Chapter 2: The End Begins

Heatherfield, California

2012

Robert and Irma Lair were watching the local news as they got ready for Robert to take his sister Jennifer's two kids camping in Yellowstone National Park.

"This mass suicide was actually discovered by a documentary crew here in the ancient Mayan city of Tikal. Now, the victims, and there have been many, are said to have adhered to the Mayan-Quiche` calendar, which predicts the end of time to occur on December 21st of this year due to the sun's destructive forces." The on-site reporter stated.

"Thank you, Mark; strangely enough, scientific records do support the fact that we are heading for the biggest solar climax in recorded history." the newsroom reporter added.

Just then a small tremor shook the house for several seconds. "Wow, that was a rough one." Irma said.

"Yeah, I sometimes wonder how I got used to it." Robert replied.

Just then, a blue sedan pulled up in front of the driveway. Robert and Irma got up and looked out the window.

Jennifer and her two eight-year-old kids, Edward and Bella, ran up to the front door as Robert and Irma walked out.

"Uncle bob!" Edward yelled in excitement as he ran up to Robert.

"Aunt Irma!" Bella yelled in equal excitement as she ran up to Irma. Robert and Irma hugged the kids as Jennifer walked up to them.

"They grow up so fast!" Robert said. "Yeah, they seemed so little last time we saw them!" Irma replied.

"Is everything ready?" Jennifer asked.

"Yeah, everything's good to go!" Irma replied.

"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Robert said as he led the kids to his jet black Toyota Tundra 4x4 pickup truck.

"I'll be back in a few days, dear." Robert said as he kissed Irma. "I love you." Irma said.

"I love you too!" Robert replied as he got into the driver's seat.

They got in and Robert started the engine. "Have fun!" Jennifer said as she and Irma waved goodbye.

"WE WILL!" Ashley and Andrew yelled out the back window as they drove off.

As they drove off, Robert and the kids didn't notice the crowd gathering down the other street.

"Whoa, man!" one man said.

"Sick!" another man said. "Would you look at that?" a woman said. What they were looking at was a large crack that had formed in the middle of the road.

The fissure bent sharply at the intersection and stretched down the road for two blocks.

"Jack, I told you, we have to move back to Wisconsin!" a woman shouted from her second-story balcony, which was over the crack.

San Francisco Cruise Ship Terminal, San Francisco, California

"So this time, we hit Japan." Adrian's father, Harry said to his friend, Tony as they approached the cruise ship Genesis.

"So?" Tony said. "Well, you could visit your boy, Will." Harry replied. Harry saw Tony staring at a group of women he saw walking by.

"Are you even listening to me?" Harry asked. "Unfortunately, I am, Harry." Tony replied.

"I heard from Audrey that you're a grandpa now." Harry said. "Would you mind keeping your nose out of my family? You're cramping my style, man." Tony replied.

"So he married a Japanese girl. How is that the end of the world?" Harry asked. "Come on, Tony, you should at least go see him." Harry added.

"You see your boy?" Tony asked. "Not as much as I'd like to, D.C. is a long way, but at least we talk." Harry replied.

"About what?" Tony asked.

"Life, and how short it is." Harry replied.

Suddenly, the ship lurched and tilted as a strong wave pushed the ship into the pier. Harry and Tony stood wide eyed in disbelief as they watched the ship tilt.

The passengers in the lobby struggled to keep their balance as the ship righted itself. As suddenly as it began, it was over.

"What the hell was that?" Harry asked, stunned by what had just happened.

Paris, France

A woman was sleeping when the phone began to ring. "Hello?" the woman said as she answered the call.

"Laura, Laura, can you hear me?" a male voice said in French. "Roland, is that you?" Laura asked, also in French.

"Laura, they lied to us, I've arranged a press conference for tomorrow. I will tell everyone the truth about what's going on." Roland replied, he was in his car driving.

"What are you talking about?" Laura asked.

"The art you collected, it's not in the Alps, those tunnels are empty, I have proof!" Roland replied. He began driving into a tunnel and began losing the signal.

