keeping his distance from it. From the perplexed expression on his face it was clear that the man was wondering what was fuelling the fire wall. The blue emission spectrum of the fire wall seemed to seep out of the soil without a visible catalyst and despite giving off intense heat, they were able to step up to the wall as up to two feet.
The man cautiously reached out to get a feel for the heat, but rather felt the flame tug at his hand as if trying to pull him in and he lowered his hand again; all the while keeping his sights on the peculiar obstacle that entrapped them.
Jack stood up carefully while holding onto Timmy tighter than he ever had – he wouldn’t let Timmy out of his sight again… ever. He had to find Alicia – she had to be somewhere in the crowd. Jack’s eyes searched the dire faces around him as made his way through the thousands upon thousands of hysterical people.
“Alicia?” Jack called out as he walked.
There was no way she could ever hear him over the noise, but he simply had to keep on walking and calling out her name until he found her. He just hoped to God that she wasn’t lying face down in a puddle of mud somewhere; trampled to death by a fleeing mob.
“Alicia?” Jack called out again.
A few feet ahead he noticed a man who had been trampled to death lying face down in the mud. Jack stared down at the man as he stepped over him and felt saddened by what he saw. What had become of humanity? A man was lying dead in a pool of mud surrounded by millions of fear-filled faces and nobody could care less that he was dead. He used to be someone’s loved one – he used to matter.
The further he walked the more people he found lying dead in the dirt; all victims of a stampede of fleeing humans when the monsters swooped down with him and Timmy.
“Alicia?” Jack called out again.
Jack passed a skinny guy who turned to face him when he heard Jack call out.
“You won’t find her here.” The man said.
Jack stopped and turned to the skinny man who was covered in dirt and seemed like he was starving.
Jack glanced around them and it was evident that the skinny, young man was the only person who showed interest in his dilemma. His statement suggested that he might have information Jack didn’t have and he stepped closer to the skinny stranger.
“And why is that?” Jack asked.
“Look around you.” The skinny man said, “There are no women here. This is a concentration camp for men.”
Jack scanned the faces around them – it was true. There were only men around them. It was only then that he realized that all the men were calling out women names; they were all looking for their wives, sisters or daughters.
Jack turned back to the skinny young man; he knew something and Jack wanted to know more.
“Where are all the women?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” The skinny man said, “But if I had to take a guess, they’re being kept in a camp much like this one.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Jack insisted, “What do you know?”
“I know a lot of things.”
The skinny young man turned to walk away, but Jack grabbed him by the upper arm.
“Wait.” Jack pleaded, “Please.”
The skinny man sighed and motioned for Jack to follow him. They walked over to a large, flat rock and the skinny man sat down before gesturing for Jack to join him. The man seemed paranoid, as if expecting someone or something to snatch him away if he spoke of his theories.
“What’s your name?” Jack asked.
“Richard.”
“I’m Jack. What do you know?”
“What news do you want first? The good news or the bad news?”
“Tell me everything.” Jack insisted.
“Okay. You asked for it.” Richard said, "Since the fifteenth century hundreds of people simply vanished from the face of the earth never to be heard from again. As time went on, the disappearances became more frequent. The only documented proof of these unexplained disappearances were when the entire town of Ashley disappeared.”
“Ashley?”
“You’ve heard of it?”
“I’ve given a lecture about it before.” Jack said, “I’m a professor at—”
“Was a professor. Out here you’re just another prisoner.” Richard said, “Anyway, they were testing some kind of machine.”
“They?” Jack asked confused, “Who are you referring to?”
“Whoever brought us here.”
“What kind of machine?”
