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The Indian Scout roars down the highway. Rick is free of Kobalt, but new worries loom. He adjusts the round rearview mirror on the handlebars to view the magical display of undulating lights in the desert sky.
Rick rides past the town of Barstow and views a huge parking lot surrounded by outlet stores. The parking lot is strewn with clothing and store windows are broken.
Carlos and Alyssa walk together past the garden and up the stairs to the main level. The mood in the main gallery now feels more energetic, as Selina and the men of the hideaway undertake the grisly task of attending to the dead.
The windows in the main gallery display scenes of the bridge and the destruction beyond. One window shows Eddie and George moving the bodies of Gloria and the boys. Rodrigo pushes a wheelbarrow to the entrance.
Isabella distributes gloves to Courtney and Margot as they walk toward the entrance. Ethan follows his mother, pulling the large rubber gloves over his hands. Carlos takes a pair of gloves from his mother and heads down the tunnel. Alyssa follows. Isabella smiles sadly. Alma and Maria, the grandmothers stay in the mine with the younger children keeping them busy in the galley preparing lunch for the others.
The men struggle with Jefferies body laying him heavily in the wheelbarrow. Edgar looks at the bodies on the crooked bridge and beyond. “There are so many. What will we do with them all?”
“The ground is too hard to dig graves,” says George.
Selina is tearful kneeling over the body of her friend. “We can’t just move them out of the way. We must take care of them properly.”
Rob thinks about the problem as he surveys the area. He looks at the old shipping container punctured with hundreds of holes. “We’ll use the shipping container. Put all the bodies inside, then we’ll burn them. It will be a crematory, their funeral pyre,” Rob says, staring at the metal box.
Selina looks to the container, then says, “It’s best.”
Rob turns to Eddie. “Find a gas-powered vehicle. Hopefully, you can siphon enough fuel for a fire.” Eddie nods.
The occupants of Munday’s Hideaway begin the ghastly task of recovering the dead. One by one, they lay the bodies to rest inside the shipping container.
3:30 p.m. PST–Cajon Pass
Rick rides past Victorville and down the Cajon Pass, a steep, curvy portion of Highway 15 that descends from the high desert through the San Gabriel mountains and into the Los Angeles basin.
“Courtney and the kids could be anywhere, but I have faith that Rob took care of them. I’ll head to his old mine first. If they aren’t there, I’ll check the house.”
The eastern skies streak with a volley of flaming fireballs. This is not one or two meteors traversing alone across the open sky. This is a barrage of flaming rocks that spreads north to south in a curtain of fire chasing through the atmosphere. Rick catches the light in the sky in his peripheral vision. Turning his head, he views the wall of rocks.
“Dammit, can’t you just let me get home!” Rick screams.
Pillars of black smoke billow behind Eddie as he walks up the road carrying a container filled with gas. The smoke rises from cars down the canyon filled with bodies and set ablaze.
Eddie steps inside the shipping container. They stacked the bodies along the sides, leaving a narrow aisle running the length of the container. He walks the length of the metal box drenching the dead with fuel. Shaking out the last drops he backs out of the container. Rob steps to the doorway, lights a match, and tosses it, igniting the funeral pyre. George shuts the door and secures the metal latch.
The occupants of Munday’s Hideaway step away from the container and stand between the bent and punctured vehicles that litter the gravel area. They worked together as a team on the macabre project, helping each other without argument or complaint. Courtney holds Selina as she sobs. Isabella hugs them both. “I’m sorry for your friends, Selina. Sorry for everything.” Selina nods acceptance as she cries.
Smoke drifts out of holes on the top and sides of the container. “We should say a few words,” Edgar says, looking to Rob.
Rob clears his throat before speaking. “Terrible things are disrupting our lives in unimaginable ways. The storms will change the world forever. These people died horrible deaths. More will join them. We pray for them all; may they be at peace. Never again will they feel hunger or worry, they are blessed with endless slumber. It is the living who pain and struggle through each day. God, I thank you for the people standing with me. Together we will conquer the trials before us and forge a new future for our children.” Rob stands silent watching flames flicker out the of holes in the container.
“Thanks, Rob,” says Edgar.
“Real nice,” adds George, looking to the sky blessing himself. He sees fury in the skies. “Hey, look at that. There’s a ton of them.” A barrage of flaming meteors fills the sky with trails of dark smoke.
