Read Zero II for Free Online Page B

hesitant
palm on the long silver latch. He took a deep breath and walked outside.
    It was bright; even brighter than
inside the stairwell. Alan blinked to get his eyes used to the sun’s harsh
rays. No wind pressed against him and for that he was thankful. The building
already reminded him enough of the one he had fallen off four years ago. The
last thing he needed was to get tossed around by the wind.
    Eyes adjusted, Alan looked around the
roof. It was a forest of air conditioning pipes and vents. Every few feet
another metal outlet or steel topped pipe rose from the ground. Across the long
rooftop Alan spotted what his brain told him couldn’t be possible. He blinked
and squinted against his rational thought process. It was still there, a large
brown desk.
    Alan slowly put one foot in front of
the other. He looked down only for the briefest of moments to make sure of his
footing. He was afraid if he took his eyes off the desk it would disappear.
    As he got closer, the rough image of
the desk took on more shape. It wasn’t just any desk, it was a large dark brown
wooden desk with gold drawings. The pictures were amazing. Images of clouds,
stars and planets played across the desk as if they were in motion. Behind the
desk, a high-backed chair faced away from Alan.
    Alan reached the desk and stared as
the chair slowly turned. A middle-aged man with wavy brown hair and eyes that
spoke of wisdom stood and extended a hand. “Hello, Mr. Price. It is so good to
finally meet you.”
    Alan’s mouth was dry. Not only was he
talking to someone sitting at a desk on a rooftop, but the man who was clearly not
of this world was extending a hand. Alan forced his right palm forward and
shook the stranger’s hand.
    “My name is Michael. Danielle briefly
told me that you are skeptical. That’s to be expected, I know it is a lot to
take in. Please sit.”
    Michael’s handshake was firm without
being aggressive. There was the complete opposite feeling coming from him than
Alan felt when meeting Dominic Drencher the night before.
    Alan broke the handshake. “Sit? Sit
where?” The question faded almost down to as whisper as Alan looked behind him
to see a chair where there had not been one just moments before. He twisted his
head back towards Michael giving him a wary look.
                Michael
smiled from his eyes to his mouth, “Sorry, too soon? I couldn’t resist. You
should see the look on your face right now. Please sit. I have your answers for
you.”
                Alan
nodded and settled into the comfortable leather chair.
                “I’ll
start at the beginning for you, Alan,” Michael said as he too took a seat. He
leaned forward with both of his elbows on the desk, hands clasped together. A
stare in his green eyes said that he could be trusted. “After that, if you have
any questions I’d love to answer them all. Would you like to hear the story
with affects or without affects?”
                Alan
felt his eyebrows furrow all on their own. “With affects, I think.”
                “A
man after my own heart,” Michael winked. “Here we go.”
                Out
of nowhere the sun’s bright rays faded. In seconds the sky turned black and
everything fell away. All that remained, was Michael, Alan, the desk and the
chairs on which they sat.
                Alan
could feel fear begin to creep slowly down his spin, his heart started beating
faster and faster. He looked at Michael to see the man still smiling and now pointing
to the dark sky.
                As
Michael began to speak, images made out of golden outlines followed events that
he described and performed across the dark sky. Alan’s mouth dropped open, his
eyes fixated on the beautiful scene overhead as Michael started his story.
                “I’m
going to date myself here but a very, very long time ago when the earth was
still young a battle took place in