Surinam by Chris Morin

Day 1

5:45 pm

    I was sitting in my car stopped at a red light when it happened. The car in front of me started to hover in mid-air. I thought I was hallucinating so I rubbed my eyes. But when I opened them the car kept rising. I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed the same thing happening to the car behind me. What was going on?
    I got out of my vehicle and looked around. Other cars were being lifted away like puppets on strings, but not all of them. It didn't happen to me.
    Drivers of these cars were screaming as they rose fifty feet in the air. In an instant, the screaming stopped and the cars simultaneously came crashing to the ground. Hubcaps, glass and pieces of metal flew everywhere. Some cars exploded from the impact. People rushed to help the drivers. But they were gone.
    Every driver of the hovering cars was nowhere to be found.

6:29 pm

    I had to abandon my car and walk the rest of the way home. The streets were jammed with accidents. I was in a state of shock with no idea what was happening. Then it hit me. My wife was on her way home from work. I quickly reached for my cell phone, couldn’t remember the number and then realized that I had it in stored memory on the phone. I pressed the send button but the line was busy.
    Martial Law was declared an hour later. The country and my life were in chaos. I decided I couldn't wait any longer. I took out my bicycle and started backtracking my wife's route home. She had to be out there somewhere!

7:31 pm

    I heard screams every pedal I pushed. Every road, every neighborhood there were screams. Loved ones dead, missing, lost.

7:51 pm

    It had taken me an hour to get to route 495. It was the major route my wife took home every night. It was one massive accident after another. Cars were piled on top of each other. Smoke and flames bellowed from a car at the bottom of a stack of three; an arm clearly visible hanging out of the flattened vehicle. I pushed on after I realized that none of them was the one I was looking for.
    It was bumper-to-bumper hell. Without a gift from God, this highway would be closed for weeks. It looked like every tenth car had been grabbed and pulled into thin air. When they were finally let go into traffic, all hell broke loose. There were crashes all over the place. But none of the cars looked familiar. I had to continue.

8:01 pm

    The further I went the more unnerving it became. Not having a radio made it nearly impossible to figure out what was going on and every person I saw on the highway was either dead or attending to the wounded. I became convinced that my journey was going to turn ugly.
    Near the turnoff to route 119 someone yelled at me to stop. I looked around and couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. I heard the request again. Only this time it wasn't a request. It was a demand. Whoever it was wanted my bicycle. I scanned the vehicles in the area and took off as fast as I could. I had to be getting close.
    I began to notice that there were more men than women around. Why?

8:24 pm

    It began to get dark and I began to dread the arrival of the night. The fires from all of the accidents burned and it gave the world an uneasy feel. Death was all around. I had been biking for two hours but it felt like a lifetime. Then I saw it. It was my wife's car. It was mangled. Smoke poured out of it and soot covered the license plate. I pulled the bike over to the car but didn't say a word. I got off of the bike and dropped to my knees in terror.
    Then I heard an almost unrecognizable voice.
    "Hello," I asked almost shyly.
    She was behind the car hiding under a blanket. She poked her heard out and I noticed that she was holding a tire iron and was shaking in fear. She smiled as she recognized me. I slowly approached her and as I held her she nearly melted in my arms.

8:47 pm

    I placed her on the bike and walked beside it as I guided her along. I needed to get her home and get her out of this graveyard. She was in shock. Me? I was confused. It didn't look as if she was in an accident. It looked as if her car had been dropped. But if it had, how was she able to walk away without a scratch?

11:14 pm

    We made it home but it wasn't easy. Streets were blocked and everywhere we went we saw police and military vehicles. My wife was still in shock. I carried her into the house and placed her on the couch. I got a blanket and covered her up and then got her a glass of water.
    After she was settled, I turned on the television to see what was going on. Tom Brokaw looked as if he'd been awake for days. He was reporting that the disaster had occurred all over the world. Millions were feared dead and the roadways were completely shut down. Martial Law was still in effect and would be for at least a week.
    There was still no word from the government as to the cause.
    I lost consciousness shortly after that.

Day 2