Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (13 page)

"What? What do you mean?" Zack replied.

"I mean it--I can't see another body, another
town destroyed. How many have there been now, Zack? How many dead? How many
towns just wiped off the map? It's not right! You know it's not right." Maria's
voice cracked as the words tumbled out of her mouth in a flood. "Everybody is
afraid to say it, but it isn't normal, it can't be a coincidence. There's just
no way so many disasters could hit in so short a span of time. Tornadoes,
desert hail storms, earthquakes, now dams bursting when they shouldn't. And
people--all the people, Zack, dead every time! The crushed dead, the floating
dead, the exploded dead, the burned or frozen dead, bits and pieces of dead
everywhere. And I'm supposed to look pretty and tell the world all about it in
a reassuring voice. It's too much, it's just too much. I can't do this anymore."
Maria's speech ended in a whisper as the tears flowed down her face.

He pulled her to him and held her close while
she cried. About time, he thought. It's been crazy these last few weeks. And
she's right--
why
is it happening? Can't be normal.

"Is it God doing this, Zack?" Maria whispered.

"Oh, Maria, I don't think so, I really don't,"
Zack replied.

He cringed inside at the thought of what some
religious groups were starting to say about the disasters, knowing that his
parents were certainly saying the same things. Zack had fought against his
parents' beliefs of a vengeful God who dealt in retribution and wrath his whole
life. Born Zachariah Tyler, he had legally changed his name to Zack in
adulthood to get out from under the religious overtones that had colored his
childhood. A Biblical name was only one aspect of his parents' influence. They
had started out as born-again Christians, floated into a Pentecostal group that
spoke in tongues and fell to the ground when filled with the Holy Spirit, and
eventually started their own small church to preach their twisted version of
zealous Christianity. The Tyler Church of the Natural Way in God studied only
scriptures that described examples of God cleansing the flock after they had
gone astray. Their God was a vengeful one, whose love didn't enter into the
picture. Zack felt pretty sure there was some kind of higher power in the universe,
but his parents' fanaticism had left him with no desire to participate in any
kind of organized religion. The closest he'd been to a church in the past ten
years was when he and Maria hid inside one in Bosnia trying to escape sniper
fire.

"Maria," he said slowly, "I'm not even sure I
believe in God, but whatever power there is out there that created this earth
is not causing the disasters. I feel that in my gut. But I think you're right.
Something is causing this--it isn't happening for no reason at all. Lately,
well, I don't know how to talk about this, but lately, I've been waking up in
the night feeling like I almost know what is going on--I know, it sounds crazy.
Why would Zack Tyler know what it is when nobody else does? But it seems so real.
Oh, hell, I know this sounds nuts."

Maria had lifted her head from his chest and her
brown eyes, darkly soft as silk velvet, peered up at him with puzzlement, but
he saw that she was calmer and listening intently.

"Go on," she said quietly, "Tell me what you
mean."

Zack took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Since the earthquake, whenever we've gone to
another one of these disasters, I'm almost not surprised when we get there and
see the destruction. I'm shocked and horrified the same way I am at anything
that kills so many people, but there is a feeling--like déjà vu, yeah, that's
it--like I've been there before. Not that I knew it would happen, but that it
seems so familiar when I see it. The first time was in Las Vegas. Way below the
feelings of shock and awe, I felt like I knew already, that I was expecting it
to be there--that, of course, Las Vegas would be covered in ice. But that would
be the last thing anyone would have expected. And since the tornadoes I've been
waking up at night from dreams, but I can't ever quite remember them. They seem
to be important dreams, and I end up with the frustrating sense that I could
figure everything out if I could just remember! It's maddening. The only
concept I hold onto when I wake up is that the dreams are connected to the
disasters. Today, when we arrived here at Allenville was the strongest
impression I've had that I knew about a disaster before we got word of it."

Maria asked, "What do you mean when you say you
know the dreams are connected to the disasters? How do you know that?"

