Age of Men Read online

led to the water’s edge. That couldn’t be right? Her sister wouldn’t go into the lagoon since she couldn’t swim – where could her sister be?

  She noted that the loose soil around her feet started moving in faint tremor movements as if being shaken by an unseen force. The grey fog drifted closer to the water’s edge and the lagoon seemed to slowly grow in size. The girl took a step back; watching in horror as the ground at her feet was consumed by the lagoon at about an inch every few seconds. The lagoon was growing.

  The ominous fog was creeping up on her and the growing lake was right behind it as it made its way towards her feet. She cautiously took a few steps back towards the trees as the lagoon grew and the fog came closer. The fog curled around a tree to her left and the tree made a portentous scrunching sound before bursting into a cloud of black ash and disappearing into the fog.

  The girl let out a scream, turned around and started running back towards the town as fast as her little legs could carry her. One by one the trees of the forest around her turned to ash and disappeared into the fog cloud that increased in mass and speed with every obstacle it consumed. The lagoon grew in size until the water’s edge was just a few feet behind her and no matter how fast she ran, the fog and devastation it brought was just a few feet behind her.

  The horrible sounds the trees made before disappearing were deafening and closing in on her. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw everything behind her had turned into ash and disappeared into the grey fog that approached her at an alarming rate. The fog and the water’s edge were moving swiftly towards her and would catch up to her within a matter of moments. Her little feet ran as fast as they could, but the ground at her heels were turning into ash and surrendering to the water.

  She could see the village beyond the forest and pushed herself; she was almost home... she just had to keep running for a little while longer. She started screaming for help and could see that some of the villagers were just standing there motionlessly staring at the chasm of fog behind her. What were they staring at? Why wouldn’t anybody help her?

  The girl’s mother came out of her house upon hearing her daughter screaming in terror. The woman could do nothing but watch in horror as everything they ever knew disappeared behind her little girl who ran as if the devil himself was chasing her. Every part of the forest ruptured into the nothingness of the fog, but nobody in the village ran for cover; everyone stood frozen in astonishment.

  The girl called out to her mother as she reached the edge of the forest, but it was too late; the fog snatched her and before she could scream she exploded into black ash that disappeared into the approaching fog. The woman screamed in horror when she saw her daughter disappearing into nothingness.

  The gawking villagers all started screaming and running away from the fog and ash that once was the forest, but they were not fast enough. Everything and everyone in the village turned to ash and disappeared, leaving behind nothing but fog, ash and water. A tremendous mass of water was all that was left where the little village and the colossal forest used to be.

  9

  Agent Smith, or rather Peter Smith, stood on the side of a misty road and despite knowing that he was dreaming, it felt real enough to him; he was an adult, but felt like a small child who was afraid of the dark.

  He had never seen the road before, but for some inexplicable reason it felt all too familiar to him as he walked along the deserted road towards a tunnel which looked more like a chasm of death than a tunnel.

  A car with an open door stood next to the tunnel and when he got closer, he recognized it to be his mother’s car.

  “Mom?” his voice echoed in the mist of the night.

  He stepped closer to the tunnel; complete darkness started right at the opening of the tunnel – a darkness from which not even light could escape.

  He was drawn to the darkness of the tunnel like a moth to a flame, but he knew that death awaited him so he fought the urge until he heard his mother call out to him from deep within the dark of the tunnel.

  “Peter…” the darkness called out.

  “Mom?”

  He stepped right up to the edge of the tunnel and reached towards the darkness despite every muscle in his body telling him not to.

  The tips of his fingers disappeared into the darkness and then he pulled his hand back as he tried to force himself to wake up.

  “Peter…” the darkness called to him.

  “Stephen…” His wife woke him.

  He sat upright panting for air as she rubbed his sweat-soaked back. It’s been a while since he had a nightmare and usually it was about the same thing.

  “Did you have the dream again?” She asked.

  “No. It was something different this time.”

  She glanced over at the clock-radio on her nightstand; it was just about half past two in the morning.

