Date: 2021-11-29 08:00:00+00:00
Description: Before the sun rose over the town of Sisterville everything went black. A natural disaster of unknown origins takes the lives of every living creature and decimates the small town. Disgraced NASA scientist and now Cleveland Weatherman, Hero Galanis knows he is more than a local celebrity on television. He recognizes the anomaly on the satellite image as a repeat of the event that cost him his career. Decades earlier, Hero made predictions about the devastation the anomaly would cause, but those predictions pale in comparison to the reality the world currently faces. The mysterious events are n

The Black

Jacqueline Druga

Copyright © 2021 Jacqueline Druga

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

SPECIAL THANKS to Connie N and Paula Gibson for your help

Burshes for PS courtesy of Obsidian Dawn (www.obsidiandawn.com).

This book is dedicated to all my Patreons. All of you who loaned your time and heart to support this project.

CHAPTER ONE – RISE AND SHINE

Sisterville, West Virginia

The location wasn’t important because it happened without rhyme or reason. Fate tossed a dart at the map and said, ‘this is where it begins.’

Sisterville.

In actuality, Sisterville was the perfect place for it to happen. An inconsequential town that spread out on both sides of rural Route Two with the Ohio River being it’s claim to scenery fame.

Visiting Sisterville was like taking a trip back in time. Parking meters were so dated it cost less than fifty cents to park all day. The streets were litter free and pleasant looking. Shops lined the main road and they still had a five and dime complete with a diner.

Although the Five and Dime was technically a dollar store.

The small town, just shy of a population of fifteen hundred, had an odd little history.

Every Thursday at noon the town shut down. Every business, bank, school … closed. A ritual that dated back to the 1800’s. The reason for why had been lost along the way, and many people made up their own explanations on why Sistersville closed down.

Some say it was to celebrate the sisters who founded the town, and others said it was some weird witchcraft story. Whatever the case, the town closed and no one cared.

The town itself was so forgotten even people who worked two miles away at the local Dairy Queen had to pause and think about where Sisterville was if someone asked for directions.

That was a rarity.

Isolated and perfect for the first event.

And Wilbur Swanson was the perfect first witness.

Too bad no one would hear his side of the story.

Wilbur Swanson didn’t think his town was unimportant. He lived there his entire seventy-nine years and was the town’s verbal historian.

Except for when it came to asking him why the town closed down. On that Wilbur would reply, “We don’t discuss that.”

He was a jokester.

A nice guy.

A creature of habit.

Even before his wife passed, Wilbur had a staunch routine. He tweaked it according to his age. As he grew older his morning jog was replaced with a morning walk, then that was replaced with a morning drive.

But he had a whole routine before he even got in his car to drive to the Five and Dime.

Wake, wash his face, rinse, brush and put in his teeth. After dressing, Wilbur would go to the kitchen, make coffee and toast then fire up that new fangled tablet his niece gave him for reading. On it Wilbur read the paper. He preferred an actual physical copy, but since the printing pressed stopped, Wilbur settled for the electronic version.

After retiring he wasn’t one of those fellows who woke up at the crack of dawn. Wilbur’s internal clock had him rising just as the sun did.

That was one of the reasons he was so stunned it was still dark.

He checked his alarm clock, sure enough it was after seven.

It should have been light, but Wilbur figured the recent time change along with a nasty storm caused the darkness.

He turned on his lamp and sat on the side of the bed catching his morning bearings.

When he stood he then opened his drapes, but he really didn’t pause to look outside. All he saw was darkness so he went into the bathroom to finish his wake up routine.

Wilbur went down to his kitchen and while his coffee brewed he wiped off the counter. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten to clean that. It wasn’t like him to leave a mess from the night before. Then again, he was binge watching Golden Girls and just got lost in Season Five when Blanche was at her sexiest.

Coffee brewed, toast perfect, Wilbur sat at the kitchen table and fired up his tablet.

Usually, the news subscription popped right up, but on this morning it didn’t.

It took him a few minutes, only after a couple swigs of his coffee and bites of his toast, but he finally figured out why it wasn’t showing up.

He didn’t have an internet connection.

Wilbur may not have been a tech savvy genius, but he was more savvy than anyone else in his age group.

He sought out the router and saw a single steady light.

He knew what that meant.

His Internet was down.

“What in the world.” Wilbur shook his head. “Come on.”

He thought about calling customer service with the cable company, then changed his mind. Wilbur didn’t want to be the first caller for anyone’s day.

Instead, he opted for finishing his toast and coffee, and then he’d head to the diner to use their Wi-Fi.

Besides, two fried eggs and an order of scrapple sounded good.

Wilbur always said, ‘when life gives you scraps, find some scrapple.’

And that was what he would do.

The cable company was giving him scraps when it came to a signal so he would get his favorite breakfast meat, scrapple.

He grabbed his wallet, keys, jacket and realized it was still dark. At that point he really doubted his sense of time. In fact, he double checked the phone and clock on the wall.

He wasn’t mistaken, it was nearly eight am.

Where was the sun?

It had to be one hell of a storm coming.

Figuring he’d better get going and off the road before it hit, Wilbur walked to his front door and opened it.

Black.

He muttered the words, ‘What in the world,” as he looked out.

No light.

There was no sight of a streetlight or the neighbor’s house across the street.

Wilbur couldn’t see two feet in front of him.

A big black wall was at his front door.

It really wasn’t a wall. It couldn’t be. It had to be something else.

Perhaps it was his eyes.

Complete and utter blackness.

It was as if the world had disappeared right there just outside his stoop. Little did Wilbur know that in a way it actually had.

Not thinking any more about it, Wilbur stepped into the blackness.

CHAPTER TWO – SUPERSTAR

Three years in a row he was voted Cleveland’s Sexiest Man. Quite the accomplishment considering he had only been in the city for five years.

He never had those types of accolades when he worked in Minneapolis. Then again, Minneapolis focused more on pickled food and their claim to fame of Mary Tyler Moore. Which was ironic because he worked at a news station like Mary had.

Accolades and praise weren’t really what he wanted. Recognition for being the best was why he got the job in Cleveland. The rest became icing on the cake.

Icing he consumed in a gluttonous way.

He just turned forty and he was okay with that. Forty was a good number, any younger, there was a lack of respect. He didn’t even mind if he looked forty. It garnished him respect and he wasn’t treated like a kid.

He liked the mild version of crows feet he had at the corner of his eyes.

Four lines each side.

Any more than that, he would call the surgeon, but four lines were good.

The dashing man wore his darker shade of khaki pants and a blue fitted shirt rested nicely on his naturally toned body. His hair was perfect and dark, The few strands of gray dashed in nicely.

Everything about him stood out and he never blended into the crowd, just like he didn’t blend into the green screen behind him.

He watched the monitor as his guide. Hands moving as he spoke, “We might pick up a little early spring chill, but not too much you have to turn the furnace on full blast,” he said. “No rain right now. So those pesky drizzles can’t be blamed for the jam on the Outer Belt that is crawling slower than a three legged dog on valium. More coming up at the top of the hour. I’m Hero Galanis, your weather warrior. Catch you next hour.”

“And … cut,” the director called.

“Shine. Shine,” Hero said as he walked off mark. “I caught myself in the monitor, I saw it. I have shine.”

The director replied with little enthusiasm or care, “You have forty-two minutes to take care of the shine. Go sit down.”

Hero shook his head. “Obviously, you don’t see the emails I get about the shine.”

“Nope. But I’ve seen the social media posts,” the director said then went into some sort of fake social media narrator. “I see that shine on Hero, is it noon? Or get rid of that shine, it’s blinding me, blah, blah, blah.”

“Oh, you’re funny,” Hero replied. “I am the star.”

“You’re the freaking weatherman.”

Hero gasped out a huff. He wanted to snap out that he was Cleveland’s Sexiest Man, but he didn’t. Instead he walked over to his cubical just off of the set.

He sat down in the chair to wait for his makeup person.

Glancing at his reflection, he leaned closer. “Four. Four shiny spots. How were they missed?”

“Um, you look so good no one saw them?” the male voice responded as in a question.

Her raised his eyes to see the reflection of the young man in the mirror. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” the young man responded.

“Josh right?” Hero asked.

“Yep. Cool. You know my name.”

Hero tapped his own temple. “Like a steel trap. I guess I’m overreacting, huh?”

“Well …”

“I am. I know.” Hero leaned into the mirror and smiled. “Looks good, right?”

“Yes.”

“Not fake, right?’

“Um ….”

Holding his top lip high, exposing not only his teeth but his gums, Hero spun in his chair to face John. “Do they look fake?”

“They look … white.”

“Thank you.” Still holding up his lip, Hero spoke. “Fifty three thousand, four hundred and six.”

“What?” Josh asked. “I didn’t understand you. You sounded like you were on Novocain.”

“Sorry.” Hero released his top lip. “Fifty-three thousand, four hundred and six dollars, that’s what this smile cost me. Teeth and gums.”

“So they’re fake?”

“No, just redone.”

“Cool.” Josh nodded.

“I mean, it’s a lot of money, I know. But worth it. Your parents paid … what for your smile?”

“Um … nothing.”

“Uh, yeah.” Hero tilted his head. “I see that now.”

Josh closed his lips.

“Don’t worry, my parents didn’t fix my smile either. They were pretty poor. I did it myself.”

“When?”

“Huh?”

“When did you fix them?” Josh asked.

“After my first sexiest man nomination.”

“So you didn’t need it. You were sexiest man without the really white teeth and super pink gums.’

“Yes, but they assured ensuing victories. Anyhow … with all this money don’t you think the focus should be on my face? Shine should not happen.”

“No, it should not.”

“What can we do about it?” Hero asked.

“I don’t know. Dude, I’m just a grip.”

“But I’m sure you have an opinion.”

“Well …” Josh’s eyes shifted when Susan, the Assistant Producer approached.

“Hey, Hero, we need you down in the tank. We have some new satellites that came in, we want you to take a look at them.”

“Sure.”

“Thanks,” Susan said and walked off.

“Josh,” Hero stood up. “It was great talking to you.”

“Sure. So … you know what you’re looking at when you look at satellite stuff?”

“I do,” Hero replied.

“You’re a weatherman?”

“Preferred term is meteorologist. But we meteorologists and weathermen learn that stuff. Plus, I worked for NASA for nine years.”

“No way.”

Hero nodded. “Yeah, way.”

“Cool.”

“I’ll be back. And work on that shine problem.”

“I'm just the grip!” Josh said,

“And a good one at that.” Hero gave a swat to Josh’s arm as he walked off.

He’d look at those satellite images. It was routine and amusing. A few of the meteorologist on staff would see something and make a big deal out of it. Hero would come in and let them know it was nothing.

Even though it was taking away time he needed to handle that ‘shine' problem, Hero was happy to help. It let people at the station know he was more than just a pretty face.

CHAPTER THREE – COWBOYS

Nate ‘Duke’ Carson had been a captain on the West Virginia State Police for nearly twenty years. Before then he was a local police officer in Mercer County Pennsylvania. There wasn’t much happening, and he was certain his latest call would turn out to be nothing.

It always did

He walked with a slight limp, just a slight one. Which caused the tall man to lean some. An odd limp that often had people asking him if he had the gout.

Nope.

An injury.

An injury he got on the force when his partner in Mercer accidentally shot him in the knee. He was young and the injury didn’t heal right.

It earned him the nickname, ‘Duke’ because he was tall like John Wayne. He even slightly resembled the hard and rough silver screen, cowboy actor.

He left the station to meet Officer Blaze, who placed the call for backup.

Blaze looked young. It probably was his enthusiasm that kept him looking that way. He didn’t sweat much and stress didn’t get to him.

“Well, what’s going on?” Duke asked.

“You have to see it,” Blaze replied.

Duke wasn’t the only one to answer the call, another squad car, one from County was there along with Blaze. Both cars were parked with lights flashing in front of what looked like a large back curtain,

In fact, that was what Duke thought it was.

One half mile outside of Sisterville, a few feet after the ‘Dickens Diner One Mile’ sign, the black curtain extended across all four lanes of Route Two and a hundred feet on both sides and curved inward.

It wasn’t until Duke stopped his car that he saw, he had no idea what it was.

“What in God’s name?” Duke stated as he walked towards Blaze and the county officer.

“I know, right?” Blaze said. “What is it?”

Duke walked closer to it, it didn’t look solid. It looked like such a thick black smoke that he couldn’t see through it. Yet, it didn’t smell like smoke.

County Officer Mason shook his head. “I have no idea. And I have tried to reach Sistersville. Nothing.”

“Well,” Duke said. “That’s not unusual. It’s Thursday.”

“Aw, yeah.” Mason nodded. “That’s right.”

“Damn weird ass town. They don’t answer a phone after twelve.” Duke peered at the black.

Blaze pointed. “You think that strange genius kid, the one who won the science fair created a shroud of sorts for Thursday?”

Duke shrugged. “Who knows. Anyone check to see if that TV company is filming here again?”

“On a Thursday in Sisterville?” Mason asked. “No, I figured that wouldn’t happen.”

“For the right price it will,” Duke said, and stepped back.

“Maybe we should just go in,” Blaze said.

Mason chuckled in sarcasm. “I’m not walking through that. We don’t know what it is.”

“I will,” said Blaze. “I mean, how harmful could it be, there’s a town behind it?” He snorted a snicker. “You think it’s gone?”

“You never know.

Duke held out his hand as he stepped closer to the car. “Be my guest.” He opened the door and reached in for his radio. “Hey, Sally, can you get a hold of county permits and see if they issued any for filming around Route Two?”

“Sure, thing, Captain,” she replied.

He lowered the radio and watched Blaze. “Hold up.” he called to him.

Blaze halted right by the end of it.

“I don’t think you should do this,” Duke said. “Honestly. Just hold back until we find out if it’s a filming team or something.”

“It’s some weird special effect,” retorted Blaze. “It’s nothing.” He reached his hand outward and placed it through the black wall. It seemed to disappear. “See.” He withdrew it, “Feels cool.” He ran his fingers together. “Leaves a residue. I’ll be right back.”

“I just wish you would …”

“Nah,” Blaze shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Duke switched the channel on his handheld radio. “Check.” He spoke into it.

“Got ya,” Blaze said.

“Lift that,” Duke instructed. “Tell me what you see.”

“Yep.” He pulled out his flashlight and turned it on. The blackness absorbed the light. Holding the flashlight with one hand, radio in the other, Blaze stepped through.

Duke watched.

“He’s nuts,” said Mason.

“Yeah,” Duke agreed, “I wouldn’t have done it.”

Only static could be heard.

“Cap,” Blaze called out over the radio.

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

“I can’t see anything.” Blaze’s voice was mixed heavily with static.

“The flashlight isn’t helping.”

“No, I’m walking slowly forward but It’s like I’m blind. It’s cold and …” Blaze grunted.

“Blaze, come in. What’s wrong?”

“A car. I walked into a car.”

“A car? Parked in the middle of Route Two?”

“Maybe I veered off. It’s a car though.”

“Hey, Blaze, back up. Come back out of there. I have a bad feeling.”

No reply.

“Blaze.”

Nothing.

“Blaze, come in.”

Static.

“Shit.” Duke saw through the corner of his eye Mason stepping toward the black. He reached out and stopped him. “Hold on.”

“We have to get him.”

“No, we wait. We don’t know what’s in there or on the other side. We wait.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know.”

Duke was at a loss. For all he knew the blackness was interfering with communications. He had a bad feeling and wasn’t about to let Mason walk in there, too.

They’d wait it out and, while doing so, try to figure out what would be their next step.

CHAPTER FOUR - GRIEF

A dark cloud of emotions hung over the house, Reese could feel it before she even stepped inside her mothers’ home. Even the bright red flowers lining the walk did nothing to take the dismal feeling away from the day.

Nothing would.

The cars were parked on the street, the driveway was full.

Everything was so hard, but she had to push forward.

Her feet felt like they weighed a ton still, she dragged them toward the house. Her toes pinching from the shoes.

Her youngest son, Marcus stood on the front porch holding a glass.

“What are you drinking?” she asked her twenty-one year old, fully expecting to hear it was some sort of alcohol.

“Tea, want some.” He held out the glass.

“Yeah, thank you.” She took a drink and returned it.

“Where’s Aunt Pam?” he asked.

“She was still at the cemetery with Bobby,” Reese replied. “I’m not sure if they’ll be able to leave.”

“That’s her son and his brother. We wouldn’t be able to, would we?”

Reese shook her head. Just hearing that stabbed her heart. “Where … where’s your brother?”

“Gram sent him to the store.”

Reese nodded. “Thanks.” She placed her hand on Marcus' arm, she kissed him on the cheek as she walked by and reached for the screen door.

She could see inside at all the people standing there, she backed up. “I’ll go in the kitchen door.”

“Good idea. That’s where Gram is.”

“Yeah, I figured.” She snatched up one more sip of his tea and backed off the porch, taking a walk around the yard to the back.

She would have stayed at the cemetery with her sister, but they both were worried about their mom. She had been on a steady diet of anxiety pills and wine since the sudden the passing of her oldest grandchild Grayson.

Reese knew it devastated her mother nearly as much as it devastated Pam.

It was all so sudden.

But her mom pretended to be strong. Even while hurting from the loss of her grandchild and for the pain her daughter was experiencing.

Grayson’s death killed them all.

Pam, her son Bobby, Reese, and her sons.

The boys all were the same age.

They had grown up together.

They were supposed to be fathers together, and grandfathers. Things Reese had planned with her sister.

But that all came crashing down when Grayson played Russian Roulette with heroin and hit the bullet with a laced bag.

What made it worse was everyone thought he had beaten the addiction. It had been years.

Why did he go back?

What made him do it?

Was something going on he wasn’t telling anyone about?

So many questions that would forever remain unanswered.

Reese was grateful only one person was on the back porch. At the funeral home everyone had questions.

People posted on social media about how horrible his passing was. How they hated drugs.

Not one person had posted that for five years when Grayson didn’t touch it.

It angered Reese, but she didn’t say anything to Pam.

Pam didn’t need to hear her thoughts on that subject.

She waved to her cousin Eddie who was smoking a cigarette as she passed him.

“Pam here yet?” he asked

“Soon,” Reese answered as she opened the door.

“Clarice,” her mother shut the oven. “Are all of you back now?” she asked. “Should I put out the food now?”

“Pam is still there. Or was. Not sure, so not yet.” She leaned in, kissing her mother on the cheek. “You okay Mommy?”

Tightly closed mouth, her mother nodded. “Yes.”

Reese knew she wasn’t. Her mother was young, only nineteen when she had Reese, but at the moment she looked older than her fifty-eight years. Her eyes had lost their twinkle.

“Staying busy,” her mother said. “But can you help?”

“What do you need me to do?” Reese asked.

“Just help me put everything out on the table, let people know we’ll be eating soon. I don’t want them touching it before Pam gets here.”

“Absolutely.”

“Take the chicken. The Masterson’s sent that over.”

Reese lifted the tray.

“Oh and Clarice, could you put on the TV for me? My hands are wet.” She nodded at the small flat screen just above the kitchen counter.

“Sure. What channel?”

“It’s on the correct channel. I want to watch The Cleveland View.”

“Now, right now?” Reese asked. “With all that’s going on you want to watch cackling women fight about the left and right of things?”

“No, I want to watch Hero the weather warrior. He’s their guest today. He makes everything a little …” she inked. “Sunnier.”

“Oh, God.” Reese rolled her eyes and put on the television.

“And we need everything and anything that will give us a little light.”

Reese paused before turning on the set, then she did.

Her mother was right.

Everything was so dark, so heartbreaking, a diversion was good, no matter who or what it was.

After turning on the television, Reese grabbed the chicken and took it to the dining room where tables were set.

It wouldn’t be long before her sister Pam returned from burying her son, hence closing one chapter of many to come and opening another, and a painful one it would be.

CHAPTER FIVE – OUT OF REALM

It was Cleveland’s version of the popular debate talk show, The View. If you were asked to be a guest on the show, you were certainly a local celebrity.

Hero was viewed as such.

He wore jeans and a fitted tee shirt for his appearance, and thanked the make up woman. Even under the lights he didn’t see a single shining spot.

He told her he was going to speak to his producer at the news to hire her on.

He could use someone like her.

Christie was the main host, the big wig of the show. She sat at the end of the table, but ran how the program moved.

Hero sat in the center seat. It was five minutes to showtime and, while the other hosts were in hair and make up, she wanted to go over a few things with Hero.

“What’s off limits?” she asked

“What do you mean?”

“What questions do you definitely not want to answer?”

“Oh, gees, big one, who I voted for,” Hero replied. “My age.”

“Okay,” Christie scribbled down notes.

“If I’m dating … and oh, please do not ask me about the latest Ski Slope, fake snow bacteria thing.”

“Gotcha.” She set down her pen. “How do you get your teeth so white? Do you get treatments regularly?”

“Of course, but I also don’t eat anything that could stain them.”

“Nothing?” she asked.

“Nope. Anything with colors I can’t or won’t eat.”

“Life must get boring.”

“Yes. Yes it does, Hero replied. “And I will make up for it when I am done with all those cameras in my face.”

“Swell, we are excited to have you on,” Christie said.

“What are we talking about?” Hero asked.

Before Christie could answer, the other three hosts arrived at the round table. Each of them extending a hand and introducing themselves to Hero.

All the woman were excited to meet him.

“We’re on in three,” the Stage manager called out.

“You know how this works,” Christie explained. “When the red light is on, we are live. Now to answer your question. We’ll do a brief interview with you then do our topic discussion. You take any side of the debate that you want. No right or wrong."

“Got it.”

Not only did Hero’s phone vibrate in his pocket, it caused an audible buzz.

“Shit.” He reached for it.

“Are you able to silence that?” Christie asked.

“Absolutely.” Hero lifted the phone to shut it off, but before he did he saw the text from his station manager.

He read it, ‘that tiny black smudge showed up again,’ the message read. “So it isn’t a satellite image glitch. Need you to think of what it could be. We want to break the story.”

“Everything okay?” Christie asked.

“Um, yes. Yes it is.” Forcing a fake smile, Hero silenced his phone completely and returned it to his pocket.

But the black mark on the satellite image, the one he originally believed was a smudge, would stay on his mind.

If it wasn’t a glitch, Hero had to figure out what it could be.

CHAPTER SIX – PLANS AND SUCH

For the first time in ten days, since Grayson’s passing, Reese saw her sister smile. It was a genuine smile, not one brought on by a memory that led to tears.

A smile.

Reese rewound the video again.

Both women laughed as they sat on the front porch of Pam’s home.

Pam shook her head. “Mom watches him religiously.”

“I know and he’s never right. Look at his face when they ask him.”

Reese hit play.

“Tell us,” Christie said to Hero. “What are you views and thoughts on this Ski Slope bacteria?’

His perfect smile dropped, then it went crocked as he tried to look like he was amused. “You said you wouldn’t ask me that,” Hero said.

“No,” Christie stated. “I asked you what you didn’t want to be asked about.”

“That is so sneaky. I’m not gonna answer it.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a political question.”

“How is it political?”

“One half of the population thinks it’s real and the other half of the population think it’s the governments interference with nature.”

“So you think it’s …”

“I think it’s a shame that over four thousand people have lost their lives and another eight thousand lost their feet. Can we move on from that, I mean it’s April.”

“Meaning?”

Hero looked at the camera. “Meaning the weather patterns are changing and the snow will be melting soon.”

Reese shut off the video. “Great segue to his field. He is handsome. Have to give him that.”

“He is. But I don’t think he’s all that smart,” Pam said.

“He worked for NASA. I mean, he worked for NASA for five years. You can’t be dumb and work for NASA.”

“In what capacity though?” Pam asked. “He could have been a janitor.”

“I think even NASA janitors need an IQ of at least 140.”

“Oh they do not.”

“They do.”

Pam exhaled and sipped her wine. “Thank you for this. I mean it.”

“I wish I could do more.”

“There's not much that can be done,” Pam said. “Bobby is going on a fishing trip with his father this weekend.”

“Did you want to stay with me?” she asked. “I don’t think you should be alone at that house.”

“Remember when Gray, Bobby, Marcus and Ray-Ray were teenager and we decided we could do guy stuff with them. We took them to West Virginia.”

“Holly River, yes. It was a disaster.”

“The first time. After that …”

“It was the thing we did,” Reese said. “Twice. A year until they got too cool and old to hang with their moms.”

“We were the fishing queens.”

“We conquered the bass.”

“Yep. And taught them everything they knew.” Pam exhaled. “Gray loved it there.”

“I know.”

“Do you want to go?”

“Sure.”

“I wish we could get a cabin this weekend. I would like nothing more.”

“Hold on.” Reese pulled out her phone. “It’s early spring. We may be able to.” Her fingers moved on the screen. “Maybe …” She smiled. “Cabin Seven is available. Should I book it?”

“For real?”

Reese nodded.

“Yes, let’s do this.”

“We gonna ask the boys? It sleeps six,” Reese said.

“Bobby is going with his dad. Let’s make it a girl’s trip.”

Reese reached down for her purse. “I’ll book it. Should we ask Mom? I mean since it’s a girl’s trip.”

“Mom? The ‘I am addicted to everything modern’?”

“Yes.”

Pam opened her mouth, paused, and smiled. “You know what? Yes.”

“She hates the outdoors but she’ll go you know. Especially if I tell her you want her there. Are you sure?”

Pam nodded. “Yes. It’ll be interesting to see mom out in the wild. At the very least it will take my mind off of things.”

“Then we don’t give her a choice.” Reese replied. She knew nothing was really going to take Pam’s mind off of things, but if it helped, Reese was willing to do anything for her sister to get her through the turmoil.

Even though it would be a weekend without Hero Galanis, Reese booked the cabin.

CHAPTER SEVEN – INTO ACTION

Hero was glad he wasn’t under the scrutiny of the cameras because his hair was a mess. His had ran his fingers through it so many times it was standing on edge from all the product he put into it to make it look perfect.

Hero wasn’t thinking about his appearance. He was thinking about the satellite images, the weather maps he had been examining all day.

At first, he dismissed the smudge on the image. A tiny dot in West Virginia over a town less than two hundred miles south.

It was like nothing he had ever seen and it had nothing to do with weather. It wasn’t a fire or smoke from a fire and Hero blew it off as a faulty image.

Until the afternoon image came back the same.

His producer wanted a weather news story, some sort of anomaly brewing in a small town, but Hero wanted answers.

It hadn’t moved like the other cloud formation.

It was at a standstill.

He went on line and looked for a business that would be open, but discovered the town shut down on Thursdays.

So the lack of communication with them could have been some odd ritual that was going on in that town for over two hundred years.

Still, the anomaly didn’t leave.

He requested new weather images every hour and every hour it hadn’t changed.

He called the state police and their answer was they were looking into it and it appeared as if some sort of special effects a television company was doing there.

Hero’s first reaction was, “Oh, come on. No way any Television company was creating that.”

With no answers, and no changes, Hero decided to investigate. Because there was no explanation for it and no mention of it on social media or the internet, his producer gave permission for Hero to leave and to take the storm chasing equipment.

It was only a three hour drive. Hero didn’t even wait for a camera man. He’d be his own.

Tripod packed along with his mini cam in the WKSY van, he left.

The news van had everything he needed, plus added credentials when he arrived on scene.

He requested the images to be sent to his phone. He wanted to be on top of it. Hero was certain he was already late to the game. That when he arrived in Sisterville, news crews would be swarming.

He kept mentally kicking himself about it. Why didn’t he go sooner?

Not only did he not want someone to scoop the story, he wanted to be the one that discovered what it was.

He hoped it was big.

He needed it to be big.

Hero went from top meteorologist at NASA to weather man. First, a short stint in Tulsa, then Minneapolis. All because he put his reputation on the line for a black storm he swore was arriving in California.

No one ever heard of a black storm. It was something he named after seeing the black mark on the satellite image. Even stated what would happen. Or rather he guessed.

It never came to anything.

It looked just like the black mark in west Virginia.

It was nothing.

A reflection.

A smudge.

Not a storm arriving on earth. It was a ridiculous prediction. His invented new type of storm just didn’t exist.

He knew it was something.

He swore it.

It never came to fruition.

A simple mistake and Hero had to pack his bags.

All the other predictions meant squat, one wrong prediction and he was done.

Hero to zero.

This would be his make up.

If of course it was anything.

It had to be.

Then again, he thought it was probably like before.

He still wasn’t convinced it was something in California and the government had just covered it up. That was his mental reasoning, not that he was wrong, but he was right and they didn’t want this strange event to get out.

WKSY wanted to believe anything Hero said

Make it big, make it real.

Don’t be Geraldo and the vault.

Whatever that meant.

He drove to Sisterville fully expecting to be the last newsperson to arrive. Fully expecting to see news crews, vans, people all staring up to see what that black cloud was in the sky.

When Hero arrived just after eleven at night, he realized he was wrong about people gathering. There were two squad cars there. One was from Monroe County, the other was a state police vehicle. Both had their flashers on, but Hero only saw one police officer standing not far from the diner sign.

More than that, Hero realized that when he saw that black ‘smudge’ years ago in California, he should have investigated and gone there to see, because if it was like the one in Sisterville, it wasn’t in the sky, it was everywhere. It was a wall behind the officer and it looked more like a black abyss in space.

When Hero stopped the van, the officer approached.

“You need to turn around,” the officer said.

Hero stepped out.

“Sir, get back in your car, you can’t go this way.”

“No, I’m here for this.” Hero pointed. “I’m surprised more people aren’t here.”

“They were. I turned them away.”

“Reporters?” Hero asked.

“No, not any reporters.”

“I’m surprised. I saw it on the Satellite.”

“Are you some sort of scientist from the news?”

“I was. Well if you look at it technically, officer … Mason,” Hero noticed the name tag, “I can still be considered one.” He reached for his wallet and pulled out his ID. “I work as a meteorologist in Cleveland. WKSY. Here’s my ID and …” He pulled out another card. “Former NASA ID.”

The officer looked at it. “You must be awful proud to be carrying this around since it expired ten years ago”

“I am. Was.”

“What made you leave?” The officer asked, handing back his identification cards

“They did. NASA did because of something like this happened in California and I reported it. They thought I was nuts.”

“If it was like this,” Mason handed him back his ID. “You aren’t nuts. Any idea what it is?”

Hero shook his head. “I’d like to run some tests, I have some equipment. It might help. How far does it go?”

“We have a team on the other side. It covers the whole town.”

“Any word from in there?” Hero asked.

Mason shook his head. “No. But then it was Thursday, and they never communicate or leave on any Thursday after noon.”

Hero nodded. “I read about that.”

“No one has come out.”

Wincing, Hero asked. “Anyone go in?”

“Yeah. One of the state officers, and he never came back out. We lost radio contact with him about a minute in.”

“Holy cow, that’s not good. Okay, can I get my equipment and set it up, start testing this thing, see what I can figure out?”

“Be my guest,” Mason said. “I’m just hanging tight until my relief shows up. Then again, I may not leave. I really want some answers.”

“Me, too,” said Hero. “Like I said, I am surprised more people aren’t here trying to find out.”

“The captain from state police was. He went home to get a few hours sleep. He just left. He was still shaken over the helicopter thing.”

“What helicopter thing?”

Mason looked up. “It may seem it, but this doesn’t go all the way up. It doesn’t. So he sent a chopper. They flew over, said it looked like a thick black cloud just resting there. He told them not to fly in.”

“They did, didn’t they?”

Mason nodded. “And they didn’t come out. No sound, Nothing.”

The scientist in Hero overtook the recent, dashing weather man, and he became even more determined to get answers, Hero went to the van to move it closer.

CHAPTER EIGHT – MORE NEWS

Duke couldn’t fall asleep at first, it was nearly impossible to do so. His mind was racked with the events of the day. Losing contact with Blaze, then the chopper.

He didn’t understand it. How was he able to hear the chopper noise until it flew into the black. It was then it seemed like it was put on automatic mute.

No radio contact.

He urged the pilots not to do it, nearly begged them. It didn’t matter.

Their voices were still in his head, insisting it was fine.

Then nothing.

After he got home, he wife, Iva made him some fried eggs and poured him some brandy she had put in the hall closet years earlier. It was covered in dust, but was what he definitely needed to relax.

All day he spent on that road outside of Sisterville. He and Mason tried every single phone number in Sisterville, even old Wilbur… no answer.

He didn’t think he’d be able to fall asleep, but his last text message from Mason relaxed him some.

‘A big science guy from NASA is here running tests’ Mason’s message read. ‘FYI, no change since you left.’

A science guy was on it, from NASA nonetheless. It had to be something big. Duke wanted to rush back down there but Iva urged him to stay put. Duke wasn’t old, but at sixty-one he wasn’t a spring chicken either.

He could go at dawn,

“Even if you don’t sleep,” Iva told him. “Rest.”

Duke did and eventually he did fall asleep.

He slept longer and harder than he thought, the alarm didn’t wake him, the smell of food and coffee did.

Iva was born and bred in the hills of West Virginia not far from Holly River National Park. She grew up with a wood burning stove and there wasn’t anything she couldn’t figure out how to make.

Duke knew what she was fixing.

After getting out of bed, freshening up and dressing, he made his way to the kitchen.

Iva was pouring his coffee in a travel mug and had made those little sausages sandwiched between two small buttermilk pancakes.

“Eat before you go,” she told him. “If you have to run out that door, put those in a napkin.”

Duke looked down to his four little sandwiches. “Thank you.”

“Are you feeling any better?” she asked.

“No. No, not at all. I was waiting to hear from Mason, but since it’s not quite six, Im guessing he went home.”

“Probably.” Iva joined him at the table. “What do you think it is?’

“I have no idea.” He grabbed the syrup and placed a small mount on his plate to dip. “It’s something out of a Stephen King Novel, I can tell you that.”

“Do you think it’s something Sisterville invented to keep people out on a Thursday. You know the town and their habits.”

“If it is, where are my helicopter guys and where is Blaze? No, I don’t know what it is, but if it was Sistersville’s doing, surely it would be gone by now, right?”

As Duke opened his mouth to take a bite of his sandwich, his phone binged that he had a text message.

