Meteor

by Brad Knight

  “Fools,” said Troy under his breath as he realized that most of these people had no idea what they could be facing. If they had to hole up for months at a time they needed canned goods and tons of water.

  Troy was relieved to find that there was still some bottled water, but only a few more twelve packs. Troy filled his shopping cart full of the blue liquid and was about to get the last two when a woman suddenly came up and grabbed a twelve pack just as Troy was putting his hands on it.

  “Unhand it, mister,” the woman said, panicked and angry.

  “It’s all yours.” Troy gave up the water to the woman and tried to put some distance between she and him. He went over to the canned goods aisle. Troy wasn’t into food that was full of artificial ingredients, so he still found plenty of the types of foods he was looking for, including organic black beans, corn, and other vegetables. He went to grab another loaf of bread but a man grabbed it right out from under him.

  “You know I was going to get that bread,” Troy said to the man who was already walking away.

  “Too bad,” the man sneered and was off to another aisle. Troy shook his head and checked his shopping list. Luckily, he had gotten there early enough to get just about everything. As he stood in the grocery line, he could sense the feeling of panic starting to rise as people’s impatience grew.

  “What’s going on up there, can’t you people checkout any faster?” asked an overweight man in a baseball cap.

  Troy did his best not to get caught up in the panic that was beginning to ensue. Troy saw more and more people coming into the grocery store and expressing their frustration at the lack of items remaining on the aisles.

  As soon as he had checked out and got into the parking lot, he noticed a couple of young men trying to rob an old lady of her supplies that she was about to load into her car. Troy remembered the small handgun that he kept under the seat of his pick up. He went and grabbed it, pointing it at the two young men who had just stolen the elderly lady’s grocery cart.

  “You’ll want to be unhanding that,” Troy said as a young man in a blue hoodie turned around.

  “Hey, we don’t want no trouble, mister,” the man said as he put his hands up.

  “Then I want to see you give those groceries back, IMMEDITATELY!” Troy said as he waved the gun at them. They reluctantly rolled the cart back over to the lady and walked back to their truck. Troy did not put the gun down until the young men had driven away.

  “Thank you so much,” the elderly woman said to Troy. He walked over to her and helped her load the groceries in her car.

  “It was nothing. You need to go straight home and lock all of your doors once you’re inside,” Troy said with urgency.

  “Is it really going to be that bad?” the lady asked him, betraying the worry in her voice.

  “I’m afraid so,” Troy said as he headed back over to his own truck.

  There was now a line headed out the door and wrapped around the corner of the grocery store. Troy shook his head, thinking of all of the people that waited too late to prepare for this disaster.

  “I guess they won’t think I’m so crazy after all,” he said out loud as he headed for Dickson High School. He wanted to pick his children up and make sure that his entire family was secure, well before the meteor was due to make its impact.

  When he got to the school office, he found the room crammed full of parents who were trying to check their children from school. Troy took his place in the line and waited patiently. He looked at the clock - it was now eleven thirty. The meteor was expected to make its impact around four or five that afternoon. He called Mary to make sure that she was at home.

  After a few minutes of scuffling noises, he heard his wife’s voice on the phone.

  “Hello?” she said, and Troy swore he could hear the faint sound of a male voice in the background.

  “Are you at home, Mary?”

  “Yes of course, what is it?”

  “I want you to pack up whatever provisions and groceries we have left in the house and put them in the shelter,” Troy informed her. “I’m at the school now, and when I get home, I’ll help you finish, but I need you to get started on this.”

  “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a bit, Troy? I mean, they are telling people on the news that there is no reason to panic.”

  “Dammit Mary, I am not overreacting. This is precisely the kind of situation that I have been preparing for all of this time. Trust me, there is plenty reason to take action. I’m not panicking, I’m being proactive,” he said. “Also, you can tell Steve he isn’t welcome in the shelter, and he will have to find some other place to stay,” Troy finished angrily.

  “But…” Mary began to answer but Troy had already hung up the phone.

  Mary, who was laying naked in the bed next to Steve, looked over at him.

  “You had better leave. Troy will be home soon and he is in full doomsday mode,” she said.

  Steve pulled her hair back out of her eyes and gave her a kiss.

  “I don’t want to leave,” he said as he attempted to pull back the sheets that Mary had covered herself with.

  “No, Steve, we don’t have time for that. I want you to leave,” she said emphatically.

  “Hey that’s not very nice, baby,” Steve said as he began to get dressed.

  “I don’t want to see you anymore.”

  “Was it something I said?” Steve asked, somewhat sarcastically. “Hey, don’t worry, I have plenty of women who would be glad for me to stop by and see them.” He put on his shirt. “Do you think you’re the only piece of ass in town?”

  “So that’s all I was to you, a piece of ass?”

  “A hot piece of ass. You like that better?”

  Mary got out of bed. “I honestly don’t know what I ever saw in you.”

  Steve did not answer, but left the house quickly and sped off down the road.

  Troy waited in the school office as Brandon, then Cordelia appeared to meet him.

  “What are you doing here so early, dad?” Cordelia asked him.

