Zero Gravity Zero Hour - Extinction

by C. O. Amal

  The message repeated in an endless loop. Edward quickly switched off the radio.

  “Dad, who was that?” Jan asked from the back seat.

  “Our president.” Edward said.

  “Dad, he told to stay inside our home.” Jim said.

  “You saw what was happening, Jim. They were trying to blow up our house. If we did stayed inside our house, we would have been dead already.”

  Jim went silent. Edward looked at his kids through the rear view mirror and he found them staring outside. Edward smiled at them and he accelerated a little. A few minutes later, a town came into view. In the horizon, sun is on its never ending journey to settle down. And it’s almost evening.

  Edward can’t say when was the last time he saw a clearer sky like this one. There aren’t any clouds in the sky and everything in the nature looks perfect. But, certainly, the human world in this world have started dying. Since this is global, these terrorists must be some highly advanced bitches. How did our system failed to detect these bitches’ growth? They might have been right inside our country, waiting for the perfect time to strike, like those ISIS fighters of Syria.

  We almost won the war against the terrorists in the Middle East and in most of the Arabian countries. But, now, they came when we were least expecting. What they are planning will be revealed soon.

  A few minutes later, the cab entered inside the city. Then Edward saw it. In front of him, right after the city entrance, lies a line of crashed vehicles. Smoke is steadily rising from the nearby buildings, and far away, Edward could see a gigantic building on fire.

  Edward stopped the vehicle and he examined outside. He can’t continue the journey in this vehicle. And the sun will settle any time soon. He need to find a place to sleep for the night and most importantly, he need to find food if he really want to survive this new terrorist apocalypse.

  Edward quickly exited the cab. Jim and Jan also exited the cab. Then they started their walk through the side walk which is filled with glass shards. Glasses cracked and shattered as they walked over them.

  Suddenly some movement caught in the corner of Edward’s eye. The movement is from the third block in front of him. Edward stopped moving. Jan and Jim did the same. Then he saw it. A dozens of terrorists are walking through the streets with guns trained at a distance. Panic sets inside Edward.

  Edward frantically peered at the buildings around him for a way out. Then he moved towards a nearby door. He tried the knob and surprisingly the door budged. He and his kids quickly got inside the building. Suddenly, a man came out of nowhere, pointing his rifle at Edward.

  “Ahh ...” Jim without knowing yelped.

  “Hush ...” The man whispered.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 13 – Bobby

  Somewhere in Oregon

  Bobby stared outside through the side window. Everything looks quiet. He occasionally saw small houses on the side of the road, but there aren’t anyone near the houses, and the front door of most houses are broken. Then he saw a town far away. Gigantic mega story buildings are clearly visible. Jonathan is in fact driving towards that town.

  “You know, we could hole up in one of the small houses here. The city will be teeming with them, right?” Bobby asked Jonathan.

  “We need to find other good soldiers, Bobby. And we need to find survivors. We can’t just hide somewhere. I will find a place for both of you to stay.”

  Bobby nodded his head. Jonathan for a moment stared at Bobby and he smiled. Before long, they entered inside the city. Then they saw dead bodies scattered on the road here and there. Fortunately, all the dead bodies are near the side walk, so, they don’t have to drive over the dead bodies.

  A moment later, a long line of vehicles appeared in front of the Humvee. Then Bobby saw it. There are army tanks here and there on the road, but all are burning down. There is in fact a small fire going on in several cars too. Bobby peered in all directions. Then he saw a peculiar thing. A big aeroplane have crash landed on the road. There is a big hole on its fuselage.

  Jonathan exited the Humvee and he cautiously looked in all directions. Then he motioned at Bobby and Abigail to get out. Bobby and Abigail exited the Humvee and they stood near Jonathan.

  Pop! Pop! Pop!

  Suddenly a series of gun shots came from two or three blocks away from them.

  “Come on.” Jonathan quickly led them to a big building. Bobby and Abigail closely followed Jonathan. Jonathan entered inside the building through the broken doorway. Before long they started climbing a set of stairs.

  After about fifteen minutes of climb, they reached the roof of the building. Jonathan quickly unstrapped his back pack and he took a binocular from it. Then he examined the place from where earlier gun shots came.

  “Damn it.” Jonathan said.

  “What is it?” Bobby asked while gulping a mouth full of water. Bobby gave the water bottle to Jonathan. Jonathan accepted the bottle and he quickly sipped some water.

  “Those terrorists are on the road. There is no way we could pass this city today. Let’s stay here for the night.” Jonathan said.

  Bobby and Abigail nodded. Jonathan quickly sat down on the roof and he took a deep sigh. Sun is about to set in the horizon and still, there is no sign of other soldiers. Did we lost the battle?

