It starts with a whimper beneath the few stones left of the city. The streets that have managed to survive the destruction slowly start to sink, while the City begins to unravel at both the edges and the seams. The outermost areas simply fall apart letting the stars and the light of a distant sun fall on the City…Briefly. The inner sections of the City are also decaying at a fast rate, and whatever doesn't fall apart starts to crumble up like an old piece of newspaper, then gets sucked into a white light that starts to spill out underneath the widening cracks that spread through whatever is left of the streets.
The spectacle doesn't last long, because in just a heartbeat there isn't much left of the City to fall apart. Whatever was holding the City up is either gone now, or not strong enough to halt the collapse. The pieces of buildings keep falling…But not out into space. Something, down in the central parts of the City foundations, draws the rubble, and anyone unfortunate enough to be left on the streets, down into the roots of the Stranger's experiment.
There, something is still pulsing away, even as everything falls down around it; one portal out, which is now acting as a dimensional sink hole and drain. The remains of the City swirl around it, before getting pulled in through the dimensional door and spat out to wherever it is they came from. With all that said and done, there isn't much left, aside from a few unfortunate Strangers, to watch as the portal finally decides to go out with a BANG.
And unlike another cosmic bang that can be named, after that there is only silence.
The little standing cart rattles down the tracks to the pit so fast that pulling on any kind of brakes might be a dangerous thing to do. Plus the only person who might know which lever is the brake is in the middle. Dr. Schreber can't reach and all he really can do is hold on tight to his cane. Before they can figure out how to stop the ride it comes to a stop all by itself. The tracks are damaged and suddenly the cart jolts and jumps off the tracks and they are flying free for a few seconds. They're just lucky the ground is not far at all and it crashes down and tips over, hard enough to shake them up but not injure them badly.
They're in a dark place. The only light is dim and blue and it's hard to tell where it comes from. There are big open tunnels and a lot of rubble still.
This is the second time in not very long that Dr. Schreber has been in a people pile with his heart going thud.
It's a bedraggled little party that emerges from the subway tunnel into the ruined world outside. Rat's taken his time, after insisting on looking for an intercom to tell the other people on the train (if there are still any) that it's all right. Victor's bandaged his legs with one of his own shirt sleeves and one of her stockings, so their clothes are in pretty sorry shape. Rat's got one bare arm now, his pants are in tatters, and looking like a ragged homeless man just helps him remember that's what he's supposed to be. He can walk without help, but he's limping and staggering a little.
He and Victor clamber out of the tunnel after Gibbs, who made a short excursion to check it out already. Dazed and shell-shocked, Rat stops once he's up there and blinks around at what used to be the city.
Dovev wasn't quite sure how long the fall was - and he instinctively went for a roll even though Shirley (and in turn Schreber) still clung to him.
They say it wasn't the fall that kills you, but the ground. The man sincerely wish to find whoever said that and kick the everloving hell out of them. He landed on his side - letting out a drawned out, agonized groan as again, stars exploded behind his eyes when his nerves tried to register the sudden influx of Pain.
"Son of... you... ow. You guys okay?" Dovev wheezed as he tried to reorient himself, and figure out whose foot it was that's pressing against his nose.
Grant finds himself in darkness, unable to move. His body hurts, and when he does try to move, pain shoots through his temples.
Right. There is pain. I am alive.
Then memories start to trickle back in, and he realizes he's trapped underneath part of a train tunnel and quite possibly the train itself.
Panic floods over him, a clawing, primal feeling, like gasping for air when drowning. In vain, he pushes and shifts, trying to move.
The rubble starts to shift.
Instinctively, he continues to push his way free, a familiar and powerful force originating from within, and after nearly an hour of this work, he drags himself out of the wreckage.
How did I The train was not above him after all, but had fallen over and onto its side after hitting the ground nose-first. What had trapped him was the massive amount of concrete and steel that had once been a train tunnel. No one could survive that. But he had, more or less.
His clothing is ripped and torn, he is missing a shoe. Only one knife remains--his ulu, tucked safely away in the inner pocket of his coat. In his coat pocket, his syringes had shattered and the [medication, I need]drugs had leaked out, staining the already-ruined fabric. Cuts, scrapes, and what were the beginnings of some nice, colourful bruises were left over his body as well. But as he stands and surveys this damage, he finds there are no broken bones he can immediately sense and no horrible pain, save for the migraine pounding in his head that leaves him with an unexplainable sense of forboding.
He's bleeding everywhere, but it was more of an annoying ooze than anything to be too worried about. Mostly, he's weary and longs for sleep, but [sleep, Mr. Grant] he knows it's in his best interest to keep moving, keep going toward whatever is ahead.
The train tunnel is not the only victim of destruction. Buildings and bridges have collapsed. Vehicles are left abandoned due to mass accidents and falling debris. There are no bodies, only ghosts.
He picks his way through the carnage, down the street. There is no other way, save for trying to climb the trecherous remains of the storefronts and buildings. Too many sharp edges and random fires would make that path deadly.
As he walks, he sees jagged holes in the sky, bright light [God watches] streaming down. He's reminded of the face in the mirror, the [St. Albains and the Shropshires, the garden and my]. The headache grows heavier in his skull.
Grant palms his ulu knife and continues on.
"No!" Shiori screams as the bookcases crash in front of the door. "Greg, no!"
She collapses against the wall, balanced precariously on one step, though as long as her hand is clutching the banister she won't fall. Her other hand covers her mouth as she sobs, staring at the door.
He's gone. And unless he has some other fancy tricks up his sleeve, he's done for.
Oh, Lord in Heaven, hallowed by thy name...
The groaning doesn't stop when the tunnel swallows the train. It sounds like the city itself is slowly crumbling and dying...But at least not as loudly as it was when the train first fell through. If the tunnel is going to collapse, then at least it won't happen instantly.
Mary stares down at the hole where the train used to be, all while telling her feet that this is not the time for them to give up on her. Especially not while she's still looking down through the floor, and the rest of the tunnels...And further down. She thinks that she might still be able to see an outline of the train as it falls away from them, although how she can see that when things are so black...
...It might be because the sides of the train are being illuminated by stars, Mary realizes as she lurches back, away from the hole. Her stomach feels likes it's going to heave after seeing that, and Mary has to force words out instead of whatever is left in her stomach.
"Is...Is everyone alright?"
The trio make their way to the subway. Shirley has a shotgun, Schreber has a cane, and Dovev has a glass shard as a makeshift knife.
It's really not the most impressive sight ever seen, but considering they just took down a sawdust zombie and killed a Stranger, they feel pretty good.
It's not long, however, before they find the entrance to the subway.
"Why," Shirley asks, slowly, "Is there a subway under a library?" But then she realizes that this is just another insane thing in an insane City, and she can't help but give a choked laugh.
