The Black, page 16
part #1 of The Black Series
They found a store called, Giant Eagle, just off the road in a town called Boardman. When they pulled in the lot all Mark could think about was the movie World War Z. The people rushing to the store, running out with carts.
Bobby lifted his duffle bag. “If my mom doesn’t answer, I’ll call my dad,” he said grabbing the phone from the bag. “He should almost be in Buckhannon now.”
Mark saw that Bobby wasn’t calling anyone. “What’s wrong?”
“No service,” Bobby said. “It isn’t just no bars. It’s no service. The towers are down.”
Mark shook his head. “I knew we should have made fun of those people for trying to save the landlines. This is why.”
Chip glanced back. “This isn’t like Karma kicking in. This is just bigger.”
Bobby opened the truck door. “Get in the driver’s seat, Chip. I’ll be back. I’ll go in. Just watch the truck. I’m gonna get things to try to quiet her.”
“Do you know what to get?” Chip asked.
“It’s a baby,” Bobby replied. “They eat, sleep, cry and go to the bathroom. How hard can this be? We got this.” He closed the door.
The slam of the truck door caused the baby to jump and start crying again.
TWENTY-EIGHT – AGAINST THE CLOCK
Buckhannon, WV
They were the first ones there. Even arriving before Duke’s family who lived in the same city. When Charlotte spoke to her daughter, she already knew something was up. No morning shift came into the hospital. It wasn’t something she would normally do, but since no one was around, Charlotte made sure she got the medication Erik needed. She had some of Hero’s clothes in the WKSY van, and she walked out of the hospital with Erik.
He said he felt fine, but Charlotte knew differently. He was a little pale, he wasn’t fevered, and that was a good thing.
She gave him ibuprofen saving anything stronger for when it was really needed.
It was a short trip, pretty much a straight shot, and Erik slept most of it. After all, Charlotte woke him from a deep sleep and rushed him out of the hospital.
It was still early, barely light and the mass hysteria hadn’t hit yet. In fact, the entire drive down to Buckhannon they didn’t see any chaos. Just as they arrived in the small town, the radio started really making the announcements.
They weren’t just early, they were hours early. Early enough, that even with the news blasting about multiple Galanis anomalies showing up all over the globe, a gentleman unlocked the front door to a small grocery store.
They had parked in a muffler repair parking lot across the street. Having the news van would help them, if someone said anything about them parking there, she would fib.
It was from that parking lot that Charlotte saw the man opening the store.
She had been watching it, wanting to go in there, but with all that was going on, she thought the lights were on automatic and didn’t think it would open.
They did.
A routine as usual, unaware of what was going on. Charlotte remembered when she worked a five AM starting time. She never listened to the news and was always rushing to get to work.
That had to be the case with these store workers. They probably were in there baking bread before dawn. Charlotte could smell the fresh baked goods the second she walked in the store.
She had told Erik she would be back, that she wanted to get them some food and he needed to eat.
The man was sweeping up outside when she approached.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning,” she replied.
“I saw you coming from that news van. Covering those mysterious clouds?” he asked.
“In a way you can say we’re following them.”
“Good luck.”
She thanked him and went inside, grabbing a buggy.
Even though she was confident the mad rush for panic buying and desperation wouldn’t hit the small town like a big city, Charlotte moved quickly though the store.
She made sure she stopped at the bakery, grabbing the fresh bread and Danishes. She grabbed what she could that was sustaining, all while keeping an ear out for any sudden rush of customers into the store.
The little place was well stocked and they had water and toilet paper on sale. Both of which she bought. She actually chuckled about that, thinking about how people always rushed out to buy toilet paper when they thought the world was going to end.
She wondered in face of the reality of it, would they even think about the bathroom tissue.
Her entire shopping trip including check out took about fifteen minutes. She had four bags, plus the case of water and huge pack of toilet paper. Too much to carry across the street, so she pushed the cart to the muffler repair parking lot resting it against the van as she slid open the side door.
“What all did you get?” Erik asked.
“Stuff that won’t go bad right away,” Charlotte replied. “Except for the bread, it was just baked, we’re gonna need to eat that fast. I got peanut butter. Plastic forks and knives.” She began to load the items into the van.
“Toilet paper?” Erik chuckled. “You bought toilet paper?”
“Actually, thinking about it. If it’s the end of the world, this is gold.” She lifted and slid the water in, then tossed in the bags.
“Was it crowded?”
“Surprisingly no. I was the only one in the store. I’ll be back, I want to return the cart.”
Before she closed the side door, she broke open the case of water and handed one to Erik.
Charlotte was surprised with everything happening the small town was still calm. No real traffic on the streets, maybe a car here and there. She took the buggy back to the store and wished the man a good day.
They had a long wait ahead of them, she didn’t want to waste gas driving around. She figured they would eat some of the groceries she bought then head to the meeting place at the Walgreens parking lot. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich on that fresh baked bread sounded good so she made them both one.