He finished his bite and while chewing, lifted the phone and read the message from Mason.

His eyes shifted to Iva.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s gone.”

Iva smiled. “Oh, see it was those Sisterville people.”

“I don’t think so Iva,” Duke said as he stood. “He said I need to get there.” He grabbed his coffee mug and his plate. “It’s bad.”

CHAPTER NINE – LIFTED VEIL

It ended up being a girls trip. Charlotte, Reese, and Pam’s mother didn’t even hesitate when asked to go.

She wasn’t one of those ‘annoying’ moms. She was fun and upbeat, tough when she had to be but then again, Reese and Pam were pretty good daughters.

The only time Charlotte drove Reese a little bit crazy was when she got into one of her fads. They changed often. Whether it was a television show or food, she binged on it. At the moment it was Cleveland’s weather man, Hero Galanis.

Reese fully expected her mother to at least complain about not taking the highway as far as they could. It was a habit, taking Route seven into Route Two, it gave them lots of options to stop on the way before heading east right after Sisterville.

Her mother didn’t complain. The only thing she complained about was the Reese’s bright blue SUV, it was so bright and obnoxious it screamed for the police to pull it over.

They were on time, moving along, ready for Dickens Diner. But after bypassing the Java hut in favor of the diner in Sisterville, Reese realized they should have stopped earlier.

“What is this?” Reese said slowing down. It wasn’t just a road block, the route was literally blocked off. Trucks, army vehicles, police cars and a weather van. Beyond that was a make shift fence covered in a tarp to block any view.

Charlotte leaned froward from the back seat. “Maybe an accident?”

“Awfully big accident,” Pam said. “Why would they barricade the road? I’d say Sisterville went overboard to stop people from going in to their town on shut down days, but it’s not Thursday.”

Reese peered closer to the windshield as she slowed down. “There’s no way around this. We’re going to have to go back.

“Oh, oh, no, it’s not an accident, it’s something to do with the weather.”

Both Reese and Pam looked back at their mother.

Charlotte smiled. “Because Hero is here. Oh my God, it’s Hero.”

“Mom, how the hell …” Before Reese could finish her sentence, Charlotte had the door open and rushed out.

Pam glanced over at Reese. “Is that really him?”

Reese squinted as if it would help. “I have no idea.” She put the car in park and opened her door.

It wasn’t a good situation for her mother to run into. Reese was convinced she had blinders on and focused only on the man standing at the side of the WKYS van.

It really couldn’t be Hero, what would he be doing down in West Virginia?

That’s what Reese thought until she saw her mother semi excitedly talk to him.

“Oh my God,” Reese said. “That is him.”

“What’s up with his hair?” asked Pam.

“Mom will have a fit.”

Slowly they inched their way over to him.

When they made it within a few feet, Charlotte excitedly turned, almost forcefully grabbing hold of Hero’s arm.

“And these are my daughters,” she introduced them. “Clarice, but she goes by Reese, don’t ask me why, and Pam.”

Hero awkwardly nodded at them. “Your daughters. They look like your sisters.”

Charlotte smiled. “Thank you."

“Hey, uh, what’s going on?” Reese asked. “Some sort of weather thing?”

Hero shook his head. “It’s really hard to explain. We have things happening, and it will break on the news. I think. I hope. It should.”

“So you’re not here as a weather man?” Reese asked.

Charlotte chimed in. “Is it …” she dropped her voice to a whisper. “The NASA connection.”

“Ma,” Pam slightly snapped. “He’s a weather man now.”

“He used to work for NASA,” Charlotte said.

Reese grimaced, slightly embarrassed. “I’m sorry Mr. Galanis, sometimes she gets so excited …”

“But she’s right,” Hero cut her off mid sentence. “And I’m surprised she knew that.”

Reese thought, ‘she stalks you that’s why.’

He shook her mother’s hand. “Thank you, Charlotte. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really have to get back. Again, it’s hard to explain.”

“Thank you,” Reese said. She watched Hero walk toward the barricade, she figured at first he was blowing them off or just being polite, then she saw the soldier open the tarped off fence. It was then she realized she probably wouldn’t understand the explanation. What would be the reason for what she saw? She only saw a section of it, but was enough for Reese to see the people dressed in yellow hazmat suits.

<><><><>

It was no where near what Duke had envisioned in his mind.

By the time he arrived the military had already shown up. According to Mason, that happened when the glorified weather man, former disgruntled NASA employee decided to call his former supervisor and gloat.

“Was this the same brilliant NASA scientist you mentioned in your text?” Duke had asked him on the phone.

“I knew he was a former employee, but he had to brilliant to work for NASA, right, and I thought it would ease your mind enough to rest.”

Duke grumbled.

It wasn’t long after that brief call he showed up. The Army had already started erecting a fence. Clearly the black had lifted, what it left behind was mind boggling.

Route Two had been resurfaced not one year earlier, the black top was still in great condition, it was a pain in the butt when they did it, but worth it.

It was still new looking up to the point of the Dickens Diner Sign.

The edge of the mystery black.

After the sign, that newer looking roadway was no more.

It was cracked and worn as if it was untouched for decades. There were two cars just stopped on the road, both of which were missing the rear windows, the paint was gone, they, like the road, looked like they had decades of weather wear.

He couldn’t see anyone and the soldiers cautioned him from walking into where the Black used to be.

“Sir, if it did that,’ the soldier said. “You can’t trust that something isn’t still in the perimeter.”

Duke wanted to go in, find Blaze and his helicopter pilots. He also wanted to look for the people of Sisterville.

He’d wait, until the special teams arrived with the proper gear and suits.

But even with a disgruntled NASA employee making a call, it still left Duke to wonder how in the world did the military not only show up full force, but they seemed to know everything they would need.

He wondered if maybe it had happened before, and if so, how did they keep it a secret?

CHAPTER TEN – ON THE EDGE

“Like the government always does,” Hero told Duke. “They kept the secret well by getting everyone fired. Get rid of the witnesses and anyone who knew anything.”

That was the response he gave Duke when the Captain approached him and questioned Hero about the California incident. Was it the same? If so, then how did it not get out?

“It seems just too odd to me,” Duke said. “So, this black thing, you followed it here because …?”

“My producer wanted a story. When I realized it wasn’t just a smudge or bad image, but the same thing I lost my job for at NASA, I had to come down.”

“Seems a bit much to get fired over,” Duke said.

“Um, yeah, I kind of came up with all sorts of things I thought the black cloud would do. I said it would cause total destruction.”

Duke pointed to the car. “You weren’t far off. You think it’s the same?”

“I do.”

“Yeah, me too.” Duke exhaled. “All these military experts and gurus, makes me think they’ve just been sitting around waiting for it to happen again.”

“Maybe they have. Unfortunately, we’ll never know.”

“You don’t think.” Duke nodded once. “After we go in there, like it or not I am having a talk with the military … the military …” His eyes drifted and he stopped talking.

“General?” Hero asked, trying to help the officer out with remembering the word he searched for. “Scientist? Doctors? What? Are you at a loss for words?”

“Yeah I am. A big loss.” He pointed. “Who the hell are those three women, standing by the bright blue SUV taking pictures?”

<><><><>

The slightly older and tall police officer looked intimidating to Reese, then again, Pam thought he looked like John Wayne.

“Oh he does,” Charlotte said. “He’s coming over. Get your license, Reese.”

“For what?” Reese asked,

“He’s going to want to see ID.”

Reese waved her hand to her mother and the three of them stood straight as the policeman approached.

Reese lowered her phone.

Pam lowered hers.

Snap.

Reese looked at her mother.

Charlotte shrugged. “Sorry, I just wanted to get a picture.”

“Ladies.” He approached them. “I’m Captain Duke Carson of the West Virginia …” He stopped when Charlotte peeped out an ‘oh.’

“Mom.” Reese said through clenched jaws.

“We said he looked like John Wayne.”

“So?” Reese questioned.

“So … The duke was John Wayne’s nickname.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“Anyhow,” Duke exhaled his word. “Can I ask what you ladies are doing?’

Charlotte spoke up. “Taking pictures. Something is going on.”

“Yes, there is,” Duke said.

“I saw people in Hazmat suits,” said Reese.

“Yes, you did,” Duke said.

Charlotte snapped her finger. “Is it a movie?”

“Yes, yes, it is,” Duke replied. “It’s a science fiction movie and it’s top secret.”

“Then why …” Pam spoke up. “Is Hero, Cleveland’s sexiest man, here?”

Charlotte answered. “Maybe because he’s so good looking someone is making him a movie star.”

“That’s it,” Duke said.

Reese nodded. “That’s probably what was hard to explain. Some big celebrity is probably in this movie and it’s top secret. Is that right officer Duke?"

“Captain,” he corrected.

“Captain Duke” Reese restated.

“Yes.” Duke nodded. “Now we can’t have you taking pictures. Where are you ladies headed?”

Pam pointed. “Dickens diner, we’re on our way to Holly River.”

“You don’t say,” Duke said. “My wife is from there. Well, Dickens Diner, Sisterville is shut down.”

“How about that,” Pam said. “It’s not even Thursday.”

Duke smile. “No, it’s not. But you have to turn around. At least it’s not that bad of a back track. Just a few miles before Paden will get you a connection to Route seven. Use your GPS.”

“Will do,” Reese said. “And thank you.”

After the officer turned and walked back to the barricade, Reese noticed Pam was still standing there. “Pam?”

Pam hurried to the passenger side. “Do you actually believe it is a movie?”

“Nope.” Reese shook her head. “Not a chance. Something big is happening here.”

“How about a real adventure to take our mind off of things.” Charlotte said. “Lets turn around. And find another way in. I’m sure this isn’t the only way.”

Reese smiled. “I couldn’t agree more.”

“Wait,” Pam said. “We could get arrested.”

Charlotte shrugged and opened her dor. “Won’t be the first time.” She got inside the SUV.

Reese looked at her sister. “Did mom just say …”

“She did.”

“For?”

“I don’t wanna know.” Pam slid inside the car.

After taking one more look down the road toward the barricade, Reese got inside her SUV as well.

CHAPTER ELEVEN – GOING IN

Hero wondered why Captain Duke wasn’t a detective. As they put on the suits, he kept shifting his eyes suspiciously at the two men and woman that came in some big, gray box truck. No marking, just a government plate.

They ‘deemed’ themselves in charge, wouldn’t give any information to Hero and even told the Captain he couldn’t go in and neither could Hero.

“Oh, hell no,” the Captain replied. “I have people in there. We’re going in. Like it or not, so give us those suits.”

Hero liked that the captain included him and, if he had to choose, he’d choose to be on the Captain’s good side. After all, he walked and talked like John Wayne.

They were almost ready. All but their hoods were attached and that was to save oxygen in the mini tanks.

There was one extra guy. Hero thought his name was George. A tech guy who would check the suits before they went in.

“Are you Okay, Captain?” Hero asked.

“Please just call me Duke. And yes, I’m fine. I am. I could use a cigarette.”

“Yeah, not a good thing to smoke in one of these suits.”

“I don’t smoke.”

“But you said …”

“I know. I used to like thirty years ago.” Duke exhaled hard. “What’s that you’re doing? You putting on a radiation pin?”

“Huh?” Hero paused, he hadn’t a clue what Duke was talking about.

“Radiation pin. I heard the one fellow talking about them.”

“Oh. Oh this …” Hero held up the small, round black object. “It’s a camera. I’m attaching it to my glasses.”

“I’ve not seen you wear glasses.”

“I don’t,” Hero said. “They don’t know that. And I am not walking in and out of there without visual proof. You think they’ll share what they find. Nope.”

“That is good thinking.”

“Thanks. It was part of the News Van kit. You know in case someone has to go into a situation under cover.”

“How’s the quality?”

“I have no idea,” Hero replied. “We’ll find out. I just want my own footage, so if there’s something you see that you want on film, let me know.”

“Where does it go?” Duke asked,

“Hard drive in my pocket, plus the van has its own Wi-Fi and it goes there as a back up.”

“Boy you NASA turned Weatherman people are pretty smart.”

Hero smiled. “Yeah we … you’re joking.”

“Having fun with you.” Another exhaled. “Man, I could use a drink.”

“It’s eight in the morning. Oh, wait …” Hero nodded. “You’re gonna say you don’t drink.”

“Oh, I drink. Don’t you?”

“Used do,” Hero replied.

“Recovering?” Duke asked.

“No. Alcohol stains the teeth.”

“Even Vodka?”

“I won’t take a chance. I paid fifty-three thousand dollars for these bad boys to look this good.” He flashed a smile.

“They’re very white.”

“Thanks.”

“Normal people don’t have teeth that white, or perfect. Then again, you’re not normal, are you?”

“No. I am a former NASA scientist, working as a weather man in a city that voted me Sexiest man.”

“What city?”

“Cleveland.”

“You’re Cleveland’s Sexiest man?”

“Three years running.”

“Hmm.” Duke nodded. “Okay.”

“Gentlemen.” The man Hero called George approached. “We’re ready. Let’s suit you up.”

Hero handed him his hood.

<><><><>

While he never wore a bio hazard suit, the sound of his own breathing bouncing back at him, sent Hero into memories of his senior year. He took a job at a friend of his father’s party company, dressed head to toe in costumes. One week he was Barney, another he was Winnie the Pooh. Each costume had a helmet head with small screens to see.

Many times Hero thought he would pass out. The costumes were hot and the tunnel vision didn’t help.

Wearing the hazmat suit was similar, except for the tunnel vision.

He tried not to breathe too hard, he supposed it would calm some once he got used to the suit and the man in his ear.

He had no idea who was speaking and directing.

“Alright, everyone,” Radio Man said. “We move slow, I’m watching the readings, if I think it’s dangerous we pull out. And no vomiting in the suits.”

Vomiting in the suits? Hero thought to himself. What were they gonna see?

It wouldn’t take long if something bad was going to happen.

According to his talk with Mason and Duke, the officer that went in lost communication in under a minute. With the suits it wouldn’t be much longer than that if something was going to happen.

They lined up five across to walk in. The woman and two government men, Duke and himself.

Hero held out his hand to Duke to hold him back, indicating to let them go first.

Each of the three government people had equipment. One man appeared to be holding a Geiger Counter, he didn’t have a clue what they were checking for.

“No radiation levels yet,” Radio man said.

It was like watching a movie on a plane.

Holding your phone close to your face to see. The shield of the hood had a limited view and if Hero wanted to take everything in, get everything on camera he had to slowly turn his head left to right.

He wondered if it had a smell to it, that was something he couldn’t gauge through the suit, nor could the government people.

The smell would be important.

It was as if the universe drew a line on the road. As if to say, ‘this is before the black cloud and this is after’.

The difference was remarkable.

Good black top to worn and cracked.

The cars on the road appeared as if they just stopped, no moving wreckage, no crashing, they just stopped.

The paint was faded and chipped, the windows broken.

Before they got in their suits, Duke had pointed to the first car which set twenty or so feet from the line.

He stated that his officer walked right into a car and wondered if that was it.

It wasn’t long after the officer lost communication.

Thinking about that made Hero’s heart race. If something happened to that officer shortly after he entered the black, then they’d find him.

Hero was aware the officer said it had a residue and that he couldn’t see anything, even his flashlight didn’t help.

They walked so slow it would take hours to get through town.

The three government people spread out. Hero watched one of them peer into the first car.

“We have a body. Two.” a male voice said, then paused, “Jesus.”

There was something about the sound of his voice. Quivering, shocked.

“What about the other car?” he asked.

One of the government people walked up to it.

“Body,” she said. “A woman. Oh my God.”

“Keep going. Keep walking. Keep it together,” Radio Man said.

Nearly at the first car, Hero wasn’t quite sure he wanted to see. If the windows were gone and the paint faded and chipped, he couldn’t imagine the body.

Maybe he wouldn’t look.

No, he had to. He had to get footage.

Taking a deep breath with Duke right next to him, he approached the car. He felt it hit him, that feeling of sadness, eyes watering, wanting to cry.

The bodies were frozen in their final movement, that was the best way he could describe their position.

A man was driving, his hands gripping the wheel, he sat up straight as if he were trying to peer over the wheel.

Just like that he died.

It looked like the remains of the people from Pompeii. They weren’t burnt, they weren’t ash, they were instantly frozen the way they died.

How did they die?

His body was gray, no signs of decomposition. All the features were there, except drained of life and color. His skin had a pruned exterior, sort of dried out. His eyes wide open, lips slightly parted.

The woman was nearly the same way. Paused in her pose at the moment of death. One hand on the dash, the other holding on to the ‘oh shit’ handle above the door. Her mouth was open.

Was she screaming?

Their clothing, like the car, was tattered and worn, their hair thinned out as if they lost most of it in the event that took their lives.

If Hero didn’t know any better, he’d swore it was dried blood under the eyes, but it was hard to tell, he’d look at the footage later.

Duke moved ahead of Hero and after a few feet the big man stopped and looked down.

“Blaze,” Duke spoke through the radio.

“What was that Captain?” Radio Man asked.

“My officer,” Duke replied. “The one that came in. I found him. Which meant he died within a minute of entering.”

Hero walked up to Duke.

“He was trying to leave,” Duke said.

“How do you know?” Hero asked.

“Look at him. If he weren’t he’d be facing towards the town, not away from it.”

Finally, Hero gained enough courage to look down.

The officer was in front of the car. His knees on the ground, one hand held a radio and rested on the hood of the car. He faced away from town.

It was obvious he turned, tried to run, but died and stayed frozen that way.

Duke kept staring at his officer.

“I’m sorry,” Hero said.

Duke nodded.

Hero felt a knot in his stomach, a twisting and churning.

He kept thinking about Radio Man’s warning not to vomit in the suits. At first Hero couldn’t fathom how that would happen, but as they moved forward, he knew he had to keep it together. Three bodies in and he was already feeling ill.

They hadn’t even made it to town.

<><><><>

The John Wayne Doppelganger along with Hero were occupied. They slipped through the fence, assured that the Criswell women were getting back in their blue SUV and leaving. They did, but when Reese saw the lone soldier playing highway watch wasn't really paying much attention, they turned, backed up and pulled off on the turn not eight hundred feet down the road.

Pam looked at the map. “Down the grade and to the railroad tracks, this will take us right into Sisterville.”

Reese hovered her hand over the ignition. “I thought maybe this might be a good idea, but is it?”

Pam nodded. “Yes.”

Charlotte leaned forward. “Something is going on in there.”

“But is it our business?” Reese asked. “I mean, we could be in serious trouble if they find us.”

“Serious trouble for what?” Charlotte asked. “For walking into town? We’re fine. Let’s go. Shut off the engine.” She opened the back door.

Reese glanced at Pam. “We’re doing this?”

“I think I need to do something, daring,” Pam said. “Yes, we’re doing this. I mean, what are we gonna find,” she said jokingly, “Dead bodies?”

“True.” Reese shut off the engine. She checked her phone, and after grabbing her purse, stepped from the car.

Pam and her mother were already a few steps a head of her. Reese walked down the very slight grade through stones and gravels filled with weeds that were crunchy and stiff from winter. Even though it was April, nothing had really started to grow yet.

She slipped a little on that last little step going down to the tracks.

“You alright?” her mother asked.

“Fine. Thanks,” Reese answered.

They were just on the outskirts of Sisterville taking those tracks like the kids from ‘Stand by Me’. Reese pulled out her phone to enlarge a map. They would come in on the river side of town, by an old white church and two houses. By her estimate they weren’t that far away.

There was a strange smell to the air, a chemical meets rubber scent, very mild, but there.

“You know,” Charlotte said, “The more I think about it, the more I think this isn’t a good idea.”

“Mom,” Pam snapped her name. “You’re the one that said you’ve been arrested. You aren’t afraid of jail, right?”

“I’m not.”

“Why were you arrested?” Reese asked. “And why didn’t you ever tell us?”

“I’m sure I did.”

Reese shook her head. “Nope.”

“Well, Daddy hated that story. I’ll share it with you when you’re older.”

“We are older,” Pam said. “Okay, so if it’s not about getting in trouble, why are you saying it’s a bad idea to go into town?”

“Oh, not going in town, That’s not what I meant,” Charlotte said. “Walking the tracks is a bad idea. Do you know how many people die a year walking railroad tracks. On average over three hundred. Three hundred, because you know why? They don’t hear the train until it’s too late.”

“No way,” Pam scoffed. “It’s a train, how can they not hear it coming?”

“They don’t,” Charlotte replied, “Something about the sound goes out to the side so if you’re standing on the tracks you don’t hear it.”

“I’m looking this up,” said Reese.

“By all means, look it up.”

“I am.” Reese swiped on her phone, and blindly walked the tracks. Her eyes transfixed on the screen and she spoke each word she put into the search. “Can …you … hear … a train …” She paused. “Whoa. I didn’t even need to finish typing. It popped up. Mom, you’re ...” Before she finished her sentence, she found herself slamming into Pam.

Pam and her mother just stopped.

“What’s going …” Reese glanced beyond her phone. “Oh my God.”

“Is this what they’re hiding?” Pam asked. “Tell me this isn’t what they’re hiding?”

“How long ago were you here?” Charlotte asked.

“Last summer,” Reese stepped from the tracks.

“Yeah, well, it looks as if it’s been abandoned way longer than that,” Charlotte said. “If this is a movie set they did a good job.”

“It’s not a movie set,” Reese commented. “This is real.” She stayed focused on the church. It was supposed to be an old fashioned white frame building, complete with a steeple.

All the wood had lost its paint, the stain glass windows were busted out and a piece of it lay on the ground below the window frames.

Even the weather worn weeds were gone, as if disintegrated.

The houses across the street were the same. The cars parked outside the houses looked like something found in a junk yard. Colorless, dried out.

The streets were cracked and broken.

“Jesus,” Pam commented. “It looked like all the moisture was sucked out of everything. Even the road. Looks like pictures from droughts,”

“Yeah, yeah, it does,” Reese replied. “We should go.”

Charlotte pointed. “Is that … is that a helicopter?”

“Yeah,” Pam answered. “It is.”

When she heard her sister’s reply, Reese looked in the direction her mother indicated. A block down the road a helicopter lay on its side, the blades twisted and the tail end was missing. “Really, we should go. Let’s just …” She then noticed her mother was walking in the direction of the crashed chopper. “Mom!”

“Someone may need help.” Charlotte responded. Arms folded, she picked up the pace walking to the chopper..

Reese tossed up her hands. “Let’s get her. Those bio hazard suits were real. They weren’t actors in costume. We need to get out of here.”

“I agree. Something horrible happened here,” Pam said. “But what was it?"

CHAPTER TWELVE – BEHIND YOU

Because his name of Raymond sounded so much like his cousin, Grayson, all of his friends and also his brother, Mark, called him Chip.

He and his brother passed on going to Holly River, but after the brief video chat with their mother, they were regretting it.

Both of the brothers were still on bereavement days and decided to hang back and clean their mom’s garage for her.

But they couldn’t get past that first thing in the morning video chat.

“Can you believe this, look at this,” their mother said.

But they couldn’t really see much because she didn’t reverse the camera, she kept turning it and facing it again.

“Is that a movie set?” Chip asked.

“No, it’s real. Look at this helicopter …”

They never got to see the helicopter because they lost the phone signal.

“That can’t be real,” Mark said. “No way. It has to be a joke.”

“If it was Gram calling, yeah, I’d think it was a joke, but it’s mom. She was way to … weirded out. And they lost their phone signal.”

“They’re in the boonies.”

“Sisterville is hardly the boonies, and it’s not even Thursday.”

“True.” Mark nodded. “What did Aunt Pam say?”

“Nothing. I think she was on the phone.”

“Bet she called Bobby.”

“Let’s call him to see what he knows.”

“Well, if Aunt Pam video called him, he doesn’t know much. She’s worse than mom with it.” Chip looked into his contacts and called Bobby. It took a couple rings and he answered. “Dude, where are you?”

“Almost in Erie,” Bobby replied. “What’s up?”

“Did you talk to your mom?”

“Briefly, we lost our signal.”

“Same here with our mom.”

“Ask him if she video called,” Mark said.

“Did she call or video you?”

Bobby laughed. “My mom doesn’t video.”

“She say anything?” Chip asked.

“She started saying something happened in Sisterville and wanted me to check the news. Why? What’s going on?”

“We don’t know. Our mom …” Chip saw the incoming video call. “Oh, hey, I’ll call you back. That’s them.”

He hurriedly switched over.

Instead of seeing his mom’s face like the previous call, he saw a crashed helicopter.

“Chip, are you there?” she asked. “I wanted you to see this.”

“I’m …”

“Chip?”

“Mom, I’m here.”

“Do you see this?”

When he did, Chip immediately started to record the screen. Then he shared the image with Mark. “Yeah we see it. What is gram doing?”

“There are bodies in there Chip, no one is around. No one.”

“Mom, is it just the helicopter?” Chip asked.

“No.”

Slowly his mother moved the phone panning around, showing the buildings, the church, sidewalks.

If his mother didn’t say it was real, Chip would swear she stepped on to an apocalyptic movie set.

“Mom? Are you sure it’s not like a movie set?” Chip asked.

“No, it’s real. I need you to check the news. See if anything is mentioned. I sent you some pictures. Keep them. Something big is happening. There are military guarding the town. People are in those bio suits.”

“Mom, if there are military guarding it. How did you guys get in?”

“We snuck in by the railroad tracks.”

“Mom! You can’t sneak into a quarantine zone.”

“We don’t know it’s quarantined,” she said.

“Military and people in hazmat gear, yeah, mom. Get out of there.”

“We are.” She turned the camera to face her. “I just want you to know where we are and what is happening in case something happens to us.”

Mark leaned in. “Mom, please get out of there.”

“Don’t worry. We …”

The triple beeps and black screen was enough to let them know their connection was lost.

“Shit.” Chip immediately tried to call her back. But it didn’t connect. “What the hell, Mark?”

“I know.” Mark pulled out his phone. “I’m calling Bobby, then we need to get on the road.”

“Sisterville?”

“You got it. We can’t just sit here.”

Chip stood up. “I’ll get the bug out bag in case we have to run with Mom. If the military cordoned that area and they find out they went in there, they’re gonna want her.”

“Well, if they are trouble,” Mark said. “Let’s just hope it’s not whatever happened to Sisterville that gets them.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN – HIDDEN

The government people weren’t saying much at first and that irked Duke. Then the man on the radio, Charles, simply said, after they had swept the town they would gladly sit down and talk to him.

A complete switch of attitude from when they went in there.

But it made sense. What exactly were they going to say while walking around.

Charles suggested they fan out. There were no deadly levels, but leave the gear on just to be safe. They had sixty minutes remaining of air and they wanted to check the town as best as they could before anyone else came in.

“Whatever you do,” Charles said. “Don’t go into the first floor or above on any of the houses, they may not be stable.”

“What are we looking for?” Duke asked.

“Anything that seems important. Anything that might tell us something,” Charles replied. “Hell, maybe we’ll find a survivor.”

The likelihood of that seemed slim to none. Whatever was in the blackness sucked the life out of everything. An ariel phenomenon that settled down upon Sisterville sometime in the middle of the night or early morning and twenty-four hours later it was gone.

There were no signs of life or death on the main street. Nor any cars on the road. That was the number one thing that told Duke it happened when most people slept.

Duke and Hero paired off, veering from the main drag, just after the Dairy Queen. It would take them to a residential area with six streets, all about two blocks long.

They switched to a private channel.

“Do you think this is what happened in that California town?” Duke asked.

“It wasn’t really a town. It was a small area off the highway. Not sure anyone even lived there,” Hero replied. “It wasn’t this big of an area. And I was told I was nuts, it wasn’t anything so I don’t know if the same thing happened there.”

“This is unexplainable. I mean, I’m sure there’s a scientist out there who will have theories.”

“Of course, but to know for sure, you need facts,” Hero said. “That’s why you see them taking samples.”

“Do you have any theories?” Duke asked.

“Thank you for wanting my opinion. No, no I don’t.”

“You look around. The way the buildings look, the cars, people, it’s like stepping into the future after some sort of world ending event. It’s insane.”

“Maybe once we’re out of these suits and really examine the footage, we’ll see something.” Hero slowed down his pace.

Duke turned around. “Why did you stop?”

Hero stood before Tim’s Florist Shop, a log cabin style building and the only part of it that looked like it was hit by the event was the roof of the concrete addition, but the stones on that weren’t touched.

“Have you noticed this with the other brick buildings?”

“Brick doesn’t seemed to be touched, just the windows,” Duke replied.

“Yeah, this isn’t brick. This log. Wood. It looks fine except the windows.”

“It looks fine because it isn’t painted,” Duke said.

“So that means, the wood isn’t rotted through.”

Duke shrugged. “I never thought it was. It looked dried out.”

Hero walked up to the front door.

“Are you going in there?”

“I’m curious. The outside looks strong.”

“We were told not to go in. It may not be safe.”

“I want to try. I want to see if whatever hit this town made it inside.”

The front door was solid oak, it looked slightly faded. The small, framed windows were gone and after checking the knob and finding out it was locked, Hero placed his hand through the window, reached around and unlooked the door.

He pushed it slowly. It was dark inside, there was a tiny bit of light which Hero attributed to the windows. He placed on his headlamp to help light the shop.

The flowers were all dead, dead and dried. Most of them lay on the ground or shelves. The vases had been shattered. Anything ceramic was broken. There was no sign of water from the broken vases.

The linoleum on the floor had widened spaces between the squares, as if the floor had expanded.

“Satisfied?” Duke asked.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go.” Duke turned and when he did, he saw it. It wasn’t in his immediate view when he walked in because it was in the corner and the back of it was against the wall of the front door.

But it was there. It looked like a soda pop case. But instead of drinks it had flower arrangements.

Though not lit up or powered, the strange thing about it, the door to the case was still intact. The glass wasn’t broken.

Duke turned on his head lamp, when the light brightened it showed the flowers in the case were still alive and in bloom.

“Oh my God,” Hero stated.

Duke approached the case and looked at the temperature gauge outside, “It’s still fifty-seven in there.”

“The flowers lived.”

“They did. Do you think it’s because of the temperature or the fact it was sealed?” Duke asked.

“I don’t know.”

Duke brushed by him and walked toward the back.

“Where are you going?”

“Our local florist has a back room with coolers. It’s where they keep the loose flowers and where they make the arrangements. I just want to see if it’s the same.” He stepped in the back.

There were two long tables with flowers stems scattered about. The stems were like twigs. There wasn’t a cooler like up front, but there was a walk-in fridge. Duke pointed to it.

“You’re right.”

“Now …” Duke grabbed the handle. “Let’s see if the flowers are still alive.” He glanced first at the temperature. “This one is sixty. A little warmer.” He pulled on the door.

Inside the large walk in cooler were metal shelves. Assorted types of singular flowers were in buckets of water.

The flowers were still alive.

“Unbelievable.” Duke touched a carnation. “This has to mean something that they survived.”

“Ah, man.”

“What?”

“Too bad the same thing that save the flowers couldn’t save him.” Hero pointed.

In the farthest corner of the room, behind a shelf, was a man’s body. It half lay on the floor, half sitting up against the wall. His head was slumped forward and still clenched in his hand was an energy drink can.

“He doesn’t look like the others,” Duke said. “Probably from being in here.” He stepped closer.

“Poor guy,” Hero said.

“Yeah, poor guy.”

The man immediately sat up, startled awake. His eyes widened, he looked instantly terrified..

His abrupt rising caused Hero to scream.

Then the man screamed.

“He’s alive.” Duke rushed over to him.

“Did I make it? Did … did I survive it?” he asked, his voice quivering. “Am I alive?”

“Yeah, son, you are.” Duke helped him stand, then reached for his radio. “Charles, come in. This is Duke.”

“I hear you Duke, what’s going on?” Charles asked.

“We have a survivor.”

<><><><>

Why was there no blood? Pam wondered. She stared at the body of the helicopter pilot. She assumed it was him, thrown from the chopper laying fifteen feet away.

His body was twisted, his head turned all the way around. His neck obviously broken. His shoe was eight feet from him. He rolled, why were there no abrasions?

No bruising, discoloration, nothing. His skin was leathery, jaw disjointed and one eye was gone.

No blood.

“How is this possible?” she spoke out loud.

“Honey, we need to go,” Charlotte said.

“Mom, look at him. How does someone get in a helicopter crash and not bleed?”

“Maybe he died before the crash.”

“Way before the crash,” Pam said.

“I know you watch all those CSI shows.”

“Mom, they have a lot of real facts,” Pam replied. “This is just strange.”

Reese walked up to her. “We have wandered way to far in. We got our pictures, we have to go now.”

Charlotte nodded. “We should go, get as far away as possible, then we’ll stop to get the story out to the news.”

Pam nodded. “Once we reach Holly River there is no signal.”

“They installed Wi-Fi,” Reese said. “We always have that. Or the payphone.”

“Oh!” Charlotte peeped out excitedly. “A real payphone? I haven’t seen one in ages.”

“They have one there,” Reese said, “It takes your debit card.”

“No,” Charlotte sung out the word in disbelief. “That’s awesome.”

Pam listened to the back and forth of her mother and sister about the payphones but she just couldn’t bring herself to care about Holly River or a phone. She stood in the middle of a town, one where everyone had died. The town was completely destroyed. She couldn’t help but think of her son. The pilot was someone’s son. A mother would be grieving just like her.

“Shit,” Reese blurted out.

“Should we hide?” her mother asked.

Thinking ‘what’, Pam turned her head. A gray van came their way. It wasn’t a normal van like what a family would drive in or even a worker. It was gray, plain, and higher than normal.

It stopped right before them.

Both the passenger and driver’s door opened and two men in hazmat suits stepped out. Both of them were armed.

“Shit,” Reese repeated.

“Are you from this town?” the one man asked.

“Yes,” Reese said.

“No,” Charlotte answered at the same time.

“Which is it?” he asked.

Pam stepped forward. “We stopped, we got lost walking the railroad tracks.”

“Even though that’s dangerous,” Charlotte said.

“We’re sorry, we didn’t know,” Pam continued, her eyes never straying from the rifles they held. “Our car isn’t far. We were just walking out. We’re leaving.”

“We’re just gonna head …” Reese said nervously. “Back to our car and be on our way.”

