Authors: Thomas Koloniar
A
fter Marty Chittenden’s apprehension by the Secret Service, Agent Paulis had requested clearance to keep him detained and out of sight on campus at the California Institute of Technology, much in the same manner as two other astronomers who had spotted the asteroid. They were being illegally detained elsewhere in the U.S., one under house arrest in New Mexico, the other involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in Washington, D.C.
Susan Denton had been allowed to visit Marty and bring him food during his detention, and she came to truly detest Agent Paulis, who seemed to take personal enjoyment in keeping Marty locked in a tiny room on the top floor of a deserted dormitory across campus.
Now, she stepped off the elevator and walked briskly down the hall toward a pair of Secret Service agents standing guard outside the room. “Okay, guys, you can let him out. The nuclear warhead didn’t work, so we’re all as good as dead.”
“Are you sure?” one of the men said, strangely surprised.
“Yeah. Call Agent Paulis if you don’t believe me.”
He tried reaching Paulis on the phone but all he got was voice mail. “That’s odd.”
“See? He’s obviously abandoned you guys. Don’t you think it’s about time you started thinking for yourselves?”
A minute later the Secret Service agent was able to reach someone on the phone to confirm that the warhead had failed to divert the asteroid and that most government employees were fleeing D.C.
“The government’s already shutting down,” the agent said, tucking the phone away. “I’m trying for Seattle. My sister lives there.”
“You’ll never make it,” the other said. “The interstate’s going to be total gridlock.”
“I’ll steal a fucking motorcycle if I have to. What about you?”
“I’ll go to Camp Pendleton. I’ve got some friends in the Corps who’ll let me in.”
“And what about Marty?” Susan asked.
One of them gave her the key to Marty’s room. “Good luck to you. Be damn sure you’re off the streets before dark. And tell Chittenden it was nothing personal.”
The men headed for the elevator, and Susan keyed into Marty’s room. “Hey, you.”
Marty was sitting on his bed against the wall, reading a book. “What’s happened?”
“The first rocket failed to push the asteroid off course, and the second never even made it off the ground. The Secret Service guys took off, so you’re free.”
“Then we have to get the hell out of here,” he said, getting up, then leading her out of the room by the hand. “We’ll go to my place. I’ve already stocked up on food.”
She hurried along beside him and they road the elevator to the ground floor. “Marty, we’ll never make it to your place. The highways are jammed.”
The elevator doors opened and they moved quickly toward the parking lot.
“We have to get out of town,” he said.
Her car was nearly the only one left in the lot.
“You’d better drive,” she said, giving him the keys. “I don’t handle heavy traffic well.”
“We’ll stick to the side streets,” he said, getting in and starting the motor.
“We should just go to my house. We’ll never make it to Mesa.”
“We’ll starve in California, Sue. Do you know how many people are here? The food won’t last a month. Nothing’s being produced now.”
“We’ll starve in Arizona too,” she argued. “That’s if we survive the blast.”
Traffic thickened up a mile from campus, but it was moving, and so far motorists were still obeying the traffic signals.
“Okay, we’ll stay at your place tonight,” he conceded. “That will give all these people a chance to get home to their families. Tomorrow it won’t be as bad and we can get out of town.”
She suddenly had a frightening thought and grabbed his arm. “You’re not going to ditch me if things get bad, are you? If I start to slow you down?”
He looked at her. “Susan, no.” He paused and continued, “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m still in love with you.”
She looked down. “I’m sorry I’ve never felt the same. I feel responsible for you being stranded so far from home.”
“Hey, so long as I’m with you, I don’t care where I am. All I’m worried about is not being able to protect you.”
She opened the glove box, took out a Walther PPK .380 pistol, and gave it to him. “Will that help?”
He looked at the pistol in his hand. “I’ve never fired one.”
“I bought it after I was attacked,” she said. “If I can shoot it, anybody can.”
I
t was the day after the failure of the shoot-down, and Forrest was standing over the grill cooking hamburgers and hot dogs, drinking a bottle of Corona and smoking a cigarette. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, a perfect summer day in June. The children were chasing each other around in the tall grass, and their mothers were busy setting the tables.
“You do know,” Ulrich said, “that if the government shows up, it’s going to be tough getting everybody belowground.”
Laddie came trotting over and dropped a tennis ball at Forrest’s feet. He threw the ball as far as he could out into the field and the dog tore off after it. “The world ends in sixteen hours, Wayne. We’re the last thing on the government’s to-do list.”
Ulrich tipped his beer, watching the dog search the grass for his ball. “I hope you’re right.”
