Planet X (6 page)

“What are
you?” She asked herself, “Why are you coming here?”

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

The settlement
of survivors was situated in a field about 47 miles outside of
Topeka and was home to about two hundred people who set up tents,
RV’s and caravans to form a little community – there was even a big
communal tent where everybody had meals and despite the impending
danger in the sky, life went on the simple way.

Some of the
playing children ran closer as Mary pulled into an open spot; eager
to see the new people and pet the dog. An elderly man with a
salt-and-pepper coloured beard stepped closer as excited kids
dispersed.

“Welcome.” The
man said, “I’m Patrick.”

“I’m Stephen.
This is Sam, Mary, Jessica and that over there is Skip.”

“We’re always
glad to have survivors join our group.” Patrick said, “We have
fresh spring water and hot food.”

Sam glanced
back in the direction they came from as Patrick spoke; wondering
whether they were far enough from the descending moon and whatever
danger it brought. Maybe he was worrying about nothing? He used to
be the sensible one until the day he lost Alex – that was the day
when he started to worry about his own mortality and though Stephen
was like a big brother, he couldn’t bother Stephen with every
little fear that popped into his head.

“We don’t get
too many new arrivals,” Patrick said, “But we have spare beds to
set up in the communal tent.”

Skip jumped up
against Sam’s leg; begging to be picked up so he obliged. Holding
Skip against his chest, he could feel the uncomfortable fear Skip
tried to hide and it made Sam think of the theory that animals can
feel disasters approaching – and he stared at the foreboding moon
in the faraway distance again. He pat Skip’s head as the
conversations around him faded into white-noise and kept staring at
the moon in silence until Stephen laid a hand on his shoulder;
jerking him back to reality.

“Are you
alright?”

“I’m fine.”
Sam said with a nod.

But he wasn’t
alright. It’s been a while since Mother Nature acted up and Sam was
fearing the calm before the storm and it was too calm for his
liking. They couldn’t outrun Planet X or its moon and they were
only safe in the camp for a short period of time before it too
would be in the firing line of the rogue planet.

“It’s just
weird, you know.” Sam said, “It’s finally hitting me. There’s no
escaping this thing. It’s coming for us and we can’t outrun
it.”

“You can’t
think like that. You just have to have faith.”

“In what?
God?” Sam was sceptical, “I doubt God even exists never mind that
he’s behind this.”

“This isn’t
you. This isn’t the Sam I know. Since when do you give up this
easily? You’ve always been taking this Planet X thing head-on.”

“I know.” Sam
said, “But lately I’ve been wondering whether it’s all worth
it.

“My grandson’s
around here somewhere.” He heard Patrick say, “He’s such a sweet
boy. You’ll love him. He’s probably off playing with his friends.
Come! Let me show you around our little establishment.”

Stephen tugged
at Sam’s upper arm and he turned away from the planetary sight in
the distance with a vague smile of unease and they followed Patrick
and the rest on the little tour of the camp. Patrick talked
non-stop about every dweller and what accomplishments they’ve made
in the past month, but Sam wasn’t really listening. Planet X was
still at the back of his mind – calling to him like a siren to a
sailor.

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Planet X’s
moon hung low over the city of Indianapolis where most of the
buildings were submerged in the rising Atlantic Ocean. The moon was
rushing down towards the city at 1.5 miles per second – less than a
minute from impact with the abandoned city. Though it wouldn’t be a
direct hit, the orbital path of the moon meant it would drag itself
through the city with catastrophic consequences.

All of the
coastal cities were underwater, making the desolate, sinking city
of Indianapolis the latest seafront city. Neill was probably the
only one who stayed behind in the city and made the rooftop of the
highest building his home and it had a magnificent view of the
submerged city with the moon descending into the ocean about two
miles offshore.

Rushing wind
tugged at Neill’s clothes as he cooked a can of food over a fire
and he stood up to get a better look at the ocean just as the brim
of the moon slammed into the ocean; dragging itself along its orbit
like a peeler paring a potato. The impact displaced water to create
an impact wave that grew in size and velocity as it rushed towards
the city with the gargantuan moon behind it; dragging itself
towards Indianapolis like a spoon scooping up ice cream.

