The Attack by William Bryden (you can read anyone txt) 📕

We both said simultaneously.
I thought for a second. After we took off I saw the ground shaking, but I thought it had just been a little shaking of the plane. I figured that an asteroid would not make the other side of the world shake unless it was a considerable size.
“Did you notice the ground shake right after we took off?” I asked.
“Yeah. I thought that was just the shaking of the plane.”
“Me too, but I didn’t feel any shaking.”
“Neither did I.”
“This is bad.”
“Duh!”
“We better find that asteroid.”
“Are you kidding me? How are we supposed to find it? And who would be stupid enough to look for an asteroid?”
“Well do you have a better option right now?”
“Well… we could make a shelter and wait?”
“For what? Our food to run out?”
“No. We can signal for help. The emergency pack has a satellite S.O.S. transmitter.
“Yeah but it could take weeks, and from what I saw we only have about 7 days worth of food for 2 people.”
“So you are proposing to go looking for an asteroid?”
“Exactly.”
“Are you crazy? We could get killed by more falling ruble! The gas might kill us! The sun might be blocked out! Haven’t you seen any scenarios of asteroids hitting the Earth?”
“I’ve seen plenty enough to know that there is no way that you will be protected from the gas or blocked out sun if you are hit by falling ruble.”
“That’s not entirely true!”
“Well, I can hypothesize on what will happen now can’t I?”
I walked over to a house that had three of its sides completely crumpled. I found a relatively clean cloth and ripped it in two. I wrapped one half around my face tight enough to close off any gas that could come in through my mouth or nose but leave some breathable air inside of it.
I handed Viviane the other half. “I suggest you do the same. This cloth will filter the air just a little.”
She took the cloth and wrapped it around her head just as I had. When she was ready she gave me a thumbs up. She had apparently been thinking about what I had said and agreed.
We started walking again, and I noticed something else. The rain of fire had stopped. That only meant one thing. Worse would come very soon.
“Viviane, do you know if there is a house here with a basement?”
“Um… before you came to consciousness I found a storm cellar which functioned as a wine cellar for the people who lived there.”
“How thick is the door into the cellar?”
“It’s about 3 inches thick and has a rubber seal around it to keep out air and water.” She started getting suspicious.
“Why do you…?” but I interrupted her.
“Perfect! What about food and water? Any of that?”
“Tons of it, plus wine of course, but why…?” I interrupted a second time aggravating her.
“Hmm… is there light in it?”
“Yes. It has a backup generator and spare light bulbs.”
“Ok come on let’s go.” I heard an explosion in the distance. I saw part of our plane wreckage fly into the air. “I don’t think that there is any way that there are more survivors.”
”Wait! What are we…?”
“Going to that cellar… Which house is it in?
“Um… it’s under the house that we came from.”
I silently swore to myself and started walking at a fast pace back towards the house. Viviane followed with a quizzical look on her face. I looked behind me and saw almost pitch black clouds already on the horizon. I quickened my pace and Viviane had to start jogging to keep up.
“What are we doing? There might be survivors!”
“We are saving our own lives. And do you think after that explosion that there are any survivors left?”
Viviane put her head down for a minute as if she was thinking. She slowly shook her head. I looked behind us and started running. The clouds were already closing in on us. They were moving with extreme speed. Viviane tried to keep up, but I flew ahead in a rush of gravel that kicked up from my feet.
“Michael!” I head her yell.
I turned around to find that she had tripped and scrapped herself up. I ran back to her and picked her up. I looked up and saw the clouds were above us. I dashed all the rest of the way to the house. I jumped the fence with Viviane and found the door to the cellar. I set Viviane down gently then wrenched open the door. I carried Viviane down the stairs and set her down. I ran back up the stairs and into the house, grabbed the emergency pack we had left in there, and ran back down the stairs after closing the door and latching it shut. Thankfully the door had no windows so we were safe from anything to come our way. I put the emergency pack down and went over to Viviane who was trying to dress her scrape. I took a look at the worst one, which was by far the biggest one, and noticed she had cut a vein in her leg and was loosing blood fast. I quickly ripped a piece of my shirt off and tied it around her leg tightly covering the scrape. I then got up and took some water and poured it into a bowl. I soaked her leg by running water on it for a little bit. Then I untied the bandage and saw the scrape wasn’t bleeding as much any more so I took some anti-infection cream from the emergency kit and applied it to a bandage and put it on the scrape.
“Thanks.” Viviane said light headedly.
“No problem. I’ll let you have the bed. You saved me in the first place.”
She didn’t argue. She couldn’t. She fell asleep on the spot. I picked her up and went over to a corner that had a bed in it. I placed her on it and grabbed a sleeping mat from the emergency kit. Before laying down on it I surveyed the surroundings. One wall was covered with wine bottle shelves. That part of the room near the wall had stone flooring but carpet covered the rest of the room. There were lights and a ceiling fan. A backup generator was in the corner opposite of us. There were all your basic needs ranging from a kitchen area to a sofa and TV with a rack of movies, along with a couple gaming systems and games. There was a door leading to what I guessed was the bathroom. There was a desk and computer next to the bed. There was even a stereo system put into the wall. These people must have been really rich to do all that to just a storm shelter.
I wondered what was going on outside but I figured it was pretty bad since I could hear things banging against the door. I thought about when it would be over, or if it would be over. Maybe humans could survive an asteroid crash. I tried to be optimistic as I laid down and huddled on the mat. Thanks to the people who had built the storm shelter, they had put an AC unit next to the generator to keep us all nice and cozy here in our little hole, although, how could I be cozy knowing that my best friend had died in a plane crash, only two people had survived, we were trying to survive an asteroid strike, and I had multiple people’s blood stained onto my shirt including my own? I carried that question to my dreams.

