“There’s no real way to tell.” Caesar picks up a stick and pokes at the embers. “I don’t think you’d like my opinion.”
“What is it?” I ask.
The beam from Falk’s flashlight crosses in front of me, and I turn my head as he sits on the ground next to me. He looks over at Caesar and gives him a little nod.
“Go on,” Falk says. “Let’s hear it.”
“Same thing you’re thinking,” Caesar says. “This hasn’t been an invasion by anyone close by.”
“What do you mean ‘close by’?” Ryan grabs the bottle of scotch and opens it as Caesar hands him a couple of red plastic cups.
“This wasn’t some terrorist group. They don’t have that kind of firepower. They couldn’t have taken out one city like that,
and this goes way beyond Atlanta.”
“What was it then?” I ask.
“There’s really only one plausible answer,” Falk says slowly.
I look back and forth between him and Caesar, but neither offers any further explanation. They’re being obtuse, and it’s pissing me off, and I finally snap at them both.
“Whatever the hell you two are thinking, spit it out!” I address them both, but my eyes are on Falk.
“Alien invasion,” he says.
“Alien?” I repeat. “You mean, like aliens from outer space?”
He nods, and I laugh out loud, but everyone just looks at me until I stop.
“Are you serious?” He can’t be. The whole idea is ludicrous.
“You have a better idea?”
“Anything but that!”
“It’s the only thing that fits what we know,” Caesar says. “The most destructive force we have is nukes. If Atlanta had been nuked, it would have taken everyone with it, not just men. There’s no explanation for the women and children disappearing.”
“Dogs, too,” I add. “Maybe cats.”
“I hadn’t thought about it,” Caesar says, “but you’re right. I haven’t seen a single dog or cat.”
“Humans don’t have the kind of technology to do something like this,” Falk says as he scratches the back of his head. “There’s nothing that kills exposed men and evaporates women, children, and domestic animals.”
“So your first thought is little green men?” Ryan questions. “Isn’t there some other possibility?”
“You think the plants have risen up, pissed about the ozone layer?” Beck joins the circle between Caesar and Ryan.
“There weren’t any spaceships.” I point this out in hopes of another idea coming into someone’s head.
“If they were up far enough, we wouldn’t have seen them,” Caesar says. “Whatever happened wasn’t the result of technology that comes from here. If it’s not from here, that makes it extraterrestrial.”
“There could be something we don’t know about,” I say. “A secret weapon.”
“A weapon that makes women and children disappear? What year do you think you live in?” Beck snickers.
Everyone is silent for a few minutes, sipping their scotch and staring at the fire.
“What do they want?” I ask.