Portal

by Fred Alvrez

  He mentally kicked himself for not taking up his brother’s offer five years ago to work for him. He was the owner of a big construction company and spent most of his time surfing in Raglan, letting his minions run the company.

  “What the fuck?!” he called out, hoping to get some response from any old lady who took offence to his swearing. No old ladies responded.

  His mum’s house appeared on his left, and he went back inside. It felt safe after this weird-as-shit morning. Nathan picked up the cordless again and redialed emergency services. He put it on speaker so he could make a coffee while waiting for them to answer.

  Two minutes later, coffee in one hand and ringing phone in the other, Nathan went to the lounge, turned the TV on, and flipped it to the news channel, expecting and hoping to see some news about something big to explain all this away.

  The news channel had nothing on it but a black screen. He flicked through the channels and found only infomercials.

  Nathan stood, killing the TV with the remote. “This is crazy.”

  He carried his coffee and the phone to the scene of the crime, his mother’s bedroom. At the end of the bed was the cat’s collar; either someone had taken it off the cat for some weird reason, or…what? He couldn’t figure out any reason other than the one he was forcing out of his mind.

  It’s simply not possible.

  The phone call went unanswered.

  “Come on, Nate. What would Han Solo do?”

  He hung up the phone and grabbed his laptop. Loading Facebook again, Nathan had a look at the recent posts to see if there was anything about tsunamis or other natural disasters. There didn’t seem to be any new posts from anyone since before 3:00 a.m., and nothing in the old posts about anything happening in New Zealand, or in the rest of the world.

  After opening his messaging app on his laptop, he checked which of his friends was online right now. Zero was the answer. Not one single person was online. He switched to the contacts on his phone, and tried dialing six of his best buddies.

  No one answered.

  He opened Facebook again, and sat there looking at his ‘naked mum’ post, waiting for someone to type some smart-ass reply. He sipped his coffee, but nothing happened. No likes, no comments. No new posts either.

  The world was turning into a weird place.

  Nathan dumped his cup in the sink, got his leather jacket and cell phone, and headed out into the new world.

  Surely Civil Defense would have something set up in the shops along the street by now?

  As he walked, Nathan continued to look left and right into houses and yards. Still no people or pets. No cars driving on the road either. He moved out into the middle of the road, hoping someone would toot at him for being an asshole.

  Walking toward the shops in the center of the road, the same feeling was there; nothing living existed.

  He was alone.

  The shops appeared after a few minutes of his reckless road-walking, but still no people. No Civil Defense headquarters could be seen. Nathan sat right in the middle of the road, cross-legged. While he was normally pretty quick with his wit when alone, nothing came to him to say or even do. What do you do when there are no people?

  Nathan racked his brain for a destination. He remembered reading a newspaper article that the main Civil Defense headquarters were deep underground beneath the Beehive, part of New Zealand’s parliamentary buildings.

  So, to the Beehive it was—but there was a problem with that. With no car of his own and no buses, he had no way of getting there.

  “Desperate times, desperate measures. That’s what Han Solo would say.” He wasn’t sure Han would say that, but it sure sounded like something he would say.

  Nathan crossed the street and headed toward some houses. One had a bright-red mountain bike leaning up against the porch, so he knocked on the door to see if he could borrow it. He knew there’d be no one there but felt compelled to check anyway.

  More knocking, no response.

  He thought about leaving a note, but that seemed pointless. Nathan straddled the bike, feeling like a rebel since he was about to steal a bike and wasn’t even wearing a helmet. If there was a civil emergency, surely a stolen bike and no helmet was the least of any cop’s worries.

  He rode along his suburb’s main street, thankful for it being flat. The wide street was deserted, of course, so he rode right in the middle of the road, constantly looking left and right for some sign of life. Houses went past him, as well as the occasional corner store.

  No engine noise left his ride eerily weird. Wheezing a little, Nathan carried on. He was paying for those extra pounds now.

