Chapter 43

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Note: These characters are from the science fiction series "the Event." This story helps wrap up certain loose ends, in particular what exactly "the Event" was. Enjoy.

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President Martinez watched the news on television. America was becoming angrier, less trusting of alien refugees. This was familiar territory to Martinez, he could only hope that president Odonnell was better than he had been. Odonnell's great grandfather was a refugee, he never forgot that, always fought for refugees. Martinez's own parents had been refugees from Cuba, but he seemed to forget that heritage when dealing with Sophia and her people. In his own world, Elias Martinez had been president of the United States. Then he learned how his government had been detaining alien refugees in a secret prison in Alaska for decades. At first he was outraged, he was ready to release them and tell the truth to the american people. Then, things happenned, and Martinez did not live up to his own ideals. They were practically at war with these refugees, neither side was without blame. It seemed that war is hell, no matter what universe it takes place in. Their leader, Sophia, was just fighting for her own people, as was Martinez. It seemed as though Earth couldn't hold both populations, each side tried to kill a number of others to accomodate their own people. The result was that any innocent people, on both sides, suffered and died. Innocents like Sean and Leila. Leila was half-alien, she had been kidnapped by Sophia and experimented on. Sean rescued Leila, and their unborn child. Leila nearly died giving birth to their son, Michael. They tried to give their son a good life, but during the war that was early impossible. They were actually luckier than most, little Michael was almost three when the rapture came. Many people, again on both sides, simply dissapeared. Martinez had heard of this before, mainly from the christian right. They had been at least partly right, although a lot of them remained after. Sophia had also heard of this, from a religion that had long been abandoned by her people. Neither side had much of a chance to absorb this news, when the darkness came to their world. All their fighting for this planet had been for nothing. It just corrupted more people, so fewer people became worthy of Heaven. Martinez and Sophia put aside their conflict and worked together to help evacuate as many refugees as possible. Martinez realized the irony. He had fought to deny alien refugees a home, now he was an alien refugee. He and Sophia worked together now to keep their respective peoples safe. It no longer mattered who had been human or alien on that world, perhaps in time it wouldn't matter who had originally been from what world. Sean and Leila, their son Michael, Simon, Blake, Vicki, their old conflicts no longer mattered, they were all united now in their struggle for survival. During the war, Martinez had discovered that his wife Christina was an alien, and they divorced. Now, in the midst of all of this madness, they had reunited, a testament to putting old grudges in an unmarked grave. They tried to work together for the coming battle, to do better tomorrow than they'd been yesterday. Odonnell was doing a better job on that front than Martinez had done, but things were still looking bleak. And then, Antarctica's satellite's detected something. A large amount of fire, in space, heading towards Earth. The very darkness that had decimated so many worlds was coming towards this Earth.