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Chapter 13 - Emergency in Calle Wulfric

Alice Boe

It was midnight.

The sky was being lit by constant lightning. The thunder rumbled. The rain never stopped ever since it started pouring yesterday and the wind was howling. The wind had uprooted some trees and broke open an open window in Sergio's cabin. The bus was gently moving because of the wind blowing against it.

Since the roof of the bus constituted the ceiling of all the girls' capsules (there was no insulation between the roof and my capsule), I could hear the sound of rain's loud drumming.

Before it became dark yesterday, Timothy and Kirt toyed in vain with some switches, trying to turn on the night lamps outside the bus.

With no lights, it was pitch black outside. We weren't able to see anything outside the window.

Timothy, Kirt and I couldn't find where Sergio placed his guns, so the only way we secured ourselves at night on that bus was by locking its doors tightly.

Many hours had passed since Sergio, and my teachers left the camp. They had not returned. We all were worried. With Sergio gone, I felt quite afraid of being in that camp. Anything could happen to us there. We were a bunch of unarmed children, alone, in the forest. The only thing that shielded us from the elements and anything dangerous outside was this huge chunk of metal with windows made of bullet-proof glass.

Often that night, I got frightened by mistaking any branches I saw, under the light of some lightning in the clouds, to be a man approaching the bus, only to realize later that it was just a branch when another flash of lightning slightly illuminated the camp for me.

Shifaly Udawatte

At 1:04 a.m, I noticed Mr. Seneviratne was coming towards our building, with an emergency lamp in his hand. His shirt was wet.

He shielded his head with a magazine from the pouring rain using his free hand. As soon as he came close to our building, Miss Dayani helped him by taking the lamp from his hand. I saw him get inside, and I saw Miss Dayani shut the door. He had gone out to speak with the Dam officials who hosted us about the weather. I wondered what was the news that they told him.

Where we stayed was in a temporary structure made of metal and wood. To my relief, the building we were in didn't fall even though it shook violently as a result of the raging winds and the incessant rainfall that pounded it.

Even with the windows shut, I could hear the wind howl madly.

Like me, Avanthi couldn't sleep, so we kept each other company that stormy night by chatting about school.

Soon the candle in my room ran out. Avanthi took out another one from the packet which Ms. Dayani gave us when the electricity went off. I helped light it. We then removed the old candle from the candle-holder and placed the new candle in there.

Hernanda Wilkinson

While some of my classmates have bad memories during storms, the memories I have are beautiful.

After my parents died in a car crash, I wasn't orphaned immediately because Gramps and Granny took me in, when I was six. I lived with them until I was 13 in Walter's Avenue, Herndon Kansas. Gramps had a big farm that fed us all, even after he died when I was 8.

I miss Herndon, Kansas. Since the town was small, we all knew each other. We were like a big family. It's where I made my first best friends. It was where I met my first crush: Jake Burden.

Herndon was my home. It was where I lived since I was six until I was 13. When Granny died, when I was 13, I had to leave the place because I was put into a foster care system.

Storms and rain give me beautiful memories because, when I was young, whenever there was a thunderstorm Gramps, Granny and I used to snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie. Granny used to cook fried chicken and fries, and we used to enjoy the weather as we watched the movie, eating the meal she prepared.

So now whenever there's a storm, I think about them. They died at a ripe old age. I'm not sad that they died, even though I miss them very much.

Felipe Altamirano Alvarez Espadachín

I heated some Salteñas that were in the refrigerator and my son and I had them for breakfast. The ones we had were stuffed with beef. It was 7:30 am when I put Nacho to sleep. Nacho is a nickname for Igancio. My son's actual name is Ignacio Altamirano Alvarez Espadachín.

I was allowed rest till 10:30 am after which I had to report to duty.

Last night was very stressful. We were airlifted from the Convention Centre at about 4:30 am. My car was recovered from the road where I left it, by my colleagues

The rain was still pouring outside. I could hear its pitter-patter sound, along with the rumbling and roars of thunder. The thunder sounded like as if there was a war going on in the skies. They sounded like many bombs exploding above.

