Planet X (5 page)

“Do you think
the people underground are still alive?” Sam asked.

Stephen
hesitated, “I hope so.”

He’d been
trying to get his wife and daughter out of his mind all day so that
he could concentrate on staying alive, but it was a question he’d
been asking himself ever since the army closed those iron doors
behind them on the day he last saw his family.

“It’s the
United States government we’re talking about!” Jessica reassured
them, “If they could put a man on the moon, I’m pretty sure they
could construct an underground bunker that could withstand the end
of days.”

“And yet they
couldn’t derail Planet X.” Sam said sceptically; thinking of Alex
with a broken heart.

“We’re talking
about an entire planet.” Stephen said, “I doubt there was anything
anyone could do to prevent this.”

“Oh, please…”
Sam grunted.

The building
tension was not easily missed and Jessica decided that it was up to
her to lift the spirits of her fellow travellers and decided to
tell a joke she once heard – a joke which couldn’t be more
appropriate given the circumstances.

“You guys
wanna hear a joke about the end of the world?” Jessica asked, “So
anyway, two priests stand on a bridge with a sign that reads,
‘
The end is here!’
The first car that passes ignores them
and the second driver yells at them,
‘just leave us alone you
religious freaks!’
When a third driver yells at them while
driving by, the first priest turns to the second priest and asks,
‘don’t you think we should change the sign to say the
bridge
ends here?’

Jessica
chuckled at her joke, but the others weren’t amused and Sam simply
gave her a mundane expression as he glanced at her over his
shoulder.

“Well, I
thought it was an amusing joke.” She said; clearing her throat.

They walked
past the zoo’s unhinged gates and Sam glanced in at the chaos
beyond the gate; wondering whether the poor animals were evacuated
along with the humans or left to perish.

“Do you think
they evacuated the animals?”

“I’m pretty
sure they took two of each species like Noah.” Stephen said.

“And what
about the rest?” Jessica asked dismayed, “Were they just left
behind like us?”

“Most
probably.” Stephen said, “Life is cruel and nobody knows it better
than animals. It’s a daily game of survival of the fittest for
them.”

A heavy
purring-sound – sounding a bit like a car idling – made Sam glance
to his left and he spotted a lion lying on the hood of a dented car
a few yards down an alley. He froze instantly; keeping his sights
on the lion as the other two kept walking.

“You guys…” He
finally uttered.

Stephen turned
around and saw a completely petrified Sam standing a few feet from
them and walked back to him.

“Sam? What is
it?”

“Look…” Sam
whispered.

Stephen felt
the life drain from his body when he spotted the lion – and it was
clearly aware of the humans as it stared at them with its
intimidating stare. Jessica walked over to Sam and Stephen and when
she spotted the lion she gasped and before she could scream,
Stephen grabbed her and covered her mouth with his hand.

“Don’t make a
sound. Don’t move. Maybe it won’t see us.”

“It’s not a
T-Rex, Stephen…”

“Just keep
still…”

“It already
saw us.” Sam whispered.

The car dented
and moaned as the lion shifted and climbed off. The three of them
took a step back with fear when the lion started walking towards
them, but they kept as still as they possibly could; all the while
in a stare-off with the king of the jungle. It walked up to them
and stopped a few feet away – nearly causing Sam’s heart to stop as
he found himself face to face with Mother Nature’s most effective
killing machine.

The lion
stared at the three of them for a moment, huffed uninterested and
walked away; leaving them holding their breath in disbelief. When
the lion was about half a block away, Sam gasped for air; shivering
from head to toe.

“That was
intense.”

Jessica felt
sorry for the lion and couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was
thinking or what it had been through just to stay alive.

“He’s like
us.” She said in defeat, “Just waiting for death…”

Uttering
“we’re not gonna die”
seemed futile as Stephen himself was
wondering whether they’d survive the moon cataclysm. He was one of
the few people who didn’t pay much attention to the frenzy back
when Planet X’s approach was first announced and even tried to deny
its existence until he saw it with his own eyes, but what he can
remember was that if it had a moon it could spell disaster.