Across the yard, Veronica and Melissa were watching everyone from where they sat in the grass. Veronica was in a detached state of mind, only half present, observing the entire group with an analytical eye. She spotted Michael helping a woman named Karen Schott set the table, and wondered what they were talking about, having noticed with little jealousy the chemistry between them on the day of Karen’s arrival three days earlier. The two West children were playing in the backyard with a little boy named Steven, who Marcus had rescued along with Steven’s mother Tonya from her abusive boyfriend a few days ago.
She could also plainly see that Tonya had the hots for Kane, and that another invitee, Maria Mendoza, did as well. This Maria would be called Maria two to distinguish her from Oscar’s wife, Maria Vasquez.
In the end, only eight women had accepted the offer to join the silo population, bringing nine children along with them, which brought the group’s grand total to thirty-six: fourteen women, eight men, one teenage girl, and a noisy band of thirteen children—six boys and seven girls.
Ulrich was satisfied with the final tally, and Veronica and Michael both were encouraged by the blend of personalities. Tonya was still a little bit withdrawn, but she would likely warm up as time went on. The dentist’s wife, Lynette, was the only obvious phony in the lot and she would be easy enough to deal with.
Besides Tonya, Karen, and Maria two, the women included Andie Tatum—the brunette Forrest had met at the health food store—Joann Parker, a tall, sexy black woman; Jenny Brennan, a redhead with lots of freckles; Michelle Freeman, a bubbly blonde; and Renee Letterman, a less than bubbly blonde.
Michael came over from the table and sat in the grass with Veronica and Melissa.
“Karen’s little girl is a cutie, isn’t she?” Veronica said, unable to help testing the water.
“Which?” he said. “Oh, Karen’s little girl. I forget her name. Yeah, she’s a cutie.”
That was when Veronica felt her first real spark of jealousy. If Michael was pretending to forget the daughter’s name—and he was—it meant he liked the mother more than he wanted her to know. “I think her name’s Terri,” she said helpfully.
“That’s right. Terri. Have you guys tried the potato salad?”
“Not yet,” Melissa said. Seeing Forrest, she got up and walked over.
“She really likes him,” Veronica said.
“He’s a good father figure for her,” Michael said, glancing toward the grill. “Better than me for sure.”
“Don’t say that. That’s ridiculous.”
“Well, what I mean is, Jack’s a lot more like Stephen than I am.”
“Tell me something.”
“What?” He suspected he knew what she was going to ask.
“Are you attracted to Karen?”
He fell back on his arms with an audible sigh. “No more than you are to Jack.”
She looked down into her lap. “I suppose that’s a fair reply.”
“Baby, I love you. You know that.”
“I love you too,” she said, pulling at the grass. “Michael, I’m scared to death.”
“We all are. How could anyone possibly not be?”
“What if I crack? What if I make a complete ass out of myself down there?”
“You won’t. You’ll be too busy comforting everyone else.”
Erin Ulrich and Taylor West came walking up holding two wineglasses each. “No serious faces allowed today,” Erin said.
“You caught us!” Michael laughed.
The women sat down cross-legged in the grass, each offering a glass of wine.
“You know, we really couldn’t be in better hands,” Taylor said, touching glasses with them. “Erin’s husband and the others are as good as they come.”
“And Taylor’s husband is an excellent doctor,” Erin added. “For that matter, so is Price. He’s actually an oral surgeon.”
“Have you known Price’s wife very long?” Veronica asked.
Erin and Taylor exchanged grins, everyone glancing across the yard to where Lynette stood talking with some of the mothers. She was dressed in a skimpy top and tight-fitting jeans with heels.
“How does one explain Lynette?” Erin said with a giggle, having finished off a glass of wine already. “Yes, we’ve known her for about five years.”
“Does she plan to dress like that down below?” Michael wondered.
“Probably,” Erin said, sharing another laugh with Taylor.
“She’s really very sweet, though,” Taylor added.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Erin said. “But she tries. I’ll give her that.”
“Your husband doesn’t seem to care for her,” Veronica said.
Erin looked at Taylor and they both started laughing. “Actually, Wayne can’t stand her.”
“Boy, I need to get caught up here,” Michael said, taking a large sip from his glass. “You two are having a great time.”
“Damn right,” Erin said, touching glasses again with Taylor. “This may be the last fun we ever have.”
“I just wish Monica had come,” Taylor said, suddenly glum.
“Hey, no sad faces,” Michael reminded her.
“You’re right!” Taylor said, brightening quickly.
“Do you two know her well?” Veronica asked, provoking a discreet but disapproving look from Michael.
“We used to be a trio,” Erin said. “But after their son Daniel was killed, the whole world changed. Monica withdrew from everyone . . . even Jack.”
“How did he die?”
