“Okay,” he said reluctantly, knowing that it would be an extremely difficult promise for him to keep, and that he might well end up reneging when the time came.
“Thank you,” she said, and she kissed him. “You don’t know how much better that makes me feel.”
He was tempted to say that he knew exactly how much better it made her feel because he now felt that much worse… but it was his responsibility to take care of her, and her peace of mind was every bit as important to him as her physical safety. “So what do you want to do?”
“Let’s watch outside for a little while and then go finish making love.”
“I wonder how long before anyone else will come out.”
“They’re probably all thinking like we are,” she said. “Party time is definitely over.”
“Hey, speak of the devil,” he said, pointing.
A few young men were coming out of the house across the street and getting into a van. They were toting shotguns and carrying packs over their shoulders.
“Do you know them?”
“It’s the Gilberts,” he said. “They’re cousins. Normally pretty nice guys, but it’s a different world now.”
“Where do you think they’re going?”
He shrugged. “I’m curious as hell, but I’m not going to ask.”
“I wish we could. Normally I’m pretty withdrawn, but right now I really feel like being around people.”
“How about a shot of tequila instead?”
She smiled then. “That’s what I like about you.” She got up from the couch and began to unbutton the shirt he had given her. “You’re always thinking.”
Twenty-Seven
Ulrich sat at the console in Launch Control with Erin in his lap, counting down the time to impact. Taylor and Dr. West sat beside them in the light of an electric lamp. They had shut down all the generators and disconnected all of the main batteries against the possibility of damage to the silo, wanting to mitigate any chance of fire.
“T-minus sixty seconds,” Ulrich said into the intercom.
Erin hid her face in his neck and he rubbed her back. “We’ll be okay, baby.”
“I’m fucking terrified,” she whispered. “I’m so glad we never had kids, Wayne.”
“Shhh,” he said softly.
In the common chamber, Forrest stood against the wall with his hands clasped in front of him, smiling calmly in the lamplight as the women sat in the center of the room holding their children. Melissa sat against the wall near Forrest, with Laddie between them, and Veronica sat across the room with her back against Michael’s chest. Forrest was mindful not to make eye contact with her.
He did notice that Andie was looking in his direction more than any of the others, so he gave her a wink that brought a smile to her otherwise frightened visage.
Lynette was sitting with her husband, Price, on the floor beside Michelle, as he had asked her to.
Kane was sitting behind Tonya, who sat holding Steven in her lap; it was the first time Forrest had noticed them showing any affection. Vasquez and Danzig sat beside them with their wives and children.
Forrest’s original plan had been to let the children sleep through the impact, but the mothers vetoed that idea unanimously, wanting their children in their arms at the moment everyone they knew and loved was blasted out of existence.
“I’ve made a mistake,” Karen said in a sudden panic. “I should be with my sister where I belong.” She pulled her daughter close and began to weep.
Veronica felt Michael tense up, and felt that her suspicions were confirmed.
Forrest continued to smile calmly, very pleased with how they were all doing so far, Karen’s little outburst having been the least of what he was prepared to deal with.
“Okay, kids,” he said happily. “Everyone get ready to hold your noses like we practiced earlier.”
All of the children and their mothers held their noses.
“Now, when I say, everyone pinch your nose and blow gently until your ears pop.”
Dr. West had suggested this as a precaution against a sudden increase in air pressure within the silo—which no one expected, but then again no one had ever experienced a six teraton explosion before.
“T-minus thirty seconds,” Ulrich said.
All of the mothers told their children how much they loved them.
“T-minus ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four…”
“Everyone blow,” Forrest said gently.
“Two… one… impact.”
A few seconds later the earth shuddered deep within and all around them, groaning as if stricken a mortal wound. There was no change in air pressure, and no sense that the silo was being squeezed or in danger of implosion.
Almost everyone held their breath, waiting.
“Sounds like it hit pretty far away,” Kane said, looking up at the ceiling.
Forrest winked at him and held up his one second finger. Then, as if on cue, the entire complex shook violently as the shock wave passed through the earth’s crust. Forrest pressed hard against the wall, bracing his feet against the floor as the room jiggled back, forth, and up and down on its shock absorbers. The women and the children screamed in terror, all of them covering their heads, but nothing fell and no cracks appeared in the walls, the entire installation having been purposefully built to absorb this very kind of shock wave. Within a few seconds the earth stopped shaking and everything grew silent.
“Well, they apparently knew what they were doing when they built this place,” Forrest said.
“Is it over?” Joann asked, lifting her head.
Lynette and Michelle were crying in one another’s arms, and a few of the children were crying as well, but everyone else was reasonably well composed, considering the circumstances.
“Expect aftershocks,” Forrest replied, “but I think we’ve felt the worst of it.”
He looked down to see Melissa looking up at him, her arm around Laddie’s shoulders. The dog seemed more curious than disquieted. “You okay?”
“No crater,” she said with a smile.
“That should be about a thousand miles north of here.” He tweaked her nose and went about checking to make sure everyone else was all right, asking if anyone felt like they were going to be sick. When everyone said they were okay, he asked one of the men to go below and reconnect the batteries. Then he stepped into Launch Control.
“What do you think, Wayne?”
Erin stood and took Taylor by the hand. “We’ll go sit with the others now.”
The women kissed their husbands and left the room.
“We should be feeling an earthquake any time,” Ulrich said.
Ten minutes later they felt their first real tremor, but it was nothing compared with the shock wave.
“Switch on the cameras,” Forrest said. “See if we’re blind.”
Ulrich turned on the monitor and they were all surprised to see that the house wasn’t yet in flames. When he switched to the outside feeds, however, it was an altogether different scene. The grasslands all around the house were burning.
“Good thing we mowed back all that grass,” Ulrich said. “We may get to keep the house.”
“Is it raining fire?” West asked.
“Sure as hell is,” Forrest said. “The asteroid blasted millions of tons of rock into the outer atmosphere.”
“Then we’ll be lucky to keep the house,” Ulrich said, drumming his fingers.
“The house was always a bonus,” Forrest said. “So were the cameras.”
Taylor came back into the room and said to her husband, “Honey, Lynette’s hyperventilating. Price and Michael have taken her to Medical.”
West looked at Forrest and smiled. “And so it begins.”