Torn (34 page)

The second came
when
,
with a
quick
jolt
and a snap of his free leg, Darius dislocated Jesse’s knee.

Colin cringed.

“Mom!” Andi cried out.

Jesse
screamed
in pain
and Kyomi rushed in.

“No. No.” She
bent
down to Jesse. “You bwoke his weg.”

Darius rolled his eyes. “I didn’t bweak his weg. I popped his joint. Excuse me.” He walked to the stairs. “Colin
,
call the police.”

Colin showed him
the open phone and winked. “I’m already on it. Where are you going?”

“To te
ll her she can stop hiding.” Da
r
i
us ascended the stairs.

“You didn’t help much,” Chuck
pulled
out his chair in the dining room. Seated at the table
already
were Colin, Darius, and Bruce. “Shoot.” He stopped. “I need a drink.” He walked over to the bar in the dining room. “Colin
,
may I
?”

“Be my guest,” Colin said.

“Anyhow,” Chuck continued. “You didn’t make matters any better for her. Jesse will just heal and come back.”

“Ask me if I care,”
Darius
said. “Let him come back.”

“Nice flowers,
” Chuck indicated
the arrangement as he took his seat.

“Winslow sent those for Bret,”
Colin said. “Speaking of which, w
here is she?”

“She said she had to go to the store,”
Darius
answered
. “I offered to drive her, but she wanted to go alone.
She’s been gone a while now.
”

“I hope she’s ok
ay
.” Colin interjected. “She still seems a bit off.”

Chuck
fluttered
his
lips. “And she’s
gonna
lose her
job
.”

“Do
. . .
do you ever have
anything
positive to say?” Colin asked. “I’m wondering.”

“
Not
really,”
Chuck
replied. “And not often if I do.”

Bruce smiled and shook his head. ‘I have known Chuck for a few years. Never heard him say too much nice at all.”

“How’s this?” Chuck asked. “I think you’re a nice guy, Bruce.”

“Thanks, Chuck.”
Bruce
nodded.

“Why don’t we start?” Colin suggested. “I’m sure Bret won’t mind.”

“Sorry!” Bret
called
from the kitchen. The sound of the patio doors shutting was
heard
and she emerged into the dining room. “Sorry. I
didn’t mean
to be gone so long. I didn’t miss anything, did
I
?”

Colin
shook
his head. “
Just
C
huck being miserable.”

“What else is new?” She walked to behind Chuck and gave him a hug.

“How are you feeling?” Chuck asked.

“Good. Good.” Bret answered and walked to the
chair
Darius
pulled out for her.

“
Thanks
,” Bret sat down.

Colin asked,
“Want something to drink
?
”

“No, I got my latte,” she held up her cup, “w
hich I really
shouldn’t be
drinking.”

“Why’s that?”
Colin
asked
.

Bret
stumbled. “I
. . .
um
. . .
I’m
addicted and with the world ending soon, I should break that addiction.”

“Ah, yes.” Colin pulled forth a notepad. “O
kay
. Let’s begin. I figured let’s perfect the list then we
will
find the individuals to match the
job
areas we want filled.”

Bret leaned into Darius and whispered. “I have to talk to you.”

“
About
what?”
Darius
whispered back.

“Just about something serious.”

“You wanna talk now?”

“Later. But
make
time.”

“Absolutely, just let me
. . .
”

Colin cleared his throat loudly. “Something you want to share?”

Bret shook her head “No, we’re good. Sorry.”

“As I was
saying,
” Colin continued. “We need to perfect
the list. What professions we
are looking to invite. What percentage. I am sure we all have to
tweak
our own private lists of who we want to come into the shelter. We have the obvious like doctors,
farmers
, teachers
. . .
but we need to tweak. We need to think about what professions would be needed to make
civilization
run,
just
not the obvious. We’re good with our supplies.
Although
I am certain, that when we get our invitees and experts together that the
y
will look at our supply list and add
to it
. That’s
okay
;
hopefully, we’ll be able to get the resources
before
it’s
too late. Yes, Bret.”

Bret
lowered her hand
. “Can we have a gynecologist?”

“We went through this.” Colin said.

“No, we didn’t.”

“Yes, we did. When you were in
. . .
”

Darius cleared his
throat
. “She doesn’t remember that time. And we did go through it, Bret. We opted
against
it.”

“Why? We need one for the women and for any future babies that
are
born. We need a doctor to special
ize in women. They
will be our precious commodity.”

“But any doctor
will
do,”
Darius
said. “I hate having this argument again.”

“No, not any doctor will do and I don’t recall having this argument,” Bret said.

