Defiance: Perfect by Nature

Chapter Five: A Brave New World

Chapter Five: A Brave New World

The end of the world started like any other day had, the sun rising over the horizon as the citizens of the world awoke and prepared for the day ahead; nothing but possibilities in sight. Even the world's governments and military’s were unaware of the horror that would befall them before the day was out.

Steven Prahlow, a husband and a father of two wonderful children began his day as any other, rising to his alarm and showering with his wife before getting the children up so they could get dressed and ready for school. He was having a good morning, so he decided to cook the kids up a special treat for breakfast: chocolate chip pancakes in the shape of their favourite cartoon character. He even let them put as much maple syrup on them as they wanted. Hell, why not? Their teachers would have to deal with them, not him.

Double checking to make sure they had their homework completed and putting the stack of business papers into his briefcase, he kissed his beautiful wife goodbye and ushered the kids out to the minivan parked in their recently repaved driveway. It was a glorious fall morning and the sun was shining brightly, casting warm rays of light over every inch of the world it could touch; and all Steven could think about was how well he had prepared his presentation and how impressed his bosses would be with him. That promotion would be his by the end of the day.

Stacey and Andrew fought playfully in the backseat, their exuberant voices echoing through the interior of the van as he pulled onto the busy city streets and began the long haul to the public school they attended. This was one of the worst things about living in the big city; morning rush hour was hell, but it compared nothing to the mad dash at the end of the day to get home for dinner. More times than he could count he found himself stuck in traffic for hours on end, his stomach growling as he watched the seconds tick by knowing his dinner was growing colder in his absence.

Traffic inched forward and Steven sat back and relaxed, knowing that it would be a half an hour before they pulled into the school parking lot. The day had just begun but he already couldn’t wait to get back home and surprise his family with the great news he was sure to receive today. With the extra money he would bring in each month they could finally afford the bathroom renovation they desperately wanted, with hopefully enough left over to surprise the kids with a trip to Disney World during their summer vacation, a trip he and his wife had wanted to take for a few years now.

“Daddy where did the sun go?” Stacey, his nine year old daughter asked from behind him as shadow enveloped the entire street.

“It’s hiding behind a cloud sweetie,” he answered without even looking out his window.

“Wow, that could is really black!” the girl exclaimed, sticking her head out the open window. Steven leaned forward over the steering wheel and looked into the sky as a massive roiling black cloud swept into the heart of the city. He had never seen such a sight in his entire life, the cloud seeming to move on its own accord and expand from its center as it quickly covered every inch of the once blue sky.

He quickly turned on the radio and found a news network, seeing if they were talking about a storm that was supposed to pass by. He had checked the weather when he first got up, but they had predicted blue skies and record highs for the day. This wouldn’t be the first time a meteorologist screwed up, but this seemed too sudden to have just come out of nowhere. He had caught the news at the right time and they were on the weather portion of the show.

“If you’ve looked out the window today you’ve undoubtedly seen the storm system move into the city. This seems to be a strange phenomenon that isn’t showing up on radar, and the American Weather Service has released a statement saying they are looking into it as it has appeared over forty separate cities across the world,” the radio announcer explained. “The storm doesn’t seem to be following regular weather patterns and right now has everyone here at the station baffled. We will update you with any new information as we receive it.”