Exodus

Exodus

by Mike Pollock 

(Flash Fiction contest Entry, SFFWorld January 2018)

Elijah sat silently, flanked on either side by his parents. A large woodgrain television now hissed, static having replacing a heavily synthesized voice beamed directly into every living room on the planet. The sat quietly like that, thigh to thigh, for a moment longer. Then the world seemed to end.

“Jim!” Someone cried, knocking hard against their front door. Elijah followed closely behind his father, leaning around him as the door opened to reveal a group of disgruntled neighbors standing on their front steps.

“Did you get the same message?” The man standing there asked, seemingly out of breath. Beyond them, people shuffled like zombies into their front yards, countless gazes pointed skyward.

“Yea, and I’d bet everyone in town did.”

“Everyone in the world.” Someone said sarcastically, their voice lost in a sudden wave of noise as they all began talking at once.

“Shut it!” The man in the lead yelled out, securing silence for a moment more. He turned his glare back to Elijah’s father, stepping in closer. “What have they told you at the Annex?”

Jim stepped back, nearly toppling over Elijah in the process. “Why would I know anything? I’m a numbers man in the computer bank. I don’t even have clearances above the main gate.”

Elijah took the opening then and pressed his way into the front yard, quickly scanning the sky like those around him. His jaw dropped as he caught site of the moon, glowing a bright blue.

“Eli!” His mother called out, catching up to, and tugging him back into the house. He heard his father telling the others to return to their own homes before he threw the deadbolt, locking them safely inside. Outside, he heard confusion set in, slowly devolving into confused shouting.

“Into the basement.” His father said, checking the windows in the room quickly to ensure they were locked.

“Elijah!” His mother called, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him back into the house. He heard his father telling the others that they should return home before they were safely inside. Elijah tried to rush to the window but was cut off by his father.

“Downstairs, into the shelter.” He said, checking the locks on the door and on the windows. There was some shouting heard outside as confusion slowly turned to anger and panic. Eager to avoid begin caught up in any danger, they were ushered into the basement where his father closed a heavy iron door behind them. 

 “Jim…” Elijah’s pleaded tearfully as his father set to pacing the rows of stacked canned food and water. “What are we going to do?”

“I have no idea.” He answered honestly. They had all heard the robotic voice that had interrupted an episode of I Love Lucy. Through war and disease you have doomed your planet to destruction. Do not be alarmed, we have fail safes in place to ensure the survival of your species. Cooperation with the usher droids will avoid any further conflict.

“They said the moon was some kind of space ship!” She shouted. Elijah shrunk back from them, his own mind racing with terrible thoughts.

“That’s impossible. It has to be some kind of hoax. Probably something the commies cooked up to scare the bejesus out of us.”

Above them, from somewhere in the house, there came a loud crash and the sound of footsteps. They all three froze at that, and Elijah stared expectantly at the doorway for the stairs. It felt like an eternity as the thumping moved closer to the door.

As the moment stretched into forever, Jim finally stepped forward and called out, “Take what you want, just leave us alone!”

Again there was silence and the three held their collective breath.

“Please do not stand behind the door.” A synthesized robotic voice called out. They heard a grinding shuffle before a massive crack signaled that the door had been ripped from its hinges.

Through doorway slunk something that looked like it crawled out of a science fiction movie set. Several metal legs carried it quickly into the basement where it stood erect and swung a fish eyed lens around the room as if searching for something.

“James Ward.” It declared, as if that explained everything. “Please come with us.”

It turned to leave, spidery legs scuttling back towards the stairs. Jim made no move to follow and it stopped to regard him. “You may bring your family.” It said, and resumed its climb up the stairs.

Slowly, Jim ushered Elijah and his mother up the stairs, always keeping himself between them and the machine. In the living room, Elijah froze, staring slack jawed at a six foot tall pile of rubble that was once a wall in their home. Beyond it, in the yard, sat a ten foot tall metallic cylinder flanked by several more of the robotic beasts.

As they were escorted closer, he noticed there was only one other cylinder parked in their neighborhood, several yards down. An elderly man was forcibly being pushed toward the thing.

“Wait! Take me too!” A man cried out, cutting across lawns in a sprint towards the metal monolith Elijah now stood before. When he nearly reached them, the machine closest to him spun quickly and fired a blood red bolt into the man. He froze, not ten feet away, and looked down dumbly at the smoldering hole in his chest.

“Why!?” Elijah’s mother cried out as the man’s body fell to the ground. Elijah felt the bile in his stomach rising, tears welling in his eyes. Quickly his father stepped between him and the gore spreading on the ground.

“Only those selected can be retrieved. Limited space on the Ark.” The message seemed to play from several of the robots that stood like statues up and down the street. Quickly, Elijah found himself pushed through the small door in the craft and placed heavily in a padded chair.

From behind him, the wall changed shape, soft lengths of material draped over his shoulders and around his waist. Sufficiently secured, they seemed to harden to keep him in place. His mother and father were placed similarly beside him.

“What do you mean, ark?” His father asked, recovering a bit of courage and fighting back as the wall struggled to coalesce around him. “Why am I being taken?”

“To be saved.” The machine closest to them intoned. Beyond him, several other metallic creatures scuttled through the opening, taking up places around them. Their feet seemed to melt into the floor and the opening beyond glossed over as a door materialized out of nothing.

Elijah gripped the seat silently as a rumble rippled through the ship. He looked panicked toward his father who was staring through the lone port hole as they lifted off.

“Saved from what?” He muttered, watching the world fall away below them.

“Saved from yourselves.” A voice seemed to echo in the small space as they sped towards the future.