"Laura, Laura, can you hear me?" Roland asked. "I'm losing you. Roland?" Laura said.

"Laura, can you hear me?" Roland asked.

Suddenly, an explosion erupted from the rear of the car's bottom. The burning car flipped over onto its roof and skidded to a stop.

Near Yellowstone National Park

Robert was driving down the road while the kids were enjoying the sights. Edward was sitting in the passenger seat and Bella was sitting in the middle seat.

Suddenly, the music on the radio turned into static. "Aw, I like that song!" Edward said.

"We lost it." Robert replied as he changed the radio stations. He stopped upon reaching a station that was in the middle of a broadcast.

"- going on on the West Coast with those surface cracks, I told myself, 'Charlie, get your ass to Yellowstone.' I don't want to miss the fun when it finally blows." a voice said as the broadcast went on. Robert and the kids looked up upon hearing a noise and saw three HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters flying overhead.

"Let me tell you, there's been government people flying in and out all morning and trust me, they did not look one bit happy. Always remember, folks: You heard it first from Charlie." The voice said as the broadcast ended. "That's weird" Bella said as she watched the helicopters flying ahead.

"Yeah, just when he said that? What are the odds?" Robert said in a humorous tone.

Bella giggled at Robert's actions and Robert giggled with her.

The White House, Washington D.C.

Dr. Helmsley and Carl were briefing President Wilson on their recent findings regarding the West Coast's recent increase in seismic activity.

"We're not seeing soil liquefaction we'd expect to find or any evidence of fracture propagation within the tectonic plates." Adrian explained.

"In English." Carl said.

"The activity on the West Coast is not caused by tecto- by regular earthquakes, and these so-called surface cracks have nothing to do with shifting fault lines." Adrian explained.

"Are you suggesting this could be the beginning of the Cho Ming operation?" President Wilson asked.

"Dr. Helmsley is flying to Yellowstone this morning to collect more data, sir but the situation-" Carl began to say before he was cut off.

"We have been following the schedule you established, Mr. Helmsley, the most important schedule in the history of mankind. Now you're telling me we have to throw it out?" President Wilson asked.

"Yes, sir, I was wrong." Adrian replied apologetically.

"Do you know how many times I've heard those words in this office? Zero." President Wilson replied.

Just then, Laura rushed in holding a newspaper. "Did you see this?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, she insisted." the secretary said.

"It's all over the news!" the president's daughter said as she set the newspaper onto her father's desk.

She then picked up a remote control and turned on the TV.

"We are learning more about this deadly car explosion. The director of the French National Museums was to hold a press conference at the Louvre this morning. Coincidentally, his death took place in the same Paris tunnel where Princess Diana died in 1997. We are continuing to follow this story, we will-" The newscast said before the TV was turned off.

"Laura, I don't believe you've met Dr. Helmsley." Laura's father said. Laura turned towards Adrian then back to her father.

"I just talked to him, Dad, and he told me that the organization that I work for is a sham. I mean, why would he say that?" Laura said in a worried tone.

"You look just like your mother when you get upset. Did I tell you that?" President Wilson said.

"Every time I get upset. Daddy, a man was killed." Laura replied.

"Honey, please sit down." President Wilson said. Laura sat down on a couch while her father pulled up a chair.

"Only a dozen people in this administration know what I'm about to tell you." President Wilson said.

"Daddy, what's going on?" Laura asked. Laura's father held her hands to give her comfort and calm her down.

"An unprecedented international endeavor is underway. At this point, 46 nations are invested in this thing." President Wilson said.

"Laura's a smart girl, she'll understand." Carl said as they walked through the hall.

"That thing in Paris, we're not involved in any of that, are we?" Adrian asked.

"We? Who the hell is "we"? What are you talking about?" Carl asked.

"What we need to do is focus on this time-line, that's what we need to do." Carl added. "When do we let the country know?" Adrian asked.

"What do you mean?" Carl asked. "The people, sir, they need to know." Adrian replied.

