A Wild Night
When Jasmine separated from her older sister and younger brother to look for Anita, she walked around aimlessly for a little, not knowing which direction to head in at first. Eventually, she chooses a direction and just walked, hoping for the best, after walking past endless kids speculating about what had happened to their parents and why they woke up this morning alone, she finally caught a glimpse of fiery red hair.
Jasmine walks up to the girl reaching out her right hand to touch her left shoulder, letting her know that she was behind her without frightening her. Anita jumps anyway and turns towards Jasmine with big eyes, startled at first but quickly recognizing her best friend and relaxing slightly before embracing Jasmine and immediately asking her a question that Jasmine herself was about to ask. "Please tell me your parents are at your place and I'm freaking out for nothing."
Jasmine replies honestly, hugging her best friend back while breathing in the familiar scent that always seemed to calm her down. "I was hoping you were going to tell me that everything was normal at home for you and that your parents were there with you... I don't know what the fuck is going on, but something is wrong, I can feel it in my bones."
Anita sighs and pulls back from the embrace, looking her friend in the eyes and giving a small but reassuring smile. “Yeah, me too, like the feeling that something is not quite as it should be… But I think if we surround ourselves with our family and friends, then the bad feelings, won’t feel so bad, you know? Anyway, did you come here with Sam, Cam, and Killian? I was thinking of looking for Sam after I found you.”
Jasmine nods her head and they both walk hand in hand back in the direction that Jasmine had initially come from, looking for her family, they found Cam, Killian, and Sam not far from where Jasmine had initially separated from them.
Almost immediately after Jasmine left, Samantha was by Cameron’s side; Sam had gotten to the field a little before Cam and her family and had been looking for them since she had arrived. The girls give each other a friendly hug and waste no time informing one another about what’s been happening, Cam is the first to speak. "Did you happen to hear anything from the other kids on the way over here, by any chance?"
Sam shakes her head slowly up and down "A little here and there, and from what I was able to gather it’s all the same. No one has seen their parents or any other adults since the blackout and earthquake last night, and before you ask, no, I don't currently have a way to contact anyone with the towers down, the HAM radio is working but there was no response when I used it. Don't worry though, I have a few spares I can give to you and some others, just in case the power and Wi-Fi go out again."
Cam gives Sam a look of gratitude and appreciation "Of course, you knew I was going to ask that, I wasn't worried, you're one of the smartest people I know, I'd be more surprised if you didn't have a plan." Cam then pulls out her cell phone to double-check that there was no data or reception, there wasn’t and hadn’t been since the power was knocked out by the storm the previous night. Cam puts her cell back in her back pocket and sighs, just as Anita and Jasmine join them, chatting softly and exchanging worrying glances at one another, which Cam noticed immediately and addresses both Anita and Jasmine. “What’s wrong?”
The girls once again exchange looks of worry before Jasmine speaks. “Well, we just heard some kids talking about getting some booze and smokes… It made us think, there are probably kids going to take other things as well… You know, things the town might need eventually…”
Cameron and Samantha exchange a look of understanding, and they all turn towards the entrance of the field that leads to the residential area of the town; they make their way out of the residential area, passing a group of six, each with a cart filled to the brim with either food or electronics and to the main strip where all the stores and businesses are. They stand in the T Junction of Hecate Road and Rhamnusia Street, the latter being the street where all the businesses were located, the group stands in shock as kids of different ages go store to store and take what they want. People were going wild and taking what they wanted without thinking of any repercussions that could happen if they were stuck alone for an extended period.
The group was at a loss and didn’t know what to do, there were too many kids for them to stop the looting, and why would they listen anyway? Instead of potentially getting a mob after them, the group decides to head back to the Roma residence to rest and figure out what they were going to do with all the adults gone.
Meanwhile, back at Jack’s place, the party was just getting underway, Terra stands just outside the front door having a smoke, watching the kids slowly start to stagger in, and bobbing her head to the music she had another kid playing at the DJ table. When you walk into Jack’s house, you are greeted by different colored flashing strobe lights, and a blanket of fog on the ground. In the backyard, there were more lights, loud music, and even pyrotechnics, courtesy of Gabi, who had a knack for setting things on fire or making things go boom; the pool also had lights within it, making it glow different colors, the rest of the backyard was light up with tiki lamps accompanied by a small bonfire in the middle.
