Liam Hall
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2022 (The day of the Shutdown)
The world closed around them, just her and him, their eyes locked on each other.
A spent casing clattered onto the ground.
Watching it spin on the floor, their labored breaths filled the room as a pool of blood blossomed under the woman. The lingering echoes of the bullet rang in their ears.
No.
The rest of his friends looked on in horror.
How?
***
20 minutes ago…
The general store was filled with noises of commerce: the door chiming as new customers entered, the ding of the cash register opening, and the laughter and murmurs as the cashier processed purchases and asked how their day had been going.
Sunlight bathed the aisle Liam stood in.
Turning at the sound of approaching footsteps, he watched mesmerized at the dust dancing in the streams of light before turning his attention to the one causing them.
“You got everything?” David asked.
The big man had been his best friend since they could both remember. A by-product of having been raised in the same degenerate and degrading neighborhood their entire lives.
“No, I can’t read what this says,” Liam muttered, running a hand through his hair.
Pointing it out to David, he asked, “What did your mother write right here? Chips?”
Leaning over, David grinned. “That’s ‘clips’ dumbass. I already got those because your ass was taking too long.”
“Maybe if Mrs. Nia had better penmanship I could tell,” Liam scoffed, taking the chips out of his cart.
“Should I tell her you said that?”
“Please don’t,” Liam replied, remembering the intimate connection her sandals and his face had when he was younger.
“I’ll take this to check out then. Find Carter and tell him to meet us out front.”
Taking the bags from David’s hands before he could protest, Liam grinned. “Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m making some money now. Might as well put it to use.”
“You sure man? Your parents—”
“Told you I’d handle it,” he said, already on his way to the checkout.
Counting out how much this would set him back as he stood in line, a child behind him was studying the wall of snacks beside the register. Picking out a chocolate bar, he looked around before setting it back.
“Wait, kid, do you want that?” Liam asked, picking up the chocolate bar.
Considering the blonde stranger in front of him, the child delicately nodded.
“This too, please,” he told the cashier, placing it on the conveyor belt. Grinning as the child stared wide-eyed at his chocolate, Liam grabbed the receipt and handed it to him.
“Thanks,” the child whispered, promptly running off to his parents must’ve been.
Thanking the cashier, Liam walked outside.
The neighborhood he’d grown up in hadn’t changed in 20 years. Across the street from where he was, was the park and the basketball court everybody in the surroundings used for literally everything. It was the meetup spot after school, the tennis court for local clubs, and in the winter, they’d turn it into an ice rink to play hockey.
Trees ringed them, giving an inviting earthen atmosphere that saw the neighborhood’s seniors spending their afternoons walking and chatting.
Of course, because of how neglected it was by the city there was a higher crime rate, degrading infrastructure, and a lack of community resources but to Liam, the nostalgia made up for it.
Joining David and Carter on a nearby bench, he gratefully accepted a beer and sat back.
“How many more months till you graduate now?” David asked, leaning back with a beer in hand. “Like 3? Or was it 2? 2 more and then you’re home free.”
A soft breeze blew through the street, flushing away the bout of spring heat. Watching a game of pickup basketball happening across the street, it took Liam a moment to reply.
“Yeah,” he muttered, watching a neighborhood kid go flying after being bodied by a larger kid. “Just have to pass the bar and then I’ll get my first job. Starting salary as a junior associate is 60k.”
Whistling in glee, Carter grinned at him. “Shit man, sometimes I wish I stuck with college.”
Raising an eyebrow, Liam looked away from the game. “College wouldn’t have stuck with you. You slept through half of the underclassmen including a couple of the teachers. They fired a female faculty member because of you.”
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“Hey, what can I say? My charisma is irresistible.”
Scoffing at his statement, they all watched a busted-up pickup roll to a stop in front of the store. Three men hopped out, each wearing large trenchcoats as if that wouldn’t draw suspicion in the bout of heat the city was experiencing.
Passing by them one of the strangers – a grizzled man with a glass eye – winked at him as they entered the store.
What the hell?
“Yo, David, when did your mother say the fundraiser was again?” Carter asked, unperturbed by the sight.
Checking his phone, the big man replied, “Nah, we’re safe for another 30 minutes. We should—”
The glass windows exploded behind them. Instinctively protecting his head, a flying shard sliced the edge of Liam’s finger.
Gasping in pain, he reflexively looked up to spot the danger when he saw the same stranger running out the door with a duffel bag in tow. As he rushed out, his coat was flicked out of the way to reveal the barrel of his gun.
Noticing Liam’s horrified gaze, he smiled at him and put a finger to his lips.
Hopping into the pickup, the truck peeled out of the lot with a screech and sped off.
“What the hell!” David hissed as he painstakingly picked shards of glass out from the back of his hand, each one causing his grimace to deepen. “What the fuck was that for?!”