"Well, of course they do. Listen, your job is to figure out when this is all gonna fall apart. My job is to figure out how to retain some semblance of government after it falls apart. Until then, we don't have time for anything except for doing those jobs. Okay? Call me the moment you get any news from Yellowstone." Carl said.

"Yes, sir." Adrian replied. "Cute girl, huh?" Carl asked.

"Sir?" Adrian asked in confusion. "The First Daughter, I saw you looking at her." Carl replied.

"I wasn't looking at her." Adrian said in denial. "Better move fast, kid. The end is near." Carl replied as he walked away.

"Adrian, your chopper's ready. They're waiting on the South Lawn." Scotty said. Adrian began walking towards the South Lawn.

Yellowstone National Park

"Uncle bob, where are we going?" Bella asked as they walked through the woods.

"We're going to this really special place that I know. It's a place where your aunt and I used to hang out a lot." Robert replied.

Just then, they came upon a wire fence with "RESTRICTED AREA" signs mounted. "Uncle Robert, look at this!" Bella said as she approached the fence.

"This wasn't here before." Robert said in confusion as he and Edward approached the fence.

"Now what?" Edward asked. "Now, we do this." Robert replied as he climbed over the fence.

"Are you crazy?" Edward asked. "Nope, the special spot is somewhere on the other side." Robert replied as he helped the kids get over.

After getting past the fence, they walked on until they reached a flat area with a small pool of water in it.

"What the? There used to be a lake here." Robert said in disbelief. "Doesn't look like much of a lake to me." Edward replied.

"I know, the whole thing's gone." Robert replied. "Come on, let's check it out." Robert added as they walked towards the nearly-gone lake.

As they got closer, they noticed that there were surveying equipment (or equipment of some kind) set up on the water.

There were also small, white bubbles scattered on the surface, tiny white puffs being released with each popped bubble.

There were also a few dead, rotting carcases near the water's edge. "Ew." Bella said as she looked at the body of an elk lying on the lake bed.

Meanwhile, a man was looking at them through a pair of binoculars from behind a tree. He put down the binoculars and spoke into a device that seemed to be a recorder or radio transmitter.

"Subjects have now entered hot zone." he said as he looked on.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of rotor blades whipping the wind entered the ears of Robert and the two kids.

Seconds later, a UH-1 Huey helicopter and several Humvees appeared over the hill on the other side of the lake and approached the three.

"Who is that?" Bella asked. Robert stared in disbelief.

"That's the US Army." Robert quietly replied. The Humvees stopped near the lake and several soldiers got out and ran towards Robert and the kids.

Meanwhile, the mysterious man watched the action unfold through his binoculars. "All manner of government vehicles are converging on subjects." he said as he looked on.

"You're in a restricted area, sir. We need you and your family to come with us." one soldier said when they got to Robert.

"Right, Okay, we're gonna go with these guys. That'll be fun, huh?" Robert said trying to cheer the kids up. I wish Irma was here! Robert thought as he and the kids walked with the soldiers.

"This is wild, this is really wild!" the mystery man said into the device as he watched what was happening.

Robert and the kids were driven in a Humvee towards what looked like some kind of command center.

The complex's dominant feature was a large rig that looked like some kind of drill burrowing into the ground.

Mysterious complex, Yellowstone National Park

"This is unbelievable, 2700 degrees Celsius at 40,000 feet?" Adrian asked. "I know, it sound completely implausible. Nonetheless, we're ticking off an increase of almost 0.5 percent." the scientist he was walking with replied.

"Per day?" Adrian asked.

"No, per hour!" the scientist replied.

"Dr. Helmsley, we've arrested a group of tourists in the hot zone." another scientist said.

"OK, I'll take care of it. Look let's get Satnam on the communications link. We'll try and cross-reference the data." Adrian replied.

Meanwhile, Robert was talking to one of the soldiers. "It's a national park, there's not supposed to be any posted fences, right? I mean, what's going on here?" Robert asked.

"We're geologists." Adrian said as he walked up. "Do you usually go digging with machine guns?" Robert asked.