  * * * * *

  Chapter 14 – Olivia

  Somewhere in Denver

  Fortunately, the terrorists left the streets when night sets in. And the terrorists didn’t done any damage to the building in which Olivia and William are in. William and Olivia didn’t slept in the night, and when sun started to break in the horizon, Olivia and William started their walk towards William’s house. The morning hour is extremely peaceful and there are no noise anywhere in the surroundings. There isn’t even a single bird on the trees, and the sky is devoid of birds.

  Before long, Olivia saw William’s house. Then they saw it. Between them and William’s house, there are dozens of police cars here and there on the road. The light on top of the police cars are still blinking, and most cars were crashed one another. Olivia and William pushed forward. Then they began to see dead bodies of cops scattered on the streets. Olivia covered her mouth using her hand in horror.

  The road is filled with blood and even the air smell blood.

  Before long, Olivia and William reached near the yard of William’s house. The front of the house is filled with bullet holes and the door had crumbled long ago. They rushed inside the small double story house. Then they froze. On the corridor, in front of them, lay William’s father.

  William rushed towards his father and he crouched down near him. William scooped his father’s head from the floor and he placed it on his lap, and he began to shake his father.

  “Dad, wake up.”

  Olivia looked closely and found a puddle of blood under William’s father. He is dead for certain. Olivia quickly crouched down near William and she wrapped her hands around William.

  “I am sorry, William. Come on, let’s search the house.”

  William wiped the freshly arrived tears using the sleeve of his shirt and he stood up. Still hunkering down, Olivia for a moment stared at William’s father. Then Olivia stood up. She looked at William. William slowly moved deeper into the corridor. Olivia slowly followed him.

  A few moments later they reached the end of the corridor. Suddenly Olivia caught a movement in a nearby room.

  “William, here.”

  William came near Olivia. They both slowly entered inside the room. The movement is coming from behind a wardrobe. William and Olivia peeked. Then they saw it. It was William’s mother and brother. William and Olivia took a deep sigh.

  “Mom, are you okay.”

  Mother didn’t said anything. She discarded her cover and she hugged him. Then William saw two lines of dried tears on her cheeks. She has been crying all night.

  “Jeb, are you okay, man?” William hugged his brother.

  Olivia hugged William’s mother. William�
��s mother is not speaking anything and she is still weeping. “Don’t worry Mrs John. Olivia patted William’s mother’s back.

  Pop! Pop! Pop!

  Suddenly a gun fire broke out from outside. William and Olivia rushed towards a nearby window and they peered outside. Then they saw a battalion of soldiers moving through the road. There are three tanks and four military Humvees with them. Olivia and William quickly ran outside.

  “Hey ...” Olivia called the soldiers.

  Suddenly all soldiers stopped moving. Then they all trained their assault rifles at Olivia and William. Olivia and William raised their arms in panic.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 15 – Edward

  Somewhere in Wyoming

  Edward and his kids spent the night in that old, five story building with the newly gained friend, Carter. In the morning, Carter and Edward went to the roof and they analysed their surroundings. Surrounding is extremely silent, and since yesterday evening, there weren’t any terrorist activity. Carter was with his wife, but sadly, his wife lost her life on the way to this building. Carter is a good man who takes everything with a sportsman spirit. Carter says that this all started two days ago.

  Two days ago, CNN and BBC World news were filled with reports about terrorist activity in Britain. Numerous lives lost that day in Britain. And since yesterday morning, Britain and most European countries fell under radio silence. No news came from those countries since then.

  Carter thinks that all these terrorists are common people. That’s exactly why we are losing the fight. It seems that, all the people all of a sudden lost their mind. There must be a terrorist inside most of the people, and when they saw their chance, they took it for good. This reminds Edward of the ISIS fighters of Syria.

  When ISIS saw their chance, they took it. Thousands of people migrated to Syria for only one purpose – spread terror throughout the world. And they somewhat succeeded in that. At those times, it was very difficult to find terrorists among the common people, mostly because some of the people indirectly helped the terrorists.

  But, now, things are a little different. Now, terrorists didn’t migrated to anywhere. They just collected weapons and killed everyone they saw, in their own countries. They killed without any distinction. They killed women, children alike. They seemed to be not recruiting anyone, since they are not asking around. They just shoot down anybody they see.

  From where did they get weapons is still a mystery. And according to Carter, these terrorists have a kind of spacecraft with them. Carter yesterday saw five space crafts. According to him, these space crafts are a kind of cube shaped ships and they are flying with the help of rocket propellers. Carter saw one of the spacecraft up close. How they made those ships is also a mystery. Anyway, these terrorists are some highly advanced people, and it is obvious that they are not playing around.

  These terrorists definitely have a clear agenda. And they are pretty organised. Carter fears that there are terrorist among our military too. If this is the case, Edward is afraid that they have no chance of surviving. It’s already certain that, surviving the coming days would be a difficult problem. These terrorist are not just killing people, they are bringing down buildings too.

  What still puzzles Edward is, how did they accumulated these weapons and explosives all of a sudden. That is, how did they able to distribute weapons among their comrades all over the world in a short duration? Maybe, they have used the space crafts for that. Edward have a sudden urge to see those space crafts.