“I’m sorry,” the man said. “We can’t let you do that.”

<><><><>

Hero genuinely felt bad for the man. He couldn’t have been much older than twenty-five. He sat on an upside down bucket. He was cold and Hero didn’t have a blanket to give him, he shivered steadily, and was probably thirsty. He looked it, his lips were dry.

Was he scared? He had to be, something drove him into that freezer. He stayed there for nearly two days. He knew something was going on.

Duke knew as well, the younger man was cold. When Charles said he was on his way, Duke told him to bring a blanket or something.

“Don’t worry,” Charles replied. “We called for the van.”

Hero didn’t know what ‘van’ they referred to since they had everything else, but without a doubt there had to be something

“I want to give you water,” Hero said. “But I don’t know whether it’s safe or not.”

“I understand,” he said. “It’s okay. I’ve been drinking the flower water. You know after my lunch and beer ran out.”

“What do you mean?” Hero asked.

“I work nights putting the arrangements together if they’re needed in the morning. I put my lunch in the fridge. Good thing. I had that to eat. I brought a six pack. Don’t tell my boss.”

Hero shook his head in a ‘don’t worry’ fashion.

“How did you not run out of air in …” Duke started to ask, but stopped when Charles walked in, he carried a small bag. “Did you bring a blanket in that bag?”

“No.” Charles set the bag on the counter and pulled one of those readout contraptions he had carried around town, along with a notepad and pen. He scanned the young man. “It won’t be long. We’ll get you comfortable. The van should be here any second,” Charles said stunned. “This is amazing. You survived. What is your name, son?”

“Eric.”

“Eric. We are glad you made it.”

“Where is the van taking him?” Duke asked.

“We are setting up a quarantine area by the old department store near Paden,” Charles answered. “How did you guys find him?”

Duke pointed to Hero.

“That.” Hero showed him the front room cooler. “The flowers are fine. The glass is fine. The temperature is still cool. So we decided to see if the flowers in the back coolers were alive and we found him.”

Duke questioned. “How did you know to go into the cooler? What made you do that?”

“I don’t know.” Eric shook his head. “I don’t, just survival instinct I guess.”

Charles asked, “What happened. Can you remember? Can you tell us?”

“Yeah, I was working in the back for the Wilson Retirement ceremony. There was a lot of arrangements for them and I was finishing them up when my music stopped on my phone. I didn’t have any Wi-Fi.”

“Do you recall the time?” Charles questioned, holding his pen.

“Yeah, it was just before five. Five am. I came in after Stockley’s,” he answered.

“What is that?” Charles questioned.

Duke answered. “It’s a bar. They have live music Thursday when the town reopens.”

Charles looked at Duke curiosity. “What does that mean?”

“Long story,” Duke said, “Continue Eric. It was five am.”

Eric nodded. “I was trying to figure out why I didn’t have a signal. And I heard this … weird bunch of sounds.”

“Sounds?” asked Hero. “The Captain here said, they couldn’t hear anything and they even sent a chopper in, it was like it went into a sound proof room.”

“I don’t know about that.” Eric shrugged.

“For the record,” Duke said. “I did not send that chopper in. Sorry. Continue.”

“I heard the sounds,” Eric said. “Like loud creaking, like … ever live under someone with hard wood floors and they step on a board and it makes this loud creak? That was what it sounded like, only really loud. Even metal bending. I thought maybe the building was falling down and I walked from the back room. I saw it coming.”

“What was it?” Charles asked. “What did you see coming?”

“Nothing. I mean it was something.” Eric winced. “But it looked like something swallowed the world. A big, black nothing. It crept toward the shop, and the only thing I saw was the street lights popping as it approached. It was howling, I think it was making the noise or it caused it I don’t know. I just thought of Stephen King’s, 'The Mist' and I was like, Dude, I’m hiding if there are monsters in that. So I ran into the freezer.”

“Did you hear anything?” Hero asked. “Once you were in there?”

Eric shook his head. “No. The power was on for only a few minutes and then it went out. I used my phone until it died.”

“How did you not run out of air?” Duke asked. “I started asking you that before.”

“I don’t know. I opened the door a couple times, just for a few seconds. The first couple times that black was everywhere. I swore I went into some black hole. The last time it got me.”

Charles crinkled his brow. “What do you mean?”

Eric lifted his hand. Three fingers on his left hand were gray from the tip to just before the middle knuckle.

“Holy shit,” Hero explained. “How did you know? Did it zap you?”

“I don’t know.” He wiggled them. “I didn’t realize it until after and they started feeling itchy. I remember a tingle, like I got shocked. But I was also cold from being in the cooler.”

Charles asked him, “How are you feeling otherwise, Eric?”

“Okay. Shakey, cold, hungry,” Eric said.

“Well, we will do a thorough examination of you. You survived this, Its miraculous,” Charles said.

“Is it a virus?” asked Eric.

Charles shook his head. “We don’t’ think so. We don’t know what it is or why it was here.”

“Was in just here in town?” asked Eric.

“Yes,” Charles answered. “And we can talk more after we get you situated and fed in quarantine.”

“Why do I have to go into quarantine?” Eric asked.

“As a precaution.”

Duke reached out and placed his hand on Eric’s shoulder. “Don’t worry it won’t be long, you’ll be fine.”

“You will be,” Charles reiterated. “And like I said, it’s a precaution. We’re all going into quarantine.”

“Say what?” Duke asked.

“Um … I can’t,” Hero said.

“We all go in,” Charles repeated. “If I’m not mistaken, your Captain insisted on you two entering this town. No I insist, you go into quarantine.”

Eric glanced up to Charles. “My mom is probably really worried about me. Can we call her?”

Hero looked at Duke, then Charles, then back to Eric. “Does your mom live in town?”

Erik nodded.

Hero was trying to find the words, a gentle way to put things. How to tell him the whole town was hit, there were no other survivors found. Eric had been traumatized enough, he needed to be told cautiously. Just as he was about to explain, Charles spoke up.

“If your mom lived in town,” Charles said. “She’s dead. Every one is.”

“Hey, hey, hey now,” Duke said. “Have tact.”

“I’m sorry,” Charles said and peered over his shoulder. “Ah, the van is here. We can get you warm, fed and examined. Carol …” he said to the woman who walked in. “Are we ready?”

“We’re ready,” she replied. “And there are three more in the van going to quarantine.”

“See.” Hero said. “You’re wrong. Not everyone is dead in town.”

“Oh, they aren’t from town,” Carol said. “Not at all. They were in town, not from town. Tony said they’re your…” she pointed at Hero. “Fan club.”

“Fan club?” Charles questioned.

“Whose Tony?” Hero asked.

Hero’s final question didn’t get answer. They ignored him as if they were annoyed with him. Both Carol and Charles helped Eric stand and walked with him to the van.

Hero and Duke followed. He didn’t know if they were done scouting the town, if they were going to look for more survivors or just go straight to this quarantine place.

That irked him.

He and Duke followed behind as they led Eric to the back of the van. Hero may not have figured out who Tony was, but when they opened the back door of the van he knew what they meant by ‘fan club’.

“What the hell were they thinking?” Duke said with irritation..

There seated in the back, not looking very happy were the three women he met at the roadblock.

FOURTEEN – ROLLING IN

Miami Beach, Florida

“Macy Lynn,” Sarah called out to her five-year-old daughter who collected shells on the beach. Sarah sat in a beach chair not fifteen feet from her child. “Too close to the water. Get back, honey. Come on.”

“Sarah,” her husband Roger calmly stated her name. “She’s fine.”

“She’s not fine, and how do you know? Your nose is buried in that e-reader.”

“She’s right there. You’re watching her like a hawk.”

“You just never know if a big wave is gonna come in and get her.”

“If you’re that concerned, go stand by her.”

Sarah grumbled then turned back to look at her daughter who was crouched down by the water’s edge. “Macy get back here.”

“Lots of shells mommy.”

“I know baby.”

“Can I just get them?”

“Hold on, I’ll join you. Just back up until I get there.”

“Good,” Roger said. “Now me and everyone else on the beach can stop hearing you shout every thirty seconds.”

“Ass.” Sarah faced the ocean and when she did she saw Macy just standing there staring. But she didn’t stare at Sarah. “What is she looking at?”

Slowly Sarah stood. It was then she heard a rush of panics hollering. She turned around to look behind her. “Jesus, what is that?”

Behind the row of beach hotels was a blackness. It could have been a cloud, anything. It extended from ground to the sky blocking out everything behind the row of hotels.

“Macy.” Sarah yelled panicked and rushed to the water to grab her daughter. She lifted the child and rested her on her hip.

In fact most people on the beach backed up toward the water. Some did run toward the boardwalk area. Sarah wasn’t sure that was the best idea because the thing, whatever it was … moved.

Roger made his way to join his family.

“Roger, what is it?”

“I don’t know. We need to try to get out of here.”

“And go where?” Sarah asked.

Roger looked left to right. “Let’s follow the water and head down the beach, Keep going, maybe we’ll get to an area it isn’t.”

Sarah nodded and stayed close to her husband.

He wasn’t the only one with that idea. Many people moved in the same direction.

Sarah kept looking at the black thing, a loud creaking like a metal bending sound rang out as it rolled over and consumed the buildings.

They hadn’t made it far before the phenomenon made it to the beach.

At a steady rate it moved toward the water and the water was the only place for Sarah and her family to go.

She handed Macy over to roger because he was taller and together they backed up into the water until it came to her thighs.

There had to be at fifty other people standing in the water.

The black rolled, Sarah was ready for it to reach them, take them or do whatever it was doing.

Perhaps it was nothing, but she doubted that. It felt and looked ominous.

What was in there and what it did would remain a mystery to Sarah at least for a little while because it stopped just at the point where the waves rolled in.

It just stopped.

The creaking sound ceased and it carried a silence with it. In front of them was complete and utter black.

Daylight behind her, darkness in front.

Sarah and the others stood in the safety of the water and would remain there until someone came to help or whatever it was disappeared.

FIFTEEN – ARRIVAL

Cleveland, OH

“Anything?” Chip was deep under the hood of his pick-up, hand cranking the socket wrench.

“Nothing,” Mark answered.

“Shit.”

“It’s going right to voice mail.”

“They got her you know,” Chip said. “I know they did. Her Aunt Pam, Gram, they were in that town, when they shouldn’t have been.”

“All we can do now is get down there.”

“I’m trying. Did you call Dad?”

“I did. He said we can’t borrow the chevy.”

“Did you tell him mom could be in trouble?”

“He said mom was fine.”

Chip shook his head. “Unreal.”

“You think it was just the starter?”

“I do. I’m almost done.”

“Good. So I have been watching your screen grab of the Facetime. It’s really freaky.”

“I know,” Chip said. “Everything is destroyed.”

“Do you think it was like that for a while?” Mark asked. “I mean that town shuts down a lot.”

“What could have happened?”

“It looks like a nuke went off. Or some natural disaster ripped through there,” Mark said.

Chip backed up from under the hood of the truck. “Would the buildings still be standing? No.”

“It would cause a helicopter to crash.”

“All the windows were gone and you saw that dead body,” Chip said.

“Yeah, it looked like it had been there for a while.”

“Baking. Like mummified.”

“Oh, my God, you’re right. So why bring in Hazmat people? It’s not a virus. Radiation?”

“Possibly, thankfully mom wasn’t in the town too long. Did you send that video to Bobby?”

Mark nodded. “I haven’t heard anything yet.”

“What is up with people?” Chip shook his head. “Okay, let’s give this a try.”

“We need to get on the road.”

“I know.” Chip walked to the driver’s door, opened it and slid in. “It had to be the starter. Just wished the parts store opened earlier or we’d already be there.” He cranked the engine and it turned over. “Yes.”

“Thank God. We ready?”

“We’re ready. We’ll stop for gas and hit the road.”

“Should we take the same route as them?”

“Absolutely.” Chip said, closing his door.

Everything they needed was already in the truck. They didn’t expect the delay. Chip would have preferred taking his dad’s truck, he knew it was much more road worthy and newer than Chip’s old truck with nearly two hundred thousand miles. But it wasn’t that far to Sisterville, they would be fine.

Mark was in the truck, it was running, it sounded good. Even though that needle on the gas gauge was deep in the red of the E, Chip was ready to go.

He reached for the gear shift and glanced in the rear view mirror. “What the hell is that?”

“What?”

Chip put the truck back in park and opened the door.

“Chip?”

“What the hell?”

“Chip?” Mark walked up. “What’s …holy shit.”

“Exactly.” Chip couldn’t move. He stood there stunned looking at the street.

He lived with his mom and their house was located right outside of the city, a small suburb. But he could see the city sky line. It was like some sort of bad green screen, reminiscent of the early day special effects of the 1995 movie Mortal Kombat.

There was no sky behind Cleveland’s skyline.

It was just black.

SIXTEEN – THE CARPENTERS

Paden, WV

“It’s their own fault,” Charlotte said. “Really, who blocks off a town and leaves the entire entrance via railroad tracks open.”

“Mom,” Reese said.

“Just saying. Hey …” She shrugged with a smile. “We’re still having a girls’ weekend.”

“Not funny.” Reese commented. She gazed upward to look for her sister.

Pam stood by a plastic window of the tent staring out.

“What are you looking at?” Reese asked. “Do you see something?”

“More trucks arrived.” She turned from the window. “How did they set this up so fast?” she asked. “I mean it was like they had it waiting somewhere.”

Charlotte replied. “FEMA does that. They have stuff waiting. That’s how they roll in so fast after a disaster.”

“Like this?” Pam asked.

“I don’t know,” Charlotte replied.

Reese understood what her sister meant. It was quite the set up. Three large white tents set up in a parking lot with ‘ET’ movie tunnels in between. They were still in the first tent where they were stripped of all their clothing, hosed down, sanitized and tested. Within the first hour of them being there, they had been examined, x-rayed and had blood taken.

Her mother commented it was the first full physical she had in years.

People still treated them like they were highly contagious. Everyone wore those special suits around them with masks.

Reese felt fine. She wanted to continue her vacation. She wanted to call her sons and let them know she was fine, but they took her phone and everything.

Apparently, they crossed some sort of top secret government line and Reese couldn’t tell if they were in trouble legally or in trouble physically.

No one had answers and everyone was matter of fact and professional.

Everyone that wore those suits were nameless and faceless.

Everyone was the same shape; it was hard to differentiate a man from a woman. They all sounded as if they spoke through some bad PA system and their eyes were they only thing that was truly distinguishable.

After their examinations, they were in limbo. Sitting in a corner of the testing tent.

Finally, a woman came in. She spoke kind and gentle. She handed each of them a plastic bag. The items in the bag were folded neatly.

Reese could see it was a tee shirt, pants and hospital style booties.

“You can change your clothes and when you’re ready,” she said. “I’ll lead you to the holding tent.”

Pam asked, “The holding tent?”

“It’s where you’ll stay,” she replied. “Until we’ve cleared you medically. I think it’s quite comfortable. I’m sure you’re hungry as well They’ll bring you a meal when you get there.”

Charlotte asked, “So that is the actual quarantine area?”

“Yes,” the woman replied. “Others are there. I don’t have any answers. I am telling you all I know. I’ll let you change. I’ll be back.”

The corner of their tent had a flap doorway and the woman walked through it.

Reese opened her plastic bag of clothing. The pants had a drawstring. The outfit was better than the drafty hospital gowns they were wearing.

“You guys remember the Ebola thing?” Charlotte asked.

“Huh?” Pam questioned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Just, you know, this tent reminded me of the places they quarantined people. It looks like the ones they showed on the news,” Charlotte said.

“Why are you not more upset?” Pam asked.

“Why are you upset?” Charlotte answered her with another question.

“Mom,” Pam nearly snapped. “They stripped us, examined us and now we’re prisoners.”

“We trespassed,” Charlotte said. “We walked into the area. We knew we could get in trouble. We did. Besides, we aren’t ill and I don’t think we caught anything. They’ll let us go. We ought to be grateful we aren’t facing federal charges. And even though Federal prison is easier, I don’t want to go there. Besides, it could be a lot worse.”

Reese knew her mother made a point. It wasn’t as if they accidentally found themselves in a destroyed Sisterville, they wandered in with eyes open wide. “Let’s just change and get out of this tent. I am hungry.”

“I want my phone,” Pam said. “They took our phones.”

“Pammy,” Charlotte said. “We’re under arrest. Under medical arrest. It could be worse, I assure you. Besides, we’re together. It’s not the trip we planned, but we’re still together and …” Charlotte ripped open her plastic clothing bag. “People are gonna prepare our meals.”

Pam grumbled, but Reese knew her mother had a point. They did sneak into Sisterville when they knew it was shut down.

They brough it upon themselves.

It was just a lot to take in.

After they had changed into the comfortable quarantine clothing, the woman returned to escort them to the other tent.

The tent they were in was big and sectioned off for testing. When they walked from it, they walked though plastic tunnels and the woman led them into the next tent.

She opened the flap to the entrance.

“This is the main room,” she said. “Meals will be brought here. You’ll see that it sections off. You three are in the room to the right.”

She left them there, holding open the flap.

Reese didn’t know what she meant about the room to the right until she stepped in the main tent room.

There were plastic windows like the other tent, but in that area was four long tables that looked like cafeteria tables. A couch and some chairs. Once Reese stepped inside, she could see a short hall way in the tent.

It was all so military-like. She peeked down the hall and saw to the left and right were two rooms with cots.

She jumped back when a younger man stepped from a room to the left.

“Is it lunch?” he asked. “They said we’d have lunch.”

Reese didn’t know how to respond, she cased him over. He was dressed like her, same clothes and his hand was bandaged.

Brightly, Charlotte spoke up. “That is exactly what I was wondering. I am hungry.” She walked up to the young man. “What’s your name, honey, you look worried.”

“I’m a little confused. My name is Erik.”

“Charlotte. These are my daughters, Clarice, she goes by Reese for some reason and my daughter Pam. “

“Why do you do that?” Reese asked. “Always introduce me as Clarice and I like being called Reese for some reason. Isn’t it obvious?”

“No.” Charlotte shook her head. “Clarice is a lovely name.”

“No, Mom, it isn’t. Silence of the Lamb, ever heard of it?”

“Oh.” Charlotte tossed out her hand. “No one thinks about that when they hear your name. Anyhow, this young man is my concern. He needs support.”

“Of course.” Reese rolled her eyes.

Pam suddenly stared at the young man. Her voice softened. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.”

“What are you doing here?” Pam asked.

“They put me here. They found me in the flower shop cooler,” he replied.

“In Sisterville?” Pam stated shocked. “You survived?”

He nodded. “And I’m really hungry.”

“Then we will get you food,” Pam said. “Mom, can you do your thing?”

“Absolutely.” Charlotte replied.

Reese knew what that meant. Her mother would either charm them or drive them nuts, but the young man would have his food sooner than later.

And by looking through the plastic window to the tent next to them, Reese knew they’d get some answers soon because all those people wearing suits, including Hero, were in the examination tent.

<><><><>

“Oh, thank God,” Hero gasped out when they handed him a sealed bag with clothes. “This hospital gown is not for me.”

Duke shook his head. “Still trying to figure out what you’re gonna do a couple days without pomade for your hair.”

“Pomade?” Hero asked. “I don’t think anyone calls it that anymore. But to answer your question, this hair will be a mess.”

“Already is. But I like it.” Duke winked. “You don’t look as fancy.”

“Um, thank you.”

“You fit right in now, just don’t smile.”

Grumbling, Hero shook his head. “Okay, so tests are done, I need my phone and tablet so we can look at the footage. Can you pull your weight?”

“Are you saying I’m fat?”

“What?”

Duke chuckled. “Kidding. As soon as Charles there gets off the phone. We’ll ask him for answers and our stuff. I need to call my wife.”

“Why did they take it?” Hero asked.

“Who knows.”

“He looks awfully concerned.” Hero glanced over his shoulder. Charles, Carol and Tony all stood together. Carol and Tony watched Charles, probably listening this his end of the conversation trying to piece it together. Charles wasn’t saying much. When he did it was one or two words. When? Where? How?

Something was up.

Every so many seconds, Charles would pause and close his eyes as if he heard something bad.

Hero shook his head. “This isn’t good.”

“We don’t know that,” Duke said.

“I spent a lot of years reading people.”

“Is there anything you don’t do? Read people, read satellite images, sexiest man in Cleveland.”

“How many years have you been married?”

“Thirty-five.”

Hero shook his head. “And your wife dealt with you that long?”

“Iva is the nuts and bolts of the marriage. I do as she says. And ...” Duke nodded. “He hung up.”

Hero spun. He was ready to spring across the room and drill Charles. But surprisingly Charles walked over to them.

“You are good at reading the satellite images.”

After shifting his eyes to Duke for a sarcastic response, Hero replied. “I am.”

“Getting some images for you to look at.”

Duke spoke up, “I would think you have people for that.”

“We do. But I want him to look at the latest images,” Charles said sadly. “It’s happening again. In more than one place.”

“Christ, Duke spat. “All at the same time?”

“Yes,” Charles answered. “Popping up left and right. As of this moment, six places in the US, two in Europe, one in China. Hero … one is moving across Cleveland.”

“Oh my God,” Hero gasped. “Is it bigger than the one here.”

“Yeah, it is.”

In his shock, Hero’s hand shot to his mouth.

“Do you have family in Cleveland?” Charles asked. “Family you need to warn?”

“No.” Hero shook his head and when he did, he caught glimpse of the plastic window and to the tent next to them and pointed at the three women. “No, but I am willing to bet, they do.”

SEVENTEEN – IN THE KNOW

“Come on, come on, come on,’ Reese beckoned. “Pick up. Pick up.”

“It’s not your phone,” Charlotte said. “Maybe they don’t recognize the number. Try texting.”

“Good idea.”

Pam handed the phone to Tony. “My son is in Erie with his father. They aren’t in Cleveland.”

Tony pushed the phone back to her. “It’s still close to Cleveland and we don’t know how wide this will spread. Call them back, tell them to be diligent and not to go back to Cleveland. If all else fails, go to water.”

“Why is that?” Pam asked.

“Because in Miami and DC, it stopped when it reached water.”

“Got it. I’ll call them back, water or a freezer.”

“We don’t …” he looked over at Eric. ”We aren’t sure a freezer is a hundred percent. Tell them to avoid it.”

“I understand.” Pam took the phone and began to dial.

“Come on, come … Chip!” Reese blurted his name loudly and with relief. “Listen to me. Something bad is happening there in Cleveland.”

“Would it be a big black cloud or something?” Chip asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh we see it.”

“You see it?”

“Yeah, we see it.”

“Chip! What the hell. If you see it you are close.”

“We’re not close,” he said. “It’s in the city. It’s covered two thirds of it.”

“Get away from it.”

“We’re going to find Dad.”

“No!” Reese snapped. “No. I know you love your father, but you have to get away from it. Get out of the city and keep going.”

“Mom, we’re avoiding it.”

“You can’t avoid it forever. It is fanning out in a big circle and it will devour and kill everything it covers. This is what happened to Sisterville.”

“It’s moving slow mom, really slow. We can make it to Dad’s.”

“I wish you wouldn’t. Just call him.”

“We did,” Chip replied. “His phone is down. We’ll be careful, we’ll avoid it and we'll head toward you as soon as we get dad.”

“Can I win this argument?” Reese asked.

“No. We were coming for you, but we have to get Dad.”

“Fine. Be careful. But listen to me. If you can’t outrun it, get to the lake, in the water or worst case scenario, find a freezer.”

“What the hell?”

“Just things I heard. I love you.” Reese hung up the call and shook her head to her mother.

Maybe she was being melodramatic or overreacting. Her sons saw the danger and knew of the danger, which was far more a warning than Sisterville had.

At that point, watching the sisters and grandmother worry and fret over their family, Duke was happy his three children and their families were in Morgantown. He even had Iva call and check. Although he didn’t tell Iva much, he figured she would be glued to the news once it broke. If it already hadn’t.

He stepped farther away from them. The three women gathered around one table with Tony and Carol using their phones. Erik, the lone Sisterville survivor, shuffled food in his mouth as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Maybe he did and food was his focus.

Charles sat at another table with Hero, looking at papers. It was amazing to Duke that not several hours earlier, Charles didn’t take the weatherman seriously.

Now he was, and it didn’t add up to anything good.

The best thing Duke could do was go over and see for himself what was going on and maybe get some information.

Bottom line was, Duke knew very little.

Something black, something not solid or translucent descended on Sisterville and now other places, and it was destroying everything it encompassed.

“Anything new? Anything good?” Duke asked, standing by the table.

Hero shook his head. “None of it is good. New and interesting, yes.” He looked over to Charles who sat next to him. “And thank you, Colonel for including me. I feel so vindicated now.”

“As well as you should,” Charles said. “I never wanted you buried. And I went on record, but they wanted it squashed because they didn’t want public panic.”

“Wait,” Duke said. “Colonel? So you are military. What department?”

“I was second in command at the DOD UAPTF …”

“Whoa.” Duke held up his hand. “You just spewed forth all kinds of letters. It’s either government departments I don’t know about or you’re trying to spell like I’m a three year old.”

“My apologies. I was second in command at the Department of Defense Unexplained Ariel Phenomenon Task Force.”

“UFOs,” Hero clarified.

“I got that, thanks,” Duke said. “Was?”

“Was, yes. Fourteen years ago, I was investigating sightings in Kansas when we received information from NASA that some junior scientist in the observatory pool discovered the phenomenon in California. Like with Sisterville it lasted twenty-four hours and when it dissipated, everything, and everyone was dead. It was smaller than this and we lost fourteen civilians. Four years later, a smaller occurrence happened twenty miles outside of Mexico City in a small village. We never spotted that one. We learned of it after.”

“Do you think this is some alien life force?” Duke asked.

“No. It’s space related. That’s why a new department was opened, Unexplained Natural Phenomenon Task Force. I’m the commander. We have been investigating and looking for this since the last occurrence, but this latest is the most we’ve learned.”

“Maybe it’s me.” Duke shrugged. “But I would have called Cleveland’s sexiest man before all this, seems he has an eye for it.”

“If we did, Cleveland would never had got him and called him sexiest man.”

“True.”

“Hey,” Hero said. “I’m a pretty smart guy, you know.”

Charles nodded. “You are and you have an amazing eye. No one spotted Sisterville. You did.”

“To be honest,” Hero said. “When I first was shown it, I dismissed it. But I think it was more because I didn’t want to be made fun of again or thought of as crazy.”

“Let me read you something,” Charles said and opened a folder. He began to read. “In my opinion this is not an ariel phenomenon nor one connected to space. This is not produced in the sky or noxious winds. Again my opinion is this is forming on the ground, beneath the surface, like a vaporized version of the la brayer tar pit, thicker than air, gaseous and consuming all within it. It would not surprise me if it froze the inhabitants, like La Brayer tar pit, in their death for all time.” Charles shut the folder. “Do you remember writing that?”

Hero nodded. “I do. And that was before they let me go. Heck, I was never able to see it. They said it was nothing.”

Duke whistled. “Wow, you told me before you predicted death and that was the reason they let you go. You know they did it because you were right.”

“Yeah, that sucks, huh.” Hero sulked.

“But we have you now,” Charles said. “We need you now. We have six happening, the public will know shortly and chaos will erupt. We need to prepare them. Warn them. And with your keen eye and ability, we maybe be able to spot another Galanis before it forms completely.”

“Wow, that’s cool,” Hero said. “It has the same name as me.”

“It’s named after you,” Charles replied.

“What? Why?” Hero squealed his words. “I don’t want my name synonymous with an apocalyptic event.”

“That’s just the way it is. Like with a meteor,” Charles said. “You discovered it. It gets named after you.”

“I’ll do what I can, but seriously, history books are gonna look back at this and call it the Galanis event,” Hero said. “Thousands dead, cities destroyed, that’s not what I want to be famous for.”

“It’s not,” Duke said with a smile. “Don’t forget. You’re also Cleveland’s sexiest man.”

EIGHTEEN – NO WAY OUT

Cleveland, OH

It was a rush and their father lived a few miles north of them, but Chip and Mark had to take the back roads, because city officials had hastily made all main roads exodus routes.

Everyone was running from it, they were headed toward it.

The last clear call they had came from their cousin Bobby who told them they needed to get out. He was on the lake in Erie, but even he planned to leave if he saw that thing coming.

They searched the radio for something, any information, and only the music thing played.

The local news, WKYS, was there and they set up a broadcast van outside of the area of the anomaly.

“And right now,” the woman newscaster said. “We have with us our own Hero Galanis, who is in West Virginia and was first on the scene when the event occurred down there yesterday. Hero, are you there?”

“I am,” he replied. “And actually it was two days ago the mass settled in Sisterville. Right now I am in quarantine working with scientists to figure what is happening and why.”

“You went down there exclusively. Our producer sent you, correct?”

“Yes, it is, because I recognized the anomaly as something I had seen before.”

“Now is it true, they are calling it the Galanis Event?”

“Sadly, yeah, simply because I discovered it. I’ll tell you I wish I wasn’t associated with it. With the tragedy that …”

Static.

The radio cut out.

Mark played with the dials, but knew it was useless, they were too close to the black. In fact he grew fearful when he saw not only how close they were getting to it, but how close it was to his father’s house.

There was a chance they’d pull on his street and his house would be consumed. If that was the case they couldn’t go any farther. Mark knew going into the anomaly was deadly.

He didn’t need to be one of those NASA scientists or Hero Galanis to know that.

Two streets away from his father’s he could see the mass had blocked out the entire sky.

“This is too close,” Mark said. “We have to be really careful.”

“I know.” Chip slowed down.

“It’s still moving.”

“I know,” Chip said with some irritation. He slowed down to nearly a crawl as he approached the turn to his father’s street.

From what Mark guessed, whatever it was had been coming directly from the west, moving steadily in one big wave.

They turned on to their father’s street and sure enough the black was no more than two blocks away.

With a squeal of his tires as he turned the wheel, they hurriedly pulled into their father’s driveway.

His father’s truck was in the carport and they figured he was home. Possibly sleeping.

Leaving the truck running, both brothers jumped from the truck and ran into the house.

“Dad!” Mark called out. “Dad!”

“Dad!” Chip repeated. “Check upstairs, I’ll look on this floor and the basement.”

Mark didn’t’ hesitate. He raced up the stairs. It wasn’t very big. Two bedrooms and a bath. As soon as he ran into his father’s room, he knew his father left.

The drawers were open as was the closest and the two pictures from his dressed top were gone.

“Chip,” Mark called out, racing down the stairs. “He left. He packed and left.”

Chip rushed out from the kitchen. “Are you sure?”

“Positive, He’s not here.”

“Let’s go.”

Chip led the way, he rushed across the living room, slamming into the screen porch door to push it open in his momentum and then he just stopped.

Mark’s heart sunk before he even passed through the threshold.

A part of his knew by the way his brother stood on the porch staring westerly.

When Mark joined him he why.

The mass had moved closer. So close it was houses away.

They weren’t even in their father’s house that long and it moved that fast.

“Let’s go,” Mark tugged Chip’s arm.

Chip finally pulled out of his frozen stare and hurried to the truck with Mark,

The door were barely closed when he backed out and sped away from the incoming mass.

Mark looked behind them. He knew it didn’t move as fast as the truck. They sped down two blocks, made a right, then a left taking the same route back, trying to get away from it.

Following a secondary road that ran perpendicular to the highway.

But others had the same idea. In that few minutes so many were trying to make their escape. It was chaotic, horns beeping, people shouting.

The cars were at a standstill, and before Chip could turn the truck, two or three vehicles pulled behind them.

They were there a few minutes waiting in the bottle neck traffic. It wasn’t going to move, there wasn’t enough roadway to hold all the cars, it would creep at a speed that was too slow and the mass would overtake them.

“It’s close,” Mark said. “We aren’t making it out.”

“The hell we aren’t.” Chip put the truck in park. “Let’s go.”

“Run?” Mark asked.

“Oh, yeah, we can run faster than the traffic.”

“Agreed.”

Both brothers, grabbed their things from the back of the truck. Mark looked once again, it was so close, a hundred feet at best and at the rate it moved, even slow, it would roll over the traffic in minutes.

They weren’t the only ones that chose to run.

At that moment, the mass looming, people jumped from their cars and ran away from it. No direction just running.

Mark and Chip had their gear. They too took off on foot, but had to find a way to stay alive just on the chance they couldn’t outrun it.

<><><><>

Her name was Beverly and she drove a smart car.

A kia.

When traffic came to a halt and that ominous field grew closer behind her, she thought for sure she could maneuver the car and get out, find another way.

But she was sandwiched between cars and trucks driven by desperate drivers trying to flee Cleveland.

Then Beverly saw people running. As she got out of her own car, she noticed two men get out of an old pick up truck, when they grabbed gear from the back end, and took off, she decided they were ones she would follow.

They looked determined and as if they knew exactly where to go.

She had to give it her all to keep up with them as they dashed through yards, then in between buildings. Just two blocks into the run, they noticed she was tagging along. He didn’t say anything, he just returned to running.

It was close. Too close, and she knew there was no way to outrun it.

They crossed from the residential area into a small business district when she heard the loud ‘crack’ and a strange deep resonating howling that came with whatever it was that chased them.

She looked over her shoulder and gasped.

It was there. Right there, encompassing the building across the street.

“We’re not gonna make it!” she hollered as if they were all together.

One of the men looked back, picked up the pace and oddly they ran into Big T’s Burger and Fish.

What were they doing? Going inside wasn’t going to do any good.

At least she didn’t think it would.

She debated for a second about following them into Big T’s, then decided to do so.

“Chip, grab the waters,” the one said. “I’ll grab what I can. Hurry.”

“Just grab anything,” Chip told him. “Mom said it lifts in a day.”

“We can’t be sure,” the other said. Then he looked at Beverly as he moved behind the counter. “Are you coming?”

She nodded and followed them into the kitchen.

The man named Chip carried cases of waters. She didn’t know what the other had in his arms.

After opening the walk in cooler, Chip nearly tossed the case of water in then raced to the counter.

“Chip!” the other yelled. “Come on.”