"Major, I'll take care of this, thank you." Adrian replied. "So, what happened to the lake?" Robert asked.

"That's what we're trying to find out. We think the entire area has become unstable. I think you should take your kids and leave Mr. ...Lair." Adrian said as he checked Robert's driver's license.

"You're not by any chance the Robert Lair who wrote Shadows of War, are you?" Adrian asked.

"The very same." Robert replied.

Adrian laughed in surprise. "It's actually dedicated to my aunt." Bella said.

"That's great, I read a couple of your short stories when I was in college, yeah! You know, your father is a very talented man." Adrian said to the kids.

"Oh, he's actually our uncle." Edward replied. "Really?" Adrian asked.

"Yeah, my sister had me take them camping." Robert replied.

"It's amazing, I'm reading your book. I'm around Chapter 10, the last tour of duty for the squadron in the war!" Adrian said.

"You're one of the lucky many who bought it." Robert said. "Indeed I did!" Adrian replied. "Pleasure." Robert said as he shook Adrian's hand.

"It was a great pleasure meeting you." Adrian said before turning to the major. "Major, could you escort these good people to the campgrounds?" he said to the major.

"Thank you." Robert said. "Take care." Adrian said as he walked away.

"OK." Robert replied. "He was very nice." Bella said.

"Yeah, he was." Robert replied.

Five minutes later, Adrian had established a communications link with Satnam via web-cam-equipped laptops.

"Looks like that boy of yours is gonna be smarter than any of us." Adrian said as he watched Ajit playing chess.

Satnam had a worried look on his face and Adrian spotted this. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I sent Satnam the temperature reading." Adrian's colleague replied.

"My colleagues in Argentina and Ontario have almost identical data. It's so hot here we've had to seal off the mine." Satnam replied.

"You double-checked the numbers?" Adrian asked.

"Triple-checked, my friend. I wish we were wrong, but we're not. The Earth's crust is destabilizing." Satnam replied grimly.

Adrian was shocked by this. "It's too early." he said. "Adrian, you have to begin the evacuation." Satnam said.

"My God." Adrian said. "All our scientific advances, our fancy machines, the Mayans saw this coming thousands of years ago." Adrian's colleague said.

Adrian looked out the window at Robert and the kids. "I thought we'd have more time." he said as he watched Robert and the kids climb into a Humvee.

"Okay, I want you to pack up your family, I'm gonna arrange an airlift for you from Delhi." Adrian said to Satnam over the comm link.

"Thank you, my friend, and good luck." Satnam replied as the comm link was terminated. Satnam told Aparna to start getting ready. He then went to his son.

"Ajit, we're going on a big ship." he said.

Yellowstone campgrounds

several minutes later

Robert and the kids had just arrived at the campgrounds and started searching for a good spot. "That was so cool!" Edward said as the Humvee drove away.

"Yeah, that was intense." Robert replied. "And the helicopters were cool!" Edward added.

"That was the craziest place I've ever seen." Robert replied.

Just then, a man with long hair, dressed in winter gear jumped in front of them from behind a sign.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, sorry. One question: What did the government guys say to you?" the man asked Robert.

"Oh, umm, well, they don't like us going over their fences and that the whole area back there is unstable." Robert replied, bewildered by the man's sudden appearance.

"Unstable, they said 'unstable'?" the man asked.

"Yeah, unstable." Robert replied. The man broke into a laugh.

"That's funny." the man said as he continued laughing.

"Let's go. Have a good one." Robert said as he and the kids walked off.

Yellowstone makeshift lab complex, that evening

"It's not just Yellowstone, sir. Temperatures are increasing with incredible velocity in hot zones across the globe." Adrian said to Carl on his cell phone.

"Are you absolutely sure about this, Adrian? Because once we give these orders, there's no going back. You understand that?" Carl said.

"I'm afraid there's no longer any doubt, sir. We have to save what we can and we have to move now!" Adrian replied as he boarded a UH-1 Huey.

