GODS
“Dr. Grace, may I speak with you about something very important?”
The voice sounded scruffy, almost as if it had been dried out by sleep.
“Hey, Rich. What is going on? Is everything okay?” Dr. Grace asked over the telephone as he curled the cord around his hand, almost as if he already knew what Rich was going to say.
Silence.
Then the doctor heard Rich begin to cough. It sounded wet and deep, almost as if blood were filling his lungs and throat.
“Rich? Are you there? Rich, speak to me!”
A low gurgling sound came through the receiver.
The doctor knew it wasn’t mouthwash.
“Shit. It’s loose!” Dr. Grace exclaimed.
“Dear, what is going on?” Mrs. Grace called from the other room. She could hear the distress in her husband’s voice.
“Nothing, dear. It’s just Richard calling to tell me they need me at the lab. One of the sensors is on the fritz. Most likely just a false alarm.”
A noise came through the receiver, a low growl.
Then the growl grew louder.
A deep hum shook the telephone in his hand before an explosive blast ripped the phone from the wall entirely.
“Holy shit!” the doctor yelled as the force of the blast knocked his middle-aged body to the kitchen floor.
For a moment, he felt deaf. He could see his wife screaming, desperately trying to speak to him, but her voice was nothing more than a muffled blur. His head spun, and he felt almost drunk.
“Wha... wha... what happened?” he asked as the sound of his wife’s screams slowly began to return.
She was too hysterical. He couldn’t focus. He couldn’t even remember why he had been on the phone.
“Woman, stop! Please! I’m okay. Tell me what happened.”
She wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Honey, you were on the phone. You said it was Rich and that they were having problems with the sensors at the lab.”
Then he remembered the sound.
His eyes widened.
“I have to get to the lab. Everyone is in danger. The entire world is in danger!”
Dr. Grace struggled to his feet and grabbed his car keys.
“What did you do at that lab, Jim?” she screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You doomed us all, haven’t you?”
Jim turned and looked at his wife.
She would never understand.
“What I did,” he said, “was create something.”
He paused at the doorway.
“I proved that we humans are GODS!”