  “Darn you, Netflix,” he said, cursing the cheap and addictive couch-potato service.

  After cycling up the steep hill at the next suburb of Berhampore, Nathan finally got to the top, which gave him an expansive view of New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, and its harbor, the water glistening in the sun. Living close to the city had its advantages when you had to steal a bike and cycle in.

  He stopped, got off, and parked the bike against a lamppost. He was pretty much exhausted and the middle of the road beckoned him again. He went there and sat, looking down over his home town.

  Nathan took a big breath –- it smelt crisply clean, with a hint of cut grass.

  He closed his eyes, focusing his hearing. No bird song, no car engines, no planes taking off from the nearby airport, no children.

  No nothing.

  He smiled. There was one other thing it meant. “No work today!” he shouted.

  That felt good.

  “No riding on a noisy, smelly bus today!”

  That felt even better.

  But this motivational speaking wasn’t getting him closer to the city. Nathan grabbed his bike and started coasting down the steep hill toward the city.

  Fear started to grip him on the road downhill. In his mind, he went through the possible scenarios of what had happened. Only one kept coming back into his head.

  It was the end of the world, and he was left behind.

  Part of him accepted this briefly—at least he knew, or thought he knew, what was happening.

  Deep in thought, there was a moment of peacefulness, tranquility even. No cars or noisy buses; just him, ‘his’ bike, and –dog!

  He lurched his mountain bike to the left, but too late. The dog caught the wheel and knocked him off, causing Nathan to topple down the steep hill. Legs scraping along the road, Nathan attempted to stop himself but only managed to graze his hands. Eventually, he came to a halt. Nathan lay on the road, all his bones and flesh screaming out in pain.

  Lifting his head a little, he looked back up the road to see if it was actually a dog. He hadn’t seen an animal yet, so – was he imagining it? He couldn’t see a dog or other furry animal on the road.

  “Must have been my imagin—” A paw landed on his shoulder. Nathan screamed out, more in fright than pain. He turned his head, and behind him was a border collie in all its black and whiteness, grinning at him, but backing up at his outburst.

  “Are you grinning because I am lying here in agony and you look fine?” No answer. No surprises there. The dog seemed to frown and then turned its head to one side. It inched closer to Nathan, seeming a little less cautious after his shouting.

  “Come here, boy. Promise I won’t shout at you again.” Nathan sat up and held a hand out to the creature that had put him in so much pain.

  One paw at a time the dog edged closer, until it sniffed his hand, and then licked it.

  “Good boy. Uh, girl. Whatever.”

  Nathan felt around his body parts. Painful, but nothing seemed broken. His work pants were shredded and his shirt was now sleeveless. Still, he was alive and hadn’t hit his head on the road, so bonus points there.

  He got up slowly, and the dog came closer to him. Nathan rested his hand on the dog’s back to get some purchase, and stood up.

  “Shit!” Darkness from intense pain washed over him. That beginni
ng-to-faint moment came, then slowly faded away.

  Nathan steadied himself, letting the pain subside, with the dog still standing by his side in case he needed support. Well, that’s what he hoped, anyway.

  “Yeah, good boy. You did cause all this anyway.”

  The dog looked up at Nathan with big brown eyes and let out a solid “ruff!”

  Nathan surveyed the damage to his body. Blood, but no life-threatening wounds. There were scrapes and bruises. Could he go on? He pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket. The screen resembled some sort of smashed-glass artwork. Not even his Star Wars phone case had saved it.

  “That was a seven-hundred-dollar birthday-present phone. Mum is not going to be happy.”

  Looking back up the hill, it was obvious the bike was a write-off, with the front wheel twisted all out of shape.

  “Well, you got me like this. You may as well stay with me in case I fall over from the pain.”

  The dog continued to grin at him, but gave out one agreeing “woof” in acknowledgement.

  Nathan stooped slowly and checked for a name tag.

