Aftermath
Chapter 1
He looked at his world. His eyes wide with hope. Several years have passed since the Old Earth ended. He remembered what it was like on the Old World. It was green and there was a brilliant blue sky. Everyone thought that this aftermath would shut the sunlight from his or her eyes. They were wrong. They said that all life would end. They were wrong. He was once one of those people----scientists. He is Dr. Robert Hubert. He was one of those many who saw the Old Earth end. His green eyes blinked for a second. His curly blonde hair felt soft to the touch of his hand as he brushed it back from his forehead. He smiled at the landscape. There was no eternal darkness like he and many of his kind predicted.
Scientists, he thought. We were wrong!
The landscape was like a gray wasteland. The sky was filled with colors of rusty red and deep crimson. No longer was it blue. What was more interesting about this New Earth was that the life did not die. The life on Earth that was here for billions of years still survived. Life will go on! Robert Hubert smiled at the thoughts that his species will go on. But the life outside his office had changed to adapt to this New World. Those who could not adapt died instantly when the air content changed. There was a new protective covering that kept the harmful rays of the sun off the planet. That was why the once radiant blue sky turned red. The land was still healing itself from the traumatic blow of the comet that caused the great Apocalypse. This cataclysmic event did not spell out gloom and doom as once thought. It had spelled out great change. After all, humans are the most adaptable creatures of the planet.
Robert Hubert returned to his work when an old friend came through his door. Joel Beneheart slowly walked into the metallic room. His golden eyes probed for feelings. This was his gift, the powers of the empath. All empaths had golden eyes. Robert looked up into his eyes.
"Still fascinated by the sky, Rob?" asked Joel.
"Have I ever stopped?" asked Robert. "You know me better than anyone else. And I don’t mean through your powers."
Joel sat down on a rollaway chair on the opposite side of the desk. He leaned over and rested his dark hands on the desk. The smile on his face could not conceal what he felt inside. Another man died from this new disease of this New World. Joel Beneheart could feel the mourning all around the Inner City.
"Even an empath must take time to understand and learn of acquaintances through trial and error. That is the true way of friendship. It took me along time to truly understand you," he said.
"And what do understand about me?"
"You will not let me or anyone else down."
Robert leaned back in his computer chair. He heard the plastic covering on the polyester cushion crinkle. Raising his arms tot he ceiling, he stretched from the boredom and fatigue of sitting in his office all day. Robert had worked long hours the night before, trying to come up with a vaccine to this new disease. He called the illness the Black Eyed Fever. The symptoms were a high fever, loss of consciousness, coma and death. The victim would have black, pupiless eyes upon death. Very few people have suffered from it. It mostly occurred in young children and the elderly. He worked hard on the vaccine. It was almost complete. Joel had great hopes in him.
"I’m almost finished with the vaccine, Joel," said Robert. "But to come up with a cure would take years."
"You have the strength to fight this," said Joel with a reassuring smile. "And what you don’t finish someone else will. And they would be learning from you."
"I will finish," Robert whispered softly.
"And I believe that you will," said Joel. He bowed his head and left the room. You will, dear friend. Or our lives are lost. He added in his empathic voice.