Day 4
Big Winner Motel
20 Miles NNW of Las Vega, NV
Penny's first through the door, of course. It's the way of things. They all know she won't hesitate for a second to blow away anything that isn't of this earth – no, not for one second as she's amply proven in the past.
Howard waits for her signal and when he hears her whisper 'clear', he's in the room, scanning and cataloguing anything that might be of use. It's his role. Scavenger, Quartermaster, Finder.
Rajesh glances behind him at the two girls holding their burden and allows them to walk/lurch into the motel room. He smiles warmly at Amy, trying to bring a bit of warmth into the poor girl's shattered world. To have lost Sheldon to Them…
The girls ease Leonard onto the large bed and Amy immediately goes into doctor mode and whispers her findings to Penny who is staring at her boyfriend and trying not to cry. There will be a time for crying and grieving but it is definitely not now.
"His fever is down somewhat. The wound is not infected and I have observed that the roofing shingle staples Howard found at that looted Walmart are holding and it's not separating or tearing. In any event, he's not dying, Bestie, and that's good news."
Howard murmured a goodbye to his wife, hefted up the shotgun and his empty backpack and started for the door.
"Howard, watch your ass out there. And bring back any glasses you run across. Maybe…"
Leonard's glasses had been lost in the ambush. Raj had dragged Leonard to cover but hadn't been able to retrieve his glasses. His only pair had fallen from his face when he collided with the car after being zapped by a sniper – one of Them. The molten copper had burned through his shoulder, cauterizing it but leaving a large entry and exit would.
"Yeah. It's on the list along with water, food, weapons, medical crap. I'll be no more than two hours." He slipped out the door, scanned the area and then disappeared into the hazy dawn.
Raj had spread their map out over the other bed and was plotting their current location. Bernadette had followed her husband as far as the closed door and then pulled over the single desk chair, sat down and parted the curtains to watch for his return.
"How much further?" Penny asked, softly. No one spoke loudly. People even died quietly since the invaders seemed to have very acute hearing – almost Vulcan-like. She bit her lip and thought about her best friend and how, even now, he was watching over them somehow. She didn't know how he'd done it but he'd anticipated so much of what they'd face and had prepared each of them for it with their own personalized Alien Invasion Survival Kit and Plan.
"About 80 miles – 8 days unless we run across horses or bicycles. Motor vehicles draw Them like the cow poop in the streets of Delhi draws flies." Neither of them worried about making it to their safe haven. They had faith in Sheldon's Plan, even if he wasn't here to shepherd them through each and every step of their flight.
Day 1
It was Saturday morning and already the day's schedule had been wrecked. Dr. Sheldon Cooper was sore vexed as he watched his circle of friends sit around staring at the television set. I've missed Dr. Who and the public had been warned to stay in-doors until the meteor shower had passed so that negates the Pottery Barn or the Flea Market. Amy will be here at any moment and we will have nothing to do all day now but sit like toadstools around the television set listening to know-nothings pass on rumors and half-truths.
Raj, with his unique background in astrophysics, had dredged up little known facts about meteors and similar extraterrestrial bodies in space and was peppering lulls in the TV commentator's speech with factoids while sipping a bottle of beer.
Howard lounged on the easy chair with Bernadette in his lap. It was early but she was riveted to the screen, wondering if her folks were watching. Penny and Leonard emerged from Leonard's room and they both were wearing summer casuals, meaning revealing shorts and top for Penny and ridiculous cutoff cargo pants shorts and a t-shirt for Leonard.
"More impacts? This is crazy. What are they saying?" Leonard asked Sheldon and gestured to the TV.
"The usual; 'Stay away from the beaches and in-doors. There is no reason to panic. This is a natural phenomenon'. The usual information one would expect. No reports of any strikes on land anywhere. There are TV crews along the beaches and some of the strikes appear to be in shallower waters than earlier. There are reports of similar impacts along many of the planet's coastlines. Oddly, nothing from the island chains."
The girls were making lunch and the guys were sitting in their respective spots when Howard's and then Raj's and finally Sheldon's cell phones rang.
They each confirmed their identity and used an innocuous phrase as a countersign and then Howard disconnected his call and stared at Sheldon who was listening intently to what the caller said.
"Howard, is it – " Raj began, but Howard cut him off and nodded towards Sheldon who was gesturing wildly at Leonard to get his attention. Leonard and Penny had been up half the night indulging in coitus and he was dozing, his head on Penny's shoulder. Raj finally kicked him awake and said, "Dude! Where is your cell phone?"
"On the charger in my room. Why?"
"Go and check for messages. Quickly!" Leonard muttered something about needing another 3 hours sleep but shambled into his room and returned shortly, looking pale as a ghost.
Sheldon looked at his colleagues and announced in a very self-important voice, "Gentlemen, Cerberus protocols are in effect. I have taken the liberty of preparing each of you with a survival backpack. Leonard, be a lamb and help me open the storage room."
Penny was always tickled by Sheldon's Apocalypse Scenarios and figured this was one of his ways of entertaining himself and the group. "What storage room is he talking about, Leonard?"
Leonard ignored her and rushed to help Sheldon slide a floor-to-ceiling bookcase that appeared to be built into the wall to the side revealing a door with a sophisticated digital lock.
"Holy crap, Leonard! Where did that come from?" Penny was more surprised that Leonard hadn't told her about the 'secret room' than she was of its existence. Leonard told her everything.
Leonard answered, over his shoulder, "It's a 3-bedroom apartment and you weren't supposed to know about it. Sheldon, what about the girls?" He wasn't going to go unless Penny had a backpack and copy of the Plan.
Sheldon looked at him appraisingly and said, "I prepared a backpack for Penny as soon as you became engaged. She is important to you. They are all important, Leonard, so there's one for each of them."
"What about the other Cerberus team members? Kripke and Winkle?" asked Leonard.
"Theirs are in their offices already working as per the instructions given to me by the Agency when we were first dragooned into this 'think tank'. Imagine, being paid a nice monthly stipend to brainstorm 'what ifs'? Truly someone was paying attention though."
"So it's really happening? Aliens are invading – "
"Hawaii is already in Their hands. Contact has been lost with Cuba and the various smaller islands in the Caribbean. We are needed at CalTech. Explain things to the girls and join us as soon as you can. They are aquatic creatures so we'll have our work cut out for us designing suitable responses and weaponry. Winkle has some vicious ideas already as you can well imagine."
He and Raj grabbed their backpacks and left for CalTech together, neither saying goodbye. There had still been hope then.