Both Samuel and Austin had been avoiding looking out in the direction of the Trident building, neither of them wanting to see the state of it now. You didn’t have to look to know it was ablaze though, the fire burning viciously through the lower levels.
“Did everyone get out?”
“I don’t know,” Samuel replied honestly with a shake of his head. “In fact,” he paused, “I’m pretty confident there were still some people inside.” He thought back to Sandy and how he had left the woman on the sixth floor. Even without looking at the burning building, Samuel knew the flames would’ve reached past the sixth floor by now. Sandy would’ve either been forced upwards to wait for her death, or already accosted by the fire. Once again shame tormented Samuel, the man regretting his decisions despite knowing there was little else he could’ve done.
“Oh no,” Abi put a hand over her mouth, “that’s awful.”
“How did you get out? I don’t understand why it ended up being you in front of the camera? What was it like over there?”
Trent had so many questions; it took a lot for Samuel to get his head around. He needed to stop for a minute and think. After checking that his front door was properly shut and locked again, he walked into his kitchen – part of his open plan living space – and filled a glass of water from the faucet. Trent, Abi and Austin all watched him quietly, the room sort of freezing in time while Samuel prepared himself. He felt like he had been trying to answer one question after another for over a day now and not once had he given the answer people wanted. The pressure was mounting even now, and Samuel didn’t want to shoulder the responsibility anymore.
“Err; do either of you guys want a drink?” Austin asked as Samuel stood shakily by the sink, leaning against the counter and looking like he needed to sit down. “I’m Austin,” he held out his hand to shake both Trent’s and Abi’s. “I also worked at Trident.”
“Oh sorry,” Abi shook Austin’s hand first, her manners most on par with Samuel’s. “Were you inside for it all? What happened?”
Austin looked over at Samuel again and saw that he didn’t look like he would be recounting the events of their time in the Trident building any time soon. Taking the lead, he nodded and started explaining what had happened to the newcomers, sparing no details from their gruesome experience in the burning building. Unlike Samuel, he had seen it and was impressed that the structure still stood upright. The foundations were surely compromised now; those at the top of the building wouldn’t be waiting for the fire to reach them but waiting to topple to the ground in a pile of rubble and ash.
“That’s mental,” Trent shook his head once Austin was finished with his story, explaining how he and Samuel had scaled down an elevator shaft with part of the news crew, only to have them turn them in to the angry mob moments later. “I can’t believe people are being like that.”
“I can,” Abi scoffed, talking over her husband in a manner that would’ve been condescending had it transpired between anyone other than a married couple. Between the two of them however it was natural; there was an undeniable undertone of love that overshadowed everything else, making it entirely acceptable for Abi to talk to Trent in that manner. “People are dogs,” she declared simply. “You only have to look out of the window to see that. The streets are a mess. The city is in chaos. People have lost their humanity.”
From the kitchen where he stood alone, Samuel laughed. That was the line that he kept telling people. The money may be lost, but they didn’t need to lose their humanity. It was ironic how Abi had reached the same conclusion, or perhaps it was expected. People’s lives were entirely hinged on their capability to pay for their next meal or afford the next big trip. Money was the be all and end all and losing that affected so much more than just their bank accounts.
“You okay, pal?”
“Yeah,” Samuel spoke out eventually, nodding away Austin’s concern. “Yeah, I will be. That stuff was,” he paused, glancing out of the window properly at the burning wreckage of the Trident building. “Mental.” He echoed Trent, using a word that was normally outside of his vocabulary but seemed to sum up their scenario perfectly. “Are you both okay? I’m sorry about before,” he nodded to the door apologetically. “Have you both been here the whole time?”
“Yeah,” Trent nodded, “we obviously didn’t believe things at first. You know Abi has always been with you guys, but my money is with The Dorchester Group. It was only when they took to the news declaring how messed up everything was that we started to buy into the whole thing. Before that we assumed it was some crazy glitch. Like – money can’t just vanish like that, can it?”
Samuel laughed, hearing the same opinion that so many others, including himself had carried up until not that long ago. “Oh, how I wish that was the case.”
“It’s just crazy,” Abi agreed. “So yeah, at first we didn’t really believe it. But then we saw that woman from The Dorchester Group on the news and we started thinking maybe there’s some logic behind it all. Fat lot of good it did having money with them anyway, my accounts are all wiped now as well. There’s nothing left.”
“There can’t be,” Austin shrugged. “The entire economy is done for. We tried to see if the government could bail us out, but it’s even beyond the point of that. Doesn’t matter how much money is in reserve anywhere now, it’s worthless.”
