National Park, Wyoming Border
Derek looked up, his eyes flashing with confusion as the once-blue sky
above him suddenly darkened. A second later, he felt a sudden chill cross
his skin, giving him goosebumps. Surprised, he rubbed his arms and felt
frustration build in his mind.
The weather report he had watched yesterday on TV had said there was
not supposed to be a cloud in sight for the rest of the week. That was one
reason his parents decided to drive to the park last night so they could
camp for the entire week.
I hope it doesn’t rain, he thought.
After eight hours of riding in the RV to get there, he was glad to be
roaming through the forest. The last thing he needed was for it to rain—
because then he would have to take shelter in the RV with his parents,
which he wanted to avoid after the long drive.
Looking up at the sky with frustration, he was met with a sight that
mystified and bewildered him. There was not a cloud in sight. Yet, while
he watched, the light-blue sky slowly darkened, and a cold, cruel wind
began to buffet him. The wind picked up, whistling through the trees,
blowing hard enough to rip leaves from their branches.
A little unsure of what was happening, Derek turned around and began
racing through the forest toward his family’s RV. A second later, he could
see his dad through the RV’s windshield. He was waving frantically for
Derek to get in, calling him back.
Before Derek could run faster, the wind blew hard against his back. It hit
him like a wall—so hard he was pushed forward, his feet tripping over
a root. His racing through the forest was brought to a sudden halt as he
slammed face-first into a tree, leaving his head ringing.
He grabbed his forehead in pain and looked up just in time to see the
same wind that had hit him race along through the forest, disturbing
leaves, weeds, and trees until it hit and rocked the RV, which then, to his
vast horror, exploded into a ball of fire.
The rushing wind around him suddenly turned into a heavy pressure
that squeezed him tightly, emptying his lungs of all air. He felt as if he
were deep underwater. His eyes bulged out at the pressure, watering
from the horror of seeing the RV explode with his parents still in it.
The pressure in his lungs kept growing until he felt he might cough
them up. He struggled for a breath, staggering against the tree as his
head began ringing even worse than when he had hit it.
A second later, he was on his back, clenching his throat with both hands
as he frantically tried to draw a breath of air. His eyes began seeing
silver spots, and he knew he was going to pass out.
His last thought was of his parents. On his hands and knees, he crawled
toward the burning RV. The last thing he saw was shooting stars piercing
the completely dark sky. A second later, he passed out.
* * *
He awoke sometime later, choking on thick, sandy dust. He sat up
coughing and flinched in fear as something fell with a whistle of air and
slammed into the ground only a few feet from where he was sitting on
the forest floor.
A little terrified, he shot to his feet. Leaning against a tree dizzily, his
eyes were wide open, but he could only see darkness. He could hear the
sound of air screaming, though, and looked up to see bright traces of
light falling out of the pitch-black sky, slamming with thunderous force
upon the ground.
Gasping for breath, his chest heaving from the effort, he pushed away
from the tree and looked around for shelter. The only thing he could
see through the thick black dust was the still-burning remains of his
family’s RV.
The sight gripped him with fear, stopping him dead in his tracks.
Traumatized, he began shaking, unable to move or take his eyes off the
RV. Its doors were still closed, which told him the worst was true. His
parents had never made it out.
Unable to believe that, he stumbled forward.
“Mom! Dad!” he choked out, looking frantically around for them.
A flash of light blinded him, leaving a flare in his eyes, as something
fell from the ash-black sky and crashed into the ground right at his feet.
The force of it tossed him off the ground and through the air until he
slammed hard into a tree. He slid to the ground, holding his side in pain
while trying to catch his breath through the lungfuls of soot and ash he
was breathing in. The air felt thick and weird in his lungs, making him
struggle even to get a breath.
When he tried to open his eyes again, all he could see was a dark blur.
He had to rub and blink his eyes to get them clear enough to see again.
Then he could only see the light of fire. The air was filled with soot and
ash, making it impossible to see anything.