  “Sweetie, I don’t want you to get upset, but this whole meteor scare is a lot more serious than the media is letting on. We need to get home and get into the shelter as soon as we can. People are already starting to panic and clear the shelves at the grocery stores. Soon there will probably be riots, looting, and all sorts of unlawful behavior. It may even get to the point where it’s not safe to be outside, but we are going to be alright.”

  Cordelia didn't look convinced. Brandon nodded his head bravely and Troy put his arm around his son.

  “Come on, let’s get you two out of here.”

  More and more cars were beginning to pull in to the school as parents came to get their children home to perceived safety.

  Troy stepped on the gas as he hurried to get back to his house.

  “Dad, slow down, you’re scaring me,” Cordelia said, as her younger brother tried to comfort her.

  “Sorry, honey, I just need to get us to our shelter. You have to trust your old man on this one.”

  “How dangerous do you think this situation is, dad?” Brandon asked him in a worried voice.

  “Pretty bad if the meteor is as large as they say it is. I think they are trying to downplay the danger to try and keep people from panicking and causing riots.”

  “I guess that makes sense. So what do we need to do now to get ready for it?” Brandon was anxious to help his old man and demonstrate his braveness.

  “I need you to get everything that you hold dear out of the house and into your bedroom in the shelter. As you know, there is one large bedroom that you and Cordelia will share. Both of you need to get only the things that are necessary. Cordelia, you won’t be able to take all of your clothes, so take only the most practical things that you need.”

  “So I’m going to have to share a room with him.” Cordelia shot her brother a glare.

  “Cordelia, this is a time that we will have to pull together. I don’t know
how long we will have to stay in the shelter but I want you both to be prepared to stay there a while. We don’t have time to worry about whether or not you have your own bedroom.”

  Cordelia turned her head and looked out of the window. Her angry glare was now replaced with a look of worry. Her thoughts drifted off to her boyfriend. She wondered when she would get to see him again.

  When they got home, Troy was happy to see that Mary was alone and carrying some food out of the front door of the house. He went over to help her. Just as he took the bag from Mary’s hands, he could see that her face was stained with tears. She grabbed her husband’s shoulder and kissed him suddenly, taking Troy by surprise.

  “I’m so glad you’re home,” she whispered in his ear.

  He gave her a half smile and turned to carry the supplies into the shelter. The front entrance of the steel-reinforced door had three locks on it. There was a combination lock, a huge master lock, and another door with a deadbolt. He looked around to make sure that there was no one around and he quickly worked out the combination.

  He opened the doors and carried the supplies into the kitchen area at the back of the first level. Then he got out the new supplies that he had purchased from the grocery store and carried them to the kitchen as well.

  Cordelia and Brandon went up to their rooms and began to pack up the clothes and things that they wanted to bring. Cordelia was grabbing way more clothes than she was going to have room to keep, and stuffing them in a suitcase that wouldn’t close. She was obviously becoming panicked and frustrated.

  As Troy went back to the truck to get another load of supplies, his neighbor, Mrs. Jenkins came walking by with her dog.

  “Everything alright over here?” she asked Troy as he made haste to get the remaining items out of the truck.

  “Right as rain. Are you ready, Mrs. Jenkins?” Troy asked her.

  “Ready for what exactly?” she asked him. “You’re not thinking that this meteor is a big deal, are you? On the news, they are saying it’s going to land somewhere near Africa. That’s an awful long way away. Besides, they are also saying that it’s nothing to be alarmed about,” Mrs. Jenkins said, thinking that she had really made her case.

  Troy shook his head at the simplicity of her thought processes.

  “I would advise you to take this seriously, Mrs. Jenkins. Get whatever supplies you can and take shelter as soon as possible. That’s my advice.” Troy turned to head back to the entrance of the shelter.

  Mrs. Jenkins rolled her eyes and continued to walk her dog down the street.

  Chapter 4

  After about an hour, they had loaded up everything that Troy would allow them to take into the bunker. Cordelia protested as Troy made her carry about half of her clothes back to her bedroom in the house.

  “We don’t have enough room in the shelter for all of this,” Troy said, as Cordelia nearly came to tears over it. Troy sighed and headed back to the shelter to make sure that everything was ready. Brandon took only what he needed, but made sure to bring plenty of books and his Wii game system so that they would have some things to do to pass the time.

  Cordelia came out of the house and wiped her eyes. Seeing that the family was all at the shelter making preparations, she began to walk down the driveway towards her boyfriend Henry’s house. She was in his driveway before her parents realized that she was missing.

  “We have everything we need to go on in and bunker down.” Troy looked at the clock on his cell phone. It was now four in the afternoon, and the impact of the meteor was due in the next couple of hours.

  “Where’s Cordelia?” he asked, as he looked at his wife and then his son. They both shrugged their shoulders.

  “I guess she’s still in the house,” Brandon said.

  Troy walked over to the house and ran up the stairs. Cordelia, of course, was nowhere to be found. Troy jumped in his truck and got ready to go looking for her.

  Mary walked out of the open entrance to the shelter. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to get our daughter. I’m quite sure that she has gone to see that deadbeat boyfriend of hers.” Troy took off down the street.

