Counting Down

by Lilah Boone

  Abby made a face and shuddered a little. “He gives me the creeps. I hope he lightens up at some point. I’m not looking forward to being stuck in the bunker with him.”

  Kyle smiled. “Well maybe he’ll hook up with one of the girls and learn to relax.”

  “We could only hope. Oh, did you figure out anything about the colors? Any visions or insights?”

  “No, not yet. I did hear one of the girls talking about being an environmental scientist and a botanist. Maybe that’s why she’s green.”

  “Hmm… that’s a good thought. I should’ve paid more attention to my new agey friends. We could look into auras if we can get the internet to come up in the morning. Maybe there will be some clues there. And we should call the five of them something besides the Colors I think.”

  “Well they do have a nice subtle gleam to them.” Kyle cocked his head. “So how about we call them Gleamers then.”

  Abby mirrored his head tilt. “That does have a better ring to it. Colors wasn’t very imaginative of us.”

  “Yes, but we had other things on our mind at the time.” Kyle’s eyes were dark and purposeful as he pulled her up to stand on her feet.

  “Ah that’s right. We were distracted.”

  Kyle slipped his thumbs through her belt loops and pulled her hips into his. The kiss was gentle at first then quickly picked up where they had left off outside.

  It was the piercing sound of female screams coming from the spare room that forced them to surface from each other for the second time that night.

  Kyle groaned mid kiss. “What now?”

  “Hey guys,” one of the girls shouted through the wooden door. “You should probably come see this.”

  He groaned again more audibly then opened the door to see Hanna standing in the hall. Her face was pale and her doe like eyes had grown larger with fear.

  Kyle plowed over the threshold with Abby on his heels. “What is it?”

  Hanna said nothing, only pointed into the spare room where Evie stood looking ghost-like in a long white nightshirt staring out the window. Kyle and Abby followed Evie’s gaze and simultaneously took in their breath sharply.

  Kyle was the first to break the amazed silence. “A new moon.” His voice was so low it was barely perceptible, little more than a breath on his lips.

  Through the window they could see a bright orange object in the sky, sitting next to the moon almost rivaling it in size. As they stared with a mix of wonder and horror more objects began to appear. They were smaller, looking like stars at first then growing as they moved towards the Earth. Shooting stars whizzed through the night sky, their flaming tails blazing behind them.

  “Oh god.” Evie’s face was contorted in fear. “There’s more of them, little ones, and they’re coming towards us.”

  Abby looked to Kyle. “But we were supposed to have more time. This isn’t it. Is it?”

  Kyle didn’t look away from the window. “No, it’s not”

  “Should we go underground again?” Abby wrapped her hand around his arm, squeezed it lightly.

  Kyle shook his head. “No, this isn’t right. It’s one of the last signs, that’s all. Not the end yet.”

  Hanna looked from Abby to Kyle and back again. “What’s he talking about? Is it time to run for our lives or not?”

  “No.” Kyle shook his head again. “No it’s not time yet. We’ll sleep one more night above ground.”

  A second later a mass of rock and fire plummeted to the land in the distance. The impact was miles away but the Earth shook, the sound echoed through the air, and the light from the explosion made them all step back a foot from the window.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to rethink that?” Evie’s voice caught in her throat. “Because that looked like hide in a bunker type stuff to me.”

  Kyle shrugged, appearing preoccupied with his own thoughts. “It’s a big planet. The odds of one of those things hitting in Kansas again is probably pretty slim.”

  “Probably?” Hanna wasn’t convinced.

  “Look, if you three want to get the others and spend the night in the shelter that’s a smart idea. I want to go investigate whatever just fell out of the sky, see what I can learn.”

  “Whoa, the three of us?” Abby touched his forearm. “No, I don’t think so. If you’re going out there so am I.”

  He looked at her for an instant, an argument waiting on his lips then sighed. “Okay then. Let’s go.” He turned to walk out the door of the spare room and called over his shoulder to the other women. “If you want to get the guys and head into the bunker go ahead. We won’t be gone long.”

