Planet X by Eduard Joseph Page A

the initial impacts
died soon thereafter in the flash-fires, earthquakes and tsunamis
caused by the impacts.
    Tsunamis and
earthquakes ravaged the coastlines of every continent – washing sea
waters inland for fifty miles. People living in the now new coastal
cities moved closer inland in anticipation of more tsunamis, but
those were the least of their worries.
    After the
tsunamis came the collapse of technology and the riots; making the
governmental evacuations a daunting task. Technology was no more as
solar pulses from the approaching planet short circuited most items
with a motherboard or hardware and those who remained had to rely
on relics of the pre-modern world to communicate.

CHAPTER
ONE
    Present
day
    Though later
than predicted, the rogue giant slowly approached earth and the
effects became more drastic. Sweltering heat waves caused most
people left behind to flee from the cities. Those who couldn’t
afford the underground refuge constructed by government or didn’t
want to leave the cities were the first to die due to the
elements.
    The days were
excruciatingly hot while the temperatures plummeted to below zero
at night. When Planet X finally revealed itself from behind the
night sky clouds like a demented dream, those brave enough to
withstand the wintery nights ventured out with old Polaroid cameras
and took the very first images of the monstrosity in all its
intimidating grandeur, but the novelty soon wore off at it became
an image everyone saw every day after that.
    Stephen was
one of the brave ones who stayed behind the city – not that he
wanted to, but rather because he couldn’t afford the underground
sanctuary and did what he had to do to survive. Life wasn’t what we
were used to – it was take what you needed and survival
of the fittest .
    The city he
lived in was mostly abandoned, but was home to about six or seven
thousand other expats like himself trying to stay alive long enough
to wave goodbye to the rogue planet.
    Stephen stood
next to the rustic Land Rover with his one arm resting in the ajar
door as he stared at the sunrise. He had about two hours before
temperatures became unbearable and getting supplies became a daily
scurry and was what kept them alive.
    The warm
morning air was already causing him to break a sweat and he wiped
his forehead with the back of his hand as he brought the
Walkie-Talkie to his bearded mouth.
    “Sam… come
in.”
    There was a
moment of static before a voice responded over the handheld device
from an era gone by.
    “Sam
here.”
    “It’s gonna be
a close one today.” Stephen said, “Summer is approaching and
sunrise is earlier each day.”
    “I know.”
    “Are you
ready?”
    “Ready as I’ll
ever be in this nightmare we call life.”
    Stephen
nodded, “Over and out.”
    He got back
into the car, put it in gear and sped down the abandoned street
like a bat out of hell; changing gears like a drag racer. Abandoned
cars and crevices in the street left behind by the rolling
earthquakes from long ago sped by as he cut through intersections
that no longer caused traffic jams.
    Twelve city
blocks later and he got to his destination; along with about fifty
other cars that caused an instant traffic jam outside General
Lee’s General Store – the only store for miles that still
traded.
    “You’ve got to
be kidding me.” Stephen sighed as he geared down towards the
traffic jam.
    The car that
idled in front of him had a sticker in the rear window of a dead
stick-figure family with the words, ‘ Planet X killed my stick
family’ above it; making Stephen wonder whether it was just a
smart joke or whether there were any truth to the sticker.
    He knew he
couldn’t do anything except be patient, so he waited in the queue
of cars until he could pull into a parking bay. As he switched off
the engine, a woman and her daughter scurried pass hand-in-hand
towards the store and it brought back memories of his own wife and
daughter as they were hurried along by the