Chapter 3 –

Slate

Fairfax, Ohio

I was approaching 30 years old when the world first heard the Voice. John’s big ass is not allowed on roofs so he was handing me shingles. Being abnormally tall, he didn’t even need a ladder. Hell I probably should be up the roof either but we were short today and only had John, myself and Miguel, a small Mexican man who worked twice as hard as everyone else, were there. We were at the transition point of the handoff when it spoke.

I could not tell where the Voice originated but it was amazingly clear. It said in a clear tone, “You have been chosen to play a game. Prepare for change.”

Apparently John had heard it to because we both jumped a little, causing us to lose control of the 80 pound bundle. It dropped, hitting the earth with a noisy boom. You would not thing that a person as large as John could move so fast, but he practically danced to avoid being struck.

“What the fuck,” John exclaimed. “Did you hear that?”

“Yea,” I replied. “Something about being chosen to play a game.”

Miguel came to our side of the roof told us that he had heard the Voice too, but couldn’t find who was speaking. The rancher style house was only one story tall, maybe 9 feet high at the gutters, but it was at least 90 feet long. Miquel shouldn’t have heard the same Voice John and I had from 50 feet away and on the other side of the pitch. It had not been loud enough.

“Hey Miguel, what did you hear,” I asked.

“I was chosen to play a game. I was hammering and wasn’t really paying attention. I am surprised I heard it at all, who said it?” He answered. “I know you two gringos do not speak Spanish anyways.”

“What are you talking about? I heard it in good old fashioned American,” John replied with a grin. The two were always going back and forth in good natured ribbing about the differences in Hispanic and American culture.

“Like I have told you before you gigante,” Miguel shot back. “No one speaks American around here, they speak English. Is anyone else around here?.”

We looked around the house but didn’t see anybody. . Oddly, my ears popped a little and a chilly breeze ran across the hot rooftop. The sky lit up and we briefly saw a second sun appear. It only lasted a few moments before fading away. I was starting to get a little afraid at this point and ignored Miquel and John’s exclamations and following conversation as I pulled up the area news app. The app was not used often, because fuck the media, but I needed to know what was happening.

The app already had a story about the Voice. It only had a couple lines, but it said that the entire world seems to have heard it. The phone locked up and had to be restarted. At the same time the air compressor for the nail gun turned off but started back up shortly later, as if the power had flickered in the area.

The customer was not home so we didn’t knock on the door to see if there was anything more on the TV. After a brief discussion we decided to complete the job rather than drive back to town 20 minutes away. We were blue collar men who needed the money that would come from the project, so we continued to work until it was finished.

The drive home through Fairfax it was unusually busy. The parking lot at the supermarket was full of people loading up their cars from full buggies. I passed one of my favorite bars and stopped in. Buffalo wings to help wash some beer seemed like a great idea, and it was all you can eat wing night. I like to keep the restaurant industry in check on their buffet style set ups by raising the bar and putting away 40 wings or so.

The bar was almost entirely empty. Only one old drunk seated and he was hunched over, nursing a beer in the corner as sat down in front of the bartender. He was watching one of the many televisions on the walls and looked up as the padded stool groaned under my weight. I looked to see what was on and temporarily set aside my disdain for the media. All visible channels were talking about Voice and following phenomena. I found myself holding my breath as I gazed upon what had happened to the world.

A video someone had taken from a cell phone of a second sun burning in the sky played in a loop upon most screens. The anchor’s reported that every person all over the world had heard the voice, including people who were deaf. Various experts of every field, religion and belief gave theories on where it came from. Be it angel, demon, aliens or God, but it was all conjecture and no one had any idea what was going on.

About half of the world had their electronics shut down momentarily. The same half that saw the second sun in the sky. It sparked theories that this event had started in outer space and only the side of earth facing the event were affected by it. Electronics had started back up normally and appeared to all be fine now but the effects were a lot more severe than resetting the clocks at the house. At any time in America it was estimated that 5000 planes were in the air at any one time. Like my phone from earlier, every one of those planes had lost power. Most of them had been able to restart and save their passengers, but many had not. The news was reporting that there have been around 500 crashes of commercial flights causing an unknown amount of death and injuries. There were also industrial accidents, car wrecks and other havoc caused by the temporary blackout. The death toll counter on the screens rose as the President declared a state of emergency for the nation.

There had been several major plane crashes at airports and throughout the state of Ohio, including one Bowing 747 full of passengers that had been in the process of taking off at the Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport. There were no reported survivors of the crash and crews were still on scene cleaning up. All modes of public transportation had been suspended. Nothing was moving until it was certain that the passengers would be safe.

Reporters began to state that the president would address the nation soon to speak of the event and its aftermath. The news switched to people making runs on supermarkets and gas stations. After we had a storm come through a few years back and everyone had done the same thing. I have kept the house stocked at all times with a week’s worth non-perishable food ever since, so I was good for now. The news was also predicting looting and violence to begin as night fell across the nation as the less savory of our citizens began to realize police resources were strained to the max.

The screens all cut out to an emergency announcement screen and then the presidential logo. A few minutes later the screens showed the presidential podium and the man himself, Barack Obama, walked up to it. He gave an inspiring speech about working together through crisis and finding out the nature of the Voice, but did not provide any new information.

I got on my phone and tried to call John but all circuits were busy. It was the same when I tried to call Jessica a little while later. I texted them both asking if they were ok and got positive replies from both. I thought about trying to get to the grocery store to stock up on some extra food like the rest of the herd but realized that it was way too far behind in the game to do that. Thinking that this would get worse before it got better, I decided that fortifying my property would be good idea. I could always hunt some if I needed more food, Ohio has a lot of white tail deer, but I needed something quieter than a gun to poach them with. I decided to head to the store and buy a bow.

I went to a local gun store and maxed out my credit cards buying both a crossbow and a compound bow. I also decided to pickup a new shot gun and an AR-15 as well. I would need a few long guns if this got worse. I also bought up all the beef jerky the store had in stock, and a few cases of water. I made a stop by Home Depot and picked up a load of lumber that I may need to secure my house before heading home. The rest of the evening was spent organizing my purchases and then waited to see what would happen next.