Remnants — Episodes 1 & 2

Remnants — Episode 1

The golden orb dissected the night, its bright tail gashing the sky. Bobby Kent stood outside and looked up, an arm around Kyra Wentworth.

They say it’ll miss us by hundreds of miles.” A nervous shudder belied her quiet voice.

“Probably.” Bobby tightened his grip, drawing her against him. “Sure looks nearer than that, don’t it?” He glanced down the street. Everyone was out to view the once-per-millennium event. So they’d been told, anyway.

A comet up close. Closer than he was comfortable with, that was for sure. In a few weeks, it’d be just another glittering speck as it faded from glory. At least, that’s what they said.

The ball of light ballooned, puffing larger. A trick of the atmosphere, he thought.

“What’s happening?” Clearly rattled, Kyra stared up in confusion. “Something’s not right.”

Bobby had opened his mouth to say it was only an illusion and not to worry, but he was distracted as the bright sphere became even more swollen.

Then like the world’s largest Roman candle, it burst.

“Oh,” Kyra whispered.

Bobby began to turn toward her when the pieces shattered, raining white-hot fire and alien debris across the canopy overhead.

A few houses away, a woman screamed.

Bobby grabbed Kyra’s wrist. “Come on.” He pulled her arm as he turned toward the house.

“Wait,” she said. “Charlie will come home.”

“We need to get inside.” The sky lightened like an early sunrise, and a high-pitched whine filled the air. What was that? Bobby kept moving.

Shadows flickered as they hurried up the walk. Bobby jerked the outer door open then twisted the front doorknob and shoved. It didn’t budge.

“It’s locked,” he shouted above the strange sound. “Where’s the key?”

Kyra stared at him, then thrust her hands into her jean pockets, searching. She stopped.

“I don’t have them. They’re in Charlie’s car. In my jacket.”

Damn. Her husband’s car. At the church. Bobby looked up, awed and confused. What did all this mean? It felt like a game-changer. Or was it just the end?

Spreading from the center high above, spokes of light shot out then fell away. Like shrapnel from a bomb, the comet’s remains plunged to earth.

Together Bobby and Kyra slid down the wall to sit on the front step, huddled in fear and wonder, watching the remnants descend.

Remnants — Episode 2

Massive flares arced across the sky. One of the comet chunks streaked toward Bobby and Kyra then struck something on the horizon. A fireball detonated and shadows danced.

The ground quaked. Tornado sirens blared, their pitch quickly rising to a banshee wail.

Abruptly the sirens shut off as lights blinked out. Darkness and eerie calm blanketed the community.

A line of flames lit the skyline. Bobby realized that an entire neighborhood had ceased to be. Nothing could have escaped that inferno. He looked up.

The Milky Way shone with primeval brilliance. Quickly standing up, he jerked Kyra’s arm to bring her to her feet.

“Come on,” he said. She shook her head but followed as he tugged her down the walk to his car. “We need to go see.”

“Charlie,” she said, looking toward the immolated horizon.

“I know,” he said. “That part of town’s gone. Maybe it’s all gone.”

They stopped next to the car.

Kyra nodded, then tears filled her eyes. Bobby stared at her, amazed.

Even though he was a preacher, Charlie Wentworth was not a nice guy, and she’d be better off without him. That’s what she’d always said.

They’d made plans to get her out.

She looked at him, smiled sadly.

“I know,” she said. “It’s just so sudden.”

“Maybe he survived,” Bobby said.

Kyra shook her head. “I doubt it.” She brushed her eyes. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Bobby opened the passenger door, and she slid inside.

As he stood beside his car, Bobby saw headlights come on in several vehicles down the street.

He looked again toward the flames. They really should just leave. Go, now. Anywhere else. Why the hell stay to gawk? He just wasn’t prepared for some global catastrophe.

Life was strange enough, already.

He went around to his side, got in, then drove toward the conflagration.

As Bobby passed an old pickup truck, the driver inside flashed his lights and honked repeatedly. Bobby lifted his hand in response. Other automobiles sped ahead of them.

The sky had taken on a green tint, a dim glow that sparkled just over the area that had been struck by the comet fragment.

Could that mean it was radioactive? Pyric flames leaped to meet the aura.

Kyra pointed at the street that led to the church, then grabbed her armrest as Bobby braked and spun the steering wheel.

The car drifted sideways, he accelerated, and the vehicle straightened.

Two blocks down, Kyra put her hand on his arm and gasped.

The church was engulfed in fire, now only half its original height.

A sliver of debris had to have scored a direct hit.

There would be no survivors here.