The Passage

I wonder if this isn't happening all over ..

Not everyone around the campfire is silent, as Brian has begun giggling, but

this goes unnoticed by the others rapt with the stories being told. Brian

stares off into space, his face a mask, giggling softly though nothing seems

to be funny. Some of the repeated shocks to weak individuals show mental

illness setting in - Tammy, who develops symptoms of catatonic schizophrenia,

Brian, who says inappropriate things indicating he is seeing another reality

and is either hallucinating or delusional. Brian says,

.. Happening to the goats ..

Everyone stares at Brian quietly while he giggles softly to himself, looking

off into space, though nothing is funny.

_______________________________

The dim light of dawn shows Big Tom trudging back from the creek, a towel

thrown over his shoulder. He meets Red, who is sipping coffee at what serves

as the kitchen table now, both men alone as the others sleep in. Big Tom

glances up at the sky and then comments quietly to Red.

Seems like this cloud cover is never going to lift.

Red rubs the tips of his fingers together, examining them briefly.

I saw this when I was stationed in the Philippines –

some volcanoes have been burping, somewhere.

Big Tom bends over a smoldering campfire, picking up a blackened coffee pot,

and while pouring himself a mug of coffee speaks in a quiet voice.

Have you noticed what's happening to Tammy?

Red had been dreading this moment.

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I think she'll snap out of it, she just misses her

doll house. The way she holds that rag doll of hers,

you'd think it was all she had in the world.

Clearly eager to talk about what he sees happening to his little girl, Big Tom

is not going to be put off so easily.

She's never been like that, so quiet! I couldn't even

get her to talk to me yesterday, wouldn't say a word.

Damned peculiar.

Martha steps out of one of the makeshift tents, brushing hair away from her

placid sleepy face. She smiles slightly at the two men in her life as she

walks over to the fire, flipping open the coffee pot lid to inspect the

contents.

I heard you two talking about Tammy. I known she's

not right, and if we could I'd take her straight-away

to Doctor Townsend, but there's no way what with the

roads torn up.

A wailing sound floats through the air, coming from a distance but

unmistakably human. Mark bolts out of one of the tents, beating back the

blankets that act as the tent walls in his haste. He has a worried look on

his sleepy face.

Where's Brian, did you see where he went?

Red points in the direction of the wail, his face blank as though this is

nothing new. Mark heads off in haste in that direction, tucking his shirt

into this pants and stomping his feet into his boots as he goes.

That's another one who's not right. The other day I

found him talking to thin air.

_______________________________

One week later some townsfolk arrive, having walked from the nearby small

town. Several people are straggling in the dim dawn, along the winding road

that leads past the farm. One of them pulls a wagon meant to be pulled by a

pony, hauling another. The man inside is gripping both sides, bracing himself

against the jolts, his bruised body complaining at the motion. Herman, a large

man in the lead, stops and points toward the ranch house and the others look

up, lifting their gaze from the road and then looking in that direction. They

move forward with more pep now, taking hope now that they have found other

survivors.

Big Tom has been watching this procession from where he is sitting at the

table with Martha and Red, his hands wrapped around a coffee mug.

We've got more visitors.

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Red jerks his head around, and then rises to go off to get his rifle. Big Tom

puts his mug down and heads in the direction of the arriving travelers,

apparently deciding that by their appearance they are anything but a threat.

Big Tom walks with a firm step past the wreck of the Ranch House and out along

the entry road. He is approaching with his hand outstretched, recognizing the

lead man. The group closes up around Big Tom, everyone is attempting to talk

at once. Clara, a thin graying woman, has rushed up to Big Tom. She describes

fire from dropping firestorms that consumed one group, the charred bodies

found.

They were all burned, as though there was no escape,

as though the fire dropped on them from the sky!

Her husband, Len, a thin bent man, joins in.

Don't know where else, as the house was fine, and that

ain't the weirdest thing we seen neither!

Clara glances at her husband.

You talking about that man pelted to death?

Len, not accustomed to be displaced as the story teller, jumps back in.

Hailstones had killed another which they found along a road, having left his

abandoned car. This man's car had shattered windows and a pock marked car.

It was like he was stoned to death, those little