Cass couldn’t believe it. If things weren’t bad enough, now she was trapped inside the space station with a bear-like creature that was virtually indestructible!
26
Just before impact...
“Are you sure this is the street?” Frank asked. He kept looking to his left then his right checking address signs either on the front of the houses or painted on the curb by the driveways as he slowly proceeded through the block of homes.
Wanda looked down at the slip of paper in her hand. “Not unless there’re two Riversides.” She gazed out the windshield. “It should be further down.”
“You said a woman called?” Wade asked from the backseat of the Suburban.
“That’s right.”
“How do you know it’s not a trap?”
“We don’t,” Frank replied. “But there’s always that chance.”
Wanda glanced at her side mirror and could see the small 14-passenger school bus following them. Crandall was behind the wheel, Jack riding shotgun in the front passenger seat behind the folding door. Whenever there was hope of finding survivors wanting to relocate, they brought the bus.
They continued down the road until it dead-ended into a cul-de-sac. The address they were looking for was the house in the middle of the horseshoe.
Frank made the half turn, stopped, and kept the motor running. “What do you think?”
“The curtains are drawn which means there may be someone hiding inside.”
Wade leaned forward in his seat. “They had to have heard us pull up. Don’t you think they’d be coming out?”
“Would you, if someone you didn’t know showed up at your house?” Wanda asked.
“No, I guess not. You want me to go up and knock on the door?”
“Might have to,” Frank said.
“I’m going with you,” Wanda said and opened her door. Wade got out and cocked a round into the Remington pump. They went over, crossed the sidewalk, and headed up the walkway to the front stoop. Wade pounded his fist on the front door.
“Easy, Wade. You don’t want to scare them.”
“Sorry, just wanted to make sure they heard me.” He leaned his head close to the door to see if he could hear anyone inside.
“Anything?”
“No. Wait a sec. I hear someone moving around in there.”
“Step back! Now!”
Wanda and Wade had just sidestepped away from the door when they heard a loud blast from the other side. A bowling ball-size hole exploded out the thick door, spewing woodchips everywhere.
“We’ve been setup!” Frank yelled out his window. Crandall pulled the bus alongside. He left the engine running and opened the door.
Jack piled out. He was armed with a Mossberg 500 assault shotgun and had on his belt of throwing knives. He turned and saw figures running out from the side gate. “On your right!” he yelled to Wanda and Wade.
Three men with handguns ran across the brown lawn, firing their weapons. Four more came out from the opposite side of the house, two of them with automatic rifles.
Wanda spun around and shot the man closest to her. He stumbled and fell flat on his face when his knees were blown out from under him. Wade offloaded two rounds of buckshot into another man.
Frank got out of the Suburban, drew his nine-millimeter, and dropped a hostile with a headshot.
Jack fired off a shot and missed as two men came at him with revolvers. He dropped his shotgun on the ground and slightly raised his hands. The men stopped in their tracks thinking Jack was giving up. As soon as they let their guard down, Jack snatched two knives from his belt and threw them underhand. Each blade hit a man dead center in the chest. “That’ll teach you to bring a gun to a knife fight,” he said as they slumped to the ground.
A man with a machete lunged at Wanda while her back was turned. Wade intercepted the attacker and shot the man in the head, splattering his brains on the side of the house.
Crandall went hand-to-hand with an assailant and after a short tussle, got the man in a headlock and broke his neck.
Wade walked over and kicked in the front door. A man with a gun was sitting on the couch. A bloody knife was on the cushion next to his thigh. When he raised the muzzle of his gun, Wade shot him.
The living room looked like it had been hit by a whirlwind; furniture toppled over, magazines strewn everywhere on the carpet, breakables broken, a dead man and woman with their throats slit, lying next to the shattered glass coffee table.
“Guess we know who the woman was,” Wade said as Wanda walked into the room.
“Let’s go,” she said and stepped outside.
“Well, that was a bust,” Crandall said.
Everyone got back in their vehicles and they drove out of the cul-de-sac.
Twenty minutes later, they were back on the Golden Gate Bridge, heading back to Fort Mason. They were halfway across the span when they heard the earth-shattering boom.
Frank shot a glance to his left. “Get down!” He turned his head and leaned toward Wanda as far as possible, constrained by his seatbelt harness. Wanda raised her arms to cover her face as Wade ducked down in the back seat. The windows on the left side of the Suburban blew out, raining shards of glass into the SUV as the powerful concussion punched out the windows on the other side of the vehicle.
Crandall lost control of the bus behind them and he and Jack were pitched out of their seats when the windows shattered, sucking the oxygen out of the air.
The blast wave rammed the Suburban and bus and catapulted them across the pavement like leaves swept away in a windstorm.
27
Just before impact...
Ally felt the ground rumbling under her feet. The horses and cattle around her started to panic and ran in every direction. Flocks of sheep were scattering across the grassland. “What’s happening?” she yelled.
“We’re having an earthquake,” Gemma shouted, trying to keep her balance.
