IMPACT
CHAPTER ONE
Brain could hardly believe what he was reading. He'd been following various stargazing blogs online for years, ever since he was in elementary school. He watched as scientists discovered all sorts of new things—stars, planets, even entire galaxies—and they'd even discovered asteroids too. But none of them had ever discovered one that was set to hit Earth within a short frame of time.
He had no time to even register what he'd just read. He looked up from his computer and realized he wasn't reading a blog entry in his childhood bedroom. Instead he was in his cramped office at Elwood City University, where he spent ninety percent of his time now that he was a tenured professor. He was in his mid-forties now teaching various classes for the Physics Department, and he was a very busy man. He looked up and noticed the stack of ungraded tests he needed to plow through before his two p.m. class. It was eleven-thirty now. He had to get to work.
As he pulled out his key (not that he needed it, as he'd given the same test to his students for his previous five years), his phone rang loudly behind him, filling the tiny space with a trilling noise that he absolutely hated.
"Hello?" he asked gruffly, ditching the usual university-ordered greeting.
"Brain, have you been online today?"
Buster. Brain and Buster had remained in contact after high school, during college, and beyond for reasons Brain still didn't understand. Age did nothing to mature Buster. He ran a shop of horrors, in his eyes, a few blocks from Main St. Inside were magic tricks and educational sets, as well as comic books and card games. He'd tried to branch into used video games too but settled for selling the titles online instead.
But they'd remained instead because they'd both been scorned by the same woman and had kids by her, Francine Frensky. She was with some other man now and he was raising their kids, but Brain and Buster still liked to do their Dad Days together to ease the tension, and to help get their children (Annie, aged thirteen, Buster's daughter and Margarete, aged eight, Brain's daughter) work through their mother's lies.
This wasn't a call about Francine though. Brain knew before he even replied:
"No, Buster. Well, I have been, but you'll need to be specific—"
"There's an asteroid heading towards the planet!" Buster exclaimed, his voice nearly a wail, something puberty did nothing to fix. He continued on at a fast pace, "CNN won't shut up about it. The president's plane had to emergency land and they're still talking about the asteroid! Think about that! This thing is three miles wide. Some amateur found it, but NASA is taking this HARD! They say it'll be here tomorrow night!"
"I might've read something about it, but where is 'here'?" Brain asked. That was something he hadn't heard so far, and that was a term he could really use a definition for.
"Atlantic Ocean. If it hits land, we'll all be screwed because of the debris field, loss of life, blah blah blah," Buster said quickly, "but it's hitting the ocean, Brain! A tidal wave is going to sweep over everything, and we're not that far from the coast. You need to get out of town ASAP! If Francine weren't already off in California with the new guy and the kids, I'd be more concerned," Buster said, and Brain realized he could hear him throwing things into bags, not the usual sounds of the shop.
Brain's eyes went wide, "They didn't go with them to California. Catherine offered to take them in so their kids could have a cousin bonding session."
Buster paused as his eyes went wide, "Jersey coast?"
Brain nodded, "Jersey coast."
"My place in ten?"
"Make it five," Brain said, slamming down the phone and running out of the office. He nearly ran headlong into the dean, his intended target, "Dr. Masterson, I have to leave right now!"
"Good, good. I was about to tell you they're evacuating. Classes are cancelled. Are you alright, Dr. Powers?" Dr. Masterson questioned, but he got no response. Brain had already grabbed his coat and briefcase and had pushed past him on his way out of the office.