Terra finishes her cigarette, then heads inside as more kids arrive, the house slowly becomes more crowded and humid and is filled with the sounds of kids dancing and trying to converse over the loud music, Terra takes her time walking from the front door to the backyard, ingesting the contents of her brainchild in the process. There was a group of teenagers taking turns playing beer pong in pairs, laughing at one another when they miss their shots and cheering when they make them; in the living room, a small circle sat on the ground playing what looked to be spin the bottle, while couples lounge on the couches making out or chatting, completely infatuated with one another.
Closer to the sliding doors that led out to the backyard a girl and what could be her boyfriend were arguing, and Terra smiled as she walked past them and out to the DJ booth where Gabi and Emmet were relaxing on a few lawn chairs. As Terra approaches them, they both stand up to greet her, Gabi hands her a beer, which she happily accepts while addressing her “So, have you got the fireworks and fire shit worked out?”
Gabi smiles with pride and sips her own beer “You already know I have; the fireworks are set to go off at 9 pm, and the pyrotechnics can be controlled by the DJ at his leisure, it’s pretty dope if I don’t say so myself.”
Terra laughs swigging her own beer and laughs at that “You can indeed, the place is already packed, people are having a good time and it looks amazing, it’s exactly what I had in mind, great job, to you both.” Terra compliments them both since they had done the most preparation when it came to the details of the party, grabbing a chair, Terra sits beside the two other eldest members of her group and admired the party they had put together, in just a few hours, the fireworks would start, lighting up the night sky.
Back at the Roma residence, all the kids heard music coming from an unknown source, Samantha and Cameron decided to check it out, knowing that no matter where it was coming from, kids having an unsupervised party, never ended well. As they followed the noise, they noticed it came from the side of town where the ‘old money’ lived, meaning, the kids there had family ties to the original founders, making their parents have high-ranking jobs or positions.
They reached the party, and it was packed with kids screaming, dancing, and pushing each other around, the front lawn was littered with trash, empty beer bottles, and cans of wine coolers. The girls head in to see nothing but chaos, just like on the front lawn, kids were wild inside, kids were bumping and pushing into each other trying to play games, dance, or head outside; Cam tried her best to dodge drunk and stoned teenagers but was unsuccessful and ended up being pushed around before she made it to the backyard with Sam.
Once in the backyard, they saw fire being released into the air, in sync with the beat while kids danced and screamed with the music; kids splashing and horsing around in the pool, people smoking around the campfire, and a few individuals horsing around near the DJ equipment where the fire was going off. Cameron looked at Samantha with concern, both getting a bad feeling about the situation that was starting to unfold in front of them; the girls stood by the pool, unsure of what to do, they didn’t have any plan or authority to break the party up once there, they were mainly wanting to ensure that nothing bad happened while teenagers were intoxicated.
As the girls tried to make their way toward the DJ booth, they watched as the group that was horsing around by the booth, knocked into it while the fire was going, causing the table to shift and the flames to catch onto a few tree branches of a nearby tree; in a matter of seconds the entire top of the tree was aflame, it took a second for the kids partying to notice what had happened, once they did, all hell broke loose. Kids started screaming and trying to run off in different directions, during the commotion, kids were bumping into the DJ booth causing it to move, and the table’s legs that the fire cannons were stationed on buckled causing the hot fire cannons to fall on the ground.
The girls watch in horror as the fire cannons roll into some bushes, causing them to catch flame, a few people closer to the flames attempt to put them out but failed. Within seconds, the flames had spread to a nearby tree and rapidly spread to others while getting closer to the house. The girls realized that they would be unable to put out the fire without any type of equipment, so instead decided to try getting the rest of the drunk teens out of the immediate area so no one would get hurt.
As they were grabbing different people and helping them to safety the fire continued to spread, eventually overtaking the house where the party was being held as well as two others directly beside it with kids in all of them. Cameron and Samantha get to the front curb with the last of the kids from the backyard, the house is completely engulfed in flames by this point, and any thought of going in to find the kids trapped inside diminished.
