Ground Zero
Chapter 1: Ground Zero
The small village of Kalambaka sat still. Huge holes can be seen on the walls of the houses and establishments. The remnants of last night’s slumber in empty bedrooms. Dogs and cats run about on the empty streets.
A small, fluffy, white dog came out whimpering from another abandoned house. “Hey there, little fella.” a woman crooned, kneeling to the ground to coax the dog out. “It’s okay,” she said gently as the dog approached her cautiously. She offered her curled hand for the dog to sniff, “I won’t hurt you.” The dog licked her hand and nudged his head on it. “Good boy,” she picked him up. She opened a biscuit from her pocket and fed a piece to the dog. “Can you tell me where everybody is?”
“Detective,” the radio clipped on her belt cackled. “There are no signs of life in area D.”
The woman sighed and picked up her radio. “Neither in my area. I’m coming over.”
She arrived in area D, the last area on their list. Search and rescue dogs sniff the ground hoping for a sign, a heartbeat. She climbed the rubble of what used to be a tourist shop. “Poor baby got left behind,” she said as she showed the fluffy pooch to the man.
“Nothing’s in here. We have shuffled the rocks and everything. The dogs can’t even pick up a human scent or whatever. They’re getting agitated.” the man replied.
“Could this be an earthquake?” She wondered, eyes squinting at the wrecked town.
“Impossible. There are no reports of an earthquake over the past 24 hours -”
“And an earthquake can’t blast a hole into a wall,” she added, gesturing to a house. “If we can, have a word with the monks up there; ask them if they noticed something strange over the night, that would be great.” One of the search dogs sat beside her. “It’s okay, buddy,” she rubbed the dog between its ears. “We’ll figure this out.” the dog reached up to her, wanting to smell the fluffy dog. “Yeah, why don’t you take care of Mister Fluffy here?” she placed the white dog next to the rescue dog and they sniffed each other’s butts.
“I have a feeling this place was attacked but everyone managed to evacuate before it happened.” another woman said as she approached them.
“We’ll ask for a list of everyone who was in this town for the past 48 hours and search from there. It might be someone disguised as a tourist. What do you think, Alexis?”
“Good idea. I’ll call Kris.” the man left them on top of the rubble.
“Detective Lords, I think you should see this.” the newcomer said and they walked to another abandoned house. “Most of the damaged areas in the houses are walls. Starting from the front door,” the woman pointed to the obliterated entrance, “then to the bedrooms.”
“Most of the rooms that were attacked were bedrooms,” Detective Lords added and felt a pinch in her chest. She had a bad feeling about this. “The hotel down the road doesn’t have holes in all of its rooms.” she looked at the second woman, wide-eyed.
“Are you saying…”
I hope it isn’t what I think happened, Detective Lords thought.
“Let’s go,” Detective Lords commanded and they hurriedly left the house, the woman trailing behind. When they arrived at the once lively hotel, the detective pulled the hotel’s logbook from the blasted front desk and walked up the stairs. As they passed by each room, she ticked off the rooms whose walls were blasted. When they reached the rooftop, they scanned the pages of the guest list from the past 48 hours. “Christ, this isn’t good.”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
They looked over at the damaged town from their view. “The damaged rooms were the ones with guests. Whoever attacked this town wanted carnage. This must have been a terrorist attack.”
“But why are there no traces of blood or gunshot holes?”
“No idea why. I just don’t understand how this happened.” She gave the logbook to her. “Go down there and find Alexis. Tell them what we found out.”
Once the woman left the building, Detective Lords checked the surroundings to see if there was anyone else with her. When the coast was clear, she entered a damaged room. She flicked her hands and blue wisps danced around her. “Okay, show me any residue of foreign energy,” she whispered to herself as she took a look at her radiation meter - it shows nothing significant. The wisps scattered and some settled on the cement fragments on the ground and on the bed. She knelt beside the bed and studied the residue. It was yellow, and it was surely a result of sorcery.
“I have a strong feeling this was not done by any human.” a man spoke.
She pressed herself to the nightstand surprised to hear an unfamiliar voice. “Who are you?” she asked as she stood up. “How did you get in here?” Her right hand rested at the butt of her gun holstered on her waist.
The man before her noticed her movement. He clasped his hands behind him“I just told your team the Ministry of National Defense sent me to assess the situation.”
The detective raised an eyebrow, unsure of what to make of the man with an eye patch. “So you’re not really part of the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense?” she scoffed.
“Hmmm, not really. Well, yes, I can be.” he started looking around. “And that’s a long-ass name.” the man walked around the room. “So what are your findings, Detective Stella Nystrom?” the man raises his hand to touch Stella’s blue wisp settling on a yellow spark.
Stella looked at him in disbelief upon hearing the name. “Who are you?” she said defensively, closely observing the man through narrowed eyes.
“Oh yes, where are my manners.” The man showed her his ID. “Nick Fury. I’m with S.H.I.E.L.D.”