Revealing Revelations

by Ric Nero

  Half hysterical, Shane asked in a quick burst, “Movements of what?”

  Bazz puts down the mug and looks at each of us directly in our eyes one at a time. “Everything.” He leans forward with a serious face and low stern tone. “There’s been tankers, construction equipment being flown in security patrols. All this heavy movement in the Bermuda and none of this reaches the media.”

  Jeffery scratches his head. “That’s definitely abnormal activity in an abnormal location. I mean, people actually have gone missing there and the only half legitimate reason they give us is oceanic flatulence.”

  “Oceanic flatulence, what’s that?” I ask Jeffery.

  Some bullshit theory about the earth creating gas hydrates in the ocean floor that in turn disturbs that area of the Atlantic ocean,” he answered. “But, from what you’re saying, Bazz, this is a massive operation.”

  “I know they have to be digging up something from deep sea level, there is too much construction equipment being brought in,” Bazz says to us in a focused voice.

  As I look in his eyes, I can see his mind is elsewhere. I lean forward and ask him, “But what is it?” I can almost tell me asking him that question brought his mind back to the diner.

  He looks at me with those reading glasses and says, “I dunno. Intel sources haven’t gotten that to me yet.”

  “Wait a minute, Bazz, who’s this intel source you keep speaking about and what base are they from, Opa-Locka or Causeway Island?” Shane asks Bazz.

  At that instance Bazz looks stunned, almost like a deer in headlights. Looking at Shane raising his eyebrows and biting his bottom lip patiently waiting for an answer, Bazz says, “Neither.” He exhales and removes his gold framed glasses folding them and puts them on the table. “They’re not from any base,” Bazz continued on.

  “So what then, they got discharged like me?” I asked him.

  “No, no. They’re just regular civilians,” he answered.

  I look at Shane and Jeffery who both look confused as to where he reached out and got his information.

  “Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom,” he says, scooting his way over, making Shane stand to his feet to let Bazz out of the booth. He walks towards the back where the restrooms were located. His abrupt evasion of questions leaves us all jaw dropped in affect.

  I slouched down in my seat and look around the diner as everyone seems to crowd around multiple televisions set up in the restaurant. Curious as to what drew their attention, I look at the overhead television at the booth next to us. It was some brunette TV news reporter reporting live with breaking news.

  “Look!” I tell the others and point to the television.

  “What’s she saying?” Jeffery asked.

  It’s hard to hear her but certain things are audible. “Something about unexplained crashes and disappearances.” We all watch in a state of shock as we see images of plane crashes, car accidents, various businesses being robbed due to the lack of attendants, school students just vanishing right during class. Then we start seeing the same is happening in Shanghai, Nigeria, Kuwait, Moscow and the report goes on and on.

  “What the hell is going on?” Jefferey asked the question everyone else had to of been thinking. I stand and get closer to the television above the next booth. For the next few minutes the news reporter speaks about unexplained disasters while images of chaos and pictures of missing people taken prior to this global epidemic are constantly shown on the screen. The news reporter interviews a farmer family in North Carolina. They began to explain an incident that took place on Roanoke Island, about how early European settlers colonized then mysteriously disappear leaving everything behind and how it may tie to this new situation. They called it Croatoa. I had to get Bazz and rush him out the bathroom so he could come see this stuff. I turned around and bump into him head first.

  He staggers a step back from the collision. But by him being much taller than me placed my face into his torso, so no harm was done to either of us.

  “I already know, Thomas,” Bazz says to me, knowing that I was on my way to come get him. I turn and look back at the screen.

  “Aaaaah!” There was a loud scream from the kitchen to the far left of the building. Shane and Jefferey took off to see what it was. I followed after them through a white swinging door with a small square glass window on it at eye level. By the time I caught up with them, I see Jeffery on the left and Shane to the right and a young blonde who couldn’t be more than twenty years old on all fours crying as she steady searches through a set of clothes on the floor. A pair of blue jeans covered by a small white tee shirt and a white uniform apron, same as the one she wore. She becomes frantic as she separates them piece by piece.

