Earthquake Read Online Free

zigzagging course down Market. The wagon narrowly missedan automobile. The driver shook his fist at Brendan.
    The street was heaving up and down, as though the earth had somehow become water, rocked by violent waves. Brendan heard screams from the Palace Hotel; the windows were shattering, a deadly rain of glass falling onto the broken cobblestones. Brendan fought to stand, but the ground moved beneath his feet and he fell again. The Chinese girl sat motionless. Her eyes flickered from one building to the next, her lips moving in a whisper Brendan knew he would not understand even if he could hear her over the demonic roaring of the earth.
    The groaning roar went on as Brendan faced westward down Market Street. The Call Building shivered and swayed, writhing against the sky. Bricks exploded from their mortar and Brendan watched one fall, then disappear against the dark building. Dozens of reporters and copyboys shoved their way into the street. Brendan thought he recognized Cal Richmond. He was staggering, both hands pressed to his head. Blood darkened his light hair.
    â€œHelp me! Help me!” A woman ran toward them. She wore only her nightclothes. Her bare feet were cut and bleeding. There were long scratches acrossher face. Her eyes were wild and she lurched, trying to keep her balance on the heaving ground. She scowled at Brendan, then went on.
    Brendan heard a clatter of bricks striking the cobblestones close by. He tried to stand up, struggling against a mysterious weight. He looked down, horror-stricken, only to realize that the Chinese girl had taken hold of his hand. Her eyes were blank with fear, her hand a claw, clutching his own.
    â€œGet up,” he shouted at her. “The buildings are going to fall!”
    She only stared, not even blinking. The ground beneath them shivered, the waves coming closer together. A party of nightgowned women fled past. Brendan squinted, confused for a second. They all seemed to be wearing red shoes. Their bare feet were bleeding, every one of them cut badly on the carpet of shattered glass from nine stories of broken windows.
    â€œGet up,” Brendan screamed again, jerking the Chinese girl upward, staggering back as he dragged her to her feet. Her face was pale in the early dawn light. Brendan heard a sharp hissing sound from above. He looked up. Eerie blue-green sparks arced and spat. The electric lines had broken. A chorus ofshrill, high-pitched shrieking made Brendan lower his eyes to look across the street again.
    People were pouring out of the Palace Hotel now. A milling crowd of half-dressed men and women clogged the sidewalk and spilled into the street. A small dog stood stiff-legged, barking frantically at them as though they had somehow caused its world to go crazy. The Chinese girl shrank against Brendan.
    Then, without warning, as abruptly as it had begun shaking, the ground became still. The crowd in front of the Palace stopped. Screams faded. People stood rigidly, as if afraid that any motion, any sound, would be dangerous. Overhead, the blue sparks cracked like distant gunfire.
    Brendan looked into the Chinese girl’s frightened eyes. “Are you all right?”
    She opened her mouth as if to answer, but in that instant another convulsion slammed through the layers of soil and rock beneath the city. The Chinese girl tightened her grip on Brendan’s hand. Together, they managed to keep their feet this time as the buildings quivered, then resumed their deadly swaying dance. The steel beams that formed the skeletons of the brick buildings were shrieking as the ground writhed.
    Brendan stumbled against the girl. She pointed, her eyes glazed with fear. He followed her gesture and blinked, trying to clear his vision. Dust was billowing between the buildings and at first he could not believe his eyes.
    The cable car tracks were twisting, arching themselves into loops and curves. As Brendan watched, the ground along the tracks began to split apart. The