In the Company of Wolves: The Beginning

by Steve Lang

He had another dream that night. It was the same as before, and Mac felt there might be a problem. He thought about whether a visit or two to the therapist could alleviate some of his stress. But he was reluctant; Mac knew what a therapist could bring out of him: the secret horrors from his past life he had buried deep down inside his psyche just to be able to function outside that world. And the thought of that information, the things he had seen and done, coming out in psychoanalysis seemed painful and dangerous for him. No one could ever find out what he had done in those catacombs underground, so he put the whole thought out of his mind. Later, Mac was out front chopping wood when his son walked outside to join him. The air was fresh and sweet on this beautiful spring day without a cloud in the sky. As he worked, a pert starling sang her sweet melody in the shade tree just outside their house. This was a day where anything was possible, and Mac could feel the positive energy as he swung his axe into one hunk of wood after another.

  “Hi dad, you want to drive out to the back forty today and work on the tree house?” Bobby asked.

  “That sounds like a great idea. Maybe we can get to it if I can get some of this work done. You want to lend a hand? I also need to go down to the farm supply store and get some more dewormer for the dairy cows.” Mac said.

  “I’ll help out.” Bobby said and grabbed an axe.

  “You two come in for breakfast. I’m heading into town later this morning for a job interview.” Carol said.

  “Interview? Where?” Mac asked, pausing mid-swing.

  “The library is looking for some help and although it’s quite a drive I need something to do besides sit around here and feed you three. It’s only a part-time job anyway.” Carol said.

  “Well, OK. Have fun, but be careful and good luck. Call me if you need anything, please.” Mac said before dropping his axe.

  “I’m sick, not accident prone.” Carol said.

  She was beautiful, and even though the cancer had taken much of her spirit, the five foot five red head was still as fiery as ever. Her green eyes flashed at Mac as he held up his hands in defense against her wrath.

  “OK, I meant no offense.” Mac said. Carol went back inside. “Sheesh, touchy.”

  “You shouldn’t mess with mom.” Bobby said.

  “She’s been more irritable lately.”

  “It’s my job to take care of her with or without her permission. You’ll see, if you’re lucky enough to find a woman as special as your mother and I pray you do.” Mac said.

  They went inside and their nostrils were awakened to the sweet aroma of fresh bacon and eggs.

  “Awesome, mom! You cooked breakfast!” Serena cheered as she entered the kitchen from her bedroom.

  “Yeah, thanks mom!” Bobby said. His mouth watered at the sight of the morning feast.

  Mac walked over and kissed her on the mouth. This morning she had more color in her cheeks than the previous day. He came closer and hugged her tightly. This one lasted a long time and when he let her go there were tears in both of their eyes.

  “Thanks, babe.” Carol said.

  Mac sat across the table from his wife, his best friend, and as he watched her his mind slipped back to when they been much younger, and free. Twenty years had passed like a flash in the pan and here they were, growing old together. His graying hair, her tired eyes, but it had not always been that way. In his memory they were both twenty-three and he was driving her to Las Vegas for the very first time. They were excited and the two of them had just been paid. Mac smiled over at Carol from the driver’s seat and she at him and he was driving too fast. One hundred miles an hour through the Mojave Desert and if he had wrecked, another car might not have found them for hours. Mac had the top down on his convertible and the hot desert wind whipped through their hair as if he were speeding through an oven. Carol unlatched her seat belt and with a single move, stood up in her seat, holding on to the windshield for life. She scared him half to death, but his smile never faltered. Carol shouted into the afternoon sun and they were alive, more so than ever before. That was the summer he had been promoted to First Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, and had taken the job in the underground lab. Only months later would his world flip on its ear.

  “What are you smiling about?” Carol asked.

  “That trip to Vegas when you almost gave me a heart attack.” He said.

  “Oh my god! I can’t believe you still remember that. We were so crazy back then.” Carol said.

  “Yeah, well I’m thinking we need to leave for the beach next weekend and get the hell out of here for a few days.” Mac said.

  “Hey dad, someone’s coming down the road!” Bobby said. Although Carol’s mother, Grace, stopped by at least once a month, the sight of strangers on the property was unusual for the family.

  Mac looked out the window to see a black sedan driving up to their house and when it parked by their front porch he saw a government plate with the seal of the United States emblazoned on the mirror finish.

  “Great, I haven’t even finished my eggs and the ants are at the picnic. This can’t be good.” Mac put down his fork and looked out the door.

