Torn (37 page)

“Have a cheeseburger!
”
Grace called out. “How nice is that boy. He your son?” she asked
Bret
.

“Yes, he is.”

“Don’t he eat?”

Bret
chuckled. “Actually, he does.”

Grace winked. “Mind if I give it a try fattening him up?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Time out.” Darius made a ‘T’ with his
hand
. “
How
long are you staying?”

“
Dont
cha
want me to stay?” Grace asked.

“That’s not what I said. I asked how long?”

“For good
,
for a while.
” Grace shrugged. “Colin said to move right in. We’re all one big happy family and he has lots of rooms.”

“
Rooms
. But they aren’t all bedrooms.”

“Welp, he told me that, too,” Grace said. “He told me that it’s high tail time you and Bret shared a room anyhow.” She smiled at Bret. “Little advice, try on the shoe first.”

“Oh my God.”
Darius closed his eyes.

“What?” Grace asked
surprised
. “Just givi
n
’
advice.”

“Did you break up with Chad?”

Grace laughed. ‘Three years ago. I’ve been seeing
Ron
. He was the comedian and
crowd
charger for the
rodeo
.”

“A clown.”

Grace smiled and nodded. “We broke
up
.
Said I was too serious about all the stuff going on.
And I
told
him. If anyone knows
it’s
my boy. He’s the earth
genius
.” She
winked
again and nodded. “And I
ain’t
no
genius
. Don’t pretend to be. But hell, something is going on
.
All
this hot shit. Bird attacks.
Bugs
. Planes dropping. Volcanoes
erupting
. Hell on fury it’s the book of
Revelation
. . .
I told this to
Colin
. H
e
said absolutely. We’ll discuss it when you arrive. I’m
here
.”

“Coli
n told you it was the book of
Revelation
?” Darius asked.

“He said it was
something
li
k
e that and
something
big was on the horizon. I want to be with you guys now.”

Bret stepped
forward
. “Well, we’re glad you’re here.”

Darius hummed out a ‘hmm’.

Grace shot him a look.

“Did you fly in?” Bret asked.

“Oh, I drove. Pickup is beat to hell and back though.”

“Then you must be tired. Come on in
;
I was about to fix lunch.”

“Got any Jack?” Grace asked.

Darius looked at his watch. “It’s
one
o’clock.”

“How does that song
go?
It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

Darius
forc
ibly
chuckled and it showed.

“When’s Colin getting
back?
I can’t wait to see him. Since we’re all
gonna be
one
big
happy family.”

“Mom,” Darius said with a snicker. “Colin is being polite. I hope you aren’t planning a
reunion
. I mean, it’s been fifteen years.
You’re
staying
here, great. But I’m
sure he’s
moved on emotionally.”

The door opened and Colin walked it. “Good lord, I’d recognize that fanny anywhere. To die for.”

Grace smiled at Darius. “You were saying?”

Darius was on the phone. Outside with everyone else, but he was on the phone.

Underneath the umbrella
-
sheltered table, he sat with Bret. He spoke while her focus was on everyone else. The kids were swimming and Colin cooking on the grill, while Grace
teetered between
Colin and the pool. Jumping in, doing belly splashes and being loud.

Darius rubbed his temple.

Bret
snickered
watching
him.

“Just
. .
just don’t worry about it,” Darius said. “Blue is normal. Watch for red. Thanks.” He flipped his phone closed.

“Chuck?” Bret asked.

Darius nodded. “He hasn’t a clue what he’s doing
.
It’s not his forte. I feel bad.”

“Then why don’t you go in
the
house
and downstairs and help him
.
Or do the work?”

“I can’t. I promised Colin two hours out here.”

“Family time.”

Darius grumbled.

“Darius.”

“No,
the
world is
falling apart
and we’re having a picnic. Bret, have you seen the news?”

“I try not to. It’s depressing.”

“Hell, yeah,”
Darius
said. “Paris, the dead
. . . .
”

“It’s depressing
,
Darius
.”

“I know. I just have so much on my mind. So much work.
I have
to get rea
dy for this conference, and now…
now
she’s
here.”

“She?”

A loud splash erupted from the pool and the kids screamed in joy.

“She,” Darius reiterated. “I
didn’t
expect
her to show up.”

“She’s your mother.”

“I know, and I love her. It’s that she drives me nuts. And now, she’s trying to rekindle
with
Colin
,
a man she hasn’t been with in fifteen years. Insane.”

“She
surprised
me,” Bret said.