“Hold on.” He crouched behind the counter. When he stood, he had a box, on top that looked like aprons. “Pays to have worked in a restaurant. Sterno.”

“Sweet.”

Chip hurried to the cooler, when a roaring creak occurred. “Shit,” he said then looked at Beverly. “Come on. There’s no time.”

Beverly hesitated.

“Come on!” Chip nearly yelled. “We have to shut this.”

“I … I can’t. I can’t go in there.”

Of all places, a cooler, she couldn’t explain to them she was severely claustrophobic.

“We have to shut this,” Chip said.

“I … can’t.” She backed up, stopped and looked behind her.

“Chip, just grab her,” the other man called out.

It was panic, sheer panic over going in there that overshadowed the fear of whatever was coming. Beverly freaked and without thinking, before Chip could step out to get her, she lunged forth and shut the door.

She placed her back against the door and could feel them try to open it. The budging, the shoving. They could have tried harder, but they probably knew it would put them in danger.

Beverly didn’t know if they were calling to her or saying anything. The thing before her was so loud.

She watched it take over the wall of the kitchen, absorbing through it like it had superpowers. It seeped from the floor, through the walls and down from the ceiling.

Growing closer and closer.

For a split second she turned and thought about going in.

But she couldn’t bring herself to open the door.

She stood there, back to the ‘thing’ her head pressed to the cold metal of the door, hands flush against it when darkness just encompassed her.

She couldn’t see anything, not even her hands.

The metal was cold, she touched it, but she was blind, she couldn’t see.

Beverly turned. Whatever it was didn’t hurt, didn’t smell or cause her trouble breathing.

It was nothing to fear, it didn’t even hurt her eyes.

Thinking, whatever it was would simply pass. She nearly laughed at her own panic.

Then her skin began to tingle and tighten. Nothing painful, just uncomfortable. It felt like it was shrinking, getting smaller and tight.

Then she felt it in her chest. It grew tight, but she could still breathe.

The panic returned.

She took a single step to run through the darkness and every single muscle in her body froze.

She went rigid. She tried to move but couldn’t, she was stuck, paralyzed in that stance. Unable to step forward or back.

She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. It was slow and hard. She couldn’t open her mouth to call out and when she tried to make a sound she couldn’t.

Like with her arms and legs her neck tightened so close to strangulation, but not enough to kill her.

Nearly choking, slowly breathing with a heart that couldn’t pump blood and within minutes, her rigid body began to hurt. First an aching then a searing, burning pain. It was unbearable.

There was nothing she could do.

She couldn’t move to relieve it or cry out.

Little did she know, she would stand there in the kitchen of the Burger and Fish restaurant and endure an agonizing, tortuous and slow moving death.

NINETEEN – PEEKING IN

Paden, WV

It was heartbreaking for Charlotte. Watching her daughter stare at the phone, trying over and over again to reach her sons.

“Bobby and Lou are gonna look for them,” Pam said. “They knew the area they were in.”

“They got out,” Charlotte said. “They’re safe, I feel it.”

“It’s been four hours,” Reese said. “Why aren’t they here?”

“There was an exodus,” Charlotte replied. “Maybe they’re stuck on a highway or … or quarantined.”

Reese shook her head. “They went for their father.”

Pam grabbed her sister’s hand. “That’s why I said Bobby and Lou will look for them. I honestly feel the same as Mom. They’re safe. When I hadn’t heard from Gray, I knew something bad happened.”

Reese glanced at Pam. “You always believed something bad happened.”

“I did. But Mom never did until that day.”

Reese hurriedly looked at her mother. “You told your daughter you thought something bad happened to her son?”

“She asked me and I told her what I felt. That it was bad. I feel that with my grandsons. I know them. I feel them.” She made a fist and put it to her chest. “Chip and Mark are fine. If they didn’t make it out they made it somewhere safe.”

“You told them,” Pam said. “You told them what was safe?”

With an exhaled, Reese nodded then shifted her eyes to Eric, whispering. “But we also know where he was and how he got injured.”

Eric heard that and looked over. “I touched it,” he said, standing up and walking over. “I touched it. I was drunk. I opened the door to let in air and … I touched it. That’s how this happened.” He held up his injured hand. “As long as they don’t touch it.”

Frustrated, Reese stood. “What is it? What the hell is happening?” Her attention turned to the clearing of a throat.

Duke stood there. “Sorry to interrupt. Anything?”

Reese shook her head.

“You gave them warning. I’m sure they’re fine.” Duke said. “I just wanted to let you know, they’re sending in a drone. A Galanis is forming outside Dallas. They’re sending in a high-tech drone. They wanted to get it when it first happened at a place and it’s almost time. We can watch if you want to join us?”

Charlotte nodded. “We do. You called it Galanis. That’s Hero’s last name.”

“Yep,” Duke said. “The Phenomenon is named after him because he discovered it.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Charlotte said.

“Mom,” Pam winced. “I want to watch. I do.”

“This way.” Duke walked to the exit, the other plastic tunnel to the one tent they hadn’t been in.

Before following them, Charlotte placed her hands on Reese’s arms. “They are fine. I’ll bet my life on it. Okay?” she kissed her daughter on the cheek. “Let’s go watch this so we can understand it.”

Reese agreed.

Together the three women, along with Eric, followed Duke to the other tent.

<><><><>

There were a lot of people in the other tent, all wearing protective clothing. They moved about. One person looked like they were doing lab work. They had test tubes and stood by a centrifuge. Probably playing with all the blood they took.

Charles sat with Hero behind a table lined with three computers.

“Come,” Charles waved. “Come look. They’re getting ready.”

Reese walked around and stood behind them to see the monitors.

“Any word from your sons?” Charles asked.

Reese shook her head.

“I’m sure you’ll hear something.”

“Thank you,” Reese muttered and looked at the three screens. One computer was an ariel shot and showed the black anomaly approaching Dallas, the other was closer from the highway, but the anomaly was hard to see. The third monitor was black.

There were numbers at the bottom, but they were all zeroed out.

“What are they?” Reese asked. “The numbers.”

“Time stamp.” Charles pointed. “Timer, radiation, oxygen levels, all different components that make up air. This square here.” He pointed to the top right. “That is the thermal imaging. That will be thermal images of anyone alive. The more heat, the brighter yellow”

Duke asked. “If this thing destroys everything in its path, including power, how is this drone going to make it.”

“They plan on losing it, but it’s showing power goes out about fifteen minutes after the Galanis swallows an area.”

Eric spoke up. “That’s a little longer than it took for the lights in the cooler to go out. But it was at least ten minutes. Hard to tell.”

Charles nodded. “Ten minutes can tell us a lot. Plus, this is designed to go into a warzone and sustain blast damage. So maybe it will survive. But at least, even at ten minutes, we can see what it does.”

After twenty minutes, the drone of the screen lit up and it flew directly into the black.

Then there was nothing.

The screen went black, as if it didn’t work.

They could hear the buzz of it as it flew but there were no images.

When the night vision mode came on, all they saw were shadows until the thermal imaging picked up five people and the shapes of cars, and some buildings.

“There.” Charles made the thermal imaging full screen. “That gives us a look.”

“There are people in there,” Charlotte said. “Didn’t they get the warning? Why didn’t they leave.”

“Looks like they’re trying,” Reese commented.

Duke shook his head. “It can’t be the same. When I went into Sisterville it looked like they died instantly, these people are still …” He paused when they five images on screen stopped moving. “What are they doing?”

“They need to go,” Charlotte said. “Can we yell at them through the drone. Why aren’t they moving.”

Reese shifted her eyes to the timer in the corner, all while watching the thermal imaging figures. Twenty second, thirty …

The cars which had some yellow suddenly went cold and faded into the purple background.

Forty second, fifty …

The distinguished building started to vanish.

The five figures remained. They didn’t move.

“They’re standing,” Charles said. “They aren’t moving.”

“Oh my God,” Duke blurted out. “The people we found were frozen in their stance, like I said it looked like they died instantly. But this shows they’re alive.”

After four minutes, the yellow imaging once bright, dimmed slightly.

“I can’t watch this,” Charlotte said. “Duke, you saw the aftereffects. Those people you saw didn’t die fast, they died slowly, like these people and I can’t watch it.”

Both Pam and Eric must have felt the same way Charlotte did because they left with her, but Reese pulled up a chair.

She wasn’t being a sadist watching the people die.

She had to know. Because if her sons were caught in the anomaly, she wanted to know what they were going through.

<><><><>

The drone survived for forty-two minutes, longer than they expected, but for hours Hero watched the computers, trying to learn all that he could. He wasn’t privileged to a lot of information, but enough that he had a picture of what was happening in the United States and around the globe.

He took a lot of notes, placing them in a folder he kept by him.

“Still at it?” Charles asked as he returned.

“Yeah, still watching. Just did a news check in.”

“I see. Did you get dinner?”

“I ate one of those sandwiches. I’m fine,” Hero said.

“Why don’t you try to get some rest? I can take it from here.”

“I’ll take a break. I’ll be back.” Hero closed his folder and lifted it.

“Hero,” Charles called him. “They’re going to clear us all tomorrow and release us. I’m headed on the road to follow this thing. I can get you clearance to join my team as a science advisor, not press, if you want.”

“Really, that would be awesome.”

“Again, not as press. You’ll have to choose.”

“Thank you Colonel,” Hero replied. “I appreciate the offer.”

“So you’re turning me down?”

“Oh, heck no. I never wanted to be a weather man.”

“Not even Cleveland's Sexiest man?”

“Well, a lot of good that does, there’s no Cleveland anymore. I’ll be back in a bit. Thank you again.” Hero tucked his folder and left what he called the ‘tech tent’.

He was tired and figured he’d make his way to his cot and grab a couple hours sleep.

The dining and living area of the housing tent was dark, except for a lone dim lantern on the far table.

Reese sat there with that lantern looking at something. There were bags on the table and on the end it looked like a happy hour bar.

“You got your stuff, I see,” Hero said as he approached.

“I did.”

“What’s with all the booze?”

“It was a girls’ weekend. Help yourself.” She lifted a glass. “I’m sipping on Pam’s favorite. Tequila Rose.”

“I may take you up on that. Thank you. Are you wanting to be alone or can I join you?”

“Have a seat.”

Hero walked closer and noticed she was looking at her phone. “I’m sorry you haven’t heard anything.”

“It’s okay. I’ll know something soon enough,” she said.

“Can I share something with you?”

“Sure.”

Hero sat next to her and opened the folder. “I’ve been collecting news data. I lost contact with my news crews a couple hours ago. Apparently, Cleveland and surrounding areas are dark when it comes to cell service and Wi-Fi. This l..” he showed her. “Are all the major roadways in and out of Cleveland.”

“I know that.”

“Alright, well, they’re all blocked off. No one gets in, no one gets out.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“They estimated that maybe up to seventy percent got out. At least the outlining areas. That’s a lot of people crammed in a cordoned area with no means of communication. I’m telling you this because your sons were late getting out. There’s a huge chance they are caught in this mess outside of Cleveland. They go anywhere and can’t call out.”

Reese gently smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“I just don’t want you to give up hope.”

“I appreciate that. It’s terrifying to think they were like the people we saw with the drone.” She looked at Hero. ‘They were still alive when the drone died.”

“I know.”

“That’s horrible.”

“I know. I wish I could tell you what this is. I haven’t a clue. I don’t even know where to begin to theorize,” Hero said. “Just know, I will work on this until the day I die.”

“How many more places were hit?” Reese asked. “I mean, I left the computers a few hours ago.”

“Still holding steady at twenty-seven globally. It’s not the end of the world, but it could be.”

“You mean if more places are hit?” Reese asked.

“Do more places need to be hit? It’s pretty chaotic out there already. Governments are trying to figure out what can be done, what to do with all the survivors. It’s gonna be crazy for a while, if we recover.”

Reese nodded sadly. “And what if whatever this is, continues until it consumes everything?”

“Well, see there, that’s the thing. It won’t.” Hero wagged his finger. “We know it doesn’t like water. We know it stops at the cold and we know it’s not hitting the mountains.”

“Not yet.”

“No, when it went to Vegas it stopped at the mountains. I mean, it could be because it consumed the area it intended or it could be the mountains.”

“The system will crash, Hero,” Reese said. “Millions upon millions homeless, no where to go. There aren’t enough resources to help everyone. We’re talking anarchy.”

“I know.” Hero folded his hands. “But there are ways to survive this. We can make it through even with society falling apart.”

“So you think it will?”

“I do,” Hero said. “How can it not? A famous quote by Lenin was, ‘Every Society is three meals away from anarchy’. Hungry people are desperate people and will topple any government. Three meals away, think about it, tens of millions have nothing, no means, no food. It will topple. How long will the government provide those three meals?”

“So to live, to survive, with or without more.” she paused to accentuate the name. “Galanis hits. We’re supposed to live on the ocean, Alaska or run to the hills.”

“Whatever it takes, right?”

“What’s funny is, we were running.” Reese motioned her hand to her belongings. “To the hills actually. A place called Holly River. It’s deep in the mountains, buried away. Our escape. Pam lost her son. It was horrible and we were running to the hills. To get away. Take a break. Hide.”

“Maybe when you locate your sons it may not be such a bad idea to go there.”

“Why not.” Reese took a sip of her drink. “Our home is gone now. Like so many others. We have nowhere else to go. How long?”

“How long what?”

“How long do you think we will have to stay there?”

“In my opinion, watching everything unfold, once you get there. Dig in,” Hero said. “It’ll be home for a long time.”

TWENTY – MORNING LIGHT

Cleveland, OH

“Time?” Mark asked, his voice whispering as if he needed to be quiet.

Chip tapped his fitness band and illuminated it. “Yeah.”

Mark walked to the freezer door, and like they had done two previous times during the night, he opened it.

Just enough to left air in, to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.

It had been a long night. Mark didn’t know what time it was. Just every time he felt that slight sense of panic, he checked to see if it was time to open the door.

He was fearful of what was out there.

It was like it had a mind of its own. No sooner did he open the door, allow some air in, the black that was out there crept closer.

It never touched them or came in.

They had supplies and knew eventually they’d open the door and it would be safe.

The three times they tried, Mark thought of some science fiction novel where they were in some black hole. It looked like nothing was outside the cooler door.

It was cold in there. Even with the time passing and the lack of electricity it didn’t warm up. The towels and aprons did little to help.

When they were young boys, just in grade school, Mark and Chip used to scare each other with spooky stories only to end up huddling together in one bed.

It was reminiscent of those days, only they were grown men huddling together for warmth. Not one admitting they were scared.

Mark was.

He feared never getting out of that walk-in cooler, that the supplies they had wouldn’t last them long enough.

They rationed water, just in case it was going to be days.

They entered that cooler not long after eleven in the morning.

How long would that shroud of death last?

What were they going to do when they left?

Would it even be safe to walk out even if it were clear.

Their mother, aunt and grandmother were fine and they had wandered into a zone hit by the anomaly.

It was crazy. Mark’s mind spun.

His father was out there in the craziness of the exodus while his mother, aunt and grandmother were in some quarantine area.

His only other relative, Bobby was alive and out there. But where?

Mark thought of all the people he knew. To pass time he made a mental list of people he knew. Where they would be and did they get out.

The news told people if they couldn’t get out they needed to make it to the lake.

In his mind he envisioned boats and ferries out on lake Erie, holding people who made their escape. People that watched their city disappear before their eyes.

He thought of the positive. That people live, they made it out, they had warning and the thing moved slow at first.

In the midst of his thoughts, he drifted off again. He didn’t know for how long, but he woke with a startle, fearing he was hallucinating, unable to breathe and his head hurting.

“Chip. Chip,” he called out.

“Yeah.”

“You alive?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Is it time?”

“Hold on.” Chip checked his Fitbit. “It’s been four hours. Yeah, let’s try again.” He stood. “I’ll check this time.”

“Leave it open for a minute. Let fresh air in. I think we’re dying.”

“We’re not dying. We’re fine.” Chip walked to the door.

“Keep an eye on the black.”

“I will.”

Mark stood as well. His fingers were numb, he swore it had to have something to do with Carbon Monoxide, breathing in their own air in a closed in space.

Chip turned on the flashlight. They had been good about using is sparingly.

Mark’s eyes never really adjusted to the dark.

The moment Chip pushed on the door, Mark knew things were different. Suddenly brightness entered the cooler.

Chip poked his head out then looked back in and smiled.

Mark knew by the look on his brother’s face and the light, it was over, the black was gone, they could go out.

They gathered what they could carry, shoving things in their bags. They hadn’t thought about what was next or how they’d get to their mother. One step at a time he figured.

Supplies were needed. Mark didn’t know if they’d have to go on foot or if they’d find transportation.

He didn’t know if there was a world left outside of Cleveland.

They were about to find out.

The door wouldn’t open all the way.

It hit into something and the brothers had to slip out with their belongings.

It took only a second to realize what was blocking the door.

It was that woman. The one that followed them but refused to go in and slammed the door.

“Holy shit,” Chip looked at her.

The woman’s body was solid and statuesque. She appeared to have died mid motion. One leg stepping forward.. Like the restaurant around them she was decimated and drained of all life and color. Her skin was gray and dried out, her eyes a deep blood shot red and it looked like bloody tears pooled just under her bottom lashes.

“Why didn’t she come in with us?” Chip asked.

“I don’t know,” Mark replied. “Let’s just go. Don’t look anymore.”

“Okay,” Chip said. “I’m sorry this happened to you,” he said, looking one last time before leaving that kitchen with Mark.

They didn’t hear her.

How could they?

Beverly didn’t produce any sound.

The repeated, ‘help me. Please help me’ came only from her mind and not her vocal chords.

How many times during the night, during her horrendous pain, did she hear that freezer door open?

How many times did she hear herself calling out only to be answered with the closing of the door?

She couldn’t move, she couldn’t talk, yet she felt every ounce of pain and witnessed the black around her.

Her eyes never blinked and after hours they burned.

As much as she wanted to close her eyes she couldn’t.

She felt the tears, but it wasn’t until things began to lighten around her that she saw through blurred vision, whatever happened, was over.

The darkness faded and the kitchen came into view.

Had she transported decades into the future?

It seemed as if the darkness consumed all that it could, leaving the kitchen of the restaurant, destroyed. The paint on the walls peeled, the stainless steel rusted.

Through it all the bodily pain she experienced never stopped and never lessened.

It was hell.

She wanted it to stop, she begged in her mind for it to stop.

Beverly suffered. Paying for sins she didn’t know she committed in in a world of damnation. Every time she heard that freezer door open, she was hopeful that some way, somehow, they’d help her.

It was wishful thinking.

“Holy shit,” Chip walked before her.

See me, she thought, look in my eyes.

He did, but he didn’t realize she looked back.

“Why didn’t she come in with us?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” the other man said. “Let’s just go. Don’t look anymore.”

“Okay. I’m sorry this happened to you.”

He said it with sincerity. He said it looking right into her eyes and then he turned away.

"No, no, no!" she screamed. But they didn’t hear her. He couldn’t. It wasn’t their fault. She was unable to say anything. Her sobs were internal. Her cries only in her mind, ‘Please don’t leave me. I’m still alive!’

They never heard.

TWENTY-ONE – ONE MORE TIME

Paden, WV

It was a different world, or at least it felt that way when Duke emerged from the quarantine tent. There were a lot of people coming and going. It wouldn’t be long before the transport came and took him, Hero and the Criswell women back to their vehicles.

Eric was going to be moved to Morgantown Memorial Hospital for surgery on his hand.

He pleaded not to go, he didn’t want to be anywhere near a larger city.

Charlotte was the one who calmed him, telling him, “You need to go and take care of this. I know you’re scared, I’m scared, too, But I’ll tell you what. I will wait for you and you can come with us wherever that may be. Like you we lost our homes. Would you like that?”

Eric nodded. “Yes, I would, thank you.”

“I promise not to leave you behind.”

She was gentle and kind, but Duke noticed she had lost a bit of that spark from the day before.

Maybe she was tired and it was coupled with worry.

She stood outside the tech tent alone, smoking a cigarette.

“Hey,” Duke walked up to her. “Can I bum one of those?”

“Sure.” She handed him the pack. “Help yourself. Not sure I’ll have anymore. I quit some time ago.”

“Me, too.” Duke lit the cigarette.

“Well, how about that Law man, the worst brings out the worst.”

“How about that?” Duke took a puff then stared at it. “So, tell me, are you alright?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You don’t seem like yourself. Well, granted I don’t know you. But you are not the same woman that was fan girling over Cleveland’s sexiest man.”

With one eyebrow cocked, Charlotte tilted her head. “Maybe it’s the fact that as of right now we are up to thirty-three cities facing an apocalyptic event.”

“Could be. Is it?”

She shook her head. “Not entirely, I keep thinking about those people.”

“Which ones?”

“The ones that stopped moving, but weren’t dead. You said you saw them, I saw the bodies. Duke, how long did they suffer? I just have a sickening feeling that some are still alive. Trapped in a dying body and they can't say or do anything.”

“You really feel that way?”

“Yes. Yes.” She nodded. “I dreamt last night of some woman and she was crying out for help. Help me, help me.” I was wondering through Sisterville and I found her, but as she cried out her lips didn’t move. I was hearing it in my mind. She looked dead.”

“Wow, that’s a scary dream.”

“And my heart aches for those people. It took forty minutes for the drone to die and they, according to my daughter were still showing thermal signs of life. Still alive like that. That’s too long already but how long did they last? How long did they suffer? It’s horrible. And are they still suffering and we just don’t know? So we pass them off as dead.”

“Those are good questions. Humane questions.”

“I wish they’d send in another thermal imaging drone. Just one more to see if they are gone or still suffering.”

“That’s a really good idea. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To see if we can make that happen. See if we can get another drone in there, that veil in Dallas should be lifting. I want to know as well.”

“Thank you.”

Duke placed a gentle leading hand on her back and they went into the tech tent to hopefully find out answers to what troubled Charlotte.

Pam’s first reaction was for Bobby to get out before he couldn’t get out. He had called her from the highway where traffic was being diverted from Cleveland.

When they told authorities they were searching for family, they were told they were able to pull over and walk. He and his father, Louis, did.

It was when he arrived that a phone call wasn’t going to cut it.

He wanted his mother to see. So he called her via video.

Pam was breathless.

When she was seventeen, she went to a concert with Reese. She finally had permission from Charlotte to go to something that was at the stadium. Concert goers were so excited they rushed the fences, trying to get it. Thousands upon thousands of people pushing forward.

But they weren’t an angry crowd.

They were excited.

The view in the video reminded her of that day when six people were crushed at the concert. When her and Reese decided they were too scared to go in.

Only the mass amount of people on the highway like a hoard were angry, shouting, fighting.

Cars crammed in to each other and off the road, not even in a straight line. It was a Christmas parking lot vision in the apocalypse. Cars just randomly moving everywhere, but they were hard to see with the throngs of people.

To get the video, Bobby climbed up on one of the trucks used to block the people in.

“Bobby, get out of there,” Pam said.

“I will, so far we’re safe. Mom, I can go in there, but there’s no way I’m gonna find Mark and Chip in that.”

“What are they saying? Why are they penned up?”

“Well, I asked, and they said they’re all people that were too close to the Galanis. It’s like they made everyone get out of town and why they trapped them in.” Bobby flinched suddenly and turned his head.

Pam knew why.

“Is that gunfire?” she asked.

“Sounds like it.”

“Please, baby, get out of there.” Her heart started racing when she heard the shots, first a random few, then it was rapid.

“I’ll call you once we’re out and safe.”

“Thank you. Please. Go. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Connection gone.

She brought her phone to her lips and closed her eyes, praying for her son’s safety.

“Hey,” Reese approached her. “Anything?”

Pam nodded. “Bobby made it to the outskirts.”

“And?”

“He can’t get in. It’s hoards and hoards of people.”

“He would never find the boys in that.”

“No, he wouldn’t. He implied they aren’t letting anyone out yet. Like a quarantine, I guess.”

“It makes sense,” Reese said sadly.

“The boys got out. They did. I know it, and like Mom, I believe it.” She embraced Reese for a few moments, then stepped back. “What are we going to do? Head to Sisterville?”

“Yeah, that’s what I told the boys. We’re waiting there. Mom doesn’t want to go to Holly River until Eric has left the hospital in Morgantown.”

“She took over that boy?”

“Yeah, she did.” Reese said.

“Good. Good. I’m glad. He’s so sad and alone. I keep thinking of his mother. Even though she didn’t survive, I keep thinking she probably was worried about him.”

“We have him. For her sake we have him.”

“Speaking of mothers, where is ours?”

“In the tech tent. Apparently, they were able to get the military in Dallas to send in more drones. Ones with Thermal readouts.”

“Why?” Pam asked. “To see if they can spot survivors?”

Reese shook her head. “Mom is convinced that those people didn’t die right away. I guess in a way she wants to make sure they’re not still out there, suffering and alive.”

“Oh my God,” Pam gasped, her face crinkling. “Can you imagine? She has to be wrong. She has to be.”

“Mom has this incredible instinct. That’s why she left the tent, she couldn’t watch. But she needs to know.”

“She has to feel pretty strongly if she convinced the military.”

“Well,” Reese said. “Captain Duke was on her side, along with Hero. I know Pam, it bothered her all night.”

“When are they doing this?”

“They’re prepping them,” Reese said. “Should be any minute. The Galanis is dissipating now.”

Pam nodded. “Let’s hope she’s wrong. She has to be wrong. Because there is no way, with what happens to these people, no way after twenty-four hours,” she said. “They can still be alive.”

TWENTY-TWO – TRAPPED

Cleveland, OH

Alone.

Beverly was completely alone.

The two men had left, looking upon her with pity and maybe a little bit of sadness.

Looking upon her as if she were dead.

She couldn’t shift her eyes, move a muscle, not even an inch.

Her breathing was slow and slugging, so slow, she wondered how she was still alive.

The restaurant took on a cloudy haze, no longer could she see clearly. Her legs were tired, wanting badly to give out, she was stuck in one position and she felt every moment of it.

Other than the pain that radiated through every inch and fiber of her body, she felt dry. Her mouth, throat, eyes and skin.

Beverly didn’t need to see her arms or hand or even any part of her body to know … she was dying.

It was no longer a quest to be saved, to live, it was now a matter of praying for it to end.

Why wouldn’t it end?

What she endured was nothing more than a living damnation.

Torture.

She wanted to cry, she felt the sobbing, but tears wouldn’t come.

What had she done so horrible in her life that she deserved what she experienced?

Nothing, and Beverly had reexamined her entire life.

She focused on so much, trying to not focus on the pain. Trying to find what in her life she did wrong.

At thirty-two years old she believed she lived a good life. She was married for six years, had two children, a son that was two and a daughter four.

That was the only thing that made her suffering slightly bearable. Knowing her husband and children were no where near Cleveland when it happened.

They were visiting his mother in the beautiful mountains of Colorado Springs.

He was going to show the children where he was stationed when he was younger at NORAD.

They had several days before they were to return home.

Beverly missed them so much.

That morning, she talked to them on the phone. Told them all she missed and loved them.

She was able to get a hold of her husband when the anomaly ascended. She told her husband, Todd she was getting out.

She would be safe.

She worked as a rental agent in a low income housing complex. That’s why she was so late getting out. Beverly would have been gone earlier but she was helping those in the complex get on busses and made sure they were safe. The elderly, the families.

She was positive she had enough time.

She didn’t.

Never would Beverly had imagined that it would be an impossible task.

She was good at her job, people liked her because she cared. She gave them extra time to pay the rent, she did what she could.

She worked at that job for the city for nearly eight years.

Beverly went to church every Sunday and she wasn’t just a one day a week Christian. She practiced what they preached. She did missions, volunteered and tithed ten percent of their income. She lived the life, the one she was supposed to.

Never bad to people, treating them with respect.

What was it?

As she stood there unable to move, in excruciating pain, suffering … dying, she knew the answer.

Nothing.

Reflecting on her life she knew it wasn’t her.

It was just the luck of the draw.

The bad luck.

Had she been thirty minutes earlier, just thirty minutes she would have been out of Cleveland. But she made the choice to help the senior couple on the fourth floor, get their cat and get onto the bus.

They didn’t want to leave.

They wanted to stay, saying they lived their lives.

All the choices Beverly made on that final day led to her slow death.

It would be over soon, she knew and felt.

Her torture would end.

In the last moments she would think of her children, be grateful they were safe. Be grateful for having the life and family she did.

Holding on to her faith, she would pray for the end to come.

And it would, but sadly, after living such a full life, the only regret Beverly had was she would die alone.

In the ruins of a restaurant, she would take her last breath, utterly and completely alone.

<><><><>

Chip held up his phone as they walked, looking for a signal.

“You’re not gonna get one,” Mark told him. “So, just stop trying.”

“Maybe once we’re out of the city,” Chip put his phone in his back pocket.

At ten years old Chip learned about Hiroshima, how the bombs was dropped. He read of the human struggle, the inhumane suffering, the stories and the damage. Unfortunately, with the exception of the BBC documentary, all he saw of Hiroshima were black and white pictures. Buildings missing windows, dust everywhere. Shelled out vehicles, abandoned on the roads. So much of what he witnessed when they stepped out of the restaurant reminded him of the photos he saw of Hiroshima.

Especially the victims.

Those in Hiroshima died so fast and the heat so intense, many were shadows on a wall.

The bodies reminded him of that. Shadows of who they used to be. It was gut wrenching.

So many people were just caught in it. It was as if they tried to run, to hide, but they died instantly in a frozen death stance.

What happened?

What was in the darkness that causes such destruction? What caused the buildings to look as if they had been abandoned for a hundred years. The science fiction fan in chip believed for a second they went into some sort of time warp.

Traveled either to another dimension or another time.

“Are you okay?” Mark asked.

“No, what the hell, Mark.”

“I know.”

“What was this?’

“I don’t know.”

Chip shook his head. “We weren’t the only ones that ran and hid. Where did everyone go? They were told to find cold, a cooler or something. Or water.”

“Maybe they did,” Mark said. “We just need to keep walking. We need to get out, get a hold of mom and let her know we made it.”

“Remind me to bitch at Dad.”

“Yeah, I know. Our first thought was to find him and he was gone.”

“We probably just missed his call.”

Mark paused in his walking and looked back at Chip. “You really think that?”

“I will think that.”

It was so quiet, so silent, that Chip could hear their own footsteps. They sounded loud.

They made it to the side street where they left the truck. It was still there, the doors still open. But it had been through the ringer. The cloth on the inside of the doors was gone, some of the padding protruded. The windshield and all of the windows were shattered.

The old beat up truck met a violent end.

And through the silence the peep of a noise broke through.

A squeal.

Mark held up his hand to Chip to stop walking. He supposed his brother wanted to stop all noise.

It happened again.

Chip heard it.

It sounded like a meek, cat meow, perhaps a kitten.

Mark’s eyes widened. “A cat?”

“I think so.”

“Dude, we need to find it,” Mark said.

“It sounds weak.”

It was somewhere in the mass conglomerate of traffic congestion.

They divided up, moving slowly, quietly, listening for the sound. It wasn’t steady so it was hard to pin point. Chip crept forward, hunched over, alert and listening.

He wondered if the noise was his imagination.

Was he still hearing it?

“Chip, over here!” Mark called out.

He turned his head to the left. His brother was by what looked like the remains of a large SUV parked at the side of the road. It probably ended up there, trying to bypass the traffic.

Chip raced over.

“Shh. Shh.” Mark quieted him. “Listen.”

A peep. Just a peep of a groan. High pitched, achy.

“Is it coming from here?” Mark asked,

“It is.” Chip replied.

Chip peered into the SUV. There were two people in the front seats. Had they not died in the position they had, Chip would never had thought to look.

It was a man and a woman.

The man was turned in the driver’s seat toward the back, while the woman was positioned differently.

Like a statue, she was between the two front seats, her back facing the windshield as her hand reached for the back seat.

A deep sick knot formed in Chip’s stomach when he saw a car seat. One of those big fancy ones. He cringed thinking about the child, but there was no child in the seat.

What was she reaching for?

He opened the back door. It was fragile and broke off dropping to the ground.

“What are you doing?” Mark asked.

“Car seat is empty. Where’s the baby?” Chip asked.

Maybe it just disintegrated.

“No. No.” Chip shook his head.

The noise happened again.

Chip raced around the SUV to the passenger side pulling on the door. He didn’t even give it a second thought when it fell to the ground. Next to the car seat were blankets. They were stacked on something. Chip moved them. Another blanket covered something rectangular and when Chip removed that, he saw it was a cooler.

It wasn’t sealed, it was propped open by a book.

Enough to let air in.

The noise happened again and it was without a doubt coming from that cooler.

Chip lifted his eyes to his brother. “I can’t.”

“We have to.”

“I can’t. What if it’s dying? What if …”

Mark moved Chip out of the way. He placed his hands on the cooler and after a second of hesitation, he lifted the lid.

“Oh my God, oh my God. Chip give me water.”

Hands shaking, Chip reached back for his bag, grabbing his water bottle and finally drawing the courage to look as he handed it to Mark.

The smell of urine, vomit and feces combined to create a horrendous cloud of stench that carried his way.

Inside the cooler were three bottles, one was empty, the others full.

There was a child inside, a very young baby. Chip didn’t know kids so he couldn’t guess how old it was, but knew it was young. It was pale and weak, he didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl. The eyes were dark and sunken in.

Mark had filled an empty baby bottle with water and immediately lifted the baby.

It didn’t move much and seemed to disappear in Mark’s hold. The second he put the bottle to the baby’s mouth, the child tried to consume it.

There was no time to waste.

The parents in desperation did what they could to try to save their child.

They did.

He or she was alive.

For the moment at least, and if Chip and Mark didn’t do something quickly, the child wouldn’t be alive for very long.

Without haste, the brothers took off on foot, at a fast pace to seek help.

Hopefully, help wasn’t far off.

TWENTY-THREE – FROM THE OUTSIDE

Paden City, WV

Reese changed into her clothes and made sure all of their belongings were together so they didn’t leave anything behind when they returned to their car outside of Sisterville.

She also checked her phone. Still nothing from her sons.

Her mother had said they were watching the drone and invited Reese to come in.