While people watched the fire raging on, not knowing what to do, a fire truck appeared and four teens jumped out of it, as they were setting up the firehose to the hydrant, two teens came out of the burning house holding a person in each arm, just as they reached the porch, the roof came crashing down, the supports no longer able to hold it up any longer. Those in the firetruck finally finished setting everything up and started to control the spread of the fire by applying water to the areas where the wind was moving and going backward from there; it took around a half hour to douse the flames and by then the houses were demolished and the trees charred, four kids didn’t make it out of the burning houses, and there was nothing to salvage from the ruins, not even the bones of the dead.
After Christopher and the group drop off the kids they found and ensure that they were well taken care of, they all start heading back to Chris’, none wanting to be alone the first night without their parents. The sun was starting to set and Chris was starting to get the feeling that the town wasn’t going to be getting a lot of rest tonight; just as Chris had this thought, the group heard loud electronic music coming from the houses just behind the middle school where the daycare was, Chris shakes his head in disapproval, knowing that without anyone to keep the kids in line, bad things were bound to happen if a bunch of drunk teenagers were having a party.
Part of Chris just wanted to mind his own business, go home get his little sister to bed and call it a night himself, but a bigger part of him knew that he couldn’t leave people in need to fend for themselves, especially if there was something that he was able to do about it. So, he decided to go with his gut and head over to the party, first, he needed to make sure Clara was okay and get someone he trusted to watch her, then he can figure out the details of what he was going to do. He looked around at his friends who were all turned around looking in the direction of the loud music and chatting with one another quietly; Chris clears his throat, gets their attention, and speaks his plan with a quiet authority. “I’m going to head back to my place and get Clara to bed, Bernard, could you stay at my place just to watch her; The rest of us are going to head to the party to make sure things don’t get out of control.” He then turns to Jocelyn to address her directly. “You go ahead with Chantel and Richard, scope things out first, I’ll meet you there once I’m done with Clara.” Jocelyn nods in agreement, gathers the other two, and heads back toward the middle school, towards where the music was coming from, while Christopher, Richard, and Clara all head in the opposite direction to Chris’ house.
As Jocelyn, Chantel, and Richard made their way toward the music, they were unsurprised to notice that as the daylight rapidly faded into darkness, the noise surrounding the party grew exponentially; Jocelyn deduced from the echoes of the music and kids, that it was coming from one of the houses at the very end of the street, which meant that they were still a few streets away and yet they were able to hear the music playing clearly and kids screaming with excitement. Jocelyn was deep in thought when she thought she smelt fire, just as she was about to ask the others a bright orange glow lit up the night sky and could be seen clearly from the middle school field they were in, confirming Jocelyn’s suspicions of the party and now fire, being at the end of the street, closer to the tree line. Richard turns to her in panic before running back in the direction they came while screaming over his shoulder. “It’s been super humid since the store, everything is going to be dry, making it catch quickly, we need proper fire equipment!” The other kids waste no time and start chasing after him, making their way to the Firehall but just as they reach the street, they were surprised to see a fire engine turning onto the street and heading towards them.
Once Christopher was finished putting Clara to bed, he immediately headed towards the party, which was now so loud he was able to hear it from his house at the very start of the street. He shook his head in disappointment before looking back at the skyline only to notice a small orange glow start to form, knowing it was a fire, he immediately turned around and started running towards the Firehall, which was on the other side of the main road, so right beside his house. In a matter of minutes, he was on the road with the Firetruck and heading towards the location of the fire, the Hall was open, and he found the truck to be like other cars he had driven, if just a bit bigger. On the way to the house, he saw his friends on the side of the road and picked them up, they all agreed that they would work to contain the fire before moving to extinguish it, as per Richard’s advice.
Once they reached the fire, the kids sprung into action, Richard and Chantel removed the hose while Chis and Jocelyn got the hydrant ready for the house; in a matter of minutes, they had the equipment ready and started working their way against the wind to ensure that the area where the fire would have spread, was no longer able to catch. Once done, they then started to extinguish the fire, still moving against the wind, ensuring no flame or ember got missed; it took just over a half hour for the four to extinguish the flames, and in the end, two houses were lost, one was badly damaged, and four kids had perished in the flames or the collapse of the originating house.
That was the end of the party, and everybody started to head to their own houses, those who were affected by the fire found friends to stay with, Jack included, who ended up staying with Stephanie for the night. Chris and his friends went home to rest Chris felt they would need to come up with a plan to keep the kids in town under control, without someone to guide them and ensure their safety, there was bound to be more deaths and that wasn’t something Chris was wanting, under any circumstances.