Quantum Rip: Welcome to Ethos

During (Part 2)

"Yawen! Yawen! Have you seen Yawen?" Edvard shouted and asked as he ran past panicking colleagues. After helping Ghakarhi and Maxwell out of the reactor room, he had quickly done his best to stabilize them and then rushed to find his wife.

A total shutdown meant they could no longer contact the outside world, the force fields completely cut them off from the rest of the world. Which meant it was too late to contact their families. Edvard now only wished to spend his last moments with his wife.

In this rush and panic, time froze… Yet it did not freeze.

Everyone could still feel, see, and reason. But they could not move. Things which had been falling were now stationary, people who were bleeding now seemed to stop. The sound of the alarm was no more and so too the flashing of the lights.

'What the hell?' Edvard asked as he tried looking around, finding that he could not move his sight. He was completely stuck, but aware. He could not even move his eyes as often depicted in movies.

Edvard found himself forced to look at people he knew seemingly evaporate in front of him. No blood, bones, or even a speck was left. The people simply disappeared, but slowly. Piece by piece.

At first, Edvard had thought he was hallucinating, however, as he saw more and more of Mark disappear, as well as the pain in Mark's eyes, he realized it was real.

At first, Mark only lost a pupil, then one of his teeth. Slowly holes started appearing all over his body. Yet no blood came out of these holes. Nothing to indicate that it was actual wounds.

Edvard would swear to anyone who would listen that he could see the pain Mark had been in. That he could see his wish to die. 'Almost like his wish was mine.'

Many people's last thoughts were made in this weird state, wishing their loved ones the best. And if their loved ones were here, that they would not suffer as they did.

Soon the entire facility was only left with 40 people, from the over 5000 that there had been.

…

"As can be seen here, a crater 50km in radius has been formed after the reactor meltdown. All the sand has turned into glass, giving it quite an appealing look." A reporter spoke into her microphone. Even such a professional such as herself failed to keep the fear from making it into her voice.

"However, entering the area is a death sentence! We have heard and seen videos of people rushing into the area, trying to help. To try and find any survivors… But... These poor people all died in less than a single step. "

"This video shows footage taken from someone who started filming once she saw the forcefields light up. As can be seen, even from the distance she was at, it seemed like a new sun blossomed on the earth."

"The authorities have claimed that things are under control, but I am sure that simple statements will not be enough!" She was supposed to stay neutral... She could not. Not when something they had all been looking forward to had gone so wrong. Not when they were getting no hard answers.

…

"We are sorry for your loss." Two men in suits said, standing in the doorway of an old lady's house. Handing her a document detailing the response the government was taking in regards to this huge disaster. About how they would support the families.

"Sorry! That is all that you have to say after I lost my children? How dare you!?" She slammed the door closed in anger, turning to her grandchildren and embracing them.

Tears streaming down her face as she recalled how she had gotten the news. Not from the company. Not from the government. Through a random tweet.

…

"But, what about Mama?" Vera asked as tears formed in her eyes.

"She's gone..." Roland answered as he hugged both his younger sisters. He himself had not come to grasps with what had happened. One moment he was still furious at his mother. The next… Some men in suits came and told him that she had died.

Roland was in complete shock, unable to fully process what had happened. All he could do was hold his sisters. Trying to be strong for them, softly he started singing the song their mother always sang to them at night.

Tears formed in his eyes as he remembered that which his anger had kept away. That his mother truly loved them, even if it didn't always seem like that.

He completely ignored the document which was laying on the table.

The two little ones cried themselves to sleep in his embrace, leaving Roland reeling with what he was supposed to do. His mother dead, his father in jail. He himself but a twelve-year-old.

'It will be alright. I will try to live up to you, mom.' Roland promised in his heart, realizing just how great his mother actually had been. To be able to move past the pain and keep going. He realized he had just gotten lost inside of it.

Turning to blame instead of accepting. Instead of working through it.

…

"Another pair of orphans." One of the men in suits sighed as he typed the new address into their hover car's navigation.

"Fuck this job!" His partner cursed as he took the list and cursed some more. There were still many more people they had to visit. They would not be able to rest for the entire day, nor the next.

"I know it fucking sucks… But we have to do this. While we can't offer much, it is at least something that the families can use."

"Goddamn right it is not much! Why are the reparations so fucking little? Families were ripped apart! And all we can offer is a monetary reward to ensure that they can live! What does that compare to what they lost!?"

Neither of them spoke for the rest of the trip to the next house, both hating that this was happening. Wishing that it had been their day off.

…

"Isabel, don't!" A young man rushed to stop his sister from crossing the boundary.

This young man was Roland, now a man of age 17. Having lost his mother at the age of 12 while still hating her for what he now knew was not her fault, but rather just his father's. It was the biggest regret in his life, one that hurt even now.

Isabel and Vera were his twin sisters, both 9 now. "I know, I just…" Isabel stopped, not knowing what she wanted to do.

She wanted to go closer, closer to the place that had claimed her mother's life. She could barely remember what her mother's touch felt like, if not for pictures and videos she would have forgotten how she looked and sounded too.

She knew, even now, five years later, that crossing into the crater was an immediate death sentence. Even robots could not make it more than ten meters into the circle. Even so, she wanted to be closer to her mother, just once more.

"Roland, you're also here?" A female voice asked, turning around Roland saw Tracy.

Like Roland, she was also an orphan due to the accident… Disaster… Failure... There were too many names for what had happened.

"Yeah, is Robert here?" Roland asked as he looked at Tracy who had grown a great deal since he last saw her. Back when they would often get a ride from Edvard if their mom couldn't make it.

"No…" Tracy sighed, looking at everyone gathered here. "He hates this place. He is still trying to find a way to make it so that our parents aren't dead."

Roland also sighed as he heard this. Only someone as weird and strange as Robert would try to rationalize everything like that. Then again, they all tried to move on in different ways.

Roland knew he had no right to criticize anyone who had been affected by this tragedy. However, that did not mean that the thoughts would not pass through his mind.

After the accident, Robert had lost his passion. Feeling that life was meaningless. He became a shut-in. Forming strange ideas to keep up with reality as he refused to accept that his loving parents had been taken from him so suddenly.

It was so bad that if not for their uncle helping out, who knows what would have happened to Tracy. She had grown up far too fast for her age, just 11 now, yet she acted more like she was 20.