At first the rain was welcomed. The land was parched and the heat was insufferable. The gentle rain that fell for a few days helped cool the land and it's inhabitants, some of whom danced in the down fall like childern. Business picked up in my casino/escort service because outside activities were out of the question. My girls were bringing in the dough, large denomination bills being tucked into their g-strings as they danced on stage. The drinks were flowing and money was rolling in. But after a week it became monotonous. Some streets were under water and impassable so customers started going to establishments closer to home. We started getting customers whose cars got water damaged outside our doors. These became long term quests as the tow trucks put them on waiting lists. Eventually even the tow trucks couldn't make it up the hill to our place because the streets were inaccessible. Moods got uneven and unpredictable as the rain wore on our nerves.
Going into the second, almost third week of rain, the lower roads were completely submerged and emergency evacuations were being issued. We were hearing of people dying in flash floodings as their cars were swept off the streets and into newly formed rivers. Houses were destroyed and people were stranded on upper levels of apartment buildings. News broadcasts of looting, murders and rapes.Some of my employees had called in days earlier and were leaving town till things got better. The problem was there was no place that was better.
The news carried weather reports nation wide and globally of unusually long, heavy storms. All regions below sea level were wiped out! It was unbelievable. I had an apartment above my place of business, along with some of my girls that lived here. We were getting extremely concerned as we were imprisoned in the building. It wasn't just me and my renters incarcerated here, we still had people from off the streets, and customers who had been stuck here after coming to be serviced by one of my girls and hadn't been able to leave. We had to make arrangements for total strangers to stay with us, mostly society's riff raff, good people didn't gamble, screw or drink. There was no way we could get out. The food delivery trucks had ceased coming a long time ago. That wasn't as bad as the liquor trucks not coming. My rougher patrons were going into delirium tremors and nasty behavior. My girls and I stayed armed for protection, the bouncers were working overtime without thought of getting paid. Violence was erupting spontaneously and frequently among the clients and staff. I had to shoot some ruffians going through withdrawals in self defense, it slowed some action down. An ugly breed, drinkers and gamblers. Drug usage didn't help the situation.
The rain was seeping in under the doors and by the fourth week was almost to the second floor. We had started carting things upstairs that were helpful for daily life, like any food that we could find and candles! Water was unnecessary, we just held bottles outside the windows. We all stayed in front of the television watching the weather channel, looking and praying for relief. We had called 911 and reported our predicament and were on a list with others in the same situation, stranded in buildings. Authorities knew where we were and would get to us as soon as they could. We phoned family and friends to check in on them. Most of them didn't answer the phone. This added to our anxieties. We received no cheer from the ones that were able to answer. We couldn't be with those we loved as they feared death and destruction. I heard my nieces and nephews wailing in the background at my sister's house. It would be the last time I heard their voices or they, mine.
We watched the news as people were being airlifted out but planes were crashing because they ran out of fuel trying to land on runways that were now on the bottom of the ocean! The problem wasn't being solved because the evacuees were discovering that where ever they went eventually became engulfed in water and they needed to move on. The higher they went the higher they had to go. Boats at sea were being capsized by enormous tidal waves. Fires erupted all over but were quenched by the unceasing rain. The looting had stopped and the fight for survival began in earnest. Reports of people killing their families and then themselves. Cowards. Eventually we were cut off from the world as television and radio stations were struck by lightning. My phones went dead so we had no way of tracking the progress of our rescuers which by now we were pretty sure weren't coming. We were totally in the dark with strangers in our midst, no idea of the world situation, no hope of being saved. Fearing for families we couldn't contact, assuming they were now gone.
Boats rowed or sailed past us. The rain filled the cavities of open boats eventually causing them to sink. Some larger motorized boats passed us. People floating on rafts and lumber passed us, alive and dead. Dead animals passed us. Clothes, couches, tables passed us. The stench of decaying bodies and trash was tremendous.
The water here was up to the ceiling now and starting to enter the attic on the fifth week. We crawled out the windows and pulled ourselves up to the roof. The scenery was terrifyingly bleak. We no longer saw any aircraft pass overhead. No buildings were visible, just occasional rooftops with lethargic people scattered about. Some boats pulled up to us and took on as many of us as they could. They couldn't help all of us no matter how much we offered them, money being valueless now. They gave us no word of encouragement about the sights they had passed. They had seen nothing that looked positive while they were adrift. As some of the boats went into the distance we could see them rolled upside down by the waves. We watched as people tried to swim back, unsuccessfully. The current was too horrendous for land lovers without floatation devices who were undernourished and fighting flotsam that had become weapons of destruction, smashing against heads, mercifully killing instantly. Those that had just recently been with us were now fish food. Yes, here in what had been the heart of America was now a gigantic fish aquarium. Sharks and other carnivorous amphibians swam around in the waters looking for quick meals, we were now take out food. The fish could dine on Chinese, Mexican , Italian, French, American or Spanish cuisine.
We started to have hope when a large vessel came into view at the end of the sixth week. Hope didn't last long as we watched it plow into a submerged roof and take on water. One of its life boats was swept free by the fast moving waters and was hurled in our direction. I grabbed it successfully after four attempts. The girls and I crawled in and we launched off, aware we were just prolonging the inevitable. One girl died the minute she sat down. The others were to depleted of reserves to cry. We had no energy left to shed tears for a friend. We weren't stupid. We were all going to join her soon.
I started to fade. The rain had finally ended but I wouldn't be alive much longer. Without food and constant exposure to the elements I was burning up with fever. All the others with me had finally succumbed to death from starvation and lost body heat. I would have tossed them off the boat but even their lifeless bodies gave me some comfortless company. I seemed to be the last living soul on a liquid globe. In a haze of delirium I heard animal sounds in the distance. Feebly opening my eyes I spied a luxury liner passing by. I had to be hallucinating. Raising my gaze to the deck I saw two gorillas and two elephants looking over the edge, the first birds I'd seen in weeks, sitting on their backs. Were those two giraffes hanging their heads out of the bottom windows with monkeys hanging on their necks? To weak to call for help, my eyes closed, permanently. I didn't see the dove fly back to the boat with an olive branch in it's mouth.
Gen 6-9
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