Lazarus walked along the broken ground, being careful not to fall through the small fissures and large pits. The floor and buildings were wet and glistened in the sunlight. He thought he was in a dream.

This was not happening. He should be eating cake and talking to his co-workers about the upcoming basketball finals. His shoes sucked into the muddy ground and he realized he had to find new clothes. He stood in a parking lot, or a place that was once a parking lot. The black asphalt was bunched together like kid's legos and mud, roots and grass were jumbled together in exposed areas like a mad cook's recipe.

He turned, looking for anybody who could be alive. The typhoon or tsunami took them by surprise. He hoped help was going to be here soon. The firemen or police would be coming at any moment. He didn't see any more people besides the guy who changed into a beast and ran off. Picking his way along the broken ground, he saw a collapsed structure. Most of the walls were gone, but he saw clothing, boxes and other merchandise strewn along the ground and asphalt.

He wondered why there was no early warning detection or even news coverage before the storm. This was the informational age when anything could be found online from phones. He laughed. Phones. He felt in his pockets and found his cell phone still intact. Opening it with a swipe of his finger he saw the normal glowing screen and was elated, until he noticed on the top left of the screen the words, no service. He tried it anyway by pressing the phone button and dialing 911. No connection, nada, zip. He stared at the device for several seconds, maybe a minute, because he had never felt so disconnected and alone. Finally, he threw his phone and watched it as it hit a brick wall, then turned away and quickly approached the building. He would need some supplies and new stuff. He remembered how after Hurricane Katrina the inhabitants of New Orleans waited for several days for help and assistance. A fishy smell rose from the wet ground. He was surprised as there were no fish or aquatic life dying on the ground.

He found a backpack, clothes, shoes and bottled water among the wreckage. Lazarus saw his first dead body. It was a young blond woman, wearing a red shirt and no pants. Her eyes stared up to the air. She was beautiful, or was beautiful. She would never become the woman she might have been. A name tag was still affixed to her wet shirt. It read, "Darla. How can I help you?"

Seeing the name tag, Lazarus started to cry. He couldn't help it. He bent down and wept like a baby. He thought, This should not be happening. His watched showed the time as being 3:00 pm and he should be having a break right now. He looked away from Darla, grabbed a few pieces of clothing and placed it over her.

The sun was high above and he needed to get out of this area and dry his new found clothes and backpack. He grabbed his stuff and moved out. Scanning around, he saw a tree still rooted to the ground. The leaves had fallen off and it tilted oddly to the side, but there was a clean area of asphalt where he could put his things. Before he left, he found a set of boots in size nine. It took him almost fifteen minutes to find both boots because everything was thrown all over the ground.

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Lazarus sat near the tree, trying to get his bearings. The landmarks he was used to seeing were gone or destroyed. He scanned the ground and the building and noticed there weren’t any cars or even any metal objects on the floor. A creaking noise came from the structure. He saw one of the standing metal beams start to move toward the right and then vibrate.

His metal belt started to force him upwards. Lazarus grabbed his belt and release the clasp. He was being dragged forward. Pulling the belt out of his pant loops, he saw the belt fly into the air and out of his sight. His keys also flew out of his pocket.

A loud scream pierced the broken structures. Lazarus was not sure if he heard it correctly. Another screech came. He jumped toward the noise and picked his way through the devastation, ducking when he saw a metal siding almost knock him down. Slipping, he fell on the muddy ground, face-planting on the dirt.

Turning the corner, Lazarus saw something which at first he couldn't comprehend. A man floated several feet above the ground while metal objects of all kinds floated around him. Several rods pierced through him like a pin cushion, keeping him aloft. The man stared at him. He had sandy brown hair and wore khaki pants and a button-down white striped blue shirt. It was obvious that pain wracked his body.

Lazarus tried to find a way to navigate the metal objects levitating around the man. Another metal object passed close by him and Lazarus sprang. He moved so fast he was not sure if he even touched the ground. He was fifty yards away. He shook his head and wondered how he was able to run so quickly. The metal object was a long rod and it was floating around and then it bolted and struck the man on his leg. He screeched.

Through his pain, the man said, "Help me!"

Lazarus glanced around. None of this made sense. He wondered why these metal objects were attracted to the man like a magnet.

He yelled, "Why are you magnetized?"

Lazarus felt it was a stupid question because the man clearly was not sure why he was attracting these metals. He was thinking that a magnet could repel these objects. He recalled that by turning a magnet over he could reverse its polarity and have it repel the metal objects, but he couldn't understand how he would do this with a man.

Lazarus said, "You need to repel the objects. You’re acting like a magnet."

The man shook his head, not understanding what he needed to do. He tried to speak but a long metal siding flew from behind him and beheaded him. Bright red blood squirted upwards in a small mist and all the metal objects fell to the ground. Lazarus began to move further away and transported himself several feet. He found himself next to a broken brick wall. He braced his back against it and stopped the tears flowing. Nothing would be the same again.