“He’s alone.”
Sam said as he watched the lion disappear around a corner, “We have
each other.”

“Oh thank
GOD!” they all heard a voice say behind them.

A woman with
tattered clothes, frizzy hair and looking a fright seemed relieved
to see others. Without hesitating, she gave them each a quick
embrace, stood back and straightened her dirty blouse.

“I thought I
was the only one left in the city.” She said, “I’m Mary.”

“I’m Stephen
and this is Sam and Jessica.” He introduced them.

“This is just
crazy!” Mary said thrilled, “Did you see the flash fires that
engulfed the city?”

“No, we missed
that unfortunately.” Sam said.

“Oh what a
pity.” Mary gasped in awe, “It was a sight to behold. The flames
washed over the city like ripples on a pond. I honestly think
Planet X’s arrival might just be the single most important thing to
happen to mankind.”

Mary
recollected the devastating fires like a fond childhood memory and
Sam glanced at Stephen with a look that said,
‘this woman is
clearly deranged.’

She snapped
out of her hypnotic state and smiled at them, “So where you
heading?”

“Inland.”
Stephen said bluntly, “And we should get going before it’s too
late.”

“Oh!” Mary
gasped excitedly, “We should travel together! I’m heading to a
small settlement about fifty miles away.”

Sam and
Stephen glanced at each other with reservations about her sanity
and their safety should they travel with a certified lunatic.

“I have a
working car.” Mary said; sweetening the deal.

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

Planet X
gigantic mass dominated most of the eastern sky; the top of it
dissipating completely from sight. Though it was hundreds of
thousands of miles away from earth, its perceived size was a radius
of ten miles; suspended in the sky about half a mile high. Its icy
blue surface acted like a mirror – reflecting most of sunlight and
not only brightening earth, but heating it up as well. Its unnamed
moon’s perceived size was about a mile across and slowly descending
towards the city below.

Stephen kept a
worried eye on the sky behind them as they drove to the city limits
in hopes of escaping whatever disasters the moon was bringing and
though Mary was driving as fast as she could, the moon stayed the
same size in the rear-view mirror while the buildings rushed by and
shrunk into the distance.

“Can’t this
car drive any faster?” Stephen asked apprehensive.

“I’m doing
nearly eighty.” Mary said in her own defence.

“Earth’s moon
orbits the earth at about 1 mile per second.” Stephen said, “It’s
safe to assume this moon moves at about the same speed. You need to
go faster.”

“How would you
even know that?”

“My daughter
was obsessed with Planet X.” Stephen said with a sigh.

“Was? I’m
sorry for your loss.”

“No.” Stephen
chuckled, “She and her mother are safe in the underground bunker. I
just wish I could be there with them.”

Jessica and
Sam sat in the backseat; staring back at the moon like children –
both fearing what might happen if they don’t get out of the city in
time.

“He’s right.”
Sam said; still staring back at the moon, “The distance between
earth and that moon is getting smaller. We need to get out of here
much faster.”

Mary glanced
in the rear-view mirror at the formidable monster behind them. She
could clearly see the darker
lunar maria
that were scattered
across the paler highlands of the moon and resembled a demented
skull at first glance. The moon was clearly much closer than it was
when she first met the group and so she stepped on the gas pedal
until it was pressed firmly against the floor.

Sam noticed a
scared Maltese scavenging through the rubble that lined the street
up ahead.

“Stop.” Sam
said while opening the door.

“Are you
nuts?” Mary yelled as she slammed on the brakes; jolting
everyone.

“There’s a
dog.” Sam got out.

He approached
the sidewalk and crouched down as he held out his hand to the
frightened dog that finally inched closer to smell it. Sam patted
the dog and finally picked him up; caressing him as he walked back
to the car.

“What’s your
name, boy?” Sam asked as he checked for a collar, “No matter. I’ll
call you
Skip
.”

