I parked at the school and we hurried inside with rushing streams of other parents. In the entrance, Miss Smith, the school secretary, was waiting to tell us all where to go.
“The kids are still in their classrooms,” she said. I elbowed past the other parents and led the way down the hall to Rachel’s Kindergarten classroom. At the door I peered in through the glass window to see Rachel sitting attentively at her desk while the rest of the class went crazy.
I opened the door and walked through. Miss Carmen’s gaze found mine, but her eyes were wide and glazed, and she was biting her nails at a furious rate. She looked shell-shocked. Half a dozen kids were laughing and yelling as they ran around the room—
“Tag, you’re it!” one said as he slapped another on the back.
Rachel belatedly noticed me. “Daddy! You came!” She burst out of her chair and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“Of course I did,” I said, stroking her hair.
Kate came to stand beside us, looking on with a jealous gleam in her eyes. “We have to go get your brother,” she said.
Rachel released me and grabbed my hand instead. We followed Kate out into the hall. I nodded my thanks to Miss Carmen, but she was still looking at me with unseeing eyes.
The chaos was more pronounced around the high school classrooms on the other side of the school. Teachers were out in the hall shouting at the kids, while the kids were either running around harassing each other, or leaning against the walls chatting to their friends. I saw a lot of boy-girl combinations. The cliche of end-of-the-world romance was playing out before my eyes on a laughably juvenile scale. One boy stole a kiss as I walked by only to have a teacher yank him away by the collar of his white polo shirt. That was when I noticed that the boy was mine. I stopped in my tracks and took over from the teacher.
Kate yelled at the man for laying hands on Alex. The teacher threw up his hands and walked away.
“Let’s go!” I shouted to be heard over a hundred different babbling voices. Alex darted away from me, back to the girl he’d kissed, and stole a second one. This time I was the one pulling him away by his collar.
The girl blushed and waved goodbye. I didn’t have time to ask who she was, but I was quietly impressed. I had no idea my son was such a stud.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked as we left the chaos of the high school classrooms behind. “The teachers won’t tell us anything.”
I glanced at him, but said nothing.
Kate explained.
“Holy crap!” Alex said.
I nodded absently. My focus was on getting us home safely so we could pack our luggage and get to the airport before mass hysteria set in and made our travel plans impossible. We had to find Kate’s brother in San Antonio. The trouble was, I couldn’t for the life of me remember the address he’d given me.
As we left the school and crossed the parking lot, another thought occurred to me—our money in the bank. We needed to get it out. I thought about swinging by Capital One Bank on the way home, but then I realized that everyone else would be thinking the same thing. There was going to be a run on the banks, which meant even more chaos than what we’d seen so far—not to mention the possible risk of running into opportunistic bank robbers. Best not to risk it. For now we could use our credit cards, which had combined limits well in excess of our savings, anyway.
“So what are we going to do?” Alex asked, as I held the car door open for Rachel and helped her buckle up.
“Your uncle has a place down in San Antonio,” Kate explained. “We’re going to go visit him for a while.”
A while, I thought, shaking my head. well-meaning lies come easy when you’re a parent. I thought about the government’s lies and realized that it wasn’t much different. We lie to protect and reassure our kids, to keep the fear from boiling over. Meanwhile, the government does the same thing with adults.
I shut Rachel’s door and got into the driver’s seat. Hitting the ignition button, I put the car into drive and raced out of the parking lot. Turning left onto Prospect Street, I headed back up to South Orange Avenue. After driving for just a few dozen meters, I ran into bumper-to-bumper traffic. I cursed and honked my horn in frustration. The accident we’d witnessed must have caused traffic to back up down here. I glanced around quickly, looking for a way out. There were cars to all sides. I was boxed in. I honked my horn again. “Move, damn it!”
A pedestrian walked up and rapped his knuckles on my window. He smiled and made a gesture for me to lower the window. I froze, my instincts screaming in warning. He must have seen the look on my face, because he dropped the polite stranger act and whipped out the gun he’d been hiding behind his back.
Kate screamed, then so did Rachel, and she started crying.
“Shit,” Alexander muttered.
The stranger’s voice reached my ears, muffled by the glass. “Lower the window and give me your phones and your wallets—now!”
Chapter 7
I lowered the window and eased the wallet out of my back pocket. So much for using my credit cards, I thought, as I handed my wallet to the man with the gun in my face. “I don’t have my phone with me,” I explained.
The robber’s eyes narrowed, but his gaze roved on to Kate. “The bag! Now!”
Kate handed over her designer handbag with a grimace. “You should be ashamed of yourself!” she said in a shaking voice. “We have children in the car!”
“And I have children at home—what’s your point?” he demanded as he slung her handbag over his shoulder.
Kate blinked in shock, probably surprised to hear that he was a family man.
My mind raced. Was there enough cash in our safe to buy tickets to San Antonio for the four of us? I doubted it.
The robber lingered, the crows feet around his brown eyes pinching as he stared at my wife.
I began to worry that his mind had turned to more carnal matters. I was just about to try jumping him, when he said—
“Your rings! Hand them over!” Then he glanced at me. “Yours, too, dickhead.”