Pam was already in there. Reese wasn’t sure she wanted to see what happened in Dallas after the black had lifted. Something inside of her was fearful. Probably because she worried so much about her sons. Seeing Dallas destroyed would only make her think of Cleveland and what happened there.

Not only to her sons but to everyone else she knew and loved there.

She reflected a lot on her conversation the night before with Hero. How they were only so many meals away from anarchy. A quote by Lenin. Had it ever happened in society before? Had things just fallen apart?

Reese supposed with time just a blip in the existence of earth that surely, at some point, the world teetered on the brink of destruction, only to eventually bounce back.

She didn’t really know what was happening and that was strange, considering she was in the midst of some government set up, Reese was in the dark.

There was no internet, no news and the closest thing there was to a reporter was Hero Galanis, who, as of just a few hours earlier, resigned from his Cleveland position to follow Charles into the trenches of destruction.

Reese stood outside the tech tent, debating on going in, pacing a little back and forth. She was startled some when a young man, with striking blonde hair, handed her a cup. It was obviously coffee and hot.

He smiled genuine at her, “Here you go.” As if he knew her.

“Um, thank you.” She dragged out the last word, hoping he would catch on and give his name.

He did.

“David,” he said.

“Yes, David thank you.”

“No problem. The food truck arrived if you’re hungry. I’ll see you inside?” he asked, pointing to the tent.

“I’m still debating.”

“I understand. You have about ten minutes. So enjoy your coffee.”

“Thank you, again.” She pressed her lips tightly together for a closed mouth smile as he went into the tech tent.

Did she know him? He acted like she did. Maybe he was one of the suited people whose faces were hidden in those biohazard hoods.

She brought her lips down to the cup as she raised it slowly. Sort of a meeting her coffee halfway, when she saw Hero approach.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

“Okay so …” he exhaled. “Here’s the deal.”

“Alright.”

“Your credit card was charged for last night at Holly River cabins.”

“Um … that was really random, thank you.”

Hero stared at her. “Did you talk to Pam?"

“About?”

“Well, since you asked ‘what’, I’m guessing you didn’t and that’s why that seemed random.”

“Yes.” Reese nodded. “But you know after this …” she held up her coffee. “I was thinking it was me.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“The coffee, some guy gave it to me. He acted as if I knew him, like we knew each other, but I don’t think I know him.”

“David.”

“That’s him. Do I know him?”

“You didn’t talk to Pam.”

Reese tossed up her hands. “She’s been busy finding her son and so have I. So, if it was in the last hour. I didn’t.”

“It was. And this makes sense. Okay …” Hero said. “I called Holly River to see if your second night reservation was still active.”

“And?”

“It isn’t. That’s when they told me you were a no show and they charged your card. You go down there pretty regularly, right?”

“We do, yes.”

“They don’t seem to know what’s happening in the world right now. Or they don’t care.”

“A little of both I suppose,” Reese said.

“Well, that’s good. The bad news is you did pay for a night that you weren’t there. But …” Hero lifted a finger. “The good news is, you’re booked, I used my own card, yours was declined.”

“Okay. Wait stop.” Reese waved out her hand. “Why was my card declined? I mean, I have enough to pay for another night.”

“You need more than a night. I booked you for sixty days.”

“Yeah, that I would be declined on. But sixty days?”

“Don’t worry. David will help you get all that you need. He’s in Cabin seven, you’re in Nine.”

“Okay I don’t know David or do I.”

“You don’t. Pam does.”

“From?” Reese asked. “Where does she know him from because I pretty much know everyone my sister knows.”

“Here. She met him this morning. He’s your escort and transport. He’s national guard. Duke got a hold of him. It’s a whole thing. His parents Lela and Stephen are on their way down there. We’re lucky, I booked four cabins indefinitely. The woman was a little irritated with me.”

“I get we’re homeless right now, but indefinitely.”

“Indefinitely. It may be home.”

“What’s going on Hero?” Reese asked.

“You know the expression ‘run for the hills’? Things are getting bad, Reese. Worse than we thought and faster. So now is the time,” Hero said. “To literally run for the hills.”

“Holly River?”

Hero nodded. “Yep. Holly River.”

“Now, If I could just hear from my sons. I just need to hear from them.”

“I understand. Keep trying. You have your phone now, I believe they’ll call.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“If they’re like their mother, aunt and Grandmother, they’re tough. They got out. I’m gonna …” He pointed to the tent. “Go in. Are you joining us?”

“For the drone? I’m thinking about it.”

“If not I’ll fill you in.”

“Thanks.” Reese thanked him once more for taking care of the cabin. Although he could have just cut to the chase. Her mind wasn’t clear, she couldn’t focus. At least not on anything other than her sons.

She stood outside that tent, holding her coffee she searched inside for a gut feeling that would tell her how they were.

<><><><>

Cleveland, OH

Mark ran.

He held that child in his arms and he ran, cradling it with all that he had, praying with every step he took that the baby that defied the odds and lived would keep living.

But getting out and getting help seemed like a million miles away.

Chip had ran ahead, faster than Mark could run. He didn’t want to bounce the child. It had already been through so much. It was hard to tell if it was a boy or girl, everything the child wore was soiled and discolored.

All that would have to wait until he found help.

It was a sea of death and destruction. His brother was getting farther and farther ahead, calling out, “Hello! We need help!”

Mark knew they weren’t the only ones.

Or were they?

Were they even going in the right direction? Was there anything beyond the traffic?

No one else was calling out. He heard no voices. The only sound was their running, Chip’s yelling for someone to help.

And the baby.

It whimpered like a sick kitten and it broke Mark’s heart.

Every step he took, he begged in his mind, “Please little one, please live. Hold on.”

What a fighter the baby was. To survive in a cooler for twenty-four hours. And the baby was young, it barely weighed ten pounds, if that.

Mark thought he was moving fast, but he wasn’t. He moved cautiously quick, but nowhere near the speed Chip ran.

Chip’s voice faded and soon Mark didn’t see him.

Mark panicked.

Again, what if there was nothing out there. What if the black just consumed everything and by some chance they had lived.

What would they do?

My God, Chip, where did you go?

He clutched the baby and like he had done, cradled in one arm, the other hand held the bottle. He checked every minute to see if the child was still alive or breathing.

Immediately Mark went into survival mode.

If the world was over, if it was gone. How would he save the baby? Mark started looking around for restaurants and places with coolers, because inside, even though the power went out, inside there was milk.

They had water.

Hold the baby, feed the baby … save the baby.

No, no he couldn’t. The child needed more than the two brothers could give. They knew nothing about babies.

Suddenly Mark realized he was alone. Chip was so far ahead, he couldn’t hear or see him. He imagined his brother running into another Galanis and Mark went into a full blown anxiety attack.

His heart raced, ears filled with blood and his face grew hot.

He couldn’t breathe or move. His legs grew rubbery and all the cars, all the destroyed cars swarmed around him, like a maze he couldn’t escape.

Mark had to stop.

He felt like he was going to pass out.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he said to the child. ”I’m sorry.” He staggered a little than slid down to the ground, his back sliding against the rough edges of the paintless car until he sat on the ground.

He parted the blanket and looked at the child.

The baby looked so pale, its eyes had no twinkle.

“Give me a minute,” he said to the child. “Just give me a minute. I have to get it together. What is wrong with me? What is wrong? Come on Mark.” He lifted his head, banging the back of it lightly on the car a few times.

He just wanted to cry.

Mark felt helpless.

He didn’t expect to emerge into a lifeless world and when they did, the last he expected was to find a child grasping on to its last fiber of life.

“Mark!” Chip’s voice was in the distance. “Mark!”

Renewed!

A wave of energy came over Mark. And he stood.

He felt better, clearer.

It was all his fear and a momentary cascade into panic that caused it.

“Mark!”

Chip didn’t sound panicked or scared, he sounded excited.

“Mark! Where are you?”

Mark looked left to right. “Here! I can’t see you!”

“Keep calling out!”

“I’m over here! I’m over here!” Mark shifted his eyes, looking for his brother. He didn’t want to move. He needed his brother to find him.

Then to his left, far from the direction he through he last saw Chip, he saw his brother racing over.

He wasn’t alone.

Mark gasped out in relief. “I … I see you!” He began his journey zig zagging through cars to get to Chip.

There was a man with Chip. They both stopped as if waiting for Mark to get there.

Finally, he did.

“How did you get way over that way?” Chip asked.

“I lost you. I got confused.”

“This is Richard,” Chip said. “I found him. He came to help.”

“There are people left?” Mark asked.

“Yeah, lots, but it’s kind of crazy.”

“Crazy is an understatement,” Richard said, setting a large red bag on the bed of a truck. “Let me have the baby. Let me see him.”

Mark eyed the white cross on the bag. “Are you medic?”

“EMT, yes,” Richard replied. “Retired, but they need every hand that they can get.”

Mark handed him the baby. “Here you go. Gentle.”

“Of course.” Richard took the child and lay it down on the bed of the truck next to the bag.

Mark watched with nervousness, his eyes went from Chip, to Richard, then to the baby.

“What do we have?” Richard pulled instruments out of the bag. “I see you have a bottle. Wanna try feeding the baby while I examine? The child is severely dehydrated.”

“Will it live?” Mark asked. His hand shook as he brought the bottle to the baby.

“It … is a she,” Richard replied. “Let’s try to make that happen. We need to get fluids in her, get her clean so she stops getting these sores.”

Chip reached down taking the bottle from his brother’s shaking hand. “I got it.”

“I’m sorry. I just freaked you know. I started thinking of everything bad.”

“It’s okay,” Chip said. “I got to the end of the line and I saw the military, the Red Cross and the tents.”

Richard lowered his stethoscope. “I will tell you right now, those tents won’t be there for long. It’s getting crazy out there.”

“I don’t understand,” Mark said. “The thing, whatever that was just lifted.”

“But those people have been there for a day,” Richard replied. “Right now survivors like yourself are just coming out. Some affected, some not.”

Mark questioned. “Affected?”

“By whatever it was.”

“Like us?” Mark asked.

“No, you two are fine. There are people that were actually exposed to it, close contact. It’s hard to describe what is going on with them. They’re being transported to Erie.”

“Is she?” Mark asked.

“Not that I can see.” With a thump, Richard dropped all the soiled items. “Give me your jacket,” he said to Mark.

Mark had forgotten that he was wearing one. He unzipped his hoodie and handed it to Richard.

Richard lifted the naked child and wrapped her in the jacket. “She needs medical attention. I won’t lie.”

Chip asked. “Will she live?”

“I’m not a doctor,” Richard replied, shaking his head. “I don’t know. But the sooner we get her to the Red Cross tent, the sooner we can try to get an intravenous line in her, if her veins haven’t collapsed.”

It wasn’t his child, Mark didn’t even know her. Yet, he felt heartbroken for the baby. Emotionally he just nodded quickly.

“Can you carry my bag?” Richard asked. “I have her.”

Chip lifted the bag. “I got it.” And they began to trail behind Richard.

“How far?” Mark asked. “How far until we’re out of this?”

“A couple blocks, that’s it.”

“Thank you,” Mark said.

“For what?”

“For running fast. For finding help and thinking clearly You know, especially when I wasn’t.”

“What are you talking about?” Chip asked. “Seriously. You were thinking clearly. You were thinking about the baby.”

“And you were thinking about finding help.”

“What can I say? We’re a hell of a team. Always were. What did mom say? What one of us didn’t think of the other did? It worked for us in this situation. We got through this as brothers,” Chip said. “And we’ll survive this … as brothers.”

TWENTY-FOUR – AN UNWANTED VIEW

Paden City, WV

“It’s bad, Mom.” Bobby spoke on the phone to Pam. “It’s really bad. People are fighting, the military had to deploy gas.”

“Jesus, Bobby get out of there,” she said.

“I can’t. I have to find them. If they were headed to you, they were headed southeast. You said they went to look for their dad, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Well that’s Beechwood and they would have come out that way. Dad went up to seventy-seven, I’m headed down to four eighty. We heard there are camps set up there. Red Cross, military.”

“You separated from your dad?” Pam panicked.

“It’s the only way. We have a meet up spot. Don’t worry.”

“I can’t help but worry. Please … if it’s bad …”

“If it’s bad, what? Leave? Leave Chip and Mark. Mom, I lost one brother already. We all grew up together. We’re family. I will not lose them. I’ll find them. I promise.”

“Okay. Okay,” Pam paced. “Call me back or text me.”

“I will. But listen, go to Holly River.”

“Bobby, I can’t. Reese isn’t leaving and gram is going to Morgantown, she found a cause. I have to go with her. ”

“Gram is fine. I need someone to go to Holly River. If we can’t find Chip and Mark and they got out, which I believe they did, if they don’t find you in Sisterville, they’re gonna go there.”

“And you?” Pam asked.

“I’ll go there as well.”

“Keep in touch, Bobby.”

“I will for as long as I can,” Bobby said. “I don’t know what it’s like there. But up here, Mom, it’s the end of the world.”

Pam absolutely hated ending the call with her son. She hated that he wasn’t near and safe.

She understood what he was doing and why. She just had to accept it, but she did so with a fear that coursed through her veins. She couldn’t lose him, she just could not.

It was madness.

And while she was somewhat sheltered by all that was happening in the world, she was realistic enough to know the events had brought everything and everyone to its knees.

Every available firefighter, EMS, doctor, nurse, military and government agency was scrambling to get to the affected areas.

There were too many areas to help and not enough people or resources to meet the needs.

How long would the front lines hold?

Not long.

It had been a day and Bobby already described how things were falling apart. She could see in her mind how bad things were simply by his description of the chaos and people packed into one area, trapped and waiting for help. Fighting to get that help, to get water or a meal.

Things that were now scarce.

And her son was there in the thick of it.

As she thought of that, she thought of the fact she at least knew Bobby was alive. Reese didn’t have that.

She would find her sister and tell her Bobby and his dad were diligent and looking. That’s all she could tell her. Pam couldn’t assure Reese that Chip and Mark were fine, because realistically there was a chance, because they went to find their father, that they never made it out.

Pam couldn’t think that way.

Even though she knew she was going to be hit with another blast of reality to all that was happening. A visual reality.

It was time to join her mother and the others, and to watch the drones fly into Dallas.

It was something that wasn’t going to be done again until her mother and Duke convinced them to use the thermal imaging to check for life signs.

How she achieved that, Pam didn’t know. But Charlotte did.

It was hard watching it the first time. To see the images of people pulsing with life but stunned in a stance of death.

Charlotte believed or rather feared those people weren’t dead yet.

When she was growing up, her mother was always right. Pam wished she was wrong once and a while, and on the rare occasion she was.

Sadly, for as much as Pam wanted this to be one of those rare instances, she didn’t think her mother was wrong about the people inside of Dallas.

<><><><>

It was technical talk, military style, no emotions speaking as they monitored in the tech tent. Hero just wanted them to start, more than that he wanted drones to fly over Cleveland. Although the thermal signatures would be missing. He wasn’t sure that was all that much of a bad thing.

“Flyboy One, T minutes one minute and lifting.’

“Roger that. We have a visual.”

“We have a connection.”

“Flyboy Bogey is ready.”

“Give us a look.”

Hero felt a twinge of nervousness in his stomach. He looked over his shoulder at Charlotte. Her eyes were locked on the monitor, waiting, he supposed, just like him to see what happened.

The buzz of the drone’s motor carried to them first then the black screen showed a visual of Dallas, high above the streets, like a shot from an apocalypse movie.

The drone lowered, scanning the shot of the street, the cars and the bodies, halting mid movement.

The numbers scrolled across the screen, the timer, clock and then the images went to thermal mode.

Hero held his breath, he didn’t want to see yellow or red and he didn’t, he exhaled at the purple images.

“No signs of life, so far,” the man’s voice said. “Some of the bodies are still warm.”

“Oh my God,” Charlotte gasped out. “They stayed like that for that long. Oh my God.”

All Hero could think was that Charlotte was right. She knew right away, those people were suffering a slow death.

He kept thinking how horrible it was for them. Unable to move, breathe, call out for help. What hell they had gone through.

Hero had seen enough. Right after Charlotte walked out, he too left the tent, but for other reasons.

It dawned on him how sheltered they were in that tented area. Granted, Hero would be leaving with Charles to work on not tracking the phenomenon named after him, but to try and figure it out. Hero and the others were fed military images, told very precise information and statistics, but he didn’t have a clue what was really happening out there.

He knew it would be bad, but not how bad it was already.

Was society holding up?

According to Pam’s son, it wasn’t doing all that well in Cleveland.

What about the rest of the world?

He had caught some news stories, such as the woman in Florida who survived by staying in the water with her family. How she described the mass as being threatening yet peaceful.

Perhaps that was why the one village in India welcomed and waited for it.

No one ran. No one hid, they just embraced it … and died.

They thought it was God.

How truly awful it was for them to discover if it was indeed some mystical, mythical being, it certainly wasn’t a God.

Some thought it was aliens.

Others a black hole or time warp.

Hero wanted to say they were all ludicrous, but not much had been confirmed, so any theory, no matter how outrageous, was possible.

He opened his phone, scrolling through news stories, most were the same, barely updated. He sent a text to his former producer asking her to please keep him updated on anything new.

“Hero,” Charles called from behind him.

“Oh, hey.” He lowered his phone, still holding it in his hand.

“Everything alright?”

“Just checking to see if there’s anything we don’t know about.”

“I’m sure there’s a lot we don’t know about.”

Hero hummed a hmm.

“But we’ll learn, including what killed those people. By the time we get to the ship …”

“I’m sorry, the what? Did you say ship?”

“I did.”

“I thought we were going to some facility,” Hero stated.

“We know the ship has the equipment we need, the manpower we need and it’s on water.”

“The safest place to be.”

“Well, we still don’t know if the cold is a deterrent or a change in the composition of air. I mean something so slight, like slightly elevated carbon monoxide, not deadly to people could be the reason it doesn’t go into freezers or whatever, I’m just guessing here.”

“Like everyone,” Hero said.

“If you don’t want to go on the ship. I can see about placing you in the center outside of DC.”

“The original destination?”

Charles nodded. “Yep. But I want you on my team.”

“Then I’ll be on the ship.”

“Good boy.” Charles gave a swat to Hero’s arm. “We’re getting ready to leave. Transport leaves in sixty minutes.”

“Any word out of DC since it was hit?” Hero asked. “Did people get out?”

“Some yes. The president did.”

“Not surprising.”

“He wants answers.”

“Where is he now?” Hero asked.

“In a bunker. Where else?’

“Um … a ship,” Hero said. “I’d put the word out to get him on a ship. I mean really, if you think about it, we shouldn’t have to tell them what's safe. That should be a no brainer. In fact …” Hero paused. “Do we have a geologist on our team?”

“We do.”

“Good. Good.” Hero nodded.

“I think we’re both on the same train of thought.”

“I hope so. I mean think about it. NASA has it’s brainiacs looking at the sky, right? If the safest place without a doubt, proven without a doubt is water, then whatever this is,” Hero said. “It’s coming from the ground.”

<><><><>

Cleveland, OH

Two hours.

Two hours after Chip and his brother found the baby girl. Two hours after desperately running for help. The baby … cried.

It was a whimper at first, then it wailed.

Richard never left the child’s side, he couldn’t. He boasted he was an awesome grandfather and no baby got past him. Then again neither did Mark leave her side, Chip couldn’t figure that out.

There wasn’t much of a doctor staff. The nurse for the Red Cross helped get the items they needed.

They bathed her, kept wiping her down, and Richard ran an intravenous line into her little foot. He taped it to a homemade splint to keep it still and unable to fall out.

Chip wondered how that was possible seeing how the baby girl barely moved. In fact, Richard kept trying to get her to take a bottle, but she barely would swallow. An hour after sucking down the IV fluids, her color began to return and she took a couple drinks of her milk. An hour and a half she kicked her legs some. Then she cried.

Mark and Richard seemed to celebrate. He was happy for the child, he just wished he could make himself happy and contact his mother.

“Why do I still not have a signal,” Chip said when he returned to the tent where the baby was getting care.

Mark and Richard each took a side of the baby.

“Strange thing,” Richard replied. “Anyone in there or near there lost the ability to get a signal.”

“Were you in there?” Chip asked.

“No, I was home. In Middlefield. I made my way down to help.”

“Can I use your phone?” Chip asked.

“I don’t have a cell phone anymore. I got rid of it last year when Middlefield had the 'save the landline' campaign,” Richard said. “Best choice I ever made. It freed me. You should try it.”

Mark snapped his finger. “Didn’t they do that in Andover, as well? They had like a quirky slogan?”

Richard smiled some. “Yep. Andover’s Land Over Cell. Fifty percent of the population dropped their service.”

“Not hard,” Chip stated disgruntled. “Considering there’s like a thousand people in their town. It’s not 1980. No cell? “Who does that?”

“Me.” Richard nodded.

“Dude,” Mark scolded and he stared at his brother. “Quit being a dick.”

“Sorry,” Chip apologized to Richard.

“It’s fine. Ask around, someone has a phone. I’m sure.”

“Yeah.” Chip glanced once more down to his phone and then to the baby girl. “She looks like a different baby.

“Amazing what water can do,” Richard said lifting the baby’s head and trying to give her the bottle. He couldn’t hold her, not with all the lines running into her.

“Yeah,” Mark replied. “It’s amazing.”

“This little one will live.” Richard said. “I believe that. Did you want to try?” He showed the bottle to Mark.

“Oh, no, I’m good. I’ll watch and learn.”

“Watch and learn?” Chip asked. “For what?”

“So I know how to feed her.”

“For what?”

Mark laughed. “Because … she is a human being and needs to eat.”

“They have people for that,” Chip said.

Richard shook his head with a smile. “What people, Son?”

“Um, the Red Cross. Orphanage people.”

“Dude, seriously,” Mark said. “You just wanna leave her here?”

“And you don’t?”

“No. We can’t do that.”

“Well, we can’t just say, ‘oh look a baby, let’s take her’. I’m pretty sure there are laws you know.”

Richard held up his hand. “There may be a plan of action for abandoned children. Let’s see what we can find out.”

“Well, if there’s not,” Mark said. “We’re taking her.”

“Oh my God. That’s insane. You think you might be too young to care for her?” Chip asked.

Richard scoffed. “You boys are about the same age I was when I had my first kid. If you’re old enough to have a beer, you’re old enough to take responsibility for a baby.”

“When you made it,” Chip said. “Besides, she’s naked.”

Richard crinkled his brow. “She’s a baby.”

“She’s a naked baby. I’m sure she’s cold.”

“It’s the Red Cross,” Richard said. “I’m sure they have stuff. Go … do something instead of giving your brother a hard time about this baby.”

“A hard time?” Chip asked. “Mark, am I giving you a hard time?”

“Yes.”

Chip grumbled. “Okay, I’ll be back. I’ll see if I can find her some clothes or diaper or something. I’m surprised she’s not pissing all over the place.”

“She was severely dehydrated,” Richard replied. “She needed to replenish. I’m sure, soon enough she will ... oops. Yep, there it comes.”

Another grumble, and not wanting to see the baby tinkle, Chip walked from the urgent care tent which was oddly set up outside a Rite Aid Pharmacy.

He nodded looking at the building. “I’ll go in there and get diapers,” he said out loud to himself.

Weaving though the tents, the storage pods set up like offices, trucks and people, Chip arrived at the store.

It was closed.

Why he even thought it would be open, he didn’t know. After all, it was the middle of some sort of weird event that was destroying cities and wiping out people, did he really think some worker would sludge their way through it all to work.

“They’re closed,” a voice said.

Chip turned and looked to the soldier standing there. “Yeah, I kind of figured. I was hoping I could get diapers. Not for me.”

“Of course, are you here in the camp, staying, I mean.”

“For the moment, yeah.”

“There’s a truck over there.” He pointed to the large tractor trailer, Red Cross insignia on the side and a table spread out right under the wide open back end. “There’s a woman that works at the table, she’s probably in the truck. That truck has supplies, clothes, stuff like that. She may have diapers.”

“Wow, thanks, man.”

“Good luck,” he said.

Chip took a step and stopped, spinning on his heels. “Oh, hey, can I use your phone?”

“It’s a government phone. I can’t,” he replied.

“Do you have your personal cell?”

He shook his head. “Got rid of it during the big 'save the landline' campaign last year.”

“You’re kidding. Do you think anyone around here has a phone I can use?”

“Marcy in the truck does. They set up temporary phones. I think there’s a line.”

“I’ll go look, thanks again.”

Eyeing up the Red Cross truck, Chip made a beeline for it. There were people at the table and he could see another line forming next to the truck. He bet that was the phone line.

All those people, like himself, had lost their homes and had no where to go.

But he and his brother did have place to go, and that was to find their mother, aunt and grandmother.

Finally after ten minutes he made it to the front of the line where a very patient woman with a big Red Cross name tag smiled sympathetically at him.

“What can I help you with?” she asked.

“Do you by chance have diapers?”

“We do. What size?"

“Small.”

“How small, they come in numbers,” Marcy said.

‘Like pant size?”

“Sort of. How old is your daughter?”

“Oh, she’s not mine.” chip said. “We found her. She’s getting treated in the medical tent now.”

“How wonderful you found her. It could have been bad. Okay, how old do you suppose she is?”

“Old. You mean young.”

Marcy smiled. “Yes, young. How young is she?”

“Young like, little like … she just popped out little.”

“Oh my. Alright hold on.” Marcy used a lift, a slow lift that brought her up to the truck.

It wasn't long before she stepped back out on the lift and lowered down. She had an arm full of stuff.

“Here you go.” She handed the items to Chip. “Diapers, wipes, a couple sleepers and a blanket.”

“Thank you. She’s naked, she needs this stuff. Thank you.”

“If you need anything else ...”

“Yes, the phone.”

“There are two. The line is long, but there’s a three minute limit.”

“Cool, thanks. I’ll take these to the baby and then …”

“Chip!”

Chip stopped and looked back.

“Everything okay?” Marcy asked.

“I think someone is calling me. Do you hear?”

“Chip!” the male voice came from a distance. Was it his brother? Was something wrong?

“If your name is Chip, I hear that.”

“It is.” Items in his arms, Chip stepped away from the truck. A fast wave of panic hit him.

“Chip! Mark Cannon! Are you here? Chip, Mark, Cannon, are you here! I’m looking for Chip and Mark Cannon.”

The voice, where was it coming from? He scanned the many people moving about. It obviously wasn’t Mark calling his own name.

The man called out once more and in all the confusion, Chip still hadn’t recognized the voice. He should have.

It was his cousin Bobby.

Knowing who to look for now, Chip returned the call. “Bobby! Bobby.”

A few feet near the Rite Aid entrance he spotted him and Chip smiled. Calling his name out over and over, Chip raced over.

Bobby was standing by the soldier who gave up his cell phone, and when Bobby spotted him, he grinned widely making his way to his cousin.

They embraced.

Bobby laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to squash your stuff.”

“It’s fine. It’s good to see you.”

“Yeah, you too. Oh my God, you’re alive,” Bobby said. “Is Mark …”

“Mark’s fine.”

“I was afraid you didn’t get out.”

“We didn’t. We made it into a cooler. My dad cut out and didn’t tell us.”

“Hey, you went to find him. You’re alive. Mark’s alive.” He put his hand on Chip’s shoulder. “Before we do anything, we have to let your mom know.”

“Oh, good, you have a phone,” Chip gasped out. “Strangest thing. If you were in there or near, you can no longer get a signal. And the two people I asked to borrow a phone to call her, they didn’t have one. They gave it up.”

“Ah.” Bobby nodded. “The save landline campaign, I bet.”

“How did you hear about that?”

“Everyone did. Let’s call Aunt Reese.” He lifted his phone and paused. “Why do you have diapers?"

TWENTY-FIVE – IT’S OKAY, IT’s NOT

Paden City, WV

Reese sobbed.

The moment she ended the call, she dropped down to her knees in gratefulness and sobbed.

She couldn’t stop. The worry had run deep within her soul and when she learned her sons were fine, she just broke down.

When her phone rang and she saw it was Bobby, she knew it could be good or bad news. It wasn’t an update, she knew that.

It wasn’t to talk to his own mother; he knew she was headed to Holly River.

Charlotte had gone up with Morgantown to be with Erik, stating they would be down to the cabins as soon as he was well.

In fact, Reese felt alone.

It had been hours since both her mother and sister left.

Not long after them leaving, Hero and Charles left.

Everyone was packing up the Paden City camp, moving it to the outskirts of Sisterville where they could learn more.

She didn’t want to leave. When she spoke to her sons before everything, they knew where she was. Reese vowed to stay there until she knew they were okay.

David stayed with her. He was the diligent escort, comforting and kind. He steered clear though of stating her sons were fine. Maybe he didn’t want to get her hopes up if they weren’t.

All that was done and over with the second she heard her son’s voice.

“We’re fine, Mom. We’re fine.” Chip said.

“You made it out.”

“No, we didn’t. We followed your advice. We found a cooler.”

“You … you didn’t get exposed, did you?” Reese asked, her mind going to the young man, Erik.

“No. We’re good. We would have called, but we didn’t have any signal at all.”

Reese shared a smile with David. Nodding to him to let him know all was fine. “Chip, are you on your way? Aunt Pam is already probably in Holly River or close to it.”

“Not Gram?” he asked.

“She’ll get there. She’s in Morgantown. We met a young man who survived, he lost his family and needs medical attention. She’s staying with him and will take him there after his treatment.”

“Wow, now I see where Mark gets it.”

“What do you mean?”

“The reason we haven’t left yet. There’s a whole baby story to tell you.”

“Baby story?”

“Yeah, I promise I’ll tell you later. Bobby needs to call his dad. Then we’ll head out, more than likely tomorrow. Even if we could leave right now, it’s starting to get too late.”

“You’re right. Chip, Aunt Pam said there’s a lot of chaos there. Are you sure you’ll be able to get out?”

“We are at a Red Cross camp, it’s pretty calm here. Even Bobby said so. I promise, Mom, we’ll get out.”

“Okay. Call me. Be careful. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he replied.

“And Chip. Give Mark a hug and kiss for me.”

With a laughing, ‘okay’, Chip ended the call.

“They’re fine,” David said. “I’m really happy for you.”

“Me, too.” Her eyes went beyond David’s shoulder when she saw Duke. He walked with a woman. “Captain is here.”

“You’re smiling,” Duke approached. “You got good news.”

“I did,” Reese answered. “My boys are fine. They’ll leave tomorrow for Holly River.”

The woman with him gasped out a sign of relief and placed her hand to her chest. “Oh, thank God. I was praying for you.”

“This is my wife, Iva,” Duke introduced. “She came to bring me food. And … to talk to you.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Reese said. “David’s been great company.”

“He’s a good boy,” Iva said. “We know you’re anxious now to get to Holly River. But it’s getting late. By the time you get there it’ll be dark, those mountain roads have no lights and you know it’s all one lane to the cabins. I wanted to invite to stay at our home tonight.”

“Ma’am, I’m really familiar with those roads,” David said. “Even if it does get dark, we’ll be fine.”

“I know your parents,” she wagged a finger. “They would give me a heck of a time if they found out I didn’t try to stop you until morning.”

Duke tilted his head at his wife. “You want to argue with her?”

Reese smiled. “That is really sweet of you. I mean, I can stay here.”

“Nonsense,” Iva said. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

“She won’t take no for an answer,” Duke said.

“We have the extra room,” Iva told them. “I know you have been eating this military garbage. I’ll get you a good home cooked meal. A warm bed and a hot bath.”

“I could use a bath.” Reese nodded. “Thank you very much.”

“And you’ll be able to relax knowing your children are safe.” Surprising Reese, Iva hugged her. “I’ll be waiting for you in my car.”

“Thank you again.”

“Well.” David faced her. “I’ll get word to my parents.”

“You do that,” Duke told him. ‘They’ll be glad you waited. Gather your stuff, I’m going to walk Iva to the car. Are you good?” he asked Reese.

“I’m great, thank you.”

Reese watched Duke walk off with his much shorter wife. She truly did appreciate the offer. It would be nice to sleep in a bed, not a cot, and to finally be able to not worry.

“You’re a good woman, Iva,” Duke told her as they got to the car. “I wouldn’t have thought of it.” He kissed her on the cheek.

“Yes, you would have. Now try not to be too late. You need some time off, too.”

“I’ll try.” Duke felt the buzzing of his phone before he heard it ring. He lifted it from his front shirt pocket and stared.

“Who is it?” Iva asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Well you take that, I’ll head home with our guests.”

He muttered a thanks, stepped away from his wife and answered the call, “This is Captain Carson.”

“Hey, Captain, this is County Officer Mason.”

“How are you? What’s going on?” Duke asked.

“How far from Sisterville are you?”

“I’m in Paden City.”

“Can you get here?”

“Now?”

“Yeah, now,” Mason said. “There’s something you need to hear.”

“Can you tell me?”

“I could, but you’ll have questions.”

“I’m on my way.”

Duke ended the call. He was curious as to why the county officer even called him. They rarely if ever communicated. But it had to be important and it dealt with Sisterville so Duke didn’t hesitate to head there.

He didn’t need the lights on his squad car. It was only a few minutes drive and the highway was empty.

When he arrived at Sisterville, there was a perimeter already set up. He spotted Officer Mason standing there outside of a small tent, as if waiting for him.

He lifted his hand in a wave as Duke pulled up and stopped the car.

“Mason, what’s going on?” Duke extended his hand to him.

“Glad to see you out of quarantine.”

“Thanks. What’s up?”

“News will eventually break, but since you were part of this from the beginning, I wanted you to hear it first and get your questions out of the way.”

“Alright, now I am really curious.”

“Yeah, wait. Curiosity is an understatement.” Mason pointed to the ten. “County Examiner is in there. He got the results of the first autopsy.”

Duke’s eyes widened, “You’re shitting me.”

“Nope.”

“They had government guys and military on this. He’s done?”

“Oh, yeah, you know Rogers. He really is competitive, when he found out the military guys had bodies to examine, he worked non-stop.”

“And he knows what caused their death?”

“Well … it’s more complicated than that. Let’s go.”

Walking along side Mason, Duke made his way into the tent.

