Marcus grunted, gritted his teeth, and hauled himself up the rise to the gazebo’s platform. He ran his fingers over his short tousled strawberry blond hair, and then over his stubbled face of red and blond as he pondered what to do next.

Easton, Kenny, and his father followed after him, the latter fuming at the nostrils at the ridiculous news that Easton gave them. Marcus told Connor to stay back under the tree to watch over his younger brothers.

It is still dark out, his father said, how can you be sure there weren’t any women around?

It had been almost an hour since the police made their announcement throughout the park, a mass of bodies slowly ambling up the slopes and crossed the highway, moving toward the large hill on the west of them where Fort Scott sat on top. And after the crowd had dispersed and the police started herding them up the hills, Easton told Marcus about what he observed, though Easton believed that he didn’t take it lightly, and neither did his father.

“It must be that green rift or whatchamacallit,” Kenny deduced, twiddling his fingers over his goatee. When Marcus didn’t answer, he shifted unsurely, patting his beer belly as he wandered his eyes around the gazebo to avoid eye contact, then looking up to Easton for a little help, and took a somewhat hesitant step back.

Easton nodded. “I agree with Kenny. Whatever that thing was, it is probably one of the many reasons why we suddenly, you know, swallowed by that thing and then woke up to this.”

“If we’re even on the same planet,” Kenny added quietly, pointing the finger at the two moons hovering above.

Easton threw his hands up in agreement. “Forgot about the one up there too.”

“And where do you think they went, huh?” His father asked, clearly a hint of frustration and desperation behind his voice.

“I—I don’t know, obviously,” Easton answered.

“Yes. Obviously. We don’t know anything. What makes you sure they’re not going to show up later?”

Kenny interjected, “You gotta admit it, man. It is pretty fucking creepy that there are no women around. Add that to the many things wrong in here. Look—”

“My wife, my daughter, and my granddaughters are still out there! Alive!” His father bellowed, snapping Kenny’s mouth shut, and looking like he was about to pull a few strands of his wispy white hair. “The authorities haven’t tried to search through the city yet, looking for more survivors. I mean, the National Guard is still mobilizing! I’m sure Marcus can pull off some of his old contacts from the army. Right, Marcus?”

“Dad, calm down. Why don’t you sit on this bench right here? Your heart—” Easton started.

“My heart’s fine, boy. You should be more worried about your sister and your mother.”

“What? I am worried!” Easton exclaimed through gritted teeth, shocked at the insinuation that he wasn’t. “If you think just because I look calm, dad doesn’t mean I am not shitting myself on the inside. But let’s face the facts for a minute here because it is the only logical thing we can do right now. Mom and Claire are not here, and so are the girls. We haven’t seen a woman since we woke up. I don’t see that as some cosmic coincidence.”

“Don’t you think the police and the mayor would’ve told us that? They’re the government! They’re here to help us. We pay taxes! We vote!” His father said, getting louder by each word.

“Oh, for crying out loud, dad—” Easton grumbled.

“It’ll cause a panic,” Marcus spoke for the first time, letting out an exasperated sigh, closed his eyes as if wishing he’d rather not be there. His voice suddenly snuffed out their argument as his father, for once, decided to calm down since the night began. Easton rolled his eyes. He wondered if his father listened to Marcus more than him.

Marcus added, “People might be starting to realize it themselves. But when dawn breaks, and if it breaks, everyone will see it. If I was Colonel Reeves or the mayor, I have a limited window to control the city before it blows a lid.”

His father shook his head as if he couldn’t swallow Marcus’s words. “I can’t believe that they’re not here. They have to be!”

“I’m gonna have to agree with Easton. This seems deliberate,” Marcus said.

“Do you think something bad happened to them then? Are they—”

Easton saw where his father was going with it, but Marcus interjected quicker than him. “We don’t know, Andy. And I refuse to believe that, so we shouldn’t go off to such conclusions.”

