Author's note: In order to fully understand the premise of The Event, reading the information posted in my profile is essential!
That afternoon was the longest of Linda's life. She took Sheba and Caleb back to her home and started desperately calling John, but she never got through. All the while the TV was on, playing over and over the scenes from New York. People covered in dust running, smoke billowing up from holes in the ground. Caleb sat on the couch with Sheba, curled up against her side. Although her expression remained listless, she had put an arm gently around him, patting him whenever he shivered or sniffled.
Hours passed. It was while Linda was in the kitchen, trying to make dinner, that the phone rang. She ran for it and fumbled for a few moments.
"John?!" she called desperately.
"It's okay, Linda. I'm okay."
"Oh, thank God!" Linda slumped to her knees. Caleb was instantly at her side. "John, where are you?"
"Almost home. Did you get Sheba?" He sounded exhausted.
"Yes, she's here."
"And Caleb? Is he…"
"I'm okay, Dad," Caleb called. He was close enough to hear him.
"Okay. Linda, please bring them over. I'll be home in a few minutes."
"We'll be right there, John."
Caleb was already running to the living room as Linda regained her feet and hung up the phone. He coaxed Sheba to her feet.
"Come on, Sheba. We're going to my house."
Sheba didn't protest. She followed Caleb out to the car, with Linda close behind. She knew the way by heart now. It only took ten minutes to reach John's driveway. The truck was already there, but the engine was still running. It shut off as Linda parked next to it. Caleb was out of the car in seconds, running around the truck to John. She could see his dusty hair as he knelt to pick up his son.
"Caleb?" Sheba asked. "Where's Caleb?"
"It's okay, baby. He's right over there with his dad," Linda replied soothingly.
John walked around the truck slowly, still carrying Caleb. He was covered in white dust, and there was blood on his left leg. Linda got out of the car, tears in her eyes.
"Oh, John," she murmured.
It turned out that the blood was coming from a shallow gash on John's thigh. Linda treated and bandaged it in his kitchen after he had showered the dust off and changed clothes, taking upmost care to scour the wound clean while she listened to his story.
"I followed that man all the way down into the train. His jacket was bulging…I thought he had a bomb on his chest," he said. "But all he had was an armful of stolen DVDs. And then I saw the other train…"
He trailed off and put his head in his hands. Linda sat in the chair beside him and put her arms around him. The pallor of his skin was unchanged, despite the fact that the obscuring white dust was gone.
"One left," he said. "Two days from now. Right outside of town. We have to stop this one. We have to."
"We will," Linda whispered.
John hadn't even tried to ask Sheba anything. One look at her was enough to show him she wouldn't be able to tell him anything. She had wandered up the stairs a few minutes before. Linda suspected she was sitting in a corner somewhere. Caleb was in the den.
"Caleb," she called. "Could you check on Sheba?"
"Okay," he replied.
Linda heard him climb up the stairs. John sat back, fingering the paper in his hands. The sheet of numbers was now almost completely crumpled and worn. He had his eyes on the last set of numbers. The ones that said 33 people were to die in two days.
"Hey," he said suddenly. "These are different."
Linda looked over John's shoulder. He had his thumb over the 33. She blinked, seeing what had caught his attention.
"Those…aren't three's," she gasped. "They're 'E's." She took the paper, holding it close to her eyes. "Sheba has always written her capital 'E's backwards. I don't know why I didn't see this before."
"But what does 'EE' mean?" John asked.
"Dad!"
Caleb's scream sent both John and Linda running. John leapt up the stairs three at a time, Linda fast on his heels. Caleb was standing just inside the bathroom door, his eyes wide with fright. John tried to push the door open, only to be met by a yelp and a thud. Sheba suddenly staggered into view behind Caleb, reaching out to grip the wall as she shook and panted. Once John was inside Linda squeezed past him, putting her arms around Sheba. John swung the bathroom door shut.
And then, they all stared. A metal pen shell lay on the floor. Sheba had used it to scratch two words all over the back of the door.
Everyone else.
Sheba was crying now, a soft, pitiful noise. But it was drowned out by John's sudden gasp.
"That's it," he murmured.
And suddenly, he was gone, disappearing back downstairs before either Linda or Caleb could protest.
"Caleb, stay here," she said desperately. "Watch over Sheba."
Linda raced back downstairs. She found John in front of his computer, pulling up what looked like an old presentation. The curve of a star against a field of black. He pointed at the star.
"This is Cygnus 12. A few years ago, I studied a large spike of energy coming from this star. It's about the same size as our sun." He clicked the screen, and the animation of a massive solar flare filled the black area. "All the way home from New York, I heard the radio talking about increased solar activity on our sun, about electrical failures caused by the increase. These solar storms are what are making it so warm out right now. It's what brought down the plane, and derailed the train. Everything is connected."
