2400 AD
Prologue

The ground trembled.

Nothing major.

It lasted only a few moments.

Perplexed, the small group of tourists huddled together; tension amongst them high.

“Little quakes like this happen all the time,” the tour guide explained. “It’s an indication that magma is moving miles beneath the surface. You need not worry. The last time this kettle erupted was 74000 years ago and it’s blamed for the near extinction of early humankind. Now, with that information you might ask if Toba is about to erupt. Not likely. Toba has the most advanced warning system ever designed to monitor an eruption. It will tell us months in advance of any potential danger. Therefore, there’s nothing to worry about folks... “

“Daddy, I’m scared.” Trembling, a little girl grabbed her father’s legs.

“Come here, Mary. Hold on to me.” He lifted her off the ground and she placed her arms around his neck. “You heard the man. Don’t be afraid. These tremors happen all the time.”

His four-year-old son, Adrian, reached for his free hand. “Can we go now, Daddy?”

“When all these people go, we’ll go with them, is that okay?”

Mary cried, “But I’m scared, Daddy.”

Again, the earth roared and the ground trembled like a wild animal during the kill. The sand beneath their shoes undulated in a smooth, wave-like motion.

Crack!

The ground split open and another tremor disturbed the tour guide’s monotonous voice.

The tour group braced itself.

Faces ashen.

Some clung to each other.

Others ran in the opposite direction.

Little Mary shut her eyes tight and screamed. Adrian hung on to his father’s trousers.

The tour guide, visibly shaken and ashen, clicked his two-way radio. “Base, this is Richard at Location 505. Extreme seismic activity here. I repeat seismic activity. We’re coming back to base, over.”

The radio crackled without a response. Richard repeated the announcement. “Base, can you hear me, over?”

“Location 505, this is Base. We hear you. You’re not clear but we can hear you. Several locations are reporting seismic activity this morning. Leave the area and return to Base immediately.”

Richard turned to the group and circled the air with a finger. “Folks, we’ve been instructed to return to Base. Without panicking, let’s make our way back to the bus...”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

An invisible pair of scissors seemed to snip open long lines of jagged cracks.

The earth inflated like a balloon, and finally, as if punched by a gigantic fist, 72 gigatons erupted, about 3000 times more powerful than the Mount Saint Helens eruption, devouring animal, human and vegetable.

In the first few minutes of the cataclysm a pyroclastic cloud of hot gas and tephra moved away from the eruption and sped across the land 600 times faster than the speed of sound reaching temperatures of about 1,000 °C (1,830 °F). Everything in its path, incinerated.

A roiling column of blistering ash spread across the sky causing traffic accidents and power outages. Buildings collapsed from the sheer weight of the ash fallout.

The cloud shifted across the planet and within days, the authorities cancelled all air travel across the globe. The weather changed. Temperatures dropped by 15 Celsius/27 Fahrenheit. The earth became dark and ominous and ushered in a long volcanic winter.

Most of the survivors went underground.

Some remained on the surface.