Jason stared out through the door's ice-covered window past the faint reflection of his age-lined face. Somewhere out there, death was coming. A meteor heading for the Midwest. Indianapolis, maybe. Chicago. Louisville. Could be anywhere unless the scientists had revised their forecast since the power went out and left him and Teresa cut off from the rest of the world.
They could be wrong. The television weatherman couldn't even guess next week's weather right half the time. How could any scientists be sure it was going to hit Earth, let alone narrow it down to their neck of the woods?
By next week, he could be shooting the breeze with Buck again, giving him a hard time about hightailing it out of here when the news hit and leaving all the livestock behind to fend for themselves.
Gary had called and tried to change their minds. Stephanie had cried. Plenty of room out there in California with them now that Marcia was married. They had meant it, too. But in the end, he and Teresa decided to stay.
They belonged here. Everything they knew was here. Starting over somewhere else would be a different kind of death.
Jason picked up his rifle and tugged on the door. The dang-blasted thing always stuck during cold weather. Teresa had gone out a bit ago, grumbling something about Christmas dinner come hell or high water or any stupid rock hurling through space. She'd been gone too long and he didn't trust the night. Their farm was off the main highway but someone might take the back roads and think nothing about shooting an elderly couple for a can of gasoline to get them a little further along their escape path.
Fools! For all they knew, they could be driving straight into it. Best to stay put where you are and hope it hits Detroit instead. Not that it matters. If it really hits, life will never be the same again.
"Jason?" Teresa called from the storage shed. "Can you give me a hand with this grill?"
Jason leaned his rifle against the side of the shed and flipped the light switch without thinking. No lights. It was easy to find her, though, because she was making enough noise to wake the dead.
"What are you up to in there?"
"About five two," she said, and he could hear the laughter in her voice. "Really, Jason, you heard me inside. I'm dragging out the grill. We can barbecue the turkey for Christmas."
He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all but didn't dare. If it made her feel better and gave her something to do beyond watching and waiting to see which way the rock fell, then so much the better.
He pulled the lawnmower aside and began rearranging things to reach the grill. A few moments later, a loud clap of thunder and bright light lit up the shed and then a blast of wind through the open doors knocked them both to the floor.
Damn scientists couldn't even get the time right!
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