Eddie turns to Uncle Rob. “Isn’t it too early?”
Rob studies the sky. “Yes, early and intense. Get everybody inside.”
Rodrigo sweats from the heat radiating from the burning container. “Carlos and Ethan get the ledge and help others get on to bridge.” They set a bench seat from a pickup at the base of the ledge to function as a step, making it easier to transverse the six-foot gap. The boys run to the edge of the bridge and jump down ready to help the others.
Isabella and Inez run with Selina to the bridge. Rob stands staring at the sky. Courtney grabs his hand, pulling him to move. Alyssa grabs his other hand. The three of them run together. The container and the sky burn behind them. Carlos and Ethan help everyone down the ledge. Once on the cement surface, they run across the tilted bridge to the hideaway. After everyone is down the mine shaft, Eddie locks the gate, locks the chain at the wooden door, and then secures the steel blast door.
Salvation, the Mojave Desert
Three levels down, fifty-three white robes eerily reflect light from a single lamp in the middle of the cement floor. Mother sits on the floor next to the elder Jacob. “I’m a fool,” she whispers trying to share her feelings in confidence but her voice echoes off the hard cement walls. The others listen silently.
“Cuz, the preacher’s not coming?” asks Jacob.
“Apparently, we’ve been duped. The Preacher said Salvation is twelve levels deep, with rooms for three hundred fifty people, food stocked for seven years, a water supply, air filtration and power. The preacher sold it well. We have no power, no food or water. Salvation is a cement floor with a rusty old generator that smells of diesel. He told us everything was prepared. There were photos and videos; it didn’t look like this,” says Mother, in an exasperated tone.
The building rumbles from the sound of exploding meteors.
“You saved me, and you saved that big fella,” Jacob whispers. “The building is strong; it’ll hold.”
Mother leans close to Jacob. “I’m so ashamed. I believed. With all my heart and soul, I believed. What will we do now?”
“Don’t be ashamed. Belief and faith got you here. It’s what got us all to Salvation. It saved your life and mine. Don’t worry. When the big fella gets back, he’ll help us figure out what’s next.” Jacob says.
“I pray he conquers his demons and comes back to us. To Salvation,” Mother whispers.
Rick struggles to hold the old Indian steady as a blast of hot air buffets the cycle. Impacting meteors leave a trail of destruction across the Los Angeles basin. Rick watches the flaming missiles descend losing sight of them below the foothills before they impact. Rick maneuvers the bike past burning cars, broken pavement, and the belongings of a once hopeful people. The world is burning; death surrounds him. If anyone were alive, they’d see the silhouette of a faceless rider bathed in orange light, his black leather coat fluttering in the wind riding past death. Azusa Road and the mountain road that lead to the hideaway are ahead. He is close, yet danger surrounds him.
President Baker sits in the conference room deep below Camp David. He waits to receive calls from world leaders. The US sent a warning announcing the impacts of fragments from the Beast. There are no calls. After the excitement of the past few days, it’s eerily calm.
Cliff knows the crisis is not over. People are dying. The living will grow hungry. With the help of a mysterious group he battled Colonel Cruikshank and saved hundreds of thousands of souls. Dr. Simmons and his team saved the planet from certain destruction. The result, while not perfect, is still a success. Earth and humanity will survive.
Cliff detects a low rumble, then... whack! It feels like he’s inside a bank vault colliding with a jet plane. The room shakes and dust falls from the rafters. People in the conference room scream and run for cover.
Cliff holds on to the conference table, hoping to stop it shaking. The cement floor buckles, rising and cracking. Cracks etch the walls and ceiling. Men burst into the conference room to drag him some place safer as he screams, “What the hell is happening?”
Thirty seconds later, a hot air blast rips through the beautifully forested Camp David compound at thirteen hundred miles per hour. The iconic wood frame structures collapse. The blast tosses autos in the parking area through the air. The hot wind ignites the buildings and trees. Fragments of the meteor and ejecta cover the ground. Some rocks are thirty feet in diameter crushing autos and smashing the remains of buildings. In minutes, material ejected from a nearby impact buries Camp David under five feet of fallout.
New Arcadia–Colonel Cruikshank’s quarters
The old colonel sits at his desk, rubbing the knotted muscle in his leg.
Zsoldos enters. Cruikshank looks at the portly man with a haunted face. “Have you found any of them?”
