The Survivor Chronicles: Book 1, The Upheaval (8 page)

“What do you think happened?”

Xander looked around the crowded street. He didn’t have a clue what had happened. Some kind of earthquake or some shift in the earth? Perhaps the poles had reversed? He’d heard about that possibly happening one day. Or maybe it had been some sort of solar flare, or a volcano erupting in Hawaii or Italy or wherever. For all he knew, an iceberg had hit Canada, or California had fallen into the ocean and the whole country was affected by it. Honestly, he didn’t know what had happened, and judging from the terrified looks and frightened chatter of the people surrounding him, no one else did either.

People filtered out of their houses, joining the growing crowd on the street as it headed toward the center of town, and further toward the police and fire stations. Xander tightened his hold on Carol’s shoulders, pulling her against his side. “Mom and Dad will find us. They’ll probably go to the police station.”

“Yeah,” Carol mumbled. “Did you see what happened to Kelly?”

“I did.”

He didn’t want to think about it though, nor did he want to think about the bodies he saw sporadically in the streets, or the cars that had been driven into buildings and telephone poles, or the houses that were either smoldering or succumbing to the flames eating through them. Everyone seemed aware of the hazards of the steaming holes as they were all given ample berth.

Something had happened with the birds, too, as their bodies were scattered across the ground. Domestic animals ran past them, unnervingly all heading in the same direction, seemingly toward the same destination. Dogs and cats flowed past his legs with little thought to his presence, there were even a few wild animals mixed in. The animals seemed strangely aware of the destination of most of their human owners as they flowed toward the emergency services buildings.

Though Xander knew animals had better instincts than humans, that they sensed and averted danger far better, he was still entirely creeped out by them and wasn’t entirely sure they were doing the right thing by going in the same direction. Still, it seemed like an even worse idea to turn around and go in the opposite direction, toward whatever was driving the creatures.

Riley, seeming to decide that he wasn’t quite the lowest life form known to man, came over to the softball team that had surrounded him shortly after Riley had punched him. The team had turned to him for leadership when Riley had stormed away to take her frustration out on the driver who had nearly killed her. The guy in the car had apologized profusely to Riley before shifting into reverse and making the bad choice to continue driving down the broken road again. Riley had never rejoined the group, but kept her distance as she walked with a pair of elderly women who had emerged from an apartment building a little while back.

“Was there supposed to be an eclipse today?” Riley inquired.

Xander frowned. He tilted his head back to search the pristine sky. And then he saw it. Over top of the library the very edge of the sun was beginning to vanish. It looked as if the moon was causing the sun to disappear, but he couldn't be sure as clouds seeped over the sky like insidious snakes. His arm fell away from Carol’s shoulders. Carol stopped to watch as he took a few quick steps forward. Riley was beside him, her chin jutting in the way he knew it did when she was annoyed or confused.

“Was there?” The self-assurance in her voice had slipped as it trembled a little.

Chills ran up and down his spine as he turned to face her. “No.”

Her big blue eyes widened, her full mouth parted, and she visibly paled beneath her summer tan and freckles. Her dark, nearly black hair blew around her face as a gentle breeze wafted over them. When he was eight, and she was six, he’d enjoyed teasing his little sister’s friend, when he was twelve he began to realize why he'd always liked to tease her, and by the time he was fifteen he’d realized he’d been a moron and that she wasn’t an awkward looking, irritating child anymore. Though he had stopped looking at her as a kid, she still thought of him as Carol’s highly infuriating brother who had made her cry numerous times, and given her the hated nickname that still followed her ten years later. He still had a crush on her, and she still disliked him, a lot.

“Well then,” she muttered.

“Well then, what?”

“It just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”

She turned away before he could respond and headed back to the group of elderly women that had stopped to look over the library. Riley touched one woman’s arm reassuringly, she gestured for her to move on as she slid her arm into the elbow of another woman. Xander started walking with the team again, their chatter had died off as soon as Riley came over, it didn’t return. This time it was Carol who slid her hand into his.

“I don’t like this, Xander.”

“Neither do I,” he admitted.

He wanted to be strong for her, wanted to pretend he was still the big brother who knew all the answers, but Carol wasn’t an idiot. She was well aware of the fact that no one knew anything, at least not any of them.

The growing darkness of the day set his teeth on edge. The more the sun was blotted out, the closer everyone pressed to each other. More animals filtered past, mice, rats, and what he thought might actually be a ferret ran ahead of him. Riley and the elderly women dropped back when only a quarter of the sun was still visible. Carol took hold of Riley’s free hand, squeezing it as the sun disappeared.

As one, everyone stopped moving, they stood upon the street and sidewalk, looking indirectly to where the sun had once warmed the day. Though he knew it couldn’t be possible, it felt like the temperature of the day dropped ten degrees. Goosebumps broke out on his flesh. Carol was shaking as she pressed closer to him. After so much noise, chaos, and confusion, the silence was unnerving. Not a single person moved. The library was bathed in a golden glow that was nowhere near as beautiful as it appeared, for beneath the beauty he sensed something ominous.

