The Last Sunset (Preppers Fiction): The Dark Star is Coming and Death Lingers in its Shadow (Preppers Fiction, Meteor Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction, Survival Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter 11

                            It was September 2
nd
and the moment of truth was approaching fast. Trina Lopez and Martin Scorn were nervous as they moved their ship into position. The massive prism on top of their vessel would be hit directly by the L.I.B laser, forcing the beam to spread out and disintegrate
The Dark Sta
r.
The meteor was constantly picking up speed and the astronauts were struggling to get their ship where it needed to be to ensure a direct hit.

“This is mission control to L.I.B Prism Craft, how close are you to your destination? Over” A voice echoed through the speakers on the ship.

Trina didn’t even hear the question as she was much too focused on keeping the ship pointed in the exact right direction. Martin, on the other hand, heard the question and immediately responded.

“This is Scorn of the L.I.B Prism Craft, we are approximately 79,000 miles away from our destination and we are traveling at a speed of just under 39,000 miles per hour. We should be in place in just over one hour. Over”

“This is mission control to L.I.B Prism Craft, you need to find some speed right now. The meteor is picking up more speed with every passing minute. You and Lopez need to fire all thrusters and get to the destination as fast as possible or you’re going to miss the window of opportunity. Over”

“This is Scorn of the L.I.B Prism Craft, we have no thrust power to spare, if we use it now we will have too much momentum and not enough thrust power to turn the ship around and return to earth”

“This is mission control to L.I.B Prism Craft, you knew the risks when you took this job, Scorn. It’s time to put humanity ahead of your own existence. I’m giving you a direct order to fire every thruster on that ship and get into position as soon as you can. You are wasting time right now by speaking with me. Do what needs to be done. Over and out.”

              Scorn turned to Lopez and gave her the order to fire the thrusters.

“Martin, you know if we do that there’s no going home, right?”

“Trina, I know. It’s a direct order from mission control and if we don’t do it the earth will be destroyed”

“Very well, firing all thrusters now.” Trina said as she put the ship into overdrive.

                            They rapidly began picking up speed and as the time went by they realized that they weren’t going to make it to their destination in time.

“Scorn, we’re not going to make it. If we cut the thrusters right now we still might have enough thrust power to turn this ship around after they fire the laser”

“Trina, I know but you’re missing the point. If we don’t make it to the exact destination there is no way the laser will be able to destroy the meteor. We can’t return to earth with N.A.S.A. knowing that we had extra thrust power that could have potentially got us to our destination on time. We would be ridiculed and probably jailed. It’s a lose-lose situation, we have to try”

Trina nodded in agreement and they continued at full speed. They were about 16 minutes away from their destination when mission control contacted them again.

“This is mission control to L.I.B Prism Craft, we are taking the shot soon. You’re not in position but this is our only chance. Please keep your ship traveling at a contestant velocity so we can calculate our shot. Over.”

“This is Lopez of the L.I.B Prism Craft, we’re ready when you are”

There was two minutes of silence and then mission control spoke again.

“This is mission control to L.I.B Prism Craft, the shot has been taken. Hold your velocity where it is and prepare for a spectacle. Over”

                            Trina and Martin headed over to the spacecraft window that was facing the earth. They could see the tiny, pale blue planet in the distance. After a couple minutes they saw the bright red light of the L.I.B laser headed directly for their ship. They headed over to the other window where they could plainly see
The Dark Star
barreling towards them. It was immense and ominous, spinning rapidly. After about a minute of waiting they could see the laser strike the meteor. There was no great explosion, no sound, no cheering from mission control. There was only dust where the meteor had been. After a few seconds, there came the sad realization that the laser had only broken
The Dark Star
into smaller fragments, all of which were now on a collision course with the earth.

                            The ship hadn’t been in position and the laser hadn’t done its job. Mission control didn’t say anything else to Trina and Martin, it was understood that they weren’t coming home. Martin and Trina watched as the large pieces of
The Dark Star
flew past their spacecraft and headed towards the earth.