  Abby and Kyle took off in his truck, stopping for only a moment to explain things to the men who had come out of the Yellow House to stare up into the sky. Once out of the driveway they turned down the road in the direction of the impact.

  Abby pulled her hair back out of her eyes, wrapped it tight with a rubber band she’d been carrying in her jeans pocket. “What are you hoping to find besides a really big rock inside a really big hole?”

  “I’m not sure.” He shifted the truck into third gear. He was driving too fast, but he didn’t seem to notice “I guess I was thinking I might get some kind of insight or vision. I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I got when I saw it fall.”

  “You’re more connected to this thing than I am. To the whole doomsday situation. I mean, I didn’t feel a thing before or after the meteor, or whatever it is, fell to Earth.”

  “You know that vision we had the other night? Well, I remember lots of details about that time. I was some sort of leader. A priest or something.”

  “Yeah I remember that too. I know who you were and what you did.”

  “Right, but it was my job to prophesize, to be the keeper of time; past, present, and future. I remember being trained by priests, spending years studying the signs of nature.”

  “Okay, so that might explain why you’re more in tune with what’s happening?”

  “I think so. I’m not completely certain, but that seems to make a lot of sense to me. And the last time this Destroyer thing came around it wasn’t the end of the world, but many of our people died.” Kyle took a deep breath, turned the truck down an old dirt road. “And I was supposed to have been able to predict it, to save them. They counted on me.”

  Abby fidgeted, wrung her hands together. “But something went wrong.”

  “Yes. I wasn’t prepared enough. I couldn’t figure out the puzzle and they all died. Every single one of them.”

  Abby sat in thought for a minute. “I’ve seen the beginning of the destruction, but none of the details after.”

  “I figured as much.” He glared out the windshield, his mouth in a tight line. “Anyway, I feel like I’m on my way to making up for that mistake but…”

  “You’re scared you’ll make it twice.” Abby said the words heavily. “That’s why you wanted to push me away, avoid distractions?”

  Kyle exhaled, leaned back on the headrest of his seat. “Yeah.”

  Abby gave him a minute and put her hand over his where it rested on the gear shift. Gently, she brushed her fingertips along his knuckles. “We’re not those people anymore Kyle. It’s been a long time since then. We have to live this life in this time, learn all new lessons.” Her voice was gentle. “Just because something happened once doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again. Things are different this time.”

  Kyle furrowed his brow and kept his eyes on the road. “And what if I can’t save them now? What if I can’t save you?”

  Abby rotated in her seat to face him. Again her voice was calm as she tried to reassure him. “You might be the one with more visions and gut feelings but you’re not the only one with special talents. And you’re not the only one who glows with white light or remembers past lives either. I’m in this too. I have as much responsibility as you do. This is not all on your shoulders and it’s okay to let someone help you. We’re a package deal now. I go where you go.”

  He d
idn’t respond and the conversation ended as they pulled up to the impact site. Smoke wafted up out of the ground above the high walls of the crater.

  The heat hit Abby in the face as she stepped from the truck. “Wow, that’s a huge rock. Do you think…” One look from Kyle told her to be quiet. “Sorry.” She smiled meekly.

  He walked around the crater like he was hoping a magical creature was going to pop out and give him some answers. Fragments from the explosion littered the ground around the site. Kyle bent down and gingerly picked one up, checking to make sure it wouldn’t burn him first. He closed his eyes while he held the stone tightly in one hand.

  “I’ve got nothing.” He tossed the rock up, caught it again. “Nothing at all. I was expecting something. Anything.” He was obviously disappointed.

  Abby walked the few steps between them and reached out her hand. Kyle opened his fingers to offer her the stone, but she didn’t take it from him. Instead she closed her hand over his with the stone between them.

  The reaction was instantaneous. The glow that was naturally always around them became at least ten times brighter as it engulfed them both, becoming one single light. As the two of them awed at the display a sudden and quick flash burst out from the stone sending Kyle and Abby flying in opposite directions.

