The dense rock had been created fourteen billion years earlier, in what has been called the Big Bang. As it drifted from that primordial blast, it did not realise just how unique it was.

Made entirely from antimatter, this rock was safe. Safe only as long as matter did not strike it. If such a thing happened, its entire mass would be converted into energy.

Seventy years before today, this juggernaut entered the solar system. Safely swinging past Pluto and towards the inner ring of planets. Today, it had past the orbit of Mars and was gently curving towards the Earth Moon system.

A thousand years after this, two very close friends sat at the shore of a dark, deep lake. As the permanent rain lashed down, they were warm and snug within their woollies. The dark clouds raced overhead as Charly cast out his line.

“Make you think Grant eh? Beneath these waters, lies the town of Foxley.”

Grant sat watching the ripples as rain hammered the surface.

“Smart of you to get the king’s carpenter to make the rods mate.”

“What would life be without fishing?”

“We won’t catch anything you know,” Grant said.

“That’s not the point Grant. It’s so relaxing.”

The loud clip clop of hooves made them turn and their faces fell.

“What’s the king’s messenger doing here?” Grant asked.

“We shall soon find out mate.”

The messenger was clad as always in armour and after dismounting, clambered toward them.

“What’s up?” Grant asked.

“The king has fallen ill. We fear that he may indeed die.”

Charly glanced at his friend.

“What is wrong with him?” he asked.

“A sudden fever has come on.”

Charly thought quickly.

“He must need antibiotics then.”

Grant knew what that meant. Looking over the lake, he said casually, “That means Foxley.”

Charly stood and nodded.

“I’ll go back and get them mate. You stay and look after Christine for me.”

“Just take ruddy care,” Grant said. “That cat loves you.”

Charly smiled and fumbled inside his pocket for the sapphire ring.
Without hesitation, he slipped it on and pointed. As the vertical whirlpool appeared, he calmly stepped through.

He found himself looking at a panda car, apparently parked at the town’s museum. As he approached carefully, he recognised the officers.

”Hello DI Holland, Sergeant Andrew.”

The officers glanced at each other.

“Hello Charly,” the DI said grimly.

“That’s nice. I only just popped back a thousand years you know.”

“Your last appearance brought the dragon remember?” the DI reminded him.

“I promise that there shall be no dragons today.”

He noted the museum sign.

“Martian rock eh? That could be interesting.”

“Why are you back Charly?” the DI asked.

“To collect antibiotics for our ailing king. Damn shop won’t open till morning.”

“Why not stay at Peters?” the sergeant asked.

Charly shook his head.

“If you don’t mind I’ll just sleep in your car.”

The DI glanced at Andrew.

“Sorry mate but the leave is cancelled. With him running around I daren’t risk it.”

The sergeant’s face fell but he understood why.

The officers waited as he climbed into the back, while overhead the crescent moon shone down upon the sleeping town.

Charly woke with a start at nine that morning. Yawning loudly he climbed out and stared at the police car park.

“I might just check that exhibition before leaving. Must get back though, the king depends upon it.”

When he reached Poplar Street, he saw that the museum was now open and walked inside. Groups of people were gazing in wonder at the rock from Mars.

He joined them too of course. The rock was fairly on the small size after plunging into the Arctic tundra thirty thousand years earlier.
There was something glittery about it though.

“I wonder what is causing that?”

He scratched his head before trotting towards the door.

“Now where is the pharmacy?”

As he crossed the road, the museum’s patrons had also noticed the glitter. They wondered what it was too, even as the soft glow began.
After a few minutes, the rock had quite literally lit up entirely.
Charly spotted the pharmacy, and soon bought the life saving drug for his ailing monarch. As he stepped out again, a pulse of intense light flashed for a second from the windows of the museum.

“What the hell was that?”

He ran across the road and when he entered the building, he stopped dead. Where there had been people, there was now ash.

“Oh hell!”

He gazed upon the innocent looking rock and ran for the nearest phone.

When the DI arrived of course, he was none too pleased.

“See what happens Charly when you turn up. More deaths. What the hell caused it?”

“I clearly saw an intense burst of light coming from this place. Almost certainly caused by this piece of rock.”

The officers looked at it.

“It’s undamaged though,” Peters pointed out.

“I swear to you that can be the only cause of this. Take my advice and get rid of it now.”

The officers shook their disbelieving heads as the radio crackled.
The sergeant took the call and listened intently.

“What do you mean eaten?”

The DI rolled his eyes as the officer gave the report. Grabbing Charly he said, “You will stay with us and help clear up. As for you Peters, stay here.”

The car drew up at the cemetery and as they climbed out Charly noticed the cleared rubble.

“Still no replacement then?”

“They are still arguing about it,” Andrew said.

Just across from the gate, a copper stood waiting for them.

“What do we have here son?” the DI asked.

The shocked constable simply turned and pointed.

The DI was shocked as he saw the badly eaten corpse. Almost half the face had been consumed, exposing the white skull to the air.

