--=-Chapter 2: Everybody Buckle Up--=-

I climbed into the car, and just as Jon was about to join me, he lowered his sunglasses and asked, "What fresh hell is this then?"

A young, blonde-haired, white girl was running at the car, waving her hands. Half a block behind her was a middle-aged black guy who appeared to be trying to run as well, but slower.

"Wait!" she called, and Jon stepped out of the car.

"Hey, is everything alright? Is that guy behind you chasing you?"

I felt like smacking my forehead in exasperation; the man was clearly out of shape and still approaching, although he was holding his side and walking now. In any case, Jon sometimes over-relied on his police training and assumed danger as a matter of course. It was a bad habit of his—and not entirely due to training. He was kind of an anxious person by default.

The girl was red-faced and breathing hard as well. "That's my dad," she said with that disdainful attitude kids often perfect in middle school. It was clearly not the first time someone had asked that kind of question. “We need a ride to the hospital,” she said, moving on.

Jon blushed and cleared his throat. “Well, I'm not an ambulance. Is someone hurt?"

Her dad was getting closer now and was walking with a small limp. It felt too awkward to stay in the car, so I got out and stood in the door frame so I could join the conversation.

The girl pointed at the sky in the distance. “The vortex is coming down. My sister and mom are at the hospital. We're trying to get to them and get out of town, but Mom has the car."

The man was close enough that Jon decided to call out to him. "She says you guys need a ride to the hospital."

The man nodded and jogged the last few yards before speaking. "Please, my wife and daughter are there. I need to get to them. I don't understand why there's no siren; the vortex is coming down as we speak."

“A siren would send people looking for cover at best. The main roads have been turned into one-ways, with officers directing traffic out of town. People are already flooding the main roads. Luckily, the hospital is on the way and might even be outside this thing. Hop in."

Jon unlocked the back doors, and they let themselves into the back, divided from the front by a steel cage. I gave Jon a look as we sat down in front. "You didn't have to go direct traffic?" I asked.

Jon shrugged but looked troubled. "No, Sam, I didn't. They can't ask me to die for strangers. They stationed me in the middle of town and told me to drive down the streets, announcing the evacuation order over the loudspeaker alone. They told me to stay as long as I could. Well, that time passed a long time ago. I warned who I could. And now we're leaving."

Jon looked upset by the time he finished, and I regretted bringing it up, which didn't stop the girl from adding, “Nobody knows what's happening, though. Can't you talk over your speakers as we drive to tell them to run?"

“I think it would just create a panic," Jon said. His tone was gentle but didn't invite argument.

"It seems too quiet," the girl argued anyway.

I looked around and realized she was right. There were cars on the road, but it wasn't busy.

“

Sweetheart, I'm sure everything is under control." Her dad told her.

Jon started the car and backed out of his parking spot. Then he picked up his radio microphone and handed it to me. “I’ll turn on the lights and drive as slow as I can, but the sky is falling, and we can’t afford to go slow. Okay?”

The girl smiled from ear to ear. I thought briefly about what to say before shrugging and deciding to calmly and clearly enunciate the word "Evacuate" every few seconds. It wasn't the clearest warning, but it was straight to the point. Besides, most people would probably guess the reason, assuming they took us seriously. The patrol car's flashing lights would hopefully add enough legitimacy that people would at least look up and see the need for themselves.

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Jon pulled the car out of the parking lot. "So, you might have caught it, but my name's Jon, and next to me is Sam," he said, striking up a conversation with the two passengers.

The man’s name was Titus, and his daughter was Nia. Titus’s adult daughter worked at the hospital as a surgeon. His wife, Nia’s mother, was a pastor who worked in the hospital and held services in the chapel. Then they started comparing theories on what the vortex was.

“It’s got to be aliens, right?” Jon said. “I mean, America is probably the most technologically advanced and saturated culture in the world, and we can’t even approach the kind of technology it would take to create a smart gas that defies physics.”

“My mom says it’s the rapture.”

Jon and I shared a look, and I had to try not to laugh. It was precious.

“Well, she is a pastor or whatever," Jon said. "Not exactly what I pictured when I thought about there being 'Two people in a field, one taken, one left.' But I suppose that the 'people' could be metaphors for cities, So I could see how you could make an argument that this is the rapture." Jon looked thoughtful, and this time I couldn't help but snort.

