Mel Odom - Apocalypse unleashed

“Okay. Sorry. Anyway, since she’s your mom, I thought maybe she would have told you.”

“There’s a schedule on the refrigerator.”

“Oh.”

Joey tried his best to ignore the guy. He didn’t want to talk to any of the invaders. That wasn’t his job. That was his mom’s. She was so busy doing her job that she kept forgetting about him and his troubles.

“I like it when your mom makes breakfast,” the kid said. “It’s really cool.”

“Hey,” Joey said.

“Yeah?”

“Shut up, okay?”

“Dude, that’s really harsh.”

“I don’t care.”

“Whatever.” The kid rolled back the other way and pulled his blanket back over him.

Joey felt a little guilty, and he resented the emotion. He shouldn’t have to feel guilty in his own house. He tried to focus on the television and kept flipping through channels.

It was going to be dawn soon. When the sun was up, the nightmares seemed farther away. He couldn’t wait.

A news story on OneWorld NewsNet caught his eye. He recognized the reporter’s name: Danielle Vinchenzo. She was the one who was over in Turkey with Goose.

Fear tightened in Joey’s belly again. Goose was in some of the worst fighting taking place over there. Syria’s military hadn’t been as depleted as the American, United Nations, and Turkish forces by the mysterious occurrence. The dictator in Syria had attacked even before the vanishings had started, and he was keeping up the offensive.

Joey unmuted the TV so he could hear what the reporter was saying.

“-was the scene of a running firefight earlier,” Vinchenzo said.

Behind her, a ragged line of burning vehicles dotted the landscape. Black and gray smoke twisted up toward the purple sky. Camou-clad figures moved on foot through the burning vehicles. Joey didn’t know if they were American forces or Syrian.

“Sergeant Samuel Adams Gander, known to many of you through these reports simply as Goose,” Danielle said, “was leading a resupply convoy to one of the outposts overlooking the Turkish-Syrian border. Things have gotten desperate here, but the men of the United States Army’s 75th Rangers are persevering.”

The television cut to a close-up with a young soldier. Bruises and cuts showed on his face.

“I gotta tell you, ma’am,” the soldier said, “things here are mighty bad. Syria isn’t letting up, and they’d like to sweep on into this area and take over. There’s generations of bad blood between most of the people here, and those soldiers aren’t afraid of spilling any of it.”

The camera’s eye swept over a scene of the running gunfight. Joey stared at the images intently, trying to figure out which one was Goose. They all looked the same to Joey. His inability to see Goose frustrated him, making him angry and scared all at the same time.

Would Goose understand what had happened at the mall that night? Joey wasn’t sure. As much as he wanted Goose there, he was also terrified of telling his stepfather what he’d done.

“It was a close thing out here tonight,” the soldier went on. A caption identified him as Private First Class Mike Dunney. “But Goose- Sergeant Gander, I mean-he pulled us through it all right. He’s a good soldier. The best the army has to offer, if you ask me.”

Pride flushed through Joey.

“That’s your dad, isn’t it?” the kid on the couch asked.

“Yeah.” Joey was surprised at how choked his voice was. Goose had been more of a dad than Joey’s biological father had ever been.

“Must be scary. Him being over there, I mean.”

Joey wanted to be angry with the kid, but he couldn’t. It felt good to talk about Goose. “It is. I think Mom’s really scared.”

“Yeah. I get that.” The kid hesitated. “I don’t know where my dad is. Don’t know where my mom is either. I got up one morning; they were gone. I was all alone in the house.”

“Scary,” Joey commented.

“Yeah.”

“That was here at the post?”

“Yeah.”

“Your dad’s army?”

“My mom. First lieutenant. Dad taught high school. Physics.”

“Never cared much for physics,” Joey said.

“Me neither. But Dad would talk about it all the time.” The kid sat up on the couch and wrapped the blanket around him, though it wasn’t really cold. Not like it would be in another month. “I kind of tuned him out when he’d talk about stuff. Wish I hadn’t done that now.”

“I know what you mean.”

They were silent for a moment, watching as Danielle Vinchenzo ran another of the pieces on Goose.

“Seems like that reporter has a thing for your stepdad,” the kid said.

“What do you mean?”

“She’s always talking about him.”

“I don’t think it’s that,” Joey replied.

“Then what?”

Joey thought about it for a moment. “I think she sees Goose as kind of every soldier over there. Goose is just… a soldier, you know. Just the kind every guy over there is like.”

“She talks about him like he’s a hero.”

“I guess he is.” Joey thought it was strange that he hadn’t thought of Goose that way before. Goose had always been there for him. Always been such a… dad. A lump formed in the back of Joey’s throat. If I told you about this-about what happened at the mall-would you understand, Goose?

Thankfully, according to the news report, Goose was all right. Joey let out a tense breath as the news program shifted to a speech Nicolae Carpathia was going to deliver to the United Nations later that day.

“Is anything else on besides the news?” the kid asked.

“Like what?”

“Cartoons. Something like that.”

Giving in to the inevitable, knowing the kid wasn’t going to shut up, Joey tossed him the television remote control. “Knock yourself out.”

“Thanks.”

Joey stood.

“Leaving?” the kid asked.

“Yeah. Gotta go walk.”

“Want company?” The kid reached for his shoes.

“No.” Joey started for the door, not giving the kid the chance to catch up to him.

Local Time 0611 Hours

Joey took his old ten-speed from the garage out back. He’d helped Goose build that garage, along with the fort that Chris had played in. For a while after Chris was born, Joey had been small enough to swing in the swings with his little brother. That had changed pretty quickly.

He made himself stop thinking about Goose and Chris as he swung aboard the ten-speed. He pedaled by memory, trying hard not to give any thought to where he was going.

Fort Benning seemed deserted. According to the news, at least a third of the people around the world had vanished. Numbers were still coming in every day. Those numbers could change. Military bases had been really hard hit, as had the police forces, fire departments, and emergency medical services.

Military jeeps with armed soldiers riding shotgun patrolled the camp housing. After the disappearances, a lot of soldiers and their families living outside the fort had moved back inside the perimeter. When it got dark, though, everyone went inside. The camp was still on alert, and the nocturnal hours were carefully watched.

Joey loved the feel of the breeze in his face. For a few moments, he could pretend that he was younger, that he was just a kid again. But as soon as the military jeep sped up behind him and switched on its lights, that feeling went away.

United States of America

Fort Benning, Georgia

Local Time 0617 Hours

The alarm clock woke Megan Gander. She shot out a hand and silenced it before the second offensive bleat could sound. She lay quietly on the camp cot in her bedroom and listened to the snores of the girls sleeping in her bed.

It was the most peaceful sound in the world right now. At least in this corner of the world, people were safe and well cared for.