Yellowstone campsite, that night

Robert had already set up two tents: one for himself and one for the kids. Robert had built a bonfire in the nearby fire pit. The kids sat by the fire with him as they relaxed.

"Hey, you two wanna roast some marshmallows?" Robert asked.

"YEAH!" Edward and Bella said in unison.

Robert went up and got a bag of marshmallows and three skewers out of a container that was in the back of the truck.

He put a marshmallow on the end of each skewer and handed one to each of the kids.

He kept the third one for himself and all three of them positioned their marshmallows near the flames.

After a few seconds, the marshmallows were nearly black and they took them off of the skewers.

As they ate, Edward and Bella yawned. "You guys tired?" Robert asked. "Yeah, it's been a long day." Edward replied.

"Yeah, I'm sleepy." Bella added. "OK, let's get you ready for bed." Robert said as they went towards the tents.

The kids went into their tent and closed it up. As the kids went to sleep, Robert doused the fire and got ready for bed himself.

As he entered his tent, he heard a distant voice coming from just outside the campsite.

"We have a listener calling in, Bill from Cooke City, you're on the Charlie Frost Show." the voice said.

Just then, a different voice came on. "Charlie, just wanted to say I love your show." the other voice said.

Robert looked around and saw an RV parked on the next campsite over. He realized that the RV was being used as a mobile radio broadcasting center.

He also realized that it was the same voice that the man they saw earlier had!

"No way!" he said as he turned on his pocket radio and tuned it to the station he listened to earlier.

The voices were exactly the same and were occurring at the same time!

"-not afraid to tell the truth." the other voice said on the radio.

"Thank you, Bill. What is your question?" Charlie asked. "I wanted to know, where is all this gonna start?" Bill asked.

"Well, Bill, something like this can only originate in Hollywood, but seriously, they got the Earth cracking under their asses already." Charlie replied.

Robert got up and walked towards the RV. "Our family believes in the gospel of the Lord Jesus, we have nothing to fear, Charlie." Bill said.

"Good for you, thanks for calling." Charlie replied. Robert saw Charlie and recognized him as the man he and the kids saw earlier.

"This is Charlie Frost reporting live from Yellowstone National Park, soon to become the world's largest active volcano." Charlie said just before he spotted Robert near the RV.

"I'll be right back, folks." he added as he got up.

"Do you mind if I join you? I wanted to ask you something." Robert said.

"I only got a minute. What's up?" Charlie replied.

"I was listening to the broadcast and I was wondering, what exactly is it that's gonna start in Hollywood?" Robert asked.

"It's the apocalypse, End of Days, the Judgment Day, the end of the world, my friend. Christians called it the rapture, but the Mayans knew about it, the Hopis, the I Ching, the Bible, kind of." Charlie replied.

He then showed Robert a crude animation depicting the events that would occur.

The animation mentioned massive amounts of neutrinos being emitted by the sun, as well as a theory made by Professor Charles Hapgood in 1958, which he called "Earth Crust Displacement", a theory which was supported by Albert Einstein.

The theory stated that if unusual amounts of solar radiation heated the Earth's core enough, it would leave the crust free to shift.

It also stated that this would cause many disasters on a colossal scale all over the world.

"You have to keep a thing like this under wraps, I mean, think about it. First, the stock market would go, then the economy, boom! The dollar, boom! And then, pandemonium in the streets. War, genocide, boom, boom, boom!" Charlie said after the animation had ended.

"Bullshit, nobody could keep that big a secret, Charlie, somebody would blow the whistle." Robert said.

"Every once in a while, some poor sucker tries do do just that, well, like these guys, boom, boom!" Charlie replied as he pulled down a display of newspaper articles about recent, mysterious deaths of politicians, scientists and even, more recently, the head of the Louvre.

"Every one of these guys, dead, dead, dead." Charlie continued. Robert recognized one of the pictures right away.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, that's Professor Myers." Robert said.

"He ran the Atlantis space shuttle program. Why, did you know him?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, he helped me do some research for one of my short stories." Robert replied.

"Well, that must have been before his 'accident'." Charlie replied. "Meyers is dead?" Robert asked.