  The rear door of the sedan opened and a man in Air Force dress blues stepped out into the mid-day sun. Mac could tell who he was from his posture.

  “Great. It’s General Martin.” Mac said.

  “What do you think he wants?” Carol asked. “You’re retired.”

  “Well, I’m sure it’s not because he wants to reminisce about old times. They weren’t that great.” Mac said.

  Bobby was already headed for the front door to greet the ornately decorated senior officer standing in their dirty front yard. Mac sighed and rose from his chair.

  “Let’s go see what the good General wants, shall we?” Mac said to Carol. He rolled his eyes and walked through the door.

  “Good morning, Colonel MacDonald! Long time no see.” General Martin said. He was a tall man with an athletic build and graying brown hair. He wore a Cheshire Cat grin at almost all times, and it had always irked Mac. It reminded him of pool hall hustlers and smoke-filled poker rooms when the guy across the table takes the last of your money with a polite eat-shit grin, or sleazy politicians glad handing constituents for their votes. His driver was a butter bar lieutenant who sat behind the wheel trying to listen to their conversation as close as possible in the most inconspicuous way.

  “Morning, General Martin. You can call me Mac now, I’m retired.” Mac smiled. He shook the Generals hand, admiring the three silver stars on his shoulder epaulets. “Looks like you jumped a few stars since last time I saw you.”

  “Thanks for noticing. You know you could have had at least one of these stars by now.” General Martin said.

  “Yeah well, I was tired of it General. I needed a change of pace and decided to buy the farm, literally.” Mac said.

  “Ha ha, good one, and call me Dick, we’re old friends you and I, and besides, you’re not one of my direct reports anymore.” General Martin said.

  “Alright, Dick. How can I help you? I’m sure you didn’t drive all this way to see my dirt farm and cows.” Mac asked.

  “Can we take a walk? I have something I want to talk to you about. It involves your future.”

  “If by my future you mean going to the beach next weekend with my wife and kids, and taking care of cattle as long as I’m able to in a stress free, non-human experimentation environment, then I’m all ears. Otherwise, I’m probably not interested, sir.” Mac said.

  Still, to be polite, Mac decided to entertain the general’s request. He led them up the hill to where the tree was split by lightening. When they arrived, and stood in front of the mangled tree, the General pulled a small coaster-sized device from his right pocket. It was hexagonal and looked like granite with a mirror polish.

  “Your level one rhyolite thirty-eight security clearance is still valid or we would not be having this conversation, Mac. What I’m about to tell you can’t go anywhere but here.” The General said.


  “Well, that’s not shocking information considering our history together. What’s that thing in your hand?”

  “This is a corbamite platter constructed for deep space exploration as a holographic communication device. This one was set up as a projector, but we can talk back and forth with them too. It’s actually pretty neat stuff. Corbamite is the heaviest element in the world and can’t be broken; it’s formed in the vacuum of space at zero gravity. Its durability is also perfect for communications when we have scientists floating around out in deep space far from home, although we have not tested it further than our own solar system yet. We also use it on the skin of stealth aircraft, the international space station and submarines.”

  “Ah, yes, corbamite. We were working on some of that stuff before I left the cave, along with the human trials experiment.” Mac said.

  “Well, the work you were involved with was a huge success and after you left we made some tremendous breakthroughs that your team helped push. Like I said, you should have stuck around. There could have been a lot of money in it for you.” The general pressed a small black button on the device in his hand. A white LED light blinked on inside and a 3D model of outer space appeared in the space between them.

  “I got tired of watching my guys load people up with chemicals, fry their brains and then liquefy them for fertilizer. Call me crazy. But I have to say, this hologram is amazing. It looks just like a movie.” Mac said. He gave General Martin a wry half-smile.

  “You were crazy, Mac! We were on the cusp of a discovery that could have saved the human race and you bailed out on it because a few homeless tramps, which were expendable by the way, got their minds scrambled? Becoming research subjects for human consciousness and remote viewing was the most value those dirt bags had offered the world since their birth, guaranteed.” General Martin said. “As far as this little presentation goes, just wait. This is most recent data we have from the Zeta Reticuli quadrant. What you’re about to see is something that few people have and the man who provided it was one of the best test subjects we ever found. He lasted three hours on the serum. I don’t need to tell you that if you mention this to anyone, bad things will happen to your family, right?” The General fixed Mac with a somber gaze. Mac shook his head in irritation.

