Read The Gates: An Apocalyptic Novel for Free Online

and
Private Harris, which led to him falling back a pace, but he could still move
at a decent clip—even at thirty-four. Gunfire bit the dirt around his feet, but
he kept on going, outrunning his death by a factor of centimetres.
    The border fence was just ahead. Corporal Blake
was almost there, Harris right behind him.
    Something caught Tony’s attention, making him
stop. The strange black stone came up on his left and had begun glowing
brightly. His focus and urgency dripped away. He strolled towards it even as gunfire
cracked from every direction. He was uninterested in anything other than the curious
black stone. It seemed to call to him. The light coming out of it spread and
started to form a border around a translucent layer that reminded Tony of the
suds in the centre of a child’s bubble blower. Something inside that
translucent layer moved—something that seemed to stare right back at Tony as he
approached it.
    It’s beautiful.
    Before Tony could figure out what was happening, a
bullet hit him in the back and dropped him to the ground.
    Suddenly the bright light above the stone was
replaced by darkness.

~SAMANTHA SMART~
Central Park, New York City
    Samantha loved Central Park
in the summer. It was so alive. When people thought of New York City, they
pictured skyscrapers, banks, and museums, but to Sam, Central Park was the real
soul of the city. In the seventies, the park had been a dangerous place, like
the city itself, but gradually, and in tandem, both the park and city had
evolved. Now the Big Apple was one of the most welcoming places on Earth. A
place where kosher delis sat alongside Italian pizzerias, Ethiopian restaurants,
and LGBT bars. No racial underclasses here like there were in LA or San Antonio;
New York was a place of acceptance. Gay or straight, black or white, it didn’t
matter in the Big Apple, which was why Samantha, a Lesbian from Utah, felt so
at home. Sure, the hustle and bustle could give you a headache, and the traffic
was pure torture, but that was why the park was so wonderful. Even in
Manhattan, you could find tranquillity.
    Today was different though. The park buzzed with
excitement. Manhattan had gotten a new tourist attraction this morning.
    The strange black stone had materialised outside
the Central Park Carousel and killed three homeless people during the night.
Now it was cordoned off, and mounted police officers trotted between the
crowds, sharing what they knew and chatting with curious tourists. The stone
was deadly, and no one could move it. A few hours ago, the City Council had
attached a harness from a truck-mounted crane to the stone. The truck had
tipped over before the stone had even shown the slightest hint of shifting.
Three people had been crushed. In the last hour, the stone had started to glow.
    The crowd grew anxious, but they would not disperse.
In fact, the crowd only continued to grow. Thousands of people were now
gathered in the park and business had ground to a halt as employees failed to
return from their lunch breaks. Even Wall Street was deserted—and it usually took
a bomb threat to drag those wolves from their dens. Everybody wanted to be in
the park.
    New York was a city of togetherness, and people
were gathering in mutual support of one another. This strange black stone had
inserted itself into their city, and they would stand together until they
understood exactly what it was. The citizens of New York were afraid, but they
were consolidated.
    An old man stood nearby. He smiled at Samantha as
she slid from one gap in the crowd to another. “They’re saying it came from
space,” he said.
    “What, like a meteor or something?”
    “Yeah, I don’t buy it either. You looked tired,
miss. Here, finish the rest of my coffee.”
    “No, that’s…” She smiled, embarrassed, but took
the cup anyway. “Are you sure you don’t mind? I could actually kill for coffee
right now.”
    “Sure, enjoy it. They give you such big cups
nowadays that I can never