Osaka, Japan 1999

In a small town in Japan country in east asia, a young boy was seen just waking up from bed after being awaken by his alarm clock. The child hen got off his bed and began to walk to the sliding doors of his bedroom while being careful on not to step on any of his toys otherwise, he could hurt his feet. But, before the child walked to the doors of his bedroom, he picked up a banner which says 'happy birthday daddy' on the floor. After that, he stood back up again and began to walk to the sliding doors of his bedroom. Once he got to it, he walked out of his bedroom and began to find his father.

After walking in the hallway for a brief second, the young child has made it to his father's work area after hearing his voice in there. Once he got to the sliding door, he peeked into the room and saw his father talking on the phone. He also saw a computer with an image of sound waves on the screen.

"No Makoto, just listen to me for a second." The father said "In asking for the meeting because, if I have to shut the reactor down, you're not gonna want to read it in a memo." He told him.

"I have been following these Earthquake similar events ever since they commenced in the Philippines." He told them "Now, they're in our own backyard." He finished.

When the young boy noticed his father turning around, he immediately stepped back and hid behind the sliding door so that his father couldn't see him. But then, he heard someone walking up to him on his right. He looked at his right and saw his mother coming up to him with her business suit on.

"Hello mommy, dad's awake." He told her.

"I know, he got up early due to this meeting he wants to organize." She told him.

"What should we do?"

The boy's mother let out a sigh and said "Get dressed. I'll figure it out."

"Okay."

Then, the boy turned around and returned to his room in order to get dressed for school.

Three minutes later, the American family of the house were all seen leaving their home with the young boy running out first in front of them while his mother was behind him. He also said goodbye to his mother.

"Goodbye dad." The young boy said as he began to run to the school bus, and his father waved back while still in the phone.

"With all due respect Makoto, with all that, I'm an engineer. I don't like unexplained frequency patterning near a plant where I'm responsible." He told him sternly "I need a plant, make it happen please." He said as kindly as he could.

After that, the call ended, and the man and his wife both got into the car with the husband sitting in the driver's seat while his wife was sitting next to him. The man was about to stick his car keys into the ignition but then, his wife stopped him by putting his worker ID on his business jacket.

"He made you a banner Carlos."

"What do you mean Sally?"

"Your birthday sign." She replied. "He worked so hard on it." She told him.

"My goodness." Carlos said looking in front of him at the school bus which his son was in. Then, he school bus began to drive away to send the kids to school.

"I'm gonna come home early." She told him "I'll take the car and pick him up, hen we can get a proper cake okay?" She asked him.

"Look honey." Carlos said with a sigh "I need to know that it's not the sensors okay?" He asked her with a serious expression.

"I can't be called this meeting and look like a psychopath." He said with a concerned expression "So when we get there, don't even bother coming up. Just grab a team and go down to Level five." He told her kindly.

"You're not a psychopath." She told him "I mean, you're, just not about this." She said as she and her husband both put on seatbelts and buckled in.

"Must be something we're not thinking of."

"Happy birthday." She told him in a contented tone.

Carlos looked at his wife in shock as he realized that today was his birthday.

"What? Is it?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, I forgot all about it, thank you so much honey."

Then, the couple boh embraced each other in a loving hug. After that, Sally planted a kiss on his lips.

"Happy birthday." Sally said with a smile.

"Thank you so much." Carlos thanked with a smile of his own.

After that, Carlos looked back in front of him and pulled the gear stick of his car to D. After that, he began to drive him and his wife to the nuclear power plant where they work in.

In one of the nuclear power plants in Osaka, Carlos was seen walking down in one of the hallways of the power plant with two workers one American and the other Japanese while holding three stapled pieces of papers in his hands.

"What is this?" The Japanese worker asked.

"Seismic anomaly." Carlos replied simply.

"This graph is minutes though." He told him. Then, he tapped on the X on the paper "X is minutes, not days. This is now." He said.

"Wait a minute, seismic activity?" The American worker asked in a perplexed tone "Are you relating to Earthquakes?" He asked.

