A Loud, Roar, and Boom

A loud roar, then crack, and boom abruptly hoisted Ana's eyelids from their resting place. It was followed by Ana springing off the bed and getting quickly dressed in jeans and a hoodie. When she walked out of the small home she shared with her aunt it was morning twilight, and saw that most, if not all of her neighbors emerged from their homes awaken by what she assumed was the same disturbance. They walked towards each other, some of the men still in their underwear, and commiserated between their homes. Ana's next door neighbor, William, who had managed to put shorts on but nothing else, had come out of his home, stared directly at the weak sun and breathed heavily in then out, with a small puff of smoke quickly evaporating from his mouth. He looked over to Ana and smiled, then walked to a talking distance from her.

"What do you think that was?" asked William

"I was hoping someone would tell me," said Ana still looking straight ahead.

"Something probably turned upside down. Like everything else."

William yawned really loud and stretched his arms out.

"You know that I am still amazed that I can come out of my house in shorts in the middle of December," said William smiling again.

"You must be the happiest man in Jhoti."

The smile slowly faded from William's face.

"We should be grateful. We are still holding it together."

"But for how long?"

"Who knows. What I can tell you is that our people will be the last to go."

An old lady wearing a jacket with a fur hood pulled over head walked slowly over to William and Ana.

"You know that sound was Jakobi coming out of the lake. It is about that time."

"Could be," said William shrugging.

"I am going to see my aunt," said Ana turning away from both of them, and walking in the opposite direction.

"I'll see you guys later; hopefully," she said over her shoulder.

"Poor girl was born into this chaos," said the women to William.

"They are the most resilient," said William who watched Ana walk up the snow covered street.

The sun was a little higher now and it warmed Ana to the point of her removing her sweater which revealed a Michael Jackson t-shirt. She tied the sweater around her waist and walked by the side of the road. A red truck passed from behind and honked their horn with Ana immediately reciprocating with a wave. It was her cousin Roger, and he was probably going to check on the permafrost around the edges of the village.

There were about a dozen scattered people waiting outside the trading post. Ana had to squeeze through a few of them to get to the front door and cup her hands against the glass door to peer in.

"Why don't you tell Maybelle to open up already," said a male voice behind her.

"You all know there isn't much here," said Ana still peering inside.

After a short moment the door opened and a middle aged woman emerged holding canned beans stacked against her chest. She stood against the open door so Ana could walk past her and inside.

"Listen, we haven't received a shipment from our misterios benefactor for over a month now and this is all we have left," said Maybelle. She handed a can to each individual holding their hand out.

"And please don't try to break in. I had to shoo a curious prowler away last night," said Maybelle as she closed the door on them.

Ana was sitting behind the counter with a holographic tablet in her hands. The blue screen was blank and on top said no connection.

"Don't waste your time," said Maybelle.

Maybelle walked over and stood on the other side of the counter, then turned to look at the empty shelves.

"Do you think the hunters will find anything?" asked Ana.

"Maybe."

"We should do something."

"Do you still have that necklace?"

Ana reached into her t-shirt and pulled out a silver necklace with a heart shaped locket that was crudely soldered around the edges.

"Of course I do. It is the only thing my mom left me."

"Your mom didn't leave you," said Maybelle turning to face her.

A gentle hum and small vibration hovered over them, interrupting their conversation. Ana and Maybelle raised their heads and followed the sound with their eyes.

"That could be a new shipment," said Maybelle.

Ana and Maybelle walked out of the trading post and found several other people walking in the direction of where the noise seemed to have debarked. A sleek black aircraft could be seen at the entrance of the town. The aircraft resembled a traditional plane but had short, clipped wings. The side gently opened from the top and swiftly landed on the gauzy snow covered ground. A thin man stooped slightly out, followed by a thin women with glasses. The two were followed by two large, armed men with round helmets that reflected light. They were all wearing a variation of a grey uniform.

"Who is in charge here?" asked the thin man.

"Good morning to you too," said an old man in a red plaid shirt who stood in front of the growing crowd.

The thin man smiled and looked down then back up.

"I am sorry if I am direct. But time isn't exactly on our side. We picked up a strange noise coming from this location."

"We heard it," said the old man.

"Can you tell me about the noise? Or can anyone tell me?"

"We don't know what it was," said the old man.

"Your people have an interesting legend," said the woman in glasses standing next to the thin man.

"Different from the rest of the prophecies in this vast land," said the thin man.

