Chapter 5

I woke up relatively well-rested, despite the nightmares that had returned. Though similar to the ones that I had the previous night, these now included our whole group and they developed in slightly different ways.

All in all, though, they hadn't been as bad this time.

Hopefully, I would become accustomed to them in time, or perhaps they would ease up and stop altogether.

After booting up my laptop, I checked my e-mail, but there were no more messages from Uncle Travis. I was worried about him, wondering if he had somehow been caught sending me the warning and information about the impending meteor shower. For all I knew, the authorities were on their way here for me! There wasn't anything I could do but wait, though.

For now, I sent him a short e-mail to the address he had sent me.

'Hey Travis! It sure has been a while! We should get together for a couple of beers. I'm working on putting together a family and friends get-together, so you be sure to clear your calendar. I'll mail you the details later. Keep safe!'

Short and innocuous, but I was sure that he'd get the message.

I decided to forgo my morning run, seeing as I would be getting a different workout, helping Crys and Nina move their things into Alex and Lee's apartment. After leaving my room, still dressed in my boxers and an old t-shirt, I was pleasantly surprised to find Dave already there in the kitchen, making coffee and toast.

Apparently he was capable of waking up early, as long as Missy wasn't around, wearing him out and keeping him in bed.

"Morning," he said a bit gruffly, clearly still partially asleep. He was like that until finishing his first cup of morning coffee.

He took a seat at the kitchen table, placing his full mug and plate of buttered toast in front of him.

"Morning," I responded simply as I started preparing my own breakfast. "So, how did you sleep with more room in bed?"

He paused a moment before answering, trying to decide if I was serious or just teasing him.

"Unexpectedly uncomfortable." He eventually admitted, almost reluctantly. He continued in an almost whisper, "I never expected to miss her. At least not like this." I had known that already.

Dave had told me enough about his family and of his life growing up for me to understand that he had some serious issues with love, trust and commitment. The fact that we had become such good friends and that he had managed to fall in love with Missy was a near miracle.

"I'm going to propose to her." That one surprised me. He sighed and continued. "I was already considering it before you let us know that the sky was falling. Seriously considering it. Now, facing an impending doom, not knowing if we will even survive ... it really put things in perspective, you know. I'm going to ask her to marry me before the meteors fall."

"I'm damn happy for you Dave." I said smiling. "You wouldn't happen to need a loan to buy a ring, would you?" I made sure to say it with a joking tone, as I took a seat across from him with my own cup of coffee and plate of toast.

"I got it covered Marcus. I'm going shopping for one today." He answered after giving a snort of laughter. "I might need a best man later on, if you're not too busy."

I looked to the ceiling, apparently deep in thought. "After surviving the meteor shower, I have an alien invasion to repel and the four horsemen of the apocalypse to take care of, but I'm sure that I can pencil you in somewhere." I actually managed to say it with a straight face and level voice.

"I appreciate it deeply, arsehole." He responded, just as seriously.

After staring at each other for a few moments, we both burst out laughing.

"Seriously Dave, I'd be honored." He simply nodded in response and we both continued our breakfast with smiles on our faces.

He spoke again while we were cleaning up and washing the dishes.

"I've looked into canceling our registrations at Uni." He gestured to a small pile of papers on the kitchen table. "All you need to do is fill in the form and mail it. Easy peasy. I've already given some out to the others."

"Good, that's one less thing to worry about." I said gratefully. There were so many things to organize and get done, that every task completed was a relief.

"But that still leaves a lot of minor, yet annoying, details to take care of." Dave continued. "We have to take care of our apartments and cars, give notice at our jobs and close out our bank accounts."

I nodded in agreement. "All it should take is a couple of days, tops."

We separated then, to get ourselves cleaned up and clothed, so that we could set out looking for a suitable self-storage place.

Just as we left the building, who do I run into but yesterday's bike messenger. He rolled up close to us, while deftly removing a package from his backpack, one-handed.

"Hey, Marcus Brooks." He said smiling. "One of us must have good timing."