  “Look, all I’m saying is that I just think that we may have compromised our integrity and souls in the effort. Hitler also thought he was right. Obviously, I won’t breathe a word, but that doesn’t mean I condone what you’re doing.”

  “Hitler was the leader of a movement for world domination and on his own hero trip. This is the end of the world as we know it, Mac. You know what I’m talking about, so don’t get all self righteous and associate our research in the same light as the Nazi party, because that’s completely unfair.” The General acted offended, but Mac had worked with him long enough to identify his tell. The man was a poor poker player.

  Mac dropped it anyway. He knew where he stood and he wouldn’t budge. Still, the gears in his head started clunking again as the images of the underground cells and drugged up vagrants in strait jackets crashed back into his mind like an asteroid to earth.

  “What do you have for me?” Mac asked.

  General Martin nodded as they both turned their attention to the movie emitting from his palm. In a contained 3D holographic image roughly sixteen inches in diameter, a movie began to play for the audience of two. The stars and planets of their solar system whirled by as the two watched with wide, expectant eyes. The General stared with his caught-the-canary Cheshire Cat grin as Mac cocked his head in amazement. After a few moments, blackness appeared in the depths of the field and they were looking at a binary star system with a host of colorful planets orbiting these luminescent plasma giants. The camera swung around both stars in a wide loop, displaying the miraculous discovery with brilliant clarity. Mac stood with his mouth open, and his heart had began to beat faster as he felt sweat in the palms of his hands.

  “You found life?”

  “Keep watching the holograph.

  The vision of planets orbiting in the fabric of space faded to an open field of tall green grass and three travelers walking shoulder to shoulder. Only, they weren’t human. They were wolf men, and they looked like creatures out of a medieval fairy tale. They appeared to be very tall and he could see their maws extended like the wolf in Red Riding Hood. Two of them carried battle axes and each had a sword slung across their back. The third one was garbed in a red hooded robe with golden threaded cuffs and purple runic symbols emblazoned on the sleeves. Their progress was halted when the robed figure stopped and looked toward the sky. The robed wolf man turned his eyes toward the camera of consciousness following them, sensing that an omnipresent voyeur was watching. He began to speak to the others of his party but Mac could not hear their voices. That was all they could see before the movie went dark, and the LED on the little black projection device in General Martins hand flicked off. They were left standing in the same field they had been a few minutes before, but now Mac had seen something he’d never unsee. There was real life somewhere out in the cosmos beyond earth. His life had been changed forever, and his breath had been stolen. Fear for the safety of his family now that he had been exposed to this fascination welled up and he began to wish the General had never darkened his doorstep. He wondered if there were snipers ready to erase him and his family and imagined them lined up along his roof.

  “Was this information gathered from the human trials experiments?” Mac asked.

  “Yes, about a year after you left the program.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I mean, what are they? And if I don’t want to do whatever it is you want are you going to kill my family and me?”

  “Truth is, we don’t know yet, but we want to find out. And killing you is the furthest thing from my mind, Mac. We’re all going to be dead soon anyway, if we stay here on this planet. One thing we’ve learned from the greys we’ve been working with is that the atmospheres of their home planets are composed of a polyethylene gas that would kill us humans if we weren’t in a suit, but did you see that green grass? Looked a lot like here, didn’t it?” General Martin asked.

  “Yeah, it did. You think they have an oxygen rich atmosphere?” Mac asked.

  “We’ve had some of the science geeks in the cave looking at this video for months and they think it might be. What we don’t have is a craft that has gone out there to get readings for us and figure out if the planet is habitable for our people.” General Martin said.

  “That’s where I come in, supposedly, right?” Mac asked.

  “You got it. We need you to command the mission, but before you say no, let me give you a little more information.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “We captured a suitcase-sized device from one of two downed ET craft a few years ago and recently discovered that it’s a star gate. We call it the TSA-2056 for Time Space Anomalizer and 2056 is the year we found it.”

  “That’s original.” Mac said.

  “Hear me out. We want you to fly out to Zeta Reticuli and locate the planet. You’ll try to find these hairy bastards and make friends. Just like the pilgrims did here before the United States was founded.”

  “How is this mission the same as Europeans escaping religious persecution, invading someone else’s land, killing them off and stealing it? That’s essentially what we’d be doing here, isn’t it?” Mac asked.

