When they found Ozil his colleagues thought he was dead. His officers bared his chest and used a defibrillator to bring him back to life.

“Did you get the bastards?”

Upon hearing a solid no he immediately refused a trip to the hospital and demanded to be taken back to the station. Once there he sat in the police operations room next to the window. His face was an unrecognizable mess. His eyes looked like two charcoal cavities that were sinking deeper by the moment. Attending to his wounds were Doctor Anne Price who was stitching his cuts and nurse Kevin Star who was pulling gorse needles out of his head. On the other side of the room five police officers were huddled in a circle talking quietly. Each was holding an assault rifle and dressed in black. A satellite phone sitting on the desk in front of Ozil starts to ring. The officers turn to look. Doctor Price and Nurse Star both take a step back. 

How much more can a guy take, Ozil thinks to himself. “Because this guy can’t take much more,” he accidently says out loud.

“Has something changed with your condition Sergeant?” Asked Dr Price. He ignores her. “Would you prefer that someone else takes that for you?” She looks at the phone with trepidation. It rings twice more before she makes a move towards it, but Ozil is faster and shoots his hand out to beat her. 

“Hello, this Police Sergeant Aussie Ozil speaking.”

“Hello Aussie this is Superintendent Bigmore, just checking to see how things are going down there with the power and phone cuts?” 

“Everything is fine Superintendent, I have a little bit of bruising, the result of an arrest but apart from that everything is fine.” 

“That’s really great. But now Aussie I have some, some really bad news for you. We’ve just had word from the minister that Australia has been attacked.” 

“Oh no,” said Ozil, feigning surprise.

“Pilots have reported gigantic mushroom clouds over Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra.”

“Are you sure that Sydney got hit?”

“That’s the communique direct from the minister. Do you have family in Sydney Aussie?”

Ozil’s eyes were a flood of tears. Knowing beforehand hadn’t made it any less painful. “Yes Sir.”

Everyone in the room watched in silence as Ozil mostly listened for another two minutes until the call ended, then he placed the phone back on the table in front of him. He sat there for a moment, staring into nothing, then with help, he staggered to his feet to address them all.

“Superintendent Bigmore just informed me that the power and phones will back up and working sometime tonight, but police comms could remain inoperatorable for over an extended period. He said that the power and comms crash was caused by an EMP blast high above Australia. Our neighbour and ally is under attack.  The ANZAC treaty has been triggered, New Zealand is at war.” Constable Padson quietly speaks to an officer standing next to him. Ozil looks at him with disdain. “Are you having a conversation that’s more important than listening to what I have to say Padson? Or is the announcement of World War Three not gripping enough for you?” It was then that Ozil noticed something like a void behind Padson that was reflecting no light.

“Sorry Sergeant but I was wondering what’s an EMT?” 

Ozil could have sworn he saw the shape of this black void move to look at Padson as he spoke, as if the shape had some sort of head. Ozil was unaware of how long he stared at it. “Meth psychosis?” he thinks out loud .

“Sorry, Sergeant?” Asks Padson who looks confused.

Ozil’s attention is brought back. “Ah yes.., ah an EMP not EMT. The letters stand for electromagnetic pulse. From what I understand It’s a relatively small nuclear weapon exploded high in the sky at the edge of space, which releases a gamma ray burst that can overload most or all electrical system for thousands of miles. But it turns out that we were relatively lucky, due to the bad weather over the Tasman Sea that absorbed most of the rays coming our way. On the other hand Australia...” Ozil pauses as emotions overwhelm him. The room is silent. They all watch his grief and from behind Pasdon, Ozil can hear the black shape breath.. It’s a painful primeval sound. “Well it seems they’ve been hit hard, because there’s…” He stops and thinks, he knows the sound of that breath. Dr. Price puts her hand on Ozil’s shoulder.

“Aussie would you like to sit down?” Ozil again ignores her as if she wasn’t there.

“There’s anecdotal stories from pilots,” he continues, “of gigantic mushroom clouds over the all major east coast cities.” Ozil thought everyone in the room had made an audible gasp but he couldn’t hear it due to the increasing loudness of the shape as it grows and breaths. “The ministry of defense has ordered that when the power comes back on, the towns and cities will remain in blackout.” The shape starts pouring itself across the ceiling. A pure, deep space black. Ozil goes unsteady on his feet. Dr. Price and Nurse Stark grab an arm each.

“You really need to sit down now Sergeant Ozil,” said Dr. Price, who remains ignored. 

“Are you okay Oz?” Asks officer Hanks from the other side of the room. Ozil can barely hear him over the sound of the shapes roaring ragged breath.

“Speak up man.” Ozil bellows. And then he remembers where he had heard that sound before.

“I said, are you okay Oz?”

“Why? Because my face has been punched into hamburger meat or because my family back in Sydney are either dead right now or suffering a truly horrible slow death?”

“Well both,” replied Hanks who wished he hadn’t have opened his mouth. Though Ozil barely cared because the shape was growing across the entire ceiling, a cold endless infinity. Its breathing was now so loud that Ozil was shouting to hear himself.

“Don’t worry about me Hanks, the world is in turmoil. Worry about this town because you’re going to go out there to find those filthy criminals who did this to me. Be prepared to shoot at all times, since you know that they’re armed, with... at least one gun.” He starts shouting. “Now get out there. Go to her house, go to his house, check out all associates, scour the whole fucking town.” The officers exchange concerned worried looks. “Get.” They leave as they’re told. The shape had taken over most of the room.  ”Andy Sweet,” cried Ozil, as tears run down his face.

“Okay then, let’s sit you down for a bit.” Said Dr. Price who puts her hand on Ozil’s shoulder as Nurse Stark helps him down into his chair. “That’s good. So now we have to reset your nose, are you okay to continue Aussie? He nods his head with indifference. The silhouette was directly above him. Ozil couldn’t hear Dr. Price speak anymore as the breathing was so loud and deep it was vibrating his entire body. The horrific sound of Andy Sweet  The shape takes one last massive breath, filling its black lungs for the last time. “Now this might hurt a bit.” She positions herself to resetting his nose. The void exhales. It engulfs him entirely, as he screams at the infinite darkness. 

Next Chapter: 9