Meteor (5 page)

“Will the solar generators keep working if there’s any kind of climate disruption?” Mary asked as they went into the kitchen area.

“They should. Right now, we are still plugged into the grid, which hopefully won’t go down in the first place.” Troy got out some canned vegetables and beans.

Mary checked the large refrigerator and pulled out a couple of beers. “Troy, what is the worst case scenario? I mean, just how bad can things get out there?”

“Well, it really all depends on the size and impact location of the meteor, I suppose. I don’t want to scare you, but the last time a meteor this size collided with Earth, it caused a massive global cooling. Debris was thrown up into the sky for decades, blocking out the sun. The lack of sunlight and cooling temperatures caused much of the vegetation to die out, and over half of the species that lived on Earth as well, but once again that is the worst case scenario.”

Mary looked worried, and Troy did his best to comfort her. He took her head in both of his hands and drew her gaze up to his.

“Listen, Mary, we have to be strong for the sake of our children. No matter what happens out there or what the news might report, we have to be brave and strong for Cordelia and Brandon. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes, I will,” Mary reassured him.

Troy then gave her a small kiss on the lips.

There was still a massive amount of tension surrounding the family as they waited for news about the meteor. The siblings continued to argue and Cordelia continued to pine for her boyfriend. Troy turned on the television to hear the latest news report, but became quickly distracted by the arguing that he heard coming from upstairs.

“What’s going on up there?” Troy asked his wife, who was busy trying to decide what to make for their dinner.

“I don’t know, I went up there to break up the last disagreement. It’s your turn,” Mary said, giving her husband a quick smile.

“Alright, but I really want to see the news report. The meteor should be making its impact any time now.” Troy reluctantly headed up the stairs to check on his kids.

“I asked you to turn that music down!” Cordelia said.

“And I asked you to stop weeping and muttering about Henry,” Brandon fired back.

“How can you even hear what I’ve been saying with the music blaring like that? Why don’t you get some taste anyway, no one listens to the Backstreet Boys anymore,” Cordelia said as the tears began to form in her eyes.

“I don’t care what other people are doing. This is what I want to listen to. Why do you have to be such a bitch?”

“Dad! Brandon is up here calling me a bitch!” Cordelia said as she jumped to her feet. Her face now had a ruddy complexion.

“That’s right, I sure did. That boyfriend of yours is such a loser, anyway.” Brandon made an ‘L’ with his index finger and thumb and held it up into Cordelia’s face.

“He is not a loser. So what if he had to repeat his junior year, I mean everyone makes mistakes,” she said, defensively.

“Come on Cordelia, he is too, and I’ve seen him flirting with the cheerleaders,” Brandon added.

“Liar, you have not.”

“I have too, I saw him whispering to Gina Lansing in the gym, and she really seemed to like what she was hearing,” Brandon said, really trying to egg her on now.

“Why you…”

Troy reached the top of the stairs just in time, as Cordelia began to ball up her fists as if she were getting ready to launch an attack against her brother.

“Just what the hell is going on up here?” Troy asked as he stepped in between the angry siblings.

“Brandon is being a total a-hole. He’s turned his awful music up so loud in the headphones, it’s still getting on my nerves. Then, he started attacking me for missing my boyfriend. I mean, he doesn’t have to act like that just because he’s some kind of sexual misfit and doesn't have anyone.”

“Hey bitch, I heard that,” Brandon said as he removed one side of the headphones to listen.

“Hey Brandon, I will not have you using that kind of language to describe your sister. Now, apologize,” Troy insisted.

“Not until she apologizes for calling me a sexual misfit,” he said as his brow furrowed up.

“Cordelia, apologize,” Troy said looking back at his daughter. She just stood there with her arms crossed, wearing a frown. Brandon just sat there acting like he was listening to his music and uninterested in what anyone else was doing.

“Alright, look, you two. The truth is we don’t know how long we’re going to have to be down here with each other. We need to make the effort to try and get along the best we can. Do you really want to be up here arguing like this for months on end?” he said.