  “That’s a harsh view of the past, Colonel. Don’t forget that you were upholding those ideals for over twenty years in the same military you’re mocking now. I think this country living is clouding your sense of the bigger picture.” General Martin said.

  “I’m not mocking anything General; I just want to know what we’re up against. So, we go out to Zeta Reticuli with this device in your hand?”

  “Right, we have a ship that can manipulate the crossing point of light and cut the time it takes to get from here to there from over forty years to nine months. You find the planet, feel
it out and make sure it’s safe for us to come across. You know, befriend the locals, negotiate a treaty, and then activate the TSA-2056 to open the star gate back here to earth. Your wife and kids will be the first people you’ll see when you open the gate.”

  “General, my wife is very sick with cancer, and I just can’t leave right now. She needs me and if something were to happen to her while I was gone I’d never forgive myself, and there’s the kids to think about.” Mac said. He was rubbing his chin while his other arm was folded.

  “Mac, we have a finite amount of time left here and this mission is what you would call real hero shit.”

  “My wife might only have a finite amount of time. You understand?” Mac said.

  “I understand your concerns, but I think you should take this mission. It’s for the greater good and your country needs you. And also, the last mission commander was killed during testing.”

  “What? Killed, how?” Mac asked.

  “We were conducting deep space exercises in one of the light benders, as we call them, and a faulty oxygen line erupted out of nowhere, killing everyone on board. It was a damned mess and DSEC almost shut down our program.” The General said, as he bowed his head.

  “How far out were they?” Mac asked.

  “They were almost to the rings of Saturn when we lost communications with them. The craft has a zero point return onboard so, if anything goes wrong it returns back to the cave. When we got it back all of them had depressurized and the mess was enough to make you lose your lunch for a month.”

  “My God and you want to do this again?” Mac said. He was disgusted.

  “That mission, the ship that failed, was an experimental reengineered version of the craft we actually captured from ET. The one you’ll be going in is the real deal, Mac. How we got the ship isn’t important, but the point is this one will work. You have my word.” General Martin said.

  “The answer is still no. Have you seen the black and blue circles under Carol’s eyes? She tries to keep up a brave front and act strong, but she stopped the chemo because it was doing more harm than good and now the doctor’s experiment on her like she’s a lab rat. I just can’t do it even though it sounds like everything I ever wanted to do in the old days. I remember the dreams of piloting those rickety reverse-engineered flying discs in sub-space. I’m sorry, General.” Mac said.

  “Mac, I understand. I am not without a heart and when my wife, Sheila was sick a few years ago I was torn up inside. She died too young because the environment we live in is deteriorating at a rapid pace and our bodies can’t adapt to the toxins in it. We do not have another twenty years here, my friend, and it’s going to get a whole lot worse before this gets any better. Our only hope is that planet you just saw those wolf men on, and we need to get there. Humans need to be there.”

  “I understand, but I can’t leave my wife, not now.” Mac said.

  “Mac, I’m going to leave this little trinket with you and let you think about it. I can get a replacement, but I came to you because I trust you to get this mission completed. I have only trusted three people in my life and one of them, Sheila, died of pancreatic cancer when she couldn’t fight any longer. Think it over.” General Martin held the hexagonal black plate out and Mac took it.

  He placed it in his pocket and would hide the magnificent device in the floor safe of their bedroom as soon as the General left. Mac felt uncomfortable having it in his possession, because he did not want to become a conspirator. The two men walked back to General Martin’s car.

  “General Martin, Dick, it was a pleasure to see you again.” Mac said. He put out his hand and the General took it.

  “Don’t wait too long to get back to me.” General Martin said. Carol came down to give him a hug and he could see the exhaustion in her eyes. He had never seen her so frail.

  “Carol, as always, it was a pleasure to see you.”

  “Dick, I was sorry to hear about Sheila. Dianne Honeycutt told me a little while back.” Carol said. Mac looked at her with surprise.

  “You were out of the country and I was in a spell with the chemo. I forgot to tell you, sorry.” Carol said to Mac.

  “Thanks Carol. You two take care.” General Martin said, and hugged her. He got into the back seat of his car and in minutes, the black sedan disappeared down the dirt road.

  “What did he want?” Carol asked.

  “He wanted to get me back to work in the cave and I told him to get bent.” Mac said. “Besides, I want to go to the beach with my family.” He gave her a hug and she fell into him.

  “Thank God, I don’t know if I can go through that again.” Carol said as her right cheek pressed into his chest.

