Emily was walking back to her apartment with a thousand thoughts flowing through her mind.
The world was in a weird place right now. First off, everyone's kids were gone. People were highly motivated to do something about it… but there was nothing to do. Nothing, but sit and wait for the world to officially end.
Humanity had already been saved by the Boschyans. Twice. At least sort of…
Once by having all the kids taken to a safe place where they could grow and thrive in this new multiverse. Then again by choosing approximately five hundred thousand more humans to fuse with safe Spores and sent through a tutorial. As for everyone else left on Earth… They were the leftovers of humanity. They were doomed to stay on the planet with the true apocalypse looking over their heads.
The Mysts would come. Half of them would become monsters. Then most of nature would become magical and try to eat them. And, if they survived through ALL of that, then they would have to face the system war that Kazi had warned them about.
One article called those left behind the 'Stranded' and it seemed to stick. Some of the Stranded seemed consigned to their fate, while others were frantically trying to find anything they could do to help their situation. Oddly enough, being stuck in this awful situation brought most of the remaining humans together in a way Emily had never seen before.
People were opening up their homes near Pillars. Large meals were being made by the churches and other organizations for the spectators around the world. Large grocery stores and other companies actually decided to just give most of their stuff away for free.
One CEO gave a speech about how the Stranded were the only ones who mattered now. There was no reason to focus on the stock market, because there was no future to bet on. The only bet that remained was the chance for the Stranded to survive the coming weeks.
After that many other companies opened up their wares. Those that didn't were raided anyway with police enforcement often there to help. Everyone helped to create a way to distribute goods to all the Stranded left in each city.
Then there were those who were gathering information from what the Chosen were learning at each System Pillar. Emily fell into hat role pretty naturally. There were mountains of information coming in from all over the world. Then there were the groups online and news anchors who were sifting through that information to help share what was learned throughout the world.
Kazi had been the only spore to ever share anything about the upcoming system war. Between that, Jeff's achievements, and her opportunity to hold her husband's hand, her Pillar was getting a large amount of attention.
She had given a couple other brief interviews, mostly about what she thought Jeff was thinking at certain moments. They could hear Kazi's words, but when Jeff used his thoughts to communicate they were left out of the loop. She became the official, 'what on earth do you think he thunk?' translator. She didn't mind though. It was nice to be helpful in some way.
Now, however, she was exhausted. Jeff's planet had shorter days than Earth and she was glad when he prepped for the night. She felt bad whenever she stopped watching, but sleep was a must.
Jeff had always teased her that she was narcoleptic. She could fall asleep anywhere and anytime, while he was more of an insomniac.
After Emily had nodded off a few times she woke to the news camera pointed in her direction. They were no doubt trying to show how dedicated she was that she would stay all night with her husband. Instead, that gave her the willpower to finally leave and make it home to her bed. She didn't know how many more nights she would have left in a comfy bed. Hopefully at least a few more.
As Emily neared her apartment all hope for getting to sleep quickly fled.
On the curb near her place were three black, official looking vehicles. Bodyguards were piling out of the cars and one made contact with her. His gaze spoke their intentions. They were there for her.
"Ugh, let's just get this over with," she said to herself. She walked over to the foot of her shared staircase and turned toward them. She gave a 'come on up' gesture and walked up and into her home.
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She left the door open behind her and went about dropping off her empty backpack and cooler. She started getting cups out before realizing she didn’t have anything for them to drink. Everything but water had gone in her ice chest the last two days. Oh well.
One body guard came in and gave a cursory glance around the apartment. Then a man walked in with a nice polo shirt and slacks. Emily stood awkwardly by her kitchen table. She realized she forgot the lights and quickly reached over to turn on a light before settling back by the table.
The man smiled and and offered his hand in a firm handshake. “Hello Emily, I am Governor Harrison DeValt. Thank you for welcoming us into your home.” He sat down at the small table and gestured for Emily to do the same. Emily had heard the name of Arizona’s governor and felt a little embarrassed to not recognize his face.
