said and forced a weak smile at her friend.
Melissa started to put her leg over the railing when she heard the sound of motorcycles approaching.
Her new friends all turned towards the noise and huddled together. There were five motorcycles and five dark figures riding them. Melissa reached for Jennifer’s hand and let a moan escape her throat. Their helmets masked their faces and when she didn’t see any markings on the motorcycles or their jackets she realized with growing anxiety that they were not the police.
One of the figures on the motorcycle was holding a flaming object in his hand. As he crossed the grocery store, he hurled the object at it and uttered a loud cheer as the store caught on fire. He hooted as if he had just scored a basket.
Jennifer started to cry as the other bikers followed suit and hurled stones and bricks at the store windows. The glass cracked loudly on impact and shattered into pieces, throwing shards all over the roads.
“Just a couple of vandals.” Keith said, but Melissa could hear the fear in his tone.
She turned to look at Rafe and saw him with a grim look on his face. He seemed distracted by something else entirely and didn’t even flinch when the glass shards fell closer to his feet. She wondered what else he could be worried about.
Is there more to the story than what he has already said?
“Let’s get out of here!” Fiona whispered to all of them.
Melissa pulled herself up on the ledge and swung her legs over the railing. She held the railing fast with her hands and started to move sideways. Just then, she heard a small clicking sound in the dark. She saw Keith follow her with his flashlight and peered into the darkness.
“Go back!” Someone said.
Melissa blinked as Keith’s flashlight shone on a man’s face. The man was in uniform and unlike the other policeman; he was much older and appeared fearless.
“Go back!” He repeated. “If you don’t I’ll shoot you!”
Melissa stared at the gun he was holding and almost felt her fingers slip off the railing. “Help us.” she said.
“What the hell is going on?” Keith asked.
The policeman brought his gun forward and pointed it at Melissa’s head. “Go back and stay in.” he said curtly but Melissa also heard a hint of pure terror in his voice. The finger on the trigger of the gun was also quivering.
“You can’t do this!” Keith screamed. “You’re supposed to serve and protect us!”
“There are only seven of you and seventy thousand in this district,” the policeman replied.
Melissa looked at the policeman’s face and saw how pale he looked all of a sudden. His eyes were wide with fright. When he waved the gun at her again, Keith pulled her back by her arm. She went backwards and Fiona helped her get back in just as Keith swung his long legs over the railing, so that he could lean over to talk to the policeman.
“Did you purposely trap us here?” Keith demanded. “We’re all innocent here. How is our life any less important than the rest of the people in this city?”
“Stay in.” The policeman warned.
“No, we want answers!” Keith said stubbornly.
Melissa turned to look at the bikers and saw that they had stopped and grouped outside the grocery store which was undoubtedly going to burn to the ground in a matter of minutes. They still had their helmets on and were discussing something quietly. She saw them look in their direction several times.
The policeman hesitated as Keith lowered himself. “Stay there.” the policeman warned again. “I will fire my gun if you don’t do as I say.”
“They’re just vandals!” Keith said. “Get a few policemen and arrest them.”
“Keith, just come over.” Rafe said and reached for his shoulder, but Keith shrugged him off and almost lost his balance in the process.
“What you’re doing is completely illegal.” Keith told the police officer. “We could lodge a complaint against you and have you suspended.”
“This is your last warning!” the officer said. His tone wavered just a little bit. “I’ll count till three and if you don’t go back in, I will shoot!”
“Keith! Please! Just come back!” Sara sobbed.
“One...”the officer said.
“We’ll figure something else out.” Melissa said and offered her hand to Keith, who completely ignored it.
“Two...”
“You can’t do this to us!” Keith screamed at him. “You won’t get away with…”
“Three!” the officer said and seconds later, Melissa heard a loud gunshot echo through the night.
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