"Oh, yeah, two months ago. He was one of my most avid listeners and he had it all figured out: Everything the government was doing, where and why. He even sent me a map." Charlie said.

"A map for what, Charlie? What's the map for?" Robert asked. Charlie looked around to see if it was clear. "They're building spaceships, man." Charlie replied.

Robert was stunned by what he had just learned.

"Shit, man, I have to go because I have to get back to Earth, but I really enjoyed most of this, thank you so much." Robert said as he began to walk out.

"Hey, hey, guess what, they're selling seats." Charlie said. "Put me down for three." Robert replied.

"No, guys like you and me don't have a chance, you'd have to be Bill Gates or Hugh Hefner, or Rupert Murdoch or some Russian billionaire or something." Charlie replied rather loudly.

"Keep it down, my niece and nephew are sleeping." Robert said.

"Get them out of Yellowstone, it's gonna get ugly here!" Charlie replied.

Heatherfield, California

Cornelia and Caleb were shopping at the local supermarket. "Why don't we make a baby?" Caleb said as he wrapped his arms around Cornelia's waist.

Cornelia looked at him and chuckled. "We're not making a baby in the store, silly." she said.

"Okay, just an idea." Caleb replied. In the parking lot, a crack was opening up, setting off car alarms as it got closer to the store.

"It's nice to see that Irma and Robert are so happy together." Cornelia said as they went towards the cereal section.

"Yeah, after years of loneliness, she's finally happily married to her special someone." Caleb replied.

"Kinda reminds you of us, huh?" Cornelia asked. "Yeah, kinda." Caleb replied.

Meanwhile, the crack opened up in the floor as it got past the check-out area. Cornelia reached for a box of cereal and was shocked to see the boxes rock back and forth.

"Did you see that?" she asked. "Yeah, that was weird." Caleb replied.

"Well, it's probably nothing, like I would feel like if anything happened to you." Cornelia said.

"Yeah, well there's no need to worry about that, because nothing's ever going to pull us apart." Caleb replied.

Suddenly, the floor cracked right between them as the ground began to shake. "Caleb!" Cornelia called out as the crack widened.

"Hang on, hang on to the pole!" Caleb suggested as Cornelia grabbed a nearby pole and hung on for dear life.

"Cornelia, don't let go!" Caleb said. "Oh, my God!" Cornelia said as she struggled to keep her grip on the pole.

"Hang on!" Caleb said.

By the time it was over, the store was literally split in two, with the chasm ending up several feet wide.

Yellowstone

Robert and the kids were at a convenience store getting some snacks. Bella looked at the wall-mounted TV and recognized the woman being interviewed.

"I had to make a stop at the grocery store..." the woman said.

"Hey, look, it's Mrs. Vandom. She's my teacher, she's on TV!" Bella said in excitement. Robert and Edward went to take a look.

The picture then switched to a aerial view of the store, clearly showing the damage. There were cars in the chasm from the parking lot.

"Here is an aerial view of Greg's Market, which was open for business at the time, but fortunately, there were no fatalities or injuries reported. It really is a miracle the no one was hurt.

Just then, Edward's cell phone rang. "Hello? Oh, hi, Mom." Edward said as he answered the call.

"Did you see what happened to the store?" he asked. Edward's eyes widened as he heard Jennifer's response. He looked at Robert and Bella.

"She wants us to come home." he said.

The White House, Washington, D.C.

"Is this even possible?" President Wilson asked as he walked with Carl.

"We worked through every option through the night. The good news, consensus is that four of the arks will be operational in time." Carl said.

"Only four? You call that good news?" President Wilson asked.

"We can save over 400,000 people, to me, sir, that's nothing short of a miracle, but we have to initiate the boarding process now. Thomas, we don't have a choice. You have got to convince them." Carl replied.

In the briefing room, Adrian was beginning his brief on the latest findings in Yellowstone.

"I'll try to keep this brief. According to the latest information from Yellowsto-" Adrian began as Carl and President Wilson entered the room.