  Suddenly, a swoosh came from the distant sky. Then Edward saw it. A spacecraft, exactly like Carter had said, is approaching them from the north. He only thought about it, and here it is. Terrorists are pretty much concentrated on killing people, right? How did they get time to build these magnificent creations under some underground bunker?

  Fortunately, this spacecraft is not coming towards the building in which Edward and team are in. This is going in another direction. This spacecraft must be built by some aliens, since Edward didn’t heard about this kind of technology in his entire life. He indeed saw this kind of space crafts in movies, but the question is, how did the terrorists were able to build these things.

  Terrorists are some barbaric people and most of them have no education to build these magnificent things. Even if they have education, how did they acquired the raw materials for this? This spacecraft is somewhat perfect in every way. How did they able to create this perfection? This time human kind will definitely loose the war to this terrorists. And Edward is afraid that, there will not be any noble people, or the word nobility in the coming days. It’s now pure survival, whatever it takes.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 16 – Abigail

  Somewhere in Oregon

  Abigail and Bobby spent the night on the roof with Jonathan. In the morning they woke up hearing gunshots. The terrorists are still out there. Abigail went near the edge of the roof and she lie down there. Then she examined the roads through the scope of Jonathan’s binocular. She could see a few terrorists on the road.

  Abigail hate these bitches so much. They are the one who killed her mother. Her father also might be dead. If it isn’t for these bitches, she would have been in school studying about animals and plants. She love to study things, no matter how hard it is. She love animals too. But she have no pets since Bobby is allergic to cats and dogs.

  These terrorists are wild animals who know only to kill people. She couldn’t forget the images of dead people she saw yesterday.

  “Anything peculiar?” Jonathan came near Abigail.

  “Nothing.” She gave the binocular to Jonathan. “I am going to check inside for any food. I am very hungry.”

  “Okay. I could use some food.” Jonathan said.

  “I will look. And if there is food, I will call you.” Abigail said.

  “Okay.” Jonathan for a moment ran his hand through Abigail’s hair. “Be safe.”

  Abigail smiled at him and she slowly started her walk through the roof. She found Bobby doing something with Jonathan’s tablet computer. She smiled at Bobby and she entered inside the building. She climbed down the staircase and entered into a corridor. She got inside the first room she saw. This room is huge and there is a bed nearby. There are piles of cloths on the floor, on the side of the bed.

  Abigail saw a refrigerator nearby. She went near the refrigerator and she opened it. Inside it, there are two cartoons of orange juice. In the freezer, there are meat. An odd smell emanated from the freezer the moment she opened it. The meat must have begun to rot since electricity is out for a day.

  Then she saw it in the bed. A doll! A Barbie doll! Abigail ran towards the doll. Suddenly she tripped over something wrapped in the pile of cloths which are on the floor. Abigail fell down face first into a pile of cloth.

  She slowly stood up and examined things. There seemed to be something, perhaps a piece of log under the pile of cloths. Curiously she removed the cloths one by one. Then she saw a naked leg. She dig inside the pile of cloth faster. Then she saw it. There is a naked lady on the floor and there are blood marks on the cloths.

  Abigail didn’t thought twice. She ran towards the roof. She saw Jonathan near the edge of the roof.

  “Jonathan ...” Abigail took heavy breaths.

  “What is it, honey?”

  “... There is a naked woman inside a room.”

  “What?”

  Jonathan quickly followed Abigail. Abigail showed the woman to Jonathan. Jonathan went near the woman. He crouched down near her and he checked for a pulse.

  “She is alive.” Jonathan quickly grabbed the bed cover and he wrapped the woman in it.

  Jonathan quickly began to pat on the woman’s cheek.

  “Lady, wake up.” Jonathan called. “Is there any water in here with you?” Jonathan asked Abigail.

  Abigail quickly ran towards the refrigerator. She took a bottle of orange juice from the refrigerator, and with it she ran towards Jonathan. “Here you go.”

&nb
sp; Jonathan unscrewed the bottle and he sprinkled some juice on the woman’s face. The woman slowly opened her eyes. But she is weak.

  “Hey, wake up.” Jonathan called.

  The woman looked at Jonathan with fear. Abigail went near the woman and she crouched down near her. Then Abigail stroked the woman’s cheek.

  “She looks like my mother.” Abigail’s face lit up.

  Jonathan smiled at Abigail.

  When the woman saw Abigail, she lost some fear.

  “Abigail, you need to give this lady some room. I need to ask her something.” Jonathan said.

  “Okay.” Abigail exited the room. She walked towards the roof. When she reached the roof, she saw Bobby still doing something on the tablet computer.

  “Who was it?” Bobby asked.

  “A woman. She looks just like our mother. And she is alive.”

  Bobby’s face also lit up. “And?”

  “Jonathan wants to talk to her something.” Abigail said.

  Bobby nodded and he returned his concentration on the tablet computer.