Occultation



“… T minus ten minutes from launch…”

The quiet voice crackled through the old radio, regaining my attention from the rising situation in the street. I turned from the window and grabbed the device, then placed it on a shelf next to my head and continued observing outside. A couple of people who had been sent off moments ago were now returning down the street, pushing something large and on wheels towards the shirtless mass. I pushed my coat sleeve up, and set an alarm on my watch for ten minutes from now, before returning my gaze towards the strange gathering.

“… for as of today, we will be one step closer to solving the mystery of the strange object.”

''Strange object. That was quite a simplistic way of talking about the umbra.'' I scrunched my neck and tried to peek up at the sky. The moon was passing by; it would be setting relatively soon. My eyes followed its movement, only recognizing it by the curved line of light across its body. Had things been normal, it would probably be three quarters full.

''“… with us now is Dr. Gertrude Jackson, one of the many scientists attempting to explain the phenomenon. Dr. Jackson, are there any current theories you could share with us, and do you really think this launch will allow us to further understand what the ‘umbra’ is?”''

''Phenomenon. Well, you’re getting closer.'' I continued to watch the moon pass, approaching the horizon. I recalled the first time I saw it go so quickly; the gut wrenching panic, the dizziness. My current stomach began to squeeze thinking of the day before yesterday, so I shook it off and breathed slowly.

A scream from outside caught my attention. I turned down the radio and scanned the road. Two ruffians were now dragging a woman to the bonfire by her arms. She kicked and thrashed about, her feet scraping against the pavement. One of the men shouted for her to stop, only resulting in her returning a slew of obscenities.

They disregarded her cries and continued on, throwing her atop the large object they had just brought there and tying her down. In the light of the flickering flames, I could finally make out the object: a large wooden office desk.

''“… that this Allais effect is related to something like Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, in the same way we cannot observe an electron’s speed and position at the same time. This is because if we were to observe said electron, the light bouncing from our eyes would, in fact, slow the electron down, hence it is no longer at its true speed. Some believe that the sun was…”''

''Comparing quantum mechanics to the umbra? They’re really reaching up their asses for some answers now. Maybe we really are doomed.''

The moon was now beginning to disappear behind the horizon of rooftops. As it lowered, so too did the voices of the mob. It was hard to tell what was going on in the darkness, but soon a man with a strange headpiece approached the desk. He too was shirtless, like the mob, and I could tell that his skin was dyed crimson red. A large black circle containing a smaller circle had been drawn on his chest - a symbol of the umbra. The mob kneeled down in silence, until all one could hear was my radio and the faint beeping of a car alarm in the distance.

“Fellow servants!” The man bellowed to the crowd. “Many have been offered to our protector in these last few hours, and stayed it has! And so, we gather again at this passing hour to give it yet another offering… to give it strength.”

“To give it strength,” the crowd repeated. My blood chilled, and I gritted my teeth. ''Fucking animals. Is this really what it’s come to?'' The man gestured for the twenty or so maniacs to approach the desk, the woman only screaming louder for someone to come to her rescue. I thought about the axe at my side, but I couldn’t bring myself to go. If I went out, I’d likely end up just like her. So there I stayed, listening to Dr. Jackson drone about the events of the last four days.

“Well, Frank, as we all know, on June 28, what we thought was a total solar eclipse occurred.”

I pulled my sunglasses down over my eyes, keeping an eye to the east.

''“At first, we were rather confused. After all, this event defied all calculations. There wasn’t meant to be another total solar eclipse for about seven months. But, of course, we didn’t count on the umbra.”''

The start of the ring began to climb over the houses, and eventually its entirety could be seen. The rainbow glow around its edges, flickering like the bonfire, and moving with the sun. The horizon glowed a faint orange, but the rest of the sky stayed dark and cold. It was day, but the umbra had created an artificial night. The first few times it set, I hoped it wouldn’t come back, and every time it did. Eventually, I stopped hoping. It wasn’t going anywhere, and I just came to accept that.

''“At first everyone was rather… impressed, you know? Getting to witness a solar eclipse this long was, truly something. Then fifteen minutes went by, and we were like ‘Okay, this is kinda weird, but whatever’. Twenty, thirty, forty…”''

“Help me! Jesus, please, somebody!”

My head turned towards the mob as she screamed, and I couldn’t look away as the screams turned to sputtering. The chief was pulling something large through the woman’s torso, causing a liquid spray to cover him and his followers. The mob cheered, and I watched in disgust as he reached into her breast and yanked out an organ - I assumed her heart.

''“People began to panic after two hours, and I mean that was when it spiked. Social media was flooded with posts of worry, admissions of wrong doings, confessions of love. Within two hours of the announcement of our doom, everyone was ready to repent.”''

The chief cackled, raising the heart towards the umbra, now high in the sky, before turning to the bonfire and tossing it in. “May the ashes of this human life reach you, o great protector. We shall drench ourselves in her essence, so that we may carry on your wishes to the world.”

''“Less sunlight began to ruin the crops, of course. The cold finished off any that remained. The constant dark began to depress the populace, which helped stopped the panic for a little while at least. Then depression turned to anger, and anger led to wide spread rioting and violence. I mean, I understand - when the world appears to be at its end, may as well do whatever, right?

“The third day though, that’s when it really started getting weird. Social media analysts noticed this trend of people banding together, embracing their beliefs. Cults were being birthed left and right. I guess people have different ways of dealing with their fears of the unknown.”''