Zack stared across the water that covered a town
full of bodies, struggling to describe the knowledge that felt so nebulous and
fleeting. "You know that verse in the Bible, First Corinthians, I think, about
seeing through a glass darkly?" Maria nodded. "That's what it's like. A hazy,
cloudy view of something huge that I can't grasp yet."

"Yet?" Maria asked, surprise in her voice. "You
think you will be able to at some point?"

"Oh, yes," Zack answered confidently, "the
feeling of knowing something about the disasters is getting stronger every day.
Whatever is causing the disasters is working with a plan, of that I'm sure."

Maria took a step away from Zack, reaching out
to touch his tanned, well-muscled arm, as she said, "Now, don't take this the
wrong way, but you aren't, you know, hearing voices or anything are you?" As he
started to smile, she continued defensively, "It's just that you're telling me
something I find difficult to believe, and you're quoting the Bible and making
pronouncements about a plan all the while sounding like some kind of prophet or
something, and since you started growing that beard, great as it looks, it does
kind of enhance the image of some Biblical character and--"

"Whoa! Maria, catch your breath and calm down,"
Zack said, laughing. "No, I'm not hearing voices, and I don't think I'm
receiving a message from God, or that I'm the next incarnation of Christ. In
fact, I feel sure this has nothing to do with God, or at least, with religion
as we know it. I'm not losing it, Maria, and I do know how strange all this
must sound to you."

Hesitantly, she said, "Well, okay, if you're
sure." She paused and stared intently at the tops of her rust-colored hiking
boots. Then, picking at a thread on her faded denim vest, she said sincerely,
if somewhat shyly, "I really couldn't handle it if you went loco on me. I
depend on you, you know." Needing and depending on anyone was something she
didn't own up to lightly.

Zack put his arm around her shoulders as they
walked back to the van. "Don't worry, it's going to be--I'm going to be okay. I
just needed to talk about all of it, and when you brought up 'why,' it seemed
like the appropriate time."

"Don't get me wrong," Maria said. "I'm very glad
you told me--and if you start to understand more, or have any prophetic dreams
you remember, please tell me." Giggling, she continued, "I may want to
interview you if this continues."

"Ah, now we come to it, I'm only useful as an
eyewitness. All right, I'll keep you informed," Zack said in a light tone. "So,
changing the subject, you like the beard, do you?"

"You're incorrigible," Maria said, "and I refuse
to comment. Now let's get out of here."

Louisville, Kentucky

Janine loved to walk through the stables early
in the morning, listening to the snorting and stomping of energetic racehorses.
Like most girls, she had fallen in love with horses around age eleven. However,
her passion for horses had only grown stronger through the years, and now at
age sixteen, she treasured any time she could spend with the beautiful
creatures. This morning, however, she could not summon up any joy at seeing the
horses. Yesterday, Sherry had been killed in the tornado that hit the diner.
Sherry was the only person Janine had let herself feel anything for in the past
two years. And now she had been taken away from her. Janine remembered how
Sherry had always said, "Life sucks, and then you die." Today, Janine had to
agree.

The horses and Sherry had been a major turning
point in Janine's life last year. She had run away from home when she was
fourteen. On the streets of Louisville she had gone from one bad situation to
the next until she wandered into Jake's Diner where Sherry worked. She carried
the classifieds in her hands, thinking there had to be a job she could talk her
way into. Sherry and Janine were kindred spirits; both had been lost in the
world. Sherry helped Janine check out the job listings and then suggested she
check out the nearby stables who were always looking for stable hands and who
might not be too picky about her age or credentials if she were a hard worker.

The stables were like heaven to Janine. Horses
everywhere! She volunteered for the worst jobs happily and within weeks the
boss was relying on her more and more. She seemed to have an affinity with the
horses. Her soft, calming voice could settle any of them down, and her obvious
love for them was demonstrated in the special care she gave to every one of
them.

