Arrival: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

10

Maya sprinted toward the smoke. It filled the near horizon above the Nashville skyline, whatever had caused it was less than a mile or two away.

Others who had fled the surrounding buildings ran with her. As did Reno. She stopped after she’d gone two blocks. The massive oaks surrounding Centennial Park blocked her view of the fire, and the night sky made it even more difficult to see anything else.

“That’s coming from the direction of the Parthenon,” Reno said.

Another loud crash rattled Maya’s teeth. People screamed, as the ground trembled enough to knock her off balance. A split second later, she saw a second cloud of debris billowing toward them. Maya thought about the old church and the limestone dust that had been created when it collapsed.

“We should get back to the station,” Reno said, his voice shaking. “Or least see if we can get closer in the rig.”

Maya looked at him and saw a bead of sweat on his top lip. Reno stood, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“No. We need to keep following that smoke. If buildings are collapsing, we can help people out.”

“We don’t have any of our gear with us. And we’re not equipped to put out fires.”

“It doesn’t matter. People need help, now.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Maya. We need to—”

Maya ran again, ignoring Reno’s pleas to return to the station. She felt a flutter in her stomach. Why would smoke be coming from the Parthenon, one of Nashville’s oldest and most treasured landmarks? It was the centerpiece of Nashville’s stunning Centennial Park and had enthralled citizens and tourists alike for decades. She was no scientist, but Maya knew the structure was made of concrete—and concrete didn’t burn.

Pushing aside the question, Maya pumped her arms and legs faster, leaping over trash in the road.

Cars had stopped on 25^th Avenue, the drivers standing beside them, looking around and pointing in several directions at once. Maya shot past them and ran up the short hill and into the park. Reno called after her, but she kept moving.

She pushed through the trees and came to the wide-open field that stretched two hundred yards from the West End neighborhood she’d exited right up to the steps of the Parthenon. She stopped in the middle of the field, fifty yards away from the structure, and stared. Her jaw dropped, and her heart sank.

It hadn’t been smoke after all. It was dust.

It appeared as though a giant hand had squeezed the Parthenon until nothing but hunks of concrete and white dust had trickled to the ground. The giant columns had been pulverized, and the art gallery inside the structure had to have been obliterated into electrical wires and shards of glass beneath the mass of debris.

A few people stumbled away from what was left of the structure. White dust coated their bodies except for where blood streaked their faces. She could smell natural gas and raw earth even from here. Some of the trees had been uprooted and tossed to the side like used toothpicks.

And above the pile of rubble rose a pointed stone obelisk from beneath the surface… thinner, but similar in proportion to the Washington Monument. It slowly climbed into the sky like a rocket lifting off of a launch pad. Dirt, pipes, and people flew in every direction as the obelisk continued to rise.

People ran in every direction, clamoring to escape from the strange object that had apparently grown out of the Parthenon’s rubble. Maya blinked and shook her head, waving people toward her even though she wasn’t quite sure what she would do with them. The Parthenon hadn’t been open at this time of night, and Maya thanked God for that. If more than the maintenance staff and security guards had been in the underground museum when this thing had emerged from the ground, they’d be dealing with dozens, possibly hundreds of injuries.

Maya and Reno checked people as they arrived, alerting them that they were paramedics, but everyone seemed fine, and more interested in watching the obelisk rising.

“What is that thing?” a woman asked.

“Where did it come from?” another wondered.

The tip of the obelisk poked through the dark clouds above and then it stopped—now rising taller than any other building in the city. An ominous silence fell upon them, and even the crickets stopped chirping. Everyone continued to stare at the stone structure towering over Nashville.

A low hum shook the earth beneath her feet then, and a vibration came through her feet and shook her jaw. Maya watched as the night sky pulsed, a light coming down from the clouds that was bright enough to cast an eerie, blue tint over the entire area. And then, the sky exploded in silent flashes of purple and white. The subterranean trembling continued.

“We’ve got to get everyone away from this thing,” Reno said.

Maya heard her partner, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the light show dancing around the obelisk and reaching into the sky above them. The silent lightning came again.

“Maya!”

She turned to him.

“Help me! Now!”

Maya turned away from the visual spectacle above and began directing people out of the park and toward West End Avenue. She grabbed the hands of a young woman and her son, leading them away from the historic Nashville landmark.

Sirens flashed up and down West End Avenue. Dozens of emergency vehicles had followed the dust to the destruction at the park.

Maya and Reno guided people to arriving rigs as a cop approached the two of them, having sighted Reno’s uniform.

“You two see what happened?”

“Not fully,” Maya said. “By the time we made it over here, that thing had already destroyed the Parthenon.”

“Do you know if everyone made it out?”

“Mostly, I imagine,” Reno said. “But there had to have been cleaning crews and security in there.”

“All right. We’ll get a search and rescue team inside.”

The cop ordered some of the other officers on the scene to cordon off the area around the strange, new obelisk even though most people had already been running away from it. He then stood next to Maya and stared up into the sky.

“What is that thing? Did it shoot up from underneath the Parthenon?”

“I think so,” Maya said. “I need to call my family.”

Maya stepped away and took her phone out of her pocket. She scrolled through text notifications from her mother, Laura, and Gerald. She cringed at seeing his avatar on her screen, in particular, and didn’t want to hear what he had to say quite yet. She tapped her mother’s name.

After a long silence, the phone beeped and the call dropped. She tried again with the same result. Checking the top corner of the screen, she saw it read, “No Service.”

Great.

Maya crossed the street, moving away from the chattering people and emergency lights. She continued staring into the corner of the phone’s screen, holding it up in the air and hoping to catch a few bars. No Service.

She had been in one of the most populated areas of the city, sandwiched between two hospitals and some of the best restaurants and bars in Nashville. Maya could see at least two cell towers from where she stood. She turned around and looked at the obelisk again, feeling a pit growing in her stomach.

She opened the messenger app. The message from her mother sat at the top.

Haven’t heard from you recently. Just want to make sure everything is all right. Love you.

Maya looked at the one from Laura next. She grinned as an image filled the screen. Laura and Aiden had taken a selfie together. Both had their lips puckered up for a kiss.

We love you and miss you, Mom!

Maya brushed a tear aside and blew a kiss at her phone. “I miss you guys, too.”

She backed up and opened Gerald’s message without reading the preview.

Weird. Your mom isn’t home. Convenient. Good job, Maya. I hope you realize the mistake you made.

Maya groaned and shook her head. Gerald had gone to her mother’s house looking for the kids. What if he was looking for them right now, while she was here dealing with this… situation?

“Maya!”

Maya lifted her chin and saw Reno standing across the street.

“Get over here! Now!”

Maya hurried across the street. Several first-responders talked on radios while others stood around pointing at the sky.

“What is it?” Maya asked Reno.

“Listen.”

EMD calls came through in rapid succession.

“Multiple vehicular accidents outside Nissan Stadium. Any available units.”

“Vehicular accident at Hillsboro Pike and Glen Echo Road. Any available units.”

“Vehicular accident on Clarksville Pike crossing the Cumberland. Any available units.”

Maya wiped her clammy palms on her pants. Her heart raced.

“What the hell?”

Maya shook her head, unable to give him an answer. “We’ve got to get back to the rig. Now.”