Chapter 9: Armageddon Part 1

It wasn’t possible...

The explosion deep in the far distance, seen as far from one state to another, the catastrophic blast from Yellowstone rocked the entire landscape. The live camera feeds showed satellite imagery and deep, long-range visual scans. A large mushroom cloud could be seen as it rose to the gray-lit sky. Scores of endless molten ash plumes rose into the poisoned sky, funneling into the clouds above.

Theron’s heart sank into the endless abyss ... it couldn’t happen ... it shouldn’t have happened, but it did. For a second, the ones that were coherent from the terror were glued to the display boards. It had to have been a trick, some AI-generated image run amok, but it was proven to be utterly true. The tremors, the underground shockwave, were something nobody could fake. Nature had been unleashed. One of the great super volcanoes of Earth had erupted. No human being would ever bear witness to such an event.

Until now...

“No...,” Theron said to himself.

Alarms were passed throughout the dome. An electronic male voice echoed throughout the entire vicinity.

“Alert!” a computerized voice said. “Registering volcanic eruption in Montana, Yellowstone Caldera. Level 5 alert protocols are in effect. Volcanic Explosive Index 8 has been registered. All civilians are to report to the emergency bunkers. Shelter in place is in effect. Processing emergency actions. Standby for further reports...”

Theron momentarily froze in place as he thought about it. It was more than a VEI 8 registered on the display. The eruption of Yellowstone was greater than any blast ever seen before. This wasn’t an eight, this was a nine, possibly more. A bar scale was shown, maxed out, where it could no longer properly depict it.

From the display, the volcanic eruption had thrown a massive ash plume in all directions, with most of it heading more eastward, likely in the direction of the main blast. The western sky had turned red, gray, and black. A volcanic shockwave was traveling toward him, likely toward the other dome cities scattered across the mid-central United States.

Theron turned his head toward the main door in the distance. People who were close to the outside began to run into the dome as fast as they could. Meanwhile, other concerned onlookers placed their attention toward the scenery outside.

The festival...

Adrenaline filled the man’s veins. He began to run even as his brain told him to stop. His boots gripped the floor hard. There would have been no way to rescue them, nor the countless others who were too far from the building.

“Alert!” the same overhead computer voice echoed. “Level 5 alert protocols are in effect. A heavy pyroclastic shockwave has been detected. The estimated impact is five minutes and forty-two seconds before impact.”

The explosion was more intense than it ever was. The sheer power of the eruption was propelling molten ash, sulfuric gases, lava, and molten rock at phenomenal speeds, faster than anything on record. This was no ordinary volcanic eruption; this was a massive and all-powerful atomic bomb that was unleashed upon the world. It exceeded all expectations and estimations from every scientist known to man. Propelled eastward, the volcanic ash would reach the dome soon and exterminate everything in its path.

“Doors will remain open for two minutes and 35 seconds,” the computer stated. “It is advised that all outsiders seek shelter immediately.”

“My God,” Theron said as he thought about it quickly. There was no time ... no time to go and help his parents or anyone else. The festival was outside, far from the dome. Countless individuals ... the mayhem ... every vehicle would be used, but there would never be enough. The festival was doomed. There was nothing to protect them from the fury of an eruption of this magnitude.

Theron had no choice ... There was none. Running outside in some hope to save them would only get him killed in the process. Instead, he had to consider Gemma.

Prepare for the worst ... for there was no choice. The man quickly turned his head back to his room. Others were already rushing to their rooms. A small tremor hit the dome again, causing the floor to crack more. From the edge of Theron’s eye, he could see the ground from outside. The catastrophic rip of nature tore into the very Earth. The explosion was so powerful that it rocked the tectonic plate, threatening to tear the ground asunder. Darkness was only enveloping the landscape as the very sun was being blocked out.

Theron opened the door to his room to see Gemma scared in bed. Despite her illness, Theron would make sure she was ready.

“Get your survival suit on, now!” the man yelled as he entered the room and locked the door behind him.

“What?” Gemma reacted.

“Yellowstone just erupted.” Theron walked over to the closet and opened it, grabbing his suit along with Gemma’s. He tossed her smaller suit to her.

