Chapter 2 - Dean
Dean
Ifirst saw the ocean a decade ago, when I was nineteen, after enlisting in the army. As Deer Lake’s charity child, my rare vacations were those the Sutton family deigned to include me in, and none of those involved the beach.
The Gulf’s gentle waves lapped against the shore as growing swarms encroached into my physical space. Sam Williamson promised me an experience, one worth tourists, with their awful music and never-ending yammering.
Another family arrived, with the dad holding blankets and a cooler. A toddler rested on the mother’s hip, while an older child followed close behind. The man flashed his wife a loving smile and dropped a quick peck on her cheek.
I sneered at the domestic image and considered leaving, either to watch the light show from my hotel room’s television or visit Lily.
“Hey, your baby dropped this.” I picked up a plastic toy half-hidden in the sand and handed it to the father. “Enjoy the show.”
Only two hours south, Lily hadn’t seen me in almost a year, though I couldn’t say the same. Her balcony’s sliding glass door unlocked with a hard bump on the bottom left corner.
I pulled up a familiar image on my phone. The two of us, smiling at the camera, with a tea mug in her hand and a perfect smile on her face. She’d taken it during our last night together.
An unfamiliar number popped up on the screen. Strange, as my phone filtered out spam calls. How did this one sneak through?
“What?”
“Dean? It’s me.”
I took the call off speakerphone. “Hey. What’s going on?” The unnatural cadence in Ryan’s voice pointed towards a problem.
“It doesn’t matter. Look, I only have a minute, so listen close.”
Ryan Sutton never panicked, and now he called from a strange line, with only a precious minute to talk.
“Lily.” I stood, kicking back my cheap lawn chair. “What’s wrong with her?”
“The comet is coming. Sam’s comet is coming here.”
I sat back down as my rare panic fled. “Yes, the entire world knows. If she’s safe, lead with that next time.
” The comet dominated the internet for months.
A few extremist cult groups swore it brought the end times, while betting sites offered odds on the exact moment it appeared in the sky. “I’m watching the premiere show.”
“No, listen. It’s coming, and when that happens, we’re done. Gone. Everyone. Do you get that?” He sounded like my grandfather, except Ryan hadn’t dedicated his life to doomsday prophecies and the prepper lifestyle.
Lily, with her auburn hair and shy smile, flashed in front of me. The fruity scent of her shampoo surrounded me every time I closed my eyes. Her laughter stopped my nightmares.
“Yes, I get it. Where is she?” I kept my promise to stay away, and now fate intervened. I should smile.
“That’s why I’m calling. Take my sister home. Take her to Deer Lake, to my dad. You’re close. You can get to her in time.”
In time? How did Ryan know where I was? “Is she expecting me?”
“No.”
My heart thumped. She was more likely to fight me than to trust me. “Ryan, you know me. You know what I do. What I am. She won’t listen to me.”
“I know exactly what you are. That’s what I’m counting on.”
His blunt statement convinced me. “I’ll do it, but Ryan, if I do…” Thinking it and saying it out loud to her brother were two different things. He didn’t deserve that. “She won’t forgive you either once she learns you sent me. Not after what I did. What I’m about to do.”
“I know. Just do it. Get her and go home. If you don’t, you’re both dead.”
“Why Deer Lake?” I promised never to return to that backward town. “Somewhere else.”
“You will. You owe me that. Wait for me there.”
I took in all the people. Too many to count. Too many to save. “How long do I have?”
“There’s a newscast in four hours. It strikes tomorrow afternoon. I have to go. There’s something else I need to do.”
I almost refused to believe him. If Ryan knew, other people knew, and conspiracy theories weren’t real.
I also spent six years in the Rangers, and where did that lead me? Missions that didn’t exist in places we didn’t care about, working for a company without a name. I created conspiracy theories. I lived in them.
What made Ryan’s panicked rant different from those?
Four hours until it became real. If it wasn’t and I did this, she’d never forgive me, but did that matter? She already hadn’t forgiven me. Ryan asked me to take Lily home, not to accompany her. He didn’t want me to persuade her or convince her.
All these years, and it took the world ending to gain his permission. I laughed.
The child from the newest family stared at me, while his mother sat on the blanket with the baby in her lap.
No one believed the crazy man’s rant because no one wanted to assume the worst. Denial comforted in a way the truth couldn’t. I understood that better than most.
I bit my lip, knowing anything I said would prove futile. Plus, Lily waited for me.
My previous evacuation ops included full gear and fellow soldiers. I had neither of those to support me now. “Look, take your family and leave. Leave Florida before it lands. Once impact happens, this beach is the last place you should be. Go. While there’s still time.”
“What?” the father asked.
Curious eyes attacked me. I sounded like my grandfather. “You’re a decent man. A responsible husband and father. Get off this beach. Go.”
“Go? Go where?”
“James?” The wife grabbed both her children, clutching them to her chest. I’d seen her expression before. Some mothers believed me, and others didn’t. Which one was she?
“North,” I said. “Out of this state. Be the father they hope you are.” I sounded crazy. “Good luck.”
My rental car held nothing useful. I had no weapons or supplies, no water or food.
I turned the ignition and pulled onto the local expressway, south to Lily’s apartment. My brief exchange with Ryan raised more questions than it answered. He didn’t give me her address, which meant he knew I knew where she lived.
Did Ryan warn her? If he explained, our confrontation might be easier. If I relayed our conversation to Lily, would she believe me, or would she call the local police?
I sent the number Ryan had used a text message.
Dean: Does she know I’m coming?
Sending...
A red message appeared, marking the message as undelivered.
Lily didn’t know. I tried her next.
Dean: Did your brother call you?
Sending...
Another failure. She still blocked me.
She’d fight and argue, which took time. Time we didn’t have.
I made a quick detour to a nearby drugstore, picking up some food, bottled juice, tape, and a few other items before resuming my journey south, arriving earlier than my phone’s suggested travel time.
Lights shone from Lily’s apartment windows, and her little sedan waited out front.
I put some zip ties in my front pockets and left my phone in the car.
The doorbell rang, and I sent one last prayer into the world. That she understood I did this for her.
The door opened, and she stood before me, even more beautiful than I remembered, with her perfect auburn hair and pointed chin. Her Sutton eyes, bright blue and impossibly big, stared at me.
Her mouth opened, but no words spilled out.
I spoke first. “Hi. It’s been a while. We need to talk.”