"We are looking for anomalies. A dormant source of power that awakens at the most critical juncture," said the woman in glasses.

Some of the villagers began to laugh.

"And you want to take that for yourself?" asked the old man.

"We want it for all humanity," said the thin man.

"Then let it be. Whether our prophecy signals the destruction or salvation of this world is not for you discover or meddle with," said the old man. He then pointed at the armed men with weapons and said, "Those helmets are not made for this world. They are made for space travel. When you said for all humanity did you include my people? Because we have yet to get our invitation to your space relocation program."

The thin man looked to the women in glasses who stared back at him.

"We don't have time for this," said the woman.

At the very back of the crowd stood Marybelle who turned to Ana and pulled her in closely and said, "If there was ever a time for a prophecy to begin, it is now. Go to lake Tchiti."

"What? Why?"

"Legends are not always what they seem."

"What do I do when I get there?"

"You will know."

Gunshots are fired at the ground mere inches away from the crowd by the two armed soldiers who had stepped forward.

"The next shots will be aimed at chest level," said the thin man.

Marybelle pushed Ana away and said, "Go!"

Ana hesitantly walked backwards, then turned and started to run down the street as the villagers started to get increasingly agitated.

A fleeing figure in the opposite direction caught the attention of the thin man and women in glasses who moved towards the crowd. The soldiers raised their guns at the group who were shouting and standing their ground. It was then that the revving, gutteral, and clacking sound of a diesel truck engine was heard, and seconds later, seen heading and then crashing into the nose of the black aircraft. The soldiers turned and started firing at the red vehicle, or what was left of it.

Ana ran up the street and then turned to the side of her house where a snowmobile sat. More gun fire was heard and now screaming as Ana hopped on the snowmobile. She turned the ignition on and was off and headed into a nearby wooded area.

Zigging and zagging by pine trees on the snowmobile Ana heard and partially saw another aircraft going in the opposite direction. She rode for half a mile when she saw the Tchiti lake in between the trees, and jumped a small ledge to land on the red clay shore of the lake.

She slowly got off the snowmobile and saw the idyllic scene. The lake was small, but Ana knew this was the lake of the Jakobi legend. Ana was born a few years after the tipping point, and she had been told about the legend, but as desperation set in, the legend dissolved like the snow of the warmer years to come.

The tranquility was disturbed by a black aircraft that flew over and past Ana to settle on the lake, then turning in its place to face Ana. The aircraft slowly flew closer; close enough for her to see the thin man in the cockpit.

It was inching closer when Ana suddenly felt vibration and heat coming from her chest. She grabbed her chest and felt the locket. She reached inside and pulled it out and saw it vibrating and sparkling red on the edges.

A loud roar echoed from the lake, then a crack, and then a boom; and the boom collapsed areas around the lake taking with it all the wooded and tundra land for miles. The land where Ana stood, however, remained untouched.

The aircraft had turned to witness what was once a small lake was now a very large one.

The locket on Ana's chest was still sparkling and now hovering a few inches from her body.

The aircraft again turned to face Ana, this time with two compartments on each side of the front opening and exposing the barrel of machine guns.

"Take the necklace off," said the thin man over speakers from inside the aircraft.

Ana kept looking down at the trinket and saw fire outline around the heart that broke off the front part of the locket. Then it was silent, and time stopped for Ana. She first felt the gentle breeze, then saw how the wind dislodged a small picture from the locket that flapped in the wind. She couldn't make out the picture since it flapped in all directions, but it never descended to the ground. It twisted and turned until it slowed and faced Ana, and she saw that it was a foto of a young woman with long, silky hair holding a newborn.

Inside the aircraft the thin man was holding on to a joystick with his thumb placed to the side of a big red button.

"I am going to shoot her dead," he said flatly.

He moved his thumb to the top of the red button when every electronic equipment inside the cockpit went dead, and he was all of sudden jolted up from his harnessed seat then violently brought down as the aircraft splashed on the lake.

Somewhere in the middle of the lake, Ana saw what she thought look like a fireball shoot up from the depths of the water and pierce the surface like an ancient spear on fire. But this was no spear. The figure hovered upright in the direction of Ana and dropped on top of the still subsiding aircraft, the thin man could be seen plastered like a bug against the unimmersed portion of the window.

The figure's flame flared out like magic and a naked, thin woman with long hair was unveiled. Ana stared at the woman with mouth agape, then at the floating picture in the shape of a heart and said, "Mom?"