Wipeout: Wipeout Book 1 Read online

  Cassie nodded. “What about you?” She’d never received an answer before. “Where are you going?”

  Samuel paused to think for a moment. “To my parents’,” he decided. “Long Island.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be able to get there?” Cassie questioned, looking around at how the city had quickly ground to a halt. “Is the subway still working?”

  “I’ll work it out,” Samuel replied. “Don’t worry about me.”

  An awkward silence drew out between the two colleagues after Samuel’s words. Neither of them really knew what to say or how to say goodbye. Their relationship had changed in the last hour and it made the atmosphere between them feel different. Samuel half wanted to give Cassie a hug, but he worried whether that would be deemed inappropriate. In the end there was nothing more than a verbal farewell shared between them, leading to Samuel turning away and walking off into the crowd. He didn’t look back. He couldn’t bring himself to. Staring straight ahead, Samuel made his way off of Wall Street as quickly as possible and in the direction of his parents’ house. He had no intention of taking the subway. The walk would give him some time to think. He needed that, after everything he had been through, he desperately needed that.

  Chapter 8

  The walk to Long Island was not going to be easy. Samuel’s parents lived in Freeport, just beyond JFK airport. It was a journey that would normally take him over an hour to drive, so on foot he was looking at something closer to an eight-hour journey if he couldn’t find a mode of transport. His first issue though, before Samuel could even think about how he was going to reach his parents, was getting across Brooklyn Bridge.

  New York City was in a strange state of limbo. It wasn’t like any other disaster where the power had gone out or the electronics had stopped working. Everything was still working and yet, everything had also ground to a halt. People were both panicked and incredibly calm. The area around the Trident bank and Wall Street itself was the epicenter of the disaster. That was ground zero, the detonation point where the bomb had erupted and created bedlam. The further that Samuel now walked away from it, the more things changed and the more he encountered different types of behavior.

  As he walked along the sidewalk beside the river, Samuel saw a whole range of people. The desperate ones among them were looting shops, trying to get away with anything they could carry. In a world without any money, Samuel wondered what would become the new source of currency. Precious gems didn’t quite hold the value they used to, or perhaps it was that less people knew that value. Electronics would be the natural choice, but how long would people be able to power them?

  Samuel knew just how many different companies Trident worked with and how many resources could be damaged as a result of a lack of funding. Perhaps that was what R. Hauser had been referring to in his final few moments – maybe Samuel needed to think even further about the reach that Trident had within the city and how that would affect its inhabitants.

  Making his way up onto the road, Samuel found immediately that the slip road leading up to the bridge was entirely gridlocked with cars. It looked like someone had abandoned their vehicle half way along and then another car had smashed into the back of it, making the slip impassable for other cars. Samuel saw this working to his advantage and picked his way through the mess of cars so he could start walking up the slip road toward the bridge. Traffic was still moving across it, but no way near like it normally did. Samuel was confident he could make the crossing.

  “Hey pal! Where do you think you’re going?”

  Looking back over his shoulder, Samuel saw a man hanging out of the window of his yellow cab, pulled up just at the bottom of the slip road while he smoked a cigarette.

  “Long Island,” Samuel called back. He had no intention of stopping to talk or answer questions. The city was in disarray, he wasn’t about to be reprimanded for walking in the road or not using the proper pedestrian crossings.

  “You want a lift?” the cabbie shouted back. “I can get ya there.”

  Samuel paused and looked ahead of him again, seeing that the slip road was in no way passable. New York cabbies were efficient drivers, but even this guy couldn’t navigate through a gap half the size of his car.

  “I know another way,” the cabbie declared, seeing the look of apprehension on Samuel’s face and pushing to get the ride. “Triple fare though. Cash only.”

  “You know what’s happened, right?” Samuel asked with a confused tone, finally walking slightly closer to the cabbie so he didn’t need to shout. “Money is useless now.”

  The cabbie scoffed and took a final drag of his cigarette, flicking the butt in the direction of the river. “Sure, if you believe that spin. Money can’t just get wiped out, pal. It’s out there somewhere, and it’ll be back soon. So, you want a lift or not? You got cash?”

  Samuel stared at the cabbie a little longer, considering what the man was suggesting. He was so unlike everyone else he had encountered so far, so convinced that this was a problem that was going to go away. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and counted what cash he had. Unlike the driver, he was under no belief that the money problems were going to vanish. In part, he felt morally wrong going along with him, but he also needed to get to Long Island and if the cabbie was willing to drive him, he was willing to be driven.

  “I’ve got a hundred and twenty bucks.”

  “Get in.”

  “So, you really believe all of this, huh?” The cabbie – whose badge told Samuel that his name was Jason Myers – asked as they drove away from the congested slip road and doubled back on themselves slightly. It looked like they were heading to the main road up to the bridge; something that Samuel highly doubted would still be in use based on the state of the slip road. But Jason drove in that direction anyway, paying no attention to the chaos all around him and the city which was falling apart.

  “Yeah,” Samuel replied, not really knowing how to act around the cab driver. “I work at Trident. I don’t think they’d just make this entire thing up.”

