After Time: Echoes Of Humankind

Peter began to back up and move to the doors. And from nowhere but from everywhere a deep voice spoke;

"Do not be afraid child. We will not harm thee. Epoch came, Epoch delivered a new plague on mother Earth and the sentence has been past. Become one with Epoch, and your faith will be revitalised. Come child, come be one with Epoch."

Peter did not want to stick around. The doors began to close, he was nine feet away. He made a run through the doors and just made it as the double thick doors shut with a deep groaning slam.

Am I still in the Coma? Is this some sick twisted dream from the medications they're giving me? Wake me up. But when he pinched himself he only felt pain, he didnt wake up - he was awake. He ran down the steps two at a time and came to the car. He looked back at the church and nothing was following him.

Peter caught his breath and shook his head. What is this name Epoch? The comet? He would need to get newspapers or media tapes to find out. The LA Library.

The time was 3.30PM. He had time, he would find reports and piece together what had happened.

Later that afternoon...

Peter Freebourne found the LA library just on the outskirts of LA central. Here the roads were cluttered with open doored cars and what seemed to be signs of looting.

He stopped the car in the middle of the road, took the handgun and made sure he brought extra bullets just in case. Peter looked at the LA District Library building and saw the lights were on which could mean one of two things; a. the lights were left on or b. someone or something was inside or still is inside.

Silence. Not even birds in the sky. Suddenly a noise from behind him and he turned with a start pulling up the handgun. It had come from the alleyway on the other side of the street.

And then he heard a sound that gladened him, that didn't frighten him....a MEOW, then a trashcan sound hitting the ground and moments later a tabby tomcat came racing out around the corner with half a decayed fish. The cat didnt see Peter, it just ran into a door of a nearby apartment complex. Okay, good to see some life survived like me, Peter said to himself.

He turned back and walked slowly and cautiously towards the library. Coming to the doors, he found them wide open and stray books strewn across the lawn and going inside. Looks like looting has taken place, he told himself.

Peter held his handgun in the ready position and entered through the doors. A smell of a decaying compost heap hit his senses and he climbed the front eight steps and saw the reason for the smell. What had been the Assistance Desk was now covered in compost and gardening refuse. To Peter, this was strange, why would someone want to do this? What if it was not a someone, but a something?

Nothing moved or was heard except for the strumming of the strobed fluro lights from the ceiling. He walked with gun ready to what had previously been the Assistance Desk and looked around. What he saw almost made him lose the gun and nausea overcame him.

Human remains....bones picked clean of flesh and membranes. Something had eaten humans and left them here. Was it a nest? Things were getting stranger and stranger with the passing minute.

Looking away, his eyes went to the computer terminal, which was on. A screen saver had activated and Peter pressed enter, the screen saver vanished and Peter gasped;

"News Headlines at 9pm: Top Story - in one hour the comet named Epoch passes Earth and for 30 minutes the Earth will be enveloped within its wide comet tail. This is a once every million year event and there is expected to be a massive outpouring of people out on the streets of LA and California to witness this event. In other news...."

The date was not shown, but to Peter this pieced together missing pieces. He checked his watch and saw it was almost 4pm. Time to go, he said to himself.

Walking back to the car, he saw the shadows had lengthened and were slowly deepening giving this part of LA a deep sense of melancholy.

Peter got in his car and started the engines. He would go to the local gas station and then leave LA.

PART TWO: Survivors

Nikki Riley didn't wish to go to the comet's party in LA, it would have been the biggest party ever, being that it was in LA.. Though, she was too drained from work. Working sixteen hour days if she was lucky a day off. As of late she slept in the basment of the building she worked in. Those times when she worked too late and was far to tired to drive home, the basement was the perfect place to sleep in and never get disturbed. Till her friend came down to tell her it was time to wake up.

Nikki had slept for a few days, waking up totally refreshed and having no idea how long she had been sleeping. When she emerged to go to the bathroom, there was no one in the building. At first she thought, Okay it's late at night, no one is here anyway. That thought went away when she saw the sun outside the windows. Maybe it's Sunday then? No one works here on Sundays.

