Planet X by Eduard Joseph Page B

military on the day the
military ushered his wife and daughter into the bunker. He had just
enough money to pay for their passage and though it was the most
difficult thing on earth to watch them being escorted underground,
he knew he did the right thing.
    He pushed
their faces to the back of his mind with all the other warm, fuzzy
family memories as he gathered his strength and got out of the car
just as an obese man shoved past him and scurried off to the
store.
    “Hey, watch
it!” Stephen called out after the man.
    “Sue me.” The
man said uninterested.
    “You made it.”
He heard Sam’s voice behind him.
    He greeted his
friend with an embrace and a smile as if they haven’t seen each
other in years.
    “What’s going
on here?” Stephen asked as he glanced at the crowd pushing through
the front door of the store.
    “Word got out
that Lee’s running out of water.”
    “What?”
Stephen was worried.
    “Don’t worry.
I got here early enough to get bottles for the both of us.”
    Stephen let
out a sigh of relief and watched through the window as people on
the inside fought over the last bottles of water. The obese man
from earlier on shoved a woman aside and she fell to the ground as
everyone started pushing and grabbing at the last three bottles of
water.
    “Things are
bound to get ugly.” Sam said, “Mind joining me for a beer?”
    “Beer?”
Stephen was confused.
    “I know a
place.” Sam winked at him with a smile.

CHAPTER
TWO
    Sam kicked in
a boarded-up door and they climbed through the wreckage of the long
forgotten Club Zero21. The air was stuffy and dark, but Sam knew
his way around from his wild nights back when life was still
normal. He put the boarded-up door back in the frame and led
Stephen over to the bar; stepping behind the bar while Stephen sat
down on one of the high-chairs.
    “What will it
be?” He heard Sam from beneath the bar.
    Sam fidgeted
with something and then the white fairy lights dangling from the
top of the bar lit up. He straightened himself out and smiled at
Stephen who seemed impressed to be in a seemingly functioning
bar.
    “This place
has a generator.”
    “And it’s
clearly a well-kept secret.” Stephen added.
    If the hordes
of people in the city still fighting to stay alive should learn
about the generator they’d tear the place down to find it. In the
dark world they called home, generators were in high demand and in
low availability.
    “I used to
come here often before…”
    “Before the
world ended?” Stephen joked.
    “The world is
far from ending. We just need to adapt to our current
circumstances.”
    Sam took out
two whiskey glasses and poured them each a glass of 20 year old
imported whiskey. He handed Stephen one glass and gestured a toast
with his own glass before taking a sip.
    “Never
pictured you to be a whiskey drinker.” Stephen said.
    “You gotta
make do with what you have.” Sam’s face contorted. He wasn’t used
to the strong taste.
    Stephen took a
more sophisticated sip and toyed with the glass; looking deep in
thought. Sam pulled the barman’s chair closer, sat down and leaned
in closer – pretending to be a barman.
    “What’s on
your mind?”
    Stephen
chuckled and shook his head at Sam’s silliness.
    “Barmen are
qualified therapists, you know.”
    Stephen
chuckled again and took another sip of whiskey which went down a
little warmer than the first sip. He glanced at Sam who seemed very
serious in his pose as a barman. He had so many things that
bothered him or haunted him, but nothing really mattered anymore
with the end of days knocking at their door.
    “I heard
Melissa died of heat stroke yesterday.”
    Sam shifted a
bit uneasy and uncloaked his barman persona; taking a sip of
whiskey.
    “That’s… I’m
sorry to hear that.” Sam said, “She was a nice girl.”
    “She wasn’t
meant to die.” Stephen said drifting away in his thoughts, “She
never did anything to anyone and didn’t deserve to die such a
horrible