The growing
wave slammed into the outer buildings; consuming them with ferocity
that shattered windows and crumbled pillars.

Neill knew the
end has come as the sun disappeared behind the massive moon as it
rushed towards the city. It slammed into buildings; disintegrating
them like a bowling ball rolling over ants. The building started
rumbling beneath him as the constant roll of impact tremors shook
the building and all he could do was watch the moon destroyed city
block after city block while rushing towards him.

Neill let out
a heavy sigh and lowered his head in prayer as the moon slammed
into his building and demolished it.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
Seven minutes until Planet X’s
moon reaches Topeka

Unaware of the
impending disaster, Stephen, Sam, Jessica and Mary sat down with
the rest of the dwellers in the communal tent for a late lunch
consisting of steamed vegetables and freshly baked bread. The
atmosphere inside the tent was warm and inviting, with everyone
laughing and talking about everyday things in an attempt to forget
the horrible reality they were stuck in.

Skip sat next
to Sam who sneaked him a couple of pieces of bread while listening
to the chatter around their table; dominated by Patrick who joined
them at table eight to tell one of his stories.

“So we stood
at the waterfall… buck naked…” Patrick chuckled, “and those little
bastards stole our clothes! We had to walk back to town with our
junk in our hands, and let me tell you – it’s something we laughed
about later, but it was the most embarrassing thing back then.”

“Midgets stole
your clothes?” Jessica laughed.

“It sounds
like you and your brother were close.” Stephen said.

“We were.”
Patrick said with a fading smile; shifting uneasy.

“He died?” Sam
realised.

Patrick
nodded, “When the rolling earthquakes hit Springfield.”

“Sorry for
your loss.” Mary said.

A nine year
old boy excitedly ran up to Patrick and he embraced the boy with
pride, “This is my grandson, Elijah.”

“Grandpa!”
Elijah announced excitedly, “The moon!”

“He loves
Planet X.” Patrick said; hushing Elijah, “He always wanted to
become an astronaut. You should see all the drawings he has of this
alien planet.”

“Grandpa!”
Elijah insisted.

“Not now,
Elijah.” Patrick hushed, “We have company. Go play with the other
boys.”

Patrick pushed
Elijah away with a playful slap on the butt and turned to his lunch
guests; “You have to forgive my son. Everything out of his mouth
these days is about that planet and its moon.”

“Boys will be
boys.” Mary said with a smile.

Sam watched in
silence as the conversations around their table continued and
Elijah ran off with two other boys; passing a girl tugging at her
mother’s arm until she got up and followed her out of the tent.

A slight, but
constant tremor started shaking the table and made Sam glance down
at the rippling water in his mug. The tremble quickly quieted down
most conversations in the tent as it grew in intensity – causing
some glasses and water decanters to fall over.

A scream
echoed outside and Sam knew his worst fears were being realised. He
jumped up, grabbed Skip and rushed to the tent’s flap doors along
with many other dwellers. Once outside, Sam stopped dead in his
tracks when he saw what was causing the rumbling earthquake; the
orbiting moon was dragging itself along earth’s surface –
demolishing everything in its way and it was rushing towards them
at an incredible rate.

“Oh my God…”
Jessica said behind him.

“RUN!”
Somebody screamed.

“There’s no
use.” Sam said in defeat as he stroked Skip’s head.

Stephen, Mary
and Patrick rushed out just as Elijah ran up to them and Patrick
picked up his scared, but excited grandson. Stephen’s first
instinct was to run, but he couldn’t just leave Sam who was clearly
petrified about the site before them.

“We should
go.” Stephen said.

“Go where?”
Sam asked, “It’ll be here in less than five minutes.”

“It’s still
five minutes we have to make a run for it! Now let’s go!

Stephen
grabbed a protesting Sam by the upper arm, but eventually they both
started running like everyone else from the camp. Everyone was
running in the same direction – away from the approaching moon and
the debris it dragged along with it and though it was still about
very far away, it would get to the camp in minutes.

