Counting Down (7 page)

“It’s happened.” He was out of breath with a frantic, wide eyed looked on his unusually pale face. “It happened just like you said it would Abby. I can’t believe it’s all gone.”

Abby jumped out of her skin and stood up from the swing. “What Alex? What happened?”

“The City.” He brought his hands up to grip his head, obviously struggling with the news he was about to deliver. “New York just got swallowed up by a tidal wave.”

“Oh my god.” Abby gasped and covered her mouth in horror. She had been praying that her vision was just a delusion and now the reality of it struck her hard in the chest, taking her breath away.

“It’s been wiped from the map. California was hit too. They think Hollywood has been sunk under the sea like Atlantis. Your uncle is still watching the news, trying to learn what he can. I am pretty sure he doesn’t think you’re nuts anymore.”

Abby nearly collapsed on her feet. She heard Kyle move behind her, but Alex was the first one to catch her. She wanted to sob against his chest, but couldn’t seem to find the tears. She simply closed her eyes, leaned against him, and let his arms give her strength. All of their friends, everyone they saw on a daily basis, were gone. There was nothing left.

“If it weren’t for you we’d still be there.” Alex rubbed her back absently as he held her. “We wouldn’t have made it out. Not if you hadn’t saved us.”

Kyle stood awkwardly behind them, cleared his throat politely to get their attention. Abby turned away from Alex, broke free of his embrace to look at Kyle. The gentle glow she saw radiating from the center of his body filled her with a sense of hope. Some of her convictions returned to her and she straightened until she was standing tall.

“Um… Alex this is Kyle Windstone, Jimmy’s business partner.”

“Hi,” Kyle said with a quick wave. “Good to meet you.”

Alex eyed the other man. “Yeah, you too.”

“Glad you’re here to lend a hand.” Kyle expression turned somber. “We’ve got some serious work to do if we’re going to live through what happens next.”

Abby felt her stomach flip at his words and she suddenly realized that the two of them had a lot more to talk about. Kyle Windstone was like her; whatever that meant. If she read his look correctly, the time to start fighting for their survival was closer than she had imagined.

Tuesday, December 18th 2012, 6:31am

K
yle had been out of bed and working since five in the morning.
He spent an hour tending to the horses and feeding the chickens before moving on to the task of hauling more water into the shelter.

The December weather was oddly warmer than usual and he was already sweating through his tee shirt as he transported the cases three at a time. If he had known the sun would be so hot he would’ve worn something lighter than black.
He wiped perspiration from his brown and felt it soaking into his dark hair.

He knew the sun looked different, but he was no expert. It seemed brighter or bigger somehow, but it was hard to tell since he re
ally couldn’t look up for any
length of time to study it without threatening his retinas.

Kyle’s mind
raced with end of the world concerns
as he navigated the narrow steps of the hatch.

He was pretty sure they would be underground for a while and wanted everyone to be as comfortable as possible. Clean sheets and fresh smelling towels would be a nice thing to have. Any luxury at all would help preserve their long term sanity and hopefully stave off bouts of claustrophobia.

He was still trying to figure out how to maintain access to radio and TV broadcasts while they were below the surface, but he couldn’t be sure there would be stations to pick up once it all started anyway.

Then there were the dogs Jim loved so much. Kyle fully expected they would be coming into the shelter with them and he hated to think that all of the humans would have to live in a space that smelled like dog
waste
for an indefinite amount of time.

Kyle was feeling overwhelmed when his thoughts unexpectedly turned to Abby. He felt a distinct wave of emotions that were anything but common to him and he found himself imagining things that he should never be thinking about his best friend’s niece. But those wayward thoughts didn’t frighten him as much as the fact that he simply wanted to be near her, take in her smile and talk with her. He could be content with that and it freaked him out immeasurably.

It’s not that he was cold hearted or void o
f romantic notions. Actually, his nature
was just the opposite which was part of the problem.
He had allowed himself to care one too many times and only gotten burned. He had learned to keep his heart neatly tucked away and out of sight.
The fact that the mere sight of Abby Connelly had been able to awaken something in him he thought was long gone – that he believed he’d killed and buried – was both intriguing and terrifying.

Sure, there had been girlfriends in the past. He was no amateur at the dating game, but for the past few years or so he had done little more than carry out one brief and meaningless relationship after the other and only when the opportunities presented themselves. There hadn’t been anyone who could actually stir his heart in a very long time and love wasn’t something he consciously sought after. In fact, he usually tried to keep it as far away as possible.

He couldn’t put his finger on a reason besides the obvious, but Abby was different. It was pointless to deny that he was intensely attracted to her, even though he didn’t understand why. She wasn’t at all his type. She was more petite than he usually went for, standing just over five feet. And she wouldn’t be considered extraordinarily beautiful by most standards. Simply
put, she was physically average.

But his connection with Abby went beyond anything tangible. In the first place, she was whatever he was; whatever weird type of being glowed from the insi
de out
. Plus they both had the dreams and inside information about the things that were coming. Albeit, Kyle’s dreams had been going on for a lot longer than Abby’s.