It wasn’t a medical facility, it was more like an office and the County Medical Examiner, Donald Rogers, stood at a table with the Governor.

It surprised Duke, he expected the Governor to side with the military. But Donald Rogers was good and Duke was anxious to hear what he was going to say.

“Captain,” Donald extended his hand. “Thank you for coming. I know you have been locked up.”

“Wasn’t that bad,” Duke replied, then shook hands with the Governor. “Governor. Glad to see you.”

“We have the best in the country. I knew he’d pull through,” the Governor said.

“And fast,” Duke commented.

“Well, not fast,” Donald replied. “Diligent is more like it, and I wasn’t stopping. This was fascinating.” He lifted a folder. “Here are the photographs if you want to see.”

“I’ll pass,” Duke said. “So you know how they died?”

“I have a good idea. I had to run toxicology myself, because, well, no one is showing up to work to run them in the labs.”

“What do you have?” Duke asked.

“It’s not pretty,” Donald explained. “What ever it is affects the central nervous system first. Essentially shutting down the body. Then the organs begin to go, one at a time, with the last being the frontal lobe of the brain. Which left them thinking as everything else shut down.”

Mason asked. “So they were conscious while they died? How long?”

Donald hesitated before answering. He seemed disturbed by it. “Up to twenty-four hours.”

“What!” Duke blasted. “Are you telling me these people froze …”

“I wouldn’t say froze, they were not cold.”

“You know what I mean,” Duke clarified. “They were frozen still in a state and then they slowly died?”

“Yes, it was painful and tortuous.”

“Are you serious?” Duke stated in disbelief.

The Governor interjected. “I couldn’t believe it myself. But there’s more, there’s a lot more. Doctor Rogers, continue.”

“The blood thickens,” Donald said. “Almost coagulates, but not enough, and for some reason clots weren’t formed. It thickens, slowly moving through the veins, slowing the heart, the breathing, everything but the thought process. Each organ ... solidifies. They become hard. Now I wouldn’t say like a rock, the skin was pretty petrified and that is the best term I can come up with.”

“Holy hell,” Duke shook his head in disbelief.

“When I was a boy, my father was a bible guy,” Donald said. “One of the stories he told us to frighten us into being good was Sodom and Gomorra. That came to mind when I saw the victims.”

“You’re talking Lot’s wife,” Duke said. “Genesis 19. Yeah, she turned into a pillar of salt.”

Donald snapped his finger. “That’s it.”

“Are you saying these people turned into a pillar of salt?”

“No.” Donald shook his head. “Just pointing out they looked like it. The sodium concentration in their bodies was through the roof, hence causing the drying. Ever salt your driveway? If you don’t wear gloves the salt affects your hands. They also had so much tar and carbon in the lungs. The exterior of the lungs were hardened but inside … that.”

“What if the person you examined was a smoker?” Duke asked.

Donald shrugged. “Could be. If they smoked like ten packs a day for thirty years. No, this was not normal.”

“What if …” Mason spoke up. “The story of Lot’s wife wasn’t some bible tale of God’s reign but a historical account of this. Maybe this happened in Sodom.”

Duke looked at him. “It’s happened before. Not ruling that out.”

“Whatever is in this black, this anomaly,” said Donald. “It seeps into the lungs and through the skin.”

“That would explain,” Duke added. “Why when a survivor in Sisterville touched it, it destroyed his fingers.”

“It works fast. If you’re in it, you die,” Donald stated.

The Governor asked. “Well, what is it? What is this black?”

“I have no idea,” Donald answered. “That’s beyond my base of knowledge. Whatever it is, let’s hope it’s not here to stay, because if it is,” he said. “We’re all doomed.”

<><><><>

Morgantown, WV

Charlotte hadn’t left his side. She made that promise to Erik and stayed with him. Even though Duke’s oldest daughter offered her a place to stay, she didn’t want to break her promise.

Now he rested. In a deep sleep from the anesthesia. Erik had surgery and they amputated his fingers. That was the only bad news. The rest was good. Whatever it was that affected his fingers had not spread. He was in good health. His spirits weren’t bad, considering the surgery he had faced.

He’d be able to leave. A day or two of rest to make sure there wasn’t an infection.

Then she and he would take Hero’s news van and head up to the mountains.

Charlotte told him all about Holly River, even though she had never been there.

She told him how it became the best escape place in the world for her family. How they went there all the time and even though they loved it, the drive was excruciating.

“But it’s worth it, they tell me, once you’re there, it’s worth all the headaches.”

She didn’t tell him about recently losing her grandson. That was a conversation for another time. She wanted him to focus on the positive, on getting well.

It was more than his health, it was also his mental state.

Unlike Charlotte, Erik didn’t only lose his home, he lost his family, and everyone he knew in Sisterville.

“Tell me something about your parents,” Charlotte said. “What did your parents do?”

“My mom was a baker, my dad worked at the bank.”

“They say Sisterville shut down on Thursdays, is that true?”

“Yeah, it is. Every Thursday at noon.”

“Was it a religious thing?”

“Honestly,” Erik said, “The story changed my entire life. But it was such a thing, something that had been happening in the town for over a hundred years. No one even questioned it anymore. I mean, I worked, but it was only after ten at night when you were allowed to go back outside.”

“Allowed?” Charlotte asked with a chuckle. “Was there really a curfew?”

“Oh, yeah. I think it was more for teenagers,” Erik replied. “Mostly, once it shut down at noon, people just relaxed. I always thought that was why everyone was so nice. They always had that extra time.”

“Sisterville sounds wonderful.”

“It is. It was.” Erik lowered his head.

“I’m sorry, honey.” She rested her hand on his. “But at least Sisterville has you to keep that memory alive.”

Charlotte did everything she could to keep the conversation going with him. To keep his mind off of sad things and focused on the good. She knew he was scared and alone.

She read while she sat at his bed side, every fifteen minutes getting up to walk around the room, to look outside.

To look and reflect, be thankful for what she still had.

They were alive. Bobby, Mark and Chip made it out of Cleveland. Reese had calmed down, left the tent and was staying with Duke and his wife. She’d leave in the morning.

Just before the sun had set, she received word Pam had made it to the cabin. There was no cell service up there, but they did have Wi-Fi. She had sent a message.

All was good. And as she looked out the window to the streets of Morgantown. She absorbed the normalcy of it. The cars moving down the street, headlights reflecting off the wet streets from the recent drizzle. Were they moving about oblivious as to what was happening or were they looking over their shoulder waiting for it to happen to them?

The sound of someone entering the room drew Charlotte’s attention away from the window. It was a nurse, checking Erik’s vital signs.

She smiled gently at Charlotte. “Can I get you anything?” she asked.

“No, no.” Charlotte shook her head. “I’m fine, thank you. How is he?”

“Everything looks good. He’ll wake up soon. Just press the call button when he does.”

“I will, thank you.” Charlotte observed her as she charted things in the computer before leaving. Normally, Charlotte would have been a worry wart about Erik not waking up yet. But he was exhausted from everything that happened and it was probably the first peaceful rest he had gotten.

Charlotte had a keen sense and a good gut instinct. She knew the young man was fine and everything would be okay.

<><><><>

NOAA Research Vessel – Ronald Brown

It was the largest research vessel of the National Oceanic and Atmospherics Administration. Measuring nearly three hundred feel long with berthing for fifty-nine people. While nearly half of them were crew, there were thirty individuals from the Department of Defense’s Unexplained Ariel Phenomenon Task Force, and that shocked Hero. He didn’t even know such a department existed, let alone they had that many tech people.

Charles told him there were also crew on the boat who were quite versed in radar and satellite imagery.

The journey to the ship was a long trip. They stopped at Washington DC to pick up crew, then travelled to Virginia and finally boarded. But Hero and the others had to help carry and set up equipment. Finally they had dinner which was a piece of chicken, potatoes and ice cream. Afterwards he could relax for the night.

Not the whole night through, Hero would work the night shift. He preferred that.

For a few hours he would rest, but then he arrived to his room. He heard about how small ship rooms were, but he didn’t quite get the gist of it until he stepped into his.

It was a lot like those prison cells he saw on television and the movies. Small, barely enough room to move. A sink in between the bunks. The room slept four, but fortunately he only had one roommate.

It would get claustrophobic with four people in there, not to mention smelly.

He didn’t know his bunkmate’s name, not yet. Just that he was a tall, thin, studious looking guy who immediately hung a picture of his wife and daughter on the wall behind his bunk.

Hero didn’t know how he would sleep. More than likely, on this night, he would not.

He smiled politely at the guy as he loaded his own gear into the locker. Hero didn’t know the etiquette on ship introductions. He knew from watching prison documentaries, that he should keep his mouth shut.

“Hey, I know you,” the guy said in an upbeat manner. His voice slightly laced with a southern drawl. “You’re that Cleveland weather guy.”

“I am. You don’t sound like you’re from Cleveland,” Hero replied.

“I’m not. My sister lives there. We were just there last week.”

“Your … your sister was in Cleveland?” Hero asked nervously.

“She lives there, yes. She was not there when the thing hit, thank God. I got called right after the Sisterville thing and she came down to help my wife immediately.”

“That’s good. I’m glad.”

“Me, too,” he said. “Baker.” He held out his hand.

Hero shook it. “Nice to meet you. Hero.”

“What?”

“That’s my name, Hero. Hero Galanis.”

“Galanis? That’s what they’re naming the thing,” Baker said.

“Because I discovered one fourteen years ago.”

“How about that. I’m with a celebrity. Your first name is Hero, is that just what you call yourself?”

Hero chuckled. “It’s my first name.”

“What kind of name is Hero? Your parents sure set high expectations on you with that name.”

“It’s actually Greek.”

“Okay, sweet. So, Hero the Cleveland Weatherman, aren’t you also their Sexiest Man?”

“Um, voted for that, yeah. I’m pretty sure there are sexier men,” Hero said jokingly.

“Probably.”

Hero tossed him a fast glance.

“Joking. What happened to your hair? It doesn’t look like your photos.”

“I haven’t had any product in two days.”

“That’ll do it.” Baker swing his legs over the bunk and set them on the floor. He reached for his shoes. “You working tonight or did you just finish a shift?”

“No, I am working tonight.”

“How about that,” Baker said. “Me, too.”

“If you’re working tonight, why aren’t you resting? You’re putting your shoes on.”

“I’m not gonna be able to sleep. I might as well work, right?”

“Right. What do you do?”

“I’m the geologist.”

“The?” Hero asked. “As in the only one?”

“Yep, and one of the best in Kentucky, I assure you.”

“I believe you.”

Baker finished putting on his shoes and he stood. He was much taller than he looked lying on that bunk. “You staying or heading down to the storm room?”

“The storm room.”

“Kinda funny name for you considering you’re a weather man. But that’s what they are calling it. It has all the equipment and we brain storm.”

“That’s a good name.” Hero began to walk with him down the narrow passageway. “So, Baker, any thoughts to what this thing is?”

“I have some theories.”

“I think it’s coming from the ground,” Hero said.

“I do, too. I mean where else is it coming from. If it was the sky we’d see it forming.”

“That’s true.” Hero stayed close to Baker. His bunkmate made a series of left and rights, confirming to Hero that he’d get lost when he tried to get back to his bunk.

“So, Hero, when you discovered this, what did you see?”

“Are you asking me curiously or professionally?”

“Both actually. What did you see? What made you say, ‘hey, wow, this thing is weird’?”

“Not sure I said, ‘hey wow, this thing is weird’, but it was concerning and I thought it was a strange phenomenon.”

“Which it was.”

“It was. It looked like an error on a satellite image at first. A smudge. I was working for NASA when the Space station sent down a random image for us to put on line. You know. Cool looks from space.”

“You worked for NASA?”

“In satellite imagery, yes. Anyhow,” Hero said. “It looked like a bad digital print out. They resent the same image, the same black smudge. I asked them to do another image of the area, and it came back again, with the black spot. Only it was bigger.”

“My estimate of this thing is when it hits, it moved about a mile an hour,” Baker said. “It’s seeping up and spreading out.”

“Do you think it’s coming from one vent and fanning over an area or venting from multiple areas?” Hero asked, as they walked up a flight of stairs.

“I don’t know. All the areas hit, were hit so fast,” Baker said. “I want or rather need to see it happen. Then I can tell.” He stopped by a room. “But for my family’s sake and everyone else, I’m really hoping we never see another one.” He walked into the room. “Let’s get to work.”

Work.

Hero was ready. Hero figured they had arrived at the storm room. Computers were everywhere. In the center of the room was a table with multiple satellite images of earth. Plus, why else would Baker exclaim it was time to work.

He thought about what Baker said about how he hoped there wouldn’t be anymore anomalies. Hero felt the same way. He wanted it over. But he knew it was far from over.

<><><><>

Paden City, WV

It was a soothing cup of tea, piping hot and splashed with just the right amount of peach brandy. Reese sipped it, enjoying the warmth as it rolled down her throat. She was comfortable and it was the first time in days she felt that way.

She sat on the sofa in Duke’s living room, she had her hot bath, and now her feet were propped up on a rose patterned ottoman, while she wore a pair of fluffy slippers.

It was late. David had gone to bed already. He wanted to rest up and get a really early start. Reese was anxious to go as well. Iva was still awake. She was doing what she called, ‘nervous baking’ in the kitchen. Reese cold smell the sweet aroma of cinnamon flowing from the kitchen.

The meatloaf, potatoes and green beans were wonderful as was the fresh baked bread they had for dinner. Reese was too stuffed to have desert, but she did enjoy the coffee perked on the stove in a tin pot.

Duke was there for dinner, but by the time Reese finished her bath, he had gone back out to work.

Hence the reason for Iva’s late night baking.

After the previous day and a half of insidious worrying, it felt good to relax. She just hoped she wasn’t being a bother and that somehow, Iva was staying awake to be a good hostess.

Reese reflected on her evening. She hadn’t spoken to Pam, but she did speak to her mother. The young man, Erik, handled his surgery like a champ and was a little groggy and nauseated from the surgery, otherwise he was fine.

And her sons.

Reese smiled when she thought about them. How proud she was. Her nephew Bobby told her the reason why they hadn’t left yet. Mark and Chip had rescued a newborn, and because of them the baby was still alive.

Her sons didn’t want to leave until they knew the baby was safe and sound. Hearing Reese talk she figured it was Mark who was behind them wanting to stay, Chip just wasn’t a kid person. He always said he was never having children.

Reese looked up from her cup when she head the clank of a plate.

Iva stood there. She set a dish on the coffee table. On it was a sweet roll of sorts, it looked amazing.

“Caramel cinnamon bun,” Iva said. “Let me see that Cinnabon place try that.” She waved a finger.

“It looks delicious, thank you.” Reese set down her cup and reached for the plate. Though she wasn’t really hungry, Iva had went to the trouble to bring it to her.

“My nervous baking.” Iva sat on the couch next to her. “Are you nervous? I mean, you’re still awake.”

“I’m always a little bit of a night owl. Plus, I am really enjoying this,” Reese said. ‘Your home is so welcoming.”

“Thank you. We try.”

“Have you reached your children?”

“We have. They were more worried about us.”

“That makes sense.” Reese took a bite, she chewed slowly absorbing the wonder array of flavors that danced around her mouth. “Oh, Iva this is wonderful. You’re not having one?”

“I had enough icing and caramel while baking. I’m good.”

“Have you heard from Duke?” Reese asked.

“Here and there.”

“Is that why you are nervous baking?”

“Yes. Him leaving rather abruptly made me worry.”

“Is it happening again?”

Iva sadly shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t say so and he is rarely this secretive. I only knew he was in quarantine because a county officer called me.”

“I don’t know your husband well, but from what I did learn, that just doesn’t sound like him not to check in.”

“And it’s not,” Iva said. “When things happened with Sisterville, he said very little. He said even less when he rushed out after dinner. That tells me he’s worried. When he’s worried, he doesn’t want to worry me.”

“Hopefully, it’s nothing but a staff shortage. With all that’s going on, I bet people aren’t going to work. You kind of re-examine your priorities in a crisis.”

“Isn’t that the truth.”

Both woman looked over their shoulders at the same time when the sound of the door opening carried to them.

Reese looked at Iva. “See? He’s back. No worries.” After another bite, she set down her plate and reached for her cup.

“I smell those caramel rolls,” Duke said pausing in the open door. “Are you nervous baking, Iva?”

“I am.” She smiled. ‘They’re fresh if you want …”

Reese was smiling, then she saw Iva’s brow crinkle when she stopped speaking mid sentence.

“Duke?” Iva said his name with questioned. “I know that look. What is it?”

“I have some news.” Duke closed the front door. “It’s not good.”

TWENTY-SIX – CREEPING

NOAA Research Vessel – Ronald Brown

When Hero looked at the large digital image displayed as one across nine monitors on the wall, all he could think about was ninth grade geography. It was earth, created as a wall map. The round face of the globe spread out to make a rectangular image that included all continents and oceans. It was similar to the ones hanging on the wall of almost every classroom.

But this wasn’t a map, this wasn’t a drawing. It was a global satellite view of earth manipulated for easy view.

It was updated every hour.

When he and Baker started working earlier, monitoring along with everyone else, that image wasn’t there.

Nine people in the room, each were given a section of earth to monitor. Earth was big, each section was a chore. But a woman from Wisconsin spotted something. A tiny spot in northern Russia. That spot debunked the theory that the anomaly steered clear of the cold.

Once that was spotted, hence it began.

That was at eleven at night.

By midnight, the tiny spot in Siberia wasn’t the only mark on the globe.

Like blemishes on a teenager, the black spots were popping up everywhere.

No rhyme or reason could be seen. No place was immune.

No place except for the ocean.

All Hero and the others could do was watch, monitor and report.

Hero wasn’t as fortunate as those three people who had Antarctica. Their longitude and latitude sections were easy. Unlike Hero who had the entire continental United States and South America with the exception of the southern most part of Chile and Argentina.

When he would see something he would zoom in, mark the areas circumference, time and place. That was all he could do except check on it every hour.

Sisterville wasn’t a big town, when the anomaly started just after four in the morning, it only took an hour to encompass the entire town. Like originally believed, the ‘black' spread out at a speed of one mile per hour.

Hero had silently done the math. If the Sisterville Galanis continued to grow at its current speed, with the land mass of the United States, to cover the entire country it would take sixty-three thousand hours or seven years to cover the whole US.

If it didn’t stop, and Hero added Cleveland, Dallas, Washington DC and the other areas hit, if they all grew it would take eight months.

But in all of the cities, every city hit by the anomaly, the ‘black’ stopped after ninety minutes.

It didn’t grow anymore, it didn’t spread, it just stopped. Then twenty-four hours after it had started, it vanished.

But the new events were different.

Las Cruces, New Mexico confirmed that to Hero.

One began there, just after midnight, and by three am it was still growing, expanding out, pushing to threaten El Paso within a day if it didn’t stop.

It showed no signs of stopping.

None of them did.

Before four in the morning, every single person brought in by Charles was in the storm room. They partnered up. Hero worked with a woman named Colleen, a Grad student out of Kansas City’s Geology program.

To Hero, the situation seemed to grow more dire by the hour.

The large map on the wall, the one that looked liked something in his geography class suddenly looked like an outbreak map they showed on a science fiction movie.

Spots were growing, expanding everywhere.

In a way it was a contagion, it was a virus, a geological one.

Baker stayed calm, looking over research, not saying much. He was really focused on something and Hero didn’t know what it was.

Everyone else in the room were merely being spotters. It didn’t take a meteorologist or scientist to do what they were doing which was watching and measuring the events.

“Some one give me good news,” Charles said as he came into the room. “Please give me good news.”

Silence.

Finally, an individual spoke up. “Region Nine, it’s been two hours and no new events have emerged.”

“Okay, thank you,” Charles said. “That’s good news.” He looked over to Baker. “Baker, have you finished looking over the footage?”

Bake nodded. “I did.”

“Have you come up with anything?”

“I have.”

“What footage?” Hero asked.

“France sent in cameras,” Charles explained. “When a Galanis began outside of Paris, they sent in ground drones to find the source. Baker has the footage.”

“And I watched it,” Baker said. “Comparing what it shows with the data all of you are giving. Can I get everyone to just stop for a second? I know you don’t want to, but I need to speak to everyone.”

Hero pushed back from his monitor and welcomed the diversion.

“Alright.” Baker walked over to a computer and after a few clicks, the main map, the outbreak map on the big wall disappeared and was replaced with black and white footage. “As you can see …” Baker pointed. “The black.”

In the distance was the anomaly, it was nothing new.

“Now look to this left corner.” Baker pointed. “Wait for it.”

A few seconds after he said that, a think black stream emerged from the ground. It billowed up and out, until it joined up with the main anomaly.

“It’s like nothing I ever heard of or seen,” Baker said. “The larger one, the one that emerged first seems to be like a host. Each newer and smaller one seeks it out to grow stronger. They join together to create a black wall that’s an unstoppable force. It’s coming from under us. This I think we all expected or theorized. This is why we are safe on the water. Whatever is happening, has happened before. On this scale? Who’s to say. Out of the five mass extinction events, we have confirmed only one cause. The rest are speculation. Volcanoes, global warming. I think we are seeing the cause of maybe some of these events. Whatever is seeping through builds up beneath earth’s surface until it reaches a point where it needs to release. Which I think is what we’re seeing now.”

“The events before this,” Charles said. “Years ago, hundreds of years ago … all … venting. We have confirmed the bodies of the victims have high concentrations of tar, carbon, and sodium. Which if you look at studies, scientists have contributed to volcanic activity or climate change.”

Hero spoke up. “So this could be just a regular thing every hundred million years or so?”

Baker nodded. “And millions of years from now, some scientist will say volcanoes.”

“But there’s not been a single extinction event,” Hero said. “That eliminated a hundred percent of all life.”

“And this one won’t either,” Baker replied. “Life isn’t just human life. Marine life will survive this.”

“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Charles waved his hand. “Are we now classifying this as an extinction event?”

Baker nodded. “We are.” He switched off the drone footage and placed the map back on the wall. “Here it is. The beginning.” His hand motioned across the black freckled image.

Hero interjected. “We have to classify it as that, plan for it. See these spots, all of them are still growing, still expanding and they aren’t stopping. They won’t stop until, in my opinion, they cover every single inch of land mass.”

Charles shook his head. “This is not making sense. Each event started and stopped in twenty-four hours. Yes, it left a trail of destruction but it stopped and left. How many places are we looking at here?”

Baker answered. “In the United States alone forty-three. Looks like Dallas is getting a double dose.”

Charles ran his hand down his face. “And they’re still growing. We’re sure.”

Hero nodded. “When one starts, it isn’t showing any signs of stopping. We all see where it’s headed. All these expanding at a mile an hour.”

“How long?” Charles asked. “How long until it happens, assuming it doesn’t stop like it did in other places. You’re saying a mile an hour. I’m looking at a map with a lot of land unaffected. We can move people to the oceans, to ships, save as many as we can.”

Baker nodded. “I think that is the course of action we should focus on. Instead of the why or how it’s happening, we need to focus on living beyond it.”

“Agreed,” Charles said. “So how long do we have? Months? Weeks?”

Baker softly and sadly huffed out. “I wish. You look at this, you think … we have time. We have time to prepare. When reality is … look at the map. Every second, every hour, these marks will expand. If it doesn’t stop, if they keep growing at the current rate,” Baker said. “We have four days.”

<><><><>

Paden City, WV

“Four days?” Reese asked Duke. “You’re telling us we have four days and the world is over?

The half-eaten sweet roll still sat on the coffee table next to the spiked tea. It wasn’t news Duke wanted to deliver, but he had to.

When he heard from Hero those anomalies were appearing all over the world, that it was some sort of grand finale like a firework display, Duke didn’t want to believe it.

But Hero was convincing.

He sounded sad.

So after viewing the images Hero had sent to him, Duke made his way home. He didn’t need to be a scientist to know all those places, all those spots all over the world were a sign of bad things to come.

Did he think it would be four days? No.

He was explaining it to Iva and Reese when Hero called him again.

It wasn’t long after he had gotten home, an hour after Duke had explained things to Reese and Iva. After he broke it down and told them it looked as if it was just exploding.

Using Hero’s words, he told them that the event was now global, and there was no stopping it.

At first it seemed as if it would take a while. As if they had months to plan for the world’s end.

This wasn’t the case.

Hero called back with the final estimate.

Four days.

To go where? To do what?

Was there even anywhere safe?

All questions no one had answers to. There were only guesses.

Then Hero sent a map. He sent it via text and Duke transferred it over to the iPad to see it better as they all gathered around.

Even David woke up from all the talking.

Around the kitchen table they sat, writing down questions they’d ask Hero when they spoke to him next.

“You know what this looks like, don’t you?” Duke looked at Iva.

“Those old cold war maps,” she replied. “It’s unreal. Hero called them contagion maps, not sure what they are, but these definitely look like the ones they showed.”

“What are cold war maps?” Reese asked.

“Years back, Civil defense, used to do yearly update maps,” Duke explained. “They put them in pamphlets to help the general population survive should there be an all out nuclear attack on the United States. The maps showed where things were hit. Which cities would likely be hit.”

Iva pointed to the image Hero sent. “All these black spots are reminiscent. Only this is worse.

Duke finished her thoughts. “These are growing. Hero did say it’s been a couple hours and no new ones are popping up.”

“Do they need to?” Iva asked. “Mother nature has strategically nuked us with whatever this natural phenomenon is. They are placed just right. They’ll grow until everything is covered.”

“Everything but water,” Duke said. “Well, the oceans.”

“Oh my God.” Reese’s hand shot to her mouth.

“What are the closest to us?” David asked. “What is around us?

Duke peered at the image. “It looks like Pittsburgh to the north, Columbus to the west, Cumberland to the east and Roanoke to the south.”

“So it isn’t four days until it reaches us,” David said. “It’s four days until everything is covered.”

“Every area that is supposed to be,” Duke said. “We don’t know if they’re still not passing by mountains, if that’s the case we have the entire Appalachian Mountains as protection.”

“Wouldn’t Roanoke tell us that?” Iva asked. “It’s in the valley, but watching the progress of the Galanis there will tell us a lot.”

“It should,” Duke said.

David waved out his hand. “That doesn’t help us with tomorrow. What do we do? Where do we go?”

“The water,” Reese said. “We try to get to the ocean. We know that’s safe. Get a boat and some how some way, get us to the ocean.”

“So … devil’s advocate here,” David said. “We’re gonna go to Holly River, get your family, my family, get word to your sons and nephew, find a boat, get supplies, get out to the water and wait. Wait until it’s over whenever that may be. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes.” Reese nodded. “Yes, that’s it. What else is there?”

Iva spoke up. “We have faith. We find a place we hope is safe. We go there with those we love and we wait. If we survive, we survive, if we don’t … we’re together. We wait and hope.”

“As much as I think you’re the greatest wife on earth,” Duke said. “Going somewhere to play Russian Roulette with this black mass isn’t my favorite idea.” With a heavy sigh, Duke looked down to the map. “There has to be another way.”

<><><><>

NOAA Research Vessel – Ronald Brown

Hero didn’t know why, but when Baker asked if the news had broken, he just instantly thought it was the most inane question to ask.

They lived in a technological world and when a celebrity changed their drink at Starbucks it was all over the internet. It didn’t need to be a news source, word of mouth was enough.

Of course, the news was out, just how accurate remained to be seen. But was accuracy even an issue? Every average Joe could look at the map and see it was done, and options for survival were limited.

But there were options.

“Good news,” Charles announced. “The president is ordering every available cruise ship to take passengers, leaving port in two days, giving people a chance to get there.”

“What about the navy ships, coast guard?” Hero asked.

“Reserved for military personnel and their families. To answer your question from earlier, Baker, no official word has gotten out. There is going to be enough panic out there. We will get the word out that going into bunkers or below is not wise because whatever is happening is coming from below,” Charles said. “What about land masses? He asked. Baker you’re the geologist. Anything? Anywhere we can tell these people to go?”

“We still haven’t determined whether or not mountains are safe. We have a few areas that will give us that information within the next eight to ten hours,” Baker replied.

“Meaning some of our Galanis events are taking place near mountains?”

“Yes, sir. And on a good news front,” Baker said. “Island areas, narrow peninsulas, areas like that, I believe are safe as well.”

“Good. Good.” Charles nodded. “So we inform people that if they can’t make it to a boat, one of those areas could work.”

“Yes,” Baker answered. “You still have middle America really strapped. On a good day it would take most of them sixteen hours to get to a coast if not longer. That’s a good day, and it is without them having to go around an event.”

“How many boats?” Hero asked.

“Available already and including those coming in, one hundred and twenty-three. We can push the capacity on those and we estimate about three hundred thousand people can be saved.”

“Jesus,” Hero spat. “You’re going to have millions of people fighting for a spot on the boats. What are the entry qualifications?”

“First come first serve,” Charles answered.

“Will there be enforcers to keep peace or at least try?” Hero asked. “And what about after? What happens after with all these survivors?”

“I hear you, Hero,” Charles said. “Or rather I hear the tone. But as you are trying to solve this, we are trying to save as many lives as we can. Saving them. That’s first priority. We’re not going to sit back and say you’re on your own. We’re already going to lose tens of millions to the events and not to mention how many to the chaos that will break out. The ‘after’, the what comes next has to wait until we can actually see what is left. Will there be areas untouched?” Charles shrugged. “You tell me. Will there be? Or will this thing blanket every where?”

“I don’t think the spots will ever all join up to the point they form one big blanket,” Hero stated. “I think there will be places in between the cracks. A couple mile spaces.”

“See that’s good. We can tell people that, too. That it is possible if they stay ahead of it.”

“So the plan,” Baker said. “Is to have the president address the situation, then we inform people of the options.”

Charles nodded. “Yes. That is correct. We are going to try our best to give as much detail as we can about survival. It still won’t stop the madness. It will be madness out there.”

“Can we get close?” Baker asked. “When it starts and moves to the shore, I’d like us to be close. Close enough to see, to be near should some decide to take a raft with their family. Desperate people will do desperate things.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Charles said.

Hero lifted his hand. “When are you making it public about the cruise ships?”

“The president is addressing the nation at two PM. So roughly a half hour after that. Why?”

“Just curious.” But that really wasn’t the reason. Hero looked down at his watch, that was ten hours away. One heck of a jump start. He picked up the phone.

TWENTY-SEVEN – PEOPLE ARE TALKING

Holly River, WV

Having stayed at the Holly River Cabins for as many times as she had, Pam was surprised the rental office allowed for Hero to rent a cabin for six months. It was just unheard of. But he paid ahead and did so for three cabins. Something Pam found out when she got there.

The rental agent gave this weird look to her when she checked in. And Pam had to ask. How was it possible to rent for six months?

That was when the agent, laughingly said, “Well, this Hero guy paid me for all those months in all those cabins. On the contingency the world was ending. If it hadn’t ended in that time frame, which it won’t, then we get to keep the money and the rental is up in three weeks. If it does ... we can’t let anyone in. I’ll tell you though, this isn’t the first time someone rented cabins for the end of the world.” The agent lowered her voice as if people were actually listening. “My father ran this place in 2012 … made a fortune on the side.”

“So let me get this right. Hero paid you personally for six months. Thousands of dollars.”

“Tens of thousands.”

“On his credit card?” Pam asked.

“Is that what he told you? Oh, no, it was a wire transfer. He paid me for the cabins. I paid for three weeks. And the world isn’t going to end.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Which one did you want?”

Her choices were Cabins Four, Nine and Five. Pam chose Cabin four because it was a lot more secluded and surrounded by trees.

There wasn’t a lot of greenery, it was just starting to grow in. There was only Pam, another couple she hadn’t met and David’s parents, Lela and Stephen. They were in Cabin Seven.

They were nice people. Lela made dinner, cooked it over the fire, stating that they needed to get used to no electricity. Then again, she had many years of no electricity or indoor plumbing. It was the way her family lived when she was young.

Everyone turned in early. Pam was exhausted from the drive and emotionally relieved that her nephews and son were fine and would be there the next day.

With the sound of nature as the best white noise, she went to sleep.

In the morning, she woke without an alarm, made her coffee and grabbed her iPad. There was no cell service and she could see better on the iPad to check things.

With her coffee she went on to the porch to enjoy the morning mountain air.

Pam smelled bacon as soon as she stepped out. A part of her hoped it was Lela cooking it on the fire again. She still wasn’t up to cooking or doing much. She anxiously awaited the arrival of her family and truly hoped that everything was over and done with.

The last she spoke to Reese, her sister was going to stay with Duke and his wife, along with David.

She hadn’t received a call at all.

Unlocking her iPad Pam stared for a second at her wallpaper.

It was an image of her son, Grayson. His eyes seemed to stare at her. She pressed her fingers to her lips, then gently touched the image of her son.

It was then she noticed she wasn’t connected to the Wi-Fi.

Setting her coffee on the bench next to her, she connected. It was a pain because her tablet didn’t ‘remember’ the connection information.

When the signal came on it was strong, and with in a second of that, messages plowed through. One after another.

Bling. Bling. Bling.

All from her messenger. No emails.

Reese sent six, Bobby two.

All had been sent several hours earlier while Pam slept worry free.

Her gut tensed up. She feared opening them and reading them, because that many messages, that close together, meant something was wrong. Something had happened.

Pam took a few seconds to calm her nerves, and then she did the inevitable.

She opened the messaging app to read them.

And she was right.

Something did happen.

And she knew right then the rental agent wasn’t keeping that money.

<><><><>

Paden City, WV

They were having their late night pow wow when the message from Hero came through. It was strange timing, Duke stating there had to be another way. And with the ‘bling’ sound, so came the other way.

‘Head to the coast. Rescue boats are taking people to sea. News release at two. More to come.’ Read Hero’s text.

It was mysterious, but if Hero was sending it, something was up.

“Could this be the option?” Reese asked Duke holding up the phone for him to read.

He didn’t need to. Hero sent the same text to Duke.

“Possibly. Let’s start planning on it,” Duke said. “That’s the best option we’ve had so far.”

They didn’t know where the ships were, but Reese kept thinking, if a lot of people were going to go, they actually had a good shot of getting on board since they had such a head start window.