By the time he got to his feet again, using the tree to haul himself up,
his eyes were able to focus a little more. In front of him, upon the forest
floor, was an enormous crater, and in the center of it lay a glowing red
chunk of what looked like dirty ice, with burning pieces of metal in it.
It took a while to get his feet under him again this time. With his whole
body shaking, he pushed himself away from the tree. He could feel the
ground trembling under his feet from each jarring impact, and he looked
up to see the sky full of angry red streaks that fell from the black sky
like fiery rain.
What was happening? He wondered with growing fright. Had the moon
blown up? He thought wildly, close to becoming hysterical.
He shook his head, trying to clear it of the ringing he could still hear,
and again his eyes caught sight of his family’s R.V. He felt tears quickly
well in his eyes and stubbornly rubbed them away, leaving black streaks
across the backs of his hands. Touching his eyes made them burn and
water even worse than before. But it did not distract him from the fact
that he now knew both of his parents were dead. The R.V. was no longer
standing upon its wheels; it had been hit and thrown by a meteorite and
was now lying half crushed upon its side.
Smoke from the R.V. filled the already thick black air. There was also
smoke coming from the ground, though he could no longer see any fires
burning, just smoldering embers. Not even the R.V. was on fire anymore.
He looked around, wondering where he should try to hide, but he could
see nothing to hide under besides the trees. While he looked, he noticed
that all of the meteorites were falling at a slant and that if he could make
it closer to the mountain, he could use the mountain’s lee to hopefully
protect him from most of the onslaught. The mountains he saw were
protecting certain areas from the meteors. And if he could make it to
one of those areas, he would likely be safe. At least safer than standing
in the forest with only trees to protect him.
He hesitated, though, suddenly afraid to leave the trees. The meteorites
were falling fast and hitting hard. Leaving the trees, he would be out in
the open without even trees to stop a meteor. Not that even the tree he
was up against was any better cover than open air, he thought bitterly.
The meteors were just bursting through anything they hit, but not the
mountain.
A loud, piercing scream filled the air. Then the ground trembled beneath
his feet, shaking the tree beside him and making it lose the last of its
leaves. It was so close to him that he immediately began to run.
That one was too close, he thought in sheer panic, as he ran with all of
his might, gasping for breath and choking on each breath he took. He
left the tree behind, lurching in a stumbling run as the ground beneath
him shook again from an even larger impact. He held his shirt over his
nose, trying not to breathe in the soot filling the air as he ran towards
the mountainside.
Within steps, he was hunched over, coughing and spitting out soot. He
began coughing so badly that he collapsed to the ground, retching up
his stomach as he tried to breathe. He knew he could not stay like this.
The meteors were falling everywhere, and the odds were that he would
be hit long before he would ever catch his breath. He forced himself up
again and ran blindly towards the mountainside and its protective lee.
It wasn’t long before he stumbled and slid head-first into a large crater.
His skin on his arms burned where it touched the hot ground. He could
feel a fierce heat in front of his face and looked up to see a red-hot
meteor inches in front of his face.
The smell of his hair burning as he landed in front of the hot meteor
jerked him onto his feet yet again, this time with a cry of pain. Then he
ran out of the crater, patting his hair to ensure it wasn’t on fire.
He had to stop again to get a breath and calm his coughing—dry-heaving
when he couldn’t.
When he finally made it up into the lee of the mountain, he collapsed
upon the ground, gagging on all the dust in his throat and lungs, and
shivering in the cold air blowing around him, which seemed to be getting
colder by the second.
What am I going to do? He asked himself worriedly as his initial panic
began to subside a little.
Above him, the sky was filled with streaking meteorites as far as he
could see. Red streaks filled the sky. He could feel the thumping and
rumbling beneath him as they impacted the ground. The sight terrified
him.
He curled himself in a ball, trying not to cough, as he wedged himself
under a rock shelf, trying to stay warm as he watched more and more
meteors appear in the dark sky.