“We sent Black Guard up the stairwell. There’s no sign of the boys. Mahon must have them all.”
“I’ll send Kobalt to get them and take care of Mahon as well! Where is Kobalt? He isn’t answering my calls.”
“All three Scramjets were lost over Mesa Verde National Park. We believe the Air Force shot them down in a surprise attack. There has been no further contact from Captain Kobalt.”
“Please tell me Kobalt got Munday.”
“The Scramjets were attacking Munday’s aircraft when they were shot down. The fate of Dr. Munday and his friends is unknown.”
“Damn it. More incompetence. Kobalt should have finished him in New Arcadia.”
“I’ve interviewed the two remaining boys. It appears they stayed by choice. They said it is an honor to serve you and New Arcadia.”
“They will serve me. They will serve me well. I will live to see humanity reborn and emerge from our humble pod to repopulate Earth.”
Rick curses the space rocks pelting Los Angeles as he navigates the bike up the rough road. Smoke fills the sky ahead. He imagines the worst, then pushes the thought from his mind. He passes burning cars and overturned trucks as meteors pound the canyon walls. A meteor strikes Rattlesnake Peak across the river. Seconds later, a hot blast of wind sends him tumbling to the ground. Lying on his stomach, he looks up to see a column of smoke rising upward. Rick pushes fear aside. He will know the fate of his family soon enough.
Incoming meteors fill the sky. He runs up a steady rise past crumpled cars lining the edge of the road. He crests a hill; shattered vehicles litter the widening road. Ahead on the left, a shipping container burns furnace hot with grayish-white smoke roiling out. Rick runs through the wrecks some of them upside down and others on their sides. The bridge ahead looks damaged and tilting. He runs past the debris of a broken spacecraft, one half resting up against the hillside. A child’s blood-stained shoe lies in the dirt. Rick gulps.
He runs to the bridge and jumps off the ledge to the bench seat as a meteor slams into the road two hundred feet down the canyon. Rick hugs the wall of the cement ledge as the Earth rocks, causing the surface of the bridge to crack and buckle. The air blast sends the flaming container over the canyon wall crashing to the rocks one hundred feet below, bursting in flames.
Ethan and Carlos stand next to each other in the washroom. Ethan vigorously scrubs his hands. “They’re clean, Ethan. That’s enough,” says Carlos. Ethan stops scrubbing, holding his hands in the stream of water. “I washed. I changed clothes. I can’t get it off.”
“Me too. The smell of the dead lingers in our mind. Maybe, it’s good, so we don’t forget too quickly,” Carlos says.
“I’ll never forget, never,” Ethan says, catching a towel Carlos tosses to him.
The boys walk to the main gallery. Alma and Maria are placing platters stacked with sandwiches on the long dining table. Junior and Princess set out pitchers of water while Claudia and Angel set glasses around the table.
Carlos and Ethan go directly for the food. “You boys wait for the rest,” scolds Alma. The boys halt, looking woeful.
The reaction of the boys disturbs her. Their faces have changed. They are no longer boys. “Help yourselves. Save some for the rest,” she says.
The other occupants of the hideaway emerge from their quarters and sit at the long table. They eat the sandwiches slowly. Everyone is kind and considerate of each other.
Rick picks his moment. He waits for a pause in the onslaught of meteors and runs across the deformed bridge. As he reaches the end of the bridge, a small meteor crashes into the mountainside high above showering him with small rocks cascading down the hillside. He runs along the narrow trail to avoid getting caught in a landslide.
He steps around the rocky outcropping carefully as the trail narrows. A few yards past the outcropping the mountain forms an alcove filled with bushes. A day before the bushes kept the entrance to the hideaway well-hidden. Today the path is well worn.
Rick runs up the alcove to the chain-link fence. There is no foliage covering the fence, revealing the galvanized wire gate. He examines the locked fence and the dark tunnel beyond. The gate is secure, but the wire mesh along the top is bent out of shape. He steps in something gooey; a puddle of drying blood. Fear shoots through his body. He puts his fingers through the chain link and shakes the gate yelling as another volley of meteors fill the skies.
The kids play VUE games while the adults linger at the long dining table. There is no urgency or stress. They aren’t going anywhere. There is no job, no school, no concerns about rent or bills. The man-made worries of the world have fallen away. Life will continue in the hideaway.