“If I can step in here,” Kenny was saying, “There is a possibility that they might be somewhere else? Not in this city, I mean. If we’re going for something out of the box, maybe they’re in the woods right now, wondering the same thing.”

Easton scoffed and shook his head. “No way I’m going in there even if you pay me. Have you seen a horror movie?”

“Oh! Enough, Easton, would you?” His father huffed. “Now is not the time to make jokes. This is serious.”

“Hey, I am taking it seriously—” Easton drew a deep breath, enough to make his body shake. “You know what, I am still processing everything just the same as you, in my own way.”

“Look, we can’t afford to argue right now. All we have are what-ifs, and it is not getting us anywhere.” Marcus interrupted. “We’ll head up to the Presidio, and I’ll make contact with my CO once we make contact with the National Guard. I can request to be reinstated, though that won’t be hard to ask since he’ll need all the help he can get.”

“Do you think they’d give back your rank after you retired a month ago?” His father asked.

“Well, the colonel is known as a stickler for rules. But if I can get it back, it’ll mean I’ll gain command of a battalion, enough to spare a few men to look for Claire and the others. I have a few boys in mind from San Bruno who I can trust with the job.”

The news seemed to put a damper on his father’s anxiety, managing to smile even. “Okay. We’ll head up the hill to the fort, and then we can start looking,” he said.

Footfalls stomped up the stairs. Off to their right, a figure came hurriedly into the gazebo, stepping into its only source of light. Easton spared a glance, saw Connor sporting a wide look on his face like a deer in headlights, half-smiling, though his brows racked with worry, pointing back at the roundabout behind him.

“Dad, something is going on down here,” Connor said. He didn’t wait for them to make the first move, turned his heels back down the steps to join the rest of his brothers walking toward the gathering crowd.

Oh, what now this time? Easton grumbled.

“Connor. Hold on,” Marcus thundered, the young boy slowed to a halt, looking like a puppy that did something wrong. “Get back,” ordered Marcus. “and get both your brothers here with you.”

Connor called on Jacob and Eli, with the former having to drag the little one back to the gazebo steps.

There were at least twenty people in total. There was an argument between an older man with wisps of white hair, frail against a hulking bald man with a black leather jacket. The latter was backed up by four other men wearing the same matching jackets of angel wings and a mammoth’s tusk plastered at the middle. On top of the ornate drawing was the name: RIDE RUNNERS.

A biker gang, Easton surmised.

“Looks like a fight waiting to happen,” Kenny said.

Marcus nodded, turned himself back to face front. Easton caught the look of dismay on his face. “Could be trouble,” he said, then scanning around the area. “Cops are not here.”

“I don’t like the look of them,” Connor said.

“You and me both, son. Stay here.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Connor asked.

“To see what’s up. Easton. Kenny. Back me up?”

“I got your back,” Kenny said.

Easton gave him a small nod.

“And Andy, if you could watch over the kids?”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it,” said his father, gently steering Eli up the gazebo while the boy looked glum he didn’t get to join.

“But, dad—” Connor started.

“Come on, Conny,” Jacob said, pulling on his brother’s arm. “I have something to show you.” Jacob pulled out his phone, trying to open the screen, but Connor tugged his wrist off Jacob’s grip, huffed annoyingly, and climbed up the gazebo.

Jacob awkwardly stood behind his brother’s wake, shuffling uncomfortably as he followed after them, lowered his head to avoid making eye contact with any of the adults. Easton couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Jacob had always been his favorite nephew, more behaved, well-mannered, and sharp-eyed than the rest of them.

Marcus and Kenny started walking toward the crowd, and Easton followed them. They stood close to the side, not too deep into the crowd as they tried to reorient themselves at the discussion. From what Easton had gathered, there seemed to be a disagreement whether to follow the police’s orders to head over to the official evacuation zone up the Presidio or walk out toward the woods instead. The biker gang was on the latter camp, who distrust the authorities, thinking that they wouldn’t let the government dictate what they should do, believing they were behind the incident. Easton surmised that bikers meant the incident to be the destruction of the city.

