AM Chapter 4/B: Aftershock
“Cough…” Isaac let out, a ringing in his ears as his eyes fluttered open to the sound of sirens and collapsed metal.
What? Where…. Isaac thought, his mind jumbled, attempting to make sense of the events of the last few seconds.
One moment he was cooking dinner, having a moment with Lily and the-
Lily!
“Lils! Lily!!” Isaac coughed, slowly sitting up, his eyes stinging as he tried to open them. Yet, when he did so, he quickly regretted it. Everywhere Isaac looked, he saw carnage, destruction, people injured, and crying as sirens and hovercraft flew overhead of the rubble. “LILY!”
Rising to his feet, Isaac stumbled about, his clothes torned, body covered in white dust with his eyes scanning the debris of the ghetto. Fortunately, he seemed unharmed, a miracle given the horror around him. A terror attack? A gang bombing? Faulty construction? Isaac didn't know, all he knew in that moment was that his home was gone and his sister was missing.
“LILY!” Isaac shouted, his fear and desperation mirroring those picking through the debris around him and calling out for their missing loved ones. “LILY!”
Suddenly the ground shook, the metal platform that served as a foundation beneath his feet rumbling as more screams of terror flooded the air.
“AFTERSHOCK! GET AWAY FROM THE BUILDINGS!” Someone yelled, her voice almost grating to Alexi's ringing ears. In fact everything seemed to be so much sharper.
“Lily! Lily!” Isaac yelled, ignoring the people fleeing in all directions and the plates beneath his feet splitting, revealing to him the annals of the under dark and lower New Orleans. “S-shit!”
Isaac leapt, diving to the side, the panel beneath him giving way to the sound of sloshing and more booms, an entire section of a city block instantly plummeting into brackish water below.
"Fucking hell..." Isaac muttered, quickly clawing away from the edge that seemed to devour all light.
Scrambling to his feet, Isaac lifted his hand, the appendage covered in shards of glass that were…
Emitting smoke?
Eyeing his bloody arm, Isaac froze, watching the bits of glass fall from his steaming skin onto the metal floor below, the blood that spilled from his hand seeming to evaporate.
“What… the fu-”
“Isaac!”
Immediately Isaac spun, his attention caught by the voice of his little sister.
“Lily!” Isaac screamed, calling out for his sibling, his feet propelling him forward.
“Iss- Isaac!” Lily cried, her pained voice coming out muffled through the panicked screams of pedestrians. But it was nearby, close, beneath him? No, Isaac's head snapped to and fro, attempting to lock in to the voice of his sister but try as he might he couldn't hear her amidst the chaos.
“Lily! Keep talking!” Isaac yelled as the ground beneath his feet shifted with an audible creek, threatening to pull him into the abyss.
Fuck!Fuckfuck!
“Get to stable ground! The struts below us are damaged! Run! Get out of there!” Someone barked, a good semaraten giving out orders , but Isaac wasn't listening, instead his eyes were focused on a little girl buried in debris.
“Lily!” Isaac called out, rushing to the buried girl where he immediately began clawing at the debris.
“Isaac… it hurts,” Lily choked out, the dust covered girl bloody and crying.
“Yeah! It's ok Lil, I got you! Your going to be ok!” Isaac assured frantically, tearing at the debris until he came to an iron beam and his face paled. “Lily! Can you move? Can you wiggle out?”
“I can't feel my leg!” Lily sobbed, her face marred with tears breaking Isaac’s heart. “Isaac I'm scared.”
Isaac took a moment, calming his rapidly beating heart as he tried to access the situation.
“It's ok. It's ok. I'm gonna get you out. I'm gonna get some people and we're gonna get you out. HELP! I NEED HELP!” Isaac screamed, attempting to lift the metal beam as another tremor shook the world.
Immediately Isaac draped himself over Lily, moving his body in an attempt to shield her from the falling debris.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"ISAAC!"
“It's ok! It's ok. Your big brother's here,” Isaac assured the crying girl, quickly going back to work attempting to rescue his baby sister. “I NEED HELP!”
Again, Isaac tried to lift the beam, instructing Lily to try and squeeze her way out as much as possible.
Yet… it wasn't enough.
Isaac took a moment to catch a breath, staring at his aching hands, the skin on his fingers tearing but… being replaced at a visible pace with steam fizzing from his wounds.
“Hey! Hey! We need help over here!” A woman yelled, Isaac looking up at the blonde in a military uniform crouching down. “Hey! Are you guys ok? How is she?”
“Her leg is caught, this beam is pinning her down, please help me move it!” Isaac pleaded, eyeing the metal gold bar on the blonde woman's collar as others came to help.
Now they were four, gathered around Lily and assessing the situation.