After she freshened up a little bit she walked down the lobby, the elevators still worked, so again, she thought nothing of it. Till she got outside. Not a soul in sight..

"I am still in LA... Right?"

'Course there was no answer, she walked down the street a little way. Still nothing. This was nothing like the LA she knew, at this point she was freaked. She got into her car and drove for a little bit up and down streets. Hoping to find someone, anyone, Nikki did. She saw someone, a man, coming out from the library. First she was stunned to see him, following him to some gas station making sure he was real and not some illusion played by her mind.

Stopping at the station and still watching him, her blue eyes filled with tears as she realized he was for real. She stepped out of the car, wearing shorts and a small low cut t-shirt. Golden brown hair braided down her back. Cautiously she walked up to the man, she wasn't totally sure as to what she was going to say. But whatever it was, she was sure it was going to be lame.

"Excuse me... But, do you know what happened out here? I....I was asleep and I have no idea what day it is or anything..."

Nikki knew that comets had strange effects on the world, but never would she have thought of this. She waited for the mans answer, looking behind her in hopes to find more people emerging from somewhere... Anywhere.. But there was none. Turning her gaze back to the man, thankful that he was still standing there.

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Peter Freebourne did not need to go far to find a gas station. He barely turned the corner and he found a once again littered gas station. Peter saw a empty spot with the right brand of gas and slowly moved the car against the gas pump.

He looked around again and saw nobody at all. The late afternoon sun had decked the gas station in an almost surreal light. Peter looked at the handgun at the dashboard and made sure he had it close...just in case......

Taking the handle of the pump he started filling the car and he would make sure it was full. He had also brought along four spare empty gas bottles that he would fill with gas, just in case again.

"Excuse me... But, do you know what happened out here? I....I was asleep and I have no idea what day it is or anything..."

Peter almost dropped the gas handle fumbling it as he turned. It was a soft feminine voice, startling him from his thoughts. It was a young lady, around his age he summised, she was very pleasant to look at and she looked scared. Peter saw she had tears in her eyes. Quite literally calming his wits down he felt compelled to answer her in a calm manner.

"Its so good to meet someone finally, someone normal. Thank the Lord for that. I don't know much, I was here in LA getting supplies and looking for survivors myself. Its Monday afternoon," Peter said softly.

He put the pump handle back and turned around and leaned on the car hood looking at her. She was wearing shorts and a small low cut t-shirt with Golden brown hair braided down her back.

"What's your name, sweetie, and I am glad your safe. Some of the things I have seen today have come out of a bad Hollywood horror movie, but it's damn real. And hon, don't cry, you're safe now. Tell me how you survived the comet. Call me Peter as well if you please," Peter said.

Nikki was watching this new guy a little closer, but so far he was posing not threat.

"Monday? It's Monday..?" She said having a confused and shocked look on her face,

"Damn, well..... I was sleeping.. Since like the day of the Comet. I work at this seventeen story building and I have been working god awful hours. So, I sometimes ended up in the basement to sleep a few hours instead of going home. Guessing that's how I survived."

Looked up, she met his eyes at the mention of her being safe. Safe from what? And am I really safe from this guy? For now, he was the only she had.... It was him or nothing.. Least he wasn't ugly or anything.

"It's been a long time since anyone has called me sweetie like that. But, my name is Nikki."

Peter listened to her explanation and nodded when she finished. He smiled at her and replied;

"Heya Nikki. Seems like anyone who was underground or asleep or hell even in a coma like me survived whatever happened. This morning I awoke from a coma to an empty hospital...."

Peter told Nikki about his 'adventures' and the rather pallid church event. As he finished he said;

"And that's a nice name you have Nikki. If you want we can team up together. Don't worry I will be the perfect gentleman. No need to be scared or cautious of me. I have been in a coma for five years or there abouts and if I survived not having sex in that time, I can survive your good looks."

Peter smiled at her and walked around the car and took the empty gas bottles opening up the caps.