“Have you lost
your mind?” Stephen asked when Sam closed his door, “You can’t jump
out of a moving car!”

“And for a
stupid dog!” Jessica added.

“I couldn’t
just leave it behind. It’s all alone and its family is probably
dead.” Sam gave Skip a kiss.

“Can we go
now?” Stephen insisted.

Mary put the
car in gear again and sped off; glancing in the rear-view mirror at
Sam with the dog in his arms and missed her children. Though they
weren’t her actual children, she still loved them as her own and
missed them; wondering whether she’d see some of them again one
day.

And then she
saw the unmissable monster moon that hung low over the horizon
behind them and it made her realize that some of her beloved kids
may not have survived the unparalleled odds. She fought back the
tears and stared out at the city street before her as she steered
them through the maze of fissures and abandoned cars; towards the
colony.

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Fourteen
months ago

Before the
battle for survival started, Mary was a science teacher at a high
school. Teaching was not only her passion, but her entire life and
she adored every child in her class. Unable to have children of her
own, her husband of ten years left her for his mistress and they
started a family of their own much to her dismay – but there was no
point in grieving for things she was never meant to have.

“Liquid
displacement.” She wrote the words on the blackboard, “Does anyone
know what that means?”

She turned
around to a classroom of blank faces; some resting on their
upturned palms out of boredom. In the far corner, Samantha texted
on her phone; paying little attention to the class.

“Displacement
occurs when an object is immersed in a fluid, like water, and
pushes the fluid out of the way; taking its place. The volume of
fluid displaced can be measured and it is from this measurement,
one can calculate the volume of the object – it should roughly be
the same as the volume of the displaced water.”

Benjamin sat
at the front of the class and was seemingly the only one interested
and taking notes, but Mary smiled at them all nonetheless. She
understood they were still young and that it was difficult paying
attention in class when there were other things to worry about,
like a rogue planet approaching with impending doom.

“Samantha?”
she asked.

Annoyed,
Samantha looked up as she lowered her phone, “Yeah?”

“Did you
understand what I just explained?”

“I wasn’t
listening. None of this will matter in a couple of months.”

“You can’t
really believe all the hype?”

“I’m just here
because I can’t take my mother sulking at home all day.” Samantha
said, “She’s upset because she wasted her entire life and never
became that famous actress she wanted to be. And how’s she’s gonna
die like everyone in about a year when that planet crashes into
us.”

Mary could see
her frustration and sympathised; wishing she could make everything
better, but how? She knew all too well what it felt like to be
scared and feel abandoned when you need your loved ones the
most.

The bell rang
out in the hall and everybody jumped up and started packing away
while Mary stood at the front of the class with the chalk still in
her hand. She stood, lost in her thoughts, for a moment and then
put the chalk away with a smile.

“Remember to
read chapters eight and nine for Monday!” Her announcement was met
by various groans and moans.

Samantha was
one of the last students to leave and Mary stepped in front of her
as she approached; making Samantha look up from her phone.

“Are you
alright, Sammy?”

“I’m
fine.”

“If you ever
need someone to talk to—”

“I’m fine.”
Samantha reiterated and walked away.

“My door is
always open.”

She wasn’t
sure whether Samantha heard the last statement as the door swung
shut and let out a sigh as she sat down behind her desk. There was
a stack of papers she still needed to grade, but for some
inexplicable reason, Samantha’s words still rung in her mind –
none of this will matter in a couple of months
.

What if she
was right? Mary tried to convince herself otherwise just as she did
when she found Peter cheating on her, but she knew sooner or later
she’d have to face the truth that was slowly approaching them from
the furthest corner of outer space.

Though she
enjoyed grading papers, she found them less appealing that
afternoon. Staring out at the clear, blue sky beyond the classroom
windows it was hard to believe that it was hiding a monster that
could mean certain death in a couple of months. Where did it come
from? Why has it been hiding all this time and what was it bringing
along with it? What secrets did this rogue planet hold?