The Old Man said something that Easton couldn’t make out from afar, though it prompted The Hulking Man to push him, earning a loud cheer from the rest of his biker gang. Marcus, like a bullet, caught The Old Man just in time before he reached the pavement.

“Enough!” Marcus shouted. “There is no point in this. We shouldn’t give in to quick decisions just because we’re all scared.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me I’m scared? Coz’ I’m not,” The Hulking Man whipped back and stared Marcus down, though Marcus glared back harder. The Hulking Man was a couple of inches shorter than Marcus though he was comically built and broad, his face seemed to freeze at a snarl, incapable of smiling.

Kenny almost stepped in to intervene but held himself back behind Marcus, hands ready at the side just in case fists started swinging. Easton waded through a little closer to them, with one eye always open on the bikers.

“Let’s not put yourselves in a situation that will get you killed. If you walk out that field, who knows what happens next,” Marcus said. “Better not provoke what you don’t know. It is safer that way for everyone involved.”

“What if those people did it themselves, huh? Ever think of that? I say we don’t trust these fuckers because they could be behind it!” The Hulking Man implored, earning a few applause and cheers from the crowd and his gang.

“Look around,” pointed The Hulking Man toward the rest of the park, all the way to Crissy Beach. “Others are starting to risk it.”

Easton glanced off to his left. Along the shorelines (or what was left of it), hundreds of people began to approach the edge, some with bags and belongings carried over their shoulders. Easton realized where the cops had gone after their announcement. They now lined the beach, scattered close to the city-limits as a deterrent to anyone thinking about leaving. There seemed to be a lot of resistance already from the crowd who wished to go.

“We’ve been waiting out here for hours, and yet the authorities haven’t told us anything, only to go to a “safe” area. Hell, they’re as much lost as we are. I say we get the fuck out there and help ourselves. We are not safe in this city.”

The Old Man shook his head and shouted, “What makes you think that it’s safer out there than here? Get a grip, boy! Two moons above, a mountain suddenly appearing out of nowhere, and the ocean gone…we are way out of our league to decide that it is safe out there. Here in the city, we stand a chance.”

“Come on, Joe, these fuckers ain’t worth a damn shit. Let’s just go,” said one of the bikers.

The Hulking Man—Joe—didn’t budge. “If they won’t let us, then we have every right to fight back.”

“Make me,” Marcus snarled.

He took a step closer with eyes of steel as if urging the other to make the first move. Joe had to pull his head up just to look at him. As their eyes met, Joe crumbled under the pressure of Marcus’s gaze. Gone was the sight Easton saw before as he backed away to his lot behind him. Even they were unsure of his presence, this stranger that jumped into the fray, though Marcus tried not to let his guard down, masking his facade with a calm demeanor and kept his hands well away from curling into a fist.

“Look, we just want to get out of here, okay? As far as I know, the city’s ain’t safe. Whatever the cops told us is a bunch of bull. I don’t want to be near here,” Joe said.

Marcus cocked his head toward the woods. “You don’t suppose you remember what that used to be like?”

Joe let out a sigh. “I don’t want to be in the city, sitting around with y’all while half of it burns down. Soon, that fire raging downtown will get here too just, so you wait and see. Do you hear any fire trucks around? A rescue plane? Helicopters? No. They’re holding by a thread, and I am not going down with them when shit hits the fan.”

The others around them grumbled in agreement. This emboldened Joe more, taking a single step forward toward Marcus.

But Marcus didn’t shift, not even a little, standing like a statue.

Joe said louder, “And I ain’t blind. Brother, have you seen what’s up there?” He pointed at the two moons. “I know that it is not natural. I can see it. Whatever did that must still be inside the city, and I planned to be as far away from it as fucking possible.”