People were streaming out of the store in a hurry, but given it wasn’t a shocking occurrence there were only a few whimpers amongst the small crowd of people.
At least it should’ve been a common occurrence.
Stepping over the shattered window sill, the crunching of glass welcomed him as he stared at the mess the assailants created. Bullet holes peppered the back wall and the closest shelves had been knocked over, their merchandise spilling across the floor.
“Damn, they really did a number on this place,” David whistled, picking up a back of chips that had been crushed. “At least most of this is salvageable. What was the point of shooting though?”
“Dunno. Crazy psychos trying to blow off steam,” Carter reasoned.
They almost blew off our heads, Liam thought to himself, watching the staff already starting to sweep up the debris. But I don’t have to worry about that anymore. My family is somewhere safe elsewhere. No more sleeping with the door barricaded or stupid precau—
Lost in thought, it took him a second to realize the world had grown deathly quiet.
The cashier and the employees of the market had stopped what they were doing, all of them watching the sky with conflicted expressions.
“What the hell is happening to the sky?” David uttered in disbelief.
Looking up, confusion plastered Liam’s face as he watched the sky turn darker and darker, sanguine replacing the baby blue. Everything came to a standstill as the entire neighborhood froze at the morbid sight, an omen that made their blood run cold despite the weather.
“Fucking hell,” David hissed under his breath.
Turning to Liam, the big man showed him his dead phone screen. “I bought this shit yesterday. The dealer fucking scammed me for $300 saying it’d been used lightly. How the fuck is this lightly?!”
Incredulous at his priorities, Liam sighed. “That’s why I told you to save up and get a new one.”
But checking his phone, it was the same; cold and dead like the battery had drained out. Holding onto the power button, his eyebrows knit in frustration when it didn’t power up.
As he struggled with his own, the neighborhood he’d grown up in was shutting down. Streetlights sputtered out and porch lights of surrounding homes were quenched like they’d been hit by a blackout.
It was silent.
Without the hum of machines and the glow of artificial lights, nature reasserted itself. The trees stood as silent sentinels, the wind a whisper of things to come. People in the park started to disperse and left hurriedly to return home while the rest of them wordlessly waited for something to happen.
A whimpering brought him back.
Tearing away from the phenomenon, he looked into the vandalized shop where it was coming from. The crunching of the glass under his feet caught the attention of David and Carter. After sharing a look they quietly began to follow him.
All three of them stopped at the end of an aisle, horror dawning on them as they saw a pool of blood spreading out from under a stranger.
Beside her, the child Liam had given the chocolate bar to was silently crying over her.
No.
“David! Find the gauze!” Liam yelled, rushing forward without another thought.
Liam looked around at the woman. Blood spilled through her fingers as she futilely tried to stem the gunshot wound. Her eyes fluttered anxiously sending a desperate plea.
Grabbing the gauze from David as he rounded the corner, Liam shoved the whole roll into the wound, eliciting a gasp.
“What the fuck as we supposed to do? The lines are out!” Carter cried, hoping some miracle would swoop in and help her.
Running to the shattered window pane, he stood there looking at the vacated park.
“Carter, there is nothing out there! Help us!” Liam screamed in frustration, causing the child to break down in a fresh wave of tears.
Shit.
“Carter!”
Ready to throttle his friend, Liam stopped himself realizing her blood was growing thinner. Taking off his jacket he swathed her midsection in it.
David, who’d gone to check on Carter, froze beside him watching something swimming in the red sky above.
Gritting his teeth, he turned to the child and asked him to keep pressure on the wound as he stormed towards his friends with murder on his mind. Flicking his gaze towards the sky he scoffed when he saw their interest lay in plane.
Something was off.
… It’s losing altitude.
Eyes darting around him, he drew a connection he was too occupied to notice before. His dead phone, dead streetlights, stores with blacked-out windows, and the general silence. They all happened when the sky turned red leaving only one explanation.
The fucking sky. It took the plane out as well.
Liam watched the plane’s uncontrolled descent like a trainwreck in slow motion.
“Pull up, pull up,” David whispered beside him, his eyes not leaving the plane.
The typical droning of the engines was nowhere to be heard as it passed over them. Crossing out of view, the three of them waited in horror at what came next, certain of the plane’s fate and what awaited those on board.
BOOM!
A ripple of sound swept across the block, sending flocks of birds fluttering past them in panic.
“Holy cow…” Carter gasped, swallowing hard at the sight of the fireball. “Liam.”
Liam tore his eyes away. “What?”
“That direction… that direction is south.”
“And? Oh…” The realization hit him like a dump truck.
The location of his new home, the one that his parents had bought after sweating their asses off late at work for years was in the south of the city. The pieces slowly clicked inside him.
… Mom… Dad.