* * *
He was unsure how long he had slept, but he was jerked awake again
as a meteor fell close to where he was hiding under a rock. When he
lifted his head, he saw it had hit right in front of the mountain. The
crater it left was at least a hundred yards across. Its impact threw up so
much dust and ash that he began choking immediately, feeling the small,
stinging bits of hot pebbles slicing into his skin and causing him to
come instantly awake—only to pass out again when he could not breathe
through the cloud of ash that enveloped him.
* * *
This time, it was a slow process when he came to awareness. He felt so
tired and weak, yet he couldn’t stop coughing. His shivering from the
absolute cold was what stirred him awake. He knew almost immediately
that if he did not move, he would freeze to death. Yet he was too terrified
to leave the rock he was under. He felt a meteorite would hit him if he
left the mountain’s shelter.
16ROBERT AUSTIN
So, he lay curled up and shivering for a long time until it dawned on
him that he no longer felt the Earth trembling beneath him as violently
as it had. And hesitantly, as if afraid of what he might see, he opened his
inflamed, burning eyes and looked around.
The bite of the cold air sent his body shivering uncontrollably, and he
almost regretted lifting his head to look around. It was so dark that he
could not see anything but pitch-black night. As if that were a comfort,
he slowly sat up, looking around harder, trying to pierce the surrounding
darkness, until he could see that somewhere in front of him, seen only
dimly through the black haze filling the air, there was a soft glowing
light—and with it came the feeling of heat.
Almost instinctively, he found himself moving toward it. The feel of its
heat made the air around him seem so cold that it was hard for him to
start moving. Breathing the cold air itself made his sore and swollen
lungs hurt painfully. Getting to his feet made him instantly lightheaded
and dizzy. He had to use the rock to pull himself up, one of his arms
holding his side, trying to keep it from hurting even worse.
Once on his feet, he put his shirt over his mouth and nose. Doing so
exposed his skin to the cold air, causing him to feel as if he were freezing
where he stood. As soon as he started moving, though, he did not allow
himself to stop. The dark haze obscured the air between him and the
glowing object, keeping him from seeing what was causing the glow and
heat.
It was not long before he realized that he had stumbled into the large
crater that had been made right in front of where he had taken shelter.
His first thought was to get out of it, but he knew that whatever had
caused the crater was making the glow and heat, and he was reluctant to
leave the warmth he could feel just up ahead of him.
Clenching his side, he stumbled through the crater until he could finally
make out the red glowing meteor through the black haze in the air. The
closer he got, the warmer he felt. But the smell of the air in the crater
was so nauseous that it caused him to dry heave, then choke as he took
in lungfuls of soot and ash from off his shirt.
The heat from the meteor was intense, warming him to the core as he
approached it. The air blowing at his back was ice-cold compared to it.
The meteor itself seemed to be melting slowly while he watched. It
appeared he watched it for hours. When he first saw it, it was over four
feet around, but as it melted, it shrank in size until all that was left was
a glowing red piece of rounded metal.
He wondered if it was radioactive, but he quickly pushed that thought
out of his mind. If it were, then he would have to worry about that later.
Right now, his survival was all that mattered. He knew he would freeze
to death without the warmth this meteor was bringing him. It was the
only source of heat he had. He crouched down six feet away from it,
soaking up its heat. It felt like a giant campfire. While it melted, the glow
it gave off subsided a little, but it remained bright enough to give him
enough light to look around through the haze and see the devastation
the falling meteorites had caused. Not that he could see much. The
darkness pushed in around him as much as the thick air did.
The pressure in his lungs had not lessened at all. It was as if the whole
composition of the air had changed with the falling of the meteorites.
And he wondered why no one had known there would be such a meteor
shower, and why there had been no warning.
That made him think about his parents again, and he held back his tears
as he searched with one hand for his phone. Once he found it, he turned
it so he could see it, but the display was blank, and it remained blank as
he tried to turn it on. And no matter what he tried, he could not get any
light, sound, or anything. It was useless.
