Hello, my name is Jack, and this is the day my world changed.\u00a0 This is the day I was forced to start growing up.\u00a0 It took me a long time to do that, but this was the day my childhood ended, just as all good things do\u2026.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Birds called out, their cries echoing off the early morning water.\u00a0 Mist filled the air, rays of sunshine burning through it visible to the naked eye.\u00a0 Fish jumped out of the water, feeding on bugs, and splashed back down, ripples of water spreading out from them in every direction.\u00a0 A Loon far above tucked its wings in tight and dove straight down into the water, the surface rippling behind it.\u00a0 Jack scanned the water and saw the bird break the surface with a fish in its mouth several seconds later.\u00a0 It shook its wings out, spraying water all over and prepared to lift off again.\u00a0 Jack smiled.\u00a0 Today really was a good day for fishing.<\/p>\n
His wrist snapped back, his wrist snapped forward, and a lure whirred through the air to hit the surface of the water with a plop.\u00a0 Jack held the fishing rod in one hand and began to work the reel with the other, bringing the lure back towards the bass boat at the sedate pace a small fish might take on its way through the water.\u00a0 The line went taut and the lure began to swim away.<\/p>\n
Jack smiled, let it swim away for a few seconds, and then began working the reel again, pulling it back.\u00a0 The lure, or more accurately the fish that had swallowed it, fought back.\u00a0 It fought well and Jack estimated it at a good ten-kilos.\u00a0 That would make some good eating if it was the right type.\u00a0 He let the fish fight away before reeling it back, fight away some more, and reeled it back in some more.\u00a0 With each round of the conflict, it got nearer the small boat until he could finally see it thrashing in the water just below the surface next to the boat.<\/p>\n
A fishnet splashed down into the water and Jack\u2019s father pulled the fish up into the air, still struggling.\u00a0 They both smiled.\u00a0 A Northern.\u00a0 That would be good eating all right.\u00a0 They immobilized the fish, worked the lure out, and dumped her into the live well in the boat where she had the chance to swim around with the half dozen fellow Northerns already pulled out of the Boundary Waters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s enough,\u201d his father said and Jack nodded.\u00a0 The fish would feed their family for at least a week.\u00a0 They were a good catch.\u00a0 Jack reeled the lure up to the rod, locked it in place, and stowed the rod in its bin.\u00a0 It would be ready the next time they came out to fish.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime to gut \u2018em?\u201d Jack asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYup,\u201d his father answered and powered up the small trolling motor to send them towards the nearby island where they always left the guts and heads for the birds.<\/p>\n
A thunderclap echoed through the air and they both looked up to see a fireball way up high, probably up near the edges of the atmosphere.\u00a0 Streaks of light speared up, causing more explosions, and plumes of smoke rose up from the ground after them to meet plumes of smoke coming down.\u00a0 Explosions rippled across the sky and Jack felt the blood run from his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, hell,\u201d his father cursed and pulled the trolling motor out of the water.\u00a0 He dropped the big outboard down, pulled the cord once, and it roared to life.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve got to find cover,\u201d he shouted over the growl and revved the motor up.<\/p>\n
Jack held on tight as the propellers dug into the water and spun the bass boat around for home.\u00a0 The boat\u2019s nose lifted up out of the water as it picked up speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet in the nose!\u201d Jack\u2019s father shouted over the growl of the engine and the rush of the wind.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn it!\u201d Jack shouted back and clambered over the ribbing holding the boat together.\u00a0 He made it to the nose and his weight pushed it down towards the water.\u00a0 He held on tight to both sides of the boat as his father gunned the engine again.\u00a0 The nose lifted up again, though not as far as before, and the boat shot over the water, making for home far faster than it normally moved.<\/p>\n
Wind blew Jack\u2019s long blond hair back, and Jack would have crowed into it in exaltation if it weren\u2019t for the sky full of fire above them.\u00a0 Jack looked up, wondering who it was.\u00a0 The Chinese?\u00a0 The Russians?\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t believe either of them would break the Treaty.<\/p>\n
He looked to the west where one of the few orbital structures large enough to see with the naked eye hung in its permanent position over California.\u00a0 He watched explosions march across the sky towards it; missiles stopped cold by the point defense satellites covering the sky above America.\u00a0 But each explosion was closer than the one before it.\u00a0 He looked back over towards the east where the roar of explosions driving down from the sky drowned out the growling motor.<\/p>\n
