Under One Sun

Chapter One

Melbourne, Australia

June 7 2022

Melbourne City

            It was a day just like any other; Alex Bakken, the 17 year old teen drove his Honda Hybrid down the beach side interstate. Australia had the most beautiful beaches, especially the Melbourne area with white sands, hot dog vendors, and hot girls tanning in the sun. Melbourne was the Miami of Australia, minus all the Cubans. It was always warm, and rain fell annually. Alex always had a problem driving down that highway though. He would look out into the ocean and remember that event five years ago, which subsequently changed his life forever. He would look at the girls and remember… and muse upon the one precious memory of his, that was now gone.

            Surfing was a popular thing on the waves of Melbourne. The beaches were known for the white caps reaching 15-20 feet at crest. People all over the world came to sun bathe, or surf. It was one of the two that Alex noticed. Alex had just turned 15 at the time, and was taking his hand at surfing. His girlfriend, Tiffany, had watched from the shoreline. The only reason he’d been happy in his life was her and her alone. Tiffany did something to his core that nothing else could. Alex always suffered from a low self-esteem, and Tiffany was the only one who ever brought it up. With her, he felt he could do anything. She had blonde hair, a little longer then shoulder length. Tiffany’s eyes shown light blue, like most native Australian’s, and they glowed like spotlights to Alex. They were his beacons in the dark. 

            Tiffany was 14, and had been labeled the School Whore. The reason behind the cruel title was her body. Alex couldn’t have asked for a better figure in his girlfriend. She had a large chest, and a shapely body. Her weight was around 42 kilos, incredibly thin. Not like a twig, but not to big. She had always received tons of letters from admirers when she was younger, but always had turned them down.

            Alex had never asked Tiffany out, she asked him out. The whole school had no idea why she would choose a normal kid like Alex, but they didn’t like the idea. They called her names, gave her bad looks, and even took their anger out on Alex when he was alone. Alex had been beaten multiple times at school.

            ”You piece of shit!”

            SMACK!

            “Tiffany was ours! What the hell is your problem! You can’t force a girl to like you!”

            CRACK!

 

Alex remembered those times well; after all they only occurred 2 months ago. That was before Tiffany walked in on it happening. They all looked at her and realized any chance with her was done. They ran off and never bothered Alex again.

Alex himself had wondered why he was so lucky.

Alex paddled as hard as he could. His arms scooped the water as he forced himself forward. The next wave was coming, and he had to position himself carefully. The board needed to catch at a good spot, or he would be engulfed by the approaching 6-meter wave.

“Go get it Alex!” He heard Tiffany call from shore. She was lying on her stomach on a towel, the sun tanning her back. She took the time to watch him. How sweet.

He paddled harder now, encouraged by his love. The surfer felt the water lift him up, and he got into the crouching position. Then steadily, he moves upwards, trying not to fall of the board. Eventually he was standing, with the wave moving the board for him.

“Oh hell yes!” Alex cheered as he steadily rode the wave. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard Tiffany cheering from the shore with him.

As the wave reached its peak, Alex knew what was about to happen. He took a deep gulp of ocean air, and was engulfed by the wave.

He floated to the surface, laughing.

“Oh man, that was awesome!” Alex shouted; he lay on his back in the wet sand. Tiffany stood above him.

“That was cool. Can I try?” She had never done that before, but he was willing to let her.

After a crash course in how to find the wave, he pushed her off. Tiffany was a strong swimmer, and pulled herself relatively quickly. She saw the wave coming and raced for it. Alex stood on the coastline sand, and watched the love of his life swim.

‘She’s so sexy in that suit,’ he thought while watching her. They had been together for three months, but had made the decision to not go beyond the occasional make out. It was ironic they called her a whore.

He watched as the wave passed her and she wiped out. Soon she bobbed to the surface. 

“Darn it!” She hissed; she was seriously angry.

“Tiff, don’t worry! You’ll get used to it eventually! God knows how many times I wiped out!” Her frown was replaced by a smile.

“Your right, I should try again. Maybe I’ll make it this ti-”

            She stiffened up and jolted violently. Twice.

            “Hey did your foot hit a coral?” That had happened to Alex before. It hurts like hell.

            She just floated, here eye wide open. Something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong.

            “Tiffany!” He swam out quickly, as fast as he could. Other people on shore watched. Alex knew what happened. He hopped he was wrong, but he knew. A shark had attacked her. A man on shore called the Emergency Services, and the lifeguard also rushed out.

