Torn (42 page)

It was just what its name said
, the
Global
Extinction
P
roject.

The US government knew
something
big was going to occur. They had theories, but just didn’t know the exact
details
.

They knew and suspected because of the global changes that multitudes of
catastrophes
would take place.

Again, they didn’t know the exact
details
.

That
was
the reason for the conference. All the
great
minds together,
saying what
they think is going to happen, and presenting their proof of it. Then all the
great
minds that listened would
determine
who was right and who had the best proposal for
a
solution.

That was the reason Martin was invited. Because he too had that theory.
Unfortunately,
it was written many years early

But the government had a backup. GEP.

A way to ensure that man would survive.

Taken from the pages or screen of some sci
-
fi movie, the GEP complex would eventually house the surviving generation.

Yes, there would be others who implemented survival structures, but the GEP was going further.

Greenhouses
indoors, medical facilities,
staff, everything.

No matter what catastrophe, wind, water, earth, fire, cold, the GEP complex was being shielded and reinforced to handle it
,
t
o withstand all elements. That was
unless
,
of
course, a
meteor
dropped
from
the sky and landed on the complex.

When Martin looked at the plans, he saw some futuristic world.

He knew something was being constructed.
It was assumed he was aware
of
the ‘what’, but he hadn’t gotten to that page of the book yet. When he did, he nodded to himself. It made sense. At least
what
the workers were doing.

But after the construction,
even
though the mountain was somewhat hidden, the other aspect
being
built was not and how long would that be
shielded
from the public
?

A huge,
clear plastic, reinforced dome was being built. Estimated time of
completion
, 45 days with two thousand men. It would
extend high
, two hundred feet, encircle a two
-
mile
radius and seal against the western side of the mountain. The only way in was
through
the other end of the mountain.

The dome city. Tiny houses were being constructed.
People would live in a controlled environment and watch the world outside
go to ruin
.

Three
quarters
of a million people would reside in the complex and dome city
,
a
third of which were
military and
other professionals invited.

The rest would be by selection.

That was where Martin had a problem. Not the ‘lottery’ so much as the rules behind it.

And when those
rules
were
released
, he
suspec
ted that
an uproar wouldn’t occur until the lottery
selection.
Then all hell would break loose. How could it not
?
It wasn’t fair.

The lot
tery
w
as going to preserve life
,
y
es. But Martin saw it as a means to also destroy life.

Didn’t matter. It was just another disaster
in a
long string of
catastrophes
waiting
to happen.

A str
i
ng of events
that
Martin
had to witness and document.

“
Without a doubt a major geological event
is
underway. While
authorities
do not believe this will last much
longer
, in order for them to paint a complete picture of what is happening, they are asking for
assistance
f
rom
the general public
,
u
rging citizens to repo
rt any phenomenon, big or small.
…
”

Colin reached over and shut off the car radio.
“Urging citizens. Ah, yes, every Joe will be calling in.”

Darius
slumped
in
t
he
passenger’s
seat
and
shrugged. “You never know.”

“
What
gets
me
is
the
public
is not dumb. The
a
verage fifth grader knows something
big
is happening.”

“Average fifth grader is smarter
than
most adults.”

“True.”

“Well, this conference should be a way to keep
peace
and calm. Unless of c
ou
rse they release
that
the world is going to shit.”

“I think they’ll release information, but I think, to keep chaos to a minimum, they’ll downplay it,”
Darius
said.

“
Hopeful
ly
they’ll find a solution, no matter
what
it is, that will change the outcome or
prevent
so much destruction and loss of life.”

“Or stop it.”

“You can’t stop it, Darius.”

Darius chuckled. Yes, you can. I have a way.”

“Ah, yes, let’s blow up the world.”

“You’ll see.…” Darius then mumbled,
“If we ever get to the conference.”

“E
xcuse me?” Colin shifted his eyes and
looked at Darius. “Are we remarking about my driving?”

“Yes.”

“That’s right, Mr. 100 in a
fifty
-
five zone.”

“I wanted to get there.”

“Yes, well, you got us pulled over.”

Darius wave
out
his hand.

“The officer not only pulled you over
and
wrote you a ticket, but he took your license as well.”

“Minor detail.”

“And could you remove your feet from the dashboard
?
”

With
a grunt
, Darius dropped his feet. “I’m bored.”

“Let’s talk.”

“Ok
ay
. Tell me about your plan.”

“I’d rather listen to Nancy Newscast nullify the apocalypse.”

“Fine.”
Darius
reached
over
and turn on the radio.

“
Fine
.” Colin turned up the volume.

Armando was a fruit picker before he
crossed
over the bo
rder from Mexico to the United States wit
h
his
family and sought American citizen
ship. That was nearly twenty years earl
ier
when
his English was not so good. But now he spoke fluently and rarely did people ask him to repeat.

He
was married for a while, but that
didn’t
work out. Nor did it breed children.
It was the divorce that caused him to seek the real American Dream and migrate from Texas to Nevada to work in a
c
asino.