“I know...,” Gemma reacted as she grabbed onto her suit and pushed herself out of bed. “Terry ... are we going to be alright?”

“I don’t think so ... They’re closing the main doors soon ... most of the dome is well outside ... they’re not going to make it...”

Gemma was left with that thought as she climbed out of bed and struggled to put on her suit. All modesty was put aside as the two rushed to put on their protective gear. Gemma did it without question.

Meanwhile, Theron felt nothing but horror, imagining what the others outside would experience, feeling powerless in being able to stop this.

God, just let this be a dream...

The man’s mind was everywhere. Fear ruled his heart, knowing he was at the mercy of nature itself. Earth couldn’t take this ... especially not now. He could only imagine the worst.

Putting on the suit was relatively easy for Theron, but Gemma was a different matter. She had naturally grown over the years. As a result, it would prove to be a tighter fit. The man stepped toward her, helping her put on the heavy coat. At the same time, he helped keep her braced, despite her sickly health.

“Alert!” the overhead voice announced, continued. “One minute till the main doors close. All personnel and residents who fail to enter will be locked out till main pyroclastic shockwave passes the main dome.”

“I’m trying to put it on,” Gemma said.

“You got this,” he assured her. The coat was buttoned with an internal layer to help seal for potential toxic fallout. He managed to grab her pants and gave them to her. The man continued putting on his own suit, sitting down on the bed, and putting on his own boots.

“I feel so weak,” the young teenager said.

“You’re doing fine. Don’t stop. I’m going to grab the emergency masks. Stay here and keep getting dressed.”

“Ok...”

Theron just put on his boots and was fully dressed from the shoulders down. He walked over to the door and opened it.

The sounds of chaos outside reverberated inside the room as the man stepped outside. In the main courtyard, people were continuing to rush to their rooms. All the stores were abandoned. Running was constant, especially for those outside. It was as if they were seeing hell itself wash over the land.

From the courtyard, a series of controlled latches were unlocked on the hard floor. They slid open for people to go inside. The underground rooms were little more than emergency storage hubs for the dome. Damaged from the tremors, not all of them worked. These makeshift emergency shelters would be used to their full potential.

Was this a necessary precaution? Did he really need to put on the survival suit? Theron’s gut told him that he needed to do it now. A few outsiders were pouring into the dome as the alarm sounds picked up in pace. Theron walked over to a nearby alcove and pressed a button. A large, clear plastic wall lifted, revealing numerous emergency filter breathing masks of different sizes. He grabbed two of them. A wayward person almost smacked into Theron by accident, completely unaware of the fact that the man was trying to get himself ready for the worst.

The door began to close as the clouds grew darker. Lightning was already spreading across the sky, moving rapidly as sulfuric ash mixed with the atmosphere.

“No ... no...,” Theron said, knowing his parents were out there. Dread and survival mode were in full swing, being in perpetual war with one another. Every part of his instinct told him that if he stopped now, then it would likely lead to his and Gemma’s demise.

There was some hope from Theron. Maybe his parents managed to make it somehow. Maybe they got in a vehicle and were ferried into the adjacent structures, seeking shelter in the agricultural facilities. However, those thoughts diminished as the doors slowly closed shut.

Looking at the display, Theron saw the mountains westward enveloped in a massive ashen cloud. Falling debris, molten rock, and pieces of hard stone were flung and tossed over Earth’s atmosphere, skipping before gravity pulled them downward. From the epicenter, the orbital satellites were doing their best to record everything. Yellowstone had turned into a surface funnel, continually pumping sulfuric gases into the toxic clouds, forming a deadly mix of raw death.

As the door closed, the dome was rocked by another tremor as the post-volcanic explosion continued to shake and tear into the tectonic plate. A hard sound could be heard in the air. More lightning could be seen, filling the sky with the ever-encroaching natural pollution.

“Alert,” the overhead announcement continued. “Doors are fully sealed. Less than 2 minutes and 39 seconds remain until the pyroclastic shockwave reaches impact. Current registered expected impact simulations indicate that the dome will not survive the shockwave. Internal environment will be compromised. It is requested that all interior occupants wear Level 2 or Level 3 survival suits immediately.”