His hand got cold quickly, so he put the phone away and huddled closer
to the meteor—or what remained. It was now only a foot around, nestled
into the ground like a top, tilted on its side. It was still glowing red, but
he could see that it was a red and silver combination. It looked like some
red metal with silver streaks twirling around it.
Just then, another chill spread through his body, making him shiver,
and a second later, all of his vision was obscured as a fierce cold wind
came howling through the mountains, swirling ash and soot up from
everywhere, making him move closer to the meteor for its heat. He
crouched protectively over it as he heard a piercing whistle screech
through the air. The sound caused him to freeze in fear.
Meteors! he thought frantically. What was he going to do? If he left the heat
of the meteor, he knew he would freeze to death within an hour. But he
also knew there was no way he could stay here with meteorites falling
all around him.
Without thinking, he took off his shirt and threw it over the meteor,
hoping it would not burn. He heard it fizzle and quickly pulled it off to
see if it had burned. He saw no burn marks through the dust covering
his shirt, so he tossed it back on the meteor again. Then, bunching the
excess shirt in his hands to hopefully shield them from the meteor’s heat,
he bent and touched it. He hissed in pain as it burned him, but the pain
was not bad—not as bad as dying, he thought. He picked it up with a
little struggle, then began making his way out of the crater, laughing and
wheezing all the way.
He began to move just in time. Streaks of red light began to fill the dark
sky, and the Earth again began to tremble under each impact.
The meteor was a lot heavier than a rock should be. Its weight pushed
heavily upon his hands. He could feel its heat easily through his shirt as
he tripped, stumbled, and coughed all the way back to the little shelter
he had found. Once there, he wedged himself in, putting the glowing
meteor between him and the frigid air.
That done, he surveyed his shirt. Much to his great relief, there was not
a burn mark upon it, just tons of soot and ash. He quickly put it back
on, then, coughing, he began to nurse his burnt hands, rubbing them
tenderly.
Outside his shelter, the meteorites continued to fall at an alarming rate,
but none of them even came close to where he was. After watching for a
minute, he uncurled his hands to see how burnt they were. His fingertips
and palms were in pain, but he could not see any blisters forming under
all the soot covering them. He flexed his hands a few times and winced
in pain, bringing on a spasm of coughing.
When his coughing stopped, he put his shirt back over his nose, then
crouched close to the meteor, absorbing its warmth and wondering, as
he did, how long its heat would last—and why it was still glowing.
Unable to ascertain an answer, he put his mind to other things and sat
down to study the meteor. He could not even imagine what it was made
of, but it was beautiful and shiny. No soot seemed to be able to cling to it.
It looked like a metal device of some sort. The streaks twirling around it
were giving off the glow he saw. Its light bounced off the metallic red of
it and gave it a reddish glow. From its almost rounded, cone-like shape, it
looked like it had formed as it fell and spun into the atmosphere. But he
knew that was not right, because all this part of the meteorite had been
covered by the part that had melted off and dissolved.
He sat staring at it for what seemed like hours. The meteors slowly
stopped falling again, and it wasn’t long after that when sleep found him
again.
Day Two: July 2nd
Derek woke to a deep thirst. His throat was swollen and dry, and his
tongue felt like sandpaper. He licked his lips and felt them crack open
as he lifted his head from his shirt. He was more than a little surprised
to still feel the warmth of the meteor next to him, keeping him warm.
He looked around, knowing that it must be daytime again, but it was
still pitch-black outside, and he could only see a little area around him,
thanks to the meteor’s glow. He studied it again curiously. Its glow was
still the same, and it wasn’t noticeable if the warmth it had been giving
off had dimmed. And that freaked him out a bit, as he knew it was not
normal; there was no way it should still be glowing and giving off heat—
not with how cold it was now in the open.
