It begins with a fading odor and darkness. Lights out, dark as night. Outside the college building, there are flames, lumps of metal and flesh, and no one moving. When Asher finds his car, he's surprised it works and he drives aimlessly, trying in vain for a radio station, any sign of life. Recovering his wits, he parks at a truck stop and loads up with things that might be useful. In the dark, someone runs into him and urges him to flee. The thought of maybe having to repopulate the world doesn't appeal to either of them -- Asher is gay, and Sandy isn't sure what she/he/they are. Sandy knows a place they might hole up while the world dies around them. It's a cabin that belongs to a friend who might be there. Sandy's friend Wade turns up the next day when there's light, again. Are Wade and Sandy an item or just friends? Asher feels like odd man out, but survival is their first priority. Can relationships be sorted out, later?

Night Scenery

As I pulled back onto the highway, there was a mushroom of red behind us, and the green sparks danced everywhere in the rear-view mirror.


After about ten minutes I had to pull over. There wasn’t any traffic moving, only those ubiquitous lumps that challenged every idea I’d ever had about end of the world scenarios. It was stupid, it shouldn’t be real. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe…it was.


My grandfather had updated the music ability in his car, to include CDs and cassette tapes. There was also a place for eight-track tapes, but I’d never seen one and didn’t really want to. Beside me my passenger was sorting through the stack that had accumulated in the middle of the seat, in the box I’d put there to keep them handy. “These are so cool! Look! ‘Sympathy for the Devil’! ‘The Theme from Apocalypse Now’!”


I said, “You’re shitting me. Hey, um, who the hell are you anyhow? You’re not a zombie, right?”


Chapter 4