  “Kevin? Who the hell calls their dog Kevin? Well, I’m not about to change it. Come on, Kev. Let’s go.”

  The duo started down the rest of the hill, Nathan limping slowly after Kevin, who took the lead.

  “What the…” Nathan said, after seeing a white Toyota hatchback had crashed into the traffic lights. He noted there were no brake marks.

  So they didn’t brake at all?

  Reaching the scene, he saw that it was a taxi. No doors were open, but the air bags had been deployed. He moved to the driver’s door and looked in. The driver’s clothes were sitting on the seat.

  Nathan opened the driver’s door, with Kevin at his side. The driver’s shoes were on the floor, along with his socks, and his pants were sitting between the driver’s seat and the floor.

  “They just disappeared. Like they were beamed up to the Enterprise,” Nathan said absently.

  Another set of clothes, complete with shoes, were sitting on the passenger’s side of the car.

  Closing the door, Nathan turned his head away. He told his brain to forget what it had seen. It didn’t work. Butterflies were having a party in his stomach.

  “Come on, Kev. Let’s keep moving”.

  The pair continued walking down the hill, past houses, where he assumed there were no people inside. Nathan was still limping badly, his clothes torn to shreds, and Kevin jumping about as border collies are want to do.

  “Is that smoke?” In the distance, it looked like a fire in the middle of the city. “Kev, I’ve got to tell you now, there’s that line from that famous book that starts out, ‘I don’t want to adult today.’ That sums it up for me, boy.”

  Kevin looked up at Nathan and gave him an agreeing “woof.”

  As they travelled onwards, Nathan felt every muscle screaming out to him to Stop Right Now.

  “Kev, we’ve got to find a car we can use. Not sure how much more I can walk.”

  A Caltex gas station appeared on the left after twenty agonizing minutes. Nathan walked over to the forecourt, spying a gray Ford taxi sitting at the pumps.

  “At least the engine is off. Either he gassed up already, or he was about to. Let’s take a look, boy.”

  Opening the driver’s door, Nathan saw the driver’s clothes and shoes. The keys were still in the ignition.

  “Looks like we have wheels, Kev.”

  Nathan turned the ignition key on.

  “Only quarter of a tank of gas. Let’s fill it up. I’ve always wanted to go behind the counter and play with the buttons there.”

  They went into the gas station and walked behind the counter. Nathan saw two sets of clothes and shoes sitting on the floor behind the counter. He was not going to get over seeing that, ever.

  “I feel like such a crim, boy. Let’s get some free gas. Well, and a free car, too.”

  So many buttons to push. Nathan spied his pump number and pushed buttons, hoping one would be the right one.

  His stomach rumbled. Along with his painful wounds, his body was reminding him he hadn’t eaten yet other than a piece of toast.

  “You hungry, Kev? I am.”

  Nathan went to the shelves and grabbed a few nut bars, sticking some in his jacket pockets and munching on one.

  “Not the healthiest of breakfasts, but thieves can’t be choosy, can they, Kev?”

  Kevin sat with a begging look on his face, and let out a single “woof,” his tail wagging.

  “You hungry too, boy?”

  Kevin’s tail wagged even faster.

  Seeing some hot dogs sitting in a warmer, Nathan grabbed a couple of them and offered them to Kevin, who approved, wolfing them down in a few bites.

  Heading back to the car, Nathan remembered there was still no gas. Nathan put the pump back and took it out again, but still no fuel came out.

  “You know what, Kev? Quarter of a tank of gas is plenty for us. Come on.”

  He opened the passenger’s door and Kevin jumped in.

  Nathan got in the driver’s seat and threw the driver’s shoes, shirt, and socks out the window. He started the car and went to put his seat belt on.

  “What’s the point of that, Kev? No cops around and no cars.”

  They headed into the city center.

  Driving their stolen taxi, Nathan couldn’t get over the weirdness of there being no other traffic. He saw occasional cars crashed, just like the taxi at the lights.