  “Where is he?” the waitress asks aloud, but only seems to be speaking to herself.

  “Who?” I asked her.

  “James,” she replied. “He was right here, he was just right here. He was just… Ahhh!” she screams once more in panic.

  “Hey, hey, calm down.” Shane kneels beside her wrapping his arms around her and consoles her. “We’re gonna figure this thing out, calm down we’ll find James,” he whispers to her in efforts to calm her down, trying to control the situation. He looks up to Jefferey and me trembling with a look that says he was just as frightened as the girl. No matter what, he couldn’t hide what I’d seen in his eyes, but I understood it because I was feeling the same way. It feels like something was missing and void where my heart and stomach should be. It feels like an emptiness consumes me and any emotion of courage and bravery. I’m experiencing something that I never even imagined, a state of non-functionality. I can’t think about anything other than being afraid.

  I see Jefferey look at me from the corner of my eye but I was too stunned to look at him. “Thomas. Thomas.” He starts calling me but I’m still confused as to what is going on. All I could think about is what’s going on across the globe. He grabs my shoulders, shaking me until I snap back to reality. I look at Jefferey.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said. I look at Shane. He nods as to say get out of here. I understood what they meant me standing there like that wasn’t helping the girl get her wits about her at all. Walking back into the diner part of the restaurant there’s a loud clash like glass was broken. We walk faster back through the white swinging door and everyone is hysterical. Everyone is screaming or arguing with each other or on phones yelling and screaming in panic. Plates are being thrown and shattered all around the room. Mayhem has taken place in the short time I was in the kitchen, but why? What’s happened so suddenly? The grill on the opposite side of the counter was on fire. Jefferey grabbed a blue and white towel off a table and ran over to the fire. I look around and don’t see Bazz anymore.

  “Bazz!” I call out hoping that wherever he is he can hear me over the disastrous commotion of everything going on in the diner. “Bazz, where are you?” I run to the bathrooms trying my best to avoid bumping into the barrage of people, then to the booth where we sat. What could have happened that quickly, where was he? I rushed back to Jefferey who was still waving that same blue and white towel over descending flames. I look down and see a pair of blue jeans and an apron just like in the kitchen in the back. I run back to the booth and look for a pile of clothes; heart racing, I can feel the blood pulsate from my chest to my head. I slightly exhale in relief that nothing was there. Then, looking to my right outside the diner windows, I see a crate being thrown at me.

  Craaassshh!

  The crate has shattered the window. I duck just before it hits me in the head. It passes over me. I stand up and only see the backside of the man that threw it as he ran off into a crowd of people. Enraged, I jump on the booth table and run through the shattered window opening after him. But what I saw next both surprised me and shocked me.

  The whole town was going crazy just the same. Breaking into stores and establishments stealing various things. ATM machines structured into outer walls of buildings were being damaged and vandalized
in attempts to be broken into in broad day. Traffic is at a cease in these Miami streets. “Where’s the law enforcement?” I ask myself. And just as I asked myself that, I see a bald older husky Hispanic man in a dark blue uniform with a badge running from one of the ATM’s, stashing money in his pockets and running back to his squad car. I step down into this chaotic environment observing all of the people go mad. Fighting over objects like food, clothes and gas. What did they know that we didn’t? Did they know what they were doing?

  “Aaaarrrggghhh!” I feel someone tackle me from behind as I fall to the ground. I roll over and see a white kid – no older than 13 – trying to force his hands in my pockets. “Get off, kid!” I shout as I wrestled him off me. I stand up and he charges at me once more. I had no choice and I know what I’m about to do is wrong, he’s just a kid. But I had no other choice. My fingers curl into my right palm, my knuckles crack from the tension in my fist as I wait until he was just close enough. I see him charging towards me. I charge at him using the force from my foot to throw my body forward as my fist connects to the left side of his chin. He falls and I see white sleeved arms catch the kid under his shoulders and drags him back. It’s Auron, dragging the kid back. He looked at me oddly as he placed him against the wall of the diner.

