Running to the roar (solo)

Ettermire was truly the technological marvel. Steam engines pumped every where, air ships floated above in large flocks. The noise and smoke of industry rose above the din of sentient's that swarmed the streets. With all of the technology and industry also came the negatives the smoke from the factory made creosote and clogged the smoke stacks. The water used to quench molten pieces of machinery mixed with chemicals and were sluiced through to a drainage to the river with plenty of abandoned apartments and houses near the factories that no one but the dregs wanted to be. The enumerable people going about their own business filled bin after bin full of refuse and with this crush of humanity came the vermin and worse things...

Jethro had been drawn to Ettermire like most people in what he liked to consider to be his profession; there were creatures that were preying on citizens that the local constabulary couldn't hope to contend with. He meandered through the city observing the denizens as they went about their business hurrying more and more by the hour it seemed like. He thought to himself ~no one stops to smell the roses any more.~ It was a sad fact of convince and desire for money no one stopped to appreciate things.

Jethro paused in his walk to watch a pair of crows harass one another in some sort of game when all of a sudden klaxons began to sound from one of the factories. The citizens in their disinterested blood lust instead of running immediately began to gawk about in the vain hope of seeing a fatality this was followed by a knee jerk panic from the first explosions.

Too late part of one of the factories erupted sending flaming cinders the size of a mans fist or bigger raining down on abandoned apartment buildings, barrels of industrial waste and production chemicals. Fires began to spread through out the abandoned buildings. Most of the citizenry ran or froze but some snapped out of it and started chain gangs and water pumps trying to beat the fires back while they were small.

Jethro after a few moments of thought sprinted toward one of the burning apartment buildings.

The factory was totaled, the apartments near by were going up like kindling and at least half of the local population was standing in the way gawking and the rest were straight up running the other way. The few that remained level headed were working frantically to just make a fire line. No one was looking for survivors in the immediate disaster zone and and people were just now evacuating the factory.

As Jethro neared the apartment a factory worker partially covered in hardened slag was screaming and running on pain and adrenaline. There was nothing Jethro could do for the poor mutilated person so he did what he could do. Grabbing the burned and blackened hand he pretty much dragged the mangled factory worker beyond the fire lines. Taking a breath and against all protests he ran back towards the factory ducking here and there embers and debris as the fire began to get larger.

Things were getting worse a second fire within in the factory began burning chemicals and the vapors were causing peoples lungs to start burning. The closer Jeth got the worse his eyes and lungs burned, taking his bandana from his head he dunked it in a puddle of what he hoped was water and wrapped it around his nose and mouth and pushed forward. He coughed and hacked up a bunch of snot and phlegm but found another what could loosely be defined a survivor. The survivors eyes were blood shot; coughing up blood and stooped over a barrel. If it weren't for a the heavy labored breathing he would have guessed the person dead.

Lifting the survivor on his shoulders Jethro made his way back to the fire line. The fire was taking a tole on Jethro but he felt driven to go back. Splashing his bandana into a bucket of water it was once more into the breach for him.

As Jethro closed in on the apartment again there was a loud mechanical screaming howling noise coming from it before a wall disintegrated in a cloud of white hot steam sending red brick and mortar. That seemed to be the last straw as almost in slow motion as the apartment started to collapse in on itself. It first started to crumple near where a boiler used to be then the side began to topple followed by the rest of the building. Rubble, smoke, and dust filled the air as what was once a cheaply made apartment building filled the street.

The next apartment began to catch fire and Jethro saw movement on the top floor of it. Of course it was the top floor it couldn't be the first floor with level headed people that could exit the building in a calm expeditious fashion. By the time he got to the top floor Jethro he didn't find any thing but a a hall way full of closed and locked door. No one had time for this the building was on fire and there was the entire fact that the factory could explode again for all any one knew. So Jethro started kicking down doors eventually he found a group neither too young to know better nor too old to not be able escape. They were just vagrents and too drunk or stoned to know any better.

They looked at Jethro and Jethro looked at them "The building's one fire...Run!" Jethro said in frustration. They still didn't move finally after part of the floor collapsed near by he grabbed a piece of a willow branch and began hearding them out of the building. "Run! Run! Run you idiots don't you know you are about to die! Come on get!" The light beating and flaming building finally got them moving to safety.

There was a loud metallic groan that echoed from the factory on Jethro's next return trip. This was followed almost immediately by a shower of red bricks, mortar and soot. The groan grew louder as loud popping and snapping noises issued forth from the factory. The klaxons stopped as a smoke stack began to topple. It started slowly at first but as gravity started pulling the stack pushed through walls and plumbing picking up speed before slamming through an outer wall and crashing into the river hissing and turning the river black.

As Jethro breathed a sigh of thank goodness the second and third stacks followed suit with the third stack falling into the neighboring factory and more apartments. Klaxons once again wailed as every one who already hadn't evacuated the neighboring factories finally decided to evacuate. This gave Jethro a head ache ~why these people didn't get the heck out of the way when things started rolling down hill~ was his immediate thought. Ignoring the idiocy for the moment he continued what ever ridiculously stupid personal mission he was on.

Taking a deep breath he ran towards the newly wrecked factory. More noxious fumes were pouring out of the hole made by the fallen smoke stacks, and he could hear people being trapped inside. Running up onto the fallen stack he entered the next factor and dropped in listening for survivors. Finding a group Jethro led them up a ladder and through the debris that was once a bustling factory probably an hour earlier.

As Jethro started climbing up the latter to get back on the smoke stack the entire stack shifted as the wall crumbled from underneath. The latter fell and contorted into a bent up twisted mess. Now he was trapped inside a burning factory full of smoke, dust and noxious fumes. Now was the time to think straight and to move forward. The gas lamps dimmed and then flickered out and there was a slight smell of natural gas which began to grow stronger.

It would take just one small spark to set off the gas and wipe out another factory. Jethro had to leave the room and out the door he went. The door lead into what once was a sterile white walled hall way. Now it was filled with debris and dust the doors had been kicked out or blasted in by the air concussion after the smoke stack hit. Picking through the debris he made his way through the maze of corridors and into the factory floor proper.

Furnaces were still roaring and there were vats of molting metal with a ever growing puddle of the liquid metal filling the middle of the work area. The heat was stifling and growing to a fever pitch. Flammable materials began to catch fire causing a wall of death and fire between him and the easiest way out.

There had to be another way out it would just have to be found hopefully before it ever growing gas problem erupted into an ever growing fire problem. He exited the work floor on the opposite end from where he came and continued walking through another maze of hall ways and steam powered conveners.

The Klaxons were still howling which was a good sign he thought as that mean what ever was powering the siren's had not been destroyed. Then he felt the rumble and the rush of air knocked him back and down; the gas lamps had erupted. All of the sterile white walls were probably now black with doors and windows blown out. Jethro's ears were ringing and if it wasn't for his duster his body would be singed from the kind of heat wave that blasted through him.

Crawling back up to his feet Jethro pressed on looking for the way out. He couldn't hear any one else trying to find a way out and part of him had to remember that if was killed he couldn't help any. He finally passed through the corridor maze and conveyors and into the loading dock which was stationed right on the river with no boats.

The river was nothing but black sludge with streaks of brown and green from the falling soot and waste chemicles and it smelt like vinegar at the least offensive and he couldn't describe how it smelled at its worst. He looked up and down the river to find a way out.