The Passage

the fire taking this scene in, their faces grim. Colonel Cage finally breaks

the silence.

I've heard this was going on. Cannibalism. We got some

reports, places where they had the radio up, and they

were under attack like this.

Big Tom is staring at him with an alarmed look on his face, the obvious

thought that they are walking into danger, danger that he hadn't been told

about, on this mind.

What the fuck did you bring us here for! What were you

thinking!

Colonel Cage glances at him briefly, then back at the scene.

We got other reports too, some groups were doing OK,

and I figured out their general location.

His face darkens as he realizes this might not be a local affair.

I hope to God my wife and kids are OK. The general

didn't let any personal calls go through.

Netty says,

We can't let them see this!

Her comment brings them all back to the immediate situation.

We'll tell them there's a washout.

_______________________________

Mark and Brian are floating through a low-lying cloud. The day is continuously

overcast, gray with blowing clouds almost at ground level, and drizzling

continuously. All is gray, and they both are being powdered with a fine

volcanic soot which has turned the pair and their clothing light gray and

streaked. Brian is hanging down below Mark, in a parachute seat, looking

around with wide frightened eyes.

Mark is holding the hot air jet gingerly in his arms, pointed up into a double

parachute arrangement above him. He rarely puffs the jet, as the wind catches

them and propels them with rapid bursts now and then. Mark is using the jet

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sparingly, only when the wind dies down between bursts and they begin to drift

toward the ground.

Below them are flooded farmlands and a town, a church steeple and silo

sticking up above the water, and occasional rooftops with people huddled in

the center. One waves frantically at the floating pair, hoping to be rescued.

Off to the side, in the distance, is a new cliff where the land has been

sheered upward by a couple hundred feet. Shreds of city housing are clinging

to the top of the new cliff, as well as crumpled along the bottom, with

wreckage clinging to the cliff itself.

_______________________________

The group traveling overland has arrived to find the highway bridge they hoped

to use to cross the river in shambles. The middle section of the reinforced

concrete bridge is completely displaced, sticking up from the river, 100 feet

away from where the bridge is, having moved. The day is overcast, as usual,

but as the group is standing on the river bank there is a slight breeze, which

all appreciate. There is no evidence of activity. No boats, no people on

shore, nothing but the expanse of water and the breeze ruffling the calm

surface and the soiled and tattered clothing hanging from the tired bodies of

the group as they arrive, one by one, to look.

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Clara raises her skirts and wades into the water up to her hips, a look of

relief on her face. Seeing this, Billy looks up into his mother's face and

begs.

Mom, can we go swimming?

Big Tom, looking over the torn bridge, is trying to come to grips with the

forces that would have rearranged this familiar landscape.

I wouldn't do that until we learn what might be under

the water, and there might be an undertow.

A fog horn blares softly. The group sees a large boat being rowed from the

opposite side toward them. The boat is a raft, cobbled together from various

boards, with half a dozen men rowing, three on each side. The fog horn has

been to signal their approach. Martha glances nervously at Colonel Cage,

whose face is calm as they would not be announcing themselves if the approach

was malicious. Big Tom's face relaxes, and he walks over to his wife, putting

an arm around her shoulder as they watch and wait.

As the boat approaches they see that the men are thin but energetic, many with

bare very tan arms sticking out from their tattered shirts. They look over

their shoulders as they row, for aim, as there appears to be no leader in the

group. As the boat approaches, Big Tom and Danny step into the water to help

guide it to shore. The men in the boat are obviously unarmed, and dismount the

boat by clinging to the sides and sticking a leg into the water. These are

not boatmen, but landsmen who have learned how to cross the river.

Ian, the first man to step out of the boat, approaches with a broad smile on

his face, his hand extended.

Welcome, we're the group that survived at Bridgewater,

and we've set up a camp on the bluff over there. Where

are you from?

_______________________________

The last boat is arriving at Bridgewater. Big Tom and Martha are with their

children, gathering their things, obviously having arrived on an earlier boat.