"Please continue, Adrian." President Wilson said. "Thank you, sir." Adrian replied.

"The temperature of the subterranean crust, that is, the cement that holds our land mass in place is increasing at a rapid rate, much faster that we anticipated.

As a result, we've observed extreme polar instability. The magnetic fields have decreased by more than 80 percent in the last 48 hours." Adrian continued.

"How much time do we have, Dr. Helmsley?" the German head of state said via comm link.

"Two, maybe three days, if we're lucky." Adrian replied.

"How can you speak about luck in such a situation?" the Italian prime minister asked.

"Apologies, Mr. Prime Minister, I, I meant no disrespect." Adrian replied.

"I'm afraid the longer we wait, the more luck plays its part." President Wilson added.

"My friends, I recommend we evacuate immediately. If any of you have any objections, please speak now." President Wilson said.

Heatherfield, California

"Caltech believes that the half-mile fissure running through Sheffield has released most of the surface tension. 'Life in the city will soon return to normal,' Mayor Gonzales said at an early news conference." the radio news report said as Robert drove down the freeway towards downtown Heatherfield.

The sun was starting to rise. "Okay, guys, almost home." Robert said as the kids woke up.

Ten minutes later, he pulled up in front of Jennifer's house. Robert and the kids got out and walked towards the house.

Jennifer came outside and was relieved to see her kids were safe.

"Thank God." she said as her kids rushed towards her.

"Mommy!" Bella said as she reached Jennifer.

"Hi, sweetheart." Jennifer said as she hugged her daughter.

"Daddy!" Edward said as he rushed towards his father, Alex, and hugged him.

"Did you have a good time?" Alex asked. "Yeah, we had fun." Edward replied.

"Hey, we're coming over in a few hours!" Jennifer called out to Robert.

"Great, can't wait!" Robert replied.

Robert smiled as he drove off. He decided to go to the airport to clear his mind. He arrived at the airport a half-hour later and found a place to park.

Two hours later, Jennifer, Alex and the kids got ready for their visit to Irma.

"How long are we going to be there?" Bella asked. "We're going to be there all day." Jennifer replied.

"I heard that Cornelia and Caleb are going to be there as well." Alex said. "I like Cornelia, she's cool." Edward replied.

They got into Jennifer's car and drove off towards Irma and Robert's house. "Aunt Irma!" Edward said as he rushed towards Irma.

"Hey, it's great to see you again!" Irma replied. "Hey, Irma, how have you been?" Jennifer asked as she hugged Irma.

"I've been great, hey, where's Robert?" Irma asked. "He said he was going to the airport for a bit." Jennifer replied.

"Ah, I see, he always goes there when he wants to get the edge off." Irma replied.

"Yeah, we all know how he loves watching aircraft." Jennifer replied.

"Hey, Jennifer, what's up?" Cornelia asked. "Not much, Robert just got back from taking my kids camping in Yellowstone." Jennifer replied.

Meanwhile, Robert had just finished watching planes take off and land. He started the engine of his truck when he heard Charlie's voice on the radio.

"Folks, did you hear that? The authorities in L.A. say there's nothing to worry about. I'd love to see their dumb faces when Malibu and Beverly Hills get sucked into the gurgling maw of the Pacific. Where are they gonna plug in their electric cars then? Ha, ha, ha!" Charlie said.

Robert felt the ground shake and got out to see a small crack under his truck. He got back out and rushed to a nearby hangar where a friend was working on a Cessna C208B Grand Caravan single-engined plane.

"Martin, I need your plane." Robert said.. "For what, what's going on?" Martin asked.

"California's about to go down, I'm getting my wife and friends out of here while I still can!" Robert replied.

"Okay, but where are you going now?" Martin asked. "To get them, I'll be back soon!" Robert replied as he rushed to his truck and started to make his way back home.

Meanwhile, the others were relaxing at Irma's house.

"I confirmed with my people at Caltech that in the last 36 hours we had basically zero earthquake activity in Southern California, which is very rare." the governor was saying at a press conference.