The windows in the hideaway display the tilting bridge. Nobody pays attention to the firestorm raging outside until a meteor strikes the road, sending the flaming shipping container over the cliff.
The sudden movement catches Isabella’s attention. She gasps. “It’s gone! Dear God! It went over the cliff!” Isabella exclaims. Everyone turns to look at the window. The shipping container is gone.
Rob watches as the camera cycles to the next view. “We’ll investigate when it’s safe. There’s nothing we can do now.”
“I’m glad it’s gone. Looking at it every day would be a sad reminder,” says Rodrigo.
Eddie sees a black bundle at the far end of the bridge. “Carlos. Did you leave something on the bridge?”
“No,” Carlos replies without looking away from his game.
The dark object stands. Selina shrieks. Others in the hideaway gasp when they see a scary-looking man wearing a black helmet and a black leather jacket run across the bridge, his face hidden behind a dark visor.
“Will this horror never end?” asks Inez.
“He looks mean,” says George.
“Another straggler who found his way up the canyon. He may have been watching us while we were outside,” says Rob.
Selina sits with a hand over her mouth viewing the window as the camera cycles.
“He’ll find the entrance. It’s easy to find now,” says Rodrigo.
“We can’t do this again. Whoever it is, let him in. He’s looking for safety. We agreed to let the others...” Courtney says as her voice fades unable to finish the sentence.
The window displays the man in black running along the trail disappearing around the rocky outcropping.
“He looks like a tough guy. What if he has a gun?” asks Edgar.
“Look at that helmet. He could be from a biker gang. What if he’s mean and kills us all?” asks George.
Rick shakes the fence, screaming and pleading for the gate to be unlocked. Meteors explode high above. Rick ducks against the mountainside trying to protect himself from an air blast and flying debris.
“What luck. I make it all the way home only to die at the locked gate of Rob’s hideaway. Someone has been here. Someone died here. I hope Courtney wasn’t locked out,” Rick says.
“We have weapons. Eddie, Rodrigo arm the men. We’ll keep this guy under guard until we’re satisfied he’s friendly,” orders Rob.
Courtney watches anxiously waiting for the camera to cycle. The men move down the mine shaft. Rodrigo and Eddie enter the weapons room, grabbing rifles and pistols.
“Once we open the blast door, we’re vulnerable. I’ll call out some questions. Let’s see his reaction. If he’s peaceful, I’ll unchain the wooden door, but keep your guns at the ready,” Rob instructs as Rodrigo and Eddie pass weapons to George and Edgar.
The camera cycles. The scary man has pushed his body against the mountainside hiding from an air blast. Dirt and dust obstruct the view.
Rick calls out again. Realizing he’s screaming into his helmet; he pulls it off and tosses it to the ground. He sees the glint of a camera lens mounted inside the cave. “Uncle Rob! Courtney! Let me in. Let me in!”
When the dust clears. Courtney sees Rick’s face and sobs breathlessly, unable to speak.
Alyssa runs to the window calling out, “It’s Daddy! It’s Daddy!”
Ethan stands at the windows. “It’s our dad, don’t shoot.” He runs down the mine shaft. “Uncle Rob. Don’t shoot. It’s Dad. It’s my dad!”
“You’re sure?” asks Rob, his voice echoing through the tunnel.
“Yes. He came back to us,” Ethan cries out.
Rodrigo and Eddie push the blast door open. Rob pushes through as soon as the heavy door is wide enough and rushes to the wooden door, unlocking the heavy chain. Ethan and the men follow as Rob moves to the chain-link fence.
Rob spots Rick through the fence. “Ricky, boy! You made it.”
Rick’s body drained of energy slumps against the rock wall next to the gate. “One gate to go and I’ll be home,” he says in an exhausted tone.
The lock clicks, Rob pushes the gate open. Rick stands at the entrance and gets hit full force by Ethan running into him, hugging him around the waist. Rob joins the hug. “Welcome home, boy.”
Meteors explode above. “Let’s get inside,” Rob says.
Rick walks to the wooden door and sees Rodrigo, Eddie, George, and Edgar all holding guns. “Is this the Munday’s Hideaway posse?”
Ethan grabs Rick’s hand. “You looked scary. We didn’t know it was you.”