“How so?
”

Bret glanced over to Grace. “I don’t know.
I expected different. She’s so
. . .
so
. . . .
”

“
Trailer
park?”
Darius
asked.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you just said that.”

“What? She is. Is
it awful
of me
to say
that
nowhere in my apocalypse survival plan, did I envision my mother in my new civilization.”

“Yeah, that’s awful.”

With a
g
runt, Darius rubbed his
eyes
.
“And then
. . .
then my plan with you went out the window.”

“What do you mean?”

“Bret, I thought we were going to be a team. A partnership. A commitment. I saw us going into the end of the world as a couple. When you have someone on
your side
, someone beside you, you can get
through
anything.”

“Darius, I don’t know what transpired in that week or so we were alone. I don’t know how we went from friends to making a
commitment
. We
must
have
been
through
a lot.”

“We were.”

“But I do
know
that during this last month, I can see why we made that decision.
And do
you
know how
many times in the past month I just wanted to
give in and say, let’s hook up?
”

“Why didn’t you?” he asked.

“I was afraid that the moment I
made
my move t
hat was the moment you’d say, ‘H
a! Gotcha’.”

Darius rolled his eyes.
“I told you it wasn’t a joke.”

“I believe it now,” Bret said.

“So what does this mean?” Darius
asked
. “You and I are gonna
b
e committed?
”

“We already are,” Bret folded her hands on the table.
“I’m pregnant.”

Martin was able to shower when he arrived on the air craft carrier but wasn’t given that much time.
He was shuffled for sixteen hours
straight
.

From the carrier, to a plane, to Hawaii, then straight to Washington
,
DC.

No one knew anything nor told him anything.

He figured
he was in some sort of trouble
when a car arrived at the airport and
took
him
away
at high speed.

Washington
. The Pentagon.

A police escort.

It was when the woman in the car handed him his
uniform
that he realized he wasn’t in trouble.

He changed in the car, which was
difficult
.

Never did he expect the car to pull up to the White
H
ouse.

Again, escorted without answers.

He was brought to the
J
oint
C
hiefs meeting room
, where three other generals
greeted
him, along with the
S
ecretary
of S
t
ate and Chief of S
taff.

What
was going on?

He almost hated to ask.

The President walked in.

Like everyone else he stood.

President David
Greene
was
wearing
a presidential t
ee shirt and jeans. Carrying a folder he nodded to the men and instructed,
“
Be seated.
”

But before
Greene
too
k
his seat, he shook hands with Martin. “General Myers.”

“Mr. President, it is an honor.”

Greene
half
-
smiled and sat down. “You may not think that when you hear
why you’re
here.”

‘Uh-oh
’ wouldn’t have been the professional
response
, so Martin just nodded and took his seat.

“I’ll make this brief,”
Greene
said. “Then everyone else can fill you in and get you situated.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re aware of the Paris flare, obviously.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you
aware
of the other events that have
taken place
globally,
General
?”

“The
events
, sir?
”

“Geological events,” Karnes said. “Bird problems,
earthquakes
,
tectonic
plate shifts. A volcano in freaking Albany
,
New
York
.”

“Yes, sir. I
am
.”

“Are you aware that there is going to be a global summit regarding these changes and what we can do to prevent further catastrophes?”

Martin cleared his throat
before
speaking. “Yes, sir. I was not aware that a solution was being sought. I was just
aware
as most of the public
is
that the summit is to determine what is happening.”

“Correct, but if we can change something we will.
I doubt it. And by the way you cleared your throat and hesitated, you doubt it to
o
.”

“If it’s geological, then how
can it be changed?
”

Greene
nodded. “This is
obviously
a chain of events leading to something big
.
We’re
planning
on the worst case scenario and on
something
big. Right now we have
initiated
a survival
program
which my C
hief of Staff will
fill
you in on once I leave. We
don’t
know exactly what this is leading to. Our scientists
s
peculate, other scientist
s
speculate.
What we are hoping to accomplish with
t
he summit is to bring all the great minds together, all the speculation together and make on
e
determination.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The big
one
is the
finale
.
Excuse
my language, but a lot of our top mind
s believe shit is
gonna hit the fan globally until then. You are here to one, be at the conference, listen and report. Two
,
be in charge of a
command
center
that will monitor the global happenings via our troops and
stations
around
the
world
. You will keep track of these
happenings
. Some of these can lead to
national
s
ecurity.”

“
Allow
me to clarify?” Martin asked.

The president nodded.