The field started to lift in places and fissures began to open up. A few goats tried to jump over a widening crevasse but were unable to clear the gap and fell into the deep chasm, bleating all the way down.
Max, Julie, and Johnny had been trying to extricate Ace’s body out from under the giant tarantula when the earth began to shake.
Before any of them knew what was happening, a powerful shockwave knocked everyone off their feet and sent them sprawling across the grass. Ally clawed her fingers into the dirt and dug the tips of her boots into the ground to stop herself from rolling. The howling wind was so loud it hurt her ears.
Smaller animals were carried off like lightweight debris caught in the grips of a twister. The ground continued to tremble wildly for more than a minute.
Ally looked up and saw the distant blue sky beyond a stand of trees turning an ashen gray. She glanced over at Gemma who was lying on her belly and saw the veterinarian staring in the same direction.
“Looks like a dust cloud,” Gemma said.
“Jesus,” Max said, and got on his feet. “Anyone hurt?”
Julie and Johnny stood and shook their heads.
“You two okay?”
“Yes, I think so,” Gemma said and looked over at Ally as they both got up off the ground.
“I’m fine,” Ally said.
“That was one heck of a shaker,” Johnny said. “What would you say, a seven-point-oh on the Richter Scale?”
“Try eight or nine,” Max said. No sooner had he said that, the ground beneath their feet began to jolt again, but not as forceful as the first earthquake.
They stood motionless and waited for the aftershock to subside.
Max turned to Johnny. “Go back to the ATVs and bring the one back with the longer cargo bed so we can transport Ace’s body.”
“Sure thing,” Johnny said. He cradled his assault rifle in the crook of his arm and double-timed across the field.
“How about Julie and I lift this thing and you and Ally grab one of Ace’s arms and drag him out?” Max said to
Gemma.
Ally felt squeamish touching Ace. He looked like a bloated corpse that had been pulled out of the ocean, nothing like the young man she remembered.
“Are you okay, Ally?”
It took her a moment to gather her nerve. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Max and Julie put down their rifles and positioned themselves, grabbing a portion of the spider’s thick body, and getting ready to lift it up.
“Now!” The Eco-Marines raised the heavy spider while Gemma and Ally grabbed Ace and dragged his body out from under the creature.
“Good work,” Max said as he and Julie let the spider drop to the ground. “Now all we have to do—”
“Run!” Johnny yelled as he dashed back.
“What is it?” Max shouted.
“Ants! Hundreds of them!”
Ally looked at the sloping hillside and saw giant black ants marching down.
“They must have crawled out of the ground after the earthquake,” Gemma said.
“Oh no!” Julie said. She was looking in the opposite direction.
Ally turned and saw an army of giant red ants coming out of the ground.
“This is not good,” Max said. “If my training serves me right, red and black ants are mortal enemies.”
“Which leaves us trapped in the middle,” Gemma said.
28
Just before impact...
Shelly had dismissed all of her students except for Dillon and Amy who were sitting in the back of the classroom, each reading a comic book from the short stack they had collected from the Reading Room. Winston had found another sunny spot to lie in and was enjoying a quiet afternoon nap.
Amy’s mom appeared in the doorway and knocked before coming in. Shelly looked up from her desk.
“Hi. It’s Debra, right?” Shelly said.
“Yes, you remembered,” Debra replied with a friendly smile.
“Just a knack I have; placing a face with a name. Part of being a teacher I guess.”
“So, how was Amy’s first day?”
“She was a model student. Even made some friends.” Shelly motioned to the back of the room where Dillon and Amy were sitting, engrossed in their newly found reading material.
“I was worried that she wouldn’t fit in.”
“Kids will surprise you,” Shelly said.
“That’s for—”
The windows exploded inward showering the room with a deadly hail of sharp glass as the walls shook and the ceiling threatened to come down. Shelly and Debra covered their faces and darted down the aisles to the back of the room. Luckily, the children hadn’t been too close to the windows and had not been harmed. The overhead lights began to pop. There was a loud rumble as the building continued to shudder.
Winston yelped. A sliver of glass had struck him in the back.
While Debra made sure the kids were okay, Shelly knelt beside the injured dog, cautious at first, not knowing the extent of his pain and whether he would snap at her.
“It’s okay, boy,” Dillon said, once he realized that his pet had been injured.
“Debra, can you toss me that towel hanging on the wash sink?”
Amy’s mom snatched up the towel and rushed over.
Shelly plucked the glass out of Winston’s back and wrapped the towel around him to staunch the bleeding. “There, good as new,” she said, and saw Dillon give her a brave smile.
People were yelling and screaming both inside and outside the building.
A man ran down the hall and stopped at the doorway. “Get out! You need to get to high ground!” He stormed off to warn the others.
“What do we do?” Debra asked.
“The stairs!” Shelly grabbed Winston in her arms and motioned for everyone to follow her. They were just entering the hallway when she saw a large flood racing toward them through the building, the water so high it was almost touching the ceiling.