Sherry and Janine's relationship developed over
the past year into the closeness of sisters. Janine's ability to trust and love
again reawakened. Sherry was only a couple of years older than Janine and it
seemed like something too good to be true that they had found each other in
such a big world. Sherry was always afraid something bad would happen, that
something would go wrong. Janine was always afraid that someday Sherry would
leave...but that never happened. However, it turned out Sherry was right after all.
Something bad did happen. A freaking tornado. The miracle was over. Yes, life
did suck, and Sherry was dead.

New York City, New York

They had slept a good portion of another day and
then gone out to eat. By now Nathan and Alex were feeling human again. She had
been glued to the television, switching between news reports of devastation in
various locations while Nathan was plowing through stacks of newspapers.

"Alex, turn that off. We need to talk," Nathan
said abruptly. She stopped clicking the remote and hit the mute button, and
then sat in a lotus position on the carpeted floor. She still didn't feel
comfortable in chairs yet. Alex noticed she was obeying Nathan's demands with
some docility, which made her uncomfortable, but for the life of her, she
simply had no fight in her at this point.

He started talking, "There is too much
happening, too many disasters of too great a magnitude, to ignore what the old
woman said. I think they are all connected. She called the earthquake in California
a 'beginning,' and now that I've looked at what has happened since then, I'm
really getting scared. So many lives have been lost! Not just in Los
Angeles--which in itself was horrific--but all over the place. And these
disasters...they aren't right."

Alex tilted her head and her shining brown hair
fell like a curtain over her right shoulder. "What do you mean they aren't
right?"

"Okay, let's take them in order. First the
earthquake in L.A. Nobody's ever seen one that big! Over three and a half million
people lived in Los Angeles. They give casualty reports of 15,000 dead in such
and such suburb, but they aren't telling us the whole story there. I don't
think they've begun to scratch the surface on the huge numbers of dead in L.A.
Then came the most bizarre one -- Las Vegas. It's a pyramid of ice that has
melted a bit, but was so huge that it's still out there. Do you know how many
people lived in Las Vegas? 1.3 million. It was one of the fastest growing
cities in the past decade. 1.3 million, Alex! Think of it! All dead...and yet,
reading the papers and listening to the news...it's like nobody's really paying
attention to how many people have actually died! Or maybe everyone is in shock."
Nathan stood and began pacing around the room. His blond hair, lightened even
more by the sun, flopped over one eye as he looked down at Alex.

"Then there were the F5 tornadoes in Kentucky.
Out of nowhere, no weather systems around to fuel such tornadoes, they just
appear out of nowhere and wreak havoc and claim more lives across the state of
Kentucky. And that's another thing," he said, whirling around and stopping his
pacing suddenly. "These disasters seem to jump from state to state and seem
confined within the borders of each specific state! Now when have you ever heard
of a weather phenomenon respecting state borders?" He paused for a moment and
then resumed.

"Next, hardly noticed, was a dam that broke in
Allenville that took out a town of 6,000 or so. A so-called 'sunny day' dam
failure. Nothing strange about that...according to the papers anyway."

Nathan paused again and then squatted down
beside Alex and looked seriously in her face. "Now you tell me--do you really
think all this is just coincidence? Or, do you think something otherworldly,
strange, or unnatural is going on here? Something planned--not by us, not by
humans. But by...something else. Was the old woman right?"

Alex thought hard about what he'd said. She knew
she was the more impulsive of the two of them. She also knew she had an
intuitive strength that led her to gather bits of knowledge and then make a
leap to connect them together and come up with new theories and ideas in ways
others never would--ideas that worked and made sense. Nathan was the calmer,
steadier one, who examined all possibilities and took his time coming to
conclusions--it was one of the reasons she liked working with him. This however,
would be a pretty big leap, even for her. On the other hand, she thought
resolutely, what did she have to lose sticking with Nathan? She really did have
nothing left to go home to, no one waiting anywhere for her.

She looked directly into his eyes and said, "What
the hell--let's go with it as a working theory."

Nathan smiled in relief. Winning Alex over was
the first step. He had no idea what the next step was, or where to even start
to look for it.