Rob leads Rick to the main gallery. Courtney stands frozen in the middle of the room. Alyssa runs to her father. He lifts her and kisses her repeatedly until she squirms in his arms. Rick sets his daughter down and steps to his wife. Courtney rushes to her husband. He sweeps her up in his arms holding her tightly and kisses her passionately.
Courtney kisses her husband madly. “I knew you would get back to us. I never lost hope,” she sobs.
“I’ve been trying to get home. I didn’t think it would take this long. I had a few detours along the way.”
The Martinez family members stand silently watching the reunion.
Courtney pushes Rick back to get a look at him. “You look tough. Where did you get the jacket?” she asks, pulling the duster jacket open. “And the suit looks strange. Are you hurt?”
“Probably,” Rick says, putting a hand to his ribs.
“Where have you been Ricky Boy?” asks Rob.
“That’s a long story,” Rick says as he’s surrounded in a group hug.
As the occupants of Munday’s Hideaway sit in their cozy home protected by a mountain of granite. The world outside suffers through many nights of intense bombardment.
Humans struggle to survive the terror by scurrying like rats into sewers and culverts. If they live in a city with underground parking garages or buildings with basements, they bargain and compete for protective space. Those unable to find a hole sit at home in the dark, hoping the storm will spare them. Millions die.
The storms intensify night after night with unrelenting aerial explosions and impacts destroying cities and towns, setting forests and grasslands ablaze.
As each day dawns, survivors slowly emerge from their humble sanctuaries to pick through scraps in stores or search empty houses for food and water. They spend the day preparing for the next nights torment while fending off their most terrifying predator; other humans.
For those not living in the hideaway or in an underground city, it seems the storms will never end. Despair replaces hope. The struggle to exist without sustenance exhausts human energy. Hopelessness leads many to walk through the night begging for the rocks to fall upon them. A request easily fulfilled.
Ramp to Level Two–New Arcadia
James and Davey stand outside the tall door looking up the ramp to the Parklands. “Come inside, boy’s the storm is fierce. They’re coming in hot and heavy tonight. We need to close the door,” says Sargent Cheung as the sky brightens from an exploding meteor.
“They’re still out there,” says James.
“Who’s out there? Nobody should be outside.”
“Zekiel, Aidan and Owen went out to help but they haven’t come back,” cries Davey as the ground shakes from a nearby impact.
“Sorry, boys. They should have come in with everyone else. They’re gone by now. Nobody survives out there. I’m closing the door,” says Cheung as he reaches for the button to lower the motorized door.
“No!” Davey cries, pushing Cheung away from the switch box.
“Wait. Please. Just another minute,” James pleads as a blast of air rushes through the door bringing a dusting of white powder.
The thousands of new residents of Level Two, the survivors from the Parklands look toward the wind and the tall door.
Standing at the top of the ramp are three boys silhouetted by the angry glowing sky. They walk down the ramp, the occupants of Level Two present as witness.
“They walked through the storm,” cries a voice. “They survived the blast,” shouts another.
The boys walk three abreast down the ramp. “No one survives the storms,” cries a voice in the crowd. “They should be dead,” calls another. “Yet they live,” a woman shouted.
The boys pass through the ramp door. To the astonishment of everyone, white dust covers the boys from head to toe. The crowd surrounds the boys. People crying out. “It’s a miracle.” “They came out of the storm.” “They are blessed.”
One man kneels at the feet of the boys. A woman kneels followed by another man, causing a cascade of people kneeling before the boys covered in white powder as the metal door rolls down behind them.
“Hey get up. What are you doing? Don’t kneel,” Aiden calls out.
“We’re the same as you. Stand,” says Owen.
“You’re supposed to worship God. Not us,” Zekiel calls out.
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For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
The Author
Mike McCoy is an international businessman and entrepreneur who has traveled extensively and worked in the consumer electronics industry for over twenty-five years. The company he founded developed a variety of innovative products which sold in retail stores around the world. Mike is also an accomplished athlete known for long distance events. He completed a full Ironman Triathlon in 2006. He thought running fifty miles would be a good accomplishment, so for his fiftieth birthday he ran a double Marathon (52.4 miles). In 2018, Mike celebrated his sixtieth birthday with a six-hundred-mile bike ride from Florence, Oregon to San Francisco, California. Somehow, he found time to write.
Asteroids – Bridge to Nowhere is his first novel.
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