While she confided that she had only been dreaming for the past week, he had been having the same series of recurring nightmares for close to a year and
a
half. There hadn’t been time to tell her the night before. Besides, he figured after the news she’d just heard, what she really needed was some rest and not more talk about Armageddon.

The whole glowing thing had left him more than a little confused. He understood that they both had personal light sources because of who or what they were, but he didn’t see the purpose to it. Not yet. Maybe it was so they could recognize each other or maybe even so they could identify others like them. He didn’t know, but he was sure there had to be a reason for it.

As he came up from the shelter he heard the sounds of people stirring within Jim’s house. Everyone was up and he realized suddenly that he was looking forward to seeing Abby again. He felt a wave of anticipation radiate from his middle and he gulped audibly.

“Morning Windstone,” Jim called as he crossed the yard and approached the entrance to the bunker.

Kyle turned from the stack of water he had slowly been moving into the shelter. “Hey, what’s up? How are things going this morning?”

“As good as can be expected I guess. I think they’re still pretty shaken up about what happened on the coasts last night. We all are.”

Kyle looked down at his hands, removed his gloves. “Yeah, it’s pretty unbelievable.” Jim looked Kyle in the eye suspiciously. There was a short pause as the two men stood in the lawn.

“You knew it would happen.” Jim’s tone was flat.

Kyle looked away briefly, smacked his gloves against one hand before facing the other man. “Yeah I knew.”

“When were you planning on telling me about this? I could’ve been helping you all this time.” The older man sighed. “Abby says you’ve been storing water and food like she has, that you two have been having the same bizarre nightmares. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Would you have believed me? Seriously Jim, think about what you’re asking. You probably would’ve let me go through the motions of hording and storing, maybe even humored me a little by helping with some of the heavy lifting, then just written it all off as the crazy delusions of a madman.”

“Okay, I’m not saying you’re wrong. I probably would’ve thought you were losing it. But
Man
, I’ve been your closest friend for at least four years now. We live two acres apart and share this land like brothers.” Jim put his hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “In the future, if there is a future anyway, at least give me the benefit of the
doubt.
”

“Yeah okay. You got a deal.” Kyle gave his friend a weak grin.

“Okay good. Now, what’s with this glowing skin thing or whatever it is and when did you upgrade the bomb shelter? I can’t believe I didn’t notice something like that.”

Kyle glanced towards the Yellow House. “Wow, your niece has been talking a lot already this morning.” He purposely didn’t use her name.

“Actually she just got up. I guess she told that Alex kid last night and he mentioned it to me this morning over coffee.”

Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Interesting breakfast conversation. What’s going on with the two of them anyway?”

“He cheated and they split up less than a week ago. Abby doesn’t have many friends, so I guess s
he’s sort of hanging on to him.”

Kyle nodded,
pushed his sunglasses up on his nose
. “So they’re not together then?”

“N
ot anymore. A
nyway, a
re you going to answer my questions?”

Kyle blinked and tried to clear
the little blonde
from his mind. “Um…
I have no idea what the glow is all about. Apparently Abby and I are the only ones who see it. When she looks at me she sees it and when I look at her I see the same.”

Jim took a step back, cocked his head to consider the information. “Wow man. This just keeps getting weirder by the minute. It’s got to mean something.”

“Yeah, I just haven’t figured that detail out yet. As for the shelter, remember when you went to Topeka for a week to visit that girl you were dating?”

Surprise came over Jim’s face. “Really? You said the town came by to work on a pipe and tore up the lawn. Who do you get to upgrade an old bomb shelter anyway?”

“
Twenty-first
Century Bomb Shelters dot com.” Kyle smirked. “As I said, I was trying to hide the crazy going on in my head.”

Jim sighed heavily. Kyle realized his friend was a simple guy who liked a simple life. All this doomsday stuff, with weird dreams and shining people, was probably a little much for him to take.

Both of the men turned their heads as the sound of voices came up from the country road that crossed through the farm. They walked up to the front of the house together to watch a trail of families, marching like a caravan minus the horses and wagons. It was like something most people only witnessed on the nightly news. They were refugees migrating from their homeland.

“Where could they be going
? A
nd where are their cars?” Jim kept his voice low.

Kyle shook his head, eyed the scene solemnly. “Something must have pushed them from their homes. Maybe they ran out of gas. Or maybe there was so much traffic on the highway they decided to hoof it off the main roads.”

Kyle was gripped by a sudden urge to save them. His eyes fell on the women carrying babies and toddlers in their arms and his heart clenched into a knot. Someone had to help them. They would never make it alone.

As Kyle weighed the situation he saw Jim from the corner of his eye, staring at him knowingly. Kyle flinched, his body wanting to go to the travelers on the road and offer them safety.

“Don’t Kyle.” Jim gripped a hold of his friend’s arm. “We can’t save them all without killing ourselves in the process.”