"No, not Earthquakes, they are random." Carlos told him "This one is consistent, and increases drastically like a loud speaker at a party." He said which got him bewildered again.

"Although I haven't been to a party but, I am sure that speakers wouldn't even be that loud." The Japanese worker told him.

"I know but, this is a pattern." Carlos told him.

In a checkpoint in the lower level of the nuclear power plant, Sally and five japanese workers were all seen suiting up in hazmat suits due to them heading to a hallway where chemical gases are stored in the pipes.

"Alright, let's make this quick fellas." Sally told them. After that, she and her colleagues all wore gas masks.

Then, one of the workers pressed on a button on the panel and the doors were pulled open. After that, Sally and her fellow workers all entered the Level 5 hallway and began walking through it.

Control room

In the nuclear power plant's control room, Carlos and two of his colleagues entered the room and Carlos looked at Makoto.

"Makoto what the heck is going on? Have you seen this?" He asked as he walked up to the table and placed the sheets of paper on it which Makoto looked down at.

"Yeah I have." Makoto replied with a nod "But, a meeting would not be counselled right now." He told him.

Carlos then leaned down a bit and looked at a computer screen which shows a huge sound wave on it.

"What's the source?" He asked quietly "Where's the epicenter?" He asked again.

"We don't know yet." Makoto replied while scratching the back of his head "But, it keeps getting stronger and stronger." He told him with a worried expression.

"It's gotta be centered somewhere."

Carlos stood up and looked at one of his colleagues.

"Akihito." He called him.

"Sorry sir but, no one else is reporting it." He told him. "We are contacting every other plant in the Chubu region but, they said that they did not encounter any sounds or anything of sort including Chugoku and Hokkaido." He finished.

"But, my assumption is that these readings are just aftershocks from the Earthquake that occured in the Philippines." He told him.

"Are we at full function?" Carlos asked.

"Yes." Replied Akihito.

"Yes." Replied Makoto.

"But perhaps we should be drawing down in order to be safe."

However, Makoto has spoke too soon because, the whole control room began to shake violently like an Earthquake, but, the workers managed to maintain their balances.

"Turn everything off."

"But Carlos-"

"Do it now." He ordered.

Carlos then walked up to the two ways radio and pulled one out of it. Then, he began to communicated with his wife who is in the level 5 corridor. So, he turned the channel knob and began to call her.

"Sally." He called but, he did not get a response back "Sally can you hear me?" He called again.

But suddenly, the whole plant began to shake violently again and the control room's alarms began blaring red, indicating that something bad is happening.

In the level 5 corridor, Sally and her team were all seen scrutinizing the corridor after the unexpected Earthquake that has caught them all off guard completely. But, she decided to waste no time and get out of there.

"Come on guys, we're turning back." She told them.

Then, the five japanese workers turned around and began to run back to the checkpoint. A brief second later, a cloud of chemical gas was seen gushing towards Sally and the workers location which horrified her.

"Uh oh."

Then, Sally turned around and began to run to the checkpoint with her colleagues.

"Carlos are you there?" Sally asked tapping on her comm unit on the right side of her mask.

Control room

When Carlos heard the sound of his wife calling him through her comm unit, he grabbed the radio with his right hand and began to speak into it in order to communicate with his wife.

"Honey, there has been a breach." She told him while in breaths "Were heading back to the containment seal." She finished.

"Listen, you need to get out of there." He told her sternly "You won't last five minutes in there with or without your suits if there's a reactor breach." He warned her.

"I hear you, we're coming!" Sally said while running.

Suddenly, the whole plant began to shake violently again, this time, Carlos and his fellow workers all fell on the floor except for Makoto who managed to hold onto a cupboard in time. Once the shaking has stopped, Makoto stood up and saw many of his fellow colleagues evacuating the plant. Then, his friend Carlos walked up to him.

"Sokode jibun de aimasu. (I'll meet them there myself.)" He told him "Anzen doa o shudo de obaraido shimasu. (Put the safety doors on manual override.)" He ordered.