The cult then raced to her body, tearing the corpse apart in layers. I watched them use her tissues as cloths, washing their bodies in her still warm blood. Their shadows danced on the asphalt, and I was finally able to look away. My face was burning hot in rage - that was the sixth sacrifice today. Gurgles and groans creeped out from my torso. Huddled in my coat, I quickly walked away from the living room and made haste for the bathroom.

My body, however, had other plans. The contents of my meager lunch spilled onto the hallway floor. I stayed there on my knees for a while, coughing and spitting out what I could while trying to breath the piercing cold air.

Once I finally stood and cleaned myself up, that’s when I noticed it. The silence. Blood racing, I hurried back towards the living room. There was a thud at the front door, and it bulged at the weight of whatever was hitting it. I ran over to where I had been seated and grabbed my axe, just as the door splintered across the entrance hall.

“There! I knew I heard sumthin’!”

I turned and saw one of the cult goons charging at me with a long metal pipe in hand. I held the axe across my body defensively, blocking the barrage of swings coming from the scrawny blood covered freak. I knew this was a life or death scenario, and I always thought I could do it, but actually being here, now…

“Oi, look at this puffer! ‘e’s even wearing them sunglasses! What’re ya doing mate, you don’t need those!” The goon howled like whatever he just said was the funniest joke in existence. The other two chuckled as well, approaching me slowly. One grabbed the axe handle and wrestled it from my grasp, while the other slugged me across the left side of my face. I started to collapse towards the floor, but I felt my arm jerk upwards, keeping me from hitting the ground completely.

The cult members began to drag me out of my house, a jagged breeze finding its way through my parka to immobilize me further. The nausea was still strong, so I barely struggled against my captors as my feet hit the street. The hooting had resumed, and the group seemed to be calling to their chief.

“Hey, hey! We still got time!” The goon shouted. “There’s still time for another!”

The chief turned slowly from the fire and nodded, sending the group into a frenzy. They clawed and bit my coat, gradually tearing it to shreds, much like the woman before me. I heard something thud against the ground, and as I was hoisted up onto the desk, I looked down to my right to see a half mauled skeleton lying there.

My strength was returning, my brain was kicking back into action, I had to escape. I pulled and twisted from the cult’s grip, but their bindings were too strong. “Let me go! You fucking lunatics, you’re sick, all of you…!”

Finally, the chief approached me, his body in shadow with the great fire behind him. He reached to his side and drew a large survival knife, gripped my shirt and slashed it down the center, exposing my bare chest to the icy atmosphere.

“Fortune smiles upon us, brethren!” He exclaimed. “This night, we make not one, but two offerings to our divine protector! May it forever watch over us, and give us its blessing of life in this new age of frost and darkness.”

“Blessed be the protector!” The voices echoed in my ears, causing my heart to convulse and pound only harder. I screamed for someone, anyone to help, but it was no use. My eyes frantically jumped around the area, looking for anything to get me out of this hellish demise. All I saw though were the shadowy figures of the cult, and the glint of a knife above me.

The knife dropped, and landed on my stomach. The cold steel chilled me, but it did not pierce my flesh. Confused, I tried to analyze the situation again. Something long stuck out from the chief’s forehead, and as he stumbled back to the fire, I recognized the shape of my axe protruding from his cracked skull. A hand took it out and swung again upwards, catching him under the chin and launching his corpse into the bonfire.

My ears became unblocked, and the sounds of agony were filling the air. I looked to my side again and saw cult members collapsing as loud bangs sounded off around me. One body fell onto the desk, sprawled out over my legs. I found my voice and shouted once again for someone to save me. The corpse was pulled from the table, and a heavily covered figure approached me while another unbound me. I began to sit up to thank them, only to find the barrel of a gun pressed to my temple. My lips froze. Out of the frying pan…

“You with these guys?” The figure asked, staring me down behind their dark shades. I slowly shook my head, my body shaking from both fear and temperature. “Yeah, thought not. You’ve got a brain, actually wearing a coat and glasses, unlike these dickheads.”

“Hey, Doug,” another coated figure spoke up from the side, pulling their knife from a cult member’s head.

The one holding the gun to my head, presumably Doug, turned to look at who was talking to him. “Yeah?”

“Jordon’s dead. Stupid bastard got clubbed.”

“Ah, dammit.” Doug turned back to me, then huffed. “Well, stranger, today’s your lucky day. You see, our comrade has just fallen, and we could certainly use someone to take his place. So, I’ll give ya two options: option A, you join us as we accelerate the end of humanity, or option B, I blow your brains out here and we find someone else.”

''Beep beep. Beep beep.'' My watch sounded off, and I looked to the sky. A small vapour trail was travelling across the stars, heading straight for the umbra. I paused, watching the rocket advance on the fleeting eclipse. The rest of the group did so as well, watching those little blinking lights whilst standing amongst a pile of corpses.

“Look, friend,” Doug answered, lowering the gun as he stared at the sky. “No one has any fucking clue where that thing came from, and no one ever will. We are just a group of people who faced the truth - that this is the end, and that we’re all equally fucked - and we decided to enjoy ourselves before time’s up. So, are you in… or out?”

"A little... nihilistic, wouldn't you say?"

"Am I wrong, though?"

I looked back up at the sky. The trail was still approaching the umbra.There really is no point trying to comprehend the unthinkable. I slowly stood up, taking the survival knife from the table and pulling my torn coat back on. “May as well enjoy the end of the world.”