  It took them a moment to recover. Abby was the first to speak. “Ouch. That was unexpected.”

  She rubbed her sore tail bone with the heel of her hand. Her head ached slightly and her limbs suddenly felt like they weighed a ton.

  Kyle let out a pained sound, pinched the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb. He worked a crick out his neck and raised to his feet gingerly. Once recovered, he went to her quickly, gripping her shoulders with urgency. “What did you see Abby.”

  She was caught off guard, needed a minute to think. “Um… I don’t know. It was dark and there was snow on the ground. No, it wasn’t snow. It was something else. Ashes I think.”

  “I saw that too. What else?” He was urgent, slightly panicked.

  “Uh, lots of heat. Like the sun had come down to touch the Earth. What’s going on Kyle?”

  “I think I know what’s next. I think the increase in earthquakes, in seismic activity, is going to cause multiple volcanoes to erupt some time tomorrow.”

  Abby stood up and brushed off her jeans. “Okay, there are no volcanoes in Kansas.”

  “No, but there are volcanoes all down the west coast as far in as Colorado. And then there’s Yellowstone.”

  “That’s in Washington isn’t it?”

  Kyle offered his hand and helped her to stand. “Wyoming and it doesn’t matter how far away it is. The Yellowstone caldera is gigantic. They call it a super volcano. If that thing goes off it will be like a nuclear explosion followed by a nuclear winter. Ash will be so thick that roofs collapse, no one will be able to breathe as it rains down all over the country maybe all over the globe. It’s going to change this planet into something we don’t even recognize.”

  “So does that explain the heat we felt too?”

  “I don’t think so. I think that’s something else. Something worse, if that’s possible. Did you see any people?”

  Abby shook her head. “No. I just saw the farm under layers of ash and it felt like a seriously hot summer day in the desert.”

  Kyle grimaced. “I saw people and they looked like horror movie extras lying in ash. Their skin was peeling and bloody and their hair was falling out.”

  “Like radiation poisoning. Do you think someone’s going to drop a bomb on us?”

  “No, that’s not it. It’s something to do with that sun and the black hole thing I think. It’s environmental. I’m sure of it and it means there will be solar radiation on top of everything else.”

  Kyle pocketed the meteor rock before climbing back into the truck. “We’ve got one more day.” He started the engine and put it in drive. “Let’s make sure everyone makes the best of it.”

  “We’ll make it.”

  He nodded. “Though surviving the aftermath in one piece is going to be an entirely different story.”

  Abby noticed the implications in his voice, like he knew something she could only guess at. A shudder poured over her shoulders and slid down her spine.

  He grinned without it touching his eyes. “We’ll make it.”

  Abby tried to return the grin, hoping she looked convincing.

  When they returned to the house Abby headed for the stairs, feeling as though her legs were made of stone. She was completely and utterly exhausted.

  She heard Kyle call from the kitchen. “Be right up. I just have to jot a few things down before I forget them. If it’s okay, I’ll sleep in the chair in the bedroom.”

  Abby stopped mid-step, turned to meet his eyes. “We can share the bed if you want. I… I don’t mind.”

  Kyle nodded and scooted her off. “Get some rest.”

  She nodded back, smiled warmly at him, and climbed each step like a rusty robot. When she got to his bed she quickly shrugged off her jeans and fell into the plush mattress. She was asleep in an instant.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Thursday, December 20th 2012, 9:45am

  Abby awoke the next morning feeling as though she had barely slept. The dreams had come as they always did, and the stress of living through them made her body ache and her head throb. Real, restful sleep was something she was beginning to forget. It was dark outside but one look to Kyle’s alarm clock showed her it was almost ten in the morning.

  The day of darkness had come and Abby felt a little shudder in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t surprised, only anxious. Though she was eased greatly by where she was, wrapped in the warmth of Kyle’s bed, enveloped by his scent.