  “It was still about the tunnel,” he said, “But it was different somehow.”

  “It was just a dream. You’re safe with me.”

  “It felt so real.” He said, “Like always, but… I don’t know.”

  He dragged his feet out of bed and sat on the edge staring down at the blinking light on his phone. He didn’t feel like checking his messages, but picked up the phone anyway.

  “I’ll make you some warm milk.” She said as she got out bed.

  “Thank you. That’ll be nice.”

  He had four missed calls on the phone, but it was on silent mode as always during the night so whoever called him sent four text messages as well; each one telling him in capital letters to check the news. He slipped on his slippers and hurried down the hallway to the living room; making his wife glance up as he hassled pass the kitchen.

  “What is it?”

  “I’m not sure.” He said as he picked up the remote.

  She came into the room as he started flicking through the channels looking for a news report – which he found on channel 7.

  The anchorman was talking about the disappearance of the Australian flight as if it were old news replaced by even more disastrous news.

  “We have some startling new developments in our top story.” The anchor man announced, “We have confirmed reports that the entire island of Kyushu, Japan is now the second confirmed landmass to have disappeared without a trace.”

  He gasped in disbelief.

  What? A second disappearance? He thought. This was no terrorist attack. What are the chances of two landmasses thousands of miles apart disappearing the same way? Something else had to be going on – something he didn’t quite fully grasp yet.

  “Oh my word.” his wife gasped, “What’s happening?”

  10

  Jack and Alicia were both fast asleep when his phone rang; with tired eyes, Jack tried to make sense of the sound he heard and finally answered the phone. Alicia’s arm slipped off him as he sat upright and brought the receiver to his ear. A call in the early hours of the morning usually meant somebody died or was in jail and needed bail money.

  “Hello?” Jack mumbled as he switched on the bedside lamp

  “Professor White.” He heard Agent Smith’s voice on the other end.

  “Agent Smith?” Jack asked shocked and sat upright, “How did you get this number?”

  “I’m the US government.” Agent Smith said proudly, “I can find anyone I desire.”

  There was a moment of silence and then Jack yawned again as he scratched his belly.

  “Are you watching the news?”

  “No.” Jack said with a yawn, “We were sleeping.”

  Alicia yawned and sat upright; leaning in closer to hear what the call was about.

  “You need to turn on your TV.” Agent Smith said.

  Jack reached for the TV remote on the nightstand, but already knew what the urgency was about. If the agent called him at three in the morning then it happened again – another country disappeared without a trace which meant it wasn’t an isolated incident.

  “It happened again, didn’t it?” Jack ask
ed with dread.

  “Yes.”

  Jack tuned into the news bulletin on channel 7 and turned up the volume to hear the same news report Agent Smith saw a few minutes earlier.

  “Are you watching the news?” Agent Smith asked again.

  “Yes.”

  Alicia was glued to the TV and clung to every word the anchorman said; gasping in horror every few seconds as Jack gestured for her to keep it down with a wave of his hand. He was trying to pay attention to the news report, but her insanely loud gasps of horror made it impossible. He loved her dearly, but sometimes she could be overtly dramatic.

  “A second disappearance?” Agent Smith asked, “Tell me that is a coincidence?”

  “I highly doubt it.”

  “I just want to know how the hell the media knew about this one before I did?”

  Alicia was completely oblivious to Jack’s call and turned up the volume of the TV when it became evident that there were new developments in the top story as the anchorman announced something new. She crawled over to the foot of the bed and sat on the edge like a little girl watching cartoons, but she wasn’t amused – she was horrified.

  “We have exclusive video footage of what transpired in Kyushu, Japan.” The anchorman said.

  Jack zoned out for a moment and glanced at the TV screen; he slowly lowered the phone as his attention shifted to the news bulletin.

  “Jack?” Agent Smith’s voice called out.

  “Hang on.” Jack said transfixed on the TV.

  “Please be advised,” The anchorman said, “The footage you are about to view is not for sensitive viewers… I repeat. We have exclusive video