“It’s everywhere,” Mike said. “The whole world is burning.”
When Del was forced to slow down, people began coming up to the Humvee. “This could get ugly,” he said, and jammed the gas to the floor.
“Easy on the clutch, man.”
“I know it, but I gotta not hit these folks.”
In the sky, a huge plasma danced, a long electrical body writhing, its appendages sweeping the horizons like great snakes.
Soon, they were through the town and onto the highway that led to what had been the convoy’s original destination. Like the town, the road was filling with refugees, a few on horseback, more on bikes, most on foot. Mike held a weapon in sight, making sure it was visible to the angry eyes and the mad eyes that watched them pass.
These poor damn people—somebody had to save them. If this darn portal would work, they could go through. Given enough time, maybe the whole darned country could go through.
What a damn miracle it was, but probably not for ordinary folks. Only people like the ones in the Blue Ridge would be allowed to use a thing like this, you could bet on it.
His heart just literally felt like it was tearing in two. He could feel his twin wanting to be with him. He could feel Tim being scared and being alone, and maybe knowing that the portal was in motion, that it was disappearing like a summer cloud or whatever it looked like on that side.
The farther they got from town, the fewer people there were on the road, and Del began to run the Humvee harder—until he saw someone ahead of them.
“Damn,” he said as they drew near the person standing in the middle of the road. It was a woman with a baby stroller filled with fishing equipment, rods, reels, poles, hooks and lines in packets. She wasn’t going anywhere, either. She held her ground right in the middle of the two-lane blacktop.
Del stopped, leaving the Humvee idling.
She came around to the window. “We’re moving our stock,” she said, “and I’d be willing to pay you twenty dollars for an hour of the truck.” She glanced around. “There’s looting. The cops are gone.”
“Lady, we’ll all be dead in a few days.”
“What in the world is the matter with you? How dare you say such a thing.”
“This is the Last Judgment, lady,” Del said. The Twines were Church of Christ, big-time. Not the Peltons. Their dad had steered clear of religion altogether. But Mike knew about the Last Judgment, of course, and from where he sat, Del could damn well be right. What if that black stuff on people was sin showing up right through their skin?
“I need to move my stock. We’re in hard times and we’re planning a sale next week. We need inventory.”
Mike leaned over to Del. “She’s blown,” he said. “Totaled.”
“Christians can’t just leave people,” Del snapped.
“So let me drive. I ain’t one. Anyway, you left all those people back there.”
“Yeah, they weren’t askin’ for help.”
Mike had to get this portal working. He had to get over into wherever the hell it was and find Tim. Mom and Dad were gone now, but this is what they would’ve wanted him to do, and it was what his blood wanted him to do. You lose your twin, you lose half your soul. But how to convince Del?
“Lady,” Mike said, “we need to get on. We got a mission.”
“There’s no mission, Mike!”
“My brother is my mission!”
“Fellas, if you need to go—”
“We need to go!”
Del did not move, and it shocked Mike to realize just how strongly he felt about this. He was going to push Del out of that seat and drive away without him if he didn’t get this vehicle moving again.
But, in the end, Mike had to admit that he couldn’t bust up with Del, let alone make him eat a fist or something. So the next thing he knew, he was loading fishing tackle into the Humvee.
They did six miles to a just plain pitiful little house, sad and tired and full of kids. An older boy and his dad came out and quickly unloaded the Humvee. Helping them and seeing the way they treasured this stuff that nobody would ever buy, Mike was almost moved to tears. It reminded him of being in Afghanistan and having cold families come up to camp in the night, to huddle against the warm sides of tents and fill them with their ripe stink and the reek of ’Stan food.
Guys would kick the shit out of them through the canvas, but Mike and Tim didn’t, and Del would go out and feed them, which would draw more, and he’d feed them until he ran out of damn loaves and fishes or whatever.
These were Americans, though, but it no longer felt much different.
They finished, then Del went out and got their well going by osmosis using garden hoses, which is the kind of thing he always knew how to do.
Mike let the boys look at his weapon, but not fire it. Who knew if those rounds would be needed. He kept the portal covered. No use in having to explain that damn thing, and he knew as well as any soldier that desperate people can turn nasty real fast, if they see something they think might save them.
When he had a chance, though, he looked into the portal. He was sort of hoping to see Tim, but he only saw the day over there getting slowly older, just like it was here.
Del reappeared. “Done and done,” he said, satisfaction in his voice.
“Let’s just get rolling, man. It’s already sunset damn near, so it’s sunset over there, too, and my bro is gonna be feeling mighty needful.”
The first thing they saw of the Acton Clinic was a big wall topped with razor wire. There was a huge iron gate that was wide open, and as they went through it, there appeared what Mike knew at once was the most beautiful house he’d ever seen. But as they drew closer, he saw that it was partially burned out. Windows were broken. There was an ugly silence of a kind he knew all too well.
And now, as the sun set, the violet star that Colonel Manders had told them was a supernova appeared low in the northeastern sky, flooding the world in its creepy light.
When they arrived at the front of the house, Del stopped the Humvee and cut the engine. He turned to Mike. “What now?”
Mike had no idea what now. The windows of the old house were dark. It looked pretty ruined in there. But it didn’t look real classified. No government warning signs, a wide-open gate, and no lights or guard units didn’t exactly suggest this.
“What now is, we take a look around.”
“Weapons?”
“You carry and cover, I’ll take the portal.”
“We can’t leave a weapon uncontrolled.”
“Then we pull the ammo outta mine and I’ll hold on to the bolt.”
“We might need that firepower.”
So Mike strapped on his rifle and carried the portal. The thing wasn’t heavy, and from the back it looked like a piece of canvas. But on the front, it was as slick as glass and you could go in it and run off in there, which Mike did not have the guts to do. He wanted his brother, though, and worse every minute.
The darker it got, the brighter the light from the portal appeared. Now it was looking over a glade full of grazing horses. The sun was a glow in the west, the sunset rich with gold at the horizon, then orange and yellow above it, and finally pale green fading into the blue of night. You could see plenty of stars, and Mike knew a fair amount about stars, thanks to their dad, who had a Celestron and had taught them the sky.
“How weird,” he said. He held the portal directly overhead and looked up into it, then brought it slowly down to the eastern horizon.
“The constellations are out of place.”
“Useful to know. Let’s go inside and see if we can find out why.”
Mike was transfixed. “Let me tell you… this sky is not right.”
“Okay! Now let’s move our asses. This can’t be safe out here, man.”