  “I have to take off to the Farm and Feed store this morning. Can you call Don Syminski and see if he’ll tend to the cows while we’re away, please? We’ll fly out on Monday, a week from now, and be back by the next Sunday morning. I’ll check for flights to Myrtle Beach when I get back from the store today.” Mac said.

  “You want Bobby to go with you? I’ll take Serena to the interview with me.” Carol asked.

  “Dad, you’re not going without me are you?” Bobby popped through the screen door and jumped down the three steps from the porch.

  “Ha ha! I guess not. Get in and let’s get this done, buddy.” Mac said.

  Mac got into their pickup truck and turned on the engine as Bobby jumped in and buckled his seatbelt.

  “So, what did the man in the uniform want?” Bobby asked.

  “Oh, he just stopped by to find out how we’re doing, and to see if I’d go back to work for him, but I’d rather spend my time with you guys.”

  “You used to work on some crazy stuff, huh?” Bobby asked.

  Mac stayed silent for a minute, reflecting on the years of classified projects, paperwork, and a thousand faceless people.

  “I know, I know, you can’t talk about it.” Bobby said.

  “There’s not much to tell. I worked on a bunch of boring research projects for the military. Look, I want to focus on getting the feed and dewormer for our cattle and then get away from here for a week. It’s time for a long overdue vacation.”

  “We’re really doing it? Going to Myrtle Beach?” Bobby asked.

  “Yeah, you’re mom needs this more than anyone. She grew up near Myrtle Beach and I wanted to give her a good week away from it all.”

  “And you don’t want to go to Cancun or someplace exotic?” Bobby asked.

  “Heh, yeah. I did, but she mentioned that beach in particular.” Mac said.

  “Dad, is mom going to die?” Bobby asked. He was looking at the floor.

  “Aw man, that’s…Bobby, I don’t know how to answer that.” Mac looked over at his troubled son and his heart broke. Bobby looked so much like her. “We’re going to the doctor tomorrow and see what he tells us. Don’t worry too much about it until we know more.” Mac said. How could he possibly console his son when he could hardly control his own fear?

  “I’m sorry, Dad. I just hear you guys whispering about it and I don’t want anything bad to happen to mom.”

  “I know you don’t. Me neither. Let’s just dwell on the brighter side of your mom’s situation, you know? The cancer doctor is going to find a cure for this or help your mother go into remission. They’ve got top men working on this, I promise. Top men.” Mac said.

  “OK, Dad. I think the beach will help everyone relax.” Bobby smiled and Mac hoped they could both get her illness out of their minds.

  They drove into town, passing by rundown buildings and slums that used to be a flourishing community on the verge of becoming a bustling city.

  “I don’t like coming through here much anymore. It’s depressing and dangerous after dark.” Mac said. He cut his eyes over at Bobby and then back to the road.

  He was looking around at people aimlessly milling about crumbling street corners as his truck navigated a mine field of potholes too far gone for simple patch jobs; this road would have to be torn up and redone
. Two old men in tattered leather dusters sat under the awning of a convenience store with their chairs kicked back against the wall and cowboy hats covering their eyes.

  “Siesta time.” Mac said, watching the men.

  “Don’t these people have jobs?” Bobby asked.

  “The world economy is on the verge of collapse, son.”

  “How did this happen?” Bobby asked.

  “Honestly, it’s because a handful of evil men have traded us all in for money that only exists as a material object with no power, other than what we give it. Years ago, when I was younger, I didn’t think we’d have to worry about money. I purchased our land outside of town while I was still in the military, paid everything off and traded half of my retirement money in on in Costa Rican currency. I figured that even if the United States collapsed I would have a backup plan, but I never anticipated the scale of this. It’s all over the world now, not just here.” Mac said. His truck slammed into a large pot hole and almost sent them careening into a fire plug. “Damned roads!” He yelled.

  “So, what goes on down here at night?” Bobby asked. He wanted to redirect the conversation. His father’s occasional speeches about a global cabal frightened Bobby more than he wanted to let on.

  “There’s drugs, prostitution, and a bunch of not so great other things that you’re too young to know about. Just don’t come down here at night with your friends. You know, when you’re old enough.”