I learned that El Alto airport (The La Paz Airport) was dysfunctional since yesterday after an airplane from Paraguay carrying cargo crashed because of skidding off the runway.

These rains brought a lot of chaos with them. The worst part of the chaos occurred before the power supply in most parts of the country was cut off, yesterday. People were electrocuted after some pylons collapsed in the suburbs of La Paz. Many people died. Some were injured by the electric shock and disfigured.

The Police, Paramedics, Army, The Fire Brigade and Air Force were all occupied, attending to different cases of distress, due to these rains, all over the country. Even though we were stretched to our maximum, there were millions of people still without help in Bolivia.

I had only a few hours of rest left before the Police would either send a boat or helicopter to take me to the station. So, I decided to go to sleep.

Kirt Heinrich

Everyone was asleep because the rain yesterday didn't allow them to sleep at night. The rain continued to pour even today. It neither stopped nor reduced in amount. It was the same situation with thunder.

The forest floor was flooded with water, slush and mud. I tried getting out of the bus today morning, but when I put my feet on what I thought was the forest floor, it sunk until my shoe was fully submerged in the thick mud. My pants became dirty. So, I pulled my feet back and walked to the shower room to wash off my shoes, causing a mess (that I had to clean up later) in the aisle.

After I washed my shoes, I put them in a plastic bag and brought it to my capsule. There was no way I could dry them in that weather. I then changed from my pants into a pair of three-fourths and retired to my capsule after shutting its door.

I took out my copy of Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix hoping that the book would help me pass time in the rain.

Timothy McAllister

I snuggled myself into bed and looked at the window. I didn't know how long would this storm outside last. The capsule in front of mine was occupied by Rhett Finkelberry. The one behind me was occupied by Brian Campbell. The one opposite my door was occupied by Kirt Heinrich, my best friend. The capsule behind Kirt (the one opposite Brian's) belonged to Bill Lancaster.

Kirt Heinrich was my best friend. We were like brothers. When I first met him, it was my first day at Wolfgang and I was a grade 7 student. On my first day at Wolfgang: it was Kirt who first greeted me and shook and with me; it was Kirt who showed me around the school; it was he who took the initiative to introduce me to his classmates; and, it was he who gave me company for the first few weeks (never leaving my side). After those first few weeks, our friendship grew gradually into a brotherhood: we helped each other whenever one of us was sick; we were there for each other whenever we needed someone; and, we stood up for each other whenever one of us was bullied. Some people say that they'd never seen such a strong friendship as the one I had with Kirt Heinrich. We both were like the family that we never had to each other.

I don't know Brian that much. He hangs out with the Finkleberry twins. I only take PE with him. He seems to be someone more inclined towards Math. He is really smart: smarter than Kirt and me. Now Kirt and I are tied in the position of the person with the highest GPA in grade 10 because we do well in all our subjects. However, if Brian got the same score that he gets in Math in all of his subjects, he'd steal that position from Kirt and me. He's a born mathematician. He has the reputation of finishing Geometry, Algebra II and PreCalculus when he was in 7th grade! For him, Mathematics is a hobby. He shows great promise of being someone great in his future, unlike Bill Lancaster.

I loathe Bill Lancaster! You'll always find him getting a new girlfriend every week. His girlfriends have always been middle schoolers because according to him they're "easy catch". He disgusts me. He's such a fake wannabe, and I hate it when he tries to talk gangsta. Sometimes I really wonder what academic promise the Headmistress saw in him when she enrolled that guy into Wolfgang. The only promise he shows is that of ending up as a homeless, alcoholic drug-addict with a long list of crimes in his criminal record. I'm certain about that: a month before we left the States, he was suspended for three weeks after Ms. Longhorn discovered him smoking weed in an unused corridor with Zachary White.

Do you know that saying "Where there's a will there's a way"?

Let me tell you another saying, that's always been true: "Where there's Bill, there's some weed".

Felipe Altamirano Alvarez Espadachín

It was about 3:00 pm when I was on a boat, cruising over the flooded garbage dump in the outskirts of La Paz. The rain had ceased for a while.

I was near the bow of the boat, wearing a raincoat. I was searching for the landmark (well, because of the flood, I'd call it a watermark) next to which we must disembark.