Jack tried to swallow but his mouth was dry as a tomb.\u00a0 He met his father\u2019s gaze and saw his own fear mirrored in the far older eyes.\u00a0 There were so many missiles.\u00a0 It couldn\u2019t be the Chinese or the Russians.\u00a0 They couldn\u2019t have kept that many of them secret.\u00a0 They just couldn\u2019t<\/em> have.<\/p>\n He watched the explosions march down past the horizon in the east and licked his lips with a dry tongue.\u00a0 He looked back to the west in time to see the other wave of explosions envelope the yards in orbit.<\/p>\n Yosemite Yards, the largest orbital construct built by humanity.\u00a0 Well, the Terran branch at least.\u00a0 He watched, helpless as the place in orbit where the yards hung lit up with explosion after explosion after explosion.\u00a0 It seemed to go on for minutes.\u00a0 Then as suddenly as it started, the explosions faded away.\u00a0 The rumble in the east began to quiet, and the growl of the motor propelling them across the water came back.<\/p>\n He glanced over at the smoke filling the eastern sky, looked back up at Yosemite Yards, and tried to swallow at the sight.\u00a0 The yards looked smaller than before.\u00a0 Jack shook his head and brought his gaze back down to the shore the bass boat charged towards.<\/p>\n \u201cThey got it,\u201d he whispered.\u00a0 \u201cDamn them, they got it.\u201d\u00a0 He wished he knew who needed damning.\u00a0 He wondered how many had made it to the escape pods.\u00a0 How many still lived?\u00a0 He sighed and looked back up.\u00a0 He blinked.\u00a0 It looked bigger again.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It was getting<\/em> bigger.<\/p>\n \u201cOh shit,\u201d Jack said as it clicked.\u00a0 The yards weren\u2019t getting bigger.\u00a0 They were getting closer<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cWatch your language, son,\u201d his father shouted from behind.\u00a0 Jack winced.\u00a0 How had the old man heard him?<\/p>\n \u201cThe yards are falling, dad!\u201d he shouted back.\u00a0 He felt the boat jerk a little bit and turned to see his dad looking up.\u00a0 He thought he saw his dad squinting.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShit,\u201d his father said too softly for Jack to hear, but he read lips just fine.<\/p>\n Jack wisely refrained from telling his dad to watch his language.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to get under cover!\u201d his father shouted and twisted the throttle.\u00a0 It was already turned has far as it went and the bass boat didn\u2019t so much as twitch.\u00a0 \u201cDamn.\u201d<\/p>\n Jack knew there wasn\u2019t anything closer than their lodge, and their fishing spot was an hour away from that.\u00a0 Of course his father wasn\u2019t the kind to gun the engine like this so it would take well less than an hour to get back.<\/p>\n Jack let out a long breath as another small island shot passed them.\u00a0 When the yards hit the atmosphere\u2026he was not going to want to be under them.\u00a0 He held onto the bench and just watched the wind-driven waves part around their boat.\u00a0 Jack let the world go, taking in one breath at a time, and just not worrying about anything he had no power over.\u00a0 All he could do right now was hold on, breathe, and wait.\u00a0 So he waited.<\/p>\n A new light in the sky pulled him out of his meditation and he looked up to see streaks of fire coming down from orbit.\u00a0 Yosemite Yards were falling.\u00a0 He hoped no one had survived the attack.\u00a0 Burning was not a good way to die.\u00a0 Not that he could think of many good<\/em> ways to die of course.\u00a0 Well, there was always surrounded by a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead.\u00a0 As deaths went, that wouldn\u2019t be too bad.\u00a0 But really, Jack planned to live forever.\u00a0 Burning, trapped in the remnants of a shattered space station, on a one way express to the ground was simply not a way he wanted to go out.<\/p>\n Most of the flaming trails ran out of stuff to burn up and faded away high up in the air.\u00a0 The big ones, still burning, fell below the horizon on their way to California, or maybe Washington.\u00a0 The western States.\u00a0 He hoped they landed in the country.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to think about how many people would die if one of those hit a major city, or the ocean.\u00a0 Still, all he could do was watch, so he breathed deeply and let his eyes take in the disaster.<\/p>\n After a time, something began to bother him.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what at first, and allowed the back of his mind to ruminate on whatever it was as he continued to sit and watch.\u00a0 The wind continued to beat against his face; the bass boat fell down between waves from time to time, rising back up quickly.\u00a0 Water sprayed up each time, hitting his face and clothing.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take long for the wind to dry him off again.<\/p>\n Another wave of fire fell down from orbit, and he frowned as he wondered where it was heading.\u00a0 Montana?\u00a0 North Dakota?\u00a0 The back of his mind screamed at him and Jack gasped as the odd feeling finally blossomed into a complete thought.\u00a0 The Yosemite Yards weren\u2019t falling straight down towards the earth.\u00a0 They were spreading out before falling.\u00a0 The wreckage would be falling all over America.