“Months? Are we really going to be here for months?” Cordelia's face began to look slightly panicked.

“Honey, the truth is I have no idea at this point. Any minute now that meteor is going to impact with the Earth, and a lot of what happens will depend on how bad that collision turns out to be and where the meteor hits. In the meantime, you have to learn to get along.”

Brandon looked at his dad and took off his headphones.

“I’m sorry dad, and Cordelia too,” Brandon said as he turned the music down and managed to show him a slight smile.

Cordelia looked reluctant to apologize, but Troy kept looking at her, waiting for her to say sorry to her brother.

“Oh, alright, I’m sorry I called you a sexual misfit,” she said as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

“It might sound more convincing if you didn’t accompany your apology with an eye-rolling,” Brandon said. Cordelia glared at him.

“Alright, alright,” Troy said. “We are trying to make peace here, not get the whole argument started all over again.

“Sorry,” Brandon said.

Cordelia turned away and began to weep softly again.

“Honey, are you alright?” Troy asked her as he put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. She turned around and hugged her father.

“Oh dad, I’m worried about Henry. He doesn’t have a shelter like ours to protect him. He and his family are just trapped in a basement. I’m not sure if they will be able to survive like that. He also says that they don’t have that many supplies. I’m so worried about him and when I’m going to get to see him again,” she said.

“I know dear. There are going to be lots of people dealing with a situation like that. We should be glad that we have adequate shelter like this and thankful for what we have,” Troy said as he looked her in the eyes.

“I’m sorry I called you a doomsday prepper, dad. You were right to want to build this shelter all along. People might have thought you were crazy for being so obsessed with it, but I’ll bet many people are wishing they had done what you did,” she said with a slight grin.

“Thank you, honey. I knew down deep inside that there might come a day like this, and I had to ensure that you, your brother, and your mom were all safe.”

“What about Henry, dad. I miss him so much. Could he come and stay here with us?” she asked hopefully.

“Honey, Henry belongs with his family. They need him right now. Besides, we only have enough room and supplies for the family. Adding another person will put a strain on our provisions.”

“Will I get to see him again?”

Troy paused for a moment and then replied, “I don’t know, dear, I hope so, I really do.” Troy hugged his daughter again. Brandon just rolled his eyes from where he sat on his bed and put his headphones back on.

Troy went back downstairs to get another news report and an update on the status of the meteor.

“Honey, you have to come and hear this,” Mary said as she sat down on the couch and put her fingertips up to her mouth in a worried expression.

Troy sat down and prepared himself for the latest news. The reporter stood in the desert southwest, wearing a facemask to protect himself from the debris in the air:

“This is Gordon Thompson reporting for CNN Headline News. The meteor has made its impact with Earth, and unfortunately, the bulk of the meteor has in fact made landfall. The massive object hit the continent of Africa dead on, and scientists say that it is unlikely that there are many survivors. Smaller chunks of the meteor have landed here in the United States, China and Russia. I’m standing about two hundred yards from the site of the impact from one of the smaller chunks of the meteor in the deserts of Utah that is believed to have broken off when the meteor began to burn up slightly as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere.”

The cameras focused on a large crater in the middle of the desert. Large swirling clouds of debris could be seen rising up from the site into the air. The presenter continued.

“As you can see, it is a very large impact crater. Scientists are telling us that it is the size of four football fields. This is one of the smaller pieces that has made impact. The bulk of the meteor that has landed just south of the Congo Basin is believed to be the size of twenty-five football fields and is believed to have created a crater that is two miles deep. For more insight on this situation we have a scientist, Dr. Hudson from the National Weather Service who is here with us. Dr. Hudson, what is the likely scenario now that the meteor has made its actual impact with Earth?”

The camera panned to a balding middle-aged man with round glasses. “Well, Gordon, it is not a rosy scenario, to say the least. We here in this country have been lucky that the meteor did not make landfall here, however, globally we will all have to deal with the aftermath of its impact and the implications that will have for our climate.