  Sure enough, he found Cordelia standing in the driveway of her boyfriend’s house, embracing him.

  Troy pulled up behind them and hung his head out of the window.

  “Come on, Cordelia, it’s time to go. Say your goodbyes,” he said.

  Cordelia looked up at Henry’s face with tears in her eyes. “What will you do now?”

  “We are going to wait it out like everyone else. We have as much groceries as we can fit in the kitchen,” Henry replied.

  Troy shook his head, thinking of all of the people who would not be adequately protected holed up in just their ordinary homes.

  “Cordelia, come on!” Troy urged her as she continued to embrace her boyfriend.

  “Go, baby. I will see you soon, I promise,” Henry said.

  “Alright, but remember that you promised me,” Cordelia said in between sobs, as she got into her father’s truck. She waved at him as they pulled out of his driveway, and he blew her a kiss.

  “When will I get to see him again, dad?” Cordelia asked as the tears streaked down her face.

  “I don’t know, sweetie.” He wiped the tears from her eye and smiled at her.

  Once they got back to the house, all of the provisions were in place. Mary and Brandon stood just outside of the entrance of the shelter, waiting for Troy and Cordelia. Once Troy and Cordelia got out of the truck, Troy smiled at his assembled family.

  “Everyone get a good look at the sky, the trees and the landscape,” Troy said. “I’m not sure how long it will be before we will be able to see them again.” He looked out over the tree-covered hills behind the house.

  “He doesn’t mean that, does he, mom?” Cordelia asked, still crying.

  Mary placed both of her hands on her daughters’ shoulders. “I’m afraid so, dear. You have to be brave and trust in your father.” Cordelia nodded and tried again to wipe the tears from her eyes.

  The family stood together and looked out at the hills together for a few moments.

  Troy broke the silence that had swept over the family. “Alright, is everyone ready?”

  All of them reluctantly nodded as they turned towards the shelter and walked inside. Troy bolted the three doors securely behind them and activated the alarm and protection systems.

  “Alright, kids, I need to show you how to operate the defense systems in case someone is trying to gain entry. Now, it’s unlikely that they will be able to get inside in the first place, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. This button here is the intercom. It will allow you to speak to whoever is on the other side of the door. This button here activates the incinerator. In the event that we have some unwanted guests, it will be sure to take care of any intruders that we have in our midst. First, you have to unlock this bolt with this key, and then you push the red button. Is that understood?”

  Brandon nodded, but Cordelia burst into tears again at the thought of someone being incinerated right there in the doorway. Troy did his best to comfort her and make her realize that is was only a precautionary measure.

  “Cordelia, listen to me, more than likely we will never have to use the incinerator, but we need some means of protecting ourselves should it come down to that,” he said. “I need you to be strong like your brother. We will get through all of this as a family, if we can keep our heads and our faith in one another.”

  Mary smiled as she listened to her husband try to comfort their daughter. She realized that she still loved her husband, a man that she fell in love with all of those years ago because of his sensitivity and caring nature.

  The family did it’s best to make themselves at home in the shelter. Brandon decorated his side of the bedroom with boy band posters, such as the Backstreet Boys.

  “I can’t believe you like them,” Cordelia said in a disgusted voice. “They are so nineties.”

  Corde
lia was more into rock, and she hung her own posters on the wall. Troy made sure that all of the food provisions were stored properly and he studied his inventory sheet.

  “How long can we stay down here with the provisions we have?” Mary asked him. He thought about the question for a moment.

  “Seven or eight months worth,” he said. This seemed to ease Mary’s mind, because she didn’t think for a second that they would have to be trapped down there that long.

  “That’s a relief,” she said.

  Troy shot her a look of surprise. “Mary, I need you to prepare yourself too. We are much better off than many people, but it still might not prove to be enough. If this meteor causes the kind of impact that I believe it will, we are going to need supplies for much longer.”

  “Do you really think so?”

  Troy nodded. “I’m afraid I do.”

  Mary felt tears welling up in her own eyes, and she walked slowly over to her husband and hugged him for the first time in an eternity. It felt good to have her hands around him. However, he was still angry about the affair that he suspected had been taking place. When Mary could feel her husband’s hesitation, she looked him in the eyes and spoke.

  “Look, Troy, I want you to know that it’s over between me and Steve, and that I am so, so sorry for what I’ve done to our marriage. Please give me a chance to make it up to you.” She held onto his hand. Troy walked away and looked at the monitors that showed him what the cameras outside were picking up.

  “It will take time for that wound to heal, Mary,” he said.

  “I know. Just as long as there is some hope that you will find it in your heart to forgive me, one day,” Mary said as she looked away.

  “So answer me this, Mary.” Troy made eye contact with her again. “Would you be breaking it off with Steve if this crisis wasn’t happening?”

  Mary turned around and looked back at her husband. “I realized today that I didn’t care for Steve, and that I still loved you. I’ve just felt like there has been a distance between us now for such a long time. You have been so preoccupied with this shelter, that you seldom took any time to work on our marriage.”