  Abby felt his arms wrapped around her, his face close against the back of her neck. She could hear him breathing, feel the rhythmic brush of it on her skin.

  They were both wearing clothes, Kyle in a pair of black flannel pajama bottoms and Abby in the tee shirt she had worn the day before. Being there next to him, feeling the way he had pulled her close in his sleep, she felt a sense of innocence she had long forgotten within a sea of unfortunate relationships and too many bad choices.

  There was something pure about the two of them together; something real. It felt to Abby like neither of them had ulterior motives. It wasn’t about sex. Or at least it wasn’t just about sex. She wanted to be near him, be close to him. Anything that came after that was a bonus.

  This was what she had always been looking for, Abby thought. This is why she stopped taking her pills. Instead of being a ghost of a girl who went through the motions, she felt solid for the first time in years. She felt normal, real, and all those things she imagined other people experienced daily. But maybe it wasn’t just being off her medication that caused the change in her. Maybe the man sleeping beside her had something to do with it too.

  Kyle stirred and Abby flipped over slowly to face him. She waited to see if her movement would wake him, but his eyes remained closed. For a short moment she watched his sleeping face, feeling emotion she’d never before experienced. “Good morning,” she finally whispered.

  At the sound of her voice his eyes fluttered open slowly. “It’s still dark.” He pulled her close, pressing her cheek to his chest. “We have a few more hours.”

  “It’s almost ten. The day of darkness, remember?”

  He turned to check the clock on his nightstand. “Oh. We should get up, check on the others.”

  Her lips found his neck, nipped at him playfully. She slipped her hands down, trailed her fingers along his side until she hit the waistband of his pants. “I’m sure we can spare another hour or two.”

  His hand was immediately on hers, bringing it back up between them. “We need to talk.”

  The tone of his voice made her face fall. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  Suddenly a knock sounded on the door and Evie’s voice projected into the room. “Hey you guys awake.”

  K
yle pushed Abby away an inch and bellowed over his shoulder. “No we’re not!” He spoke again to Abby. “This… thing between us… I should never have let it get so far. It was a mistake.”

  Abby wasn’t sure she had heard him right. “What are you talking about?”

  One hand flew up to his hair, his fingers combing through the top. “It’s just better if we don’t get too close.”

  Abby’s expression was clouded by confusion. Worry began dancing the polka with heartache in her gut. “But dinner and our cheesecake picnic… and we’re here in the same bed together. I don’t understand.”

  “You’re right. That’s my fault. I let this get out of hand. I knew it was wrong to get distracted and I’m sorry. I really am.” His mouth tightened. “I’m just glad we didn’t round second base.”

  She clenched her eyes and shook her head. “Wait. After last night I thought…”

  “Thought what? That we were going to live happily ever after?”

  Abby felts his words like a knife and tried to hide the tears from her voice. “I thought you felt the same way I felt. I thought you remembered what we are to each other.”

  “We can’t afford to get wrapped up in these feelings right now, Abby. I made a mistake and I’m sorry. You should move on, forget last night ever happened. We have jobs to do.”

  “But everything’s done now. All we have to do now is get in the bunker. I can’t forget. I won’t. Please Callum.”

  He flinched at the word. “Please don’t say that name.”

  “But it’s who you are. You are that man who was my husband so long ago. I remember you Kyle. I remember the flowers you brought me as a boy, the way you never failed to make me smile even on my darkest day. You are that same man. I see him in your eyes and you see your wife in mine. I know you love me Kyle. I feel it.”

  Evie yelled through the door again. “Sorry to bother you guys. We were just wondering where to find your towels?”

  Kyle sighed, turned his head to shout towards the door again. “Linen closet. Hallway.”

  “What?” Evie’s voice rang out again. “I can’t find them. What did you say?” There was a brief pause as a muffled male voice drifted up the stairs. “And David is yelling up about coffee filters. He says he can’t find a thing in your mess of a kitchen. His words not mine.”