“Well, there goes the fate of our planet, carried within the density of those space rocks,” Trina said while a few tears rolled down her face.

“I know this sounds strange, but I wish I was home. I feel like a captain who isn’t going down with his ship,” Martin said as he gazed out the window.

“Martin, you’re going to be going down with a ship, just not the one you want to be going down with.”

The two astronauts held hands as they drifted aimlessly into the black abyss.

Chapter 12

                            N.A.S.A did not tell the public of their failure; instead they began to make haste with their plan to send shuttles to the lunar base. Darius successfully bribed Ray into giving him $25 million of Lance’s money, it wasn’t the $50 million he had hoped for, but it would have to do. Darius also told Ray that if he didn’t protect his wife on the space shuttle and on the lunar base, that he would eventually find and kill him.

                            Darius said goodbye to Kristina on September 5
th
and promised her he would see her again soon. He watched her shuttle disappear into the sky, along with twenty-nine other shuttles full of people. He then bought an old school bus and began to stock it full of supplies. He bought thirty gallons of water, hundreds of cans of fish and beans, knives, guns, gas masks, gasoline, a generator, flashlights, books (for entertainment of course), maps, encyclopedias, boots, raingear and anything else he deemed to be important to his survival. Darius then parked the bus in an underground parking garage of a Marriot Hotel in downtown Chicago.

                            The remnants of
The Dark Star
slammed into the earth on the evening of September 9
th
2040, just as the sun was going down over Chicago at 8:28pm. The impacts all occurred within three and a half minutes of each other. Most of the pieces landed in the ocean, but many of them hit the ground. There were impacts in Hong Kong, South Africa, Chile, Peru, Portugal, Uganda, Chad, England, Alberta, Quebec, Colorado, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Michigan. There were also many impacts in Northern Russia and the Australian outback. The largest impacts were in North Carolina, Portugal and Alberta. The pieces that landed in the ocean immediately triggered unfathomably large tsunamis. These massive waves decimated the shorelines of the entire planet. Anyone living within one hundred miles of the ocean was swept out to sea in the most powerful waves ever seen by human eyes.

                            The pieces of
The Dark Star
that hit the ground caused ‘land tsunamis.’ Essentially the force of the impacts drove the rocks so deep into the earth that there was an immense amount of land that got displaced. Layers of the crust and the upper mantle of the planet were peeled back and formed a shock wave of rocky, magma like material that shot out at the speed of a bullet. These ‘land tsunamis’ caused many millions more deaths than any ocean tsunamis did and they flattened nearly every building within a two hundred mile radius of their impact zones.

                            While the meteors ravaged the planet, Darius remained safe in his underground bus. He couldn’t believe what was going on. It felt as if the earth was a small ball in the hands of a hyper child, being bounced up and down. He could feel the entire planet shaking beneath him and he wondered if the earth would be knocked out of its orbit. If you were to look at the planet from space after the meteor impacts you wouldn’t even recognize it. The dust that had been kicked up from the impacts was covering the sky in a thick grey haze. Darius ate some beans out of a can, drank some water and began contemplating how he was going to get to the moon and be with his family. Kristina would be having their child any day now and it deeply saddened him to know that he wouldn’t be there on that glorious day.

Chapter 13

                            Darius had been alone inside of the bus for two weeks now. He didn’t dare venture outside of the parking garage, for fear of being attacked by people who would do anything for some food and water. He spent his days reading and keeping a journal. The journal mostly consisted of ways he could potentially get to the lunar base. But the more he planned, the more he realized his chances were virtually non-existent.  The meteor impacts had surely destroyed most of the world’s rocket technology, and even if they didn’t all of the employees of N.A.S.A were now on the lunar base. Darius was beginning to lose hope and he was coming to terms with the fact that he may never see his wife again.