<\/p>\n \u201cDad!\u201d he shouted and turned to look back.\u00a0 \u201cWe have<\/em> to get off the water!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know,\u201d his dad answered and Jack saw a glimmer of fear in the eyes that met his gaze.<\/p>\n His father already knew.\u00a0 Jack looked away and turned to face west again.\u00a0 The wind beat against him and he licked his lips, watching the land with their lodge approach.\u00a0 It did so slowly, too slowly for his fear.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 He breathed deeply and pushed the fear away.\u00a0 He had nothing to do right now.\u00a0 He had no control over where that wreckage landed.\u00a0 All he could do was wait.\u00a0 So he breathed deeply, watched flames and wreckage fall on the Dakotas and western Minnesota, and waited.<\/p>\n Their dock appeared in the distance and the bass boat turned to aim directly at it, engine still growling away.\u00a0 Jack swallowed, eyes flicking up to watch more wreckage raining down in their general direction.\u00a0 The rain of fire was getting way<\/em> too close for comfort.<\/p>\n \u201cDad?\u201d he asked, turning to make certain his voice would carry.<\/p>\n \u201cI know,\u201d his father returned with another worried glance at the sky.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re almost there.\u201d<\/p>\n Jack nodded, faced forward again, and forced himself to relax and breath.\u00a0 He watched the land approach, each second more quickly than the last it appeared.\u00a0 It was an illusion, but he couldn\u2019t help holding on tighter as they closed with the dock what must<\/em> be far too fast.<\/p>\n The growl died behind him and the boat shifted as the water grabbed it.\u00a0 The sound of the bass boat flowing through the water ruled now, and he held on even tighter as momentum tried to pull him out of his seat.\u00a0 The bass boat still seemed to be moving far too fast as it approached the dock.\u00a0 Jack\u2019s hands grew white from holding the bench, his feet bracing against the nose, and the water pulled the bass boat down.<\/p>\n It slowed to a stop and gently bounced off the rubber guards on the dock.\u00a0 Jack sprang into action, grabbing a rope and tying it around a piling.\u00a0 He jumped out onto the dock and felt it drop an inch with his weight.\u00a0 He spun around to see his father scrambling up as well, his end of the boat secured.\u00a0 He looked up to see another spray of burning wreckage coming down, closer than any of the others.<\/p>\n \u201cMove it!\u201d his father shouted.<\/p>\n Jack turned and ran towards the lodge, leaving the dock in less than three strides.\u00a0 He heard his dad behind him and glanced up towards the rain of fire.\u00a0 It was too close.\u00a0 Far too close.\u00a0 He could hear the rumble of wreckage exploding in the distance, far to the west where International Falls lay.\u00a0 He really hoped they missed International Falls.<\/p>\n Jack vaulted onto the deck, skipping every other stair on the way up, turned the doorknob, and pulled the door open.\u00a0 In the distance, another man-made meteor burned down.\u00a0 He heard it hit the water and swore as he ran into the lodge.\u00a0 He had a job to do.\u00a0 \u201cMom!\u201d he shouted and ran into the living room.\u00a0 He dropped to the floor and ripped a rug off it, sending it flying onto a couch with a flick of his wrist.\u00a0 He grabbed a ring in the floor and pulled the trap door up hard.\u00a0 He placed his hand on the panel beneath the door and waited for it to beep, recognizing him as one of the people approved to open it.\u00a0 A click sounded in the hatch and it slid out of the way smoothly to reveal a set of stairs.<\/p>\n \u201cMom!\u201d he shouted again and looked around frantically.\u00a0 Where was she?\u00a0 His father\u2019s boots banged around upstairs where he was searching.<\/p>\n Jack heard the boots screech to a stop.\u00a0 Then someone shrieked and his father thundered down the staircase.\u00a0 Jack rolled into the bunker, dropped onto the stairs hard, and gasped.\u00a0 He pushed himself onto his feet, and spun to face his father.<\/p>\n His father hit the bottom of the stairs at a full run with his mother hoisted over one shoulder and Jack wondered how many steps he\u2019d skipped on the way down.\u00a0 \u201cGet down!\u201d his father shouted over the roar of\u2026water\u2026that was getting closer.<\/p>\n Jack took a step back, moving further down into the bunker.\u00a0 He saw the wall of water caused by the falling debris explode through the front wall of the lodge and he met his father\u2019s gaze.\u00a0 His father dove for the bunker and Jack threw himself further down the stairs to get out of his parents\u2019 way.<\/p>\n His father barreled into the stairway a second ahead of the water.\u00a0 The wave hit them, driving them down with a force that crushed the air from Jack\u2019s lungs, and Jack fought to stay awake as he hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs.\u00a0 Hard.\u00a0 He felt a leg snap and the pain brought with it an odd clarity.<\/p>\n The hatch above them, at the top of the stairs was closed.\u00a0 It\u2019s emergency systems had recognized the threat and locked it.\u00a0 Water surrounded him.\u00a0 It was going away.\u00a0 The pumps were taking care of the water that pushed them in.