by Tom Germann
That set off everyone else on a round of yawns.
Jimmy spoke up, “I’ve been up for almost a day, but this is terrifying and I shouldn’t be falling asleep right now.” He covered his mouth and yawned again.
Wagner yelled, “Everyone, lie down! If this is some sort of gas…”
Richard was hyperventilating and threw himself on the floor. Everyone else lay down, except for Janice who was sitting upright. “I feel fine. It is not hard to breathe at all. I’m just so tired…”
She slumped forward, knocking the rest of her sandwich to the floor as she face-planted onto the table. Everyone else quickly passed out. Richard and Sal were the last to go as they were jerking around in terror.
Their breathing stabilized and some even started snoring. The lights burned on in the building while outside, things changed .
FULL MORNING 0600
The moaning was loud enough to wake the dead, and it wasn’t ending.
Steven’s eyes crept open and he looked around. The light was so bright it would hurt anyone’s eyes, forcing him to turn away from the glare as he looked to see who was making the noise. The service centre was bright with daylight! He sat up and looked around. It looked like the sun had just come up and the front of the centre was getting all the light through its large windows.
Everyone else was lying on the floor except for Janice, who was still slumped over the table .
Others were moving too, like Sam the trucker and the soldier, Corporal Vajjer. Everyone else looked like they were still sleeping. Several were moaning and groaning in their sleep.
Sam and the corporal both groaned and started to sit up as well. The corporal was holding his head. “Corporal, hmm, Vajjer, was it?”
The corporal looked at Steven with red-rimmed eyes. “Uh, sure, or you can just call me Chris, ‘cause I think we went drinking massively last night. Is there coffee or a smoke around?” He patted his pockets. “Crap, I’m out.”
Steven went behind to the main counter, looking for cigarettes. “What brand?”
“Anything that lights up, please.”
Steven chuckled and grabbed a pack of Camels and a lighter, walking it to the corporal. “Here you go. Hmm, don’t go outside to light it up. It won’t be the end of the world if you smoke inside.”
Sam had been walking toward the door when he stopped and backed up. “Good idea. I think I’m gonna pass on looking outside for now.”
The corporal had pulled the wrapper off the pack and was pulling a cigarette out when he saw Steven staring at it and chewing his lip. Steven gestured and Corporal Vajjer handed one over with a chuckle. “Nothing better in the morning to get you going.”
Sam joined them, pulling his own smokes out and lit one with difficulty because his hands were shaking so much. “The light’s so bright. Do you think whatever happened last night was a weird fluke? Did we eat something that had gone bad?”
Corporal Vajjer shook his head. “I’ve eaten bad food and had food poisoning a couple of times. I have NEVER been through anything like last night. Did you notice the trees look different, or that there are no vehicles in the parking lot?”
Sam looked startled, but then relaxed. “Hey, we parked out back so we were out of the way.”
Corporal Vajjer nodded. “Yup, so did we. But Steven’s car is missing from out there and so is the other one that was there. But everyone is here, so who moved them? And where are the light poles? I dunno, it seems like things are still messed up and I still feel like something shit in my mouth.”
Steven had been staring out the window. He turned and looked at the other two. “Come on, everyone else is waking up. Let’s fire up the stovetop, it’s on propane and that’s still working. There are some large pots we can boil some water and get coffee for everyone. If we only use one section of the cooktop we shouldn’t gas ourselves out. I hope”
The others started moving and groaning. Vajjer looked at Steven. “Um, maybe you should go and help your wife wake up. She may not like waking up abandoned, passed out on a table in a rest centre. It’s the kind of thing that you end up on the couch for a few weeks over…”
Steven lowered his voice. “Really? I can go sleep on the couch? That sounds nice… Can I watch TV late then?”
Everyone chuckled and Steven went to his wife. Vajjer and Sam set up a pot and poured some water from a carafe behind the counter into it. The burners caught immediately and soon the water was coming to a boil. Sam found a container of instant coffee and they set up mugs for everyone.
The men talked while they worked. “Wow, I didn’t think marriage was that bad, nice guy like that, nice clothes and car with a great job. I guess you never know. But if she is as much of a pain as he made it sound like, then, well, why stay with her?”
Corporal Vajjer looked at Sam with a raised eyebrow. “Been married much? Everyone argues. You are two different people living together. Sometimes as you get older, you grow apart, you know?” He started pouring hot water into the mugs with a ladle.
Sam pulled out cream and sugar containers and put them on the counter while he considered this. “So you’re married then?”
Everyone was awake now, but there was a lot of coughing going on in the background.
Corporal Vajjer kept pouring water into the mugs until all fourteen were filled. “No. I was close twice, but went on tour. When I came back, once, I was different, and once, she was different. After the second close call, I decided not to go down that path. I don’t want to work hard and then because I go overseas again, I end up losing half of what I’ve worked for because she’s upset I’m not there to listen to her stories about broken nails. ‘Oh sorry to hear that, honey! A friend of mine got blowed up REAL good today and they’re shipping him home in two body bags. Please feel free to tie up my last five minutes of the conversation with your whining…”
Sam considered that. “A little bitter, then?”
