Apocalypse: Original Duology

DescriptionApocalypse: Original Duology chronicles society's slow demise, with humanity meeting both its end and a new beginning.
MessageApocalypse: Original Duology contains content some may find triggering. Reader discretion is advised.
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Original Story - 1 Of 1 • 7,500 Words

Table of Contents

PrologueChapter 1 - March 13, 2020Chapter 2 - May 17, 2020Chapter 3 - December 15, 2020Chapter 4 - March 13, 2021Chapter 5 - August 8, 2021Chapter 6 - September 7, 2021Chapter 7 - January 1, 2022Chapter 8 - June 28, 2022Chapter 9 - June 23, 2025Chapter 10 - April 17, 2028Chapter 11 - November 8, 2030Chapter 12 - August 9, 2031Chapter 13 - February 28, 2033Chapter 14 - May 22, 2038Chapter 15 - September 12, 2042Chapter 16 - July 4, 2045Chapter 17 - January 6, 2047Chapter 18 -  August 12, 2048Chapter 19 - December 24, 2049Chapter 20 - March 1, 2050InterludeChapter 21 - SurvivalChapter 22 - PanicChapter 23 - IdeasChapter 24 - FailureChapter 25 - SaviorChapter 26 - PlanChapter 27 - PossibilitiesChapter 28 - EdenEpilogue

Prologue

Far too often, the end is shown as if nothing can ever follow it. Even more rarely, is it seen to be a force of good.Yet it is in the most dire moments, in those times when everything is lost, that are we finally aware of what we truly have.Only then do we understand that nothing is truly gone. The cycle continues, the universe remains, life persists.No matter what is found, no matter what happens, no matter what seems real or true, one fact remains: there is no end to your story. There is no end to our story.There is power in loss. Each generation grows from the last: from their triumphs and pitfalls. From their failures.The "end" can be a curse. It can be a blessing.Let it be a lesson.That is the good.

Entry 1 - March 13, 2020

It’s happening. I’m pretty sure it’s happening, and I’m not sure what to do. I just dug this thing out of my backpack, cause I guess I won’t be needing it for the next week or so. The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, or whatever its called. Who cares? Something’s happening in the world, and I need to write about it. No better time to start a journal than a Goddamn global crisis.Literally today, in school, they were telling us about how the school “wasn’t going to shut down;” how we’re “safe” from it. Such BS. I thought about wearing a mask for the past month, and stopped giving people high-fives or handshakes weeks ago. Bunch of liars. We just got an email telling us we won’t have school as they “figure out the next steps.” They say it’s only for a little while, to think of it as a little vacation. I sure hope so. I really do. But it just feels like the end of the world.

Entry 2 - May 17, 2020

It’s my birthday. And we’re even more doomed. How fun! Can I see my friends? Nope. My family? Nope. My father? Kind of, if we want to skirt a few rules. Divorced parents, so fun!Things are definitely… interesting. Why else would I be writing in this stupid thing? From now on this will be where I can talk about things in a pissy manner and no one can complain about it.I turned fourteen today. “Yay. Great,” he says in a sarcastic tone. Getting a cake was a bit hard. Let’s just say it’s not an essential food. I’m surprised there aren’t ration stamps at this point. Toilet paper is hard to get. The stores are a mess of guidelines with greedy bastards taking everything they can, everyone else be damned.

Entry 3 - December 15, 2020

It’s almost Christmas, and I just can’t take it anymore. I thought things were already bad, but the longer the world around me goes on, the worse it gets. Like WTF?School is a pile of nothing right now. I’m actually writing this in class while watching a movie. That’s how bad things are. And the Goddamn teachers can’t even tell. Here’s a good tip for online learning: keep your camera off but do the work. As long as you are turning things in, they don’t care. Plus, it’s not like they can do anything about it.Politics are dumb, too. Everything's divided. No one can agree on what's fact or fiction, right or wrong. And I don't think it's helping the pandemic that's happening. That's for sure.

Entry 4 - March 13, 2021

It’s been one year. ONE YEAR. Some restrictions have risen, and they said they will start this “hybrid” learning thing in school, but it’s all bullshit. The death tolls are in the hundreds of thousands already worldwide, and there seems to be no end.How the hell is a kid supposed to live in all of this? I cut all my friends off at this point, though it’s not like I had many to begin with. All this damn pandemic thing has done is make an already antisocial kid even more antisocial. Quite a bad deal, if you ask me.Nothing is getting better. Mom’s working her ass off to support us. But the prices down here on the Cape aren’t lowering, that’s for sure. But we’ve just got to stick together.