I grimaced and slowly worked the wedding band off my finger. It had cost me almost a thousand dollars, and Kate’s rings were worth five times that, but I doubted they would fetch much at a time like this.
“See ya,” the robber said, as he pocketed the rings.
He started to leave, but I stopped him—“Wait.”
Glancing back at me, he said, “What? You got something else for me?”
“I need one of my credit cards. Just one. Please. It’s important.”
His eyes slid away to my kids in the back of the car, then returned to me. “Sorry, no can do.”
“You won’t be able to use them,” I insisted. “They’ve got my name on them.”
He shook his gun in my face. “Shut up! You’re rich, Mr. Mercedes. Go take some money out of the bank.”
I opened my mouth to object. I was rich in assets that I couldn’t liquidate. And the bank wasn’t likely to have my money for much longer.
The robber turned and ran away before I could do or say anything else. I hit the steering wheel and cursed just as the car in front of me started inching forward.
“You can call and cancel the cards, right?” Kate asked in a quiet voice as I raised my window.
I looked at her. “That’s not the point. How are we supposed buy tickets to San Antonio without a credit card?” Another thought occurred to me. “Not to mention, once we get there, how am I supposed to rent a car without a license?”
Kate gaped at me, the penny dropping. “Shit.”
“Yeah. Shit,” I said, nodding my head.
* * *
Richard Greenhouse was at the Starbucks in San Antonio when the shit hit the fan. He saw people reacting to the news, pushing out their chairs and cursing. Coffee cups went over and splashed on the floor. Everyone hurried for the exit. A handful stayed seated, one of whom started sobbing and muttering prayers. Richard checked CNN’s website to confirm what had happened while
calmly sipping his coffee. It was all over the headlines. News about the true implications of “Greenhouse’s Star” had officially broken.
Richard glanced at the door and thought about his pickup in the parking lot. He could bug out now and try to beat traffic on his way out of San Antonio, but it would be safer to stay put until the initial panic died down.
Looking around the Starbucks as he sipped his coffee, Richard noted that the place was completely empty now—except for the crier. She had her head in her hands, and was rocking back and forth in her chair. The baristas were chattering nervously amongst themselves, using their cell phones to look up news headlines and parrot them back in ever-rising voices.
Frowning to himself, Richard directed his attention back to his laptop. He double-checked the signal data he’d downloaded. It was all there and ready for analysis. That was the reason he’d risked coming to the city. He didn’t have Internet at his place on Calaveras Lake, and three weeks ago SETI had set up a citizen science project to decode the radio signals coming from the rogue star. No one seriously believed the signals were coming from aliens anymore, but after spending the past three weeks in self-isolation, Richard was itching for something to do, so he’d come here to download the data and see for himself. But now he was stuck in a heavily populated city in Texas—Texas, the gun-owners paradise, where people don’t even have to register their firearms.
Richard’s thoughts jumped to his sister and her kids in New Jersey. He hoped they’d remember to fly down to San Antonio and join him, but he doubted Logan had actually written the address down. He thought about sending an e-mail to remind them of the address, but stopped with his mouse poised over the compose button. What if someone broke into his sister’s house, stole one of their computers, and read the e-mail? Richard thought about the cell phone he’d deactivated, sitting dormant with the battery flat back at his shelter. He could call Kate if he bought a card to put some minutes on the phone, but he’d still have to get to an area with service.
No, he decided. It was a bad time to go looking for a convenience store. He hadn’t gone to all the trouble of building himself a shelter just so that he could become collateral damage in an armed robbery.
Richard glanced at the door, suddenly wondering if he should worry about the Starbucks getting robbed. There were probably a hundred better targets in the area, but still...
He pulled his laptop bag down onto his lap, glanced around to make sure no one was looking, and then unzipped the front pocket and pulled out his Beretta. Richard slipped the weapon into his cargo pants pocket and closed the Velcro flap. If someone burst in waving a gun around, at least he’d be prepared.
Richard turned his attention back to his laptop and checked CNN again. One of the lower headlines was an opinion piece accusing Billionaire Akron Massey of being a part of a government conspiracy to hide knowledge of the rogue star from the American public.
Richard nodded approvingly, glad that people were starting to figure things out. The article cited the past decade of ‘excessive’ government funding for Starcast’s Mars Colony Mission, which was on track for an early 2032 launch. The writer went on to suggest that Mr. Massey was planning to escape Earth’s frozen fate and live out the rest of his days on Mars. That wasn’t such a big leap, since the billionaire was on public record saying that he wanted to die on Mars.
Richard’s thoughts grew wistful as he considered that. Even the most pessimistic projections left Earth more habitable than Mars, but that didn’t take into account all of the wars and human-generated chaos to come.
The Mars Colony would be just like a more extensive version of Richard’s own bug out shelter. Long before even building that shelter, Richard had consulted for Starcast with a group of his colleagues from IPAC. They’d met with Mr. Massey to discuss launch sites for the Mars Colony Mission that would not be compromised by the rogue star’s passing. During that meeting, Richard had jokingly asked where he could sign up for the mission. The billionaire had laughed and suggested he send a résumé. Richard had promptly sent one to the e-mail address that Massey provided, but he’d never heard back.