Marcus caught Joe’s elbow and held it back. “But not at the expense of my family’s safety. The moment we woke up, we all know something strange is going on just from what’s above us and what’s in front of us. So, what if you draw something out of those woods? Out of those mountains? What then? What if it will come for us? You will risk the lives of everyone in this city, including my family and your friends,” Marcus said sternly. “Are you willing to take that kind of responsibility?”

Joe threw a look of daggers down on Marcus. He paused, mulling what Marcus said to him, and then leaned over and said with seething malice, “Let. Go. Asshole.”

Marcus stared at him for a second longer before he let go of his arm.

Joe scowled at him. He pulled the hem of his shirt up, and Easton saw the grip of a gun holstered at the side of his hip. “I’m safe if this thing’s with me. Besides, Whatever destroyed our city, it’s still could be here with us, and I plan to be as far away from it before it makes its next move. I'm not waiting for that to happen like you lot. Guys, let’s go.”

Joe and the rest of the gang walked away and down the slopes, steering a small crowd from his tail to join him. Still, a handful remained, others walking back to their own little group. They were sure about their decision to go out there, and a small part of Easton admired that bravery, albeit idiotic.

Joe turned around one last time and called Marcus out, “If things do come out of those woods, you can always do what you are doing now: Cower under a rock with the rest of your family,” he said and smirked mischievously before he continued walking down the hill.

Easton watched as Joe and the others converged with a much larger group, all heading toward the beach where another large crowd had gathered. Four police vehicles poorly blocked the way, and the people passed by as if they were nothing.

The familiar voice of Officer Gunther echoed across the beach, begging in vain for the crowd to turn back, or they would use force. Easton’s heart almost skipped a beat, but at least half a dozen police officers were backing him up. Though they were not enough to create a barrier, unequipped and outmanned to hold back several hundred people walking in their direction like a creeping wave. The rest of the police were scattered too far from each other along the beach. A few men from the crowd yelled at the desperate cops to shut up, and Officer Gunther’s voice slowly waned, on the verge of giving up.

It would be a lie if Easton said he didn’t want to watch them walk down the alien meadow. What was more startling was that he’d rather stay and observe the people walk through it, his curiosity outweighed the possible danger. It was like watching a car accident right in front of your eyes, and yet you couldn’t look away no matter how hard you tried.

And he wasn’t alone.

A crowd had gathered from the meadow, the beach, and even some stopped marching toward the Presidio to watch. From the highway, people got out of the comfort of their warmed up vehicles still stuck on a gridlock to watch the spectacle as well.

The crowd reached the edge, though they halted right before they could cross it. Officer Gunther and the rest of the police officers, trying desperately to reel them back. Though their threats of using deadly force fell on deaf ears.

It was actually easier for Easton to see from up the hill. He could make out the matching biker jackets that Joe and his gang wore and were surprised to see them at the front of the crowd, managing to wade through them faster.

It looks like someone was in a hurry to get out, Easton thought.

It was Joe who stepped up to the very edge and paused, staring at where the meadow began. With a nod, he confidently stepped over the border.

Joe froze on his tracks from the single bound, muscles tensed as if expecting something; a bolt of lightning, exploding into tiny pieces or burned to death.

But as the seconds ticked by and nothing came of it, The Hulking Man’s body seemed to relax, turning to his men and gave them an enthusiastic thumbs-up, and then he continued down the meadow. They took out their phones and used them as their flashlight against the darkness. And as they went further, they were like tiny fireflies from a distance.

“Well, that was very anti-climatic,” Kenny commented.

Easton let go of his breath. He didn’t realize he held it.

“What now?” Kenny asked Marcus.

Marcus looked around the park and toward the beach as others began to mumble to themselves. Others soon decided to follow after the bikers, crossing the distinct threshold.

“Let’s head for the fort, and maybe find some concrete answers for a change,” said Marcus.

When the crowd reached the edge of the forest, Easton expected something to pop out. They hesitated at the border, maybe thinking of turning back, but he was disappointed to watch them trudged on and disappeared into the thick foliage.

