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.I jump over a broken chair and shuffle around a display case leaning over.I see it has a hole punched through its glass cover; probably by a past pilferer.“Moses, Katie!” I yell, hoping I might get a response.I see Gary out of the corner of my eye venturing into the adjacent room.I leap over the dirty counter and bend down to check behind it.I find no signs anyone’s be behind here lately.Debris blocks me from continuing any further.I retrace my steps back to the entranceway and take a different course of action.I continue to finish checking the rest of the room.I don’t find any evidence that anyone may have been in here.I rub my burning eyes and cough several times.I find the air is becoming a toxic mixture of dust and the encroaching smoke seeping through the back door.I pull my undershirt up and over my nose hoping this will reduce some of my ailments.I decide to keep moving, but as fast as possible in an attempt to limit my exposure.I leave this room and follow after Gary.I look up as I enter this larger storage area.I am astounded to find a hundred pin holes of light streaming through the tin roof.Tiny streams of yellow lasers illuminate the entire area.I see Gary on the other side of the room bent down.He is leaning up a panel of plywood that was coveringa fortress of boxes, cement blocks, and a couple chairs.I callout again, “Moses, Katie!” I journey closer to Gary to analyze his finding, as I journey through the tiny galaxies of stars orbiting over my entire body.As I get close, I hear Gary determining someone was definitely here.I bend over to view the reason for his conclusion.I count four MRE wrappers on the floor of this shelter.I grab one to find it had only been partially eaten.I smell and squeeze the bitten remains to find it’s fresh and still soft.This under area is also fairly clean of dust compared to the surrounding floor.I agree with Gary’s conclusion.“Yep, someone or some bodies were here recently.” A spark of hope fills me as we continue to finish checking the rest of the building.We end up in the main foyer as I think this is where dozens of customers once stood.Now all I see are dirty broken windows, and tumbling twines of dust.I wonder how many anniversary bouquets were sold here, how many Valentine roses were given to lovers, and how many wreaths were made for funerals.I stare through the broken windows at the wooden “Gardener Mill Florist” sign still hanging-half cocked.One chain now holds it as it twist to the sound of a churning chain.It was probably the prettiest crafted sign I ever saw; at one time and long ago.I look for footprints, but only find waves of fresh driven dust on the floor.I find I am now able to breathe again.The outside breeze sucks out the repugnant air as it swirls in the fresh acidy stench.I see the main door is partially open.Maybe it’s because Moses and the bunch had to leave in a hurry, or it was just left that way by a distant looter.Our next stop will have to be the “old department store.” “Come on Gary, we’re wasting light.” We join at the doorway and step out together.We stop just outside to give a quick look around.This side of the property only has one crater.But, it looks humungous.I can see it is near the “old department store,” about a quarter mile away.I also see what looks like half a jetsticking out of the bushes up ahead, and off to the left.I tellGary, “Something isn’t right,” and warn him to stay close to me.We detour slightly to check the fuselage, and maybe figure out the reason the jet was destroyed.This could prove to be very important.As we draw nearer to it, I see many different size and erratically placed holes.I wonder what kind of enemy of theirs would have the power to do this.My mind recalls the militias forming back east.I reason, “Is it possible they somehow did this?” I stare further at the holes to see what kind of weapon could have taken a fast moving jet down.The erratic pattern in the jet’s skin rules out the linear pattern machinegun fire would have produced.We make it to the downed jet as I begin to notice the holes intrude from the topside inwards.The metal seems to be punched down into the jet, proving these holes came from a higher source.This suggests the attacker must have been airborne, and even higher than this jet’s altitude.I grab a handhold on its top portion, and then pull myself up for a closer look.I wonder what might have happened to the rest of the fuselage.I take a quick look around the perimeter to see if I can identify where it is.I don’t see a thing except that the ground looks to be free of any craters.I store this new knowledge under the category of “that’s odd.”I return to checking the perforations in the fuselage.So far, meteors would be the best candidate for the holes, because of the various sizes and erratic patterns.I look for remnants of rock on the jet’s skin, but I can’t find any.I decide to investigate further, so I slide down and enter through the broken section of the fuselage.I am unexpectedly overtaken with JP5 (jet fuel) vapor and hold my breath.I search quickly, but find no meteorite fragments of any kind.I do see exit holes suggesting whatever destroyed this jet, packed enough power to completely shoot through it.I also see the stretched metal skin around the holes above me pointing inwards.I hurry back outside and move away.I takea gulp of sustainable fresh air, and then take one more look atthe jet’s breakpoint.It is a perfect clean break.This is also a candidate for the “that’s odd” folder, and file it under “weird.”I deduct the most likely reason for the holes are from an explosion that must have come from somewhere above the jet in flight.I am still not sure what penetrated the skin.There should be at least rock slithers inside; even if the majority passed right through.Also, the entry points equal the exit points.If I draw a line connecting the two, it would be straight.This proves that either: the jet was not moving, or the penetrating debris was moving faster than the jet.I also figure the holes could not be from the meteor shower without some signs of meteor remnants inside the fuselage.The metal would have surely cut at least a few slithers of the rock away.And, the holes could not have occurred after it crashed, unless there were small craters around the crash site.As for the breakpoint; that section looks like it was sliced in half.The breakpoint should display jagged stress marks on the skin of the jet.This would look sort of like a “Shark bite” pattern.But, it is perfectly straight up and down, and “clean as a whistle.” The cut also had to be faster than the jet was traveling, or the slice would be diagonal.Yes, it was somehow sliced straight through, and all at once, while traveling at a high rate of speed.That is why the other half of the jet is not anywhere near here.It could have veered in another direction, or just kept going several more miles.My last question is: why hasn’t the Guard been here to claim the remains? I don’t even see any signs they’ve been to its viewing.I conclude that I have no idea what downed this jet.I do know something happened to it that I must have never seen before.“Let’s go Gary,” I command.Gary finishes circling the jet and wants to know what happened to make it crash.We move out as I reason the best answer to tell him is, “It ran out of gas.” Gary tells me, “You’re crazy.” I laugh at him and continue towards the store.Gary shakes his head side to sidemumbling something that makes him laugh [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]