Feeling a little panicky, he pulled out his cellphone again and tried to
turn it on or get it to work, but just by looking at it, he knew it was
dead, as was his digital watch. Not even the compass on it seemed to be
working right. It was pointing right at the meteorite in front of him, and
followed it when he moved the watch around.
He frowned at the meteor and wondered, not for the first time, just how
massive this meteor shower was and how much damage it was causing.
His dry lips made him keep licking them, and he knew as he continued
staring at the strange meteor that he could not stay in the shelter. He
needed food and water—mainly water. Yet he could not leave the shelter
without the warmth and light of the meteor.
Thinking of picking it up again made him look down at his hands. They
were both sore and tender to the touch, but he could not see a single
blister through the grime covering them. He held one of his hands out to
the meteor, testing its warmth, feeling it was still too hot to hold without
something protecting his hands.
He hacked and coughed, spitting out clotty blood and ash. Then,
shivering, he took off one of his shoes, pulling off a sock he tied it
around his face over his nose so he could block out some of the dust and
not breathe it all in. That done, he put his shoe back on.
He then took off his shirt again, bunching it around his hands so he
could pick up the meteor. This time, holding it did not seem as bad. He
could feel the heat through his shirt, but the pain was minor compared
to last time.
With it firmly in his hands, he looked around, trying to pierce the
darkness and see if he could spot any meteorites falling. Failing to see
the telltale signs of red streaks of light shooting across the black sky, he
hesitantly left the shelter of rocks in search of much-needed water. He
walked slowly, using the meteor’s light to see the ash-covered ground so
he didn’t trip or fall into a hole.
The problem he noticed immediately was that at least two feet of ash
had covered the ground in most places. That fine ash seemed to float
magically in the air like a giant black smog, blocking his vision. Just
looking through it made him want to cough.
He stood still, ignoring the coughing spasm, then squinted his blurry,
inflamed eyes so he could try to retrace his way back to his family’s RV.
Each movement stirred the ash, making it harder for him not to cough
on it.
He dreaded what he would see inside the RV, but it was the only place
he could hope to find water and supplies—that is, if they were not all
ruined beyond use.
He held the meteor close to his chest to stave off the frigid cold air
surrounding him, making his whole body shiver uncontrollably. He
cried out in pain and shock as the shiver caused his arms to pull the
meteor all the way to his bare chest.
Two things happened at once. Pain ripped through his chest over his
heart, making him almost drop the meteor, which had left a big, wicked-
looking purple and bleeding welt upon his chest—so purple he could see
it through the dark soot covering his skin.
The second thing was even more surprising and distracted him from the
pain. After the meteor touched his chest, it vibrated softly in his hands.
It stopped when he pulled it up to look at it curiously. He stared at it,
trying to decide if he had just imagined its vibration. Then, thinking he
had, he continued toward the RV, careful not to let the meteor touch his
skin again.
It took him a long time to reach the ruined RV; it was totally destroyed.
By the time he got there, he was wheezing for breath, and it took him a
minute to gather enough nerve to walk closer to it. From the meteor’s
light, he could see how the fire had warped it and where the meteorite
had slammed into its side. What had not been burned by the explosion
had to have been smashed by the meteorite.
Seeing it made him feel sick to his stomach. He stared at it hopelessly,
feeling his eyes water. He did not want to look inside. It felt wrong to
do so. He knew he had no choice if he wanted to live, though. He was
in the middle of the park with nowhere nearby on foot. He had to find
something to drink, or he would die of dehydration.
The RV was tipped onto its side. The meteor had hit the cab and engine
full on, and while the back compartment was smashed in and warped
by the fire, it looked like there might still be a chance to find something
inside. The smell coming from it was so horrible that he began gagging
as soon as he got close.