He stood, waiting, waiting, waiting, for it to move on if it was the moon that had swallowed the sun. It remained. He’d seen a solar eclipse only once, when he was a kid. They’d made special boxes at school so they could look at the sun. It had seemed so fast then, most likely because they’d been able to escape class for awhile to see it, but today it seemed as if time had completely frozen when the sun vanished. This couldn't be an eclipse, or at least not a regular one, it would already be ending if it was.

For a strange, disconcerting instant, he felt as if he had just stepped into the pages of an H.G. Wells novel. That reality had shattered and all that was left was this world straight from a twisted sci-fi novel. He half expected some Morlocks to jump out of the earth and start chasing them all down the street. It was darker now; the Morlocks could come out to play.

Xander shuddered, Carol pressed closer, but Riley was the first to take a step forward. “We have to keep moving,” she told Carol, who was absentmindedly pulling her back. “We can’t just stay here, Carol. We have to move.”

Xander could only stare at her before closing his mouth and nodding. “She’s right.”

Riley turned from them and held her hand out to the elderly woman in the middle. “Mrs. Mackey, we have to go.”

Xander stared at the watery blue eyes of his kindergarten teacher. He hadn’t seen her in a couple of years and wouldn’t have recognized her if Riley hadn’t said her name. Mrs. Mackey smiled at him. “I hope you’re paying more attention in college than you did in my class, Mr. Noland.”

“Absolutely Mrs. Mackey,” he responded, feeling like a chastised child all over again.

The team began to move once more. They brushed past the people who were still stricken in the street, unmoving, watching as the darkened sun hung in the sky. Xander fought the urge to look at the sun to see if it was beginning to clear, but he kept his head bent and his eyes diverted as he held firm to his sister. People began to move with them, flowing forward as the hush of the day became even more profound. Though animals still ran past, their numbers were becoming more infrequent. He didn’t know where the creatures were heading, and he was becoming increasingly certain that for some freaky, insane reason, they were all gathering somewhere together.

“I’m scared,” Carol said.

He hugged her closer. “We all are.”

The police station and fire station came into view as they rounded a bend. Newly built, the emergency buildings had been enlarged to help support the demands of the growing town.

Neither one was still standing.

The fire station, ironically enough, was on fire. There was one truck sitting outside of the smoldering brick building, the rest had been destroyed by the blaze. Parked beside it were two police cars that hadn't been crushed by the collapsing building.

Outside of both buildings emergency workers were directing the flow of people toward a large field across the street. There were more emergency personnel there, evaluating the injured and separating them depending upon the severity of their wounds. Between the mutilated and bleeding, and the upheaval of the earth, steaming holes, and dazed people, it looked like a battlefield. Yellow crime scene tape had been placed around the majority of the deadly holes. Carol’s eyes were huge as she surveyed the carnage; Riley had stopped walking with the elderly women.

“What do we do?” Carol asked.

“Keep moving!” A portly older man barked at them, elbowing Xander in the ribs as he pushed past.

“You heard the man,” Xander said, pulling Carol with him as they moved through the growing crowd of beleaguered people. Most of the softball team broke off in search of their families. His parents wouldn’t be here, they worked in Boston. It would be awhile before he got the chance to see them again. If ever…

Xander shut the thought down; it was too much to process right now.

“There’s Bobby and Lee.” Xander followed Carol’s pointing finger to two of his best friends from high school. He hadn’t had a chance to see them since he’d been back, but over the past two years they had drifted apart. Bobby had stayed in town and now worked at his father’s plumbing company, and Lee had gone to college in California. Though they weren’t as close as they had been, Xander was unbelievably relieved to see them.

“Hey,” Bobby greeted. His brown eyes were glassy as he shook Xander’s hand. “Good to see you, man.”

“You too.”

“This is crazy,” Lee muttered. He shook back hair that had bleached to an even fairer shade of blonde from the heat of the California sun.

Xander searched the sea of heads as he realized they’d lost Riley somewhere in the crush of bodies. Xander released Carol with the intent of searching Riley out. He knew that her parents weren't in the crowd either. They commuted into the city with his parents every morning. The only reassuring thing about not having his parents here was knowing that at least the four of them would be together.

He’d just taken a step to go hunt Riley down when she appeared from the middle of the crowd. Her mouth was pinched, her nose scrunched as she struggled through the sea of meandering people.

“No one has a clue what is going on,” she announced when she reached them. “None of the phones are working and the police won’t say if they’ve had any contact with anyone outside of town.”

“They probably have no way of knowing anymore than we do,” Xander told her.

She glared at him, her hands balling into fists. He thought she was going to slug him again. Then her shoulders slumped and her eyes slid to Lee and Bobby. Xander didn’t like the fact that most of her annoyance seemed to vanish, especially when she greeted Bobby. But then again Bobby had stayed behind, and they saw each other far more often than he was able to see her.

“Hey, Lee.” Riley said. “Where’s your father, Bobby?”

“I don’t know. He was at an early morning service call when this happened. I kinda expected him to be here.”

“I’m sure he will be,” she said kindly.