Chapter 1: Death of a Salesman

          Tuesdays. Somehow even worse than Mondays. On Monday you expect the worse and it's never truly as bad as you would expect. Tuesday... worse. Your guard is down and all of the crap for the week piles on in massive heaps. As you know, Monday is the same for everyone. No one wants to work but Tuesday has no excuse.

          Wade. No middle name. No last name. Just Wade, sat in his office alone. Always alone. Secluded from his own secretary, he turned his ergonomic leather chair toward the window and watched the impossibly small people shuffle around his building. His stature is not what it once was. His hips, bothering him now for three years, aching with every step. His hands wrinkled and spotted. The thought of the face he grew up to changing before his very eyes frightened him. Not the fear of death. Not fear of an end but something else. As if his eyes had never adjusted to the changes his body has made over the years.

           What am I leaving behind? Wade asked himself.

           A common question to all of those in a place to leave something behind. His empire was built for him by his father. He simply stepped in the shoes and carried on the legacy as best as he could. Steel, paper, factories, mills, sand, minerals, and even communications have been his only life. His father built up a steel company and through the great war, made more money than anyone ever thought possible. Since the forties, his father began expanding to every elemental commodity that he could get his hands on. Dying at a respectable age, Wade picked up the torch and carried the company through to the next century. Billions of dollars later, Wade was left alone with the exception of his nurse, with no family or anyone to leave this great empire to.

           Studying the people below, going to something. Coming from something. All with lives, regardless how petty. From the ninety-seventh floor the people didn't even look like people. Not even ants. Just a blackish blur of corporate attire blending together as a film of algae would blend on stale water. Watching the taxis come and go. Limousines arriving with his overpaid vice presidents. As though someone had opened a valve to the building, the black sea of algae flowed through the front doors, leaving the white pavement behind empty. Almost empty.

           A single red dot. Contrasted more so by the pavement and greenery planted intermittently. The red dot stood in the center of the courtyard alone. Still. Wade reached to his monitor and zoomed the camera in on the dot's location.

Who do we have here? Wade pondered.

           An image of a lone woman in an ornate Spanish red gown stood staring directly at the camera. Her flaming red hair draped elegantly over her flawless porcelain skin. Mouthing some words, seemingly to the camera, she closed her penetrating green eyes and walked toward the building with a gait that would turn any head near her.

           Now out of sight, Wade closed the monitor and sighed with satisfaction for his brief view of beauty. Standing from his ridiculously expensive desk, Wade walked to the stocked bar and poured himself a single shot of Jameson Whiskey. Regardless of his fine taste in food, wine, and living accommodations, Wade continued to drink well below his station. It was a simple reminder that even the great billionaire came from somewhere simple, once upon a time. As the whiskey burned down his throat, alarms sounded that startled fluid back up. Wiping his mouth, Wade rushed to his desk to view the situation.

           Nitrate detection? Wade read.

With a sudden rush of realization, Wade replied to the emergency message a simple command:        EVACUATE!!!

          Grabbing his coat, Wade rushed out the door and up the stairs to his helicopter. Manned and prepped, the helicopter was already spinning up. In any alarm event, the pilot is under standing orders to prepare for takeoff as soon as possible and await for the CEO. Wade jumped in his seat and secured his seat harness. As the helicopter took off, Wade looked below at his sea of human algae. Swarming from out of the building toward the river of asphalt. Streets collided with impacting cars desperately trying to stop for the panicked mass crossing the roads from the ticking time bomb behind them.

          And then it happened.

          A shocking flash of light erupted from halfway up the high rise sending ripples of glass hurdling upward. Then the sound. As if the sound and the light were a duet dancing off-step. The belting roar of the explosion spat a large wall section at the tail of the fleeing helicopter. Spinning out of control, the exceptional pilot calmly declared a mayday.

          Smoke erupted from the tail rotor as the blade spun itself off of its shaft, flinging it to an adjacent building. Without the stabilization that the tail rotor provided, the helicopter is officially dead in the air.

         Buildings, streets, sky, and people circle in front of him in nauseating flashes. Knowing that death was imminent, Wade felt a sudden rush of calm. It was as if he knew that death was not the end for him. In desperate efforts to maintain composure out of his own pride, he swallowed the sickening feeling of his bowels being forced into his throat. Wade, looking upward, focused his mind of something else, anything else.

         Mayday derive from the word... ah hell... it was french.

        The spinning helicopter began to tilt to its side, revealing the view to the ground from Wade's center seat in the back. Still spinning on its axis, ground became sky as it plummeted to the ground. As if preparing his body for an obviously pointless open casket, Wade adjusted his tie. Closing his eyes, he focused once more.

        M'aider! That's right, 1923. Venez M'aider means 'you come help me'. Fredrick Stanley Mockford in 1923!

        He hesitantly opened his eyes once again, Wade had just enough time to watch his own impact into the road below. With a nearly guttural shriek, the rotors shattered on the asphalt sending high speed shrapnel in all directions. The unsuspecting bystanders in the crowd were caught in a deadly compromise of running toward the collapsing building or taking their chances with the impacting helicopter. Flames engulfed the cabin and quickly spread to the fuel tanks below the cabin floor. With a sudden explosion, Wade met the same fate as hundreds of his employees just seconds before.

Reviews

[Lolla]

Is English your mother tounge? If it is, then I am impressed:P English is secondary to me, and although fairly fluent, I all to often read texts that have so complicated English language, that I have to get up my dictionary for every other sentance! Here, you convey bucketloads of information without use of complicated words. You use strong, flashy words at the end with the helicopter(engulfed, shattered, ripples, hurdling etc.) to do the pacing, which is lovely. But personally, judgin on how good the rest of the writing is, I think you could do the last part even better:) I jsut miss a bit more hectic kind of feeling.

As for Wade, you reveal a lot about him, I particularly liked; "Regardless of his fine taste in food, wine, and living accommodations, Wade continued to drink well below his station. It was a simple reminder that even the great billionaire came from somewhere simple, once upon a time." I like when people include their characters pasts into the story:)
The woman in red is somewhat cliché, but I guess it could still work as a strong, well-know image. I wonder what roles she will play in all this. She went in just befor the place blew up, so I am hoping for a central role:p
It was pleasant to read a good piece of writing, without having to consult my dictionary constantly:P