"John, what are you…"
"Look!"
He pressed a few keys. Suddenly, the curve of Cygnus 12 was labeled "sun" and four planets appeared in the black. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
"A super flare, right in our own solar system," John said bleakly. "A 600 billion ton burst of solar energy stretching out beyond Mars." He replayed the animation, and the flare on the screen shot out past Earth. "Enough to fry away our atmosphere…and kill all life on the planet." He dropped his hands to his lap. "This is what Sheba is trying to warn us about. This is why she's gone insane. She's foreseen the end of the world."
Linda could barely bring herself to breathe. She sank to her knees at John's side.
"Maybe we can call someone," she whispered. "Everyone has to know."
"The government already does. The announcement will come any time now," he said darkly. "The place Sheba predicted in the numbers…it's an open field on a hillside. I think we'd have the best view there. We…we can't stop this one."
And Linda believed him. Looking into his eyes, she knew his words were true. The end had come.
The next day passed in a haze, both physically and mentally. They stayed home, all four of them holding each other's hands as they watched the news. At lunch, Linda made sandwiches. And at dinner, John fired up his grill, and they all sat at the picnic table in the backyard eating his traditional Sunday night hot dog surprise. Linda had to feed Sheba by hand, for she was almost catatonic now.
Later that night, John and Linda tucked their children into bed, and then she went into his room to sit with him on his bed. A dazzling aurora borealis flickered in the sky outside the window.
"John…" she whispered. "Thank you."
"For what?" he asked. "I didn't do anything."
Linda turned to face him, settling her hands on either side of his face.
"You believed me," she said.
No more words were spoken that night. Linda stayed in John's arms, making love with him more tender and passionate than anything she had ever felt before. In those few precious hours, Linda realized she did not just respect him. She loved him. Loved him more than any other man she had ever known.
The next morning, Linda put together the most sumptuous breakfast she could make. They all ate quietly. Caleb seemed to know what was going on. Her respect for the boy grew with each passing moment. He was trying to be brave.
When the sound for the emergency broadcast system echoed in the den, John got up to watch. He came back a minute later.
"They just announced it," he said.
"How long?" Linda asked.
"They don't know."
Together, everyone turned to look at Sheba. She looked back blankly, then glanced at the clock on the wall.
"One hour," she said flatly.
There was silence for a few minutes.
"What do we do now?" Caleb asked softly.
Linda glanced at John. For a long moment, he was still. Finally, he approached Caleb and gathered him in his arms.
"We go where the numbers say to go," he replied. "They haven't been wrong yet."
Linda took Sheba's hand and gently pulled. When she stood, she wrapped her arms around her and followed John outside. They didn't clean up the dishes, turn off the TV, or even shut the front door. Together they started walking down the street. The sky was a strange yellow-white in the dawn, the sun a blazing red ball breaking the horizon. All around there were people. Some were frantically packing their cars. Others were simply running around screaming. And some were just standing, their arms around their loved ones. It was these people who noticed them as they walked past, saw the calm on their faces. Some began to follow them.
The sky turned red as they finally reached the hillside field outside of town. A small crowd was already there, congregated near the top. John led the way up the slope until they stood just above the treeline. They had a spectacular view of the town here, and the blazing sky.
"John, Caleb?" Linda asked quietly, breaking the silence. "I love you both. Thank you."
Caleb reached for her hand, and Linda gave it to him. John smiled softly. And at her other side, Sheba sighed.
"Bang," she whispered.
Linda tightened her grip. At that moment, a bright white light filled the sky. And an even brighter blue light behind them turned the grass at their feet silver. She turned around, staring in shock at the swirl of light at the top of the hill.
"John!" she screamed over a building roar that was drowning out everything else. "John, a gateway! Run to the gateway!"
She knew he couldn't hear her. But he turned and saw it anyway. And without hesitation he started to run. Linda tried to follow, but was yanked back by her grip on Sheba, who wasn't moving.
"Run, Sheba!" she screamed, yanking on her daughter's arm. "Come on! Run!"
Sheba blinked, then finally fell into step, the two of them running pell-mell up the slope of the hill. Linda didn't dare look back, but she could still see it anyway, out of the corners of her eyes. A massive wall of fire, thousands of feet high, barreling towards them faster than the speed of sound. The very earth was ripping apart in its wake. Heat was building, hotter and hotter. The very air was scorching.
Linda could not see John, or Caleb. She couldn't even see Sheba next to her. All she could see was fire, and the bright swirling light. She was pulling Sheba along with her. She was five feet away. Two feet. She was right there.
A massive wave of searing heat roasted her left side. Her ears filled with an earth-cracking roar.
The gateway was upon her.
Linda jumped.
End of Prologue.
And we come to the end of the prologue. Now the true story begins.