The water was black and smelly - a testament to the fact that the sewage system was clogged and sewage water was mixing with the flood formed by the rain-water.

Since morning I had to deal with a lot of cases.

We had a mix of silly and ironic, and serious incidents to deal with that day.

The most ironic case I had to deal with was also the first case I got after I reported to duty that morning. I had to go to the office where the operators of the 999 toll-free helplines worked. Their building was flooded and my officers and I had to do multiple boat trips in order to get the operators out to some higher ground. It was really ironic that those who answered millions of distress calls in La Paz were in distress themselves.

The silliest case I had to attend to was one where a wealthy woman had called us to her flooded mansion. Upon us reaching there, she told us that she had called us because she wanted us to retrieve a bag of diamond necklaces that she owned from her flooded bedroom. I really don't understand people like her. When people were actually stranded in some parts of the city, with their lives in danger, that woman was more worried about her filthy diamond necklace.

Because the 999 office was flooded in La Paz, the 999 office in the Colquencha municipality (which was southwest from La Paz) handled distress calls from La Paz.

The serious cases I had to deal with challenged me and my team the most: we had to get a man suffering from a heart attack from one part of the city to a hospital on higher ground using our boat to travel over the floodwaters; we had to rescue a man who was bitten by a snake and take him to hospital; and, we had to help a woman who was giving birth. Some of the cases we handled were those that the Fire Brigade must handle, but in times of crisis, we all hold each other's back.

I was cruising in the flooded garbage dump at 3:00 pm because I had to return to the Police station. We decided to rest for a while before resuming our work. My men worked really well.

Using a pole we pushed bags of floating garbage away as our boat made its way through the flooded garbage dump. I was smelly, sweaty and wet because of the activities I had to do during the course of the day.

At 5:30 pm we reached the police station. Food was prepared for us as soon as we arrived.

At the station, there was also a surprise.

I had a letter for me from the General Comandante of the Policía Nacional.

Shifaly Udawatte

This afternoon we were able to eat some hot food. The dam officials were able to cook enough food for all of us. The rainfall reduced to a drizzle. The thunder ceased.

We ate some rice with a local type of curry. They also brought some cheesy mashed potatoes. The food was a stress reliever. I loved the sweet and spicy flavor of that meal. One could smell the flavor when they inhaled the steam emanating from the rice and curry. And one couldn't resist that delicious odor of cheese as they sniffed the cheesy mashed potatoes on their plate

After the meal, we spent some time on the terrace. The winds had ceased. The dam officials told us that even though the rains have reduced, another round of heavy rainfall and stormy weather is predicted.

We decided to enjoy the intermission between the storms to the maximum.

Those Bolivian kids who stayed at the building next to ours were making fun of Basura.

Apparently Basura's name in Spanish means garbage.

They were teasing him by frequently saying to one another, "¡Saca La Basura!", which translated into the English command, "Take out the trash!".

Basura was not happy with them making fun of his name, but he didn't protest because he didn't want to embarrass himself by getting into a fight with the Bolivian kids.

Felipe Altamirano Alvarez Espadachín

When the clock struck 7:30 pm, it marked the end of the brief intermission in the rainfall, after the peal of thunder. The sky looked very dark from the window of the police station. I could see lightning in the sky once again.

The Electricity supply company was busy fixing broken pylons and severed cables. The Government decided that it was best that power wasn't supplied until the floods receded. We were fortunate to have a diesel generator powered alternative electric supply. Because of the generator, we were able to have lights in our station.

"¿Quieres café?", asked my colleague Gael Alejandro as he brought a cup of coffee to his disk and had begun stirring it.

He asked me if I wanted coffee.

"Sí," I responded.

I told him that I wanted coffee.

He went inside the resource room and made me a cup of coffee.

"Gracias Alejandro," I said as I took the cup of coffee from him when he gave me.

I thanked him for the cup.

"¿Cómo estuvo tu día?" he inquired as he sat down on a chair beside my desk.

He asked me how was my day.

I began by telling him about the silly cases we had to deal with. Then, I talked about the weather for a while before talking to him about the serious cases we dealt with today. I told him that the day was tiring, but it was a day I would be proud of because of the work I did.