  Three old pickups sat outside the Farm and Feed store when they arrived, the rust clinging to them like hungry parasites, devouring the metal beneath. Mac recognized one of the trucks. It belonged to Dale Florence, a dairy farmer whose family lived six miles from him. Dale was a good man who had helped them out when they first move to Farmington. The first winter had been rough, and had it not been for Dale and his knowledge of the harsh Missouri winters, their cattle would have died. Mac got out of their truck and Bobby followed. They passed by a group of teenagers smoking cigarettes outside the store and Mac guided his son by the shoulder into the Farm and Feed.

  “C’mon son. Let’s go.”

  The little overhead doorbell jingled as they walked into the farm supply store. An odor of industrial fertilizer mixed with old wood hung in the air. As beams of sunlight shone through the windows Mac could see dust particles floating through the air like microscopic satellites in orbit. Rows of farm supplies lined lightly stocked shelves, another symptom of the community’s decline. Dale turned toward them and waved. He had been talking to Fred Selks, the store manager, when the two entered. Dale had a formidable beard growing and there were deep lines forming in his face from years of hard work on the farm. Mac thought he looked like the actor Lloyd Bridges in his later years. Fred was a much younger man in his twenties, who Mac heard had taken that job as manager when his dreams of heading out to Hollywood and becoming an actor had dried up, along with his confidence.

  “Hi Dale!” Mac said.

  “Good to see you boys. You hear the latest news yet?”

  “No, what?” Mac asked.

  Above the counter there was a TV mounted on the wall displaying the evening news. A Channel 8 helicopter circled a smoky patch of land, surrounded by water. Piles of rubble dotted the small island where the smoke had not yet covered.

  “Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania just melted down. There was a nasty earthquake out there and it sheered the reactors. The whole state is under a federal emergency.” Dale said.

  “Oh my God! That’s terrible, when did this happen?” Mac asked.

  “A few hours ago, during rush hour. The President is coming on in a few minutes to talk about what to do next. People are dying out there, a lot of them.”

  “Guys, here’s the news dude now.” Fred said. The other two men stopped talking and listened. The man on screen was looking into the camera and had a smart looking blue tie on under his tan sport jacket. He looked grave and his tone was serious.

  “Early this morning a 7.5 magnitude earthquake ripped through the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant and all three reactors have gone into a catastrophic meltdown. Reactor two was shut down in nineteen seventy-nine, but it and the other two active reactors have begun to release more radiation into the environment than the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters combined.” A map of Pennsylvania was displayed behind him with a big red dot on the Three Mile Island power plant. “Reports are coming in that a state of disaster has been declared in the entire state of Pennsylvania. Lancaster County, Harrisburg and all surrounding counties have been ordered to evacuate as soon as possible and residents are encouraged to seek safe harbor in Virginia and Ohio. The Federal Nuclear Disaster Management team, is already preparing for the worst and they have reportedly been sent to the site of the meltdown. President Jim Holley will be addressing the nation in a few minutes from his home in Texas. The president is currently on vacation with his family at their home in Austin. Please stand by and when we know more, you’ll know more.”

  “This is officially the most scared I’ve ever been and we’re half way across the country.” Fred said. He was running his hands back through his hair, the length of which reached his shoulders.

  The men and Bobby stood still, waiting for the next update. When the president finally addressed the nation he did not have much more to say than general thoughts of concern and sadness for the families affected by the crises. When the brief speech ended, Mac bought his fertilizer, told Dale and Fred good day, and walked out of the store in a daze. It seemed like the whole world was about to be torn apart. He thought about the General’s offer as he looked down at Bobby. His little boy was growing up in a world on the verge of a very dark ending and it saddened him that his children had to grow up in an era like this. On the drive home Mac was quiet and deep in thought as his son sat across from him staring out the window.

  “That thing that happened in Pennsylvania sounds pretty bad, Dad. Are those people going to be OK?” Bobby asked.

  “I don’t know, buddy. I hope so.” He said. But he didn’t know whether to believe his own reassurance.

  Mac’s phone rang as they turned onto the highway to go back home. It was Carol calling. Mac answered it.

  “Dad! You have to get home quick!” It was Serena and she was crying.

  “Slow down! What happened, sweetie?” Mac’s heart went into his throat.

  “Mom fell down and she won’t wake up! I’m scared, Dad!” Serena’s voice was frantic and he could imagine the state of terror she must have been in, standing over her unresponsive mother.

  “Stay calm, we’ll be home in a few minutes.” Mac said.

  He laid his foot on the pedal and raced toward the farmhouse.

  CHAPTER 3