He choked down his tears and walked around the RV, finding a space big
enough for him to crawl through. It was the smashed sunroof. Through
it, he could get into the living area of the RV. Shivering, he put the meteor
gently on the ground, and for some reason he could not understand, he
found it hard even to let go. It was like his hands were glued to it with
a mind of their own. He did not want to leave its warmth; without it, he
would freeze. Yet he knew there was no way he could crawl through the
broken sunroof with it in his hands. It was still too hot, and he did not
want to touch it accidentally again. His chest still stung like fire from
the meteor’s touch, and he did not want to feel that pain again.
He placed the meteor down by the opening in the sunroof where its light
could still be seen when he entered the dark RV. Then he closed his eyes,
put on his shirt, and tried to gather the strength to enter it—knowing
what he would see when he did and not wanting to see it.
He rooted through the ash until he found a good fist-sized rock. Then,
getting cold, he smashed the rest of the glass out of the sunroof so he
would not cut himself crawling in and out. Once that was done, he bent
over, wheezing and shivering, and looked inside the camper.
Everything within it was burnt to a crisp, and he could not stop himself
from throwing up when he saw his mother’s nearly unrecognizable,
crumpled body lying against one of the warped metal cabinets.
It took him a long time to calm himself so he would not throw up again.
Then, gritting his teeth, tears running down his face, he took a deep
breath and squeezed through the hole in the roof. The effort brought
about a fierce bout of coughing and dry heaving as the smoke and smell
tried to overwhelm him. It almost took him two minutes to get in.
He looked around and saw that all the cabinets had been made of metal.
They were warped, but only a couple were open. Inside the camper,
everything was black and melted. Hardly anything was recognizable.
He tried a few closed cabinets, but none would open for him. They were
warped shut. So, he looked around until he found a metal piece from
one of the windows, then he set about wedging them open one by one.
The effort kept his shivers away, and when he was done, he surveyed
what he had found: some canned food that wasn’t too damaged, bulging
out as if it had been overcooked; some dry foods—noodles, cereals, and
melted oatmeal bars.
All in all, he searched the camper for two hours, trying to salvage
anything he could. He could only remain in the camper for ten minutes
at a time before he had to return to the glowing meteor to get warm
again. But he noticed it took him longer and longer to get cold, even
though the temperature had not changed.
Everything he found, he set outside beside the meteor so it would not
get lost in the ash.
He had found water in the RV’s water tank, but it had been so hot that
he had to wait for it to cool off after pouring it into a warped cup for
him to drink. Then he filled up three metal canteens with some before
he drank some more. He used a pair of melted can openers to open a
can of peaches, then a can of green beans, forcing himself to eat the foul-
tasting, overcooked food. Those were the only two salvageable cans that
had not exploded in the fire. He had not dared to save either one, for he
had known they would spoil quickly.
Once back by the meteor, he looked around at everything he had been
able to salvage from the RV: two halves of burnt blankets; a pair of his
dad’s boots, which were a size too big for him but still in surprisingly
good shape; a bunch of ruined electronics—a radio, phone, a half-melted
flashlight, and a shakelite, which blew up in his hand when he shook
it, giving him a nasty cut upon his palm. Not one of the electronics
worked. He had heard of EMP bombs that could knock out electricity
and keep all electronics from working, and he wondered if maybe that
was what this meteor storm did. But how could it do the same thing?
He had found one of his father’s hunting and skinning knives in a
partially burnt leather sheath. The gun safe had been melted too tightly
to wedge open, and all the other knives he had found had melted hilts.
All his stuff had been ruined except for a leather jacket and one pair of
jeans that had gotten slightly singed.
He had found the emergency supply box, and it seemed to be intact
enough to bandage his palm and chest after he swabbed both with a
semi-dry alcohol pad to clean them first.
He then used one of the burnt blankets to fashion a backpack, using his
dad’s knife to cut strips for shoulder straps, then smaller strips to tie
the blanket in a way so that it would be able to hold all of the things he
would need to take with him.
