Extinction Level Event Read Free Page B

eyes. All these critters- dead! How? And why? Greg paces
around his farmhouse, thinking of what to do. Every worm in the
vicinity of the farmhouse seems to have decided to leave the safety
of the earth, crawl out on top, curl up and die. He couldn’t
explain it at all. He had never seen anything like this.
    Gregory Miles decides to wait for an hour
until two of his ranch hands, Jeffrey and Miguel, show up. Then
we can work together and clean this friggin’ mess up. What the hell
is this? Some kind of mass extinction? Miles walks along the
path between his farmhouse and the cows’ field. All along the dirt
path he sees dead worm carcasses littering the path, as well as
throughout the shrubbery along the path. He keeps going over what
could have caused such devastation on his fairly small, supposedly
secure farm. Now I know I didn’t water the plants too much. The
grounds’ not soggy at all. And I sure as hell didn’t friggin’ salt
the ground. That would be suicide. “Shit”, mutters Miles to
himself. It is the only answer he can come up with.
     
    An hour later, Jeffrey and Miguel show up in
their pick-up truck. “Hey boys, look here. We’ve got a major
problem today- no regular chores. I need you both to help me clean
all this land of some mad, bad worms that died out today. Got it?
Get brooms, shovels, and we’ll sweep ‘em and dig ‘em in”, orders
Greg to the two. The two, both young adults working for extra cash,
look slightly puzzled. “worms, sir?”, inquires Jeffrey politely.
“Yes, dammit worms! You’ll see ‘em as you walk around, eh? Just get
those brooms and stuff and let’s meet by the farmhouse”. “Sure
thing Mr. Miles!", reply the two men simultaneously, and run off to
fetch the required tools.
     
    Cleaning up the fields is hard work,
especially so since Miles doesn’t know how wide the affected area
from the worm die-out is. Nervously these thoughts course through
his mind as he works alongside Jeffrey and Miguel. This could be
a bigger problem than I thought. Maybe I should call someone, like
the cops. They’ll know someone who’ll know someone who knows what
to do. I can’t do shit ‘bout this. With that resolution in
mind, after five straight hours of work in the fields, along with
large hats on their heads to shield them from the intense sunlight,
Greg drops his tools and tells his ranch hands to do the same. They
go over to get some drinks and take a break. Greg goes into his
house to dial the phone. There are important calls to be made.
     
    Back at the Williams’ home, five days after
the original outbreak of worms Michelle steps outside of her house
and once again sees the same nightmare. Worms by the hundreds are
all over her front yard, and this time she knows that they will
probably soon die. Michelle spins around and heads into her home.
In the living room she grabs a phone by the armchair and dials 911.
“Hello 911 here. How may we help?” “Hi, this is Michelle Williams.
This isn’t an emergency, but I need help. I have worms crawling all
over my yard and they are dying by the hundreds. Whom do I call? I
need help really badly. I want to know what’s going on”. “You need
to call the Department of Agriculture. They should be able to help
you. You can reach them at the following number." The lady provides
Michelle with a contact. “Thank you for your time. I’ll call them
right away”, replies Michelle curtly as she sets down the
phone.
     
    “Good Morning, US Dept. of Agriculture. If
you wish to leave a message, press one. If you wish to refer to our
seed policy, press two. If you wish to speak to a service
representative, press three”. Punching three, Michelle is greeted
by the usual melodramatic orchestra of telephone waiting music.
“Our customer service representatives are all busy right now.
Please wait, and one will be with you shortly”. Seven minutes later
into the conversation, a representative picks up his end of the
line. “Good Morning.