2. Neither of them said anything as they slowly walked down the middle of the road. They had to pay close attention to where they stepped. Bits and pieces of things they couldn’t identify lay everywhere. Cars and trucks appeared to have been adhered to the asphalt. Every building had its windows blown out. Light poles that were wooden were gone. Those made of metal were bent over or collapsed. Electrical lines had vanished. Traffic lights lay on the streets.
3. There was a pause. He got the impression she shook her head. But realizing they couldn’t see her, she answered, “No. There were no alerts. I remember hearing someone scream. Then someone slammed the door, making it lock automatically. I tried beating on it. I waved my arms at the closed-circuit camera to get their attention. No one came to help.” She took a shuddering breath. “It got hot in there. Real hot. I almost fried. I know I passed out. When I woke up, the lights were out. I prayed the timer had been disengaged, so I tried the door, and it opened. And that’s when I saw…” Her voice hitched. Gideon heard her sniffing back tears. Reaching out, his hand encountered a knee, and he patted it.
4. He glanced up again at the swath of stars overhead that made up the Milky Way. It was an incredibly beautiful sight, and he was grateful for it. He’d had a dream last night. More of a nightmare, really. He’d awakened to find the sky totally dark—the stars completely gone. Nothing overhead but dead blackness. It had terrified him to the point of waking him up, and he’d immediately gone outside to check, to make sure it wasn’t his new reality.
5. “Hope so. We just need to keep heading north.” He kissed her forehead. The idea of making love to her flashed through his mind, but he was too tired. Unreasonably tired. And he thought he had an idea why. If the sun had died, as suggested, then there was no longer any source of energy or light to shine on them. The human body needed the sun’s rays to survive. So did any plants or animals which might have miraculously survived as well. But without the sun…
6. He caught a movement from the corner of his eye and whirled around to see a large mountain of a man charging toward them. Gideon glanced about, searching for his shard, but it wasn’t anywhere nearby. He realized it must have fallen over into the pit. He was weaponless, but that didn’t mean he was defenseless. Releasing his wife, he placed himself directly in front of her and lifted his arms, flexing his fingers as he readied himself to take on the man.
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