Genetic Drift (5 page)

DAY 276 AFTERNOON

THE REALIZATION

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA

Maddie exited the washroom and followed the sound of Mac and Barron talking.  She turned off the light in the hall, walked around the corner, and stuck her head into the kitchen.  She looked at Barron, “Did you borrow these clothes from a 300-pound man?”  She walked fully into the kitchen and the drawstrings of the sweatpants were wrapped around her waist.  They were so puffy that her legs looked like two balloons.  The shirt didn’t do any better.  Not only did she have to reposition it every time it slipped off of her shoulder, but it was covered in ketchup and mustard stains.  To make matters worse, every time she looked down to adjust it, “Loser” would be there taunting her.  She had found some slippers in the washroom but her heels extended over the backs and touched the floor. 

“It was the best I could do on short notice,” Barron said as he looked at her.

She shook her head in disappointment at Barron “My legs look like toothpicks in a potato sack,” she said, taking a seat at the table next to Mac. 

“Okay, Doctor, you want to know what happened… well so do I.” Maddie placed her elbows on the table, crisscrossing her fingers.  She leaned toward Mac, staring unflinchingly into his eyes. 

“Please, Maddie, call me Mac,” he said, trying to be congenial and make Maddie feel comfortable in her new surroundings.  Maddie told Mac and Barron about the last day at the Summerwhite Resort as they both listened with great intent. 

“So Maddie,” Mac started his inquiry, “you’re telling me that you have no idea what has happened?  You do realize that you have no recollection of the past nine months.”  She looked at Mac in disbelief.  She felt her anger fill her and she exploded.

“I don’t even know where I am!  You’re telling me that I have been out for nine months??? Huh, is that what you’re saying?  One day I’m with my friends and loving my life and the next day I wake up to an old man and his boy-toy, or whatever he is,” she said, her temples pulsing as she looked at Barron, “staring at me while I’m lying under a blanket, half-naked! Then, I can’t even be told about my eye.  No, no, sir, I look into the mirror and see that my eye is flippin’ red.  Not just bloodshot, totally red, everywhere.  So when I tell you that I have no idea what has happened in the past nine months, that means I DON’T KNOW!” 

Maddie finished with her eyes glued back on Mac.  He took a deep breath.

“Maddie, you’re in Charlottesville, in a medical clinic, with me, Mac, and Barron, my assistant,” he explained.

“And how did I get here?” she asked Mac without pause. 

“You were brought here from the Troll’s bunker,” Barron answered.

“So I came from a land of mythical creatures, is that what you’re saying?” she said, as her head snapped toward Barron,

Mac started to speak again, “No, Maddie, the Trolls are the aliens that took you on your last night at Summerwhite.” 

“So the aliens landed?” Maddie asked, while she was piecing things together. “The last I heard was that they were still in orbit.  They must have come down that night.  Where did they take me?” 

“I don’t know.  All I do know is that you were found during an attack on the alien bunker.  That bunker was near Nellysford and you were brought here,” Mac replied.

Maddie looked down and sat in a moment of silence trying to process what Mac had told her. 

“So they did this to me,” Maddie said, and pointed at her red eye. “Have all those Trolls been killed?” 

“They have an intricate system of bunkers.  We’ve been defending ourselves after we regrouped… after the Attack,” Mac said as he shook his head.

She paused for a moment to look out of the small window and then scanned the rest of the kitchen.  It was more of a break room than a kitchen.  She spotted silhouettes of dogs and cats on the wall and posters for various animal drugs with lists of the benefits the pills or shots provided pets.  She came back and focused on Mac, “So they attacked.  What happened and why am I in this
medical clinic
?” 

Mac looked straight into her eyes, “There isn’t much left of the larger cities, they were wiped out in the initial raid.  The military and the government no longer exist and we’re defended by a local group, the Avalon Militia.  A couple of members of the militia brought you here after the raid in Nellysford and I’m the one who was chosen to take care of you.  Where you are… Well, this used to be an animal hospital, Happy Paws.  We kept the name because there is a sign out front.  Don’t worry, this place is safe and doesn’t offer veterinary services anymore.”  Her fists balled up as she became angrier with every bit of information Mac was telling her.  She barraged Mac with questions that she needed answered.