“Oh, Sam, it’s safe to say a lot bitter for right now.”
The coughing sound changed to choking and then everyone could hear someone puking. Both Sal and Private Andries were on hands and knees, spewing all over the floor. The stench quickly filled the building.
Tracy stood up. “Oh my god, that’s disgusting! I’ve gotta clean that up before I barf.” She headed for the convenience store counter to get a mop and bucket that were sitting against the corner.
Private Weibe and Tocker helped the two that were puking into the recovery position on their side and stayed with them while everyone else moved around slowly.
Janice stood by the window, looking out at the bright sunlight and basking in it. She pulled out a pair of sunglasses and slipped them on. “Well, Steven! The sun is up! We can go now. If we drive fast, we can be home in time for a quick shower and then I can get together with the girls.” She continued talking to herself.
Steven walked over to her with a coffee. Janice took it and placed it on the table next to her. “I don’t want coffee, Steven. I want to get going.” She walked to the door and was reaching for the push-bar.
Steven yelled, “DON’T!” He leapt forward, grabbing her arm and pulling her back, spilling his coffee all over himself while doing so.
She glared at him. “Steven! We can go! What is wrong with you? Spilling coffee all over yourself like an idiot. Really now.”
Tracy was mopping, but stopped to watch what was going on. “Uh, Janice? Shouldn’t you check the doors before you try to open them? What if the electricity is still running through them? Do you want to be electrocuted?”
Everyone else was watching the drama in disbelief.
Jimmy looked around at everyone standing by the counter. “Maybe she suffered a stroke or something? She didn’t seem drunk or stoned.”
Richard was holding his cup with both hands. “Maybe we should go over and stop her. We should check the doors first before touchin
g them, right?”
Vajjer craned his neck to look at the front door from his spot near the pot of water. He reached down and turned the propane off. “Well, if she goes to open it and it’s still charged, we’ll know pretty fast, wont we?”
A few snickered at that while the warrant officer and sergeant headed over to help keep Janice back from the door.
Wagner walked up with his hands spread and spoke calmly. “Before we go rushing out the doors, let’s just check to make sure that no current is going through it, okay?”
Janice glared at both men. “The power is out. Of course the doors are safe now.”
He continued talking to Janice while Caisson leaned forward and started sniffing.
“Ma’am, if the power somehow ended up getting knocked out by, say, a power line falling and it electrified part of the building and that included the metal doors and push-bars, then we need to test them quickly to make sure that the power is fully off. If that happened, then I could see that parts of the building could still be live and dangerous. Just give us a second, please.”
Janice sniffed and went to her coffee. Steven smiled at Wagner, who nodded. The sergeant kept sniffing for a short time.
He turned back to look into the store. “That smell from last night is gone. I’m guessing that it’s clear.”
Sam walked over and joined them at the door with his coffee in hand. Without another word, Janice strode to the door and pushed it open, stepping outside.
Everyone standing by the door felt the wet heat that rushed in to displace the cooler air inside. The door swung shut and Janice started walking around the building.
Sam looked at Caisson. “So were you trying to smell ozone when you leaned in like that? And looking for some sort of reaction from the wet towel?”
The sergeant glanced over while sipping his coffee. “Yeah, and I got nothing.”
Sam nodded and looked at the other three. “There was nothing like that last night so I wouldn’t have trusted the doors with a test. I would have used a piece of wood to push them open.”
Steven stared at Sam. “You didn’t think to say that before she grabbed the door?”
Sam shook his head. “I figured by now the door was safe. Whatever happened last night is over for right now.” He pointed at the window. “We have lots of light and I think we have bigger problems.”
Jimmy walked over wearing a pair of sunglasses with the price tag still hanging off. “Anyone else have a bad headache like I do? I grabbed a container of Advil. These are the good ones, ‘migraine strength,’ good stuff!”
Everyone had at least a low grade headache, with the two lying on the ground the worst . Jimmy handed out some pills and everyone swigged them down with their coffee.
Vajjer served up another cup and everyone helped themselves to food from the trays in the display case of the coffee shop.
While everyone grabbed a seat and ate and drank, Janice came around the far side of the building and inside. After she walked in, she put her hands on her hips and glared around her. “Okay, I understand everyone likes to play silly games. Where is the car? Steven, did you go outside and move it before I woke up? This is just the sort of stupid game you would play on a bad morning.”
Everyone stared at her with blank expressions.
Susie walked over to Janice and offered her a bagel. “Mrs. Lagrange, everyone feels really sick right now. Maybe you should have something small to eat and some water? It seems like it’s really hot outside. We already have the two guys who were throwing up.”
Richard joined in from the table he was sitting at. “Maybe we were all gassed last night. That would sort of explain the headaches and Sal and Andies there…”
The young blonde soldier spoke up. “That’s Andries.”
Wagner looked around. “Okay, everyone, let’s just have a seat and eat something before we do anything else. Sal, how are you feeling?”
Sal looked up from the floor and then sat up. “I’m feeling pretty good. It’s like I ate something bad and it’s out of my system now.”