All of Duke’s children lived in Morgantown, along with their spouses and there were three grandchildren, that made nine.

Not long after the ominous ‘heads up’, Hero confirmed their closest location.

Norfolk, Virginia.

From Paden City it was a little over four hundred miles and under good and normal conditions, a seven and a half hour drive.

It was an undertaking with the circumstances.

But there was one thing positive, the clear route gave them all a meeting point. Charlotte and Erik, Reese’s sons, Bobby, Duke’s family, along with Pam and David’s parents would all meet in Buckhannon.

Meet up, form a caravan, and all travel at the same time.

They couldn’t separate.

Reese knew they couldn’t take a chance of going at different times with some making it on to the boats and some not.

Hero had sent the first message just shortly after four in the morning, the ten hour mark until it was made public.

The location came an hour later.

Still nine hours.

In a perfect world, they would arrive in Norfolk before the news was made public, but it wasn’t a perfect world.

Bobby, Chip and Mark were near Cleveland, almost four hours from Reese.

Even though she spoke to them as soon as she found out, they weren’t able to leave yet. She wasn’t sure why, and Mark didn’t really explain it, but they were positive they’d be there by noon.

That worked for everyone.

Noon they would meet at the Walgreens Pharmacy just off of West Main street.

Duke began to plan out the route from there. Where they would stop to get gas. He looked at the image that Hero sent, and though not a scientist, came up with the best way to avoid any of the Galanis Events forming.

With a half hour window of give or take, he had them arriving in Norfolk at just six in the evening.

“Even though it’s after the announcement,” Duke said. “We will still be ahead of the game. People will need to gather their things. We’ll make it.”

Iva agreed. “Oh, we’ll make it, but what if we don’t get on a ship? What then?”

“Then we trek back five hours and wait it out in Holly River,” Duke replied. “It’s in the mountains, it’s our plan B.”

He also stood firm on the fact they had to consolidate vehicles.

And Duke didn’t waste time to ensure that. He went to the station, retrieved a police van, filled up and was able to get one five gallon canister.

“The van is not comfortable, but it holds ten. Consolidating vehicles is the best bet,” Duke said. “I don’t know where we are going, but there’s at least one fill up that’s going to be needed and I’m not sure gas is going to be available.”

Reese felt confident in what they were doing, with Duke being a police officer and a true leader, the group was in good hands.

They planned to leave early, get to Buckhannon before everyone else.

Iva kept her eyes on the news, watching to see if anything happened. It did.

Just before they prepared to leave, the news station were covering how the entire globe was experiencing the events. They were popping up everywhere.

‘If you are in the affected areas,’ the news said. “You need to leave at once. The president will address, the nation shortly.’

Paden City remained calm.

It was like its own little world, sheltered and protected. But it was one invaded. As they prepared to leave, Reese saw the enormous amount of boats on the river. It looked like a regatta.

The second floor bedroom window gave Reese a perfect view of the river’s activity.

“It’s time,” Iva called for her. “We have to go.”

“Where are they going?” Reese asked. “So many boats on the river.”

“They’re doing what we’re doing,” Iva replied. “Trying to stay alive.”

“What is the news saying? Are they saying this is it? Are they saying what Hero told us?”

“The news isn’t trying to keep people calm. Lying isn’t going to save lives,” Iva said. “They’re guessing without any official word that this is it, and they are guessing correctly.” She paused. “We need to go.”

Reese nodded and walked from the bedroom window. She grabbed her phone which she had charging and looked to see if she had any messages.

None.

As she stepped outside with Iva, she saw David standing by his truck. She thought first he was getting something, then she noticed the back end had a lot of items in there.

“No room in the van for all the stuff?” Reese asked him.

“This is for Holly River,” David replied. “I’m … I’m not going.”

“What?” Reese asked shocked. “What do you mean? You have to go.”

“My parents aren’t going,” David said. “They refuse. They told me to go, but … but I can’t. I can’t leave them.”

“Did they say why?” Reese asked,

“My mom believes they’re safe and the ships are a waste of time.”

“Let me call Pam …”

“It won’t work.”

“Let me try.” She pulled out her phone and called her sister through a messenger app because she knew Pam only had Wi-Fi there.. “Hey. You okay?” Reese said when Pam answered.

“Yeah, just nervous. I’m getting ready to leave.”

“Have you tried to talk to David’s parents? They aren’t going.”

“I know. I tried.”

“Try again.”

“Reese, Lela is adamant that we are wasting time going there. They won’t leave. In fact, she nearly begged me to stay.”

“Why does she feel so strongly?”

“I don’t know. A gut instinct maybe. Or maybe it’s being so secluded here. It’s hard to imagine a world falling apart when you’re so …”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The dreaded sound of a call dropping.

It wouldn’t have alerted Reese so much had she not been using her cell data to reach Pam who was using Wi-Fi.

There was no reason for a call to drop because it ‘technically’ wasn’t a call.

“Pam?” Reese called out. She pulled the phone from her ear and looked at her phone.

No internet signal.

No call signal.

The words ‘no service’ were at the top of her screen.

It had to be a fluke.

It had to be a technical error, something local, something with her phone even. It couldn’t be the entire system.

That was her first thought, but she dismissed it as paranoia.

There was no mass chaos in Paden City. The only indication something was wrong was the amount of vessels floating down the river. A loss of service, not network, would mean everything went down.

Everything was falling part.

That wasn’t possible. It was only nine in the morning. There was no way everything was crumbling that fast.

Reese was about to learn, the peaceful small town of Paden City, like Holly River, was not a true representation of what was happening in the world.

<><><><>

Boardman, OH

Kidnapping.

Had it been any other time, had law in order not gone by the wayside, what Mark and Chip did was nothing short of kidnapping.

Mark had fallen asleep in the chair, watching Baby G. Every hour she grew stronger. Then not long after his mother had called, the nurse stopped coming in.

No one changed the intravenous bag or checked her vitals.

He didn’t think much about it, maybe it was a shift change, until his mother said they had to be in Norfolk and everyone was meeting there.

“We have to go,” his cousin Bobby said. “We really need to go.”

But Mark needed to find out if someone was able to take Baby G. Did they find her family?

He knew they had to leave to meet everyone in Buckhannon, but he couldn’t leave without knowing what was going on with Baby G.

“Just get the truck ready,” Mark told them. “I’ll be right there.”

“We’re at the edge of the camp, behind the Rite Aid.” Bobby told him. “I found a less crowded way out.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Mark sought out to find answers. Richard was still there, watching the baby. Mark was grateful.

But when he left the baby’s side, Mark couldn’t find anyone.

The Red Cross area grew increasingly noisier. Truck sounds, people shouting orders. When he stepped out it looked as if they were moving, loading trucks and going. In fact three vehicles passed him in such a rush, they nearly hit him. He went back to Baby G even more confused.

“Did you find anything out?” Richard asked.

“People are going. They’re leaving. What does that mean?”

It seemed as if all color dropped from Richard’s face. “They’re leaving now?”

Mark nodded. “Like they got orders to go somewhere else.”

“I’ll be right back.” Richard rushed from the baby’s bed side.

Mark stayed with Baby G. Her little hand wrapped around his finger. Richard returned not a few minutes later and immediately began disconnecting the IV lines from her.

“What … what are you doing?” Mark asked.

“It’s back.”

“I’m sorry,” Mark said confused,

“It’s back in Cleveland and bigger,” Richard said. “The anomaly. The Galanis. I’m gonna get my family and we’re gonna head to that boat you told us about. I suggest you do the same before they get the information out.”

“It’s back?”

“When you said they were putting people on boats, I knew it had to be bad. But people are running.” He disconnected the final tube. “And so should we.” He grabbed the ends of the blanket and wrapped the baby. “You or me?”

“What do you mean?”

“You or me? Who is taking the baby?”

“Can we just take her?”

“What choice is there?”

Without thinking, Mark just blurted out. “Me. I’ll take her. Go to your family. Go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Go. I have her.”

Richard locked eyes with Mark for a moment, nodded, then leaned down and kissed the baby on the forehead. “You’re in good hands.” Richard looked up. “Good luck.”

“Thank you for everything.”

And then Richard was gone. He had already given so much of his time, that Mark could only be grateful for all that he had done. For saving the baby and giving him little lessons on how to care for her.

He lifted the infant along with the bottle that still had milk and with Baby G close to his chest he fled from the tent.

What had happened?

From a mass exodus of the camp to chaos.

From the distance Mark could hear gun shots, people screaming.

Was it really that bad?

He made his way toward the Rite Aid. It was there when he was going behind the building he saw that it wasn’t still dark. The sun had risen, but you couldn’t see it. The anomaly was close, was larger than the last one and it blocked out everything, including the sky.

“Are you shitting me?” Chip asked. “You brought it?”

“I … I couldn’t leave her.”

“Get in.” Bobby opened the door to the truck. “Get in the back seat. Hold her tight. It’s going to be a rough ride.”

Mark didn’t realize the significance of a car seat until he didn’t have one. He held tight to the baby as the truck swerved back and forth, bouncing as they ran over things in a mad rush to escape. Every movement caused him to worry he would lose his grip of the baby.

Bobby took all side streets, every turn felt as if the truck was on two wheels. Three times he hit another vehicle but didn’t stop. He drove like a mad man. Not to get to Buckhannon but to get out of the area and as far away as possible.

Finally they made it to a two lane, secondary route that ran parallel to the highway. They weren’t the only vehicle on the road, others HD also n taken that route, it was a steady flow of cars. Several times Mark looked out the window and was able to catch a glimpse of the interstate. Cars were jammed together and at a standstill.

Twenty minutes into their flee of Cleveland, the baby started crying.

The cry turned into a wail and even after she finished her ounce or two of milk, she squealed again. That was when Mark felt the blanket was soaked.

He had fled with the child and only a bottle in his hand, the baby wasn’t happy.

“Can you please shut her up,” Chip said.

“I can’t,” Mark said, “I don’t know what to do. Maybe she senses things are bad.”

“She doesn’t sense things are bad. You shouldn’t have taken her!” Chip blasted.

“What was I supposed to do? Leave her?”

“Yes. Or give her to Richard. You could have done that,” Chip said.

“He had his family to worry about,” Mark argued.

“And now we have her.”

“I’ll handle her.”

“If this is any indication,” Chip blasted. “That baby’s in trouble.”

“Enough!” Bobby yelled. “Just ignore the baby and we’ll stop. We’ll … we’ll figure out what we need.”

Chip looked at Bobby. “What do you know about babies?”

“I dated a chick with a kid,” Bobby said. “I know more than you guys. Plus, you know, we can call our moms.”

After being stuck in the anomaly, Chip and Mark’s phone didn’t work. Bobby’s did. But he had it in his bag.

For nearly an hour, the baby cried. Mark didn’t think they did that, he didn’t understand where she got all that energy. He was exhausted from listening and trying to escape. Finally, when they stopped, she quieted down.

They found a store called, Giant Eagle, just off the road in a town called Boardman. When they pulled in the lot all Mark could think about was the movie World War Z. The people rushing to the store, running out with carts.

Bobby lifted his duffle bag. “If my mom doesn’t answer, I’ll call my dad,” he said grabbing the phone from the bag. “He should almost be in Buckhannon now.”

Mark saw that Bobby wasn’t calling anyone. “What’s wrong?”

“No service,” Bobby said. “It isn’t just no bars. It’s no service. The towers are down.”

Mark shook his head. “I knew we should have made fun of those people for trying to save the landlines. This is why.”

Chip glanced back. “This isn’t like Karma kicking in. This is just bigger.”

Bobby opened the truck door. “Get in the driver’s seat, Chip. I’ll be back. I’ll go in. Just watch the truck. I’m gonna get things to try to quiet her.”

“Do you know what to get?” Chip asked.

“It’s a baby,” Bobby replied. “They eat, sleep, cry and go to the bathroom. How hard can this be? We got this.” He closed the door.

The slam of the truck door caused the baby to jump and start crying again.

TWENTY-EIGHT – AGAINST THE CLOCK

Buckhannon, WV

They were the first ones there. Even arriving before Duke’s family who lived in the same city. When Charlotte spoke to her daughter, she already knew something was up. No morning shift came into the hospital. It wasn’t something she would normally do, but since no one was around, Charlotte made sure she got the medication Erik needed. She had some of Hero’s clothes in the WKSY van, and she walked out of the hospital with Erik.

He said he felt fine, but Charlotte knew differently. He was a little pale, he wasn’t fevered, and that was a good thing.

She gave him ibuprofen saving anything stronger for when it was really needed.

It was a short trip, pretty much a straight shot, and Erik slept most of it. After all, Charlotte woke him from a deep sleep and rushed him out of the hospital.

It was still early, barely light and the mass hysteria hadn’t hit yet. In fact, the entire drive down to Buckhannon they didn’t see any chaos. Just as they arrived in the small town, the radio started really making the announcements.

They weren’t just early, they were hours early. Early enough, that even with the news blasting about multiple Galanis anomalies showing up all over the globe, a gentleman unlocked the front door to a small grocery store.

They had parked in a muffler repair parking lot across the street. Having the news van would help them, if someone said anything about them parking there, she would fib.

It was from that parking lot that Charlotte saw the man opening the store.

She had been watching it, wanting to go in there, but with all that was going on, she thought the lights were on automatic and didn’t think it would open.

They did.

A routine as usual, unaware of what was going on. Charlotte remembered when she worked a five AM starting time. She never listened to the news and was always rushing to get to work.

That had to be the case with these store workers. They probably were in there baking bread before dawn. Charlotte could smell the fresh baked goods the second she walked in the store.

She had told Erik she would be back, that she wanted to get them some food and he needed to eat.

The man was sweeping up outside when she approached.

“Morning,” he said.

“Morning,” she replied.

“I saw you coming from that news van. Covering those mysterious clouds?” he asked.

“In a way you can say we’re following them.”

“Good luck.”

She thanked him and went inside, grabbing a buggy.

Even though she was confident the mad rush for panic buying and desperation wouldn’t hit the small town like a big city, Charlotte moved quickly though the store.

She made sure she stopped at the bakery, grabbing the fresh bread and Danishes. She grabbed what she could that was sustaining, all while keeping an ear out for any sudden rush of customers into the store.

The little place was well stocked and they had water and toilet paper on sale. Both of which she bought. She actually chuckled about that, thinking about how people always rushed out to buy toilet paper when they thought the world was going to end.

She wondered in face of the reality of it, would they even think about the bathroom tissue.

Her entire shopping trip including check out took about fifteen minutes. She had four bags, plus the case of water and huge pack of toilet paper. Too much to carry across the street, so she pushed the cart to the muffler repair parking lot resting it against the van as she slid open the side door.

“What all did you get?” Erik asked.

“Stuff that won’t go bad right away,” Charlotte replied. “Except for the bread, it was just baked, we’re gonna need to eat that fast. I got peanut butter. Plastic forks and knives.” She began to load the items into the van.

“Toilet paper?” Erik chuckled. “You bought toilet paper?”

“Actually, thinking about it. If it’s the end of the world, this is gold.” She lifted and slid the water in, then tossed in the bags.

“Was it crowded?”

“Surprisingly no. I was the only one in the store. I’ll be back, I want to return the cart.”

Before she closed the side door, she broke open the case of water and handed one to Erik.

Charlotte was surprised with everything happening the small town was still calm. No real traffic on the streets, maybe a car here and there. She took the buggy back to the store and wished the man a good day.

They had a long wait ahead of them, she didn’t want to waste gas driving around. She figured they would eat some of the groceries she bought then head to the meeting place at the Walgreens parking lot. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich on that fresh baked bread sounded good so she made them both one.

Erik didn’t look like he wanted to eat.

“Are you not hungry?” she asked. “I mean, I understand if you aren’t.”

“Just sad. Thinking about my family. My parents.” He fiddled with his sandwich. “I wanted to call off that day. I did. I did not want to do those arrangements for the retirement party. My mom guilted me into going.”

“Erik, that was a good thing. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here. And I can tell you as a mom, you want your child to live. You being here, surviving, is what your parents would want.”

Erik nodded and took a nibble out of his sandwich.

Charlotte enjoyed hers, along with the peace and quiet of the small town. She didn’t even put on the radio, she didn’t want to know what was happening because it was going to be bad. She also knew the peacefulness of Buckhannon wasn’t going to last. She just hoped they were all out of the town by the time things went nuts.

And it would.

<><><><>

NOAA Research Vessel – Ronald Brown

The newest images made Hero sick to his stomach. The estimated one mile per hour expansion rate was off. The anomalies were moving much faster than they had thought, than anyone had estimated.

All the scientists in the room on that ship and not a single person believed it would change behavior.

They did.

It did.

Like something from a science fiction movie, it expanded, joining with its counter parts, connecting. It came from below the surface, a deadly mass that seemed controlled by a singular brain, that brain in a sense was the earth.

The border of Texas and Arkansas appeared to be one big mass, four of them joining. The only positive thing Hero saw was upon enlargement, and he really had to enlarge. He was about pockets of hope. Places that it didn’t touch.

Would they stay safe? Every ten minutes Hero watched. Over the course of three hours, those areas stayed safe.

Areas such as the eleven mile stretch of Interstate Forty-Nine and Route Seventy-One, roads that ran parallel. It was anomaly free from the southern most part of Texarkana though Fouke, Arkansas.

Hero wondered how many people fled that highway into Fouke. He was certain the small population of eight hundred wouldn’t stay that way.

It was a tiny spot of hope in a dark world.

Could people reach it? He focused there for a little while, trying to find routes. Like a maze, there had to be a connection to get people to the safe zones. Something he could broadcast.

Would anyone listen?

But he turned his focus to the parts of the states where Reese and the others travelled. Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia. Watching the black cover the states and looking, like he did with Arkansas, for the safe pockets.

When he last communicated with Reese, she told him it looked like everywhere was a mass exodus, people driving aimlessly to somewhere safe, but did they know, like she did, the areas already hit?

The walls of the black were squeezing in. Undoubtedly some would run into an anomaly, turn back only to run into another. Without satellite images, they were flocking blindly.

Reese said it seemed a lot of people were going east as if they knew about the ships before the president made his announcement.

Chances were they did. If Hero broke protocol and told Reese, how many others on the ship or in the government did as well?

Everyone spread the word.

It was a couple hours until the announcement. Which, in Hero’s opinion was useless. People knew the end was nigh, the only useful thing the president was going to say was about those boats.

Yes, they needed to save people, but they also needed to save people beyond the event.

If of course, there was a beyond.

Since it changed its behavior, did that mean it wouldn’t lift after twenty-four hours. Not only was it an extinction event, Hero feared it would be an event that wasn’t going away any time soon.

<><><><>

Wheeling, WV

Bobby had a theory on why the phones had gone down. He believed they were shut down to stop people from spreading information.

Chip believed they went down because they were overloaded. If they wanted to stop information, the radios wouldn’t work.

Thankfully they did.

The only image they had of what was going on was a small image their mother had sent to Bobby through text.

It had to be worse now.

The radio was doing a good job of telling people where not to go.

The anomaly in Pittsburgh was approaching the Pennsylvania and Ohio border, it was close to them, but they were moving. Not fast, the road was congested, but traffic flowed steadily.

Chip had taken over driving not long after Boardman so Bobby could navigate.

At least the baby had stopped crying.

Twice Chip asked if she were still alive.

“Yes,” Mark snapped. “She’s alive. Quit asking that. That’s horrible.”

They avoided the highways, opting for the Ohio River Scenic byway, staying on the Ohio side, and it was on that road, Chip realized how close the black was.

Once they hit Weirton they could see the black as it consumed that small town. Creeping slowly to the river. It came from the east and was miles into the sky and it just didn’t seem to stop. It wasn’t until they hit Wellsburg that it did.

Seventeen miles it extended.

It was horrifying.

“All those boats,” Chip said, glancing out the window. “Where are they going?”

“Staying on the water,” Bobby replied, looking at the map. “They say it doesn’t touch water.”

“I would think a river doesn’t count,” Mark said from the back. “Just my opinion.”

“Who knows,” Bobby looked up from the map. “So we are staying on this road until we get to Paden City, we’ll cross there, then head on Twenty straight to Buckhannon. We should get there by the meeting time if not a couple minutes after.’

“That’s good,” Chip said. “Long before the president makes the announcement.”

“That’s what we’re aiming for.”

“What’s this?” Chip peered over the steering wheel.

Traffic was sluggish in the right lane, crawling and nearly at a stand still. Traffic in the left lane tried to merge over, while those trying to go straight nearly collided.

“What’s going on?” Chip asked. “Why is everyone getting off at Wheeling Island?”

Mark questioned, “Is something ahead?”

“Maybe,” Bobby replied. “Or maybe they think because it’s surrounded by water than they’re safe.

“What do we do?” Chip asked.

Bobby looked down. “Keep going. If need be there’s another bridge farther south we can cross over just before Moundsville.”

Chip cut the wheel pulling into the left lane, barely had he passed the massive cluster of traffic trying to exit when he saw the impossibility of the congested roads.

Cars turned around, crashing into others, trying to go back.

“Something is up ahead,” Chip said. “It has to be.”

The he saw another truck. The black pick up sped in reverse down the berm of the road, the he spun, completely turning his truck around like a pro.

“Where’s he going?” Chip asked. “Is there another exit to the island?”

“No. He’s going across the bridge and through the tunnel.”

“Can we go that way?” Chip questioned.

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah we can,” Bobby replied. “We can ride the river south on that end. Take the first exit then hit Two fifty. We need to be on that side anyhow.”

Mark leaned forward. “No one’s going south. What if we run into it on the other side?”

“What choice do we have?” Bobby stated. “Maybe this thing doesn’t cross the river. Do it, Chip.”

With a ‘hold on’, Chip cut over to the berm and did exactly the same thing as the black pick up truck. As he spun their truck around he could see the lone black truck speeding across the bridge.

Did that guy know something?

They really didn’t have another option, and within seconds, Chip was on the ramp going to the bridge instead of Wheeling Island.

He wasn’t alone.

Just as he followed the black pick up truck, others probably thinking he knew something, followed him.

Chip drove fast. He watched the black pick up fly into the tunnel. Glancing up to his rear view mirror he saw a slew of cars behind him.

“Once you get through,” Bobby instructed. “Stay right and get off almost immediately.”

Chip nodded, hitting the gas. The raced across the bridge and into the tunnel. Yellowish lights illuminated it. The taillights of the black pick up were far ahead and soon disappeared into the sunlight.

The relief of the tunnel’s end was in sight and as Chip sailed out of the tunnel, his heart was alike a torpedo to his stomach, and his foot slammed the brake when he saw the massive wall of black not far from them.

He thought for sure he was going to get rear ended. The squeal of brakes came from behind. He looked in the rearview mirror when he heard the slam of metal to metal, crashing, crunching. Some cars smashed into each other and ones that didn’t crash either turned around or took a chance on that first exit, which was so close, too close to the approaching Galanis.

The black field wasn’t far, maybe a hundred feet from reaching that exit.

“What do I do?” Chip asked.

Bobby looked behind him. “You can’t go back. Go.”

“What?”

“Go. Take the exit.”

“That thing is coming,” Chip said.

“We can move faster. We can outrun it.”

“Are you nuts? That wall of black will move fast.”

“We can move faster. It’s the only way. We have room. We have time,” Bobby said. “Not for much longer. We have to try.”

Chip took a deep, shivering breath and lifted his foot from the brake.

“Stop!” Mark cried out.

They had gone a few feet and Chip stopped again. “What? We have to go.”

“A dog.”

“What?”

“A dog. Look.” Mark said.

Chip saw it, a terrier maybe, running as fast as it could from the black.

Then Mark opened the back door.

“What are you doing?” Chip blasted.

“Mark get in!” Bobby yelled.

Mark stood, holding that baby, calling for the dog. Cars swerved by him, nearly hitting him, but Mark was steadfast in wanting to get the dog.

Chip’s heart raced out of control, his hands began to sweat as he beckoned for his brother to get back in.

It was only a few seconds, and it seemed like longer, but Mark ran back to the truck and jumped in.

As soon as he did, the dog jumped in as well.

“Go!” Mark yelled, closing the door.

Chip’s foot slammed the gas before that back door was even closed all the way. As he drove to the exit he felt as if he were driving right into the Galanis.

He was.

It was there, right there as they pulled off the exit and onto highway that would take them south.

It was threatening and massive in his peripheral vision as he drove. It seemed to be right there, like a vehicle too close on the road.

All he could do was keep going.

It was so close he told everyone to close the windows.

He peered to the rearview mirror, watching it roll on to the road and swallow the cars behind him.

Giving it all he had, he slammed his foot to the gas. Baby crying, dog barking, Chip gunned it.

That was all he could do.

<><><><>

Chicago, IL

“Otto, let’s move. Finish up,” the voice carried through the earpiece. It was a makeshift radio, his Level B biohazard suit didn’t have one.

Otto Grako pushed the time limits and his co-worker knew it, but they decided if they could save lives they would and the only way to do so was to report live.

Send it out to anyone who would listen.

Otto was an engineer at the Jardine Water Purification plant. It was a huge plant located on Lake Michigan in the city of Chicago. It had its own docks where ships would dock.

So many people were headed to the water, that Otto and his co-worker, Ed, believed with the plant being so close to the lake it would be untouched.

Ed waited in a boat attached to a dock that extended twenty feet out. Ed attached the end of a rope that was tied around Otto’s waist. It was pulled tight and created a line that would be a guide

Just because the Wi-Fi was down didn’t mean the internet was as well. Otto figured out a way to connect to server using Ed’s phone and he believed he was ‘live’ on a social media platform. He didn’t know which one, just that the word ‘live’ was red in the corner of the camera app.

He wouldn’t know for sure … ever.

He could only hope.

“This thing is massive,” Otto said to the camera he held extended on a selfie stick. He kept a light on in his hood to show his face. “Now, listen carefully. From the ground this thing looks like it extends to the stratosphere, you can’t see the sky from the ground. That is not true. We sent up a drone. The top of the Willis Tower, or as some know as the Sears tower peeks out from the Galanis. Looks like the top ten or twenty floors. The tower is fourteen hundred feet high. This tells us the Galanis stops at an elevation of a thousand feet.”

Otto went on to broadcast what it sounded like, the creaking, the twisting metal. The smell that carried from it.

The thing was close to him and Ed. Close enough to describe.

At first he was only talking about the black, truly one hundred percent believing this thing they called a Galanis would stop at the plant.

Then it arrived.

Ed followed the plan. He ran out to the boat and readied it.

Otto stayed at the end of the peer closest to the plant. Ten feel from where it dropped off to the water. Ed was at the other end of the rope, his guide should the black consume him.

It did.

“Tell me your alive,” Ed said.

“I’m alive. Let me report this,” Otto said and then spoke to the phone. “I am inside the Galanis and won’t stay too long. From the pictures I saw taken inside Cleveland it looks to me like this thing breaks down anything biodegradable and does it fast. My suit is not a Level A so it isn’t designed for prime skin protection. I’m still breathing fine. “

His ear piece crackled and Ed’s words were distorted.

“I’m losing communication with my man in the boat. Which tells me I need to leave. I have a twenty foot walk to the boat. I hope the Galanis hasn’t reached it. We will soon find out.”

One hand holding the camera stick, Otto followed the rope. The fact that it was still firm and extended gave him hope.

It seemed like he walked forever.

“Whatever this is feels heavy. I can feel it pushing against my suit.”

If it wasn’t for the light in his hood, he wouldn’t even see the camera. It was so dark, thick and black.

He had to be near the end. It was only twenty feet, which meant twenty steps.

He counted.

Around step fifteen the shield on his hood cracked.

I have to be near the end of the peer, he thought, I have to be.

Otto moved slowly because he fully expected at any moment to drop into the water. The once airy feel of the suit pressed against his skin and more cracks formed on his helmet. Just as the black began to seep through the cracks of the shield, Otto went from dark to sunlight.

He dropped the camera stick, let go of the rope and immediately and hastily removed his helmet.

“You alright?” Ed asked from the boat.

“Yeah.” Otto suddenly lost his breath. He turned from Ed and looked at the Galanis.

It was a foot from him and wasn’t moving, the edge of the peer was literally one step away. In fact, when he dropped his camera stick, the camera was over the edge of the dock.

Otto reached down for it, saw it was still recording and he faced it. The screen on the phone was cracked. “Elevation and water. There’s your survival. I can’t see across the lake, so that tells me it does stop on bodies of water.”

“Otto,” Ed called out. “Let’s go further out to be sure.”

“Sounds good.” Otto shut down the camera and climbed down to the boat.

“You think anyone will hear?”

“We can only hope.” Otto looked back at the Galanis as Ed untied the boat. “We can only hope.”

TWENTY-NINE – TICKING DOWN

Holly River National Park, WV

David didn’t want to leave the others. He wanted to pilgrimage with them to the ships. But his parents didn’t want to leave Holly River and David didn’t feel right about leaving them behind.

He followed the police van all the way to Buckhannon and there he wished them all well and continued his journey.

He was surprised there was very little traffic on Route Twenty. Not that there ever was much traffic on that road, but he only saw one car during his whole trip.

Thirty-three miles of a winding mountain road.

It seemed strange, so vacant and quiet.

He arrived at the park and to the single lane road that would take him to the cabin area.

Usually there were cars parked there. Some by the restaurant, the office or the Old School which was a tourist attraction. But there were none. Perhaps they were in the small lots by the cabin. He knew there was a trail that led to the top of the mountain.

The office looked dark as he drove by.

He crossed the little bridge over the creek, passed Cabin Ten where a couple sat on the porch. It was the first sign of people since he left the group.

When he pulled up to the other grouping of cabins he saw his father crossing the road.

He looked stunned to see David and walked to his truck when David parked.

“Your mother is going to be happy,” his father said. “Not me. I wanted you on those ships.”

“Why did you stay, Dad?” David asked. “Why didn’t you leave with Pam?”

His father opened the truck door for David. “Your mother really believes it is safe here. That this is the best place.”

“How does Mom know?”

His father pointed up.

With a grumbling, ‘hmm’, David stepped out and closed the door.

“Lela,” Stephen called out. “Looks who is here.”

David didn’t know which direction to look, then saw his mother coming from behind a cabin.

“David.” She smiled and hurried to him. “You came. Stephen,” she looked at her husband. “Did you know?”

“No.” Stephen replied. “I wanted him on the ship.”

“Nonsense. This is where you live. This is where you survive,” she said, then embraced him.

“Mom, there is still time,” David spoke with urgency. “We can try to get to the boats.”

“You really think there will be room on those boats?” she asked. “Millions of people pinning for a spot. Look around. Look how beautiful. No one’s here.”

“Um, yeah, mom, because whatever that thing is … it’s coming.”

“Not up here. I feel it.” She clenched her fist and brought it to her chest. “We’re fine, we’re safe. I’m cooking now.”

“Your mom is cooking on an open fire. Won’t use the stove,” Stephen said. “She wants to be prepared.”

“In practice, be in practice,” Lela said. “The food I’m making, that’s for later. David, I can make you something if you’re hungry now.”

“No, I’m good.”

“I have to tend to my pot,” she said. “I don’t want it to burn. What will the others think if I burn the stew?” She darted a kiss to David’s cheek, patted where she kissed him then hurried away.

“Others?” Davis asked his father. “Does she mean that couple down at Cabin Ten?”

“Nope.” Stephen shook his head. “Your mother’s convinced Pam and her family are coming.”

“Is she alright?”

“Oh, she’s fine. She’s just convinced they’re all gonna be here. You know your mother.”

David did know his mother and he knew her to have a really great gut instinct, almost psychic instinct about things. On this he hoped she was wrong. David wasn’t convinced they were safe on that mountain, but he knew the ships were the best place to be and he wanted the others on those boats.

<><><><>

NOAA Research Vessel – Ronald Brown

“Sounds good.”.

“You think anyone will hear?”

“We can only hope. We can only hope.”

End of video.

Hero moved the curser back to the beginning to watch it again.

“I hear you. I watched and heard you,” Hero spoke to the computer and the choppy video that played. He knew the man couldn’t hear him. In fact the video had been recorded two hours earlier.

“Hi my name is Otto Grako,” the man said. “I am an engineer at the Jardine Water Plant here in Chicago. We came to the edge of the water to escape this … whatever it is that has taken over our city. I wish I could edit in our drone video, but I just don’t have the ability right now. But anyone watching, I wanted to show you what you are facing and how ….”

“Are you still watching it?” Charles approached Hero.

Hero shut off the video. “I’m watching it again. Amazing.”

“So this man …”

“Otto Grako,” Hero said. “That’s his name. His friend’s name is Ed.”

“They got out of Chicago?”

“Barely. And he documented it. He thought,” Hero explained. “That they were safe, but the anomaly just swallowed the plant and he stayed in the black.”

“And he escaped?”

“He did. He put on a PPE suit they had at the plant. Rigged a radio to talk to Ed. Ed was waiting on the boat to go.”

“What did we learn?”

“A lot,” Hero replied. “Otto theorized that the black deteriorates anything biodegradable. It does it at a fast rate. In three minutes it broke the shield to his suit and started to eat through it. He got out before got him.”

“So he is the first living witness?”

“He is.”

“Wow.” Charles scratched his head. “How … I mean how did this video get through? I thought the internet was down.”

“The internet and servers aren’t down,” Hero said. “Wi-Fi is. Otto explained it.”

"Where did you find it?”

“Porn Book.”

“I’m sorry … where?”

“Porn Book,” Hero repeated. “It’s an adult pornographic …”

“I know what Porn Book is,” Charles said. “I mean, you know what I mean. But how in the world did some guy end up posting a survival message on a porn site?”

“Well, he probably was just trying to post anywhere. He has an account. He was hacking his way through and probably did it here accidentally. Because if you click on the user name it has like forty amateur videos of ….”

“Okay, I don’t need to know that,” Charles said. “So he thinks he’s posting on Facebook or Instagram, nut instead posts on a porn site. Finding it was really a long shot. How did you discover it?”

“Not because I subscribe,” Hero explained. “Someone on the ship got an alert that Guru6969696 was live and they clicked on it.”

“Someone on this ship gets alerts to live porn videos?”

