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Authors: Bernard Wilkerson
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sidewalk in front of them.
The image couldn’t process in
Christina’s mind. It simply didn’t mean anything to her. So she
ignored it. They had to get their report to the Colonel. That was
all that mattered. Some part of her mind also knew she wanted to
find her husband, but if her unit evacuated to their rally point,
she would probably be farther away from him than she was now. She
didn’t like that thought, but knew she would evacuate with them.
She had sworn an oath to defend her country when she had been
commissioned, and she would honor that oath. Her husband would want
her to honor it also. She would just have to find him after they
finished this war.
Depressed, but resolved, she told
her airmen, “Forget the fish. Let’s just get out of
here.”
“ Yes, ma’am,”
Zombie said eagerly from behind her. He opened another door and
moved through it, holding it open for Christina. Shane still seemed
frozen in his doorway.
Christina followed Zombie out onto
the sidewalk. The smell was stronger outside the building than it
had been inside. She wished she knew what it meant. There were dead
fish up and down the street and seaweed everywhere. The sidewalks
and streets were still stained with having been recently wet, as if
it had been raining.
She looked back at Shane, still
frozen in the doorway.
“ Airman! Move
out!” she ordered, using the command voice she had been taught in
ROTC summer camp. She hadn’t used it since then, except
occasionally to tease her husband.
It worked. The authority in her
voice shook Airman Anthony out of his paralysis.
“ Yes, ma’am.” He
stepped out of the doorway, letting the door close gently behind
himself. He followed them as they walked down the street towards
the interior gate they had come through, back towards the silos.
The three sidestepped seaweed and dead fish. The airmen also kept
their MP23s at the ready.
As they approached the gate,
Christina became aware of a sound. It was a dull, distant roar,
almost as if the ocean had become much louder suddenly. It was a
sound she would hear when she and her husband took long walks along
the beach.
The others heard it also, and when
they walked past the last building and into the open area before
the gate, they all three looked towards the coast.
The monster they saw was more
frightening than any monster or alien Christina could have
imagined. Suddenly the seaweed, the fish, and the receding water
made sense.
Often, before a tsunami, water
pushes forward ahead of the wave, then recedes as it is pulled back
into the main wave. Vandenberg Air Force Base sat on the coast, but
would have been too far back for any normal tsunami to have pushed
water onto it.
But the tsunami wave they looked
at now was no normal tsunami, should such a thing exist. She
thought of the Air Force communique, that the aliens had been
dropping asteroids on the Earth. Had they dropped one into the
ocean? A huge one?
The analytical part of her mind
was in overdrive, calculating the devastation along the entire West
Coast such a wave would cause. San Diego, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver. All would be destroyed. If
it was this big in Central America, it would probably cover entire
countries.
She turned her attention back to
the monster, knowing there was no hope for her. The thought flashed
through her mind that she should pull out her sidearm and shoot
herself before the wave hit. Make it quick.
Zombie went down on one knee and
fired his MP23 into the oncoming water. His magazine emptied, he
replaced it, and began firing again.
Shane pushed her backwards towards
the buildings. The roar of the approaching wave, the firing of the
carbine, the thought of her impending death was too much for
Christina. She crumpled on the ground.
“ We’ve got too
move, Captain,” Shane said, frantic now, trying to pick her
up.
“ It’s no use,”
she cried.
The water towered over the
buildings around them. It was taller than the
The image couldn’t process in
Christina’s mind. It simply didn’t mean anything to her. So she
ignored it. They had to get their report to the Colonel. That was
all that mattered. Some part of her mind also knew she wanted to
find her husband, but if her unit evacuated to their rally point,
she would probably be farther away from him than she was now. She
didn’t like that thought, but knew she would evacuate with them.
She had sworn an oath to defend her country when she had been
commissioned, and she would honor that oath. Her husband would want
her to honor it also. She would just have to find him after they
finished this war.
Depressed, but resolved, she told
her airmen, “Forget the fish. Let’s just get out of
here.”
“ Yes, ma’am,”
Zombie said eagerly from behind her. He opened another door and
moved through it, holding it open for Christina. Shane still seemed
frozen in his doorway.
Christina followed Zombie out onto
the sidewalk. The smell was stronger outside the building than it
had been inside. She wished she knew what it meant. There were dead
fish up and down the street and seaweed everywhere. The sidewalks
and streets were still stained with having been recently wet, as if
it had been raining.
She looked back at Shane, still
frozen in the doorway.
“ Airman! Move
out!” she ordered, using the command voice she had been taught in
ROTC summer camp. She hadn’t used it since then, except
occasionally to tease her husband.
It worked. The authority in her
voice shook Airman Anthony out of his paralysis.
“ Yes, ma’am.” He
stepped out of the doorway, letting the door close gently behind
himself. He followed them as they walked down the street towards
the interior gate they had come through, back towards the silos.
The three sidestepped seaweed and dead fish. The airmen also kept
their MP23s at the ready.
As they approached the gate,
Christina became aware of a sound. It was a dull, distant roar,
almost as if the ocean had become much louder suddenly. It was a
sound she would hear when she and her husband took long walks along
the beach.
The others heard it also, and when
they walked past the last building and into the open area before
the gate, they all three looked towards the coast.
The monster they saw was more
frightening than any monster or alien Christina could have
imagined. Suddenly the seaweed, the fish, and the receding water
made sense.
Often, before a tsunami, water
pushes forward ahead of the wave, then recedes as it is pulled back
into the main wave. Vandenberg Air Force Base sat on the coast, but
would have been too far back for any normal tsunami to have pushed
water onto it.
But the tsunami wave they looked
at now was no normal tsunami, should such a thing exist. She
thought of the Air Force communique, that the aliens had been
dropping asteroids on the Earth. Had they dropped one into the
ocean? A huge one?
The analytical part of her mind
was in overdrive, calculating the devastation along the entire West
Coast such a wave would cause. San Diego, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver. All would be destroyed. If
it was this big in Central America, it would probably cover entire
countries.
She turned her attention back to
the monster, knowing there was no hope for her. The thought flashed
through her mind that she should pull out her sidearm and shoot
herself before the wave hit. Make it quick.
Zombie went down on one knee and
fired his MP23 into the oncoming water. His magazine emptied, he
replaced it, and began firing again.
Shane pushed her backwards towards
the buildings. The roar of the approaching wave, the firing of the
carbine, the thought of her impending death was too much for
Christina. She crumpled on the ground.
“ We’ve got too
move, Captain,” Shane said, frantic now, trying to pick her
up.
“ It’s no use,”
she cried.
The water towered over the
buildings around them. It was taller than the
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