  As they drove down the wide, long and straight Taranaki Street, the building on fire came into view. Staying well away from it, he could see a delivery van had crashed right into the ground floor of the building and probably caught fire. The building didn’t stand a chance. Again, there were no sign of brake marks on the road.

  The butterflies had called in reinforcements in his stomach. Maybe he shouldn’t have eaten after all.

  Progress was slow at times as they drove around more crashed cars and delivery trucks. Nathan was surprised at how much traffic had been around at 3:00 a.m., or whenever it was that the brown stuff hit the fan and all this happened.

  “I don’t want to adult today,” Nathan said again. That classic opening line from a New Zealand novel said it all for him.

  With his brain on cruise control, they drove around the city, not seeing anyone. He tapped the window button for the passenger window, and Kevin stuck his head out, letting out an occasional “woof” while inside the car his tail wagged at full speed.

  The Beehive came into view.

  They parked on the street, and Nathan turned his head to look at the beehive-shaped building. He knew he had to do something, but the reality was he didn’t want to get out of the car at all. His gut told him this was an important mument.

  Or maybe he was still hungry.

  He pulled out another nut bar and munched away. Looking to the left, he saw Kevin’s intense gaze upon him.

  “Well, I don’t know, do I? What am I supposed to do, Kevin? We can’t sit here all day, but I want to.”

  Kevin moved to the middle of the car, lay down, and put his head on Nathan’s lap. He was happy to do whatever Nathan wanted to do.

  Stroking the dog’s head, Nathan took stock. No people, no organization, no authority. Would the power stay on for much longer with no maintenance? Ditto the petrol—surely it would run out sometime? He had no idea.

  Knowing almost every line of every Star Wars movie did not prepare him for this scenario.

  Even though he ate slowly, his nut bar was soon gone. Time to get out and think, or do.

  “But do what? What the hell am I supposed to do? I guess all we can do is look for those Civil Defense headquarters.”

  He opened his door and eased his still-aching body out. Kevin jumped out after him.

  He naturally looked left and right before crossing the road—old habits die hard.

  “Ha! I’d actually be happy if I got run over by a bus right now.”

 
Kevin nudged Nathan’s leg with his head, and added a “woof.”

  “You said it, Kev. Come on, let’s go to the Beehive.”

  They crossed the normally busy street, the traffic lights at the end of the street changing colors by themselves, but with no cars to control.

  With no guard on the gates of parliament, it was a simple matter of the pair walking onto the grounds.

  “Hellooooooo…” No answer.

  He walked up to the huge main doors and then pulled on a big, highly-polished brass handle.

  Locked.

  Of course it was. They would have locked it last night.

  He stood at the doors, looking for an intercom or some way to contact the Civil Defense people.

  There was nothing. No intercom, and no hastily-printed signs announcing the end of the world.

  Nathan moved back a bit and sat down on the wide stone stairs that led up to the building.

  He was tired, sore and alone—and still hungry.

  Feeling tears welling up in his eyes, the realization that he was completely alone—except for Kevin—hit him hard.

  “This is it, Kevin. What now?”

  Kevin moved his head against Nathan’s body and nudged him.

  Stroking the animal’s head helped, but Nathan felt he was on a downward slope to a major freak-out mument.

  “It’s time to man up. No one is here to help me.”

  Kevin looked up into Nathan’s eyes.

  “Woof.”

  “Well, yes, except for you, Kev. What would Han Solo do in this situation?”

  Silence sat between them like a dead Wookie.

  “Got it! Let’s go to my brother’s house in Raglan. He’s the genius of the family—if I’ve survived this, he probably has, too. It’s the only thing I can think of. Unless you have another idea?”

  Turning to look at Kevin, all he got back were big doggy eyes, wide and trusting.

  “Okay, glad you agree. We need to get some better wheels than a taxi, though. It’s a bit of a drive.”