                            He had plenty of supplies and he figured he could last at least a year in the bus, but he didn’t want to be isolated for that long. He would eventually have to make his way outside world and assess the damage. One warm October morning after he had eaten some granola bars for breakfast, Darius decided that it was time to leave the parking garage. He put on a gas mask and armed himself with a pistol, a machine gun, and three knives. He began walking up the two levels of the underground garage. When he got to the door he paused briefly, he was scared. He pulled out his pistol, took a deep breath and opened the door. The wind and dust hit him like a hurricane, knocking him backwards and onto his ass. He quickly jumped to his feet and walked out the door, taking long powerful steps as he powered his way through the wind.

                            Once he was outside he looked around in shock. There was nothing. Every building had collapsed, including the hotel above the parking garage where his bus was parked. The sky was black with dust and the sunlight was very minimal. He walked aimlessly through the destroyed center of downtown Chicago. There were no living people as far as Darius could see, but he was still hopeful. He walked and he walked until it started to get dark, then he decided that he should head back to his bus. Just as he turned around he heard a faint voice in the distance.

“Help me, please help me!”

It was a young male voice and Darius began to follow the sound. He tracked the voice to a pile of rubble and began moving large pieces of concrete to see if he could find the boy. After five minutes of searching, Darius saw a small black hand. He grabbed it and started to pull the boy out of the pile of rubble. It took a while, but eventually the boy got free. As soon as he was out he collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. He looked to be about seventeen, he had a short messy afro, green eyes and a small diamond earring in his left ear. The boy was covered in dust and he looked horrible. Darius pulled out a small bottle of water that he had brought with him and offered it to the boy.

“Thank you so much sir, I would have died if it wasn’t for you,” The boy said graciously.

“It’s not a problem, I’m glad I found you, you’re very lucky”

“What is your name sir? You look familiar”

“My name is Darius Downey, what’s yours?”

“I saw you on TV, you’re that guy who defended that billionaire dude and lost”

“Yes, but I lost on purpose because he’s an evil prick. Now tell me what your name is”

“Man, you’re a crazy dude if your doing battle with a powerful guy like that. How did you survive the meteors?”

“I’m living in a bus in a parking garage downtown. We need to head back there now before it gets too dark. And for the last time what’s your name kid?”

“Oh sorry, I’m Chris Wynn”

“Alright Chris, you better follow me if you want to live.”

              Darius and Chris headed back to the parking garage. They were about a mile away when the darkness began rolling in. Darius hadn’t brought a flashlight because he had not expected to be out very long. Once his eyes finally adjusted to the pitch black he was able to see much better. Chris tagged along close behind; eager to eat some of the food Darius had promised him.

“So Darius, how close do you think we are?”

“We should be there in a few minutes, you getting hungry?”

“Yes sir, I’m starving”

“We can eat some tuna, crackers and soup when we get back”

“Thanks a lot for taking me in”

“It’s no problem, it was starting to get boring all alone, haha.

“Yeah I was getting lonely too”

“So are you the only survivor in Chicago that you know of?”

“Yes, I have no idea where my brother and mom are at, but I’m kind of just assuming the worst. While I was under the rubble I heard a few more people yelling for help, but as the days passed their voices stopped”

“How long were you under there?”

“Four days. I hid in the basement of an old restaurant during the impacts. Once I got out I started looking for survivors and food. I managed to feed myself and get a fair bit of water out of convenience stores, but finally my luck ran out when the roof of one of the convenience stores collapsed on me. And that’s when you found me”

“Jesus Chris. I’m glad I found you, we’re going to make it through this”

“What’s your game plan?”

“That’s my game plan,” Darius said as he pointed up at the bright silhouette of the moon. It was barely visible through the thick layer of dust in the sky, but it was unmistakable.

“What do you mean?”

“My wife and my newborn daughter are up there on the lunar base and I need to get up there with them”

“Darius, you’re crazy, but I like you”

“I like you too Chris, we’re going to be alright. I will help you find your family as best I can.”

                            They finally arrived at the parking garage and promptly headed inside and climbed into the bus. They enjoyed a simple dinner and fell asleep shortly after. Darius was happy to have another companion, he was going to need all the help he could get if he ever wanted to see his wife again.

To Be Continued…..