“I’m not sure what it is or how it works,” Richard said, “but its sole purpose was to capture humans and bring them here to this godforsaken place. I’ve made some of my own conclusions as to how the machine would work. Have you ever seen that movie “The Fly”? Anyway, Jeff Goldblum creates this teleportation device that breaks down living tissue at one point, transports it to another point and rebuilds the living tissue. The machine was unable to transport anything that wasn’t living. I think that’s why when they teleported a whole goddamned continent that only the humans and animals ended up here. Cars, buildings, watches, mobile phones, pacemakers – none of those things made it through their teleportation. All of those simply disappeared. I just haven’t figured out about our clothes and why they were teleported. Not sure how they did that.”
“You keep on saying they.” Jack said.
Richard glanced at Jack, half annoyed that he kept on interrupting.
“Do you want to hear what I know or what?”
Jack nodded.
“I’ve been here for a couple of days ever since all hell broke loose in Australia.” Richard said, “I was on vacation in the outback and it was my last day, so I went to Sydney. I tell you swimming in the ocean does not get more refreshing than after you’ve spent a couple of days in the outback…”
Richard paused a moment and then got lost in his thoughts as he pondered over some theories.
“That’s it.” Richard mumbled to himself as if having an epiphany.
“What?”
“That’s how they did it.” Richard mumbled in thought.
Richard looked up at Jack with a sparkle in his eyes as if he had just uncovered the secrets of the universe – or at least the secrets of this universe.
“The oceans.” Richard said mumbling to himself, “It acted like a transitional condiment. Why didn’t I think of it earlier? It makes perfect sense. Water is a natural lubricant. More than half of earth’s surface is made up of water. That’s why they picked us. That’s why they picked earth. It was the most obvious choice…”
“What are you talking about?” Jack asked confused.
“I’m sorry, sometimes I mumble to myself. Think of it as an invasion. Invasions usually happen for one of two reasons – whether it’s the Settlers invading America, the Vikings or aliens.”
“And what reasons would that be?” Jack asked.
“They have exhausted their natural resources and are in search of other planets to sustain their life forms or their natural habitat is unlivable for some reason and they are seeking a new planet to repopulate.”
“That makes no sense.” Jack said, “Why teleport us here? Why not teleport to earth and declare war like one would expect in a movie?”
“I’m not sure yet.” Richard said, “But I can tell you one thing – we don’t stand a chance against them. The universe consists of billions of galaxies, each one with billions of planets and stars. It would take us 150 000 years to travel from earth to the nearest star in our own galaxy. They were able to transport earth’s entire population to some unknown planet in who-knows-what galaxy. Not only that, but they were able to transport us instantaneously which is completely unheard of. Even traveling through a wormhole to a distant planet would take about a week according to Stephen Hawking, but when the shit hit the fan in Sydney, I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I was here – with all the other men of earth.”
There was a moment of silence as Richard got lost in his thoughts again.
“
If you asked me, one of them is smarter than the combined genius of ten Albert Einsteins.”
“Who?” Jack asked, “Are you talking about those flying creatures?”
“No. I think they’re like pets. They round up the targets like a dog rounding up sheep. The transportation is most probably like dropping a glass – most pieces will be close together while some shattered pieces scatter. I’ve seen these monsters drop people into the concentration camp for days now. I think they’re sole purpose is to round up scattered humans.”
“Rounding up for what?” Jack asked.
Richard was uncertain. He looked at Jack and then at the millions of people around them. What were they being rounded up for? What did the creatures want?
“I don’t know yet.” Richard said, “But I fear the worst is yet to come.”
Jack glanced at the sea of people as they wandered around restlessly looking for loved ones. It was like a never-ending nightmare. He embraced Timmy and despite being a grown man, he longed for his mother’s calming touch and soothing voice telling him that everything would be alright… but he knew it wouldn’t be alright.
25
Alicia was tied up and one of the horse-like creatures carried her in its two front paws as it walked on the hind four. The two large men, who rode on the backs of the creatures, spoke in their native language and one of them chuckled from behind his mask. She still quietly whimpered and couldn’t believe that they killed Bruce in cold blood – they simply stabbed him with the spear and left him for dead.
The two horse-like creatures galloped across the countryside at about ten miles an hour, but to