Soon, others began to enter the woods as well. In minutes, hundreds more slogged along the dark meadow, coming out from all directions from the city. Easton spared a brief glance behind him to gauge how many were leaving the city, but to his surprise, many were still hesitant to go, huddled at the park as they watched people crossing the border.

Out on the meadow, there were hundreds of them.

“You know, what if it’s safe?” Easton mused. “What if there’s something beyond those woods that can help us?”

Marcus shook his head. “I don’t want to risk it, Easton. There are still things we don’t know. City Hall isn’t far from the park. We have to find out what the authorities are gonna do about our current situation, so we’ll start there.”

“What makes you think the mayor is going to answer your questions just by showing up there?”

Marcus smiled. “When I have the army behind me.”

Easton sucked in air through his teeth. “Well, that’ll do it.”

“Come on. Let’s head back with Andy and the kids,” Marcus said. “We’ll let them know what’s up. They must be wondering what is happening.”

Easton nodded. He eyed the woods one last time, narrowing his focus upon the mountains, but when he deduced that nothing was amiss, he whirled around and headed for the gazebo.

Easton was in mid-stride when he heard a distant shout, then a hoarse scream, piercing in the night air.

It was a startled, guttural cry coming from the woods, and Easton stood frozen, head cocked, listening intently, as everyone around him did the same.

Another scream.

This one shrieked more horribly than the last, longer than the other, sounding like his voice box was being ripped apart, and then was abruptly cut off.

Easton knew what the sudden silence meant.

Someone was dead.

Killed.

A split second later, gunshots rang from the woods. People began to break through the foliage, screaming and running back to the meadow, and back to the safety of the city.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

More shots rang from the woods. A scatter of dark wings flew up into the night sky. Birds squawked, fleeing from the sudden disturbance.

The gunshots could be from Joe, but this was joined by others as well, maybe the rest of the bikers. Men shouted and yelled behind the forest’s shadows, but were incoherent from where Easton stood.

Then another scream—no—a roar would be more like it, animalistic and laced with rage.

It came from within the woods that no man or woman could ever produce out of their own throat. This one was a hideous cry; deep, ungodly, and instinctual, coming from the depths within that shook Easton’s bones.

The woods shuddered.

Pines fell onto the ground like branches snapping under someone’s weight or timbers under a crackling in the open hearth, only this time, they thundered. Something was coming out of the woods.

The bikers burst out of the forest line. They were too far away for Easton to see their expression but based on their frantic, almost comical sprint, it was apparent they were scared shitless. The hundreds of people standing at the meadow slowly turned their heels and ran back to the city. Their subconscious kicked their fight-or-flight into high gear, wide-eyed like spooked animals running from a loud noise.

Footsteps echoed; a low rumble at its wake.

Even from afar, this one Easton could hear as clear as day. It sounded like drums, one after the other, and every time it thundered, a shadow of a tree fell from within the woods.

More people ran out of the woods, screaming in terror. It was as if the forest exploded to life. Easton felt a change in the air, like sprinkled ice water at the nape of his neck; all his hair stood erect. Once there was the foreboding, ominous echo hanging over their circumstance, but was now replaced by fear and adrenaline.

Easton’s flight-or-fight instinct kicked in…

But he stood frozen instead, shocked at what he saw bursting out of the woods, toppling the trees outward, and unfortunately, landing on top of a few men, snuffing out their screams before it crushed them.

A colossal figure towered over the scurrying crowd by at least twenty or thirty feet. Beneath its strong, timber-like legs, the people were like tiny rabbits scrambling away from it. It held something on its hand, thick and long with large thin spikes sticking out at the head, some kind of club-like contraption, and swung it back out over its shoulder…

And brought the club down to the poor unfortunate souls close to his feet, sweeping through the meadow what a farmer would do with a scythe.

It was then that Easton pried his eyes away from the bloody carnage, and started to run as fast as his legs would take him.