Chapter 1: The Sounds Of Silence

Scarlett’s eyes opened to the dawn-lighted room and took in the familiar, flowered wallpaper and feminine furnishings. She nudged her two sisters awake in the king-sized bed they were sharing, “It’s too quiet. Something’s wrong.”

Her parents had long ago given up on separate rooms or even separate beds for the three sisters. Scarlett, as usual, slept in the middle of the bed. She crawled over Violet to sleepy protests and made her way to the ensuite bathroom to drain her bladder and brush her teeth.

The three, who normally lived together in an apartment just off the Mizzou campus, were home overnight to be present when their newly six-year-old brother went storming through the house, waking everyone for his daylong birthday celebration. But Noah was silent. Yep, something was definitely wrong!

The Trips usually slept naked, so Scarlett returned to the bedroom and threw on a clean pair of panties and yesterday’s shorts and blouse. Then she padded down the hall to Noah’s superhero-decorated room. She crept in, intending to tickle the boy awake and tease him about sleeping through his birthday. Instead, she saw her brother lying inert, his eyes open and staring at the ceiling.

Unable to believe what she saw, Scarlett rushed over and shook him. Receiving no response, she felt for a pulse and put her ear to Noah’s mouth searching for any sign of life. Noah’s body was cold and rigid.

Muffling a sob, she rushed back to her room to check on her sisters, unwilling to rely on her memory of Violet’s warmth and complaint. Both looked asleep, and when she shook them in turn, they roused and sat up complaining. Scarlett began to sob with relief and with heart-wrenching sorrow.

“Noah’s dead,” she told them. “It was so quiet, I went in to wake him up and tease him about sleeping through his birthday. His eyes are open and he’s not breathing. His body is cold, too.”

She reached for her phone and dialed 911 while her naked sisters bolted for Noah’s room. Phone in hand, Scarlett followed, hearing ring after ring but no answer. Frustrated, she hung up and brought up her browser to find the direct phone number for an ambulance. Again, her dialing resulted in rings and no answer.

In short order, the three young women trooped down the back staircase to their parents’ master bedroom suite.

Judith Aaron was on her back on the couples’ queen bed, covers off, knees spread wide, with her husband Joshua’s face buried in her pussy. The three young women stood just inside the door, frozen in shock. Scarlett’s first thought was highly irreverent, ‘I hope he got Mom off before they died!’

She dialed 911 again, still receiving no answer, she wailed a high-pitched ululating expression of emotional agony. She turned and ran for the front door. When she burst through to the yard, she heard only silence, followed by three apparent gunshots off in the distance. There were no other human-made sounds - no cars, no voices, no sirens, no...

Scarlett reentered the house to find her sisters on the family room sofa watching the television. On the screen, she saw KMIZ’s morning ‘weather girl’ at the anchor’s desk, tears streaming down her cheeks. “ ... Repeat what we - I guess, I - now know. Shortly after midnight, Eastern Time, people all over the world started dying for no apparent reason. Most simply stopped.”

The weather girl paused and stared into the camera lens, blinking, “At 1 AM, the President appeared on national television from the Oval Office in the White House and declared a national emergency. He stated that there was no known or suspected foreign action, then he collapsed and died. The feed continued from the Oval Office, but there has been nothing further from any government official in Washington.”

She looked down towards the floor, “As the emergency developed, Bob, Allison, and I were called in early to prepare for our morning news. When the President’s broadcast aired, and then he died, they began trying to report and figure out what was happening. None of our affiliates knew ... Then - then - we stopped hearing from them. About one-thirty, Bob, Allison, and everyone here but me collapsed and died. Allison is on the floor at my feet.”

The young lady shrugged and told her, she hoped, audience, “If the camera had not been on Allison and the broadcast live, I couldn’t be talking to you now. I can access the network and affiliate feeds, but nothing is coming in. KMIZ is feeding the network, but I have received no acknowledgment, no response.”

Taking a deep breath, she continued, “I’m very scared and lonely. If anyone is left alive - Mom, anyone - if anyone knows anything - call me on my cell. Please don’t text, I need to hear a voice.” She gave her phone number several times, then waited.

Scarlett punched the numbers into her phone and watched the young woman start as her phone chimed. A look of surprise crossed her face; she mouthed “thank you” and died.

The Trips sat and cycled through the major networks and news channels. Only one had a live announcer, and he collapsed and disappeared as they watched. Several channels had looped recordings that added nothing new.

Rose went to the kitchen and returned with cereal, milk, and bananas on a large tray that also held bowls and utensils. They ate; they watched; they attempted in vain to call friends. They only left the room to fetch coffee, recycle coffee, and to open the front door and peer out. Shortly after noon, they heard a loud explosion, and rushing to the door, they looked and saw a rising smoke cloud to the northeast.