Eighty-Sixed [FINALE]: Chapter 100 - The Future Now

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The power never returned.

The combined might of the global EMP blasts eliminated not just the encompassing force of the black hole but generators of electrical systems and high-technology microcircuits worldwide. Cars sat idle as televisions, radios, and computers gathered dust. While the nuclear radiation was absorbed entirely and most likely the reason for the complete dissemination of the global black hole itself, the after-effects of the massive waves of electromagnetic pulses remained.

In many ways, they were still in the dark.

Throughout the day, after the world’s populace found themselves misplaced, scattershot as if dropped into the middle of stories already in progress at ages that didn’t match the time and place, streams of misplaced people filed through the streets of Chicago like cattle merely following the herd, but not knowing where they were going.

Strangers shared stories, sought shelter, and looked for food.

Where chaos would be expected, as was the case after the original anomaly shot them back in time and riots, looting, panic, and fevered self-centered pandemonium ensued, now there was surprising order and resigned acceptance as volunteers marshaled their resources. Stockpile centers quickly spread throughout the city as food was gathered, rationed, and distributed in meager portions: cans of beans, tuna, and rice bags.

“Let’s work together,” the distribution workers said to each recipient of provisions. “It’ll even out in a few days if we work together.”

Gordon and Charlie set out the next day on foot, heading east toward Pennsylvania.

“I have no idea if my mother-in-law is alive,” Gordon told the others. “And I can’t even entertain the prospect of Marie somehow being there, too. I saw her so vividly when we were in the middle of that black hole, or whatever it was.”

“She was there,” Charlie confirmed, nodding. Unlike some others, he was still in an old, weathered body that was still surprisingly sprightly. He was mostly the same as when Gordon first met him in Key West.

“I saw her,” Charlie said.

Then, with quick goodbyes, the two men headed out, shaking hands with the others and each warmly embracing Becca.

“You do right by Frankie,” Gordon told her as they hugged. “That’s what you care about anyway. And you know it. That’s what’s important.”

Becca and Frankie, along with James, Tony, and Tabitha, found their way back to their separate homes, which were surprisingly unchanged yet still museum-like remnants of a cobbled-together past.

Looking first for their apartment, Becca and Frankie discovered it was already occupied by tenants who took residency years after they’d lived there.

Eventually, they made their way to the western suburbs. Reaching the driveway of the sprawling home that Frankie had designed, they laughed when they saw “Watts” emblazoned on the mailbox.

“I guess this is it,” Frankie said. “I’m fine with ending up with this place, even if it’s a bit more than we need.”

Inside were remnants of their life together. There was a stack of old magazines with profiles of Frankie’s architectural work, but surprisingly, there were no signs of ENH. Any remnants of the years of world-changing research Becca had laboriously brought to fruition were entirely absent.

“So what am I here?” Becca asked. “Did none of it even happen? Am I still an astrophysicist? Am I anything?”

She thought perhaps this was the punishment for her actions.

“Clean slate,” Frankie said. “Isn’t that what we wanted?”

“I suppose. But it’s so confusing. It doesn’t feel real. I don’t understand how an entire part of my life isn’t even here.”

“Give it time.”

“Time,” Becca answered.

“We at least have that,” Frankie told her, taking her into his arms.

After leaving the spot where ENH once stood, Jeremy ended up in Cornerstone, accompanying David and Olivia on their trek, which took a whole week of walking. They stopped at points along the way to work a few hours at roadside checkpoints and family farms to earn extra rations in the form of tomatoes, cucumbers, and small loaves of bread.

They arrived in the evening of what mysteriously felt like an early autumn dusk, with strings of orange clouds brushed long over a darkening sky. Corn and wheat stood tall and leaning with their own weight, past due for harvesting.

Two chairs had been set in the work shed’s doorway facing the long gravel driveway. Mickey and Grace sat with their legs covered by blankets, and they both saw the three travelers at the same time as they rounded the corner and appeared at the apex of the driveway a hundred yards down, weary and hungry, walking with shuffled steps. Even from a distance, Olivia heard her mother cry out and start sobbing, the blanket dropping to the ground as she stood and began hurrying down the driveway toward her daughter.

Mickey walked even slower, aided by a cane, and he cackled with joy as he approached the three travelers.

“They’re here!” Mickey called out, and his voice echoed across the yard, drifting into the nearby garden where the stalks of corn rose eight feet high. “They’re here!”

The once-again elderly man had to stop and catch his breath as sobs welled up and shook him.

Grace reached David first and took him in her arms.

“I’m so sorry, son,” she said. “I don’t know why I did what I did. But I was right, wasn’t I? They were in there.”

David held his mother-in-law but didn’t have words to offer. He just stood and let her keep him in an embrace.

“And now they’re here,” Grace said.

“What?”

“They’re here!” Mickey managed to yell out again in a garbled cough.

From the small plot of corn, the stalks shivered as if a strong wind was blowing through. From the early evening shadows, out scampered Mark and Rosie, no more than seven years old again, almost a decade younger than they’d been when David had left for his kayak trip with Jeremy.

“See!” Mickey said to the children, who ran now toward the end of the driveway. “I told you they’d show up!”

Olivia fell to her knees at the sight of them. As they reached their mother, she wrapped them up into her arms, kissed their dirty faces, and wondered if it was possible never to let them go.

End note: Please click here for some thoughts I had as I posted this final chapter.