Voynich Shift - Planet Killer

Leonis - 1;1 , 2;10 Part Three of Three: Second Wind

"What's that supposed to mean, time running out," Parker asks.

"As if you didn't know, there is a massive asteroid on its way to hit the Earth!"

"What?" Parker grips the steering wheel, as he knows now of the planet's fragile state. He feels the earth around him literally crumble under the wheels of the bus, going 'round and 'round for the last time on this doomed world...

"The centrifugal motion of the Earth has been knocked slightly out of balance due to the first shower  of large meteors already hitting in the Southern hemisphere. This occurrence is why the tide and heat have risen dramatically. My other fellow scientists and I have projected a second wave to occur in the Northern hemisphere later this evening. Relatively small meteors have already begun to hit the city. Our destination is the dock from where our ship leaves. And if we do not hurry, we will miss our lifeboat. It leaves soon with or without us," explains the blind lady. "Honestly sir, where have you been living, in a different universe?" 

Stunned by the question, Parker takes all of this in, immediately wondering if this 'second wave' will consume them before they reach their destination. Parker's foot now urgently presses the pedal to the floorboard.

Parker glances behind him in the rear-view mirror. There are a few small girls huddled in the back, seemingly mourning the loss of the man who had a stroke at the wheel, in the midst of the chaos. One of the girls stares into what he assumes is the blackness of deep thought, her brows furrowed into a thin line, her body language filled with angst and anticipation. There are a handful of children in the middle seats, bowed with their heads down and their hands folded in prayer. The two children who attempted driving sit quietly, staring ahead with no expressions on their faces. They sit in the seat behind the blind lady. All of the children seem pained in some way, as if they lost everything and then some. 

"What is your name?' Parker asks, the lady's head turning in his direction. 

The old woman shakes her head, chuckling nervously. 

The children look at her surprisingly, as if they have not heard her laugh in weeks.

"Erlinda. Dr. Erlinda Kostmayer," she turns her head towards the window, and outside of it is an empty cascade of red dust with specks of black and gray swirling in the air, moving around the bus and creating clouds of ash behind it. Parker is glad that Erlinda cannot see the apocalyptic scenery all-around.

"Why would you ask me such a casual question, when you did not even know the news of this natural tragedy?" Erlinda asks, still laughing.

"I don't know. I felt that it was something I would need to know."

"Are you coming?"

"Coming where?"

"Space."

Parker sits quietly.

"Where else would you go? You would die, silly."

Parker knows that this logical assumption could be true, but he decides that he is willing to transfer the risk to travel somewhere else, as his grandfather evidently did. 

"Why are you stopping?"

The bus slows with a squeal and Parker sits up in the driver's seat. "This bridge, it's, uh, it's missing one side."

"Can we make it?" one of the girls asks.

Parker eyes the innocent face in the rearview mirror and then looks forward to assess the situation once again.