“Can I ask what do you think it is?" Titus asked.

I repeated "Evacuate… Evacuate… Evacuate" into the microphone before pausing my broadcast and responding. “Could be aliens.”

"Well, technically, God and angels could be considered aliens," Jon pointed out. "What about you, Titus? Do you agree with your wife that this an act of God?"

“I don’t know; Kay and I disagree about a lot where religion is concerned. But that’s okay, right Nia?”

Nia gave an exaggerated shrug and roll of her eyes. “That’s what you say when you aren’t fighting anyway.”

“Anyway," Titus went on, "I suppose I think it's something the government did that got out of control. Something sci-fi, probably. So it could be aliens, or some sleeping god, or a rogue ai trying to turn us all into batteries. I would be pretty surprised if a tinfoil hat stopped whatever it is, though."

Nia giggled. "Yeah, that's stu-silly; why are you wearing that?"

“Because it’s aliens,” I said, playfully jutting my chin out to display my stubbornness before returning to my mantra. In truth, I'd forgotten I was wearing it again, but I wouldn't dampen the moment of levity by taking it off. It might be the last one for a long time.

"Hey, Jon," Titus said. "I think we better speed up." He was bent over and looking up at the sky, focusing on one of the high-rises, and then I saw what had caught his attention. The Haze of the vortex was beginning to pass in front of its highest level.

A fair number of cars were beginning to line up behind us, avoiding turns that would take them past us. We were almost becoming an impediment to traffic. People began to honk. We weren't the only ones to see how low the vortex was getting.

Jon sped up and was soon exceeding the speed limit. I kept announcing the evacuation notice, but I wasn't sure it would be intelligible to those who heard it. Time was short for everyone.

No matter how many people heard us and escaped, I knew there would still be many people trapped before they even knew there was a problem.

Only the initial vortex in California had lifted. The smaller vortexes that had just started lowering showed no signs of dispersing or lifting yet. Because of this, there wasn't much solid information on what happened inside the vortexes, only that everything had apparently been vaporized in California.

A lot of people here in Forest Lake were about to find out for sure. Nothing Jon or I could do would change that.

I lowered the radio and stared out the window as we entered downtown. The parking lots were mostly empty, but as we drove on, I saw some people walking away from a store pushing carts full of stuff.

“Fucking looters,” Jon said.

“It's going to be destroyed anyway," I replied before picking up the radio and repeating the word "evacuate" a few times. It sent the group running, but probably not escaping.

“It's the principle. Sure, take stuff you need in an emergency like this and pay it back later if you can. But TVs? They're just out for themselves." Jon said.

“They're just trying to survive—badly," I argued.

“Luckily for them, we've got somewhere to be and no time to get there." Jon was looking up at the high-rise, measuring the vortex wall's height for us. The lowering vortex now hid a third of the twenty-story measuring stick.

"What in the freshest of hells is this now?"

An empty police car with flashing lights was parked on the south side of the intersection we were approaching. "There's supposed to be someone directing all traffic to go north from here," Jon said, looking around for the person who was supposed to be in charge.

“Maybe they left to get out of town too?” I asked.

“They should have at least radioed in.” Jon picked up his radio, “Dispatch,” he said into it before releasing the button and waiting. Jon pulled his squad car up next to the apparently abandoned car. Dispatch hadn’t replied. “Oh right, dispatch did get the evac order."

He brought the radio back up to his mouth, "This is car 22, to any available officer. Does anyone know anything about car 14? It's abandoned here on North State."

There was no answer. Jon bit his lip and spoke into the microphone again. "This is car 22; looking for any copy."

Silence was the only response.

"Shit. Well, either my radio is broken, or we're alone," Jon said, raising his radio to speak into it again.

"This is car 22. I may not be receiving. On the off-chance that there's someone out there who can copy, Car 14 has been abandoned. The intersection of State and Court is abandoned. I have two civilians in need of the hospital. I'm going to lead a caravan of cars north on State's southbound pass to try to get things moving. Then I'll evac. See you on the other side, gentlemen.”

Jon had turned off his flashing lights when I’d stopped my evacuation announcement, but he turned them back on now.

Traffic primarily occupied the right two lanes while heading north. The left lane was mostly empty, with just a few cars trying to go south.

"Alright, everybody, buckle up; we're going north in a southbound lane."

-=-

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