“Sorry,” Samuel apologized as he bumped into a woman with his rucksack.
She glared and flipped him off. “Watch where you’re going.”
While there were narrow sidewalks which ran down either side of the bridge over the Hudson, pedestrians had moved into the road too, blocking the route for the cars. Several people sat in their vehicles and honked their horns, trying to move the throng of people out of the way, while others revved their engines and threatened to drive anyway. But for both types of drivers there was nowhere to go. The tarmac was covered with people and gradually more and more people exited their cars and grabbed their belongings, joining those on foot as they tried to get out of the city.
After about ten minutes of shuffling along and knocking into strangers, Samuel apologizing at first as he kept his head down and tried to avoid being recognized, he and Austin had made it into the middle of the crowd. They trudged forward as fast as possible in such a large crowd. Everyone walked with their heads down and their mouths shut as they crossed the bridge into New Jersey.
On the other side, the crowds didn’t thin out immediately. A lot of people stood around trying to figure out what to do now. With more and more people coming off the bridge and less and less space available, the pushing and shoving quickly got out of hand.
Fights broke out as New Yorkers encroached onto land they weren’t familiar with, the roadways widening but only giving space to more people and vehicles. Desperate individuals tried to stop the few moving cars and either beg for a ride or threaten the driver and try to force their way in. Austin and Samuel watched on in horror like many others, trapped in an intersection of troubles with each route only serving them more difficulty.
“We need to get off the highway,” Samuel shouted to his friend, the noise almost drowning out his voice. Austin nodded, agreeing with Samuel and just as desperate to escape the madness.
The two of them battled against the moving crowds, feeling at times like they were swimming against the current as they headed for one of the service roads down from the bridge, a route that would hopefully take them into a quieter area of New Jersey. The buildings close to the river were mainly industrial factories or office complexes. No one lived in the area and so all the traffic was moving with purpose. There was no one setting up camp here, everyone was just trying to escape the madness.
Half way down the service road and already in a much steadier moving stream of people Samuel stopped, the sound of crying halting him in his tracks. “Do you hear that?” he asked Austin, looking around and trying to focus on the sound over all the noise.
“What? Oh, yeah,” Austin replied after a second, also hearing the crying. “Where is it coming from?”
The two men turned back, Samuel stepping forward against everyone else as he saw the source of the crying. Just off to his right huddled underneath an overturned roadworks sign was a young girl. She hugged her knees up to her chest and sobbed into them, tears streaming down her face as her eyes surveyed the crowd, searching for someone.
“Hey there,” Samuel crouched down beside her, Austin shielding Samuel from the passersby to stop him being trampled as he tried to help the young girl. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he soothed her. The girl looked frightened by the arrival of the two men. “Are you okay? What’s your name? Are you lost?”
The little girl moved her head up and down slightly, nodding in response to Samuel’s questions. He guessed she was maybe nine or ten years old; old enough to understand what was happening, but still young enough to be petrified by the situation. Samuel himself was scared about what was going to happen next on his journey, he could only imagine the fear this little girl had to be feeling.
“My name is Samuel,” he introduced himself to her. “What’s your name? Have you lost your mom and dad?”
The little girl nodded again, her movements more pronounced this time as she became more confident around Samuel. “Izzy,” she replied, “I let go of my mom’s hand then I couldn’t find her again.”
“Okay Izzy,” Samuel nodded, “can you tell me what your mom looked like? Was it just the two of you, or were you with anyone else?”
“My dad,” Izzy replied, her voice getting louder and less timid as she continued to speak. “And my older brother, Danny.”
“Okay, good,” Samuel continued to smile and encourage the young girl, speaking calmly to her and doing his best to use his body to protect her from the people rushing down the service road behind him. Austin stood guard as best he could, but it was a difficult job when everyone was so focused on their own goals and wellbeing. “And what do they look like? Do they have blonde hair like yours, or is it darker like mine?”
“Like mine,” Izzy replied. “And my dad has glasses.”
“Great,” Samuel returned the girl’s smile. “That’s great, Izzy. Do you want to come out and help me look, or do you want to wait here?”
Izzy paused for a moment and considered Samuel’s question. He could see the little girl was weighing it up in her head, figuring out if she was brave enough to come out of her hiding place just yet. After a few seconds her face transformed into an expression of determination and she nodded, shuffling forward and moving out from underneath the road sign to stand