“Only an animal could have done this,” the sergeant commented.

“I hope the doc arrives shortly,” the DI said. “Then we can hunt the
ruddy thing down.”

As if on cue, the medic duly arrived with the forensic team. As he carried out an examination, he winced loudly.

“So what are we looking for doc?” the DI asked. “Lion perhaps?”

The stunned doctor shook his head.

“These bite marks came from no animal Holland. These were made by a person.”

“Cannibalism?” the sergeant asked.

The medic rose.

“Certainly. Must have happened about fifteen or twenty minutes ago.
The body is still warm.”

Charly suddenly blanched.

“About the same time as those folk were reduced to ash.”

As the officers stared, Charly nodded.

“That’s right Holland. There can be no other explanation.”

“What are you driving at? There is no connection.”

Charly was about to reply when the sergeant spotted something.

“Whatever is that?”

As everyone followed his finger, corpses began emerging from the ground.

“Oh you are kidding me,” the doc muttered.

“This just ain’t right,” the sergeant said.

“First a crucified man and now this?” the DI exclaimed.

“I think we had better run,” Charly suggested. “Those buggers look rather hungry.”

As the corpses freed themselves, the guardians of the law simply turned and ran. The doc however never reached the patrol car. He suddenly tripped and the living dead fell upon him. As their filthy teeth sank into his still living body, they tore him limb from limb.

“Where to Charly?” the DI asked as Andrew gunned the engine.

“Back to the station of course. We have to barricade ourselves in.”

As they raced back with siren blaring, the swarm of corpses struck the town. Terrified shoppers were brought down and simply devoured.
One brave driver attempted to smash his way through.

As the corpses were knocked aside, he lost control and smashed into the antique shop. As the tank ignited, it took the shop with it.

When the officers reached the station, they bolted the door and began stacking chairs against it.

“It won’t hold them for long,” Andrew warned.

The stunned desk sergeant watched this as if they were crazy.

“What are you lot doing?”

“Trying to stay alive,” Charly yelled. “We need the desk from the interview room right now.”

As the officers dashed off, the town’s power supply failed.

“Now that’s just great,” Charly moaned. “How on earth do we warn the people now?”

With the heavy desk in place, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“Is there a back way out of here?” Charly asked.

“We do have a rear fire exit,” the desk sergeant said.

“Let’s hope we don’t need it.”

The door suddenly rattled as many hands smashed against it.

“Here they come,” Charly half muttered.

“What do you think caused this,” the sergeant asked.

“What else but that Martian rock.”

“Oh come on Charly,” the DI said. “That’s not possible.”

Charly pointed to the rattling door.

“Neither is chomping zombies mate. We have to destroy the ruddy
thing.”

“Try the radio,” the DI ordered.

When the sergeant attempted it, he got naught but static.

“No use sir.”

The door started to strain against the lock as the officers stepped back gingerly.

“There must be hundreds of them,” the sergeant whispered.

“Everyone to the exit now!” Charly yelled.

At that moment, the door gave way and hordes of the creatures burst into the foyer. As Charly opened the rear exit, the desk sergeant was brought down heavily.

The corpses rolled him over and using their fingers, tore his stomach wide open. As blood gushed over the floor Charly shouted, “It’s too late for him. Now move it!”

The officers raced out, leaving some prisoners trapped within their cells. When the creatures found them, the bars proved to be quite ineffective.

Charly glanced around at the wandering dead, trying to make a frantic decision.

“We must reach that museum.”

Holland pointed to a clear path and they bolted for it. Elsewhere in Foxley, other lives were being snuffed out.

A young couple tried to hide in the attic, but the ladder was soon found. An off duty policeman tried to fend off the fiends with his baton, but was brought down and torn apart.

Even the firearm officers had no luck. Their high velocity bullets simply shredded the dead. It did not stop them in the end.

A town bus driver closed the door when he was surrounded. Passengers were ordered upstairs for safety, but the dead simply overturned the vehicle. As the horde moved on, one of them carried a memento of this day. The severed head of a traffic warden.

“I think we are trapped,” Charly shouted as they reached the crossroads.

“This way then!” the DI shouted and ran into the alley.

At the far end, they stopped and peeked out. The dead were everywhere. Some of them chewing on bits of severed human flesh, others seemingly staring up at the clear sky.

“Oh this is hopeless,” Andrew muttered.

“We are not dead yet sergeant,” the DI hissed. “Despite what I said last night, I intend to survive this.”

Charly spotted an abandoned mini and recognised it.

“Hey! That’s Grant’s car. I gave it to Triad though.”

Holland tapped his shoulder.

“She sold it before leaving mate. Just hope the keys are in it.”

They dashed over and thankfully found the doors unlocked. Jumping inside, they stared at the empty ignition.

“Oh ****!” the sergeant screamed.

Charly reached under the dash and found the hidden compartment. He opened this and hauled out the spare set.

“I kept these here in case of an emergency. Luckily the new owner failed to find them.”

