Lightning by S. E. Gutierrez (the best books of all time TXT) 📕

electrified the air. I looked at the building across the street just in time to see it start to lean my direction. I stood frozen in fear before instinct kicked in. I moved a little to late, and the building started to fall. It wouldn't reach the studio, but the lobby was history. It fell faster than the other building, and I didn't have enough time to run when debris rained on me, and I screamed.

I tried to cover my head with my arms, and I ran. I ran for my life. I ran for my family. I ran. I didn't run fast enough. Three

I tripped, and landed hard on my side. It knocked the breath out of me. I gasped, trying to get air in my lungs. I shoved myself up, and tried to run, but the building was falling to fast. I fell again, and landed on broken glass. I sliced through my shirt, and grazed my back. The building came closer, until I could see the few remnants of human life still sliding across the floor. Then it just fell, spewing debris in every imaginable direction.

I was engulfed in a cloud of smoke and dust. and huge pieces of drywall were flung at me. The very top floor of the building crashed next me, and the chunks that came off of it covered me. I fought to get out of the huge heap, but the struggle was fruitless. I was stuck, and the suffocating dust was shoving itself down my throat and lungs. I screamed again as an enormous chunk of building slammed itself into my back, right on the lacerations from the glass.

I knew the Daxon guards would see the plume of dust polluting the sky, but the question was if they would come. Buildings fell everyday, but they knew I was out here, maybe if I was gone long enough, they'd come searching.

I was delirious with pain, and my head tried to beat itself into a pulp. I felt scared tears prick the corners of my eyes. I tried once again to wriggle my way out of the pile of the debris. It was useless. I was stuck

I managed to get my arms untangled, and tried to shove myself up. All I managed was to further damage myself. I scratched my cheek on a jagged metal pipe. My back ached with a passion, and my head pounded like a madman. I got the majority of my upper body out of the mess, but my legs were another story. Every inch I moved scraped them against jagged pieces of who knows what.

I told myself to calm down, and that Jimmy, or maybe Vander would come find me if I wasn't home by dinnertime.


The clouds started to turn an orange-purple, and the sun started to make its way out of the sky. I had been stuck in this horrible predicament for hours. I was hungry, and thirsty, and tired. I hurt everywhere, and my body was battered and bruised. I knew that when the sun disappeared, the temperature would drop severely. I needed to be found. I needed to be saved.

In my desolate state, I almost didn't hear a voice shouting out my name.

"Sylverlinn!" it boomed. "Where are you?"

I tried to yell back, but my voice seemed to be broken.

"Syl!" the voice cried. It sounded desperate. "Syl, where are you?"

I finally mustered enough energy and shouted back.

"Syl!" the -- I think -- man shouted.

I groaned, and tried to yank myself out. I heard one set of footsteps run my way. "Can you still hear me?" said the voice. "Where are you?"

"I can hear you," I croaked. "I'm stuck in the debris by the other fallen building."

I heart the footsteps change direction. I start frantically waving my arms above my head.

"I see you!" the man says, and the footsteps quicken.

Jimmy's face pops into my view. I let out a strangled sigh. "Thank you so much."

He sighs to, and tries to pull me up. I suck in a sharp breath when I feel something cut one of my legs.

"My legs," I gasp "Stuck."

Jimbo nods, and lets go of me. He starts digging through the pile, chucking pieces of wall and window out of his way. Finally I seem my legs. I wish I hadn't.

Four

My lower body was bloody, battered and bruised. My jeans were shredded, and stained. I choked back tears and looked away. Jimmy looked at my face, his eyes apologetic, and started digging out the other leg. I could still move, but it hurt. I ignored the sharp pain, and tried to pull myself up. All I accomplished was hurting myself further. 

"Let me help." Jimmy said.

I nodded, and let him pull me up. He gently set me on my feet, and looped his arm behind my back. I hooked my arm around his shoulder, and we tried walking. It didn't work. My knees buckled, and my ankles were twisted. I winced at the pain, and tried not to look at my legs again.

Jimmy sighed, and picked my up.

"You don't mind do you?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, I don't mind. Thank you, Jimb-Jimmy"

He snickered. "When will you learn."

"What?" I say defensively.

"My name's not 'Jimmy' it James." he smirks.

"Oh, thanks for the intel." I grumble.

He smirks even more and carries me almost halfway home before he starts to stagger a little.

"Take a break, Jimbo. It's okay." I nag every five seconds.

"Would you stop calling my Jimbo?!" he groans.

"Will you start calling my Dana?" I retort.

"No."

"There's your answer." I joke. "But seriously, take a break. The last thing we need is to have both of us broken and bleeding. If we have to, we can take shelter in one of the buildings that's not about to die and kill us."

"Fine." he says stiffly.


We found refuge in an old, dilapidated one-story building. The inside was barren. There was next nothing in it. It was a big, huge square of nothingness. There was a little half wall in the front, and the letters ANC TUDI

. There was scraps of tulle everywhere, and the hardwood floors were almost shiny.

"What do you think this place used to be?" I ask "James".

He picked up a faded scrap of grey fabric. "I think it used to be a dance studio. That looks like half of a dance slipper."

I followed his finger to a pile of rubbish in the corner. Sure enough, a faded pink thing caught my eye. I walked over, and picked it up. The shoe was tied to another just like, the ribbon connecting them old and threadbare. I stared at them, wondering what used to go on in this squatty cube.

I turned to Jimmy Boy. "What do you think life was like before we all died inside?"

He looked at me. "My parents used to tell me stories about what it was like when they were kids. They used to talk about ice cream shoppes and sidewalks that you could actually take a walk on. It sounded so good. It sounded so unrealistic, but that's the world they used to live in."

"I wish I could leave." I grumbled.

He gave me a weird look. "You do leave. Everyday, you leave. That's so much more than the rest of us get."

"I meant leave this situation. Run away from it and never turn back." I clarify.

"Would you really give up your home, your friends, your family. Does the life that you have now really seem that bad to you?" he responded, almost judging me.

"You, James, have no idea what my life is like. Sure I'm mean, and sarcastic, and I act like I don't care, but people aren't naturally like that. Something makes us that way." I retort.

"Yeah, like what?" he snaps back.

"Like lies. Like death. Like being lost. Like everyone judging you to fast. Like this stupid place. Like stupid people. Like stupid mistakes. Like losing everyone." I shoot, trying to walk away from him.

I open the door to the "dance studio" and hobble out. I stumble down the street, and out of sight of that stupid place. I walked in a straight line, held held high. I felt as though my legs would fall off, and my head would self-destruct, but I ignored it. I felt angry and sad, hurt and remorseful. I had no idea how a civil conversation turned into me storming out. I kneaded my forehead with the heel of my hand. I looked for a place to sit down, and spotted a rusty bench down the road.

Five

I painfully limped down the crumbling sidewalk and plopped down on the little bench. I pulled my battered knees up, and wrapped my arms around them. I rested my chin on hands, and looked up at the glaring stars. They were mocking me, laughing at my stupid mistakes. They were big, bright balls of everyone's regrets. My star was big and blazing bright with all the dumb things I've done. I let my pounding head drop. I realized what an idiotic thing it was to stomp away from the only person that knew I was out here. I groaned inwardly, and cursed my stupidity.

I slowly un wrapped my arms, letting them sit limply on the rotting wood. I leaned my head back, and rested it on the back of the