The politician continued on, “I’m sure you’re wondering why we are here, and I’ll cut right to the chase. President Standiford wants the local government officials to be making house calls to each family of the Chosen. First off, I wanted to say, I’m sorry for your loss. Having your two little kids and then your husband taken off the planet in one day must be very hard on you.” He waited a moment to see if Emily would respond. She just sat with a serious and solemn face.
The Governor continued, “I’m not sure if you’ve been on social media much, but you and your husband have gained a lot of attention the last two days. Your interview has been watched 20 Million times across several videos and your husband has had constant coverage by news outlets. Most folks that live farther away from where the System Pillars fell have been glued to their TVs and trying to prepare for whats to come.”
Emily’s cheeks reddened. She started going back over what she said in the interview. Was there anything embarrassing? She couldn’t remember. “Um, wow, that’s more than I expected. I’m sure there are many other husbands chosen. Why is there so much attention on us?”
“It’s hard to say exactly, but it’s probably because he was the first to do several important things. Like arrive on another planet, fight monsters, and he is the only one to have talked with someone back here on Earth. There were plenty of people who just thought what we were watching was simply fabricated by the Boschyan Army. Your experience and interview actually helped solidify the reality of the situation. I’m not sure how much of the news you have seen, being there in person, but you two have been a beacon of hope for the Stranded.”
“Oh,” Emily said lamely. She wasn’t surprised to find out someone had been watching her and Jeff, but finding out they were viral startled her a bit.
Governor DeValt placed his hand on the table and met her eyes with a serious expression. “The government of the United States has been doing all it can to help the people, but as you can expect, we are a little out of our league. We have contingency plans for a lot of situations, but having all our children teleported away by altruistic aliens was not anticipated. With that said, we do have some general plans we hope to enact. The reason I’m telling you all this is that I hope to use your sudden fame to our advantage. I’m hoping that you will be able to endorse our instructions in hopes that it is better received. I’m also hoping that we will be able to use you as a spokesperson of sorts after the Mysts actually come.” He looked at her then with a slightly amused face, “Unless of course you turn into a monster.”
Emily gulped. The ridiculousness of their situation was not lost on her, but it was just drowned out by the seriousness of what the Governor was asking. He wanted to use the attention on her and her husband as a way to get the governments instructions heard. “What are the instructions?”
Harrison sat back in the chair and let out a deep sigh, “Honestly, we are still figuring some of that out as we go. For now, we want people to relocate to places that give humanity the best shot at survival. Any structure that has good protection from wildlife, and can also separate people into their own separate spaces. Places where we can send a small squad of troops to potrect a large group of people. We are thinking hotels, apartment complexes, schools, and colleges. Most of the freshmen dorms are empty now…” The governor choked up and his eyes started tearing up. “Sorry, my youngest was a freshman at ASU. She and three of my grandchildren are… who knows where.”
Everyone had lost someone or someones. Emily felt guilty for becoming desensitized to it over the last couple of days. She let him compose himself before she asked her questions. “Why not let people stay in their homes? Wouldn’t having people turned into monsters in close proximity be more dangerous?”
“Well–”
The governor was cut off as an assistant placed a tablet on the table. “Sir, you’re going to want to see this.” The volume was turned up and Emily saw a familiar scene of Jessica Gardner with microphone in hand.
“-ago the Boschyan Spore, Kazi, told the Chosen Jeff that he would have a chance to see his kids.” Emily’s heart started thumping at the reporters words. “This will be the first chance that we have to confirm that our children are indeed safe somewhere off world. It looks like something is happening.”
Emily saw Jeff walk into the Pillar and he was soon in the same large metallic room he had been in when they had spoken. He turned to the curved walls and looked anxious and excited. Then Kazi spoke and Emily sat on the edge of her seat.
"Incoming from the Myst safe planet of Draskot."
The golden wall showed an image that made tears swell up in Jeff's eyes. The camera angle was wrong and the news crew switched to a camera on the other side of the Pillar. Now Emily could see over her husband's shoulder and into the eyes of her children.