“His den mother was driving him home from a Cub Scout meeting,” Taylor said. “Some drunken teenagers ran a red light. Jack and Wayne were both overseas when it happened. It was an absolute nightmare for Monica . . . for all of us, really.”
“My God,” Veronica said. “No wonder he’s so intent on saving the rest of us.”
“Jack doesn’t even understand the
concept
of quit,” Erin said. “He drives my husband crazy. But they have a bond I’ll never begin to understand.”
A
cross the yard, Andie walked up to the grill and stood quietly listening as Melissa explained to Forrest the nuances of quantum theory and quantum mechanics.
“Okay,” Forrest said. “So basically quantum theory was the big deal until quantum mechanics came along?”
“Yeah,” she said, throwing the ball for Laddie. “But now they’re the same thing . . . sort of. I wish I could it explain it better. I can see it my head but it’s tough to put into words.”
“No,” he said. “You explained it very well. I’m just too dumb to absorb it.”
“You’re not dumb. If you studied it, you’d get it.”
“I doubt that,” he said, glancing at Andie. “This girl’s a genius.”
Andie smiled at the younger woman. “You learned all that on your own, Melissa?”
“It’s just a hobby,” she said. “They don’t teach it to sophomores.”
“Well, I know who I want for my assistant teacher,” Andie said.
Melissa smiled, concealing her disappointment at losing Forrest’s undivided attention.
“How’s the wine?” Forrest asked.
“Very good,” Andie replied.
“How’s Trinity getting along?” The kids were playing on the swings.
“They’re all wonderful children,” Andie said. “I don’t know how you’ve managed to pull this off, Jack, but you’ve done quite a job.”
“I only get a fifth of the credit . . . and we’re a long way from pulling this off.”
He turned to see Melissa walking toward the house. “Hey, kiddo!”
She turned around quickly.
“We’re gonna talk some more, right?”
She smiled big and nodded, then trotted toward the house.
“I think I chased her off,” Andie said. “I didn’t mean to.”
“No, she’s fine,” he said, taking the ball from Laddie and throwing it.
“That dog loves to play fetch!”
“My son and he used to play for hours,” he said, turning the burgers. “And Danny was always the first to get tired.”
“Where’s Danny now, with your ex?”
“No, he was killed in a car crash two years ago.” He set his beer aside and started to remove a batch of hot dogs from the grill. “Laddie’s all that’s left of him.”
“I’m sorry, Jack. I had no idea.”
“It’s okay. I’ve dealt with it, for the most part.”
“Is that what . . . what ended your marriage?”
“In a nutshell . . . but the life of an army wife isn’t easy. You know that.”
“No, it isn’t,” she said. “But I understood that Kevin had a job to do.”
“Monica did too.”
“Is it soup yet?” Veronica asked, coming up from behind with her empty wineglass, touching him on the shoulder.
“Just about done,” he said, giving her a smile.
Andie saw the look and realized at once that Veronica had a very definite lead. Oh well, she thought. There’s time, hopefully. “Excuse me. I’m going to go and get the kids ready to eat.”
“If you need help rounding them up,” Veronica said, “give me a shout.”
“Will do,” Andie said.
“So what’s up?” Veronica asked, looking Forrest in the eyes.
“Dunno,” he said, taking the ball from Laddie and hurling it back out into the grass. “What’s up?”
“You’ve been avoiding me today. How come?”
“Just keeping things in perspective.”
“Have I done something wrong?”
“Nope.”
“Have you called Monica?”
He looked at her. “Veronica . . . please.”
“You should at least call her.”
“With respect . . . you need to mind your own business.”
“You’ll regret it if you don’t, Jack.”
“Are you going to press this until I say something rude?”
She set the glass down. “I won’t say any more.” She stood for a moment with her hands in her pockets. “I think Michael’s found a girlfriend.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s bonding with Karen.”
“Oh, Christ.”
“Well, I’m just saying . . . I can’t really help being fascinated by this dynamic.”
He took a moment to light up a Camel, tucking the Zippo back into his pocket. “Yeah, well don’t forget that you’re a part of this dynamic too. How are you getting along with your new friends over there?” He pointed over his shoulder with the tongs at Erin and Taylor. Taylor was lying on her back now with her head in Erin’s lap, looking up at the sky, and they were laughing themselves silly over who knew what.
“I like them,” she said warmly. “They’re . . . real.”
“They always have been.” He took the burgers from the grill and stacked them one at a time on the tray. “Did they fill you on all of my juicy gossip?”
“They care about you and Monica very much.”
“Yes, they do,” he agreed, offering her the tray of hamburgers. “Mind taking these over to the table for me?”
She paused before accepting the tray. “It’s going to be a long two years, isn’t it?”
He grinned. “Yes, ma’am, it is . . .”