His thoughts came back down to Earth with a sigh, Richard wondered again about his sister and her family in New Jersey. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to her or the kids—even Logan.
There had to be a way to tell them his address safely. He was just about to ask one of the baristas to borrow their phone when he came up with a better idea: self-destructing e-mail. Gmail had a feature where he could send an e-mail that would erase itself after a certain period of time. That would be perfect.
Nodding to himself, Richard hit compose and set the e-mail to self-destruct in three days. Hopefully, either Logan or Kate would check their mail before it was erased.
Chapter 8
Traffic was crazy on the way home, but I managed to get us back safely. Thankfully, our home hadn’t been broken into in our absence, but my suspicions were correct: there wasn’t enough money in the safe to get us to San Antonio.
“You’re going to have to go to the bank,” Kate said.
I glanced over my shoulder as I removed the case with my revolver in it from our safe. Kate was standing with her hands on her hips, nostrils flaring and eyes flashing. She was in the middle of a full-blown panic.
“You want to send me back out there in that shit storm?” I shook my head. “Even if I do manage to withdraw some of our money, I could be followed and robbed.”
“So what are you planning to do?” Kate demanded. “We can’t just sit around here waiting for the end of the world!”
I shook my head. “No, we can’t. We’re going to stay home and lie low until the government gets this situation under control. Meanwhile, I’ll call the bank to cancel and re-issue my credit cards.”
“What if the bank goes bankrupt? Or refuses to give us new credit cards?”
“Our savings are safe. The government insures deposits up to two hundred and fifty thousand.”
“Well, you could at least try the bank. Capital One has lots of branches. You wouldn’t have to go far.”
I frowned, wondering if maybe she was right. Or maybe she just didn’t care about putting me in harm’s way. Kate’s infidelity had left a yawning chasm between us, and hearing my wife tell me to jump didn’t make me feel any better. My gaze wandered from her to the kids. Both Rachel and Alexander were sitting on the bed, watching us. Rachel had her knees drawn up to her chest and was peering over them with big eyes, while Alexander cracked his knuckles and scowled, as if spoiling for a fight.
I slipped my revolver into my pocket and then went over and wrapped an arm around Rachel’s shoulders.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said, and kissed the top of her head.
“No, it’s not,” Alex snapped. “It’s the end of the world. Mom said it.”
I grimaced. “Not true. Lots of places will still be warm enough to live after this...”
“Rogue star,” Alex supplied.
I nodded. “After it passes, your uncle’s place will still be warm.”
“How are we going to get there with no money and no credit cards?” Alex asked.
There had to be a way. “Maybe...” My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner. “PayPal.”
Alexander’s eyebrows jumped up.
“You’re right!” Kate crowed.
I turned and ran from the master bedroom, flying up the stairs to the third floor. Skidding into my office, my shoes squeaking on the hardwood floor, I flopped down into my chair. It took all of a few minutes to find a booking site and get to the point where I needed to input our traveler information. “Kate!” I yelled. “Passports!” I couldn’t find a direct flight to San Antonio that was leaving today, but I did find one with a two-hour layover in Dallas. Close enough.
I was just about to yell down to Kate again, when I heard footsteps stomping up the stairs. She burst in and handed me our passports. Since we’d just had all of our
other ID stolen, passports were all we had.
“Did it work?” Kate asked after a minute of hearing me type in the information.
“It will.” I hadn’t paid yet, but this wasn’t the first time I’d used PayPal to book airline tickets. “Get our luggage and start packing for us and the kids. Take as much clothing as you can.” Kate nodded quickly and turned to leave. A thought occurred to me, and I looked up from my computer. “And pack our winter clothes!”
“I will!”
It was crazy to think about packing winter clothes for a trip to Southern Texas in the middle of summer, but that was where we were at: crazy-town, next stop disaster-ville.
Chapter 9
After being robbed in my car just outside the kids’ school, the prospect of driving to Newark Airport was terrifying. I’d hidden our passports, cash, and phones under my seat—and my revolver was in the driver’s side door, within easy reach in case someone else came up to the window at a stop light. I couldn’t afford to give up any of what we had left.
Thankfully, we didn’t run into any difficulties along the way besides the mess of traffic on our way down to I-78.
Once we were on the expressway, it was relatively smooth sailing, and I felt myself breathing easier. Kate must have been feeling the same way, because she finally started talking.
“What’s Richard’s address in San Antonio?”
I winced with that question, wishing she hadn’t asked. I cleared my throat. “It’s on Cala-something Lake.”
Kate blinked at me. “You don’t know where he is?”
“When he called, neither of us took him seriously, remember? So excuse me if I didn’t write down the address he gave me.”
I could feel Kate’s eyes on me. “But... then how are we going to find him?”
“I don’t know. Find the lake and drive around it until we find him. Hopefully there aren’t many houses on it.”
“Nice plan, Dad,” Alexander drawled.
“Hey, watch your tone,” I snapped, glancing in the rear view mirror to give him a hard stare.
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