Chapter 9

 

Julie’s POV

 

“Girls, come here!” I heard my mom call.   I left my bedroom and headed out to the kitchen, where my mother was standing, holding a piece of paper. 

 

“What is it, Mom?” I asked, as Breanna and Sammy came up beside me.

 

“Just read it,” Mom said, handing it to me.  I saw that her hands were trembling, and her eyes looked unusually bright.

 

I took the paper from her hand and looked at it.  It was an official looking letter.   I skimmed through it, Sammy and Breanna reading over my shoulders.   We all gasped as soon as we realized what it was – it was a letter from the government, telling us that our family had been selected to go to the shelter in Texas!

 

“Oh my God, Mom, this is great!” Sammy cried, hugging Mom tightly.   We broke out into smiles and happy shouts, more than relieved that we had just been given a shot at survival.

 

“When are we going to the shelter?” Breanna asked.

 

Mom glanced at the letter.  “Well, it says that they’ll be sending some kind of transportation to pick us up at noon on Saturday, June 1.   That’s a week from tomorrow.”

 

A million thoughts were running through my head right then.   Who else had gotten picked?  My friends?  Relatives?   Michael?

 

As my crush’s name made its way into my head, I felt tears start to rise in my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away.   Michael.  I loved him so much, even more now, it seemed, because we were in the midst of tragedy.   But he didn’t know that, and at this rate, he never would.

 

***

 

Brian’s POV

 

That evening, the phone rang.  

 

“Hello?” I asked, picking it up.

 

“Bri?” came Nick’s familiar voice.

 

“Hey, Frack,” I said.  “What’s up?”

 

“Well… I got a letter today… I’m going to the shelter,” he replied slowly.

 

My heartbeat rose in excitement.  “You are?!  That’s great, Nick!” I cried happily.

 

“Wow, you’re taking this a lot better than I thought you would,” he said, laughing nervously.

 

“What do you mean?” I asked.

 

“I thought maybe you would be jealous or something cause I got picked.  I’m sorry, man.”

 

I was confused at first.  Then I realized he didn’t know that I had gotten picked too yet.  “Nick!” I cried.  “I got picked too!”

 

“What?  You did!?” he exclaimed.

 

“Yup,” I confirmed.  “Just got my letter today.”

 

“Oh, wow, that’s awesome, Frick!” Nick cried excitedly.  “Oh, thank God!”

 

“Do you know if any of the other guys got picked too?” I asked hopefully.  I hadn’t talked to any of them yet.

 

“I dunno,” Nick said, his happy tone fading.  “I doubt it.  I mean, what are the chances of even two out of the five of us getting picked?  That’s unbelievable as it is.”

 

“Yeah,” I said sadly.   The thought of losing my “brothers” hit me hard right then, and I suddenly wanted to cry.  

 

“The bad thing is that according to the letter, only immediate family members living in your house can come.  And my family all lives in Cali,” Nick said.

 

“Oh, God, that’s right,” I gasped, suddenly thinking of my own family, living in Kentucky.  They would not be able to come with Leighanne and I.

 

They should, I thought.   After all, the we, like the Carters, were a family, and families should stay together.   But according to the government’s rules, that didn’t always work out.  It’s not fair, I thought sadly. 

 

But, just like I had heard time and time again, life’s not fair.

 

***

 

The next day

 

Heidi’s POV

 

“Hey, honey, did you get the mail yet today?” I asked Darrin. 

 

“No, I didn’t.   I’ll go get it now,” he replied and walked outside.  Minutes later, he returned, carrying a small stack of mail.   He fished through it, putting most of it in the junk mail stack, and stopped when he picked up an official-looking envelope. 

 

He carefully tore it open and pulled out an equally professional-looking letter.   He skimmed its contents, his eyes narrowing as he read.  And then, suddenly, a smile broke out on his face.

 

“What is it?” I asked eagerly.

 

“It’s a letter from the government,” he replied.  “We’re going to the shelter in Texas, sweetheart!”

 

My eyes widened.  “Oh my goodness!  You’re serious?  This is great!”  I threw my arms around him, and my eyes filled with happy tears.  My prayers had just been answered.

 

“Let me see,” I said, taking the letter from his hand so I could read the words for myself.  My smile grew wider and wider as I read on about when we would leave for the shelter and all that.   But suddenly, the smile left my face as I saw one sentence towards the bottom of the letter.

 

Any married couple whose marriage license was attained on or after May 18, 2001  will not be counted as a legally married couple and will not both be accepted into the shelter. 

 

I gasped.  Darrin and I hadn’t even gotten our marriage license yet!   That meant we weren’t technically family yet, even though we lived together.  And that meant I would not be going to the shelter with him.

 

“Heidi, what is it?” Darrin asked in concern.

 

With trembling hands, I handed him back the letter, pointing to the one horrible sentence that had dashed my hopes and would end up affecting both of our lives forever.

 

***

 

AJ’s POV

 

I sat slumped on my couch, feeling utterly depressed.   I had gotten the news that morning that both Brian and Nick were going to live in the shelters.  Unfortunately, Kevin, Howie, and I had received nothing yet.   And I didn’t think we would.   With only one million people being selected, the chances of more than two of our quintet being picked were slim to none.

 

I flipped absently through the TV channels, stopping on CNN when I saw the headline “NASA Announces Mission to Save Earth” appear on the bottom of the screen.  I sat up straighter, listening hopefully.

 

A man’s voice was speaking, while pictures of astronauts in some sort of space training flashed on the screen. 

 

“NASA announced this morning its plans to launch a crew of astronauts on the most important space mission in history – the mission to save the Earth from total destruction by the asteroid that is due to hit in mid-June.  Two shuttles containing three astronauts each will be sent up in hopes to try a new tactic of using a nuclear device to divert the asteroid from its course, in other words, to knock it off track so that it passes by the Earth.   This mission is experimental, but NASA is keeping their hopes up that it will be successful.  After all, life on Earth depends on it.   We’ll now go live via satellite to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to speak with astronaut James Lindley, a member of the crew of the upcoming mission.  James?”

 

A young man appeared on screen.  “Hello,” he said.

 

“James, what would you say are the odds of this mission succeeding and saving the world from total destruction?” asked the reporter.

 

“Well, nothing like this has ever been done before; it’s very experimental.  We’re really not sure what’s going to happen so it’s hard to talk about odds of success or failure.  I can tell you that we’re all hoping and praying that this mission will work, but we’re just not sure at this point.”

 

The reporter went on to ask the astronaut some more questions, but I lost interest and changed the channel again. 

 

It was a nice thought that this NASA mission would work, but I wasn’t going to get my hopes up about it.   I knew that unless some kind of miracle happened, most of the human race was screwed.

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

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