Erik didn’t look like he wanted to eat.
“Are you not hungry?” she asked. “I mean, I understand if you aren’t.”
“Just sad. Thinking about my family. My parents.” He fiddled with his sandwich. “I wanted to call off that day. I did. I did not want to do those arrangements for the retirement party. My mom guilted me into going.”
“Erik, that was a good thing. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here. And I can tell you as a mom, you want your child to live. You being here, surviving, is what your parents would want.”
Erik nodded and took a nibble out of his sandwich.
Charlotte enjoyed hers, along with the peace and quiet of the small town. She didn’t even put on the radio, she didn’t want to know what was happening because it was going to be bad. She also knew the peacefulness of Buckhannon wasn’t going to last. She just hoped they were all out of the town by the time things went nuts.
And it would.
<><><><>
NOAA Research Vessel – Ronald Brown
The newest images made Hero sick to his stomach. The estimated one mile per hour expansion rate was off. The anomalies were moving much faster than they had thought, than anyone had estimated.
All the scientists in the room on that ship and not a single person believed it would change behavior.
They did.
It did.
Like something from a science fiction movie, it expanded, joining with its counter parts, connecting. It came from below the surface, a deadly mass that seemed controlled by a singular brain, that brain in a sense was the earth.
The border of Texas and Arkansas appeared to be one big mass, four of them joining. The only positive thing Hero saw was upon enlargement, and he really had to enlarge. He was about pockets of hope. Places that it didn’t touch.
Would they stay safe? Every ten minutes Hero watched. Over the course of three hours, those areas stayed safe.
Areas such as the eleven mile stretch of Interstate Forty-Nine and Route Seventy-One, roads that ran parallel. It was anomaly free from the southern most part of Texarkana though Fouke, Arkansas.
Hero wondered how many people fled that highway into Fouke. He was certain the small population of eight hundred wouldn’t stay that way.
It was a tiny spot of hope in a dark world.
Could people reach it? He focused there for a little while, trying to find routes. Like a maze, there had to be a connection to get people to the safe zones. Something he could broadcast.
Would anyone listen?
But he turned his focus to the parts of the states where Reese and the others travelled. Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia. Watching the black cover the states and looking, like he did with Arkansas, for the safe pockets.
When he last communicated with Reese, she told him it looked like everywhere was a mass exodus, people driving aimlessly to somewhere safe, but did they know, like she did, the areas already hit?
The walls of the black were squeezing in. Undoubtedly some would run into an anomaly, turn back only to run into another. Without satellite images, they were flocking blindly.
Reese said it seemed a lot of people were going east as if they knew about the ships before the president made his announcement.
Chances were they did. If Hero broke protocol and told Reese, how many others on the ship or in the government did as well?
Everyone spread the word.
It was a couple hours until the announcement. Which, in Hero’s opinion was useless. People knew the end was nigh, the only useful thing the president was going to say was about those boats.
Yes, they needed to save people, but they also needed to save people beyond the event.
If of course, there was a beyond.
Since it changed its behavior, did that mean it wouldn’t lift after twenty-four hours. Not only was it an extinction event, Hero feared it would be an event that wasn’t going away any time soon.
<><><><>
Wheeling, WV
Bobby had a theory on why the phones had gone down. He believed they were shut down to stop people from spreading information.
Chip believed they went down because they were overloaded. If they wanted to stop information, the radios wouldn’t work.
Thankfully they did.
The only image they had of what was going on was a small image their mother had sent to Bobby through text.
It had to be worse now.
The radio was doing a good job of telling people where not to go.
The anomaly in Pittsburgh was approaching the Pennsylvania and Ohio border, it was close to them, but they were moving. Not fast, the road was congested, but traffic flowed steadily.
Chip had taken over driving not long after Boardman so Bobby could navigate.
At least the baby had stopped crying.
Twice Chip asked if she were still alive.
“Yes,” Mark snapped. “She’s alive. Quit asking that. That’s horrible.”
They avoided the highways, opting for the Ohio River Scenic byway, staying on the Ohio side, and it was on that road, Chip realized how close the black was.
Once they hit Weirton they could see the black as it consumed that small town. Creeping slowly to the river. It came from the east and was miles into the sky and it just didn’t seem to stop. It wasn’t until they hit Wellsburg that it did.
Seventeen miles it extended.
It was horrifying.
“All those boats,” Chip said, glancing out the window. “Where are they going?”
“Staying on the water,” Bobby replied, looking at the map. “They say it doesn’t touch water.”
“I would think a river doesn’t count,” Mark said from the back. “Just my opinion.”
“Who knows,” Bobby looked up from the map. “So we are staying on this road until we get to Paden City, we’ll cross there, then head on Twenty straight to Buckhannon. We should get there by the meeting time if not a couple minutes after.’
“That’s good,” Chip said. “Long before the president makes the announcement.”
“That’s what we’re aiming for.”
“What’s this?” Chip peered over the steering wheel.
