Chapter 29: Plates are slipping

In the Underground bunker of Project ISAF, the opening ceremony was conducted in full secrecy.

The VVIPs rode a special tank, where all the passengers would not be able to see where they were headed. The location would remain a secret, even after civilians already living in it. The government is planning to use them as a safe place for the officials in case of terrorist attack.

The orders are to bring the civilians into the bunker using tanks that are without any window. The meeting point would be in the Anchorage Air Force Base, and they will be taken to the underground bunker from there.

"Alright, if there are no other passengers, we will start our departure, Commander. Or are there any more people coming?" A soldier asked Jason.

In actuality, Jason is still waiting for Mike to arrive in Anchorage. Mike has failed to meet him in San Francisco, and he was worried about what delayed him. The content of the news that Mike's supposed to tell him, back in San Francisco was still unknown, and that makes Jason to be standing on his toes.

'From the sound of Mike's voice, it looks like the news that he is about to tell him would be serious and devastating. Mike makes it sounds like, that it is going to be the end of the world, with the goodbye and all... '

"It's alright, you can bring them in first. I will make a call first." Jason spoke to the soldier before he walked away. The soldier saluted him, and get inside the tanker, driving it away from the base.

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"Hello, Mike? Oh, what happened? I called you several times, but you did not pick up." Jason felt relieved when he heard Mike's voice on the other end of the phone call.

"Jason, I'm sorry... I was planning to get on a plane to San Fran, but there are things here, that kept holding me back."

"But it's fine, I will take a flight directly to Alaska in a few minutes. I am at the airport now. I will see you in a few hours from now. You, can you wait for me in the base? I-I did not want to bother you, it's fine if you can't wait for me. I'll just stay here in Anchorage." Mike held his boarding pass tightly, crunching it a bit as he speaks to Jason. He was hoping for Jason to wait for him to arrive in Anchorage.

"Hey, bud, don't worry. Just call me once you arrived, I will pick you up and bring you to the bunker myself. After all, you would not be able to get in if I did not bring you there myself..."

"Whatever you are going to tell me, I am sure, it can wait. Just, you just take care, okay?" Jason detects the sound of worry and panic from Mike's tone. He is sure that whatever the news is if it were to be known to the outside world, nothing good will come out of it.

"Yeah, okay. I am bringing in some of my equipment with me. I will see you soon." Mike hang up the call and sit on the departure gate's chair. He looked up to the sky from the window and sighed.

"I wonder how long after this, would I ever got to see a clear sky like this ever again." Mike sighed again, and he took out his tablet from his backpack.

The tablet shows graphs after graphs that are being generated. The pulses of the graph were short, and most of them are red in color. Every once in a while, a beeping sound was heard from the tablet.

"No, no, no... " Mike put down the tablet on the chair beside him, and he cupped his hand with both of his palms.

"It's starting, the plates are slipping. " Mike sobbed through his palm. He felt his mind is breaking, he can't calm down.

A middle-aged lady that was sitting in front of Mike heard his pitiful sobs. "Good child, don't cry, what's the matter?" The lady patted Mike's back.

Mike removed his palm from his face, and looked at the middle-aged lady face, with his teary eyes. "Do you, do you trust me? If I told you that the world is going to an end, would you believe me?" Mike sobbed.

"My, my... everything good must come to an end. I don't need to trust you to know that. Every living thing will die, and so will I. Don't worry too much. Just live your lives every day that you are going to die tomorrow, then all will be good. No regrets." The middle-aged lady smiled, and drag her bag away.

"Yeah, ..that's right. 'Live your lives every day to the fullest, like you are going to die tomorrow. Why would you waste your time to be sad, if you can use that time to do everything you want without worry?" Mike smiled and wipes the tears off his face. Picking up his luggage and tablet, he strode into the plane.

Mike has made up his mind, there will be no broadcast to inform them about the devastating news. The people should live happily till the day they died. They may only have today, or they may still have another year to come before they died. Even if they knew, nothing could be done to stop the disasters from happening.

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Somewhere under the deep sea, where there are no human inhabitants, deepwater volcanoes erupted simultaneously, causing tsunamis that are as high as 200 feet. Hundreds of small islands vanished in one single tsunami, and the ripples from the earthquake are traveling at an alarming speed in the Indian Ocean.