“I think we’re in the wrong room!” Ben exclaimed in shock as he dropped the duffle bag.  “What do you mean?” Kevin called from the doorway.  “Look at this amazing view! It must have cost your parents a fortune!”  “It sure is,” Kevin walked up behind Ben and wrapped his arms around his waist.  “Look, you can even see the pool!” Ben pointed to the mezzanine below their room.  “Wow!” Kevin exclaimed. “Let’s go for a swim!”   “I don’t want to,” Ben said, gazing through their bedroom window “but I am starving” “Let’s order room service then,” Kevin suggested, picking up the menu off the bedside table. “How does Strawberry Gazpacho for an appetizer, followed by Roasted Fairytale Eggplant. Then Seasonal Galette for dessert and a bottle or two of the Sonoma Valley chardonnay sound to you?” “Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing!” Ben giggled. “Will they serve the wine though?” “Leave that to me,” Kevin winked. Ten or fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the door.  Kevin answered the door “The food you ordered, sir,” a petite voice said from the hallway. “If I could just see an ID.”  “But of course,” Kevin replied as he handed the server his ID and a hundred dollar bill.  “Thank you, sir.” the lady replied, taking the bill and returning Kevin’s ID without even looking at it. “I paid good money for that ID,” Kevin said as he wheeled the food cart into the room. “And she didn’t even check it.” “Did you tip her with a hundred dollar bill?” Ben asked, shocked. “Courtesy of Mom and Dad. They told me they wanted to pay for our dinner too while you were packing,” Kevin replied as he uncorked the wine and poured two glasses. “Here’s to love — the kind that lifts us when we can’t pick ourselves up. And to healing — blooming, stubborn, beautiful — just like us. To the memories we cherish, the moments we survive, and the future we’ll build together. I love you,” Kevin said, holding his glass in the air. Ben smiled. “Look who's got a bit of a poet in them too.” “I guess you’re rubbing off on me,” Kevin replied with a twinkle in his eye.  Ben laughed, then polished off his glass in one big gulp. “Take it easy cowboy,” Kevin said with a wink as he took a sip of his wine. Ben smiled, set down his glass, wrapped his arms around Kevin, and squeezed him tightly. ![[asi-i-impact.jpg]] Ben nudged Kevin with his toe. “Check out that sunset!” “I know it’s spectacular,” Kevin said as he set down his bowl of dessert. “This evening has been nothing short of magical.” “Hear, hear. Between the food, which was divine, the company, which is exquisite, and these incredible views I don’t think this evening could get any better.” “Don’t forget the wine, which is beyond words and of course the sex…” Kevin said wistfully as he bit his lower lip as he reminisced about the evening’s escapades on nearly every surface in their hotel room. “Oh of course… All that was a given,” Ben said with a chuckle as he fed Kevin the last bite of the Seasonal Galette.   “I never want this moment to end. Being here with you makes me the happiest guy in the world right now.” “No! It can’t be true,” Ben replied, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “What do you mean?” Kevin set down the spoon. “You can’t be the happiest guy in the world right now because I am.” Kevin’s eyes sparkled, and he leaned over to kiss Ben.  Without warning, their room began to shake. “What the hell is that?” “An earthquake?” Ben offered as he clutched Kevin tightly. As each second passed, the shaking grew more violent. Then came a roar—dull at first, but quickly rising in volume. The lights flickered, then cut out entirely. Plunged into darkness, the noise and tremors continued to crescendo. Below them, on the mezzanine, the boys heard people screaming. They looked down at the pool just in time to see the edge of the infinity pool give way. Several swimmers were swept over the edge along with hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. Suddenly an eerie unearthly light lit up their dark room. “What is that?!” Ben screamed pointing out the window. There in the sky was a huge fireball streaking across the night sky. After a few seconds it disappeared beyond the horizon. Then the shaking began to subside, the hotel’s emergency generator kicked on, and the lights came back on.   “Holy fuck!” Kevin shrieked.  Ben followed Kevin’s gaze and saw a huge mushroom cloud tearing into the sky.  “I think the fireball hit the ocean!” Ben gasped as a sickening feeling spread through his whole body.  In the distance, they heard a loud wailing siren followed by a pre-recorded female voice: *“Please evacuate to higher ground. This is not a drill. Please evacuate to higher ground.”* “Oh shit! It’s a tsunami! We have to leave now,” Kevin screamed. “Get to the truck!” Dressed in their hotel robes, Kevin and Ben dashed through the hotel lobby and down to the parking lot.  It was easy to find their old rusty three-quarter-ton diesel farm truck in a sea of Porsches, Audis, and Mercedes.  There was a lot of commotion in the parking lot with dozens of confused people wandering about. “What’s going on?” Ben asked as they hopped into their truck. Kevin shrugged and twisted the key. A moment later, their truck roared to life. A hotel guest ran over. “Mind if we hop in the back? No one’s cars are working. I guess the fireball fried everyone’s electronics or something.” “Sure, hop in the back!” Kevin yelled, motioning to the bed of the truck. Within a few moments, there were eight or nine people sitting in the bed of the truck. Kevin looked in the rearview mirror, when he didn’t see anyone else scrambling into the bed of the truck he sped out of the parking lot. “Where are we going?” Ben asked as he reached for his seatbelt.  “The hills. We gotta put as much distance between us and the coast as possible,” Kevin replied as the truck roared up the dark dirt road.  When they came tearing around a bend, there in the road up ahead was a locked yellow gate.  “Hold on - !” Ben yelled out the window to the passengers in the bed of the truck.  The gate was no match for a seven-thousand-pound truck traveling at over forty miles an hour. The headlights and radiator took the brunt of the force. In an instant, they were careening along the road in the dark, with no headlights and steam spewing from the hood. “I can’t see!” Kevin screamed as the truck bounced off the side of the road.  “Take it easy,” Ben replied, touching Kevin’s shoulder. “If we drive a little slower, we’ll be alright.” “Okay,” Kevin let out a long sigh. As they drove, slower now, deeper into the mountains, the temperature needle on the truck's dash climbed higher and higher. “She’s not going to make it much longer,” Kevin said to no one, patting the dashboard. “Come on, old girl, you can do it.” “She better!” screamed Ben, pointing out the passenger window. Off in the distance there was a huge mountain where the Pacific Ocean had been only moments before - and it was growing. “What is that!?” Kevin begged, a sickening sense of dread rising with the bile in the back of his throat. “We’re gonna die, aren’t we?”  “Not if you can get over the rise just up there,” Ben pointed out the windshield. Kevin looked to where Ben was pointing. A few switchbacks above them he could see a spot where the road crested the ridge line and dropped down the other side out of sight. “**IF** we could get over the far side it might be enough to protect us from the wave.”   Kevin pushed the throttle to the floor. There were only a few more seconds before the wave, which was tall enough now to blot out the stars in the sky, would be upon them.  The truck fishtailed around the first and second switchbacks - the occupants in the bed screaming in sheer terror. When the wave slammed into the coastline, the force was so great it caused the ground to shake violently. All around them, trees were toppling, and huge boulders bounced down the mountain sides toward the water, which was coursing higher and higher. “Look out!” Kevin called out as a tree toppled over right in front of them. There was no time to stop, and the truck passed just under it before catching air as it sailed over the top of the ridge line. ### Next Chapter: [[9 - Window of Time ⌛️]] ### Previous Chapter: [[7 - The Poet 📜]]