Hank stumbled to his feet and steadied himself.
His head ached with one mother of a migraine. The pain soon melted away the recollection, but he knew the memory to be true. He felt pairs of hands on him and realized Emma and the doc were holding him up.
“What happened, Hank?” the doc asked.
Hank checked with both of them before answering, then switched his gaze to Simon. “What did you do to me?”
Simon threw his hands down by his sides and stomped his foot like a spoiled child. “Why does everyone blame me for everything? I don’t understand why everyone blames me for everything. I had nothing to do with it. You finally remembered is all. I don’t know nuthin’.”
Hank wasn’t buying it. He moved back over to Simon, put his elbow across his throat and gun to his temple. “If you don’t tell me what I want to know…”
“Oh, that’s the real commodity these days, isn’t it? Information.” The human expression vanished and was replaced by his normal madman stare and jack-o’-lantern grin. “Shoot!” he screamed. Before Hank could react he screamed, “Or don’t shoot!”
Hank shook his head in disgust.
“Since we both know you’re not going to shoot me, it’s best if you probably just let me go.”
“Why’s that?” Hank asked dryly.
“Because if you don’t, bad things might happen,” he said, practically singing.
“Hank,” It was Emma. He glanced at her but she hesitated, her face pale. “Maybe … maybe we should listen to him.”
“Emma, what are you saying? We just let him go? After everything he’s done?”
“You didn’t see what happened to Horatio before he crashed out the window, did you?”
“What do you mean, Emma?” Doc asked.
“I mean, before he fell out the window, he … well, Horatio didn’t have a mouth.”
Odessa, quiet until now perked up at this, “That’s right, that’s right, I seen it, I seen it. He didn’t have no … mouth.”
Ignoring Odessa Hank turned towards Emma, “Are you sure that’s what you saw? I mean…”
Emma frowned, and then said in a voice tempered with anger, “I’m as sure as you were of seeing a naked man when no one else did.”
Hank nodded. “Point taken.”
“Last chance, Hanky-Panky, better let me go,” Simon sang again.
“Shut up!” Hank yelled and smacked him over the head with the butt of his pistol, though not enough to knock him out.
“Owww!” Simon complained. “That really hurt.”
The first sign of things to come was the drop light over the pool table began swaying back and forth. Simon sighed. “Oh well, too late, too late.”
Simon began shaking. No, he wasn’t shaking, the ground was shaking. “Uh-oh, you’ve gone and done it now, Hank.”
Hank heard Doc say something weird, “This shouldn’t be happening, this shouldn’t be happening.” And then the whole diner began to shake in earnest. Gently at first, then harder and harder, as though by some enormous hand. A roaring sound assaulted everyone’s ears. The windows along the back wall cracked, and eventually blew out. Tables upended and scattered dishes. Every picture frame fell from the wall.
Odessa got down on her knees, put her hands over her head, and started praying. When another good jolt shook the diner her eyes flashed open wide. She glared over at Hank and screamed, “Let him go!”
Hank shook his head.
“You damn fool, he’ll kill us all if you don’t!” Odessa cursed then crawled unceremoniously under the pool table, or at least tried to; her rump was too large to fit and stuck out.
And then it was over. The shaking subsided as quickly as it had begun.
Hank and Doc still had a firm grip on Simon. The quake hadn’t shaken any of them hard enough to send them to the floor. “Everyone okay?” Hank asked.
Emma had fallen onto a seat in one of the booths but nodded. “That wasn’t so bad.”
Hank flashed Simon a look as if to say, ‘Is that it?’
Odessa popped out from underneath the pool table like an ostrich and stumbled to her feet. She ran over to Simon and kneeled before him, hanging on his pant legs like a drowning victim. “Please… I’s seen the man with no face, and I’s seen your awesome power. Just tell me one thing mister. Tell me … are we dead?”
Simon appeared extremely pleased with himself. “Now this is more like it.”
“Get up off your knees,” Hank said, disgusted.
Emma appeared beside her and tried to help Odessa to her feet, “Do you think he really caused that?”
“Get your hands off of me,” Odessa shouted. Turning her full anger on Emma she said, “You seen Horatio’s face, same as me.” She then thudded her chest, and pointed to Simon, “He says let him go or bad things will happen and looky here, we’s got ourselves a damn earthquake. So how do you explain that? Huh? How about you, Sheriff?”
In a soothing voice the doc answered, “It’s just coincidence, Odessa.” But to Hank, the look in the doc’s eyes said even he wasn’t so sure.
Odessa spun towards him, “Coincidence? I don’t think so!” She turned back towards Simon. Still kneeling in front of him she asked in the most pleasant voice she could muster, “Please, mister. Just tell us what we have to do?”
Simon reached down and cupped her cheek. “Oh my dear child, the more important question is what did you do to get sent here in the first place?”
Interrupting everyone’s thoughts Doc suddenly blurted, “Wait Hank! Earthquake!”
“What?” Hank asked.
“In 1964, the largest earthquake ever recorded hit Alaska; a 9.2 on the Richter scale. But it wasn’t the earthquake tremors that did the real damage; the real damage came when the Tsunami hit the town afterwards.”
“Tsunami?” Odessa wondered aloud. Hank stared at Simon who shrugged his shoulders and said quietly, “Surprise.”
Hank released Simon roughly. He moved over to the doc who started to appear catatonic. “How long you think we got before we get hit?” Hank asked.
“The speed of a wave travels depends on the depth and displacement of the water.” The doc said this more to himself, as though he were thinking aloud. “This shouldn’t be happening…”
“Doc… How long?”
“Not knowing the location of the epicenter of the water displacement, it’s impossible to know.”
Hank glimpsed Simon. He was now sitting up on the counter, swinging his legs joyfully, tapping his watch, and smiling. “Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock.”
A loud roaring sound started building in decibels. Simon put his ear to his watch. “Ah, right on time.”
Hank ran to the side entrance and opened door. The only good news was that the diner was on high ground and they were on the third floor of the building. Emma, Doc, and Odessa joined him on the balcony overlooking the town. Sucking winds threatened to pull them right over the railing and each of them gripped the railing. Roaring out of the bay was a twenty foot wave racing towards them.
When the massive wave hit the harbor, it smashed aside the boats and swallowed the port whole. As the wave continued onwards down Main Street, it swept cars from the street, engulfed first floor buildings, trees and anyone unlucky enough to be in its path.
The wave raced past them. When it reached the mountains it turned the fuel tanks at the fuel refinery inside out. Fuel slicked the surface of the black water as the wave began to suck back, drawing debris and flotsam with it.
Simon appeared at the railing, he was trying to light a cigarette with a malfunctioning lighter. When Hank saw this, he yanked the unlit cigarette from his mouth and threw it and the lighter to the floor.
“What? It’s my smoke break?” Simon complained. “I’m going to talk to HR about this.”
“Everyone back inside,” Hank commanded. Hank took one last look over his shoulder and realized theirs was the only building in town not underwater.
When they entered the diner something was immediately apparent to Hank. “Wait a minute, where are all the bodies?” “How is that possible?” Emma asked.
There was still blood on the floor and Bob’s remains were still splattered across the double doors, but all the bodies had been removed while they were out on the balcony.
Oh no.
Hank scanned the room. “Where’s Simon?”