BEGINNING OF THE END

Chapter 8

An hour later both Harry and Astrid were driving down the road, towards the morning sun, not a creature in sight. However, the further they drove and closer to town, the more cars they seen.

Blood smeared across the pavement, like bodies had been dragged. There were body parts scattered alongside the street. Still, there were no creatures in sight. As Harry looked further ahead down the road, he could see red and blue lights flashing. Harry pressed the petrol pedal down, increasing his speed when there was a clearing of cars from the road.

As he got closer to the red and blue lights, there were other cars parked ahead of him, people honking their hooters and yelling out of their car windows. Harry gradually made the van come to a stop behind a little blue Honda. Harry got out of the van, along with Astrid and they made their way to a police officer. There were civilians crowding around, the officer held up his hand and spoke loudly so everyone could hear.

‘Everyone needs to be processed before we can go any further.’ Harry and Astrid looked at one another, confused.

‘What’s going on here exactly? There were creatures everywhere and attaaa…’

The officer cut him off.

‘Please step over to the van, give the nurse your full name and sample of blood.’

Harry didn’t move.

‘What do you need a blood sample for?’

Astrid standing next to Harry, could hear the uneasiness in his voice. The officer said nothing, completely ignoring the question as he continued to escort Harry and Astrid to the white van. Looking around, Harry noticed other people getting their blood drawn. A man Harry noticed first, had all white hair, he reminded Harry of his father.

A nurse seated him and Astrid right beside him. She then grabbed two kits, sterilized syringes and then wrote their information down on a chart. Harry continued to stare at the white - haired man. He cleared his throat before speaking.

‘Sir, are you alright?’

The white - haired man was still, almost statue - like. He did not respond.

‘He hasn’t spoken since he arrived,’ the nurse said as she placed one clipboard down and picked up another.

‘There were other civilians that came through. Said there was blood and bodies around him, but he wasn’t hurt.’

Astrid nudged Harry.

‘I thought he looked familiar,’ she whispered. Harry turned his head to look at her.

‘What do you mean?’ Astrid leaned over a little closer to Harry, whispering quietly in his ear.

‘Remember when I told you I came across a bar in town?’

Harry nodded and Astrid continued.

‘I remember seeing him, sitting on the floor.’

As Harry looked away from Astrid, he noticed more vehicles pulling up.

There were men, women, children and a few infants. Cars were lining up, people were trying to leave town. They were in a panic, some were hurt, and others were upset or enraged.

‘What the fuck do you mean blood sample?’

What’s going on? Why aren’t you people doing anything?’ People were shouting as a group of people started crowding around the officer.

‘Please, I need everyone to calm down. We need to make sure this isn’t some kind of infection or spread able disease.’

The officer, hoping that giving the people some kind of information would put them a little more at ease, but instead it did the opposite.

‘This is no infection I have ever seen, these things don’t even look like they from this planet!’ A man shouted from the back as another man responded.

‘You’re not seriously indicating that these things are alien, are you?’

People started whispering among themselves, others were panicking at the thought. Harry and Astrid were stepping out of the medical tent when some of the people were getting louder. Harry stood next to the officer, Astrid right behind him.

‘Everyone please, calm down. Look.’

Harry lifted his arm to show them that he too had given blood.

‘See, it’s just a simple blood draw, then after everyone cooperates, we can get to the bottom of this and maybe get some answers.’

As Harry finished speaking, the man with white hair stepped out of the tent, joining everyone else, standing next to Astrid and Harry. People started talking among themselves, while other headed towards the van to get their blood drawn. A man from the crowd approached Harry.

‘You better be right about this. If anything happens to my family, I’m coming after you.’

He then walked off, his family trailing behind him. Astrid started leading people, forming a line in an organized fashion, leaving Harry next to the white - haired man.

‘They aren’t Aliens.’

Harry looked up at the white - haired man.

‘What makes you say that?’ Harry waited for a response. The white - haired man slowly closed his eyes, squeezing them shut before speaking.

‘It’s the Prophecy, the Time is Coming!!’

Before Harry could respond to that, another officer started speaking.

‘Thank you everyone for your cooperation. There is a facility 20 Kilometers up the road. Food, water and shelter will be available along with a small medical team to tend to the wounded.’

Everyone started speaking at once.

‘What are they? What’s going on? What do we do? What is the government doing?’ Questions were being thrown left and right. The officer looked as if he was getting whiplash trying to hear everyone’s questions.

The officer threw his hands up, gesturing for everyone to become silent. He took a deep breath before speaking an awful truth.