We then discussed some work-related stuff until he had to go back to his desk.

As I sipped my cup of steaming-hot coffee (inhaling the aroma from the coffee as I did), I observed the envelope of the letter from the General Comandante.

I decided to read the letter once I finished my cup of coffee.

I leaned back on my chair and stared at the rain pelting the windows of the station, sipping my hot, steaming cup of strong coffee.

Shifaly Udawatte

We had just finished dinner at 6.30 pm when the rain transformed once again from a drizzle to heavy downpour. Thunder rumbled in the skies with lightning flashing occasionally. It wasn't windy yet, but I knew that the winds were coming for us once again. The Dam staff brought a lot of candles and cartons of snacks for us this afternoon. We were more prepared than how we were yesterday for the second phase of the storm.

Felipe Altamirano Alvarez Espadachín

After I was done with my cup of coffee, I placed it down and lifted the letter. I broke the seal of the envelope and pulled out the letter from the opened envelope. I began to read the words that were written, carefully.

Kirt Heinrich

I had finished half of the book. I was reading it slowly because I wanted to be entertained by the story for as long as possible. I didn't want to rush through it. The storm outside halted for a while at 1:30 pm before resuming at 5:30 pm. Nobody came out of their capsules today.

Felipe Altamirano Alvarez Espadachín

When I had finished reading the letter from General Comandante, the bell in the station rang. It was an emergency. The moment exactly when the bell rang, I dropped the letter and ran towards the dressing room.

The speakers transmitted the voice of a 999 operator, "Estación 3 Hay una emergencia en la calle Wulfric. Los vecinos han visto alguna actividad sospechosa."

There was some suspicious activity happening in Calle Wulfric that demanded our immediate attention.

Being the Teniente (Lieutenant), I instructed some men to arm themselves with some of the M16s. I loaded my pistol and tossed a magazine to Alejandro.

Within 30 minutes we were on three boats going towards Calle Wulfric. We turned the sirens on the boats as we went towards Calle Wulfric.

The young officers in that group were excited and thrilled at the idea of a possible gunfight.

We rode the boats through water-logged streets with cars submerged in them. The civilians stared at us and our boats.

It wasn't an easy ride as we had to ride the boats through many obstacles.

At 8:30 we arrived Calle Wulfric. The neighborhood around Calle Wulfric is a very posh neighborhood in La Paz. It was built by the British Company Wulfric, Huntington & Gardenborough which is known to build luxury apartments and mansions for the rich all over the world.

As we were riding through the flooded city roads, the control room gave me more detail. They told me that there were few men inside Casa 52 (House number 25).

Casa 52 is a typical Calle Wulfric house: a big lawn in the front yard, and some trees in the backyard. The house was very big, and it was no wonder that some gang decided to commit burglary in this house.

I dislike all criminals, but the ones I hate the most are those who bother innocent civilians when there's a natural disaster or crisis facing the country. They receive my utmost wrath.

We disembarked from the boats at the beginning of Calle Wulfric so that anybody inside the house won't be able to see that we arrived.

All of us, except me and Alejandro, were dressed in counter-terrorist battle-gear.

I divided the detachment into three teams composed of 6 men.

Team A was composed of five M-16 armed Policemen and me.

Team B was composed of five M-16 armed Policemen and Alejandro

Team C was composed of five M-16 armed Policemen and Rodrigo Morales who was a sniper.

Once I finished dividing them, we were ready for our task.

"Stay down and take cover," I said (I spoke in Spanish all the while) instructing my men to use the cover of the cars as we slowly waded through the flooded street towards Casa 52.

"Don't shoot unless you really need to!" I instructed my young officers who were really excited.

We made our way through the lawn under the cover of the heavy rain after gently pushing our way through the half-open gate.

"Load your weapons," I said as we crawled through the lawn trying not to be discovered.

We saw two men by the window.

My colleagues loaded their guns.

The wind was howling as lightning struck somewhere near the mountains in the distance.

"Team C, Secure the lawn and the outside of the house!" I instructed gesturing the same message with my hand.

Team C spread themselves on the lawn. Rodrigo climbed onto a tree and mounted his sniper rifle on a tree in the front yard.