"I hope it's me." I replied, taking and signing for the package, which must have been almost twice the size of yesterday's.

The messenger then gave an amused, "See ya tomorrow," and raced off before I could respond. Turning back to Dave, I saw that he was obviously curious.

"A list of properties for sale." He nodded in understanding and we both walked on towards his jeep. "Let's just hope that there are better choices in this bunch. More than anything, I'd feel much better with a known and secure retreat."

Sudden memories of the night before last's nightmare were hard to ignore.

I was surprised and a bit irritated at how long it actually took us to find the right storage facility.

The first place we visited had too little free space available at the time, while the second was run by a pretty shady character. We were far from convinced that our stuff would be safe there. As the stories go, the third place we checked out was just right. It was a clean and well-kept place, with large, secure containers and an obviously competent staff and security personnel present 24/7.

We ended up renting a large container, the size of a two-car garage, with the option of renting an adjacent one. It wasn't even that expensive, seeing as we weren't planning on using it for more than a month.

As we were leaving the front office, I noticed a sign and asked the attendant about it. They were apparently selling collapsible cardboard boxes, to help people in storing and moving their belongings.

We ended up practically cleaning out their on-site supply, filling Dave's jeep near to bursting.

Job done, we had lunch at a nearby sandwich shop, and then returned home. There, Dave took my car to run some errands while I took his jeep – I'd need it to help Crys and Nina move their stuff into Alex and Lee's place.

On the way, I got a call on my cell from Sandra.

"Hey Sandra, how're you doing?" I asked happily after putting her on speaker.

"Not too good actually." She answered after a slight pause.

I actually took my eyes off the road and stared at my phone curiously for a few moments. She really didn't sound good. If I had to guess, it sounded as if she had been crying recently and was right on the verge of doing so again.

"What's wrong?" I was all business now.

"Things didn't go well between me and Katie -sniff- my girlfriend." I didn't say anything; there wasn't much that I could say. I didn't know Katie and wasn't familiar with their relationship. Now was a time to just shut up and listen.

"We went out for dinner, and afterwards went back to her place. I then sat her down and explained what was going to happen – the asteroid shower, how bad things were going to get, how you were trying to prepare put together a sort of safe haven for us. –sniff, sigh- She didn't believe me."

"She was really angry and jumping from idea to idea. At first, she thought that it was just some lame excuse to break up with her. After I assured her that I didn't and that she was invited to come with us, she accused you of trying to con me, or lure me into some sort of cult in some far off and remote location."

I just managed to stifle the laugh before it could pass my lips, but I couldn't help swerving a bit in my lane.

"I got mad then and lit into her." She wound down then, and I could hear a choked off sob. "We both said some pretty mean things to one another, and then I came home." Her voice had gone up toward the end – she was close to breaking down to tears.

"Listen to me Sandra." I spoke calmly, but firmly. "Katie was most likely blindsided by what you told her and simply reacted in confusion or fear. Besides, you have to admit, it is an unbelievable story." I paused to see if she was still paying attention. When I heard her murmur something and sniffle, I continued, "Send her a message, apologizing for anything hurtful you might have said. DON'T mention anything about the meteor shower. Then give her a day or two, if she doesn't call sooner, before trying to talk to her again. That should give you both some time to calm down and think. Ok?"

"Ok..." she answered in a small voice, as if she was a little girl and not the brilliant, strong and independent young woman that I knew.

"Things will turn out alright, you'll see. Do you want me to come over?"

"No, no -sniff- ... You're probably right, I'll be fine." She sounded like she was on the way to picking herself up.

Good, I really didn't want to bail on Crys.

"Besides, I hear you have a date today anyway." She finished in a much more upbeat tone of voice. "I'll call you tomorrow, bye."

She hung up before I could answer, leaving me once again staring at my cell, open mouthed. How the hell had she known about me meeting Crys? That just goes to show you what happens when women get together – they dish and gossip to no end.

Honking from the car behind me shook me out of my stupor and I noticed that the light had turned green. I felt my face heat in embarrassment as I put the jeep in gear and drove off.

