Yesterday's Gone: Season Three (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER)

splashed loud behind him, hitting the water so hard it caused a giant wave to plunge him back beneath the surface. He could hear the muffled splashes of more things falling around him. Confused, he opened his eyes underwater, despite the burning, to see what was making so much noise.
    Are there other people here?
    Luca saw several dozen faint orange somethings glowing above him.
    Pretty.
    What are they?
    He surfaced for air, wiping water from his eyes as he looked up, peering into the black to see what the orange lights were made of. As he squeezed his eyes in concentration, Luca felt fear like fingers wrapping tightly around his heart.
    Above him, dozens of burning chunks of something were raining from the sky, splashing the water all around him. He couldn’t tell what they were, but there were dozens or more orange spots coming at him, some of them huge.
    Luca screamed as he desperately paddled, trying to swim free from the falling fire, with no idea where to go.
    He swam in blind fear as flaming debris continued to rain around him, smashing tall waves against his body, sometimes hard enough to bury him beneath another choking wave.
    Where is this stuff coming from? And what is it ?
    From what Luca could tell, the something was made from all sorts of stuff — wood, chunks of trees, pieces of cars, clothing, books, and food.
    Something splashed beside him, confusing him at first, until he realized it was a person’s head, ripped from their body and burned on over half of their face.
    Luca screamed, went under, then surfaced again, spitting and gagging on the harsh salt water as he gasped for air.
    Keep swimming!
    Luca kept going, faster than he’d ever swum in his life, trying to find a way to go back to the other world, where he’d been safe in the other Luca’s bed.
    But he couldn’t get back if he wasn’t able to concentrate.
    Luca swam for what felt like forever, his entire body in pain and his arms and legs about to turn rubber, unable to float any longer, until he found himself at a safe distance from the falling stuff.
    That’s when he saw the source of the falling stuff in the distance — two of the largest tornadoes Luca had ever seen. While Luca had only seen tornadoes on TV, he was sure they didn’t usually have balls of lightning and fire in the middle, though.
    Luca couldn’t tell how far away the tornadoes were from one another, but they seemed close, like they were about to collide. He’d never seen two at once, even on TV. It was like the tornados were fighting to see which one could gather then spit the most terrible stuff into the sky as they moved closer to one another.
    Luca finally realized that it wasn’t just stuff they were spitting into the sky. The tornados were spitting what was left of Black Island.
    His eyes widened as he screamed.

    Luca woke in his bed, soaking wet, and screeching.
    No one could hear his scream, however, because someone’s hand was covering his mouth.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 2 — Brent Foster

    Other Earth
    Somewhere in Georgia…
    March 31, 2012
    FIVE MONTHS AFTER THE EVENT…

    The black van barreled down the two-lane highway beneath the bright morning sun toward Dunn, Georgia as if on a mission from God.
    Boricio was behind the wheel, with Callie in the front seat. Jung, the tall muscular Swiss super soldier sat behind them, while Ed and Brent took the rear. Ed was resting his eyes, though Brent could never be certain if he were really napping — in which case, the dude was able to sleep anywhere — or if he were just laying low to appear like less of a threat in case he needed to bolt into action.
    Brent’s mind wandered to their next destination — after they went to the other Boricio’s compound — Black Island.
    He wondered how Jane and her daughter, Emily, were doing.
    It had been a couple of weeks since he’d seen them, but it felt like months. He was surprised how much he missed them both. He thought of their last dinner, and how Emily had hugged him, filled with sudden sadness when he told her that he had to go on a special trip.
    Emily made him promise to return home, safe. Of course he said he would, even though he wasn’t sure at the time. Now it looked like he might make good on his promise. Just one more stop, then back to Black Island they’d go, carrying their lingering questions behind them:
    Would they be returning with both Boricios? And what had the bald Boricio done that had banished him to Black Mountain? Yes, they might make