Yesterday's Gone: Season One

stacked.
    Whoever did the stacking, Luis was guessing it was humans. And the only people organized and with manpower enough to dispose of bodies in such an orderly manner would be the government. And if it were the government, Luis had to wonder how deeply they were involved in whatever happened. How much did they know?  
    If he and his group had known of the event before it happened, odds are, someone else did too. Someone on the inside. Someone prepared. He doubted the government had anything to do with whatever caused the deaths and disappearances of so many people. Even though he knew his government was capable of atrocities over the years, he doubted it would actually kill so many of its own people. Which meant they likely knew something was going to happen, maybe even what , but had no actual part in it. Nor could they prevent it.
    So, they did what they could, collected the dead and organized.
    Even though Luis had dreamed of this event and had known many would die, it did nothing to prepare him for the reality or the pain of seeing so many bodies. Staring at the faces of so many dead men, women, and children, many with wide-open and vacant eyes, pierced a part of his heart he’d worked most of his life to harden. Watching Brent move from stack to stack, searching for his family, dug the blade deeper.
    “What are you gonna do when we don’t find them?” Luis asked. “These bodies are stacked! Are we gonna start moving people, peeling them off the piles like we’re looking for the TV remote in a pile of clothes in our bedroom?”
    “You don’t have to do anything!” Brent snapped, “Just go. I’ll look.”
    “And what then?” Luis asked, “What will you do if you do find them? It won’t bring them back, you know.”
    Brent stopped his search, and glared at Luis.
    “Don’t you want to know?” Brent asked, stepping toward Luis, eyes red. “Don’t you want to know if your daughter is dead or just missing? I mean, if she’s missing, then there’s still hope we can find her, right? Or did you just write her off as gone and you’re ready to move on?”
    “I didn’t write her off,” Luis said calmly, letting the accusation slide beneath Brent’s grief.
    Brent stepped even closer to Luis, a bit too close, puzzled.
    “Really? Then why haven’t we been looking for her? I can’t think of anything besides finding my family, yet you seem like you don’t even want to look for yours.”
    Any other person, any other time, Luis would’ve knocked a clown out for talking like that to him. He could feel his nostrils flaring and heart starting to race. He slowed his breathing to counter the growing rage. But it wasn’t enough to calm him completely. Finally, he gave in to his need to snap back.
    “Maybe I’m not all tore up because I don’t feel guilty. Because I didn’t ignore my family for years, only to be filled with regret the moment they’re gone. I spent time with them knowing that nothing is forever. Whether it’s cancer or the end of the world, I knew someday the clock would run out. And I lived and loved like my family actually mattered to me.”
    Brent’s eyes narrowed and he took a swing at Luis.
    Luis could have easily dodged the punch completely, but moved just far enough that Brent’s punch landed harmlessly on Luis’s right shoulder rather than his jaw. Luis figured it was probably the first time Brent had ever thrown a punch.
    “Feel better?” Luis asked, voice still somewhat calm.
    Brent stared, face flush with guilt, and turned away.  
    “Listen, bro,” Luis said, “I know you need resolution, one way or another. I get it. But at the same time, there’s no way you can search through all these bodies before another pack of those uglies come hunting you down. I would stay and help if I thought it would do any good, but there’s too many for us to take on by ourselves, even if we had a week.”
    “I have to know,” Brent said, meeting Luis’s eyes. “If I leave now, I’ll never know for certain.”
    “Whether they’re dead or just vanished, the fact is, they’re gone for right now,” Luis said. “Maybe you’ll see them again on this side, or maybe in Heaven, but the only thing we have for sure is right now. And right now, there’s nothing we can do to bring them back.”
    “Aren’t you even curious to know if your little girl is here?” Brent asked.
    “I’ve known for years this day would come. I knew I’d have to let go. It doesn’t make it