I caught sight of Crys's face lighting up with a happy smile as I pulled up in front of her apartment complex. I quickly got the goofy grin that I just knew was plastered on my own face under control before she could see it. I hadn't really expected her to be at the door waiting for me, but I couldn't say that I wasn't pleased.

"Thanks for doing this Marcus," she said after I parked, exited the jeep and approached her. She followed it up with a warm hug and a kiss on my cheek.

Sadly, I was too surprised to reciprocate properly.

"No problem," I answered. "Anything I can do to help."

I couldn't help but look her over and appreciate her beauty. Her pink hair was pulled back into a short ponytail and there was a hint of makeup on her face, dark around the eyes and red on her lips. Her clothing seemed a bit impractical for moving though. It didn't even occur to me that maybe it was for my benefit. She wore a short blue and grey tartan skirt with matching kneesocks and black Converse Hightops. Her t-shirt was short and tight, featuring the Blue Sun logo on it.

Even though I was momentarily distracted by her luscious curves, I still burst out laughing.

Luckily she was laughing as well. I just happened to be wearing a t-shirt featuring a speech bubble that read "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal" over two silhouetted dinosaurs.

"I guess we both have Firefly in common," Crys said warmly.

"And this is just the second day of us knowing each other. Just imagine what we'll have in common tomorrow." The joke might have been a bit corny, but she smiled anyway.

"You look really good today." I said honestly. Mom had told me numerous times to always compliment a woman you care about.

"Thank you." She said as she turned away, back toward her building, but not before I caught a glimpse of her pleased smile and blushing cheeks. Thank you mom. "Now, let's get to work, shall we?"

"One second." I answered, going back to the jeep for a dozen flattened boxes.

She saw what I had brought and said, "Good idea. I've just been using trash bags to carry my stuff."

"I think ahead. It's what I do." I replied, shrugging, with a charming half smile.

"I've been told." Uh, oh. Damned women and their gossiping.

I contemplated just what kind of dirt they might have told her as we entered her building in silence.

"I'm sorry, but we'll have to take the stairs. The elevator has been out of order for a while now." She told me apologetically.

"No problem," I replied, not really meaning it.

Crys had already told me that she lived on the sixth floor and the idea of going up and down all those flights of stairs, carrying her stuff, wasn't exactly attractive. I quickly changed my mind as I enjoyed the sight of her long and toned legs flexing and rounded ass flexing rhythmically under her skirt as she climbed the stairs ahead of me. The knowing smile that she occasionally flashed back at me as we climbed the stairs told me that she knew exactly what I was thinking about. And she didn't seem that put out about it all.

We eventually reached her floor, both of us a bit red-faced and breathing deeply. It looked damn good on her.

I shook my head as I followed her down the hall, trying desperately to get rid of all the very appealing, yet immensely distracting mental images that she had provided.

"I don't have much, so it shouldn't take more than a couple of trips." She said, opening her apartment door and gesturing me in. She grimaced and continued, "Oh and ignore the mess. I have a bunch of roommates and not all of them give a crap about how they live."

I got a good idea of what she was talking about as she closed the door behind us. Though the place wasn't terribly dirty, it was extremely cluttered and disorganized, to the point of making it hard to walk around. We seemed to be the only ones there in the apartment, but from what I could see there were at least three people camping out in the living room in sleeping bags.

"My stuff's in the room over here."

I followed her to one of the apartment's two bedrooms. There I found a similar sight as in the living room – a cluttered and well lived in space, with two sets of bunk beds.

Seven people total, plus maybe another four in the last bedroom. Crys certainly wasn't kidding when she said that she had a lot of roommates.

She didn't bother with the grand tour, so we got right down to work, unpacking her stuff from large garbage bags, into cardboard boxes, and carrying them downstairs to the jeep. Most of it was clothes – boy did that girl have an ample and varied wardrobe! – which I mostly let her handle, but she also had a nice selection of photography equipment, DVDs and books. I was particularly pleased to see that she owned some Dungeons and Dragons books – novels and RPG rulebooks.