My radio crackled to life.

"Sir this is Morales, I can see three men…by the window facing something I cannot see"

I instructed Team B," You are the storm brigade. I want you to stay near the door and I want you to come only when I call you.

"Team A, follow me," I said.

We crawled until we reached the door. Once we reached the door one of the officers who knew how to pick locks began his work. We provided him cover. No matter how he tried, he couldn't pick the lock

I then looked at the sky and then an idea came to my mind. Because of the heavy rain and thunder, we could use a charge to break through the doors and the intruders will never be able to differentiate between the charge's noise and thunder.

The officers seconded the idea. Enrique set the charge.

I counted till 10.

"Move away!" I said 10 seconds before the charge exploded, shattering a part of the door. We were hit by some of the shrapnels of wood, but since we moved away before the charge exploded, none of us was injured.

We pushed what was left of the door and continued into the house.

Everything was thrown down and upset proving that the intruders were burglars looking for something.

We quietly crept up the stairs.

Narrator

In the first floor, there was a hall where an old man was tied up. His nose was bleeding. The young men who had tied him up laughed at the old man's terror at seeing them.

They were teenagers, about sixteen years old. They had bags full of money that they stole from the old man's safe. The right fist of one of them had blood on it. It was the blood of the old man. He was the one who punched the old man in his face.

One of the boys had a switchblade. Another one had a silver, country-made revolver.

"Please, I need my inhaler. I have asthma," pleaded the old man, stammering.

The boys laughed as one of them kicked away the inhaler that the old man was reaching for from the table beside the sofa where he was tied.

They smacked him in his face.

After recovering from the hit, the old man was pleading for them to give him his inhaler.

Then, one of the boys pulled out his switchblade

The old man was filled with fear as he saw the boy laugh with a sinister tone as he brought the blade.

"You're gonna die today old trash bag," the boy who kicked the inhaler said.

The old man began shouting and screaming in fear as he saw the knife. He was begging the boys who were bringing the knife close to his neck to spare him.

The old man began moving his leg and hands trying in vain to break free from the ropes that held him.

The young men mocked the old man's voice as he screamed for help.

Just as the boy was bringing the knife close to the old man's throat, the boys heard a loud voice bellow, "Not today, young man!".

The boy with the knife dropped it as his hand shuddered in shock after he heard that loud, strong voice.

The boys turned back. Their breath stopped.

The switchblade fell on the floor. Seeing that, the old man kicked the switchblade under the sofa.

Felipe Espadachín stood by the door with his pistol pointing towards the boys, with his index finger on the trigger.

"Don't move a muscle," commanded Felipe as the boys were shocked that they saw Felipe.

They thought that their burglary would be over after they killed the old man and ran away with the loot.

They never expected the Police there.

Nervously, the boy with the revolver lifted his revolver.

He struggled to hold it with his shivering hand as he pointed it at Felipe.

"¡Policía Nacional!" yelled the rest of the Police officers as they stormed the room with their M-16 rifles. The boys were shocked when they saw police officers dressed like SWAT troopers entering the room.

The boy with the revolver was about to shoot Felipe when Enrique kicked him in the stomach and slapped him across his face.

He ripped the revolver from the shocked boy's hand, accidentally breaking the young man's finger.

The boy cried in pain.

Enrique quickly pushed him on the floor and tied his hands.

One of the other two boys searched for the switchblade desperately until another officer pushed him to the floor and tightly pressed the M-16's muzzle against the boy's temple.

Screaming in pain because of the muzzle being tightly held against his temple, the boy threw his hands up in surrender.

Another police officer tied the boy's hand as his colleague put the muzzle of his rifle on the boy's forehead.

The third boy tried to hit an officer before he was pinned down by Felipe.

One of the officers held the muzzle of his M-16 on the back of that boy's head as they made him lie on the floor in a prone position with his hands tied.

Felipe called Team B to come.

After cutting the ropes, they freed the old man and gave him his inhaler. After inhaling the gas in the inhaler, he thanked Felipe for the rescue.

Team A and Team B escorted the boys to the boats.

Felipe covered the old man with a blanket as he brought him downstairs.

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