\u00a0 He looked around, seeing his mom, soaking wet from head to toe but uninjured.\u00a0 She really was a beautiful woman.\u00a0 He considered that thought, felt the pain in the back of his head, and recognized the symptoms of a concussion.\u00a0 He was going to feel that in the morning.<\/p>\n His mother screamed.\u00a0 His mother ran across the bunker, slipping and sliding through the ankle-deep water still on the floor.<\/p>\n Jack blinked and wished she would stop screaming.\u00a0 It really hurt right around in the temples.\u00a0 He rolled to the side, feeling the bones in his leg shift. \u00a0That should really hurt too, but it didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Jack considered just how odd it was that he could feel the screams in his temples but not how badly his leg had to be hurt, and shrugged the thought away.\u00a0 It should hurt.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Shock.\u00a0 Yeah, he was in shock too.\u00a0 That must mean he\u2019d been hurt a lot worse than it felt like he had.\u00a0 It was probably a blessing.\u00a0 He figured he really didn\u2019t want to be feeling all the pain he was in right now anyways.<\/p>\n Come to think about it, he probably shouldn\u2019t be moving right now either.\u00a0 But first he really needed to figure out why his mother was screaming.\u00a0 He could feel that pain real strong.\u00a0 He turned a bit more and looked over to see her cradling his father.<\/p>\n Jack blinked.\u00a0 That looked bad.\u00a0 That water had been awful strong when it smashed his father down the stairs.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 That was real bad.\u00a0 Human bodies were really not meant to bend like that.<\/p>\n His mother stopped screaming and started to sob.<\/p>\n Well, that was an improvement.\u00a0 Jack\u2019s headache started to go away and he rolled over onto his stomach.\u00a0 The water was gone, leaving just a thin film on the floor.\u00a0 The bunker had good pumps.\u00a0 He grabbed a shelf and pulled himself across the floor.\u00a0 His leg shifted in ways that really weren\u2019t right.\u00a0 It was broke real bad.\u00a0 They were going to have to do something to splint it.\u00a0 The med kits were two shelves over.\u00a0 He was going to have to get his mother to get them somehow.<\/p>\n He finally reached his mother and father and put his head next to her lap.\u00a0 He was feeling really tired for some reason.\u00a0 He shifted his head and met his father\u2019s gaze.\u00a0 Good.\u00a0 They were both alive.\u00a0 Well, Jack knew he was still alive.\u00a0 He was in too much pain to be dead.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Actually, he really wasn\u2019t in any pain at all.\u00a0 But it wasn\u2019t the ethereal lack of pain he would expect in Heaven.\u00a0 It was the \u201cI\u2019m in shock and I\u2019m gonna die of blood loss so please get this fixed up real soon\u201d kind of pain that was hovering just outside where he could actually feel it.<\/p>\n Not that he was actually going to die of course.\u00a0 When he was younger he could have.\u00a0 But he\u2019d had the Peloran treatments.\u00a0 He could feel his body healing itself already.\u00a0 He was really going to have to let his leg lay straight if that was going to heal.\u00a0 Maybe he wouldn\u2019t need the splint after all.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 He probably would.\u00a0 It was going to take a long time, and a lot of food, for his body to do all the healing it needed, and there was no way it was going to burn a lot of energy fixing a leg when it had more important stuff to heal.\u00a0 Internal bleeding could kill you a lot faster than a bad leg in most cases after all.\u00a0 Unless a mountain lion were chasing you.\u00a0 In that case he would probably be questioning which was most important.\u00a0 Running or bleeding?<\/p>\n He blinked and looked at his father.\u00a0 His father smiled back.\u00a0 His father smiled up at his mother.\u00a0 And as Jack watched, he saw his father release his last breath.<\/p>\n His mother screamed again and the headache came back with a vengeance.\u00a0 Jack looked at his father for a very long time, wondering what he should feel.\u00a0 Grief he supposed.\u00a0 Pain.\u00a0 Yeah, that too.\u00a0 Anger.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Anger definitely.\u00a0 Once this concussion and all the other stuff got fixed up, he figured he was going to feel all of that.\u00a0 There was something else he was going to need to feel too though.<\/p>\n He frowned, trying to get his muddled mind to go through the right thought processes to get to where he needed to be.\u00a0 It was so slow.\u00a0 He was so tired.\u00a0 It was hard to think.\u00a0 Oh right.\u00a0 He had it now.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 He was going to find out who did this.\u00a0 Who destroyed Yosemite Yards.\u00a0 Who killed his father.\u00a0 Once he knew that, he was going to kill them.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 That sounded like a really good plan.\u00a0 That would feel real good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello, my name is Jack, and this is the day my world changed.\u00a0 This is the day I was forced to start growing up.\u00a0 It took me a long time to do that, but this was the day my childhood[…]↓ Read the rest of this 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