  “Auron!” I shouted.

  “Get inside, it’s not safe out here!” he yells, rushing pass me.

  “It’s not any safer in here!” I replied with a yell, following him back through the shattered window. “Auron, what’s going on?”

  He stands there looking from left to right. “Jerome!” Auron shouts outs. “Jerome!” He continues on.

  “Who’s Jerome?” I asked him.

  So frantic and focused on finding Jerome he doesn’t hear me. He walks off towards the back and I follow him through the white swinging door with the window. He swings his head left then right swiftly. “Jerome,” he says, walking back past Shane and the young girl who Shane has seemed to calm down at this point.

  Shane looks at me confused as to what’s going on then looks at Auron and says, “He isn’t back here, Auron. Leave, you’re not helping the situation.”

  Auron looks at Shane and turns back around and jogs out at an accelerated speed for a man his age.

  “Who’s Jerome?” I asked Shane who still cradles the girl.

  “Bazz, he’s looking for Bazz,” he answered. “Did you know he was coming?” Shane asked me.

  “No, I’m finding out what’s going just as soon as you are.” I squat down just to look the young girl in her eyes. “Hey, are you okay?”

  She nods her head up and down trying to stay strong holding back tears in her eyes.

  “What’s your name?” I ask her.

  She sniffles and answers, “Sherry.”

  “You’re going to be alright, Sherry, but what I need you to do is get everything you need and can carry and stay with this man. We’re gonna be leaving soon.” I look at Shane and stand up.

  Sherry gathers her emotions and stands to her feet and goes in the back grabbing her things.

  Shane stands up next to me and whispers in a low tone where Sherry won’t be able to hear, “People are disappearing into thin air, Auron is running around like a madman and I’m hearing all types of commotion from outside. I mean screaming, yelling…” Shane pauses his fast paced array of statements. I could see he was having a hard time trying to understand what’s going on as he puts his hand on his chest and exhales with his eyes closed. He opens them and in a mellow tone asks, “Tommy, what the hell is going on?”

  “Shane, all I can tell you right now is this place isn’t safe. I mean… it’s a freakin’ war zone out there and we gotta get somewhere remote away from everybody else. Now you need to help her get together and I’ll be back in a second,” I said and headed back into the dining area. Soon as I walked in I see Auron, Jefferey and Bazz all standing by the broken window looking at the chaos that’s taking place outside. All the people who were in here earlier have either disappeared or went into the rampage outside.

  “Hey!” I called out to them. They turned around and look at me. “What’s going on?” I asked them as I ran across the room towards them.

  “We should be boarding up every window and locking every exit,” Auron said aloud.

  “No, the windows are too big and too many to cover up with what we have lying around in here, Auron,” Bazz said.

  “Freakin’ can’t believe this. We’re getting outta here. Thomas, I need you to come with me,” Jefferey said, darting out the hole in the window.

  I look at Bazz and Auron, who watched as Sergeant Birden jumped into the chaos of hell going on outside. I had to follow him, even though I saw for myself what type of evil was out there, I had to watch his back. I ran to the booth spinning up one foot in the booth seat cushion and the other on top of the table. I turned and looked at the two. “Use this table to block the window, but watch for us, and be ready, you hear me?” They nodded and I quickly jumped out the window again and followed Jefferey.

  Once on the other side, I look around and it seems worse than just a few minutes ago. Men running up to businesses down the street with liquor bottles with rags hanging out in one hand, lighting them on fire with the other, while tossing them through windows. Grown women leaving their crying child in strollers as they go fight in a crowd of people over money dispensing from malfunctioning ATM’s. Herds of more people are causing chaos than when I came out the first time. Jefferey grabs my arm and pulls in the direction he’s going. Running next to him down the middle of the street, we finagle around cars left carelessly in the streets and belligerent crowds well engaged in anarchy.