            Alex reached the girl, and pulled he back to shore quickly. She was noticeably lighter, and he also took note to the long trail of blood that followed. The lifeguard reached them, and helped pull her to shore. She still stared ahead, her eyes gazing at the sky. Pulling her out of the water, he saw the extent of the damage. It scared him for the remainder of his life.

            Her legs were gone. Everything below the abdomen was totally gone. Entrails hung from her, she still was alive.

            “…Alex…It hurts…” she managed to choke up, blood oozed from her mouth

She lay on the beach, her intestines hanging out from her.

            “Tiff…” Alex could only say the first syllable to her name. Tears welled in his eyes. He knew she was going to die.

            “Lex… How bad is it…?”

            ‘Don’t cry!’ He told himself harshly.

            “…You’ll be good. It’s just a bite.”

She smiled weakly. The smile shattered his heart forever. It changed him in every known way possible.

            “Liar.”

            She had died right after those words. He still remembered them. Her funeral was the most difficult of his life; her parents blamed all of it on him. They were angry he was even there to pay last respects.

            He looked at the skyscrapers ahead of his car. He wanted to work in one someday. He didn’t want to live a life of relaxation anymore. He had changed so much.

            “Hey welcome back to AM 1330, this is Steve Martz, and I will be hosting today. The topic of today’s discussion is: “The disappearance of the Science Crew at Mars Facility and is the US Government hiding any information regarding it?”

            Alex reached down to turn up the volume.

            “Our first guest is Perry Sanderson, the launch coordinator for the project, Perry?”

            “Good evening Mr. Martz. As you all know, we lost contact with the outer space facility on Mars recently. The question is do we know why? The answer is yes!”

            “What?!” Martz wasn’t expecting that apparently.

            “I’m sick of sitting in darkness. We need to tell the people the truth!”

            “Mr. Sanderson, this is breaking news! Excuse me while I put this on Emergency Broadcast!”

…

            “Ok say it Mr. Sanderson!”

            “The truth is out there! What happened was SPZZZZZZZPSPSSSAZZZZ---“

Static.

            “What the hell?” Alex hit his radio.

            A hollow sound filled his ears.

            “What…?” He looked up and instantly slammed his breaks. Everyone else did also. Looking out of his sunroof, he saw the large meteor like object streak right towards them.

            “Oh Jesus Christ.”

            It hit hard, right in front of him, a good 15 miles away. He was expecting a large boom, but it didn’t happen. Opening his eyes slightly, he saw an amazing sight. A large shaft of red and orange light emerged from the ground downtown. The light shown with a thousand floodlights and then some. He had to shield his eyes for protection. Suddenly, a shockwave hit. His car flipped backwards, the glass shattered.

            “Agh!” He covered his face as his car landed upside down on the road.

Alex heard other cars that didn’t stop crash into the railings. He saw one man flying from his windshield when he hit a light pole; his body flew about 20 meters, until it splat against a billboard. The horror. Explosions everywhere, and cars flying to and fro, Alex was lucky he had stopped. He had just landed upside down. He hung from his seatbelt silently. Small cuts speckled his face.

            BOOM! The explosion noise occurred and he looked at his rear view mirror. He saw the downtown city in it, followed by a large wave of red. It was heading right towards him at speeds exceeding the speed of sound. It couldn’t be a shockwave then.

            The wave ran over his car, Alex winced. Nothing happened. After the nuclear like wave, everything was quiet. Some car’s engines were still running, including his. Gasoline dripped from his tank and down on his roof.

            “Oh shit!” he screamed wildly, tangled in his seatbelt. The battery in the back… he heard sparks going off. The liquid slowly slid down to the rear of the car.

            Alex thrashed around in the car, but couldn’t get loose. The gasoline moved faster and faster towards the sparks. Alex stopped struggling, and remembered that he could get out by pressing the emergency release. 

            “Oh here it is!” He pressed it and fell down to the roof.

           He scrambled upward and crawled to the window. He made it through the broken glass and felt his elbows on the hot cement highway outside. Quickly he stood and ran from the car. He was thrown forward with the explosion as the sparks hit the gasoline. The car exploded outwards, and metal flew everywhere. Alex was tossed into the air and landed in the bushes on the side of the road.

            Alex didn’t move for a little bit. He was too shocked by what had happened. Slowly he picked himself up and turned to face the carnage.

Bodies. There were no bodies. The entire area was clear of them. There was no one alive either. There were cars flipped on the freeway, some on fire. Some trucks that didn’t flip just sat there smoking. But no one was in or out of the cars.

“He…hello?” he called suddenly. He felt really alone. So he began the 10 mile walk towards the downtown area.