Читать книгу The Shards Survivors - Joe McKinnon - Страница 9

30/1/2013 Midday

Eight days ago we lived in a world that had a problem with accepting others for what they are and continuously trying to change people’s actions, thoughts and beliefs. We wanted the world to be controlled, secure and predictable. Instead we had an alliance against terror and rebels who were rebelling against their lack of perceived freedoms.

Seven days ago we witnessed the arrival of the Shards. We couldn’t talk to them, couldn’t make them understand and we couldn’t control them. They had another agenda, one which they didn’t share with us.

Four days ago, the Shards gave us a light show, a light show that paralysed any person touched by the beams. Nothing worked. Power grids were affected. Our ability to communicate globally became difficult. The HQ bunker went off the air.

Two days ago the Americans talked about attacking.

Yesterday they attacked.

Today we know that we are very much alone. All remote communication links are down, they are not working. Just no one is able to respond.

People can’t respond. Remote systems don’t respond. They are gone.

We know why the bunker was shaking, we could not believe it, but we saw it. The entire city of Wellington had been scooped up just like dishing up ice cream, it’s gone. It’s bloody well gone, there is nothing left, no wreckage, people or remains.

The cursed Shards are still there, floating in the sky. Is this their way to live? Take out another intelligent race for their own devices?

We are expecting to see the results of a planetary scan, to see if we are looking at only a local issue, or if it’s global.

We know that somewhere near 1 million people, just in Wellington alone, have suddenly ceased to exist. I can’t believe that 1 million people just died. I can’t even contemplate really how many people really did exist. If there is an afterlife, it’s now filled with souls. There can’t be any room left.

Bubbles is still sedated. The doctors decided it was for the best for them both, her and the baby, to reduce the effects of shock and stress on her body. Otherwise it might trigger a spontaneous miscarriage. If we have a future then every baby will be needed, as long as the Shards leave us alone.

Shards, we cannot hurt you, please leave us and let us live.

30/1/2013 @3pm

Sammy called us into the conference room. The room is no longer as formal as before the quakes, but it’s clean. Someone had even cleaned down the wall, from where Private Steven Nagy killed himself. It’s funny how you can remember people’s names and faces after some extremely happy or dreadful incident.

On the Tactical screen there was a flat representation of the Earth and its many continents.

Before Sammy began, we all looked horrified at the picture. It no longer looked like an atlas picture, coastlines were different, mountain ranges changed, some places like the UK had been erased, dead and gone. Other places looked like mirrors.

Sammy began to talk; the following was a recording of his speech.

Ladies and Gentleman, humanity as a race on this planet has suffered the single worst mass murder in all of our recorded history. It was of biblical proportions. Two days ago the world population was pushing 6 billion souls, today we believe it would be lucky if there was anywhere between 100000 to 300000 people left scattered over the planet.

I’ve had scouts checking local communities in the North Island. We are looking at maybe 50 at best. In a lot of cases it appears that the people went to the nearest Shards’ location to see them first hand. We haven’t found any survivors yet, but we hope to find people in the more remote locations.

We have been also trying to raise communications with anyone, nothing and no one responds. We are by ourselves.

The map of the world is very sinister to look at, in many locations we can see the effects of the Shards’ handiwork, and in some cases whole islands are gone. Somehow fate smiled and granted us a hope for the future. Unfortunately the Shards are still here and I cannot tell you what the future holds. Wherever the Shard ships were reported, normally wherever there was a major population centre, was now gone.

We have also caught what looks like large mirrors on the ground, again where the Shards were concentrated. We believe that these mirrored surfaces are being constructed everywhere, I’ve asked for these sites to be watched for the next few hours with the satellite network. If we are right, then we expect more sites around us to start appearing.

We are not sure why the satellite network is unaffected, however the only conclusion we can come up with is that the satellites aren’t seen as a threat to the Shards. So at least we still have eyes in the sky, to observe what is happening to our world.

I am going to unseal the bunker, you are free to go outside, however stay away from the crater I do not want to lose anyone else. We will all have to stick together and find a place to live, as it’s too close to the crater and the Shards, I can only suggest we keep a wide margin. I’ve ordered high definition shots of the North Island to see if there is a place or places where it might be safe to move to. These should be back in 24 hours, by then we will know what is happening.

Now please join me, in 5 minutes silence where I want all of us to contemplate our loss and silent prayer for the future of mankind.

There were hardly any sounds in the room, only the whine of fans from computers and ventilation, the soft sobbing of some people as they digested what had been just announced and a rustling of paper, could be heard. I didn’t know where to start. I’ve never been a religious person, however today I prayed.

God, please help us. Help the lost and guide us to salvation. I can’t believe something so terrible could have happened to us. I was always expecting World War Three to kill us off, not some alien invasion fleet. I don’t know why you allowed this to occur, you should have stood up and protected us, but then again you help people who help themselves. I don’t know what happens when we die, but with billions of souls killed, where does their life energy go to? Let my parents and relatives know I love them and miss them. Let my friends and co-workers know that I miss them. Why lord didn’t you help us, we are at the mercy of these beasts?

I just didn’t know what else to say to God, I hope that others in the room have a better relationship with him. I lost my faith when Bubbles’ parents were killed in a senseless shooting spree from a car driving down their street where shots were fired at random at several houses.

We didn’t know about their deaths until we heard it on the news about gun shots in their street. We rushed over to their house. Police were in the street with metal detectors looking for evidence. We entered my god fearing in-laws’ home, it was quiet and still, normally it’s a bright and happy home. We found Mum in the bed, half her face was gone. We found Dad in his study, shot in the chest and gut. It looksed like Dad survived for a period of time as he had crawled a short distance towards the hallway, whilst his life spilled out of his body. We think he was trying to get to is beloved wife of 35 years.

Since that day, both Bubbles and I have not believed in one all mighty being, we hated God for it, because they were the best of friends to us both, and people we could count on in a time of crisis to help others and lend whatever assistance they could muster. Bubbles ceased her church activities. I just blamed God, and gave up any religious inclinations. We decided that we’d do our own things, still try to lead a good life, but on our terms not some mythical being’s.

My parents were gone now, in some ways I think it was the best thing to happen, but I know that isn’t the right attitude. They were cruel in the punishments to me. I still have flashbacks to my childhood of being hit with anything close to hand, sometimes justified other times just for fun. In later life that changed from the physical to mental attacks on me and Bubbles, so we kept our distance from them.

They nearly caused us to split, because they told us different ‘truths’, until Bubbles caught them out in a lie. Bubbles was told that I was a suspected child molester and that detectives were always asking them about me. At the time Bubbles was working for the child protection group, and made some enquiries, to find the truth, she didn’t want to have kids or be with me if I was that kind of monster.

I guess I asked God to let them know that I knew their background and had forgiven them, but not forgotten them for their actions, for still deep down in my heart I still share a connection to them, regardless of how I’d been treated. I can’t forget their actions and their influences on me. After all, it’s made me who I am today.