“Don’t ask me who.” Hero raised his hand.

“Oh, I don’t care about that. Just tell me, did this guy give us anything … anything we can use?”

“Yes.” Hero nodded. “Apparently, the water theory is right. However, you have to be at least ten feet from shore and it’s looking like it has to be a large body of water and … they used a drone. It’s confirmed. The anomaly only goes to about a thousand feet.”

“Excellent,” Charles said with excitement. “The president goes on in ten minutes. We have to get this message to him. Give him this information. If people don’t make those ships, if they can’t get to a large body of water … get to higher ground.” Charles smiled for the first time in days. It was genuine. “We can save lives.”

<><><><>

Davis, WV

The line to the gas station of the small town of Davis extended so far off the exit, it created a highway traffic jam.

One so deep and thick, Reese watched Duke put the van in park.

She felt defeated.

They had finally gotten on the road.

They had driven only an hour and twenty minutes and then had to stop.

She reflected back to the Walgreens in Buckhannon. Her mother and Erik had already been there, waiting for them.

Reese, Duke and Iva arrived an hour before the meeting time and already the town had started to erupt.

Traffic raced to get out, ignoring all rules of the road.

She watched cars pull into the Walgreens parking lot, park anywhere and race into the store.

By noon people were fighting in the parking lot, pushing each other, stealing carts. It was insanity, so much so, they moved the police and news van away.

Duke expressed how he was scared someone would try to carjack them or steal what they had.

It made sense.

Duke walked back to the Walgreens alone to wait for the others, while they kept the van at a safe distance.

From where they parked, she could see smoke rising up from the Sheetz gas station.

What was happening?

It was Buckhannon. How many times did Reese and Pam stop there? A quiet peaceful town turned into a smaller rendition of a rioting city.

Duke and Iva’s children arrived a few minutes after twelve and all that remained was to wait for Reese’s sons and Bobby to arrive.

There was no phone service, no way to contact them.

She worried they might not even make it out.

Then Reese saw Bobby, on foot and alone.

Her heart dropped to her stomach as he ran towards the Walgreens.

She jumped from the van at the same time as Pam.

“Bobby!” Pam called out. “Bobby!

Bobby stopped running, looked back, then changed directions and raced to them.

“Oh my God,” Pam ran to her son and hugged. “You made it.”

Apprehensively and fearful, Reese approached. “Bobby, where is your truck?” she didn’t want to ask about her sons, she was too scared.

“Did someone steal it?” Pam asked.

“No. No.” Bobby shook his head and caught his breath. “We couldn’t get into town. We’re parked on Forty-eight, right by the church.” He looked at Reese. “Chip and Mark are fine. They’re waiting with the truck.”

Reese gasped out in relief and hugged Bobby. “Thank you.”

Duke spoke up. “We have to go, The president is making an announcement in ninety minutes. We want to be on the road before that happens.”

It wasn’t a matter of getting ready, everyone was ready.

They needed to consolidate to three vehicles instead of four, but Duke said they could do that once they were free and clear on the road.

Charlotte took Bobby with her to his truck.

From the back of the police Van, Reese peeked out the window. She watched her mother drop off Bobby at his truck parked on the side of the road.

For a split second she saw her son Chip in the front seat. She smiled and felt so much better.

Her sons were fine. They were in Bobby’s truck and on the road with them, sandwiched between the news van and the mini bus with Duke’s family.

She didn’t see them again until they all stopped in that massive traffic jam just outside of Davis. At that point Reese needed to see her sons. After all the worry, the dreading, she also wanted to touch them to make sure it was real.

Knowing they weren’t moving any time soon, Reese exited the police van. “What are you doing?” Charlotte asked.

“I just want to check the boys while we’re at a standstill.”

“You really shouldn’t be walking on the highway,” her mother warned.

“I’m fine.” Reese waved her hand and focused on Bobby’s truck.

Chip must have seen her, because he stepped out and the second she saw him she raced to him, embracing him.

“Oh my God, I am so happy you’re alright,” she gushed.

“I’m fine. I really am.”

“Where’s your brother?”

“In the back seat.”

“Why didn’t he step out?”

“He can’t.”

“Is he hurt?” Reese asked.

“No he’s not hurt, he just can’t.”

“He’s hurt, you’re just trying to not make me worry.”

“Mom …”

Reese raced to the truck, she saw Mark, his head down. And she instantly felt a lump in her stomach.

Fearing something really was wrong, she reached for the rear door and opened it. When she flung it open, the excited barking greeted her a split second before the medium size dog lept out at her knocking her to the ground.

It wasn’t vicious or attacking, it was happy. As if he knew her and she was a long lost friend. He excitedly greeted her, licking her face.

“Someone,” Reese called out.

“Dude.” Chip called out short then whistled. “Stop. Come.” He slapped his leg a couple times and the dog raced over. “Good boy, good boy.”

“Sorry Aunt Reese.” Bobby reached down to help her up. “We should have told you. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just had the wind knocked out of me.” Her eyes drifted to the truck and to Mark who was still seated, staring down. What was wrong with him? She thought about Erik and how he was injured hiding from the mass and she panicked.

When Reese rushed over she saw her son wasn’t staring down in some sort of depression or injured mode, he was looking down to a very small infant resting on his legs as he tried to wrestle with a diaper.

“He’s been at it for ten minutes,” Bobby said.

Reese moved closer, standing in the door. “Mark.”

“Mom.” He glanced at her so desperately. “Help.”

<><><><>

“For real?” Chip shook his head, perturbed, inched his mom out of the way, and whipped the diaper on the baby like a pro. “See. There. Done. Again.”

“Did you just … put a diaper on a baby?” Reese asked.

“Yeah and not the first time either,” Chip replied. “He gets caught up on the tabs.”

“That’s because I’m afraid I’ll break her,” Mark defended.

With a ‘here’, Reese reached for the baby and lifted her. “Oh my God, she’s so little. What is her name?”

Both brothers went silent.

“She has a name, right?” Reese asked.

“Well,” Mark replied. “We call her G. Baby G.”

“G?”

“Yeah, for girl.”

“You named a baby, G,” Reese said in disbelief.

“I wanted to call her Iggy,” Chip said. “Because Mark found her in an Igloo cooler.”

Reese closed her eyes and shook her head. “And the dog?”

“Dude,” Chip replied. “We call him Dude. Mark picks up these strays and can’t take care of them. He has done this his whole life.”

“Chip,” Reese said. “This is a little different and I’m proud of you both. We’ll all pitch in and help. Gram especially, you know she loves babies.”

“Mom, what’s … what’s going on?” Chip asked in reference to the standstill traffic.

“Things are just a little backed up, people trying to get gas. It’ll start moving soon. And we’ll be back on the road. Don’t worry,” she said, cuddling the baby. “We’ll make it.”

“We’re not gonna make it,” Charlotte spoke in a soft voice to Duke. “I’m not a negative person, but we haven’t moved in over an hour, maybe more.”

“Just hold tight,” Duke said. “Just give it time. The president said …”

His words faded to her because as soon as he said ‘president’ she thought about the radio broadcast.

The president’s speech left a lot to be desired. Everything about it was just off.

He started out as if reading then went into some sort of freestyle rant how he planned on being encouraging to say this crisis would be over and those who survived would rise from the ashes … blah, blah, blah.

But then he went into the fact that he didn’t know who was going to survive. That he heard from experts that deep bodies of water and extremely high altitudes increased survival chances. But the biggest thing were the ships. In the first few minutes he mentioned every port where ships were waiting for first come first board survivors and would increase capacity by fifty percent to save as many as they could.

Somewhere around the ten minute mark, after he mentioned altitude heights and ships, and long before the automated Emergency Broadcast could repeat locations of the rescue ships, somewhere in that time frame all signals was lost.

Charlotte, like everyone else, listened to the broadcast. It echoed across the crowded highway as every radio seemed to be turned in. The president’s voice carried loudly, and then with a rush of static and wave of upset crowd noises, the president was gone.

The message ended.

Not intentionally.

Charlotte stood there watching everyone. Eyes shifting about, the entire scene that played before her reminded her of a movie she had seen decades earlier. A meteor headed to earth, cars on the high way jammed packed trying to get out. A husband and wife saying goodbyes as a massive tsunami headed their way.

Then she remembered another part of that scene, the rush of a kid on a Moped trying to get to higher ground. Charlotte did not want that to be them, rushing to get to Holly River which was hours away in the opposite direction.

Every minute they waited they chanced boxing themselves in, the closing walls of the black moving until they were trapped.

Every minute was another minute they didn’t get on those ships.

After looking at her watch again, she approached Duke. “I love my family. You love yours, right now our only hope is to turn around and head to higher ground before we can’t get there.”

“I know.” Duke rested his hands on his hips looking around.

“And if we do make the ships is that how we want to survive? On a ship crammed with people? Yes, the ships have a hundred percent chance of survival, but it’s not a hundred percent chance we’ll get on. The mountain may not guarantee our survival, but we can get there and still have a fighting chance.”

Duke breathed slowly, releasing a slow desperate grunt. He looked around again. “You’re right. Let’s go talk to our families. Before it’s too late.”

Charlotte was relieved to hear he was on board. She truly hoped and prayed it was the right call, but it was a call someone needed to make before it was too late. She wasn’t far from just leaving the caravan and turning around herself. But they had all been in it from the beginning and she wanted them all to see it to the end … whatever that would be.

<><><><>

Chilliwack, BC, Canada

It was nearly one of those, ‘I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend and so on’ sort of things.

Frieda Williamson paid attention to the news until there was no more news reports. The last she heard, things were happening all over. She was literally in the dark. Scared to death for her children, she dozed off in the recliner with her two-year-old daughter Martha on her lap, and five-year-old son, Logan asleep on the sofa with his blue ‘binky’.

When her phone rang just at sunup, just as the orange hue entered the room, her heart nearly stopped.

It was her brother, Dan.

He sounded anxious, yet excited.

“Frieda, are you awake enough to talk?”

“Yes, why,” she spoke in a whisper so as not to wake Martha.

“I spoke to Justin.”

Frieda knew who Justin was. It was Dan’s best friend since primary school.

“Justin spoke to his cousin,” Dan said. “Her husband is in the Navy. It’s going to get really bad, Frieda. Really bad. These things look like they’re connecting. They’re going to smother the globe.”

“I thought so. I watch them pop up.”

“We have a shot. The Americans and Russia are saying three or four days, our scientists say one day.”

She whimpered.

“We can try higher ground or …. or the Prime minister is going on in two hours to talk about ships that are taking people. Justin says we need to get to Vancouver where there are two ships that will be there. Get the kids ready. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. We can be there waiting on that ship when the Prime minister makes the announcement.”

“So we’re going for the ships, not higher ground?”

“Ships are a for sure way to survive,” Dan replied. “We get there early enough, we’ll beat the crowd.”

While she waited for Dan she packed. One lone bag. Her hiking bag that she would carry on her back. She couldn’t worry about ‘stuff’’, she only worried about her children.

They left with two hours to go until the Prime Minister’s speech. It would take a little over that to get to the port where the ships would be waiting.

It wasn’t maddening, but there was a lot of traffic on the BC Seven, all going west. She kept thinking the secret was out, but dismissed it as normal.

The prime minister’s speech started on the radio seven miles from their destination. And was still going when they came to a grinding halt.

Cars, trucks and SUVs took up not only all four lanes but the middle and sides of the roads. One huge parking lot.

People were getting out, abandoning their vehicles and walking.

“How far is it?” Frieda asked.

“It’s only a mile. We can do that. Carry the baby. I’ll carry Logan.”

“Sounds good.”

After getting the children from the car seats, they began to walk. It was cold and every time the wind blew, it went through her. She cradled her toddler who increasingly felt heavier and heavier with each step.

It was only a mile.

When they arrived at the port, the gates to the docks were closed and people were already lined up. Twenty across at least. Armed soldiers secured the gate. Frieda was impressed, people were relatively calm. Maybe because like her, they knew they were in a good position to get on the boat.

They had an hour to wait.

Thirty minutes later, they started to announce to keep in line, when they opened the gates they wanted it to be orderly.

No rushing or pushing.

An announcement repeated over and over.

Again, Frieda wasn’t worried. She knew from the speech they were letting five thousand people on board. A few hundred, and for sure not more than a thousand, stood ahead of her in line.

It was the people behind her she worried about.

As time passed the crowd behind her grew. She kept peering back, it got to the point where people were lined up as far as the eye could see.

Then they opened the gates.

“This is it,” Dan said. “We’re good. We’re on.”

Frieda nodded. She felt the crowd moving, more so from being anxious and wanting badly to get going. It was moving. It was good, but she knew as the ship filled that orderly fashion would probably disappear.

What she didn’t expect was for it to happen so fast. It wasn’t the anticipation or worry about getting on the boat that caused people to rush forward, it was fear.

It started with a series of screams, panicked screams far from her and Frieda looked back.

There in the distance, blocking everything behind it was the black Galanis, or whatever the anomaly was called.

It loomed and moved their way so people rushed forward.

Her body bounced back and forth, Martha started to scream.

No longer was Dan beside her, four people separated them.

“Frieda!” he yelled, then made his way back to her. “Stay with me. We’re pushing through.”

“How ….”

“Just don’t leave. Stay with me. I’ll get us through.”

The enormity of the rushing crowd was frightening. She wasn’t pushed forward, she was jolted back and forth. Staying close to Dan, she watched as he did the same thing as others. He didn’t care, he pushed through. How he did it, she didn’t know.

She kept up for a good bit, the fence was close. She could see the faces of the soldiers as they tried to control the crowd.

He kept moving with Logan. Pushing through. Like a line backer.

Then she made a mistake. The roar of screams caused her to look back again. The anomaly was even closer and when she turned back around, the distance between her and Dan increased, and with each passing second he and Logan were farther ahead.

First they were only separated by a few people, but then it became a few feet.

She was unable to move, the crowd rushing increased and not only was Dan no longer in her reach, he was out of her earshot.

“Dan!” she screamed. “Dan.”

Frieda was pushed to the side, how did she get so far away.

She tried to move forward, yelling out.

Finally he heard her and it was just as he passed through the fence.

Screams of horror from the approaching Galanis were so loud, she was surprised he heard her at all. She called for him as if there was something he could do. The look on his face said it all, he knew she wasn’t getting through, she wasn’t strong enough. He was home free, not far from the ramp to get on the boat. Frieda wanted to cry. It broke her heart, not for her life but for Martha’s. She wouldn’t give up, she’d keep trying.

The soldiers tried to hold people, to control them. Once more, just once more she’d look back. When she did, she saw the reason for the panic.

The anomaly was so close.

Frieda kept pushing, shoving trying to get through with her crying toddler. Then something miraculous happened, a wave of momentum.

Whatever it was, whatever caused it, she moved forward with ease, as if she were floating on air. The crowd moved her.

She saw Dan at the edge of the ramp, holding Logan. He never stopped watching. The expression of his face changed and Frieda believed she had a chance.

Closer.

Closer. The opening to the fence was near, then the momentum shifted and she started to go right.

No. No. No.

Finally she made it to the front, to the fence, but she could only get to the right of the opening, she was pressed against the fence unable to move. A soldier was right there, she could even touch him.

“Please let me through. My brother is there …”

The soldier didn’t hear her. He was nearly done, overrun as people barreled by him.

“Dan!” she cried out.

“Frieda!’ He stepped from the ramp. “Get the baby to me! Get me the baby!”

She extended Martha out to the soldier. “Give her to my brother. Please. He’s right there! He’s right there. The blue coat, the child on his hip! Please give my baby to my brother.”

He honestly didn’t hear her.

Martha kicked and screamed as Frieda tried to extend her.

“Please give my baby to my brother. Blue jacket. He has my ….”

Whoosh.

From the feel of her baby clutched in her hands, to open air.

Someone took Martha from her hands. Snatched her right up. She didn’t see who took her, or even her daughter any more.

Frieda cried out a gut wrenching, “No!” she screamed it over and over.

She looked for Dan, she watched him rush from the ramp with Logan and the crowd swallowed him.

Where was Martha? Where was her baby?

In her state of panic, she feared she dropped her, and as she looked down, Frieda was shoved even more, this time against the fence. Her face smashed against it, pain radiated through her fingers as they twisted around the links.

“Frieda!” Dan called out.

She felt desperate, broken.

“Freida!”

Face against the fence, she looked out and saw him. And then suddenly everything was alright.

Dan not only had Logan, he had Martha.

Frieda didn’t know if someone took the baby to give to Dan or he found the child on his own. It didn’t matter. Both her children were safe.

It took everything she had to push back, to create space between her and that fence. When she did, she locked eyes with her brother and nodded.

Go, she tried to convey, go.

He got the message.

He nodded to her, then turned with the children in his arms and he walked up that crowded ramp.

He made it.

They made it.

The horn of the ship blasted. Frieda cast her eyes upward, Dan was on the ship with the kids. She saw them and the ramp lifting as the soldiers raced and jumped on it..

Why was it lifting? The boat wasn’t full.

One last time she glanced back. She saw why.

The Galanis couldn’t have been more than a hundred feet from her.

Another blast of the horn brought about a huge bellow of cries and screams and then the stampede.

It was a blur. It happened so fast.

The final frantic attempt to get to the leaving ship and the crowd rushed forward as one giant mass.

First it pushed her against the fence.

She saw people jumping, grabbing for the ramp, and then she felt the fence and her own body fall forward.

Frieda landed hard to the ground.

All she could see was her hand, and all she felt were stabs of pain to her body, one pounding hit after another as people ran over her.

They trampled her.

It was agonizing, every foot against her body, her breath became hard to catch.

But Frieda was okay. She mentally floated above it.

Resolving herself to the fact that yes, she would die, but her children would live and that was what mattered most.

THIRTY – FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

Holly River National Park, WV

Whatever his mother was making in that huge kettle smelled incredible, but David wasn’t allowed to touch it.

“Not yet,” Lela told him. “They’ll be here soon.”

“Mom, they won’t.”

David insisted, his father told him to just let his mother be, if they didn’t show, eventually, she would break down and let them eat.

Of course, if they didn’t show, they would be eating that stew for a long time.

It was so quiet on the mountain that just before five PM he heard the sound of tires on the gravel before he saw the caravan of vehicles.

He watched his mother wipe her hands and rush to greet the van and trucks as they came to a stop just before the lot in front of Cabin Nine.

“Told you,” Lela smiled. “Told you.”

David along with his parents approached the police van as Duke stepped out.

Stephen shook Duke’s hand and looked beyond him. “Lots of people I see.”

“It’s everyone,” Duke replied. “Everyone that left with us.”

“What happened?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah,” David added. “I thought you were going to the ship.”

“That wasn’t happening,” Duke sighed out. “We couldn’t get through, and even if we did I don’t think we were getting on the ships, too many people. It’s happening. It’s happening fast. They’re coming from all angles, it’s mortifying. At this rate it’ll be over by tomorrow. We only had a couple hundred miles and three times we had to change direction.”

“We’re safe right?” David asked. ‘Up here. I mean they said higher ground. You don’t get much higher than this around here.”

“I know,” Duke said. “We are higher ground. We ran into some people making it to the Appalachians. It’s pretty desperate.”

Stephen asked. “How close?”

“Close. Webster Springs to the south is gone. Buckhannon is gone,” Duke said. “So you could say … it’s here.”

<><><><>

NOAA Research Vessel – Ronald Brown

The name Vancouver was above the black and white CC footage that Hero watched. It was one of only four ports that had cameras recording the rescue ships.

Vancouver was by far the worse. Not because the people acted differently, but because the circumstances were different.

Of all the places they had rescue ships, Vancouver was the only port that was swallowed by the black before the ship was full.

It was horrific.

The panic, the death, the people being trampled. It was horrendous, but Hero watched it several times. Each time hoping to see something different.

“Hero?” Charles called his name softly.

Hero shook his head. “I was so wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Charles asked.

“I thought we had more time.”

“Everyone did. We moved as fast as we could,” Charles said. “The ships alone saved over fifty thousand people.”

Hero huffed achingly. “Fifty thousand out of how many.”

“That’s how many we know made it on the ships. We don’t know how many made it to higher ground.

Hero nodded sadly.

“It could have been worse. Now … we wait. We dropped anchor, you know.”

“Where?” Hero asked.

“Baltimore. We heard a lot … I mean a lot of small boats and ships all made it out. Come and see.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Come and see.”

“What’s the point. In twelve hours it will be over.”

“Yeah, yeah it will,” Charles said. “And if the world is going to end, I want to see it happen.”

It took for Hero to stand up to leave for him to notice no one else was in that Storm room, everyone was done.

The night before when everything started, Hero believed they had four days.

Four days seemed like a massive amount of time compared to what ended up happening.

The multiple anomalies erupted, creating a massive event that would cleanse the earth and reset it. Like it happened many times in the past. It was natures way. Only this time, at least to the best of Hero’s knowledge, those who inhabited the earth had the technology to know it was happening and be able to watch it, but not the technology or the time to stop it.

He went topside with Charles. The ship was anchored at a distance with the bow pointing toward Baltimore, which was one of the last standing metropolises.

The black had not taken over the city completely, it was nearly there. Nearly finished with its job. Even though it was night, against the moonlit sky, the black looked like a dark fog.

It crept through the buildings and around them like a tidal wave. But slow moving. The docks were still clear and people were still making their escape.

From Hero’s vantage point he didn’t know if the same thing happened there that happened in Vancouver. The riots, the fights. He did know the three rescue ships reached their capacity and like Hero’s ship were at a safe distance away from port.

The anomaly made different sounds in the big city. Not only the creaking and cracking, but there was howling and banging.

“You know I look at this and I imagine myself to be Francis Scott Key.”

Hero, holding on to the railing, turned and gave a quirky confused look to Charles.

“September thirteenth, 1814, Francis Scott Key was right where we are. On a ship, looking at Baltimore. He was a prisoner on his own ship, and forced to watch as the British Navy rained hell on Fort McHenry. Now the fort knew the British were coming so they had the biggest flag ever made and raised it as high as they could. An entire day bombs fell, over seven hundred were fired on the fort. But they were resilient, and Key watched this. Once in an article he wrote, that It seemed as though mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone. He couldn’t see anything but black smoke. Know what else he wrote?”

“The Star Spangled banner.”

“Yep.” Charles nodded. “Because the next day, by dawn’s early light, when the smoke cleared, that flag was still there. It was still there, Hero.”

Hero looked down for a moment then out to the shore.

“That story means a lot to me and that is why I commanded the ship to this spot.”

“You really had that story in mind when you steered us here?” Hero asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Charles nodded. “We as a human race are resilient, like the men and woman of Fort McHenry. There may be a lot less of us but … when all that clears in the morning …” Charles pointed outward. “Like our flag, by dawn’s early light, we’ll still be here,” he said. “We’ll still be here.”

<><><><>

Holly River, WV

It was the highest spot in the area, though not much higher that it would make that big of a difference. Many people came to take that trail and stand on the large flat stone to look over in the valley.

When Chip went to the spot, he went for two reasons.

One was to see and watch the anomaly, the other was to watch the sunset. It was still light when he got there, the beautiful orange sky was breathtaking, streaks of the sun peeked out reaching for the heavens before it set beyond the horizon.

As he looked out, he could see the black.

A complete contrast to the deep sea of destruction that engulfed the valley and trees.

For a while he believed they were safe. Then it got closer.

Chip knew it was going to probably be the last sunset he ever watched.

The sky was so clear he knew there would be an abundance of stars and Chip just couldn’t leave.

He heard the dog barking, twice, it had a deadened sound to it.

“Here boy.” Chip hit his thigh.

Dude rushed to him and sat next to him.

“I know. I know.”

He looked up to the sky. It was so hard to believe that is was bright with the stars and the moon, yet, below him, not far, it looked like the world disappeared.

Gone.

A black hole.

“Okay.” Chip exhaled and stood. He lifted his flashlight, one that was bright enough to lead him back down the trail. A trembling hit his chest as he gazed upward once more. “It’s time boy, let’s go.”

It was quite a walk, but Mark had to find his brother. He couldn’t join the others yet, nor would he until he knew … and that information would come from his brother.

The Little Stone Church had been reconstructed and placed across from the school two years earlier. A little church buried in the woods, overrun by trees. Its remains carefully collected, moved and rebuilt. Mark never understood why they put it there in the cabin area. It wasn’t a church with pastor or priest, it was more of a historical place.

Ten wooden pews, five on each side. It was small and beautiful. But Mark knew the reason for it now. It was for the day that was upon them.

It wasn’t his thing, nor anyone in his family, but he got it. Everyone was gathered there except him and his mother. They were both waiting for Chip. His mother sat on the porch of Cabin nine, staring down to the light that came from the church, listening perhaps to the sad singing voices that carried in the night.

Chip held the answers. He went up to watch. If he was still there, the Galanis was still at a distance.

A sickening feeling hit his stomach when he heard the bark of the dog and saw the dancing beam of Chip’s flashlight.

Dude raced up to him, greeting him, then Mark saw his brother.

“Hey,” Mark said softly.

“Hey.”

“Well?”

Chip pursed his lips before answering. “It’s here. It’s over.”

Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee ...

E'en though it be a cross … that raiseth me,

Her forearms rested on her legs, as she leaned forward, in a sad state of shock. Her eyes shifting from the road to the church. Reese wasn’t a praying person and actually declined Lela’s invitation to come to the Little Stone Church with everyone.

She knew her mother and Pam wanted to go, but they didn’t. They both sat on that porch with her, along with Bobby. Then as everyone walked down the path, singing softly, Reese said to her mother, “Go. Go on.”

Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to thee;

“Nope.” Charlotte shook her head. “We’re a family. We stick together, we stay with each other.”

“Go. As soon as Chip gets back with Mark, we’ll meet you there.”

“Are you sure?” Charlotte asked. “Don’t make me come for you.”

“I’m positive. Go.”

Nearer, my God to thee, nearer to thee …

She watched her family join the others in the death parade. A part of her thought it was morbid, singing ‘God’ songs while piling into a church. To do what? Pray the end wouldn’t come? No amount or singing or praying would make a difference in whatever fate waited for them. At least in Reese’s opinion.

The single bark of the dog caused her to look up quickly. She closed her eyes for a second, just a second, because when she saw Chip, she knew what was coming.

Chip wasn’t leaving that flat rock unless …

Reese stood up.

She had no words.

Chip nodded sadly and it just took her breath away.

Thinking, ‘okay, we got this.’ She embraced both of her sons. She walked between them, one arm locked on to each of her boys and headed down the path to the church where the others were.

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,

Darkness be over me, my rest a stone …

“We could hear them singing,” Chip said. “All the way from the trail.”

“At first it was just Lela,” Reese replied, “Then the others joined in.”

“I feel like I’m on the Titanic,” Mark said.

Reese stopped walking.

“What? Bad timing?”

Reese smiled. “No, perfect timing. I wouldn’t want either of you to be any other way right now.”

Yet in my dreams I'd be … nearer, my God to thee;

Chip reached for the church door. He looked at Reese, then Mark. “Thank you guys for everything. I love you both.”

Another embrace between the three of them, a private exchange of emotions and they stepped inside.

Nearer, my God to thee, nearer to thee...

In the third pew, Charlotte held Baby G. She smiled when she saw Reese and scooted over. Eric was there, Pam and Bobby.

Reese stayed between her sons and slid into the pew.

She didn’t sing, she didn’t pray, she just absorbed everything.

Their fate at that moment was truly unknown. She listened and looked around, Duke and his family, David, Lela and Stephen. The strangers that happened to be at camp.

She realized, it wasn’t about the church, prayer or singing, it was about being together. Finding comfort and peace in what could be the final moment and finding it together.

There was strength in numbers and Reese suddenly felt strong.

There was so much comfort and peace there it was contagious, it was greater than the anomaly ever could be.

It wouldn’t break them.

She held onto her sons, basking in the gratefulness of the love and joy they gave her in life. No waiting and thinking about it, that would be senseless and a waste of energy. Whether it was a dark night that would lead into another day or the last night, Reese was okay.

So by my woes to be ….nearer, my God to thee;

There would be a sunrise the next day that was certain. But Reese didn’t know if she would be fortunate enough to see that sunrise.

Nearer, my God to thee …

Whatever happened was out of her hands. Reese couldn’t control it, but she could control who she was with in those final moments and Reese was with everyone she loved.

Nearer to … thee

THIRTY-ONE – DILIGENCE

NOAA Research Vessel – Ronald Brown

Hero didn’t plan on falling sleep. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but it had been forty-eight hours since he slept and it was out of his control.

While Charles chose to be Francis Scott Key and stay on deck, Hero returned to the Strom room. He watched every image sent from the satellites and the space station. It was better to watch it that way. It wasn’t quite as real as standing on the bow, imaging the poor people that didn’t make it. The fear they had at the end.

It broke his heart to think about being alive when so many others died.

He thought so much about Charlotte, Reese and Pam. Their families. He thought about Duke. Did they make it to the ships. Where they caught up in mass chaos and pandemonium like Hero witnessed on some of the ships.

Or did they opt for the mountains and hope the altitude was their sanctuary.

Hero vowed to make it his mission to find out what happened to them all.

They became fast friends in a new empty world.

Mind full, heart heavy, Hero felt tired and only wanted to rest his head on the desk. It wasn’t until Baker woke him that he realized he had been sleeping for four hours.

“What the hell?” Hero blinked hard looking down at his watch.

“I wasn’t waking you,” Baker said. “Not yet.” He set a cup of coffee before him. “Charles wants to see you on deck.”

“Is he still up there?”

“Never left.”

Hero sipped his coffee. “How … how is it?”

“It’s over.”

“Dude, I know …”

“I mean it’s over. The black is receding everywhere. It’s over,” Baker stated.

“Any new images?”

“We’re watching. Nothing. Not yet. Take a look.” Baker pulled up an image on the screen.

Hero wasn’t quite sure he had his wits about him enough to examine the satellite but wasn’t going to celebrate, not yet.

Another could pop up or the event could have been like the grand finale of a fireworks display. Everything hitting at once … then done.

Hero had another few swigs of coffee then left Baker and went topside.

Charles was still standing in the same position, staring out.

Hero immediately saw the Baltimore skyline. Building sucked of life, windows gone, looking as if remnants of a thousand year civilization.

How could just looked at that?

And then when Charles glanced over his shoulder, he smiled.

Hero wondered why was his smiling.

“Morning, Hero. What a glorious day, right?”

“What?”

“Look at the sun. Look at the sky,” Charles said. “Perfect.”

Was he nuts? Had he lost it?

“Look at Baltimore,” Hero said. “This is our world now. This is what’s left.”

Charles huffed a slight laugh. “You can not see the forest through the trees, can you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re looking at Baltimore. Look at the bay. Look.” Charles motioned out his hand.

There were thousands of boats and barges carrying people. Hero didn’t pay much attention to them the night before.

“Forest through the trees,” Charles explained. “Buildings can be rebuilt. The ground can be planted. Lives can not.”

“But …”

“No buts, Hero. Is it over? Who knows. Maybe. Maybe not. But the anomaly has cleared,” Charles said.

Hero didn’t need for him to finish because he knew what Charles was going to say. Charles was right.

It wasn’t how Hero hoped it would be, but it wasn’t all gone.

The metaphorical smoke had lifted, and the flag was still there.

<><><><>

Colorful beams of light, blue, red, yellow carried particles of dust, created by the sun as it blasted through the stained glass window of the Little Stone Church.

One of those beams landed on Duke’s boot and he just couldn’t stop looking at it. Moving his foot back and forth breaking the light and smiling.

Two thousand feet … give or take some.

Two thousand feet.

Yeah, Duke thought, that’s what it was.

It was quiet in that church, it had been for a while. In fact, a time came during the night when no one spoke, no one sang.

Just quiet. A mesmerizing silence that a pin dropping would cause Duke’s heart to skip a beat.

The children had eventually fallen asleep.

The grownups didn’t.

He was grateful for Lela’s suggestion.

He knew she didn’t bring them to the church to pray for a miracle, it was to be together. That was why Duke gathered his family in the first place. Whether on a ship or home or in a stone church on top of a mountain in Holly River National Park, they were together.

Quiet.

Just before the sun came up, he was swimming in the silence. Iva’s head against his shoulder, his youngest grandson asleep on his lap. Not even Baby G made a sound.

Then Chip, not saying a word, jumped up and blasted from the church.

Duke looked behind him to catch a glimpse of Chip barreling out the wooden doors leaving them to slam, waking everyone up.

Then his brother Mark followed.

They were up to something, something that their mother knew because she didn’t react when they left.

The church grew quiet again until Chip returned and did so loudly.

“We did it. We made it. It never came. Everything is fine out here,” Chip announced and immediately was greeted with grateful cheers.

Duke didn’t make a sound. He closed his eyes silently absorbing his appreciation.

Two thousand feet.

Higher ground.

Could they have stayed in the cabins and went about as if all were normal? Sure. But the Galanis was close. In fact, Duke didn’t need to go to the highest point to see that. When the stars disappeared from the sky in the distance, he knew it was close. Either that or an optical illusion.

But they had to mentally prepare for the worst.

The worst never came. At least for those on the mountain.

They were safe, they made it.

The power had gone, there was no communication, they were cut off, with no way to find out what was going on. Eventually they would. Not yet.

If things stayed calm and no more anomalies happened, Duke wanted to find Hero. He knew where he went.

For the time being, he and the others would stay on the mountain, at the camp and stay safe.

That was the plan. Not one spoken, because Duke hadn’t said a word, not a single word, he was too overwhelmed. He would when he left the church.

The others had left the church, but Duke remained there. Absorbing the beams of sunlight and the feeling of a second chance at life they all had been given.

<><><><>

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Thank you very much for reading this my work. The closing chapter of this book was added because I knew many of you would want it. I wanted to end this book in the church. I hope you enjoyed the decision I made.

Please visit my website www.jacquelinedruga.com and sign up for my mailing list for updates, freebies, new releases and giveaways. And, don’t forget my new Kindle club!

Your support is invaluable to me. I welcome and respond to your feedback. Please feel free to email me at Jacqueline@jacquelinedruga.com

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Winds of Ares is a standalone novel.