When he was finished, he could distract himself no longer. He was filled
with curiosity about the meteor. He sat staring at it, watching its steady
glow. He could feel its heat in the pleasant warmth that seemed to wrap
around him when he was near it, and over the last couple of hours, it
appeared its heat could stay around him longer and longer. He knew it
must have cooled enough by now for him to touch it. But then, it was not
normal. No other meteorite he could see was glowing or giving off heat,
nor did they even look like this one. He had looked around, picking up a
couple of the smaller meteorites— all black, hard rock. Though some did
seem to have little crystal-like structures in them, and some had melted
metal, none had come close to this one in glow or heat.
Curious, he reached over, putting his hand near the red and silver
meteor. Feeling its heat, it still felt as hot as it was when he found it, and
he knew that could not be true. Before he could stop himself, he closed
the distance and touched it with his hand.
He expected stinging hot pain, but a surprise came to him. A rush of
warmth filled his body, and at his touch, the meteor began to vibrate
warmly beneath his hand, shaking softly upon the ground it was lying
on.
The warmth traveled up his arm and down inside of him, making his
skin break out in an instant sweat. Beneath his palm, the meteor was hot
but not unbearably so. He removed his hand to check it, and the second
that his skin left the meteor, it stopped vibrating. And the warmth that
had filled his body faded away, leaving him wanting to pick it up and
hold it.
He hesitated to do so, though. As he studied it and tried to understand it,
why had the meteor vibrated at his touch? Was it some kind of machine?
Or, more disturbingly, was it alive? If not, was the vibration and warmth
just some kind of chemical reaction to his touch?
Studying his hand beneath the soot and ash, it seemed okay, though
his fingertips were still a little tender from the last time he had held it.
Gathering his nerve, he reached out and touched it again.
This time, the meteor did not vibrate, but that instant warmth again
pleasantly filled his body, fighting off all of his chills until he no longer
felt the cold air anywhere on his body. It was as if the cold could no
longer touch him. He looked down at the meteor with wonder, not
understanding how it made him warm like he was—and not caring
that it did. It was an incredible feeling after being so cold ever since the
meteor storm began.
He curiously traced his finger lightly over one of the glowing silver
spirals. He could feel it was no hotter than the rest, but it felt like
smooth, slick metal. He traced it all the way to the top of the meteor,
which was slightly rounded, and it felt like soft velvet. Touching it, he
suddenly knew that, for some reason, this part of the meteor was softer
than the rest—more fragile. The meteor vibrated as he touched that part,
and suddenly grew too hot to touch.
Surprised, he removed his finger from the top and touched the silver
spiral. He instinctively knew he had just been given some kind of
warning, making him more curious than scared. The warning had been
simple: Be careful with this part. He stared down at it almost in awe.
He did not want to believe it, but he felt it was alive. He picked it up
carefully in his hands and studied the top of it curiously. The top was
pure red and seemed a shadeless, shiny metallic color compared to the
bottom, but there was no seam to it; the meteor seemed whole.
Holding it, its warmth seemed to fill him until he could no longer
distinguish between hot and cold. To him, it was just warm—like he was
now the perfect temperature—and no amount of cold could change that.
The meteor kept his attention for a long time before he realized he was
getting thirsty again and turned his attention back to the task at hand.
He now had a little bit of food in his makeshift backpack: some jerky,
nuts, and dried prunes that his mother had seemed to love, as well
as some dry foods—noodles, cereal, and oatmeal (some of which had
burned). He had already eaten the melted oatmeal bars. He had three full
canteens of water and still a little left in the tank. He also had a bottle of
water pills to clean any river water he might need to drink.
In his backpack, he had a skillet to cook with, a hunting knife, a couple
of hiltless knives, a small pocket knife with all kinds of things in it,
some burnt but salvageable clothes, a small blanket, a medical emergency
box, and a flint fire kit with a box of matches.
He drank some more water from the tank and sat holding the meteor
in his lap, wondering what he was going to do now that he was on
his own—stranded in the national park without the slightest notion of
where to go to get help, if there was anyone else alive he could find.
And looking up, he wondered how long it would be until he saw the sun
again.