“This is ridiculous,”
Darius saw he
r mouth open. “And don’t give me that line, are you a
wo
man.”

B
ret’s mouth closed. “How did you know I was going to say that?”

“You said it before.”

“Well how did the argument end before?” Bret asked.

“We had sex,” Darius replied.

Chuck coughed.

Bruce
laughed. “Man, you guys are killing me with
this
tale you keep telling Bret.” He nudged Bret.

Bret grabbed Chuck’s drink and downed it. “One won’t hurt.” She handed it
back
.

Chuck looked at his glass. “It’s a
joke,
Bret
.
Stop
buying it.”

Bret nodded.

“Can we continue?” Colin asked. “Anyhow, let’s hold off on the
gynecologist
argument f
or now. Back to this. I want to compile a list. The after we get the profession
s we need
, then we can find the people. I don’t want to invite a single person until things have progressed to the point that the
invitees
will have no problem
believing
our plan and wanting to join.”

Bruce asked. “Are we sure things are
going to happen? It’s been quiet
.”

“That’s what I said,” Bret spoke. “Too quiet.”

“Exactly,” Colin said. “And that’s what worries me.
Something
will happen,
s
omething
big
and soon. And when it does, word is going to get out and watch all hell break loose.”

“What kind of event?” Chuck asked.

“Big,”
Darius
answered. “I don’t know what kind. But it
will
be big.”

“Big enough to make people stop and see that the world’s in trouble?” Chuck asked,
and then
sat back in his chair. “I can’t fathom what kind of event that would be.”

At that moment Andi rushed
breathlessly
into the room. “Hurry up. Hurry
,
you have to see the television.” She flew back out and no one hesitated in following.

“Holy shit,” was the first comment and that emerged from Colin. “Turn up the volume, Andi.”

Bret
moved closer to Darius as they all huddled around the television.

“Are we at war?” Chuck asked.

“It’s Paris.” Ando pointed. “Look, the Eiffel tower. It’s warped.”

“Heat of about one
thousand
degrees
Fahrenheit
,” t
he newsman
reported
. “The area is still too hot to
get
a close shot.
What
you are seeing now
is shot with a long zoom lens
.”

They were at a loss over what
had
occurred. Paris
in flames?
It wasn’t ablaze, it was smoldering.

The newsman continued, “About fifty miles north of Paris and extends south on a
path
ten miles wide, two hundred miles long. Everything in
its
path is
. . .
”
he was
somber
. “
Gone
. Just
. . .
g
one. Hundreds of thousands dead, m
ore missing. There is zero power from London to Singapore. This is not just a sad day for Europe but a
devastating
day for the world, t
he most
unprecedented
and
the
single biggest catastrophic
occurrence
in the history of modern man.”

Frustrated
,
Bret asked, “What happened?”

“You are seeing shots now of Paris
,
France
,” t
he newscaster
reported
. “
If
you are just tuning in,
About
thirty
minutes ago, a solar explo
sion, or as some call it, solar flare, breached through our atmosphere. Though scientist
s
report having monitored the ‘X’ flare, they also state that it wasn’t expected to reach earth. It did. What’s
next?
What is
next?
”

After the newsman’s word, Darius looked at Colin. “Didn’t we see this coming?” Darius
asked
. “We didn’t see this action brewing? How did we miss it?”

“
Other
side of the sun, perhaps?” Colin shrugged. “I don’t know.” Colin shook his head
and
then face
d
Chuck. “You asked about what
kind of event. This is it. This
. . .
s it. As far as the
news
breaking? Things are about to change.” He
released
the heavy breath he held and turned toward the television. “From this moment on, everything will be different.”

The aftermath of the Paris Flare will leave a vision
of pain in the minds of all for
ever. The fires still smolder and experts estimate they will continue to burn for another six months. Six months? That
,
alone, could actually propel Europe into a mini ice age.

Thus far an estimate
d
600,00
0
are dead, close to a million missing. No doubt this incident is a wakeup call to the ecological and geographical fields.

In fact, an emergency scientific summit has been called in New York
. This is planned to occur with
in the next week or so. The news not yet public was disclosed on the science boards by a couple of colleagues who were invited.

A cache of minds
will try
to determine what in God’s name has been occurring naturally to this planet. Man
y, I believe, already know. It
just has to get to the phase of believing.

I have yet to be invited, not that I would on my own. So, with the help of Virginia and Dar
ius we are preparing to take our
findings to Dr. Jeffers, who will be atten
ding. Hopefully when I find him
and
show
him our research, he will review it with an open mind. Somehow I doubt that.