Page 1: Nowhere Fast

 

The car tore through the twilight-drenched streets of Santa Monica, California, the sinking sun casting long shadows that danced ominously across the asphalt. SEAMUS?, seated in the passenger seat, furrowed his brow in frustration as he jabbed at his cell phone. "What the hell is wrong with the phones?" His voice crackled with irritation, the urgency of the situation palpable in the air.

 

"I told you, they're not working. Service is out everywhere," his wife confessed, her tone tinged with anxiety as she glanced anxiously at her own device from the back seat.

 

Seamus clenched his jaw, his frustration mounting with each futile attempt to connect with the outside world. "I couldn't reach anyone back home, lads. Now, the fuckin' phones are out. I don't know if this is happening in Ireland."

 

A tense silence settled over the car, broken only by the low hum of the engine and the distant wail of sirens echoing through the darkening streets. But before the tension could escalate any further, Vince's voice sliced through the quiet like a knife. "Will you both shut the fuck up," he snapped, his words laced with raw frustration. "I have enough distractions as it is." His outburst hung heavy in the air, a stark reminder of the growing unease that permeated their surroundings. As the car hurtled forward into the encroaching darkness, a sense of foreboding descended upon them, casting a shadow over their journey into the unknown.

 

"SLOW DOWN, VINCE! Damn it, your gonna wreck before we get there!" Vince's eyes were full of anxiety mixed with rage as he sped through traffic, debris, and more and more people rioting, looting, and attacking one another. "Slow the hell down!" The man sat up in his seat with his left hand gripping the seat belt across his chest as he viciously slammed his right palm down on the dashboard.

 

A voice from the back seat yelled out. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, SEAMUS! We have to get to Kate and Junior now..." She leaned forward and touched the back of the driver's headrest. "Vince, get us there, NOW!" Vince remained focused and kept at it as the car sped around the corner. They come to a halt. A large crowd of violent people populated the road as they all viciously attacked one another out of fear of what the next person may do to them. Stores were being looted and vandalized, cars smashed, some flipped over, and some were being burned out of pure rage. Behind a recked parked car lay a young lady holding a child.

 

The young woman who occupied the vehicle with Vince and Seamus noticed the bloody woman lying stiff, with the child slightly fighting for freedom from her grasp. She directed Vince's attention toward the motionless lady with the child. Seamus noticed and couldn't think of anything other than helping the lady. "Holy shit. She got a child, Vince!" Seamus yelled out as he reached for the door handle. SMASH! He was stopped by a baseball bat crashing through, shattering the passenger window.

 

Glass smashes against Seamus's face and chest and falls onto his lap. "WHAT THE HELL!" Vince panicked, and the young lady in the back seat let out a quick, loud gasp as she jumped surprisingly to the sound and sight of the bat smashing through the window.

 

Vince quickly put the car in reverse and stomped on the gas. Not wanting his brother-in-law to get hurt. As the car reversed, they all flinched at the sound of the bat smashing into the car's windshield. "STOP THE CAR!" Seamus demanded. The door on the passenger side opened, and Seamus jumped out without any hesitation; he landed with his arms tucked and legs straight out together. He rolled three times before stopping and landing flat on his stomach. Before Vince could smash on the gas, he smashed into another vehicle he hadn't noticed traveling close behind. He noticed the bat holder was now focused on his friend as he did.

 

As the man started charging towards Seamus, the vehicle was stopped. The speed of the approaching car caught them off notice, and the impact sent Vince and his sister bouncing out of their seats. Seamus noticed the man was holding the bat up high, standing over him. As the bat came smashing down with bone braking force. Seamus rolled closer toward the batting attacker, used a scissor leg takedown, and instantly went for a full mount. Two swift blows to the forehead put the batter to sleep. Seamus lifted his head and noticed two more attackers rushing him, holding weapons. One holds a 2x4, and the other wields a bloody knife. To the left of Seamus, the guy holding the 2x4 was closer by at least three feet.

 

Seamus glances at the bat, which lies there beside the unconscious man. Quickly, he dismissed the idea, knowing his body alone could cause its own damage. Without coming to a complete stop, the man in motion swung the 2x4 at Seamus's head. Seamus weaved the attack as he sidestepped to the left. He threw a stiff jab, which connected cleanly against the man's jaw.

 

The man's entire upper body followed the twist of his head as he fell. Landing on his shoulder and

 face, just before sliding a couple of feet and flipping over to his back, he lay beside a man who was bleeding out. Seamus didn't bother to see the slide for home base. His eyes were dead on the guy holding the bloody knife.

 

A loud bang emerged from within the crowd. But the crowd didn't react. Two more bangs followed the first bang. Seamus's head turns to the right, looking slightly behind him toward the action while his body is set facing his attacker. Oddly, he noticed that the crowd continued fighting, looting, and rioting. All the while, a man holding a handgun fires at random individuals. Seamus suddenly felt the man with the knife present in front of him, and he quickly leaned to his right as the tip of the slid across his left cheek. Seamus stepped back two steps with his back completely turned to the largest, most active part of the rioting crowd. The man looked as if he was death itself, and what he held in his hand was most certainly the cost of a few.

 

"You ready to die, boy?" The man smiled in a sick, tormented way. Then he continued with his threat. "Cause lord knows I'm ready to kill ya!" He ravenously leaps at Seamus with the knife held high, blade underhanded. As Seamus prepares himself, a Superman punch lands clean from Vince, coming from the left of the knifed attacker. The man was asleep on his feet. You could hear his jaw snapping as Vince made contact with his right fist.