She headed down the hall and rounded the corner, reaching the bottom step of the stairwell. “Hurry!” Grabbing the handrail with one hand, Shelly hefted the injured dog up the stairs. Dillon and Amy were right on her heels; Debra behind making sure the children didn’t stumble and fall.
The flashflood rushed onto the first floor of the building in a matter of seconds and steadily rose up the stairwell. When Shelly reached the second-story landing she briefly glanced down the railing between the narrow gaps between the floors and saw the tidal water continuing to rise. “Keep going!”
Seawater splashed against the walls and surged up the steps.
Debra clambered up as fast as she could as the tidal wave caught up and swelled over her ankles and her knees, and then up to her waist. She was unable to see where she was stepping and slipped.
Dillon and Amy were only one step ahead of the torrential tide.
“Help!” Debra yelled, one hand on the railing as the swirling water sucked her under.
Shelly turned when she heard the cry and looked down. She waited a second for Dillon and Amy to catch up and put Winston down on the step. “Keep going! And help Winston up!”
Dillon didn’t hesitate and pushed Amy ahead of him as he bent down and coaxed Winston up the stairs.
“Hold on, Debra!” Shelly shouted. She held onto the railing and guided herself down into the water. She could see the submerged woman’s hair floating just under the surface and knew that Debra wouldn’t be able to cling on for very much longer until she ran out of breath.
Shelly ducked under the water and slid her hand down the banister. Her fingers quickly felt Debra’s hand and clamped around her wrist. She used all her strength and started back up the stairs, one step at a time, pulling Debra up with her. Once their heads were out of the water and they could fill their lungs with air, the ascent became easier.
Soon the flood subsided and the seawater started to retreat back down the stairs.
They finally made it up to the third-floor landing where Dillon and Amy were waiting anxiously with Winston.
“Are you kids okay?” Shelly asked, even though she was soaking wet and looked like a drowned dog.
Amy ran up and gave her mother a big hug.
They walked into the main barracks where fifty other people were congregating by the shattered windows.
Winston ran over and jumped up on a bottom bunk. Dillon and Amy sat on the mattress to comfort the dog while Shelly and Debra went over to one of the blasted-out windows to see what everyone was looking at.
The city streets of San Francisco were flooded and most of the high-rise buildings had been destroyed as well as the surrounding metropolitan areas.
Shelly was speechless, as was everyone, as they stared at the massive dust cloud blanketing out the sky on the other side of the bay.
29
Just before impact...
Ryan and Celeste were descending Mt. Hamilton Road in the Mustang when they heard a sonic boom. Seconds later the car was suddenly blown off the pavement against an embankment by a powerful gust of wind. Hitting the brakes and fighting the wheel, Ryan managed to stop or they would have plummeted down the mountain.
“What the hell was that?” Ryan asked. He turned off the engine, opened the driver’s door, and stepped outside. Before Celeste got out, she grabbed a pair of binoculars off the seat.
They walked over to the edge of the road, which afforded them a good view of the valley and the countryside further north. Celeste looked through the binoculars and panned the horizon. “Oh my God!”
“What do you see?”
“A large cloud of smoke.”
“From what?”
“Had to have been a meteor strike. A really big one.” She continued to scan the terrain below. “There’s flooding in the valley. The shock wave must have created a tsunami. All I can see are rooftops, but the flood surge seems to be receding.”
“How big do you think it was?”
“Hard to say.” Celeste lowered the binoculars and looked at Ryan. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of Barringer Crater?�
�
“No, can’t say as I have.’
“It used to be a famous impact site, that is before all this started happening.”
“So where is this crater?”
“Near Winslow, Arizona. The crater is almost four thousand feet in diameter and over five hundred feet deep. The impact energy to create such a crater is believed to have been ten megatons.”
“Ten megatons. Are you serious?”
“That’s almost a thousand times more destructive than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.”
“Jesus.” Ryan glanced out over the valley. “So how big do you think this one was?”
“Big enough to wipe out a city.”
“Fort Mason’s right on the wharf.”
“Then I’d say they’re in big trouble.”
“We’ve got to get down there.” Ryan dashed back and jumped behind the wheel. He fired up the engine, shifted into gear, and punched the accelerator before Celeste could even get her door all the way closed.
30
Cass watched in disbelief as the giant tardigrade started to squeeze its bulk through the hatchway coupling modules Harmony and Destiny. She didn’t know if it was her imagination but the thing seemed to be continuously growing. Her greatest fear was the tardigrade would swell so large, it would block the passage and she wouldn’t be able to return to the Columbus.
She tried to recall if tardigrades were considered dangerous. The one thing she did remember was everyone always thinking how adorable the microscopic creatures looked, moving about on a slide like cuddly bears under the high-powered microscope lens.
It was halfway through the hatch when Cass noticed that parts of its skin were slicing away and floating about the compartment. At first, she thought the inner edge of the metal hatchway was gouging into the tardigrade’s thick-shelled body.
But as she continued to watch, she realized the creature was sloughing its protective outer shell, much like a snake sheds it skin. She wondered if this was the only time when the animal was truly vulnerable, during the ecdysis process.
Battleground Earth Page 11