“Mom ... Dad...,” Theron whispered under his breath. He quickly began to head back to the room. The thought that the dome would not survive this powerful eruption from so far away from Yellowstone was alarming.

From the displays, the last thing that Theron could see was that the massive shockwave was continuing to expand. On the geographic map, the blast caused considerable damage to areas west of it, but it was mostly focused eastward, a volcanic eruption that blew from its side rather than directly upward. The wave of death it was bringing would be enough to level out most of Wyoming, large portions of Montana, and possibly more. Flaming molten boulders were raining down. Launched into orbit, they were hurtling down towards the central US landscape. Many of these rocks were the size of houses.

Another tremor hit the ground, another aftershock that shook the foundation of the dome. Some people were knocked to the ground, but quickly got back up. The floor continued to shatter under the quake, with massive cracks visible. Theron opened the door and jumped inside before it closed behind him.

The man held onto the mask as Gemma had finished putting on her pants. The last thing she would need was her boots and mask. The look of fear was in her eyes.

“Almost done,” he said, placing the masks on the bed. He helped her get one boot on her feet, tying one of them down before using the rim of the pants to safely cover and seal her body.

“Do you really think we need all this?” she asked him.

“Yeah, we do. I don’t want to even imagine what’s going to happen after all this.”

“Are we going to die?”

He wasn’t going to lie. “I don’t know ... we just leave it to fate now.”

Her boots were fitted properly. The man handed the mask to her as she put it on. With the top hood of her suit in place, she had a proper seal, protecting her from whatever foul elements might hit her. She looked like she was ready for whatever chemical and biological attack that humanity or nature would bring upon her. Theron was in the process of putting his own mask on when he began to hear something. It consisted of tiny bangs that were hitting the roof and ceiling far above them. Molten boulders of rock were smacking the roof, either not having enough mass to do any damage or just leaving dents. However, it was only growing in magnitude.

Theron could only imagine the worst. Outside, the people could only watch as they saw the wave of death heading towards them, swirling black death of sulfur, lava, or any other form of superheated dust heading their way. The atmospheric friction generated was so intense that the thunder rode with the wave. Meanwhile, the faster strays of the festival, the ones that reached the dome past the early escapes, could only watch as the door blocked their entry. Countless hundreds, thousands were banging their hands against the closed entrance, pleading and begging to get inside.

Theron could only curse at the AI unit. Its algorithm was too transfixed on preserving the dome first rather than its inhabitants. There was still time to open the doors and let these people in, but perhaps it didn’t truly matter. It had already calculated everyone’s doom. The dome should have been able to withstand whatever was thrown against it, but it couldn’t handle such a catastrophic blast, such as this. This was a volcanic eruption to end all eruptions, the great one that had rarely occurred in over 600,000 years, perhaps one that only struck once every few million years, so severe that mankind was never truly ready.

It was as if God was ready to end humanity and start over from scratch.

Fully prepped, Theron gestured for Gemma to follow him. They ran to the door and opened it.

The two could see one of the countless emergency bunkers in the courtyard floor. Another man, in his suit, jumped into it. With his hand firmly grasping Gemma’s, Theron ran to the bunker. Other men and women were already trying to climb into the emergency shelters, some without even their suits.

There was little time left. A small set of stairs led into one of them. Both he and Gemma climbed down the stairs as the main hatch to the floor was getting ready to close at any moment.

Inside this bunker, Theron recognized the inadequacy of the interior itself. It was small, packed full of supplies or junk from every person who came to the dome. The other man had packed himself into a corner, but the amount of space available was seemingly little.

The bunkers alone weren’t going to work. Theron already knew that these shelters were not designed for some all-powerful volcano. But perhaps with the survival suit, the combination might be enough. Climbing over multiple piles of luggage, Theron made sure to find a corner that was directly away from the door, much as the other unknown man had done.

“This will do,” he told Gemma. They both knelt down on the floor. There was only one way to survive this, if it ever happened, and that was to pray. Both of them, dressed for the apocalypse, sat down and curled up into a ball.