  “Aha,” Jason laughed, “well you’ve got the wool pulled over your eyes even more than the rest of us then! Money can’t just vanish into thin air. What is it they’re blaming it on now, random ware?”

  “Ransomware.”

  “Yeah, that’s the bugger!” Jason looked up into his rear-view mirror and locked eyes with Samuel for a second, before executing an incredibly sharp turn to practically jump across to the other side of the highway. “Here we go,” he grinned, starting to drive up the slip road at the other side of the bridge, the one cars usually used to come down the other way.

  “Whoa! Watch it!”

  “Relax, pal,” Jason smiled. “We’re fine.”

  Samuel gripped the door of the cab and clung on for dear life, expecting another car to come hurtling toward them at any second. Jason navigated them up the opposing slip road with ease though and before Samuel knew it, they were up on the bridge and back on the right side of the road. Samuel could feel his heart pounding in his chest but saw nothing but a look of adventure on Jason’s face. This man was either not in his right mind or just excited to be driving without the usual Manhattan traffic for once. Samuel hoped with all his might it was just the latter.

  “Anyway yeah,” Jason continued to talk, filling his cab with sound as he sped across the bridge. “This ransomware thing, all sounds like a load of baloney to me. Who holds money to ransom, when the ransom is for the money itself? Doesn’t even make sense! Nah, I reckon this is just some exotic marketing ploy, another trick to try and get us to invest more in the company. Might have worked on most people, but it takes more than that to fool me.”

  Samuel was honestly and completely lost for words. He’d never met a man like Jason before, someone who could so confidently believe in his own opinion, even when everything and everyone else was telling him he was wrong. The worry that he was slightly funny in the head popped into Samuel’s mind again. The erratic driving coupled with t
he unorthodox opinions made Samuel worry exactly whose cab he had jumped into. He tried not to judge, thankful for the help Jason was giving to him for the time being at least.

  “I really hope you’re right,” Samuel replied eventually. “That’d sure make my life a lot easier.”

  “Oh yeah,” Jason glanced back in the mirror again. “You said you work there. What do you do?”

  Now Samuel let out an awkward laugh, remembering what Jason had just said about this whole thing being a stunt. “I’m in marketing,” he answered, unable to come up with another response. “If this is some trick to get new customers, it’s not one that they ran past me.”

  “Ha! Maybe you’re just not high enough up the ladder pal,” Jason chuckled to himself. “Or maybe you’re in on the whole thing. To think! I could be driving the very man who came up with this whole joke. Can you imagine?”

  “You caught me,” Samuel replied, continuing his awkward laughter and really wishing he could change the topic of conversation. “Busted. It’s Freeport I need to get to by the way, about ten minutes after the airport.”

  “Roger that,” Jason nodded, “I can definitely get you to JFK. After that you might be on your own.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve heard some radio chatter come through. Everything sounds a bit messed up around there, plane knocked over on the runway or something.”

  “A plane crash?”

  “No,” Jason shook his head. “From what I could best make out, a plane that was waiting to take off from the runway sort of toppled over. I think everyone got the news about Trident after the doors were closed and mass hysteria kicked in,” he chuckled to himself, rolling his eyes in the rear-view mirror. “Anyway, now they’re all stuck on board. Emergency services are naturally nowhere to be seen.”

  “Oh wow,” Samuel breathed, “that’s mental.”

  “Told ya. Best practical joke I’ve ever experienced.”

  Samuel let out yet another awkward laugh and then turned his attention to the scenery speeding by out of the cab window. The longer he was in the car with Jason, the less comfortable he felt. But they were well onto Long Island now and the airport was only a few more miles away, signs for it becoming more and more frequent on the side of the road. The traffic was increasing too. They’d passed plenty of cars on their journey so far, but much less than you’d expect to see on a Saturday afternoon in New York City.

  The overwhelming sense that seemed to be flooding throughout the city and its people was confusion. No one really understood what had happened, nor what the ransomware statement meant for their future. There were plenty who had reacted poorly to it, those who had taken their own lives out of despair like R. Hauser, or those who were ransacking and looting stores for personal gain. But most now seemed almost frozen in a state of bewilderment. The initial shock of the incident had passed and while many were still angry and searching for answers, they didn’t have anywhere to turn to for them and so were left simply waiting for something else to happen.

  “Hey! Watch it you maniac!”

  Jason slammed down on the brake and his horn simultaneously, causing the wheels of his cab to spin and the back end kick out as someone sped out of a side road just ahead of them, nearly crashing into their bumper. The tires screeched on the tarmac and Jason struggled to regain control, spinning the steering wheel in his hands and attempting to slow the vehicle. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. The trunk of the cab crunched against a lamppost and halted the car instead.

  “No, no, no!” Jason was out of his seat in a flash, throwing the door open and stepping out into the street. “You jerk!” He shouted at the car disappearing into the distance, not even so much as slowing after the accident it had just caused. “Oh man, look at my cab.”

  A little shaken from the incident, Samuel climbed out of the backseat and stood next to Jason, looking at the damage to his cab. The corner of the rear bumper was wrapped around the lamppost, the trunk crumpled and crushed together. Samuel felt lucky that he had been sitting on the other side of the backseat. A few inches the other way and he could’ve been in serious trouble.