“You’re
talking about
a
command
center to monitor
everything. And
I’m only to
oversee
this and report.”

“We may need to send
troops
.
Things may happen in our own country.
You’ll work
close
ly with FEMA for troop support. This
will
be
removed from the state hands for now
and
placed
in
to
your hands. This will now be a matter of national interest.
You’ll start immediately.”

“May I ask, s
ir, with many much more qualified
people available
, why
I was
chosen
?
I mean this is an
honor.
But I’ve only just begun
my
first Theater of Operation.”

“Yes you have,” Karnes
responded
. “And I don’t mind
you
asking why I chose you t
o monitor and command a situation
as
big as this. Yes, you are correct. There are
many
more qualified.
But you
,
General
,
are the best one for this job.
I chose you personally, and
chose
you not just because of your determination, record and skill.
But on this
. . . .
”
he opened a folder and lifted from it a huge bound manuscript.
“Did you not write this thesis in college?”

The manuscript slid his way and
Martin
looked at the typed title.

Greene
read the title out loud. “A T
hes
i
s by Marti
n Myers. Monitoring the Global Events on the Path to the Next Extinction-Level E
vent.” The
president
smiled.
“Long title.”

Martin nodded.

“Do you realize, General, twenty-six years ago you wrote
about
a lot of possible events that have already occurred?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You theorize on a lot of different
scenarios
,”
Karnes
said. “Your research
is
phenomenal.”

“I enjoyed writing
that
.”

“And it shows. Good reading. Good work. You don’t need to ask again why you’re the best one for the job or why you were chosen. This speaks for itself.” The president stood up. “Good luck.”

As
Greene
left
the office as abruptly as he entered, even standing, Martin’s eyes kept going to his thesis.
How he dismissed it when he wrote it and thought no more about it.

There it was again. His past was his future.

The Paris
flare triggered an electro
magnetic pulse, which in turn blacked out most of Europe. The widespread power outage caused a martial law to go into effect in the countries afflicted.
Panic and chaos, along with violence, ensued. An immediate exodus began
out
of London.

Chuck was enthralled by the news. He watched it all the
time
. Every moment he could, down to watching it on his
phone
.

He wanted to go to
Europe, but
the Johnsto
w
n paper didn’t have the funds to send him.

Besides, the fires still smoldered and no one was able to get close to Paris at all.

Like a
forest
fir
e
raging out of control, experts gathered to figure out a way to put out the fires.

The
focus
i
n
the United States was on the conference. Like with everything, things returned to normal after a day or two. When the commercials came back into the news programs, people
returned
to their lives.

Chuck would have rather been
watching
the television.

Even though he was fortunate enough to be
privileged
to scientific knowledge
,
he wanted to hear what everyone else had to say.

He was still in shock over the news of Bret’s pregnancy and how
Darius
and Colin weren’t lying to her about
their
relationship
. H
e
di
dn’t know what shocked him more,
Bret and Darius or the fact that Bret actually had sex.

The last thing he wanted to do was go out. But he did. He finished his story about the
Siamese
twin dogs and headed down to the West Virginia
-
Pennsylvania
border to meet Bret.

She was already there holding a table at the Hub-a-Nub Saloon.

Perhaps Chuck should have known by the
name
what to expect. But he ca
me right from the dog interview and ha
dn’t th
ought
much ab
o
ut it.

Country music twanged loudly on the jukebox. The all-wood
atmosphere
really aided it
in making
it a country music bar. An old
-
fashioned bar,
with a
pool table, juke box, and round tables for sitting
that
enhanced
the feel. A small dance floor separated the small stage with a tree of three spotlights.

“
Tell
me again why I’m here.” Chuck kissed Bret on the cheek
.

“Darius is playing a set tonight.”

“
He
couldn’t play in Pittsburgh?” Chuck asked.

“He needs a country feel.”

“Great. I am so out of place here,” Chuck said. “I am a black man, in a suit, in a hick bar.”

Bret
snickered. “The suit is too much.”

“I just came from work. But it’s not the suit, Bret. I’m the
only black
man here.”

“You won’t be for long, Bobby is coming.”

“Bobby doesn’t know
he’s
black. So
I’ll
still be the only black man.”

“That’s because it’s country music. How many black people do you know listen to country music.”

Chuck shrugged.

“Bobby does,” Bret said.

“As I said before he doesn’t know he’s black.
” He paused. “So
Bruce
and Bobby are coming?”

Bret nodded. “Along with
Colin
and Grace. They
should
be here any second.”