"You can decide about what you want to do. If you want to go at it solo, I will give you the handgun and ammo to go with it......If you want to come with me I am on my way out of LA. For some bad reason I don't want to be in LA when darkness falls. Your decision," he said as he filled one bottle at a time at the pump.

Nikki smiled softly at his words, the part of not having sex in five years just made her a little more cautious. Though, she didn't show it.

"Well, it wasn't really the sex part I was worried about. I've only been with one guy and that was on my prom night. Ever since then been to busy working. If it wasn't for me, the company would have gone downhill a long time ago. Putting all these years into one company receiving no outside life from it..... You'd think I'd be used to being alone..... Though, I guess this is a different.."

Walked over to the other gas pump, Nikki took one of the gas cans and began to help Peter fill them up.

"If you don't feel like it going to be safe here in the city, what makes you think we'll be any safer on road?"

Peter finished the last bottle and placed the pump handle back in place and looked at Nikki.

"Because for some reason I feel LA is some sort of focal point, for good or bad. I'm heading back to my town just a few hours away, it's up to you if you want to join me?"

He packed the four full bottles into the back seat and turned and looked at her.

"I can't promise you answers, but with me you have safety, there is survival in numbers," Peter said.

It was at that moment that from around the corner came the headlights of a large vehicle. Quickly taking the handgun he watched the approach of the vehicle. "Stand behind me Nikki," Peter said in a ready pose awaiting to see what would happen...

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Meanwhile on the moon....

The Luna I Mission had left Earth two long months ago. The Mission was manned by four people, two women two men, the International Space Agency had sent this mission to scout for a future mining site.

And now they were stranded, Houston, NORAD, even the Pentagon was strangely silent. To the four astronauts this was beginning to add up.

All this started when the comet enveloped Earth in it's tail as it passed. The four astronauts had watched the event and taken pictures and measurements and readings. The Comet had missed the moon by a mere distance.

So now they deduced, they were safe from whatever the Comet did. With rations, water and oxygen at critical levels the four astronauts looked at all there options and decided to return to Earth.

What would they find? Were they the last people alive?

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Back on Earth...in the heartland of the USA...

The convoy of twelve mech infantry vehicles, ten tanks and five troop transports had left Washington DC that morning and finally reached their destination, north by west, the town of Springville in Pennsylvania. The commanding officer was not American born but a Australian military general, John Colin Mueller. General Mueller had been sent to Washington DC by the Australian Government in Canberra for hight level security military talks for the transfer of Intelligence.

The morning of the Comet passing Earth, his meeting in the meeting rooms underneath the Pentagon had ended up taking all day and most of the night. While the meeting ended at 10.30PM that evening, many of the personel had ventured above ground to watch the comet's passing. But John was too tired and he took a rest room and lay down and decided to sleep.

He wasn't too fussed to watch a comet. He was more tired. As soon as he fell on the bed, he fell in a fitful rest.

John awoke the next morning fully refreshed and checked his watch. It was 11AM. At first he couldn't believe the time and what bothered him was that no-one had awakened him. No minders, no security for the meeting with the president. He stood and brushed down the creases on his clothing and put on his jacket.

He opened the door and looked up and down the lightened hallway. There was no sign of anyone, just damned silence. He walked briskly to the meeting room down at the end of the long hallway. He opened the sliding door and looked inside....nobody at all.

"Hello, anybody?" He called out. Nothing nobody replied. This must be some joke, he thought to himself. He walked to the table and picked up a black phone, checking the dial tone, there was one.....he tried a secure line to the phone reception. It rang and rang, and nobody picked up. To John, the whole situation was getting stranger and stranger.

Was this some dream he was living, he thought to himself, Or have I lost it?

He walked back out of the meeting room and quickly walked back down the hallway and to the elevator. Pressing the button, the door opened and he got in, he pressed the Pentagon Ground Level....He would see for himself...

The lift finally reached the level he picked and the doors opened and he stepped out into the lobby of the Pentagon. Nobody. Silence..... He walked to the unmanned reception desk and there was nobody there either......

And for John, this was the beginning of a new chapter in his life.....