  “You reckon it’s driveable?”

  “I think so – just about,” Jason replied, looking – for the first time since Samuel had met him – panicked and worried about something. “Look, I’ve gotta get her to a shop quick. Sorry pal, will you be alright from here?”

  “Yeah, I’ll manage,” Samuel nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. “Here,” he handed Jason a wad of bank notes, half expecting the man to now tell him to forget about it and put his money away.

  “Thanks,” Jason said doing quite the opposite and snatching the notes from Samuel’s hand to stuff them in his pocket. “Gonna need this to fix her up. I can’t believe this. This is my livelihood!”

  Samuel stood beside Jason politely and quietly for a few more moments, not really sure what to say to the cab driver. The man clearly didn’t understand what had changed with the Trident collapse. He doubted whether Jason would be able to find anyone willing to spend the time and effort fixing up his cab at a time like this, but there was also no chance Samuel was going to argue with him. He’d been lucky to get a ride this far out into Long Island. It should only take him a couple of hours on foot now to reach his parents and he was grateful for that, no matter how out of touch Jason Myers seemed, Samuel was glad to have met him.

  “I hope you manage to get it fixed up,” Samuel said as Jason made his way back to the drivers’ seat. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks pal, and to you. Come and find me on the cabstand when all of this blows over, I’ll be the one with the shiny new bumper.”

  Samuel laughed. “You can count on it!” He had to hand it to Jason, for all his faults the positive outlook on life was certainly something Samuel could get used to. Jason was like him in a way there, always trying to find the positives in a world where people were all too often bogged down with what was going wrong. Sure, it was hard in the current predicament, but there was a lot more to life than money. As he waved Jason off, he made a mental note to try and focus on what he still had. It wasn’t like this disaster had just happened to him alone, the whole country had been affected and they were all going to have to get through it one way or another. Samuel for one, was going to try and be positive about it.

  Chapter 9

  He pulled his cell from his pocket before he remembered the battery was dead. Without it, Samuel tried to get his bearings and figure out which direction to head in. The airport was only about a fifteen-minute walk away and he knew he could still make it to Freeport on foot. But, after hitching a ride just about half way, the idea of finding another car to continue the journey was a lot more appealing. Plus, he couldn’t deny the childlike curiosity inside him that wanted to find out what had happened there. Jason’s story about a plane sort of capsizing on the runway was so implausible, Samuel had to see it for himself.

  So, he began to walk. On two occasions, cars zoomed past him and both times Samuel fought the urge to stick out his thumb and ask for a lift. Now that he had started walking toward the airport, he really wanted to see what had happened there. Airports were almost like micro-communities from what he had experienced in the past. They were somewhere that time didn’t exist, where people came and went at all times of the day and nothing was ever regarded as peculiar.

  Samuel had spent a decent amount of time in airport lobbies for work – though not nearly as much as people in some of the other departments – and he always found his time there quite soothing. There was something that relaxed him about knowing he could travel anywhere in the world almost in an instant. That he could board the next flight out and end up anywhere in the world, nothing but a flying metal box to bring him back home if he should so choose. Exactly like his sister had done several years ago.

  Out of everyone he knew, Samuel imagined that his sister Jessie would handle it the best. He had been so impressed and incredibly proud of her when
she’d taken the leap of faith to move out to Hawaii, going despite her parents demands and reservations. Jessie had always been the more adventurous of the two of them, following her heart rather than instruction and doing what made her feel happy instead of what was expected from her. That’s why her moving to Hawaii hadn’t come as much of a shock to Samuel. When she found the man she wanted to marry and signed up for his life out there, he knew that his sister was gone. Their parents had other thoughts of course. At first, they threatened to cut Jessie out of their will if she went, then they moved on to bargaining and desperate pleas, before finally, quietly, letting it happen. Not that they could’ve stopped her if they wanted to. When Jessie set her mind to something, you could almost guarantee that it was going to happen. Samuel wished he was more like her in that sense, his overpowering need to please people and follow rules often side tracked him when it came to his own happiness.

  As he approached the airport, Samuel wondered how easy it would be for him to just board a flight to Hawaii now and go join his sister. A part of him longed to do it, to give up everything that he had worked for on Wall Street and try to find his free spirit. It was a pleasant pipe dream, but it was nothing more than that. Especially not now. The sky was barren above him, no white lines left from flight paths, everything now grounded until further notice.

  The atmosphere very quickly changed as he walked into the airport. There was a buzz in the air from conversation, while several men and women in uniform walked around trying to maintain the peace. In other areas, people shouted and argued, the sound of a man demanding to board a flight and be taken back home echoing through the large lobby. He spoke with an English accent, clearly a vacationer from across the pond who had now found himself stranded in a foreign country.

  Samuel shook his head. Air travel was not something that would be happening for some time. Plane fuel was an increasingly expensive commodity these days. With all the campaigns and protests that went on globally about the damage that flying was doing to the climate, the prices went up and up each year. The cost of just a standard seat on a plane was already triple what it had been five years ago, inflation hitting the travel industry hard.