Planet X Read Online Free Page B

room as Jessica shifted a bit uneasy and Sam gave Stephen a
profoundly perplexed look. Stephen knew the cat was out of the bag
and that he had to come clean, but telling the untold truth was
never an easy thing – no matter who or what the consequences.
    “I didn’t save
you by accident.”
    “What do you
mean?” Sam asked puzzled.
    Heavy silence
befell the room as Stephen realised he could no longer keep the
truth hidden from Sam. He had tried so many times before to tell
Sam the truth, but simply couldn’t.
    “I went
looking for my brother.” Stephen finally spat out, “Alex was my
brother.”
    “What?” Sam
was dumbfounded.
    “I heard
something that shocked me to my core on the day of the evacuations.
As they ushered my wife and daughter to safety, I saw two men
arguing with the army who wouldn’t let them in – they wouldn’t let
them in because they were gay… they were told the reason for the
bunker was to preserve humanity and repopulate – something they
couldn’t provide. I knew right then and there that my brother was
out there somewhere and that I needed to find him.”
    “But you found
me instead…” Sam sighed, “You were too late.”
    “I was too
late for my brother, but I could save you.”
    “Why?” Sam
asked, “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
    “I’ve tried
many times before, but… I just couldn’t. I was ashamed that it took
the end of the world for me to reunite with my younger brother. And
I was too late…”
    A tear ran
down Stephen’s cheek and he lowered his head; wiping the tear away.
Sam moved in closer and wrapped his arms around him. Sam was glad
he knew the truth. It meant that Alex was still with him in a way
and he clung to Stephen; imagining it was Alex and he could feel
the earth move under him like the day they met.
    It took Sam a
while to realise that the earth beneath them was actually rumbling
and he let go of Stephen. The three of them slowly got to their
feet; staring down at the ground that rumbled louder and louder.
Their first instincts were to run, but where to? So they huddled
together in the clammy corner and watched as the shaking walls shed
cement dust with each rolling rumble.
    A massive jolt
shook the entire building and they nearly fell over, but kept to
the corner as the room started shaking more violently.
    They heard
their captors running outside the door and Stephen stumbled across
the shaky room towards the door; banging on it in desperation to be
freed.
    “Hey!” Stephen
called out, “Don’t leave us here! Open up, you bastards!”
    A deafening
fizzing, swooshing sound followed by screams on the other side of
the door answered his desperate plight and then Stephen stepped
back – realising that the safest place to be might just be locked
inside the bomb shelter.

INTERMEZZO
    And the
third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven,
burning bright as if it were a lamp… and the star was called
Wormwood… and many men died. Revelations
8:10-11
    And a fifth
angel blew his trumpet, and I saw Wormwood falling from heaven to
earth and it was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless
pit. Revelations 9:01
    And the sea
will rise over the city and its roaring waves will cover
her. Jeremiah 51:42

CHAPTER
TEN
    All was quiet
in the dark room that held them captive after the inexplicable
commotion outside died down. Sam and Jessica stayed back while
Stephen cautiously stepped closer to the door – afraid to see what
was on the other side. It’s been almost twenty minutes since the
earthquake ended and there hasn’t been a sound since making Stephen
fear the worst for the men on the other side of the door.
    Cement dust
shifted in the silence as Stephen stepped closer to the cracked
wall. Sam and Jessica kept their distance in fear that the basement
would give way and crush them if they ventured too close to a
seemingly unstable wall.
    “Be careful.”
Sam uttered.
    Stephen didn’t
look back, but nodded as he fidgeted