God Particles

It had first begun on the news. Reports had come into the local stations saying that the government had recently moved out into the desert, setting up temporary camps. They were testing something. Most assumed it must be a new kind of weapon. Biological, thermonuclear, napalm. No one knew the dates of the experiment, but all assumed it was the night the sky caught on fire. Late one evening, without warning, the sky exploded - blotting out the moon and all the stars. The haze lingered for a few minutes, before fading away. Plunging the town back into darkness.

The event left people wondering what it could have been. Trees on the edge of town were scorched. Their leaves burned around the edges. Windows in some homes had burst in - windshields on car cracked. But no one had felt an aftershock. There was no loud explosion. It was if a massive bolt of lightning had come down from the heavens, muted from the world.

People begun to get scared when military personal started showing up a few days later - poking through yards, underneath vehicles, routing through garbage bins. They wore thick goggles and face masks, guns strapped to their hips. None of them said a word. No one acknowledged the residents of the town. If anyone approached, they'd continue to stare ahead. Not to be bothered. At night, a different group came out of the vehicles, dressed in white jumpsuits. They could be seen collecting samples off of different surfaces from around the town, placing them in thick, double-sealed bags before retreating back to their mobile bases.

There was no warning. No signs. One day, they were gone. Packed up without leaving a trace.

The people of the town didn't know what to do. Should they assume the worst and leave, following the example for the military, or were they reading too much into things? Some people left - fearing something sinister was headed for the town. Unfortunately for everyone else who stayed - the people who left were right.

It was only a day or two before the news stations began reporting something was forming in the desert. Meteorologists refused to call it a storm. Pulsing as it grew on the radar, swirling back and forth. There was no predictable pattern. It moved like a living organism with a purpose - searching for something. Soon the normal news stopped. Replaced by government talking heads that swore everything was going to be fine. It was just a rogue sand storm that would soon break apart.

But the suits had lied.

As they stood there, looking out at the swirling wall that was moving closer, there really wasn't much they could do. It was imposing. Stretching further than they could see.

Higher than they dared to imagine.

                                                                                                                           14