[ D day - 3 ] [ 20 H : 59 M : 40 S ] [ United States of America ]
The morning is going as usual in Aamod Sharma's house. His father Biru arrived in the USA just three days prior. He is not yet adjusted to sleeping times.
As is the case with the most old guys with no occupation, he woke up far too early, finished his morning ablutions, and watched news in local languages on Indian channels.
Fortunately, Aamod had upgraded his cable to the highest possible grade. Even if he did not get all the channels, most cable channels worked as they did in India.
Biru, in his time, had been a finance man in Mumbai. He knew the importance of the news for stocks. Most of his assets are still in stocks.
The early advertisements of Vikram's website hadn't the information, but the website's address itself.
After all, it's a paid content, Vinod definitely put some words in there that prohibited the content from being shown as is. Thus, the TV companies hadn't dared to take action before contacting their legal departments about stepping all over an individual's privacy.
As soon as Biru saw the website, his spidey senses tingled uncontrollably.
The Last time such a thing happened, the market collapsed the next day. Biru had gone to the verge of committing suicide before he returned with resolution to give up his greed.
From then on, he never bet big, only looked at long term goals, slowly earning the assets he has lost. As soon as he saw that website, he knew he must buy it.
Fortunately, his little grandson wakes along with him at the same time. Thus, the six year old and the sixty year old sat together, pretending they were the hackers in a spy movie. They bought the enemy information on the dark web, before obtaining the information on the web page.
The six year old was precocious, and very well read.
As soon as Biru read the information, he thought, it's not a good day to get out.
" Grandfather ! Does this mean Godzilla is real ? Transformers are going to come to earth and attack us all ? " his grandson asked him curiously.
Obviously, the little one is an I-generation. His best teacher is alexa, and his friend google is yet to be wrong.
Thus, he went running to his parent's place.
" Mommy ! Daddy ! Wake up ! Wake up ! The godzilla is going to attack. We have to run ! We have to run. ! " The child jumped around all over the bed.
Both of the child's parents are up. In the morning, his parents are about to get him ready for school.
Baby Sharma slipped out of his mother's hands with great finesse.
Aamod stretched out his hand habitually beside his wife, caught the collar of his son's shirt.
After all, this escape and apprehension is a daily routine.
" The godzilla will wait to attack till you finish your bath. Go and bathe. " Aamod dumped his son in the bathroom where his wife was already waiting.
" Mom, I am six years old. I am a big boy. I can bathe by myself." Baby Sharma insisted, removing the shirt on his body.
After all, Godzilla and Transformers are both going to attack. His father will not let him speak till he finishes his shower, so the faster he showers, the earlier he can speak.
He expounded on the process and the conclusion to his mother as he showered.
" Mom! Grandpa and I hacked a foreign website. Grandpa says we are better than uncle james seven. We are going to run away and establish a great camp. Also, can I have the camcorder to myself ? I want to record Godzilla chasing after us. Can we make our black car into a transformer? I want to put an eketro manum gun on him. Shoot him with the ultra plasma.. Mom, Can we buy it please ? Please ? "
Before the shower is over, Baby Sharma educated his mother in three different types of transformers, and ten different types of plasma.
Biru found Aamod immediately.
" Aamod ! Beta! Come read this. " his father insisted.
Aamod habitually took the Ipad from his father, and read the information written there.
His father refused for him to be a finance guy, thus, he went for engineering. A great deal of attention is paid to the portals over the past few days.
He read the document once more.
It very much looked like someone was trying to be alarmist.
He opened his mouth.
Biru stopped him directly.
" I know what you are going to say. You don't believe this. However, I must tell you, when I read this news, I felt the same way as I did when the Bombay stock exchange collapsed. Think about it. We assume this news is true, and act upon it. How much are we going to lose ? Are we short of that money ? " Biru asked his son.
Indeed. They are not short of that money.
If he believes this.. Then assuming that the news is true, then all he had to do is .. probably rent an RV, and prepare enough food to last for a few months.
Sure, it would cost a few thousand dollars, but that loss is still within his acceptable range of loss.
Imagine what is said within this page is true, and he was still in the same house.
The priority for rescue in the USA is given to naturalized citizens first, green card holders next and foreign residents later. It's not something he could fault the country for either, given his understanding of financial management of an organization.
However, who is rescued is the least of the problems.
White collar jobs would perish altogether.
The Army would take over, for it is impossible for an army to not take over under such circumstances.
The entire operation of government would have to be reevaluated.
If and when riots happen, America is going to be far worse off than India, he knew. The more we follow the rule of law, the more the outrage is when the rule of law breaks.
There would at least be some time when unrest happens.
Fine. One day is not a big deal to skip.
Aamod got his phone out, searched for the most expensive RV that could be rented. He reserved it right away, insurance paid out.
If it happens exactly as mentioned in the book, there are two chances. The governments would collapse all together, or they would have a barebones skeleton remaining.
He applied for leave after that. Informed of the same to all his colleagues, with the website name.
His father had worked for him all his life. Sure, this might be something as indulgent and stupid as believing in those pyramid scheemes. However, what's the big deal ? This little money, he doesn't mind losing for indulging his father.
At this time, he did not expect at all how wildly this decision would change his life.
After some persuasion, his wife has taken the leave along with himself. A day of hookie is not such a big deal.
They informed his son's school.
While Aamod picked up the RV, his wife took his family grocery shopping, making sure to fill up on all the camping supplies.
They seem to be the first customers in most shops.
The grocery stores were fully stocked, but the goods were flying off the shelves as soon as they placed them, even in wholesale shops like Costco.
As they were driving, Biru explained the entire process to his daughter in law. Mother-in-law sharma thanked her lucky stars that her daughter in law is a child hood sweetheart of her son. If the child hadn't known them from the time she was in diapers, right now, she is absolutely sure her daughter-in-law would leave her son fearing hereditary brain disease.
That's how unbelievable her husband's words were.
Fortunately, Daughter-in-law Sharma is a very wise girl. She has seen through her husband's thoughts. Sure, it's a waste of money she would have dearly liked to avoid. However, they are earning enough to indulge this kind of madness at least once. Moreover, her father-in-law is an incredible salesman and planner.
He bought all the correct stuff.
Moreover, most of this stuff would not be touched at all if the entire 'midnight explosion ' theory does not come true. In that case, all they have to do is return the unused packages to the store. All they would lose is the RV rental, it's not a big deal.
Thus, the Biru and Baby sharma both went mad in the store, buying even a solar extension to the RV. Hells, he even persuaded his mother to buy him a small boat, good for two people.
All the fishing gear and hunting gear is bought, along with every bell and jingle needed for camping. Finally, even life jackets and paddle boards were bought because at this point their daughter-in-law had completely given up.
It would take her just a day to thank her lucky stars that her son and father-in-law had better vision than herself. That's why I am a scientist and they are accountants. She grumbled when they were not hearing, but she was still thankful she chose to listen to nonsense out of the sheer filial piety.
Just as they were setting out, the rush increased in most of the shops, including the hardware shop. Aaamod had returned with the RV by the time they reached home. By this time, with the radio discussions and such, Mrs. Aamod becomes slowly aware a man made disaster could very much happen in the city.
They loaded the stuff they bought right into the RV, packed as much of their clothes, important documents, laptops and gold, and left the city, straight to Vermont. After all, wherever they go in New England, there's a portal waiting for them there.
They had no idea the kind of disaster they avoided that day until after a year.