“Yeah, bring it on.” He tried to sound confident, but his voice cracked.
“Are you sure? What side of the tree will I come from? Am I still behind the tree? Maybe I’m behind you.”
Norman wanted to turn his head to look, but he knew Cooper was just trying to mess with his mind. He kept his eyes locked on the tree about three feet above the ground. He saw movement to one side and ducked as a paintball whizzed past him.
“Good eye, Norm!” Harlan yelled.
Norman looked back where he’d just seen Cooper. He scanned the area, no sign of him. He was startled as a loud thwack made his chest plate jump. A green splat appeared right over his heart. He was amazed to see that Cooper had managed to move several yards away from where he had been, completely undetected.
“Aw, man.” Norman acted disappointed, but he was actually elated. He’d never come this close to winning at paintball, which was a huge deal when Cooper was stalking you.
“Well, well, well.” Cooper strutted up to Harlan as the rest of the group joined them. “I think someone owes me a pizza.”
They pulled off their helmets and removed various pieces of plastic armor as they headed toward the long road that took them deep into the national forest. They laughed and joked, having a typical carefree day, as they tossed their gear in the vehicles. Later that evening they would meet at the beach and build a fire.
In a few weeks, Cooper would start his senior year, but he was already looking forward to college. He would miss these times, but he also couldn’t wait to get away from the small town and out into the world.
But he would never make it to college. Almost one year from the day he would face real killers using real guns, and he would again be alone.
Nine months ago…
“All I’m saying is I don’t want to walk in there with my dick in my hand,” General Mason Schaumberg growled. He towered over a small brown woman in a lab coat by at least a foot. He stood well within her personal space.
“At least you wouldn’t have much to carry.” Dr. Sarin smiled and held her ground. Dr. Aimee Sarin was of Indian descent but was a third-generation American. She held a PhD in astrophysics and wasn’t fazed by the macho asshole act—it was actually cute when he tried it.
The general smiled. “So that’s a yes? You are sure these calculations are correct?”
The doctor just rolled her eyes. “What do you think?”
The general and the doctor, that’s what they called each other, even outside of work. They’d worked together for the last two years and had started dating just over a year ago. Dr. Sarin was in charge of Seeker, a telescope on the dark side of the moon that fewer than fifty people knew existed. General Schaumberg was in charge of Dr. Sarin—at least on the job, and even that was iffy.
Seeker was far more powerful than any telescope ever built, and she was in charge of it, which put her in the position of being the first person in the world to know a potentially devastating asteroid was heading toward Earth—even before the US Congress knew who funded the project.
“And you’re not coming in with me?” the general asked, knowing the answer.
She hated these briefings and today had a legitimate reason not to attend. “I am sure you can handle speaking to a room full of men that could destroy your career with a phone call.” She smiled at her dig.
“You always have a way of making me feel better, thanks.” He saluted her with a smirk as he walked toward the briefing room.
Normally, she would be at a briefing of this importance, but she had more work to do on the calculations. It was too early to be 100 percent certain the asteroid would hit, but there was a strong chance it was going to. She hoped she was wrong.
She had been excited when she was selected to lead the team that operated the secret telescope. She was blown away by how powerful it was. But once she saw the actual number of objects in space that posed a significant threat to the earth, she started drinking after work so she could sleep. Within months she was very close to destroying her career. The general had helped her get back on track, and a relationship developed.
It still bothered her that the public was told they were safe from asteroid impacts, but it would be too upsetting for most people to deal with the truth. In this case, ignorance was bliss. But worst of all was that even she with the powerful telescope didn’t know of every object hurdling through space with Earth’s name on it.
She watched the general enter the briefing chamber, confident as always, and felt a twinge of guilt that she was so happy it was him and not her. I’ll make it up to him with dinner. I might even watch that moronic show about the motorcycle gang and pretend to like it, she thought.
Three months ago…
The general and the doctor were in the back of the pressroom doing something they never did at work: they held hands. When he squeezed, her fingers mashed against the engagement ring, and she shook her hand so he would ease up.
A hush fell over the room as the president of the United States stepped up to the podium, holding a single sheet of paper.
“Hello. I am here tonight because I want to deliver this news to you personally. As I speak, this information is being released to governments and the media worldwide for the purpose of preventing needless panic. Everything will be OK. I must reiterate that everything is, and will be, fine.
“There is an asteroid headed for us, ‘us’ meaning the Earth. It will hit the city of Ufa in Russia. This city will be obliterated. But…”
“Wait a minute!” A reporter jumped to his feet shouting, “You lied about Ufa? How long have you known about this asteroid?” There was an angry murmur swelling among the other reporters.
An older woman stood. “So it wasn’t a stockpile of bio weapons too large and dangerous to move. You lied to our faces. How dare you?”
The president motioned, and two Secret Service agents moved quickly to remove the reporter. She resisted them as others began to stand and shout questions.
The president shouted, “Sit down! Sit down now or I will empty this room!” No one responded. Things were chaotic enough that the Secret Service took the president away.
The general scowled. These idiots are more upset at being kept out of the loop than to hear what message the president of the United States has to deliver.
One reporter stood on a chair and started shouting. A Secret Service agent tased him. He hit the ground, and two agents flipped him and cuffed him. This sent a clear message that they meant business. The other reporters quieted down and began filing out of the room.
Once the room was calm, a handful of reporters were brought back in. The president addressed them, but the damage had been done. The press had already decided to make things as chaotic and hard to manage as possible. They were going to teach the government a lesson for cutting them out of the loop. They didn’t care that the worldwide panic they whipped up led to great losses, damages, and even suicides and murders.
Euphoria Z is available from Amazon here
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