As the warrant officer turned to Andries, the private quickly said, “Same thing here, sir. I don’t know what it was, but I started feeling way better right after I threw up a lot.” He sat up and then leveraged himself to his feet. “In fact, are there any more plain bagels left? I’m kinda hungry.”
Sal nodded as he pushed himself up with his arms. “Same here.”
Wagner nodded and Tracy grabbed some plain bagels, handing them over along with a sports drink for each. “Here, guys, best thing after a hangover is a bagel and sports drink to get your fluid and electrolytes up.”
Both sat again and slowly started eating. Andries looked up after a few bites and said around a mouthful, “Mmph, could I get another please?”
Wagner looked at everyone. “You know, it’s weird, but that may be the answer, or part of it. Maybe we were gassed last night. I can’t explain the black outside, the shocks that people got off the doors, or the power going out, BUT if there was a problem with some sort of gas release, that could explain why we all fell asleep so fast even though we tried to stay awake. People puking after and everyone has a headache… It makes some sense.”
Jimmy shook his head. “Sorry, sir, but I’ve dealt with gas in enclosed spaces. I got gassed a few times in my life. We would be worse off if it was bad enough to make us pass out. I would have expected that somebody would be dead or in a coma. This ain’t any gas I ever heard of.”
The sergeant grunted. “Yah, I can’t see us being really gassed. Then again, I’ve never been gassed with everything that is out there. Who would have released it anyway?.”
Jimmy continued while staring into his coffee. “The other thing that gets me? I have been across most of the US driving trucks on all the major roads and some of the smaller ones too. I know this area. I was looking out through the windows. Those trees are not right, they’re not from this area. Heck, I’ve been in this service centre a couple of times. The parking lot isn’t right either. It was fixed up last year. This parking lot looks like it hasn’t been touched for years, and Janice here says all the vehicles are gone. Something ain’t right.” He sipped his coffee. “Kinda feels like a twilight zone episode. We just need aliens or robots to come out now, and I ain’t looking forward to being probed.”
Both Tracy and Susie walked to the windows and looked out. Susie said, “The trees are different. There should be a wall of green over there and there wasn’t any brown in the tree line.” She pointed to the thick, brown grass on far side of the road.
Tracy piped up, “Yes, and the parking lot looks way worse than it did before the repair work.”
Richard joined them and everyone else moved to the front windows. Richard pointed to the left and the right. “And there was fresher paint for parking spots laid out with cars up front and big spots in the back. None of that’s here now. Same with the lights. There were four light posts out front and they aren’t there now. It doesn’t look like they were ever there. And where are those planters that were by the front door? Those were new—big, concrete, and full of flowers that were a pain to water. It’s all gone.”
Sal said, “It’s all gone because we aren’t there anymore. We’re probably dead or kidnapped by aliens or something else weird.”
Everyone turned away from the windows to look at him. He was still sitting at the small red table, . staring at the half-finished cup of coffee in his hands. Leaning forward, he looked like he was shivering.
He looked up, but he wasn’t looking at anyone. “We’re all screwed, man. Something’s going to come along soon and kill us all.”
He went back to staring at his coffee cup.
Wagner looked at everyone around him. “Okay, everyone, things are wrong or weird or whatever. It’s time for us to start fixing that. Girls, can one of you pull out that list of inventory and start confir
ming what we have? I am going to leave you two privates to help out. Richard, I need you to verify that so as we use supplies we can be billed if it turns out everything is really normal. . Next, Sergeant Caisson, find a way onto the roof and take a look at what you can see. Can any threats come up to us? What is out there? Grab one of those FRS type radios and a portable radio and see if you can pick anything up. Just be careful not to be seen.” Sergeant Caisson nodded and started for the back.
Susie pulled him aside and whispered,
“Sergeant Caisson?”
The sergeant turned and looked at Wagner. “When you have done a quick recce and it’s clear, send one of the privates up in your place to keep an eye out. I do NOT want to have any surprises.”
“Check, sir.” Caisson headed for an office in the back. He stopped behind the counter and grabbed a cheap pair of binoculars before disappearing.
Wagner leaned toward Janice. “Mrs. Lagrange, can you please stay here and keep an eye on our two injured people? I think that someone may not be handling what happened very well and we may have bigger problems. Just sitting and talking to someone can sometimes bring them down from a bad place. Especially after the shocks that have happened.”
Janice smiled. “Of course I can, Warrant Wagner. I’ll keep an eye on both of them and I’ll call out if there are any problems at all or if they start feeling ill again.”
He smiled and nodded. “Thank you very much, Mrs. Lagrange.”
He looked up. “Steven, Corporal Vajjer, Sam, and Jimmy, I want you to come with me and we are going to walk around the outside of the property first and then check out the vehicle bays in the shop. The two of you who were shocked last night.” He looked at Andries and Sal. “I want you to stay here and take it easy. If you don’t feel good, there is a garbage can.” He pointed toward a large garbage can on one side of the doors. “You just focus on getting back up to snuff. When we can get to a hospital, we’re taking you both in to get looked at.”
Wagner stopped and looked around. “Alright, everyone, let’s get to work and see what we can figure out. Susie, you’ve been in the shop, you get to show us around.” He turned and headed for the door. Everyone got up and started moving.