CHAPTER 3: THE ABSOLUTE BEST DREAM EVER

 
          I woke to a pitch-black room.  I had a peaceful sleep with no dreams whatsoever.  I quickly thanked God for that.  Slowly, I got up and tried to feel the wall for the light switch.  I tripped over something and fell.  Expecting to hit my head hard, I tensed up but I landed on something soft.  I looked up and noticed that the lights were on.  I also noticed that I was on top of Viviane.
“Oh crap!  Sorry…” I quickly got up and helped her up.  “What were you doing?”
“I was just looking for the light switch,” replied Viviane rubbing the bandage on her leg.
“Does it still hurt?”  I asked.
“You landed on it,” she winced once.
“ I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok.”
“Go lie down.  I’ll make us something to eat.”
            Viviane went and lied down on the bed and was soon asleep again.  I made something common.  Eggs and bacon were soon ready and I woke her up from her little nap.
“Wake up sleepy head.”  She mumbled and turned over.
“Wake up…”
I heard her say, “Five more minutes mommy,” and turn back over.
“Wake up!!!”
            She jumped up and winced again.  She stumbled over to a table and started eating what I had made for her.  I observed her eat the food.  She was obviously starving.  Manner-less, she ate all two eggs and five bacon.  I ate my food and then decided to watch a DVD on the TV.  I chose a relatively new one, War of the Worlds.  The movie was great.  Aliens incinerating humans running from the huge alien machines definitely brightened my mood. 
“What’s that?” Viviane asks.
“War of the Worlds,” I reply in a flat line tone.
“How can you watch that without feeling sad,” she asked with a frown.
“I don’t know… I guess it just helps me make connections.”
“Interesting…” and she walked off.
            After a while of watching the movie I started noticing a pattern of how many near misses they got.  There were too many for real life.  No person could get that lucky. 
            I kept watching until the end… when the aliens died by something so small they couldn’t even see it.  It was a wonder how they were stupid enough to overlook such a detail.  After it finished and the credits started rolling I turned off the TV and walked over to Viviane who was lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling.
“A penny for your thoughts?” I asked nonchalantly.
“No,” she said flatly.
“What’s wrong? Something’s wrong.”
            Viviane looked up at me as if I was an idiot.  I thought for a second and figured it out.
“Wow… I’m stupid.”
            Viviane turned her head away and closed her eyes.  I heard her snoring after five minutes.  I decided to go to sleep myself.  I got down on the mat and closed my eyes.  As soon as I did my pocket started burning.
“Ow!” I yelped as I reached in my pocket and took something out.  It fell out of my hand and onto the floor.  I watched it roll and noticed it was the bead.  The bead!  I had completely forgotten about it!  I chased after it, stopping it right before it rolled under the stove.  I picked it up and looked at it.  The slit had changed to a purple color.  Why did it keep changing colors?  The bead was really confusing me.  I put it back in my pocket and walked to the mat.
            I looked at Viviane.  She seemed to be fidgeting in her sleep.  She rolled over and fell off the bed.  I barely had time to catch her.  Somehow she was still asleep.  I looked at her face and she was crying.  Viviane was crying in her sleep?  What a predicament.  I put her down on the bed and she started screaming.  I picked her back up again and she stopped shouting and reverted back to crying.