SMT: Ground Zero (AndrewS, crematedstar)

[crematedstar]

@AndrewS (( Let me know if this is okay. ))

Eyes slowly opened after what seemed like an eternity. One moment Arina was busy shoving her way toward the steps of the subway. The next she was lying in sand and debris. It would be uncomfortable to move around with sand and debris in the folds of her clothing. Sand...?

She blinked as she brought her hands close to stare at her palms. Sand and debris fell from between her fingers. Geez, sanitation doesn't put this much sand on the street in the winter! Arina thought to herself before her eyes widened and hurriedly looked around.

Someone needed to do something about that blazing sun! She could see nothing but sand, debris, and broken buildings through the expanse. Cars were totaled, some looked like they have seen better days. Skyscrapers with broken glass panes jutted out of dunes, the earth seemed to swallow them up.

"What the hell happened here?" she asked aloud. She jumped a bit when she heard potent calls of pain, anguish, and crashes. Without thinking or wanting to look in the back of her, she ran. She did not care if her legs were still wobbly from disuse. She needed to get out of there, and somewhere safe!

Arina turned around the corner before she tripped on a rock and plummeted face first back into the sand...?

 

[AndrewS]

Pressure. Weight.

It felt like a thousand pounds was pushing down on top of him. The rubble of a building, or perhaps a shrine, covered his body from head to toe beneath debris and concrete, stone and sand. He couldn't see much, save for the way light sort of broke through the rocks covering him, yet, despite all of that weight, he felt no pain. He should have been crushed, entirely, but he was clearly in one piece.

Confusion. Panic.

There was so much noise...he could hear it all, so clearly, from beyond where he laid in what should have been a grave. Screaming, disorder. The sound of crashing metal and explosions. Why did they all seem so damn loud? In fact, his head itself was ringing, his eyes struggling to adjust.

Simon felt something inside of him. Something unnatural. It seemed like it was pushing upwards, out of his chest, searching for a way out yet it caused no pain. It felt like a strength he had never known, a power foreign and unfamiliar. Was it the reason why he was still alive?

Memories. Scattered.

Bits and pieces rushed back to him. Feelings, sights, sounds...regrets. Something had happened here. He had failed. As it started to come back to him, he heard the approaching sound of quick foot prints, somebody was running. They seemed to have tripped, falling forward, causing the sand, and the debris beneath it, to buckle, pushing harder into Simon hidden underneath it.

"Hel...lo?" He asked, his voice sounding different than he remembered it sounding. It was deeper, an underlying hint of distortion in the tone. "Hello?" He repeated, a second time, from beneath the sand, pushing upwards against the stones that kept him trapped, finding them beginning to move despite their weight as strength began to return to his limbs.

 

[crematedstar]

"OOF!" Arina fell face first in the sand after another cry was heard behind her. She could feel the dust kicking up again as wind and debris played with her hair and grazed against her skin. Whatever was happening from blocks away was loud, and she wanted nothing to do with it.

Arina steadied herself, before pushing herself back up. She wiped sand and debris off her chin and cheeks before she looked around.

More rubble, but for some reason, it felt safe...? She examined the rubble around her, walking towards a place she felt the most ... peace with. Odd.

"Everywhere but here is chaos," she said, as she surveyed the rubble. "Could it be that it was some kind of ... holy place?" She walked, cautiously before she heard another crash. She ran behind one of the larger pieces of rubble and panted. Arina looked out and around before she could hear a voice calling to her. It sounded like it came from where she fell. Could it be? Another survivor? She immediately went towards the rubble. Cautiously, she lifted one of the lighter pieces of rubble off the pile.

Her heart beat faster as she heard another muffled "hello". Oh shit, it was! She started taking off more rubble and placed it off to the side. "Hello?" she offered. "If you can hear me, say 'hello' again." She thought for a bit. If they were buried...then...! She would need time to take the rubble off, and she would need whoever was calling for help to stay awake. Stay awake, please! I'm coming!

 

[AndrewS]

The sound of a voice, muffled by the weight and heft of the sand and rubble, could clearly be heard from above him. Simon tried again, pushing against the weight. It shifted, causing more loose grains of sand to fall in between the crevices made by the disturbance, both helping him climb out while simultaneously filling the space he had emptied, leaving him just as trapped as he was before. "Hello?" He repeated, a second time, calling out to the person above him, answering her request in confusion. He barely even knew where he was, or how he was still alive...but it was beginning to come back to him.

There was a bright light. He could remember the way it felt against his skin...warm, yet somehow cool. Inviting, yet, a warning to stay away. He could clearly see it in his head; his hand reached outwards towards it and then, everything went black. He knew it wasn't a dream, nor a delusion of a panicked, buried mind. It felt too real. What had he done?

Whomever was above him had a softer voice, it was definitely a woman. She spoke of the chaos up above, a chaos he had yet to fully grasp. For now, his focus was renewed upon getting out of this sand-ladened prison he was beneath to see this supposed chaos for himself. The feeling in his chest, the one that lurched upwards and outwards, continued, and it was imbuing his limbs with power. With her help, he was certain he'd be able to climb out of this mess, but what exactly awaited him when he did?

"I'm...I'm going to need your help. Can you lift any of the debris?" His distorted voice called back, likely sounding that way to her with the rationalization that it was due to the interference caused by the rubble that separated them when, in actuality, it was an actual change in the cadence of the way he spoke. He was aware, he just didn't care enough about it right now to dwell.

 

[crematedstar]

"Thank goodness! I'll do my best with the debris!" she said. "Keep talking to me!" Judging by the voice, the stranger was a man.

She was thankful to hear the muffled voice from whoever was trapped. She wanted to cry in happiness for it was possibly another survivor! However, she needed to work quickly! Arina lifted another sand-covered stone and placed it away among another pile of rubble. She continued her actions, before stopping again to listen to the stranger.

She needed to make sure she managed to get the right debris out. This way Arina could grab the right debris for the man to safely climb out. Arina took a moment before she lifted another block of rubble from the pile, launching it into another pile of debris. There was no time, as the noises behind her got louder as possibly another fight started. She had no time to be scared, she needed to get the other survivor out so they could get away!

However, she also needed to take breaks. As she got closer to the voice's owner, the heavier the debris got. Arina remembered what her weight trainer told her when lifting. "Lift with the knees!" she muttered, hefting another block of rubble up. She dropped the block down with the other moved rubble.

"Hey, how ya doing down there? There are a few more blocks, I think!" she said, as she carefully picked another block of rubble.