Traffic was sluggish in the right lane, crawling and nearly at a stand still. Traffic in the left lane tried to merge over, while those trying to go straight nearly collided.
“What’s going on?” Chip asked. “Why is everyone getting off at Wheeling Island?”
Mark questioned, “Is something ahead?”
“Maybe,” Bobby replied. “Or maybe they think because it’s surrounded by water than they’re safe.
“What do we do?” Chip asked.
Bobby looked down. “Keep going. If need be there’s another bridge farther south we can cross over just before Moundsville.”
Chip cut the wheel pulling into the left lane, barely had he passed the massive cluster of traffic trying to exit when he saw the impossibility of the congested roads.
Cars turned around, crashing into others, trying to go back.
“Something is up ahead,” Chip said. “It has to be.”
The he saw another truck. The black pick up sped in reverse down the berm of the road, the he spun, completely turning his truck around like a pro.
“Where’s he going?” Chip asked. “Is there another exit to the island?”
“No. He’s going across the bridge and through the tunnel.”
“Can we go that way?” Chip questioned.
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah we can,” Bobby replied. “We can ride the river south on that end. Take the first exit then hit Two fifty. We need to be on that side anyhow.”
Mark leaned forward. “No one’s going south. What if we run into it on the other side?”
“What choice do we have?” Bobby stated. “Maybe this thing doesn’t cross the river. Do it, Chip.”
With a ‘hold on’, Chip cut over to the berm and did exactly the same thing as the black pick up truck. As he spun their truck around he could see the lone black truck speeding across the bridge.
Did that guy know something?
They really didn’t have another option, and within seconds, Chip was on the ramp going to the bridge instead of Wheeling Island.
He wasn’t alone.
Just as he followed the black pick up truck, others probably thinking he knew something, followed him.
Chip drove fast. He watched the black pick up fly into the tunnel. Glancing up to his rear view mirror he saw a slew of cars behind him.
“Once you get through,” Bobby instructed. “Stay right and get off almost immediately.”
Chip nodded, hitting the gas. The raced across the bridge and into the tunnel. Yellowish lights illuminated it. The taillights of the black pick up were far ahead and soon disappeared into the sunlight.
The relief of the tunnel’s end was in sight and as Chip sailed out of the tunnel, his heart was alike a torpedo to his stomach, and his foot slammed the brake when he saw the massive wall of black not far from them.
He thought for sure he was going to get rear ended. The squeal of brakes came from behind. He looked in the rearview mirror when he heard the slam of metal to metal, crashing, crunching. Some cars smashed into each other and ones that didn’t crash either turned around or took a chance on that first exit, which was so close, too close to the approaching Galanis.
The black field wasn’t far, maybe a hundred feet from reaching that exit.
“What do I do?” Chip asked.
Bobby looked behind him. “You can’t go back. Go.”
“What?”
“Go. Take the exit.”
“That thing is coming,” Chip said.
“We can move faster. We can outrun it.”
“Are you nuts? That wall of black will move fast.”
“We can move faster. It’s the only way. We have room. We have time,” Bobby said. “Not for much longer. We have to try.”
Chip took a deep, shivering breath and lifted his foot from the brake.
“Stop!” Mark cried out.
They had gone a few feet and Chip stopped again. “What? We have to go.”
“A dog.”
“What?”
“A dog. Look.” Mark said.
Chip saw it, a terrier maybe, running as fast as it could from the black.
Then Mark opened the back door.
“What are you doing?” Chip blasted.
“Mark get in!” Bobby yelled.
Mark stood, holding that baby, calling for the dog. Cars swerved by him, nearly hitting him, but Mark was steadfast in wanting to get the dog.
Chip’s heart raced out of control, his hands began to sweat as he beckoned for his brother to get back in.
It was only a few seconds, and it seemed like longer, but Mark ran back to the truck and jumped in.
As soon as he did, the dog jumped in as well.
“Go!” Mark yelled, closing the door.
Chip’s foot slammed the gas before that back door was even closed all the way. As he drove to the exit he felt as if he were driving right into the Galanis.
He was.
It was there, right there as they pulled off the exit and onto highway that would take them south.
It was threatening and massive in his peripheral vision as he drove. It seemed to be right there, like a vehicle too close on the road.
All he could do was keep going.
It was so close he told everyone to close the windows.
He peered to the rearview mirror, watching it roll on to the road and swallow the cars behind him.
Giving it all he had, he slammed his foot to the gas. Baby crying, dog barking, Chip gunned it.
That was all he could do.
<><><><>
Chicago, IL
“Otto, let’s move. Finish up,” the voice carried through the earpiece. It was a makeshift radio, his Level B biohazard suit didn’t have one.
Otto Grako pushed the time limits and his co-worker knew it, but they decided if they could save lives they would and the only way to do so was to report live.
Send it out to anyone who would listen.
Otto was an engineer at the Jardine Water Purification plant. It was a huge plant located on Lake Michigan in the city of Chicago. It had its own docks where ships would dock.
