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Prologue
SOME TIME AGO, SOME OTHER PLACE.
The ground shivered beneath Quint’s feet as he clambered up the cliff face. All the elements seemed to attack him at once: torrential rain robbing him of his sight, pasting his hair to his face, and the earth heaved up one moment, threatening to topple him, then in the next, it collapsed, slamming him back down to the ground.
“Leo?” He glanced frantically around for his lover, his cry lost to the noise of the chaos as he felt the snap of his vocal cord.
Rocks peeled away from the surrounding mountains, falling like giant olives, destroying the buildings that had stood at his feet for centuries. Thunder exploded around him, so loud it made his brain rattle inside his head. Then as the earth behind him crumbled away, creating an ever-expanding abyss, greedily swallowing up running animals and inanimate objects unable to escape the pandemonium, he cried out.
“Quint?”
Leo’s echoed cry snapped Quint back to everything he thought he’d lost. Alive. Leo was alive. His instinct had assured him he would be. “Leo—Leo. Over here.”
Leo came through the wall of rain, tripping towards him as gusts of strong wind battered his body. He crashed into Quint, and Leo’s soaking wet clothes slapped against his as they held on to each other. Quint gripped Leo’s silver ponytail for comfort, then peeled himself away, searching his eyes in an attempt to find an answer, any answer as to why their world was falling apart. “What the hell’s happening?”
“I don’t know.” The vibrato of Quint’s question seemed to sober Leo. “But I promise you, I won’t lose you again.”
That gave Quint some sense of comfort, and he looked around, trying to find a safe path forward, but screams carried from below on the wind from those who hadn’t manage to get ahead of the full horror, and they echoed in Quint’s mind.
More buildings crumbled like wet sandcastles, some swallowed up whole in sink holes. Then as the sea rushed in, ancient trees were toppled by the forces of giant waves without remorse. What was once a beach had now become an aquatic graveyard for anyone or anything swept up in its path.
Quint shared a glance with Leo, trying to hide the fear from his eyes as he pushed a wave of his wet salt-and-pepper hair away from his brow. He took Leo’s hand, leading him on to tackle the steep cliff in front of them, but what paths remained were either blocked by fallen rocks or shrouded by muddy rivers. The hike ahead became a nightmare from some twisted dream.
Overhanging boulders cracked off the cliff face above them, falling and crashing into the waves already lashing at the cliff below. Time was running out, and up was their only means of escape.
The climb was a huge challenge for men like him and Leo in their later years to conquer. His fitness wasn’t what it used to be, so tricking his mind into believing he was the young man he once was would be the only way forward through the relentless seismic activity that was pushing a fresh tsunami wave higher up the cliff.
Water rapidly ate its way towards them. A second later, rain made the soupy mud at his feet swamp his shoes, threatening to pull him under even before the sea reached them. “Up. Move.”
Leo quickly nodded as Quint pulled him forward, almost causing them both to slip.
“You okay?” Leo grabbed Quint by the shirt, bunching the material tightly into his palm, pulling him close.
Quint nodded, then as he started to climb, giving a look back to make sure Leo kept to his word of staying close, an explosion below jerked his head further back down the cliff. The last home in the farming community exploded under the force of the tsunami, and everything he had built with Leo in their short time together was reduced to nothing.
“It’s gone. Forget it.” Leo’s words fought through the rain, tearing Quint’s look away from their home. “You want to live? Up is the only way we’ll survive this.” Leo cupped his face. “Live or die?”
Leo’s ultimatum sobered Quint from the life being stolen from him, and he took one last look at their crushed home, then focussed on trying to run.
His breath quickly became ragged, matching the erratic rhythm of his heartbeat as they stopped and started towards the top of the cliff face. The rocky terrain became more unforgiving the higher he climbed, the gradient and slips on mud increasing with each step he took. It demanded every ounce of his strength and will to find any kind of secure footing with the ground loosening beneath them both.
Leo’s grip tightened on Quint’s arm as he kicked fallen rocks out of the way, sodden shoes slicing through puddles. But the rocky incline above seemed to stretch endlessly skyward, fighting against them.
The ground shifted underfoot, this time bringing with it a tearing crack through the rock that raced alongside them, and Quint cried out. “Whatisthis?” He tried to breathe and looked to Leo to find some explanation as to why their world seemed to be choosing suicide.
“I don’t know.” Leo swiped a mix of rain and sweat from his eyes. “Some kind of mass seismic event? It’s coming at us from all directions. All I do know is that we need to reach high ground. It’s our only chance.”
Quint felt the coldness of Leo’s wet palms as he cupped his cheeks, Quint’s own sharp, grey stubble no doubt cutting into Leo’s hands.
Leo took the lead, tugging him forward, pushing limits as caked-on dirt ran down Quint’s face, clouding his vision. Rain fell with such a force it looked like sheets of glass cutting into the ground.
Altitude robbed Quint of oxygen, tiredness slowed his run, but every inch of ground covered felt like a small battle won, a minor victory over the force ripping his world apart.
As they neared the cliff’s summit, the world seemed less angry, almost as though it held its breath, needing a few moments’ respite from its cry out against life. Or maybe Quint just blocked it out as he pulled Leo to the top and crashed onto the rocky ground. Only heavy breaths and the rain drumming on clothes came as he wiped the moisture from his long beard and searched blindly for Leo’s hand.
Leo’s long silver hair had fallen free of his ponytail, resting on his shoulders, and Quint blinked, needing to hold on to this image of him as their fingers interlocked.
“You’re trembling.” Leo held his look, heavy concern in his brown eyes, adding crow’s feet that only carried warmth his way. He tugged Quint in and wrapped a hold around him as they lay there on the ground. The change was startling. It was almost as if Leo didn’t want to fight anymore, didn’t want to run, and his hold tightened, in part protecting Quint from the threat rushing at them, yet in the same breath, wanting protection from it.