The Convoy moved into the center of Springville, which seemed silent and deserted. The buildings were dark and the streetlights were out. Suddenly there was a churning grrrl in the air and a molotov cocktail slammed against a tank, causing no damage. It was at this moment that hooded figures swarmed out of the darkness in numerous numbers. The guns on the mech vehicles and tanks started firing into the hooded figures. Many fell in the barrage of fire, as the troop transports filed out with green khaki uniformed loyal Marines, fifty in all. The highly trained army outfit fought well and at first seemed that they would have easy pickings of these hooded figures. It was only when the bullet ridden hooded figures started to move and stir and get up that the soldiers realised that they had more of a problem than they thought they had at first.

More effective were the tank cannons, which blew the hooded figures into body pieces, but alas there were too many of the hooded figures and not enough tanks.

And the tables started to turn against the well trained soldiers. The calls of retreat fell on death ears as the soldiers were being surrounded. One by one, the hooded figures killed the soldiers either by biting into the throats or ripping into the hearts. The almost sickening horrifying screams from the hooded figures was only drowned out by the gurgling sounds of men dying or the almost animal laughs and grunts by the hooded ones. The mech vehicles and tanks began to pull out, and retreat, leaving their comrades to die in most painful ways.

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Peter Freebourne was shadowed by two emotions at that particular moment, one of gladness that there were other people in LA, and the other emotion was of uncertainty bordering on fear; what if these people are like the one's in the church? Or mentally unstable? He would find out.

He felt Nikki's hands on his hips as he heard her fearful breaths turn into gasps. It was late afternoon and the shadows were lengthening and darkening quickly. Peter made out two figures in the vehicle, and one of the figures remained in the large vehicle.

The other figure was approaching them with his own weapon drawn and raised like Peter's in a steady but anxiety driven action.

"Hello," the figure called out, it was a man's voice. "you're the first people we've seen here. Have you two seen anyone else?"

Peter breathed a sigh of relief but still was ready for anything. At least its not a crazy from the church, he told himself.

"Hello there, and you two are the first normal people we have seen today as well." Peter replied.

As the man stepped closer, he came within the light. Yes, he appeared to be normal, he would have to take a chance eyeing the stranger's weaponry.

"How about we lower our weapons and make some much need introductions and information exchanges?"

Peter lowered his handgun and placed it on the hood of his car. This was a risk he was willing to take.....

That sounds reasonable to me," the stranger said.

Peter's body somewhat relaxed from its tense state as he watched the man sling the rifle. Peter knew his gun was close at hand if trouble did eventuate as he saw the man's right hand stop just short of his holstered pistol.

"What did you mean by "first normal people"? The man asked. "I haven't seen anyone and Kate only two would be rapists,"

"Well, just think yourself lucky. So the woman in the armoured car driver's seat is Kate? Well I'm Peter and this is Nikki," responded Peter. He saw as Nikki came from behind him and to his side, still close. "I met her just down the road a while ago...."

Peter told the man his story from the time of waking up in the hospital to the scene at the church. He finished and offered his hand for a handshake. He smiled at the man feeling now more at ease.

"And what would your name be. And how did you survive this quagmire of a world?"

"I'm Jake Thompson and that's Kate behind the wheel. Nice to meet you both and glad we're not the only ones alive," he said with a smile.

"I live NE of San Bernadino and was in my workshop for over a week. When I came out there wasn't anything alive that I could see. So I went to Bakersfield, "requisitioned" the armored car just in case, stocked it and headed here figuring LA would have the most chance of having survivors of whatever happened. I ran into Kate about half an hour ago and we were on our way to the main library to see if we could learn anything about what happened to everyone and the animals. Last night I slept in a room in a motel outside of Bakersfield and ate in it's restaurant. What do you say we do the same thing tonight? How about picking a hotel or motel and getting adjoining rooms so we can give each other support if it's needed, get something to eat and perhaps have a drink or two while we talk about what to do next.What do you two think about that idea?" Jake says as he looked around at the buildings and up at the darkening sky.