“Where is Catelyn?”

“I don’t know,” Mac said, as he knew he didn’t have her answer.

“Where’s Damien?”

“I don’t know,” Mac answered immediately with the same tone.

“Where’s Bryce?” she asked, and then demanded, “I want to know where Bryce is.”

“I don’t know where he is either.”

“You’re a wealth of knowledge, why don’t you get me some answers and then maybe I could help you out!” she screamed at Mac.

Mac was annoyed with Maddie yelling at him, “Then ask me a question that I can answer!”  He stood up and Maddie’s blood results were pushed toward her. 

“What about my parents, my sister?” she asked.  She was going to continue to ask questions until she got something out of him. 

“Where were they the night you went missing?” Mac asked her. 

“They were in Richmond.” She noticed the piece of paper and swiped it off of the table.  It crumpled in her fists as she made sure that she got all or at least part of it.  Barron saw that she was going to grab the results but his reaction was too slow.  He was paying too much attention to the conversation and her movement stunned him before he even had time to flinch. 

The old man sat back into his seat. “Richmond didn’t make it through the Attack, they are probably dead,” his tone was solemn with the presentation of more bad news. 

She fell back into her chair, “Everybody that I have ever known is gone?”  Maddie’s anger shifted to sadness.  Her family was gone too.  That day, in Nellysford, just changed from the happiest day to the worst day of her life. 

“Is there any chance that they made it out of there?” she asked as she started to look at the results. 

Mac paused and adjusted his chair, “If they were in Richmond that night, I know that they didn’t make it.  Unless they had left, there’s no chance that anyone survived the Attack,” he said.  Maddie’s mind was racing.  Her parents never left the house, let alone the city, during the holidays.  There was no way they had survived and she had to come to terms that they were gone.

As reality set in, a sense of fear overcame her thoughts as she started to grasp this new world.  She looked at the paper that Mac conveniently let her have.  Her fear soon subsided as her voice, and her anger, came back.

“Whose results are these?” she asked. She knew they were her results.

Mac slowly leaned forward in his chair, “They are yours, we…” 

Maddie slammed the paper back on the table, “Apparently there’s something wrong with me,” her voice started to escalate with frustration. “Where are the other results?  Where are the other blood tests?  What else have you done?” 

Barron spoke up softly, “That’s what I was trying to do when you woke up.” 

“So you guys haven’t even looked into this?  Why is my eye red?” she yelled at both Barron and Mac.

“You’ve only been here for two days and—” Mac said.

She cut him off, “Excuses.  All of it.  Everything you say, excuses. I’m not stupid, Mac.  There’s something going on with me and you’re not telling me.  You afraid I can’t handle it?”

“We were about to—” Barron replied.

Maddie cut him off too, “About to what?  About to NOT find out what happened to me!  I need some time to think, no need to direct me!” 

Barron got up with Maddie. 

“Do you need help?” he asked. 

“No, I don’t think so, you’ve helped enough,” Maddie said, her tone matching the drop of her brow.

Barron’s grin became a grimace as Maddie stormed out the door.  Mac got out of his seat and put his hand on Barron’s shoulder.

“Barron, I need to tell you something,” Mac said, and began to walk to the sink. “Close the door.” 

The light in the hall faded as the door to the kitchen began to slowly close.

DAY 33

THE ATTACK

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

“Ben, son, I don’t want you to come up here,” General Hawkins said over the phone. 

“Dad, I haven’t seen you in a while and it sounds like you need someone around.” A voice was heard through the receiver.

“I’m not leaving this place until we find out what this spacecraft’s intentions are,” the General replied.

“But Dad, you haven’t left that place in a month, it’s not healthy.  Anyways, they’ve been out there long enough and haven’t done anything.  You need to leave the office and get some good rest, reset your mind,” Ben returned his plea. 

“I’m not leaving,” the General repeated himself, “now I want you to turn around and go back home, no more negotiating.”  A sudden burst of alarms flared throughout the building and the General put his hand over the phone.

