Notes from the Future: Audio and Handwritten Journal, Part I

[The following are combined excerpts of audio and handwritten journal entries made in the days following the quake. Handwritten entries italicised.]

June 23

10:00 pm

I don't know where we are.

[Car driving, wind through open windows, Max snuffling about.]

Veronica: I think Max might have to pee.

Edward: We'll stop in a bit, I want to get past all these people.
               For the audio journal. it is now 8:15 pm; we are on Camino Tassajara in Blackhawk, it's been slow going since we met Nadine on North Livermore; the back roads, while not clogged with traffic, carry their own set of obstacles: thus far we've encountered one landslide, two abandoned police blockades, four traffic snarls around accidents; three of the accidents were days old. Those cars also appeared abandoned.

               Looks like there's a forest fire on top of Mt. Diablo, a brush fire or something. Man, that's a lot of smoke. There was a woman outside her car at the intersection of Highland and Camino Tassajara, praying hysterically toward the mountain, rosary and all. She was parked where the fruit stand usually is. I wanted to ask her if she had fresh hysteria, but Veronica wouldn't slow down.

Veronica: Be nice.

Edward: I am nice.

               There are hundreds of people on foot, here, many of them in the street. Most are heading North-Northwest, the same direction as us. This makes me wonder if the Sycamore Valley Road overpass is intact.

Veronica: Where do you think they're coming from?

Edward: Work, I'm guessing. ... They don't look like they live in Blackhawk. Domestics, gardeners, maybe. Wow, I don't see anyone on foot who does not appear to be of spicy Latin blood.

Veronica: Going home on foot?

Edward: Buses aren't running, most roads are --

[Bus goes roaring past on right, barely misses sideswiping the Honda]

Veronica: What the hell, man!?

Edward: That bus was full of ... uncomfortable-looking families. I think they were all white. Is there an Express Bus to Utah or something?

Veronica: Oh my God, where are they going?

Edward: I don't know, but it appears they are determined to get there before us.

Veronica: They're heading in the wrong direction. They're heading toward Mt. Diablo.

Edward: So are we.

Veronica: Yes, but look: they're waiting to turn onto Camino Tassajara. Isn't that heading toward Brandon's house?

Edward: Yes, it is.

Veronica: Should we go check on him?

Edward: He directed an award-winning film about a Zompocalypse, I think he'll be just fine.  Hopefully he'll have the sense to get the hell out of Danville ASAP.

[Giant explosion as Mt. Diablo erupts; a flaming chunk of rock comes rocketing down to tear the bus in half; most sound distorted for a time, lots of screaming and squealing tires, Max barking in terror; coherence picks up at:]

Edward: Drive! Drive! Drive!

Veronica: Where?! Where the fuck should I drive?!

Edward: Straight ahead! Christ, look, there's an opening! Do you want me to drive?!

[Scuffle/rustling]

Veronica: Ow! What the fuck -- get your hands off the -- that hurts you asshole!

[Acceleration, sounds of fire and screaming grow louder]

Edward: Then move your goddamn foot, woman!

Veronica: I can't, you're pinning it to the pedal -- OUCH!

[Thud and grunt as Veronica elbows Edward back into the passenger seat, car screeching to a halt; thud from Max banging into the back of the passenger seat. Another eruption from Mt. Diablo, louder, larger, like Hell unleashed; something large is coming their way, something gigantic and crackling with fire]

Edward: Go.

Veronica: We'll never make it.

Edward: Then risk it.

Veronica: That thing is larger than our house.

Edward: It's larger than our street and it's moving faster than you think. Do you want to die sitting still or risk success?! GO!!!

[Slight silence, perhaps because the living uninjured on the ground can see and hear it now, as well; the sound of burning and the screams of the dying are all that can be heard. Then:]

Edward: I want us to have babies. Let's live.

[Sudden acceleration; some shouting as a group of people try to stop the car speeding past]

Edward: Straight.

Veronica: I see it.

Edward: Through.

Veronica: I see it.

Edward: There.

[The car vrooooooms as it leaves the ground; what appears to be the top 1/3 of Mt. Diablo crashes into the ground where the Honda was when it stopped; several large boulders are crashing into houses and cars and people all around as rocks and chunks of flaming material hit the car.]

Edward: Holy shit!

[The car lands hard, skidding, screaming, comes to a halt.]

Veronica: I'm okay.

Edward: You okay?

Veronica: I'm okay. I'm okay.

Edward: Good. That's got to be a drop of at least fifteen feet. I did not know there was no road there.

Veronica: Neither did I. I would never have tried to jump it.

[More flaming debris is landing, a large chunk hits the passenger side door with the impact of a small rhinoceros.]

Edward: Ow, fuck! Let's get the hell out of here.

[Car accelerating.]

Veronica: Try the overpass?

Edward: ... sure. May as well.

[Chunks of rock landing all around as they drive]

Edward: Look out.

[BANG! Chunk of rock on hood of car, hissing from engine]

Edward: Fuck this, turn left.

Veronica: What if the overpass is there?

Edward: Turn left now!

Veronica: No!, see? Look: it's ...

[Car slows, stops, idles]

Edward: That's a river of fire.

Veronica: How far down do you think it is?

Edward: I'm not getting out to check. Let's go, turn around.

[Car executing three-point-turn, driving, tense silence.]

Veronica (sim.): Oh my God.

Edward (sim.): Oh my God.

We can still hear Mt. Diablo erupting. The resemblance to Mt. Doom when we turned the car around was shocking. I always thought that Reno, Nevada was Mordor. Now Reno seems like heaven.

Edward: Turn right.

Veronica: You said left.

Edward: That was when we were heading West. TURN RIGHT NOW.

[Squealing tires, shifting items in car.]

Veronica: I was mesmerized by the lava.

Edward: We will not be able to return this way.

[Silence for a time, only car and wind can be heard]