He wanted to be a p
it manager
but was told that took years. So he started at the bottom. After two years he made it to the floor. He worked the
nightshift
cleaning
ashtrays
, but it was a good
-
paying job that afforded him the opportunity to meet lot
s
of interesting people.

That
w
as how he met Tony.

A year before Tony was losing on the slots,
and
he asked Armando what would be a
good machine. Armando shrugged
and pointed to another one.

Little did he know Tony would hit the progressive jackpot and give Armando ten thousand
dollars.

Armando used that to move the rest of his family to America
.

But he and Tony stayed friends.

It was Tony who got a call from his
cousin
in the Army. His cousin was working on some secret project and gave Tony a direct line to contact him if anything weird occurred
,
m
ainly because a lot of things
were
going t
o get buried by the news.

This special line was different
from
the number they were giving on the
networks
. . . .

Something
big
was happening, and the special project was part of it.

Tony told
Armando
this and Armando said
he’d keep an
e
ye out for it, a
lthoug
h
he wasn’t quite so sure what could
possibly
constitute
a
weird
occurrence
.

He had just finished the phone call with Tony and
prepared to
go to sleep. The morning sun was already bright, and Armando closed the
shades
and turned up the air conditioning. Even the
air
didn’t seem to cool down his small home.

The temperature outside had
risen
to 100 and it wasn’t even eight a
.
m.

He pulled down his bed sheets, changed his clothes and headed to the bathroom. He was so
tired
his legs were
wobbly
,
and a full bladder didn’t help.

It as one of those times for a ‘sit down’ urination.

After sitting and
spreading his legs slightly so gravity could take effect
,
Armando
released.

He
sighed out with the rush of water that
came
from his organ
,
a
steady full stream. Perhaps that was why the ‘splashing’ caught his attention.
He
blinked and
worried
. Had his urine become thick? Did he have a blood
clot;
something thick was in his urine to cause the abnormal water sound.

With that thought, the last dribble coming out,
Armando
prepared to lift and look.

Before he could
,
just behind his testicle sack
a searing, sharp pain radiated into him and Armando sprang up, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Excruciating
ly
,
Armando
reach
ed
down, an
d he saw it, the long brown sna
k
e
attached
to
his testicles. Before he
could
reach it, he dropped to his knees. The agony had
become paralyzing
and just as he hit the floor, the snake released it
s
grip and slithered away.

Armando didn’t see where it went. He curled up into a fetal
position
and
tightened
his entire body. With
in seconds, everything
turned
b
l
ack
and he passed out.

Martin had a late start to his day. Usually he was on the computer before seven thirty
Mountain
Time.

But
o
n this day he slept late
,
h
aving been up until near
ly
the crack of dawn.
He retrieved a cup of coffee and perc
hed himself in front of his lap
top.

After
he
opened his email program, saw a connection,
then
sipped his coffee and swiveled his chair, not paying attention.

He checked the stacks of paper he had to review, not thinking much about how long it w
as taking for his email to down
load.

When the bell
sounded,
he returned to his
computer
and nearly spat forth his coffee.

Over three hundred emails.

There
had to be a spam error. Opening his
inbox
, he saw the darkened messages, but he also saw something else
:
A similar subject message to them all. Even though
t
hey were all from different people, some civilian email address,
some
military
, they all had one word in common.

Snakes.

Snakes? Martin thought.
What could be going on with snakes that so many people felt the urge to email him
?
In addition, how bad could it be?

The
linoleum
reflected the cool temperature of the bathroom. Air conditioning blasting,
Armando
woke
feeling the
cold.
Lying
on the bathroom
floor
, he moved his right leg and felt two things
:
Excruciating
pain that radiated up his th
i
gh and to his stomach, and
dampness
. He was able to move
a little
to look down.

A small pool of blood formed by his legs,
but
not much, that was a good sign, but his testicles had
swollen
at least five times their normal size.

The painful cramp continued, and as Armando came to a bit more, the fog lifted and he started to feel
everything
.

The tingling in his hands, the tremor to his body. Moving an inch made him want to vomit.

He
shook so ba
dly
and was so
cold that
he knew he had a fever.
He
couldn’t even recall what type of snake it was that had latched
on and
bit
ten
him. But he knew one thing
;
he needed help.

His phone was in his bedroom
,
not far away. If he could just stand or even crawl there.

Arm extending,
Armando
reached for the tub, and levered himself.

More
pain.

Pulling on his inner strength, he managed to
weakly
stand.

His legs
wobbled
and felt as if they were asleep. He hoped that it was only the way he had lay, and not the effects of the bite.

Standing wasn’t much better, the pain was
li
k
e
a
knife
and
each step was worse.

His
vision
was cloudy and
the room spun.

The phone. He had to get the phone.

Holding on to the wall for support, Armando inched his way to his bedroom.

The phone s
a
t on his bed
,
and he spotted his
salvation
.

The front door was
unlocked
. Call for help,
and then
collapse t
o
the bed.
Surely
something was amiss with his
health
.
Surely
the snake
was
poison
ous
.