“Ok, on three, we all lift on three!” The soldier instructed, counting down as the ground shook again. “Three!”
Despite the four adults attempting to lift the beam, they made no headway, their actions instead, seeming to cause a spasm in the world.
“Ok… I'll! I'll go find more people!” One man nervously assured, the balding man taking off in a rush before Isaac could stop him.
“Hey!” Isaac called out, but it was too late the stranger was gone.
“This isn't going to work,” A portly black man beside Isaac whispered. “We need leverage, something to create lift, we aren’t strong enough!”
Isaac blinked, attempting to rack his brain in solutions before his eyes going wide.
Strong, strength, power-
The system!
Name: Isaac Carter
Level: 1
HP: 100/100
MP: 50/50
CLASS: [Selection Available]
Free Points: 5
STRENGTH: 10
VITALITY: 10
SENSE: 13
DEXTERITY: 12
ARCANA: 5
EGO: 15
[Traits: Blessing of The Black King]
[Skills: None]
Isaac eyed his system, staring at the 5 free points and his strength stat.
Please, please work!
Immediately he touched the translucent screen, the two strangers watching him tap at the air strangely, unaware that he was interacting with an interface and dropping all his points into strength.
[Black Shield Class Selected!]
[Skill Obtained: Summon Black Shield LvL 1(50MP)]
[Skill Obtained: Recall Black Shield (10MP)]
[Trait Obtained: Mana Control LvL 1]
[Trait Obtained: Sturdy LvL 1]
“Ok! Let's try this again!” Isaac ordered, his body seeming to ignite with pain. But he didn't care, his sister was in trouble, HE was in trouble. With nerves of steel he focused on the objective at hand, even as the sensation of flames igniting in his veins coursed through his body.
Reaching down he dug his hands into the metal beam, yelling at the other two who were reluctant of success but ultimately stunned as the beam began to shift.
“Lily, can you move?!” Isaac asked through clenched teeth, his face flush, the other adults helping him to lift the metal debris just a bit higher.
“A-a little. I can't move my left leg…” Lily replied, her voice softer, less energized, her face seeming pale under the moonlight.
“Ok! You! Soldier girl! Pull her out! PULLHEROUT I'll hold it!” Isaac yelled, straining with the weight of the beam threatening to snap his arms.
“Are you-”
“FUCKING DO IT!” Isaac snapped, tears coating the edges of his eyes, “HURRY!”
The soldier quickly did as told, letting go of the beam and grabbing Lily, the middle-schooler letting out a pained yelp as she was ripped out from under the debris.
*BANG!*
The beam smashed into the floor, Isaac huffing, taking a moment to recuperate before his eyes settled on-
Blood.
“NO! Nonononono!” Isaac let out rushing over to Lily as the soldier took off her belt and tied it around Lily’s bleeding leg.
“It's ok! She's ok! I tied a tourniquet to stim the flow but she needs medical treatment, it looks like she was cut deep and lost some blood but fortunately it missed an artery.” The soldier explained, the ground shaking violently again.
“So we just need to get her to a hos-” Isaac paled.
Mom.
“Yes, we just need to get her to an EMT team to get her to a hospital.” The woman replied, the man who had stayed to help shaking his head.
“EMTs won't come down here. They won't risk their VTOLs while all dis shakin be occurring.” The portly man said, flaring up Isaac’s panic, his mind juggling between his injured sister and his sickly mother no doubt affected by the quake.
“The nearest hospital is fifteen minutes away on foot,” Isaac said, picking up his unconscious sister carefully in his arms. “We just got to get her there!”
Suddenly, a deafening boom, several floors of the Upper New Orleans platforms giving way, sending entire buildings plummeting into the underdark below with screams accompanying them.
Fuck…
“Go! Go! GO!” The soldier yelled, Isaac already on the move.
FUCK! FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!
With Lily in his arms, Isaac ran, speeding through the destruction at breakneck speeds as chaos took the world.
Avoiding falling metal beams and collapsing structures, Isaac made his way through the street, merging with the sea of pedestrians fleeing with their bodies pushing and smashing into Isaac as he attempted to navigate the tide with his sister in tow.
“Watch out!” Someone screamed, Isaac going wide-eyed as an apartment closest to him began to list and crumble, the poor construction tilting to cast a shadow over him and his sister.
“Please…” Isaac muttered, his blood running cold, the debris nearly upon him and Lily.
“What are you doing?! Run!” The soldier girl spat, grabbing Isaac by his sleeve. Yet Isaac knew they wouldn't make it. Couldn't make it. The falling building too wide for him to traverse, too big for him to outrun!
Perhaps on instinct, perhaps by chance, or guided by divine intervention, Isaac's hand moved, his body releasing a burst of brackish energy as the apartment fell stop him.
[Black Shield Summoned!]