“Dad, what’s going on?” Ben asked.

“Son, I have to go, love you, bye,” the General said, and quickly hung up the phone.  He hurried to the main display.  Staff Sergeant Collins excitedly made the report.

“Sir, the OOS caught an explosion from the spacecraft,” he said as he pointed to the Main Display.  It showed what looked like bottle rockets shooting outward from the spacecraft. 

As the spread of the explosion continued, it became more defined.  It was not an explosion but blue projectiles hurtling to Earth. 

“Notify the President and get the other PDS advocates on comms now.  They are launching on us!” the General shouted.  He went to his office and took a seat in front of his speaker phone.  He pressed the button labeled, “U.S. online.”  The other countries that were required to launch the defense missiles were coming across the speaker in short succession. 

“Russia.”

“China.”

“France.”

“U.K., online.”

The principle members discussed the hostilities that had been seen coming from the OOS. “U.S. declares hostile,” General Hawkins said.  As soon as the next country started to speak a dead tone came across the speaker. 

“Get these comms back online!” the General shouted.

“Cell 321 is launching, loss of satellite communications,” a voice called on the watch floor, and continued, even more panicked, “Cell 322… 323… 324…, Group 3 commencing counter-launch.  Groups 1… and 2, launching, Group 7, Group 5.  Sir, all groups have counter-launched due to a loss of satellite link.”

The main display went to static with the alert LOSS OF SIGNAL displaying on the bottom of the screen.

“Put something we can use on the display,” the General yelled over his shoulder. 

“Sir, we have lost all satellite communications.  The only display we have is a hardwired radar,” the radar operator said. The display changed from static to an old radar display.  There were symbols but nothing that correlated to the blue projectiles.

“Sir, we are only tracking commercial aircraft,” the radar operator said, and she continued to scan for possible threats. 

A blip came onto the screen. “Bogey one, I have skin,” she announced. 

“Trajectory?” the General asked without hesitation.

The radar technician pushed some buttons and a dashed line displayed on the screen. 

“New York City sir,” the radar operator shouted back. 

“Bogey two, Boston… Bogey three, Philadelphia,”

“Bogey 37 Denver… Bogey 38, here.” 

The radar operator’s voice cracked, “They are shooting at everything.” 

“Launch all measures in self-defense,” the General ordered.  He sat back in his chair.

“We are going to get hit,” he said, rubbing his jaw and mouth.

The planetary defense system worked as planned.  Launch after launch of two missiles from every cell.  Some missiles targeted the blue projectiles and were absorbed while others went directly for the spacecraft.  Lost from sight back on Earth, each missile struck the spacecraft and it sustained considerable damage.  It began to move out of its orbit and drifted to the closest object, the Moon.  The spacecraft continued to drift until it covered a quarter of the Moon.  Then a big cloud of dust rose from the surface and its face was forever changed as the spacecraft embedded in the soil.

All of the news outlets were notified of the launch.  Anybody that was outside could see the blue streaks across the sky.  The news outlets were affected by the same satellite outage but were able to broadcast on local stations as they were still able to transmit. 

* * *

Will Easton was sitting in his chair at his intake facility when the TV caught his attention just as the breaking news came across the screen.  The President started his address, “We have seen a response from our visiting spaceship. Some type of explosion has occ—” he stopped as someone tapped him on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, “let me correct myself.  We are under attack and the spaceship has launched on us.  All citizens of major cities on the eastern seaboard need to stay in their homes, do not evacuate, the launch has already occurred and it is too late to evacuate.  I will repeat myself, stay at home, this is your only option.  We are activating our defenses to eliminate the threat.  Executive Order 2519 is now in effect.”  The screen went to static.  Will began to clap his hands, “I might be crazy, I knew it was going to happen, but if people are going to die… then do it in style!” 

* * *

General Hawkins picked up the phone, called Ben, and spoke something softly into the handset.  Just as he hung up, the blue mass hit.  There was no large force, no large explosions, no shockwaves.  Nothing remained but craters.  All of the cities were gone.  The only memory of them was emptiness that replaced them in the earth.