The building started to shake so much that it felt like collapsing, continuous resounding sounds could be heard outside. The whole group was terrified, and each couple were hugging tightly to go through this terrifying moment. The continuous shattering sounds kept going covering the shouts and sob of the group. After a while, the explosions started to space out, and the vibrations subsided.
"Do you think it is over?" said Alice.
"No, if this is really a meteorite shower, better stay here for a while more," answered Emmanuelle.
"What do you think?" Lexie said, gazed at Nicolas with a worried look.
"I don't know. Maybe it would be safer to stay here for a while more, as they might be more falling. But on the other hand, I think the building has been hit, and I don't trust the structure. We should maybe check quickly outside and.."
Another loud explosion in the distance froze the group.
"Let's wait a bit."
"Agree."
Fred and Julien appeared not sure what to do, but the last detonation was easily giving them a hint and quickly urged the group to stay put.
Five minutes later, the curiosity was killing Nicolas. He was sure that one of the explosion happen very close to his condominium and wanted to check how bad it was hit. He definitely did not trust his building's structure and wanted to make sure it was safe staying here.
"I am taking a quick look, 1 minute I promise."
"I don't think this is a good idea!" Emma replied.
"Yes I know, but I am almost sure the building has been hit, and I want to check if we are safe."
"This is a bomb shelter, the structure is meant to survive these kinds of things, stay put, and chill down," Emma was used to pushing her opinion into other people.
"And what if it does not? Thirty seconds! Just to assess and I'll be back." Nicolas insisted.
"Let him do what he wants, he generously invited us here, I guess we can follow his lead," Fred answered.
"Fine!"
Without waiting for more approval, Nicolas was already standing up and opening the heavy door.
At first, nothing out of the ordinary could be spotted beside the burnt smell; the room appears whole. Looking through the window, he could see smoke all around the building. He quickly opened the front door of the apartment that was just aside the bomb shelter. When he took a look in the condo corridor, a frightening sight lay before him.
On his right, a third of the building collapsed, and the neighbouring house was totally crushed and burning. He closed the door and ran to the balcony of the living room to have a view of the neighbourhood. The town was in fire here and there, smoke was rising all over the place and some people covered in blood could be seen in the street below. He raised his eyes and faced a beautiful but terrifying sight. Continuous falling meteorites were burning in the sky. If most of them were disintegrating before reaching the earth, some still dropped to the ground.
BOOM!!!
Scared, he went back in the bomb shelter and closed the door as fast as possible.
"What did you see?" Lexie urged Nicolas when he came back.
He was shocked, but after shaking his head, a serious look took over on his face.
"We must move, part of the condo has been destroyed and the building next to ours is on fire."
"But what about the meteorites, if they keep falling shouldn't we be more secured here?" said Julien.
"Trust me, here or naked in the streets, I don't think it will change your fate too much, just go out and take a look in the condo corridor, you will understand that if you are in the wrong place, wrong time, you're dead." Nicolas acted dramatically, but he could not be helped as he was from Marseille, a town famous for always exaggerating things and this time the effect of his speech was convincing enough to not been taken as a joke.
"OK, let's go, if the building next to ours is on fire and ours has been partially destroyed, we should not stay here any longer. If the fire spread, we will be sitting ducks." Said Fred before adding, "Anyway, this is a gamble, we don't know where the meteorites will fall, but we are sure that this building is not a safe place anymore. And think about it, giving the scale of this disaster, we cannot expect any help coming for us."
"Yes! GoGoGo!" Under pressure and focused on his objective, Nicolas was not thinking straight anymore, and a reflex from his videogame teenager time came up.
Not paying attention to the disbelieved stares of his companion, he started to lead the way outside. While going out, disagreements could be seen on Emma's and Julien's faces, but facing Nicolas full of determination and Fred's decisiveness, they did not feel like fighting the decision.
Grabbing their backpacks, they rushed toward the stairs of the building. The door leading to the stairs was just three metres from the front door of the apartment, but these three metres put even more fear in the heart of the group. While going across, they could witness they were no building anymore at the end of the passageway, just destruction and chaos.
They rushed for their lives, not waiting to see if the staircases were still safe or not, few and seconds later they were on the ground floor and a few more breaths later they reached the street.
"So, what now?" asked Julien panting while holding his knees. Julien was 37 years old, 178 cm and definitely not an athlete. This small sprint made him already want to find a sit to catch his breath.
"Let's take a look at the house in flame. Maybe some people need some help," Fred said.
"Yes, we should check," Emma added.
Lexie was clenching on Nicolas. "BB, I don't think this is a good idea. It looks extremely dangerous. Why don't we find someplace safe?" she whispered.
"Yes, I bet you're right, but I will be honest, I don't think we can find anywhere safe. This is why, since we are already in deep shit, why not trying to help people?"
Lexie was looking in the direction of the building on fire. It was not like she was too selfish to care about the people there, but she had a very strong survival instinct, and this instinct told her that going there would result in something terrible. "I feel like this is a mistake," she whispered.
Nicolas was distracted by how he could go there to pay attention to what she said.
However, Alice heard and snapped. "People are dying, and all you care is hiding!".
She came to Singapore because of Julien; she had been following him in expatriation for the second time now. Her husband income being enough, she dedicated her time to NGOs and other social activities. For her, helping people was her way to feel alive and useful to society, seeing someone expressing selfish thoughts, even when justified, made her feel bad.
The mood in the group became awkward. Facing this crisis, they did not know how to behave right now or what to do. They could die any second. For some, the fear was rooting in their heart, and for others, a superhero complex started to grow.
Before the situation could escalate, Emma started to mediate. "Here is what I suggest, we go there by the side. We take a look. If we find some injured people easy to access, we go help them; otherwise, we rush the MRT* or City Square Mall and go underground."
"Yes! Let's do this!" quickly followed Nicolas. Nicolas was not someone that like conflict and he feeling Lexie starting to shake because of anger, he did not want to stay here any longer. He whispered to Lexie, "let's be quick, we take a look and take off right away, going there should be safe enough. And I want to see what the meteorite looks like."
Lexie was used to the behaviour of Nicolas, while some were concerned about important things like saving people or fleeing for their lives, Nicolas was interested in seizing a look at the meteorite. This made her smile slightly.
'One stone, two birds' thought Nicolas happy to not have to face a useless dispute and being able to satisfy his curiosity. Without a second thought, he went there running. With the satisfaction of avoiding a useless dispute, he went to satiate his thrust of curiosity. Also, he believed that if they could help one or two persons, it would be a 'nice to be done' task.
After just a few seconds he was in front of the desolate area. This tall curious guy was not alone anymore, as a dozen people were going into the direction of the impact. Reaching the crater rim, he saw a massive hole with at its centre a tiny stone still slightly fuming. The house that was supposed to be here was torn apart, smashed by the impact. What catch Nicolas attention was all the people lying unconscious all around the pit. The situation was very odd, as most of them seemed not to be bleeding or hurt.
Nicolas started to frown, but before he could confirm the situation, he felt week, sleepy, his vision started to blur, and he felt on the ground like a rock. His companion following him got scared, reaching his inanimate body they wanted to check up on him when they too lost consciousness.
*MRT: Name of the metro;subway;tube in Singapore