“I can’t run
like this!” Mary cried; gasping for air and slowing down, “Wait!
Hold up! I’m too out of shape to be running from the apocalypse
like this!”

She stopped to
catch her breath and clasped the stabbing side stitch as she
watched the others running away. She was out of breath and found it
hard to breathe let alone call out without dry heaving.

“Wait…” she
finally uttered, but nobody heard her over the increasing
tremors.

A large shadow
crept up on her and then consumed everything in front of her –
making her turn around with dread to see the moon nearly upon them
and waves of debris being dragged along as the brim of the moon
excavated the earth. The sight of the planetary monstrosity
dragging along pieces of a Boeing sent a chill down her spine that
made her forget about the side stitch and the fact that she
couldn’t breathe.

She started
running as fast as her legs allowed her; having trouble keeping her
footing on the shaky ground as the tremors rolled, but she kept
running and fought back the tears of distress – praying to God that
she’d make it to the others and get out of the path of destruction
in time.

No matter how
fast she ran, the others and the edge of the shadow were always a
hundred feet from her reach and the trembling earth shook more
violently until finally cracks tore open. She jumped over a crack
as another one formed to her left and she knew the moon was right
on her heels.

The sound of
creaking metal made her glance back over her shoulder and she saw
the moon slowly lifting out of the debris and lunging the Boeing
cockpit at her; crushing her before she could even react.

Sam, Stephen
and Jessica were amongst hundreds of people running for their lives
without looking back. They couldn’t look back as they had to
concentrate on the shattered earth before them if they were to make
it.

“Don’t look
back!” Someone called out.

Stephen looked
back over his shoulder at the object that blocked out the sun and
Planet X as it rushed towards them; leaving behind most of the
crushed rubble as it slowly started rising again. He knew they’d
never outrun it, so he grabbed Sam and Jessica and ducked to the
ground.

Mere seconds
later the ascending moon came rushing over them – missing them with
just a few feet and Jessica had to close her eyes and turn her head
as a suffocating and claustrophobic sensation took hold of her.
While Sam lay on his back and clung to Skip, Stephen lay on his
stomach and watched as the speeding moon pulverised those still
running in the distance.

Sam watched
flabbergasted as the moon rushed by overhead at arm’s length and
ascending every second. The moon’s surface seemed icy and the he
could actually see his own warm breath in the cold atmosphere as he
exhaled.

It took less
than thirty seconds for the passing moon to ascend enough for them
to stand upright and so they did; staring up at the foreign object
that rotated and sped by about ten storeys up. All the commotion
made Skip excited and so Sam put him down while keeping a close eye
on the passing moon’s enormous size.

“We made it.”
Sam chuckled to himself in disbelief.

Stephen draped
his arm around Sam’s shoulder and the two of them stared up at the
icy terrain overhead as it ascended even further up into the sky.
Neither one of them ever believed that they’d survive such an
event, but they survived it against all odds.

Sam felt
something tugging at his body, “Do you guys feel that?”

“Yes.” Stephen
said apprehensively, “I don’t like it.”

Skip started
barking uncontrollably at the moon and then without warning, an
unseen force jerked him into the sky and towards the rising
moon.

“What the hell
was that?” Sam gasped.

“Gravity.”
Stephen dreaded, “Let’s go!”

The three of
them ran east towards a group of trees with the moon still overhead
and the growing gravitational pull tugging at them strenuously.
Each step was a fight against unseen forces that wanted to lunge
them into the air.

“Grab onto a
tree and hold on tightly!” Stephen said as they reached the
trees.

Jessica was
falling behind just as Sam and Stephen reached the trees and
grabbed on for dear life. Just as Jessica reached the trees, the
gravity of the moon jerked her into the air and out of sight as her
screams for help disappeared.

Sam shut his
eyes tightly and hung on for dear life as the gravitational tug at
his body intensified; swaying the tree back and forth until a root
unearthed. A few moments later the swaying tree came to rest and
the tugging sensation was gone. He opened his eyes to see the moon
almost a mile up in the sky and increasing in altitude. They were
out of harm’s way. They both let go of the trees and stood watching
as the moon climbed higher and higher until the sun and Planet X
was visible again.