Carlos turned around and made his way to the doors of the control room, once he got to them, he pushed the doors open and began to run to the checkpoint where he will meet up with his wife and his fellow colleagues.

In the hallway, the alarms were beeping and flashing uncontrollably which made most of the area red. And Carlos was seen running to the checkpoint as fast as he could while rushing past many of his colleagues who were evacuating from the nuclear power plant as fast as they could.

Back in the level 5 corridor, Sally and her colleagues were still seen running through the corridor and away form the toxic gas. Sally looked behind her and saw that the gas was catching up to them very fast, if they were fast enough, they could suffocate in the corridor.

"Come on guys pick up the pace!"

Then, Sally and the five workers began to run faster to the containment seal. But suddenly, a pipe on their left burst loose which knocked one worker including Sally on the floor. But, the workers neglected to help their friends and continued to run to the doors of the hallway.

"Come on Yoshio, we have to go." She told him as she began to help him back up onto his feet.

At the checkpoint, Carlos has finally made it in the containment seal and was looking through the Level 5 corridor, waiting anxiously for his wife and his colleagues to arrive. He then tapped on the communication button on a panel on his left and began to communicate with Makoto.

"Tell me this door's on manual."

"Yes it is sir but, were starting to breach!" Makoto exclaimed in a fearful tone. "You have to close the door now or the whole city will be exposed!" He warned him.

"I'm right here." Carlos told him. "Soon as they're through, I'll seal the door." He finished.

After the transmission, Carlos looked through the corridor again and continued to wait anxiously for his wife.

"Come on Sally, where are you?" Carlos asked in fret.

Then, he began to pick up a call from his wife through his radio.

"Carlos, are you there?"

When Carlos heard his wife, he grabbed the radio and began to talk to his wife.

"Sweetie I'm here."

"Carlos." Sally said as she sighed "It's too late, we're not going to make it." She told him in a depressed tone.

"N-no, don't you say that honey, run as fast as you can." He told her with a concerned expression.

"Carlos, you have to close the door." She told him "You have to live for our son." She finished.

Suddenly, a banging noise was heard in the corridor. Carlos looked in front of him and saw a cloud of white gas gushing towards him. The sight has made his eyes widen in shock.

"Oh no."

"Carlos, you have to seal the doors now!" Makoto shouted through the comm "Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one..."

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Carlos screamed as he pressed a red button on the panel. Then, the door closed shut and the chemical gas did not spread into the containment seal.

Carlos began to cry against a wall after he shut the door told by his wife. A brief second later he heard some banging noises. Carlos turned himself away from the wall and saw his colleagues banging against the window frame of it wanting to get out but, it was too late.

"I'm so sorry." Carlos said while sobbing.

Then, Sally pushed herself to the front of the crowd and looked at her husband through the window.

Carlos let out a gasp when he saw his poor wife on the other side of the door. Sally then took off her mask and looked at her husband with teary eyes and a disconsolate expression.

"Take care of Matthew. Be a good father." Sally said while crying. Then, the doors fully closed.

Outside of the nuclear power plant, the whole plant began to collapse and many workers were seen evacuating the power plant with no injuries. But, the collapse can still provoke a lot of damage.

In a school where Matthew is learning in, a teacher was showing student a documentary about animals and their ecosystem but suddenly, the TV automatically turned off and the whole school began to shake softly which made the teacher's eyes widen in horror.

"Sa, min'nade hinan shimashou. (Come on everyone let's evacuate.)" The teacher said.

Then all of the students in the class stood up from their seats and began to evacuate the classroom except for Matthew who looked out the window to see what's happening. And when he did, he saw the nuclear power plant that his parents work at is beginning to collapse! The sight has traumatized him completely.

"Mommy, daddy."

"Come on Matthew, we have to leave!" The teacher told him.

Matthew listened to his teacher and snapped out of it, then, he stood up from his seat. After that, he and his teacher began to make their way to the exit of the school to evacuate.

Author's Note

Another chapter finished! I hope you all enjoyed it!