  “What are we doing, Sarge?” I ask him in a loud voice to get over the commotion of people all around us screaming and fighting.

  He makes a right turn through an alleyway. “We need a truck,” he yelled back at me.

  “We’re passing up all types of trucks,” I exclaimed in astonishment.

  He shook his head. “Not just any truck. We need something that can handle damage, in case we’re in a bind,” he answered. “I needed you to come because one person alone out here wouldn’t stand a chance and I needed someone fast enough to keep up with me.”

  “Would have to be me, huh?” I ask myself. So we ran and ran in silence watching people continue in madness as we passed by them.

  At this point the sun is beaming harder than ever. And being a civilian for the last few years running was something I stopped doing the day I left the military. It seems as if we ran a few miles and I was starting to get tired. Then he makes a quick right at the end of a brick wall and runs up some steps into a building. I couldn’t believe what I saw with my eyes any more than what I had just seen running down these streets. I look at a fairly tall building with high stairs and double glass doors and an awning reading in big letters M.P.D. It’s the Miami Police Department.

  I catch up to him. “Sarge!” I yelled out, but he was too far up the stairs to hear me and through the doors he went.

  Once I entered the police station, I cop a squat to catch my breath and look around. The floor was white with a sky blue square pattern across it. And a blue receptionist desk of matching color was in the lobby unattended with a heavy metal door cracked open. It’s obvious Jefferey went through there seeing as how that’s the only door besides the double door entrance. It’s a lot cooler, I’m close to getting goose bumps from the central air being so high in here. I stand straight up, taking my time to walk through the door. It’s empty back here as well. I stand at the end of a long stretch dividing a large area of cubicles and offices and watch him go from room to room. Nothing was in order, and more piles of clothes were here and there as well.

  “No one’s here,” I tell him as he zigs and zags from office to office and room to room.

  “Yeah, no stragglers, right?” he asked me, continuing his search.

  “So, what are we looking for?” I asked him.

  He stopped sagging for a second
and looked at me. “We need weapons from the armory and radios. I’ll look for that, but I need you to go to the motor pool and get a S.W.A.T. truck,” he said, pointing at me. He points at the far wall. “There is a location map of the building on the wall beside the elevator. Once you get the truck up and going meet me out front, alright?”

  I run past him to the shiny one door elevator. I look back at him. “Alright, but I won’t be needing any keys to get it started, though,” I told him.

  “I know, that’s another reason I brought you along,” he says with a smirk on his face.

  “Tch!” How can he smile at a time like this, I turn back around and look at the board next to the elevator using my right pointer finger and sliding it downward against the glass until I came across the words “motor garage”. It says it’s on level 2B. I push the button and wait for the elevator.

  Ding! The elevator door opens sliding to the right and I step in and quickly press the button reading 2B.

  The door opens on the second basement level and I look around before getting out of the elevator. Just in case there’s another mob of lunatics I can remain in the safety by closing the elevator door. The coast is clear, and he was right, soon as I stepped out there’s a big black S.W.A.T. truck. “Thank you, Jesus!” I said with excitement, rushing to check all the doors to see if they were unlocked and from the back to the driver’s side door they were. I jump into the driver’s seat. Closing and locking the door behind me, I bend down and reach under the dash for the wiring chassis. I found it and snatched it down with ease. Looking at several wires I wrapped the two red wires together at their copper tips and grab the black starter wire rubbing it against the other two. A couple of small sparks pop out of the three wires coming in direct contact and the engine fires up.

  “Yeah, baby!” I said with relief. I was still amazed. I just hot-wired a heavily armored vehicle. I throw it into reverse and make a three point turn and floor it up the garage ramp and into the city streets. I had to hurry. I didn’t want to leave Jefferey alone waiting on me for long.