Revelation

Bert was uneasy as he tossed in his bed, trying to go to sleep.  His encounter with that dying old vet at the hospital had not been a pleasant one, but he needed a good night of rest before he started his new job.  Any time now, that drink he had was going to kick in…there it was.  As he drifted into sleep, his last thought was of that girl he met in the bar—Lizzy or Libby or something like that.

Startled in his sleep by a thunderous roar, Bert ran out of his new house wearing only a pair of shorts.  An orange ripple ran through the clouds in the midnight sky, away from the expanding pillar of smoke and flame that towered over him.  The horrifying realization that his house was only a few miles from the lab, on the other side of the town’s namesake wooded ridge, blew the sleepiness out of his mind.  As he turned to run, motion on the deserted road into town caught his eye.  He realized that it was someone coming from the direction of the blast; he started to yell, then stopped in shock.  It was not a fleeing survivor, but a figure with four crossed arms seated on a red horse, riding at the head of a wave of fire.  The inferno swept toward him, drawing closer.

The alarm clock buzzed, and Bert jolted awake.  It was his first day of work.

Sources:

Slaughterhouse-Five