‘We currently … don’t know what’s happening.’

Women started crying, men were getting furious moving closer to the officer. Harry looked at the officers, he could see them clenching their weapons, getting ready for a riot to break. Harry stepped in.

‘Everyone!’ he shouted.

‘We need to head to the Safe Zone. I can get some answers, but we need to stay calm and get the women and children to safety.’

Everyone started to calm down, talking to each other. People who arrived on foot asked others for a ride. Harry and Astrid got in the van and started the engine. Before taking off, the white - haired man approached the driver’s side.

‘You got room for one more?’ Harry nodded and the white - haired man walked around to the bed of the van and hopped in.

Harry pressed down on the petrol pedal and started moving forward, following behind the little blue Honda.

About a 5 kilometers down the road, Astrid spoke.

‘How does the government have no idea what’s going on?’

Harry shook his head.

‘I have no idea, but I’m hoping to get some answers at the Safe Zone. Maybe someone will be able to shed some light on the situation.’

They both sat in silence the rest of the way towards an area that had a big white sign with red lettering say SAFE ZONE ahead. There were green military tents posted all over, along with white medical tents. A soldier, heavily armed, was signalling people where to drive and park their vehicles.

As they drove forward, there were more soldiers. These guys were dressed in full riot gear, plastic visors on their helmets, bullet proof vests, riot shields and head to toe padded armour. As they proceeded through, looking around, they could see more and more people. Women, men and children, blankets and food were being passed to civilians waiting in line at the medical tents. Moving further ahead, they were being directed to a makeshift parking lot where they pulled in and parked next to a few other vans.

Harry, Astrid and the white - haired man exited the van. Harry started walking towards one of the bigger military tents where there were more soldiers in riot gear. There were more soldiers in front of this tent than there were at the front gate. As the three of them approached the building, a soldier put his hand up to stop them from entering.

‘State your business Sir.’

Harry spoke with an assertive tone in his voice.

‘Who is in charge here?’

The soldier straightened up before reciting.

‘Sergeant Major Williams of SA Army, Sir!’ Saluting Harry as he finished. Harry stood up straight, saluting the officer back.

‘Son of Command Sergeant Major Thomas.’ Harry stood there, chest high as the soldier spoke into his walkie. Moments later, voice came through from the other end.

‘Let him in.’

The soldier stepped to the side, letting only Harry into the tent. When he stepped through, there was a long table in the middle with a map of the South Africa. Sergeant Major Williams was standing at the head of the table, speaking in low tones. Williams looked up at Harry, smiling, he excused himself, walked over to Harry and threw his arms around him.

‘I am so sorry Harry.’

Williams squeezed him tightly before letting go.

I heard what happened to your father, I’m so sorry that I couldn’t be there.’

Harry smiled at him, nodding, reassuring him that it was okay.

‘He would have understood, you guys have been best friends since before I was even born.’

Williams chuckled.

‘You were just a little swimmer in a nut sack. That man was all about his family and his family in arms.’

Harry chuckled and smiled when he talked about his father.

‘So, what the hell is going on?’ Harry asked, looking at Williams as he scratched his head trying to give him an answer.

‘Honestly kid, I don’t have the faintest idea. There were so many emergency phone calls from all over, we can’t even pinpoint where it started. There are zones like this all over the country, trying to get people to talk, but there are so many different stories, we can’t collaborate on what every person says, there’s no time. Honestly, the things people are saying, I have never heard of before.

Harry listened to everything Williams spoke of. He continued to explain the attacks, the randomness of it all.

Williams sighed as he scratched his head again, looking almost defeated. Harry looked around, checking to see if anyone was paying any attention.

‘Look, I don’t know how much help this will be or if it’s even any help at all. Someone I came here with said something to me. Now, it may be just some crazy talk of an old man or….’

Williams piped in.

‘Or it may be what we need to hear.’

Harry nodded.

‘He’s right outside…’

Williams gestured a fellow soldier over.

He whispered into his ear, the soldier stood up straight, saluted and walked out of the tent. Not long after, the white - haired man was escorted into the tent, along with Astrid.

‘Sorry Sir, she refused to stay, she punched Jacob, Sir.’

Harry looked at the soldier who escorted them in, blood smeared by his nose. Harry chuckled, then he seen the look on Astrid face. She was looking at Williams and the white - haired man. Harry then felt the intensity in the room.

Williams was the first to break the silence between the two of them, by one single word.

‘Whitey.’

A puzzled look on Harry’s face.

‘What?’

The white - haired man responded.

‘It’s nice to see you too Williams…’