 

The man hit the ground and was awoken immediately, screaming in agony. Vince burst into laughter, head leaned back with mouth wide open to the sky. He enjoyed seeing others in pain. Another man saw Vince and decided to take a huge swing at his head. Without much movement, Vince weaved the blow, then another and another. Vince laughed hard with his tongue hanging out. Vince was a circus freak in most eyes. The man swung again, and Vince threw his head against the man's fist; you could hear the crack on contact. The man shrieked in pain. Vince laughed again, then threw a punch of his own, sending the man to sleep instantly.

 

Wasting no time, Seamus sprinted toward the woman holding the child. Seamus was happy to notice that the woman was alive. In fact, her eyes were wide open in a trance-like state of mind as she was mumbling some things he couldn't make out. "Hey," Seamus kneeled before the damaged woman and young child as he tried to gain their awareness. "Ms... You're bleeding. Are you ok?" Vince asked. Then, he focused his attention on the young child. "HEY, YOU OKAY?"

 

She stares at him and nods her head. He tries to comfort the girl as he tries pulling her from the lady by asking the girl her name. "Ruth, Ruthia." She replies.

 

"Oh, I thank I wanna take advantage of this shit, like, NOW!" Vince anxiously says while scouting the crowd. He wanted to take part in the action. Never has he been able to participate in such an event.

 

"Wait!" Seamus noticed how tight of a grip the lady had on the child. He reached for the lady's arm, and as soon as his fingertip touched her skin, she launched herself backward and over the curb. Her head crashed onto the ground. Ruthia rolled out her arms with force.

 

She jumped backward in Seamus's direction. Spooked beyond words as the woman flip-flopped around on the curb, with her legs shaking about in the gutter. "She's having a seizure, dude." Vince's voice was full of ignorance about how to help someone who was actually experiencing a seizure.

 

Seamus stepped past the little girl to aid the woman. At that moment, shots were fired as Seamus fell over to the right, out of harm's way. The man fired six rounds into the woman's chest and abdominal area. By the fourth round, the woman had stopped shaking. By the six, they could see she was dead. "Ms. Linda!" the girl leaped on top of the lady. Grabbing at her clothes.

 

Seamus and Vince both turn to the man. "WHAT THE HELL!" They both argue simultaneously. Seamus takes a step towards the armed man as he blurts out. "YOU JUST SHOT A WOMAN HAVING A SEIZURE!"

 

The armed man turns the gun in Seamus's direction. "You haven't seen it?" The man questions their behavior in a soft, gentle voice.

 

Vince yelled for the man to drop the gun, but he kept it aimed at Seamus as Vince continued shouting. "She was sick... I should rip your head off of your fucking shoulders and literally fuck your throat." Vince threatened.

 

"She was turning, son," he said with his gun still on Seamus.

 

"Hold on; first, you shot a woman for having a seizure; now you're aiming a gun at an unarmed man? You would feel real good between my fingers!" The man turns the gun to Vince as he notices Vince easing closer.

 

"You look familiar..." Said the old man as he lined the sights of the gun up with Vince's head; he closed one eye. When suddenly, the man was attacked by two guys from behind. A round fires and the gun set back, exposing the barrel.

 

"Give me the gun." Yelled out one of the attackers while trying to force the gun away from the older man. Seamus turned to the young girl crying on top of the dead woman's body.

 

Seamus grabs the girl by her wrist and waist. "COME WITH US!... COME ON!" He tried to grab her until he felt her resisting gently. She tugged and screamed but was easily controlled by Seamus's strength.

 

"HEY SONS OF BITCH'S, STOP!" Yelled Vince.

 

Seamus turned and noticed two men attacking his wife, whom they had left sitting in the vehicle. One of the men held her off her feet from behind in a full Nelson-style hold as she dangled around unconsciously as a guy held the pole in front of her. Vince was already bolting toward the vehicle, warning them to stop. He could see his sister was still going in and out of consciousness.

 

As Seamus continued to approach his wife. The small child screamed out loudly and horribly. He looked back at the girl while still holding her arm, moving forward. At first, he thought that Ruthia was holding Ms. Linda's arm, not wanting to release the lady. But he quickly noticed that it was Ms. Linda who held the little girl's hand.

 

Seamus saw that this woman, who had been shot and should be dead, now setting up with enough blood leaked from her body to kill anyone. Her eyes were completely empty of life, and her face was completely emotionless as blood oozed from her mouth. Seamus quickly reached for the woman's hand to remove it from the scared little girl's arm forcibly, and the lady snapped at his hand as he snatched the lady's hand away from Ruthia. She backed away, horrified, as Seamus turned to return to his wife and brother-in-law. He saw just as the man with the pole made contact with his wife, who was still being held.

 

As the pole struck her in the stomach, she and her holder slightly folded forward, and at that point, her holder released her. He left her and entered the vehicle quickly, at the same moment as Vince was sliding across the hood of the vehicle to reach his sister on the other side. Immediately, when his feet touched the ground. The man swung the pole at Vince's head.

 

Vince ducks as he delivers a right blow to the man in his gut so hard that the pole flies from his hand. Vince quickly lifts, and as he does,

 he lifts with a stiff uppercut to the man's lower left side jaw. Before the man's body lifted, he was instantly unconscious, and the vehicle skirted off once his body was in flight. Vince grabbed his sister, hurting and coughing on her knees, to comfort her. "Are you ok?" Vince inquired.

 

"Amira... Are you alright, Amira?" Seamus inquired, his voice laced with concern as he arrived with Ruthia tagging along. The child's wide eyes were filled with innocence and curiosity, yet they remained glued to one figure: Ms. Linda. "Is she okay, Vince?" Seamus continued, directing his question towards Vince, who was on top of the situation. Meanwhile, Ms. Linda was making a noticeable effort to get up on her feet. She was unsteady, teetering on the brink of balance and instability, but she was up. She slowly began lurching in their direction.