He gunned the engine, and the mini shot off towards Poplar Street and the museum. At the top of the road though, an army of zombies blocked their path.

Charly hit the brakes and the vehicle skidded to a halt.

“End of the road chaps.”

As everyone looked around, Holland pointed to the right.

“We can go down there.”

Charly saw the long steps and balked.
“You must be joking. We’ll lose the suspension.”

“Just do it!” the sergeant yelled.

Charly swung the wheel and the mini trundled toward the high steps.
Gazing down he closed his eyes and whispered, “Wish me luck.”

The mini began the long, rattly descent and as it neared the bottom, an elderly zombie stepped into view.

“Just ram her,” the DI said.

Charly opened his eyes and put his foot down hard. The bumper smashed into her as the DI shouted, “Now left.”

Charly swung the wheel hard over and the vehicle sped down the empty street.

“We are nearly there,” the sergeant muttered with understandable relief.

However, a crowd of creatures ran onto the road, crazily chewing body parts with no sign of stopping.

Charly twisted the wheel and spun the car around.

“I know another way,” he hissed.

The mini hurtled at breakneck speed to the bottom of that road before skidding into the right hand alleyway.

“Watch out for the footbridge!” the sergeant screamed as they hurtled onto it.

Thankfully, Charly had managed to judge it correctly and they simply scraped the paint from the car’s bodywork. At the far end the vehicle swung left and onto Poplar Street.

“We ruddy well made it,” the sergeant sighed. “Damn good driving mate.”

They screeched to a halt at the smashed entrance and dashed quickly inside. Before them lay the bloody remains of their colleague Peters.

“Where is that damn rock?” Charly asked gazing around the wrecked room.

“You had better find it quickly,” Andrew warned. “Those damned corpses have found us.”

They turned and saw perhaps fifty of the dead, stumbling towards them.

“It’s now or never I suppose,” Charly muttered.

They searched the floor until suddenly the DI picked up the alien meteorite.

“How the hell do we destroy it?”

The corpses were now rapidly closing in, and all hope of escape had at last vaporised.

In desperation, Charly hauled a fire extinguisher from the wall as the creatures stormed into the building.

“Drop it Holland!”

As cold dead hands tore at his back, Charly lifted the container high into the air and brought it down hard.

The rock simply pulverised, as Charly struck again and again. The corpses suddenly collapsed and breathing heavily now, Charly threw the extinguisher away.

They gazed upon the wreckage and stumbled outside.

“So we win again I see,” the sergeant muttered.

“If you call this winning,” Charly said sadly.

“I wonder how many people we lost?” the DI asked.

Charly shook his head sadly.

“Who knows Holland? Perhaps hundreds.”

As they stood among the desolation, the blue sky began to brighten quickly. Charly stared at it in disbelief.

“What now?”

A loud rumbling filled the air and grew quickly louder.

“After everything we have just been through,” the DI hissed. “Now this?”

Shielding his eyes, Charly spotted the lunar image. To his absolute horror, it was transforming before his very eyes.

“Oh no...”

As the rumbling mounted steadily the DI asked, “What did you see Charly?”

Charly had never known true terror until now.

“The moon is turning into pure energy Holland. There is only one substance in this universe capable of that conversion rate.”
“Which is?” the shocked sergeant asked.

“Antimatter. Something made from it must have struck the dark side of the moon.”

“Oh crikey!” the DI shouted.

“What do we do?” the terrified sergeant screamed.

Charly just stared in shocked silence. Moments later, he
muttered, “Now I know what happened, and why my future is so radically different.”

He stepped away suddenly and turned his back.

“Where are you going?” DI Holland asked.

“There is nothing I can do to stop this. Sorry, but my monarch comes first.”

He pushed the sapphire ring onto his finger and pointed. The great vertical whirlpool appeared, and Charly stepped into the time vortex.
“That’s just great!” the DI muttered as the energy wave struck the Earth.

Everyone caught in the open was immediately vaporised. As buildings throughout the planet caught fire, the terrifying blast wave arrived. All the works of man were at once pounded into dust.

When the wave passed, ninety-five percent of life had ceased to exist. Even in the oceans, all surface life perished to a depth of five hundred feet. As the smashed forests burned, the sky darkened and the temperature fell.

Then snow began to fall.

After two centuries of hellish blizzards, the temperature began to rise once more on a completely barren Earth.

Some humans did survive the holocaust. Even some non-human life. As time passed of course, the damage was corrected as nature took a hand.

Even the human survivors flourished in the end. Flourished to start over and build a far better society.

A society that Charly already lived in.

When he picked himself up, he noticed a grinning Grant staring at him atop a horse.

“I thought a horse would be quicker my friend. Have you got the antibiotics?”

Charly brushed himself down as the endless rain ran down his white face.

“I saw how this world was born Grant. I was there. It’s gone my friend. Foxley, civilisation. All gone.”

Fighting back tears, he mounted behind his true friend and the horse took off at a gallop towards the waiting castle.

Foxley: The End.