“The meteor that collided with Earth during the time of the dinosaurs was slightly larger than this meteor and it created a catastrophic series of event which ultimately blocked out the sunlight when debris blocked out the atmosphere, caused global cooling, and caused the extinction of over half of the life on Earth.

“As you can see just at the site of this small chunk, loads of debris are already being thrown out into the atmosphere. Satellite imagery coming form the regions above Africa are the haziest that we have ever seen them. The amount of debris is certainly enough to cause serious changes in our climate, but as of yet we do not how serious. The effects of this impact will be far-reaching and will take time to unfold.

“Another concern is the malfunction of facilities such as nuclear facilities and the impact that might have. What we are encouraging everyone to do at this point is to take shelter with as many provisions as you can put together. Emergency response crews are out trying to get supplies to people without them. There is also an effort underway in the major cities to evacuate people to more adequate shelter. If you do have to spend any great amount of time outdoors, we are recommending that you use some kind of filtration mask, preferably a gas mask to keep the debris from doing great harm to your lungs.”

“Thank you, Dr. Hudson, we certainly appreciate the valuable information that you have shared with us today. As you heard him say, take shelter if you can and if you do have to go outside, make sure that you are wearing a gas mask, if you have one, or at least some sort of protection for your lungs due to the amount of debris that has been generated. We have gotten a report in from China and from Russia that large chunks of meteor have made impacts there as well.

“In Russia, the impact was far to the north of Siberia where few live, but in China, the impact was right in the heart of the city of Shanghai. Millions of people are believed to have perished form the impact alone. Global relief services are banding together to help the people of Shanghai who survived the impact. There are still as of yet no reports coming out of Africa. Sources say that they quote ‘fear the worst’ and that the reason we are not getting any reports is because there is no one left there to report back to us. We will keep you posted as more information becomes available about this catastrophic event. This is Gordon Thompson, reporting for CNN Headline News.”

Troy shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. As he turned around, he realized that the rest of the family was also sitting there watching the grim report. The reality of the situation began to set in, and he could see that both Mary and Cordelia were about to burst into tears.

“Oh my god, this is all really happening isn’t it?” Cordelia said as the seriousness of the situation began to dawn on her. Brandon just sat there with a bleak expression on his face. It looked as if all of the blood had drained from him.

Cordelia burst into tears as Troy and Mary both hugged their daughter and tried to comfort her.

“I’m not ever going to see my boyfriend again, am I?” Cordelia wept.

“Now, we don’t know that,” Mary said as she hugged her husband and her daughter. “You have to be strong, my dear. We have to count our blessings right now. Things could actually be much worse than they are.” Mary was doing her best to hold her own tears back as she thought about the plight of not only the family, but the whole world.

Troy moved his daughter’s chin up so that she could face him, and he wiped the tears away from her eyes.

“Honey, we have a fighting chance at survival. Just think of how it would have been if the meteor had made direct contact with this country. We wouldn’t be standing here right now, alive and well,” Troy said, doing his best to try and help his family to see the bright side of things. Cordelia nodded her head like she understood, but then erupted into tears a few minutes later as she thought about what was to come.

Mary tried her best to take her family’s mind off of the situation by fixing a dinner of ravioli and salad. The family sat around the table eating in silence, each one playing out different scenarios in their minds, none of them pleasant. Finally, the silence was broken as Brandon asked his father a question.

“What will happen now, dad?”

“Now,” Troy said, “we must do all we can to make the best of our situation here in the shelter. In the coming days, others will start to run out of their supplies, and you may hear people trying to get into the shelter, but you don’t have to worry. This shelter is built to withstand any sort of attack or forced entry. As you know, I also have the incinerator should we need it. Hopefully we won’t, but things will become increasingly desperate outside as the days go on.”

Mary shot him a look as if he were saying too much. Obviously, this explanation was only further upsetting Cordelia, who had barely touched her food.

“That’s enough, honey,” Mary said as she shot him a furtive glance.

“They need to be prepared for what might happen. Don’t you think it’s better for them to prepare for it now rather than to be shocked once these things start occurring?” Troy asked her. She did not respond.