Entry 5 - August 8, 2021

What the hell! What the actual hell? I’m being forced back to school now. What the hell! For a year and a half, I have been stuck at home, initially by force and eventually by choice, and NOW you are making me go back in! I don’t even know what going to school is like anymore. How do you socialize? What will going on the bus be like? How has everything changed? How have I changed? I doubt it will all be the same as it was in middle school. And, yeah, that’s how long it’s been. I started this journey in seventh grade, and am now going into ninth. NINTH! Too much, so much, has happened. The virus is still going around. Everyone is angry at each other. There was a Goddamn insurrection (or "peaceful protest," depending on who you ask) at the Capitol Building earlier this year.I don’t know what is going on anymore. I just hope I can keep it together. No longer can I stay protected from the world behind a computer screen. And no one else can, either.

Entry 6 - September 7, 2021

Just got home. It was the first day. My first day of school, practically ever. I felt like I was in sixth grade again, or, for anyone who has never switched schools, kindergarten. And that’s a rather terrible feeling. The two biggest things I have learned are to have a version of your schedule at all times and to know room numbers by heart. That’s the only way I got around then, and the only way I got around today.No one remembered me. No one, not even my old friends, noticed my re-existence. I mean, to them, I disappeared for almost two years, and I feel the same way. I don’t know who they are anymore, and they don’t know me. It's like the world stopped, and is only getting going yet again now. The best plan of action is to stay away from everyone and isolate. Even with a mask, I can still catch that damn disease or whatever the hell it is. I’ve avoided it this long, and it WON’T get me anytime soon.

Entry 7 - January 1, 2022

I’ve warmed up a bit. School’s been going for a few months now, and it’s gotten better. The world's still shit, but I’m doing better. I feel better. We’re just about to come out of Winter Break, the New Year rolling in. I’m writing this at midnight, funnily enough.I’ve got some friends now, kind of. Two of them are from middle school. Yeah, I was finally able to reconnect with some of them, which is pretty cool. But I’ve also gained another one this year, in an unexpected turn of events. Socially speaking, these are some giant leaps.But that's not too important. I mean, it is, but writing about that is cringy. Though, writing about writing about it is not much better. Nor is writing about writing about writing about it. I think my point is made.I’ve been doing good in English and taking a journalism class as well. This writing thing has really begun to rub off on me. An article here, a poem there, and boom, you're a full-blown author!Also, who the hell is the audience for this journal? Me in the future? Probably. My kids? Ha, I doubt it. Some alien society examining Earth and realizing there was once life on it? Definitely. Things are becoming increasingly like a South Park or Family Guy episode every day, the comicality of life coming right through. I wouldn't be surprised if this was all one big story, one being's hand guiding the very fabric of the freaking universe. Or I could still be recovering from quarantine. Isolation made everyone go a bit crazy.

Entry 8 - June 28, 2022

It’s the last day of school. I’m not even joking. Like, somehow, I have survived most of a pandemic AND an entire school year. That’s impressive. Things seem to be fairly consistent now. I’ve got a good group I hang out with, my grades are on the up and up, and things are generally good, even in the world. There’s been some tension between NATO and Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine, but I doubt that thing will last much longer. I mean, it can’t, right? Aren't we a bit beyond that as a species, especially after a pandemic? I think we are. And, I mean, The President is signing so many damn bills to send money over there. If only he could do that to lower the price of gas.

Entry 9 - June 23, 2025

Uh, how do I put this? I forgot about this old thing. Note to self: don’t put things in drawers you never open. But, yeah, I’ve graduated now. I’m going to college.There are so many strange things in this book. Little details, dramatic descriptions, exaggerated feelings. I really thought it was going to be the end of the world! Was it really that abysmal? And South Park, really? I’m not that much older, but man, I was weird.This is definitely an interesting world to be going to adulthood with. I mentioned Ukraine in the last entry, and let me say, it’s gotten worse. Russia won. I’m not even sure how. And now they’ve banded together with China, Belarus, and North Korea to create a new organization. It’s called OCEA, meaning Organization of Central and Eastern Asia. A bit strange, but whatever. Let’s just say things are heating up, and I’m not excited to hear the conversations about it when Thanksgiving comes around.

Entry 10 - April 17, 2028

Things are not good right now. Still in college. But, uh, I’m regretting turning twenty-one. I think war is starting. Scratch that; I know war is starting. OCEA invaded Japan and South Korea earlier this week, and it looks like their next target is India. Shit’s not looking good. NATO leaders are in talks to put a protective border around Eastern Europe. I normally don’t pay attention to politics, but I’m worried.Right now, the temperature is hotter than ever for the middle of April. Some blame global warming, and I’m beginning to see why. It should not be 120° Fahrenheit in Massachusetts for 8 days straight. That’s freaking hot. And funnily enough, Arizona is being blanketed in snow right now! How? I don’t know. Not even my weatherman seems to understand it, and I’ve been watching that dude since I was five.

Entry 11 - November 8, 2030

Prices are through the roof. It reminds me of 2020. People are raiding shelves again. I moved in with my dad just to avoid paying the rent right now. Things are falling and falling really hard.OCEA’s Kremlin has announced that they’ve successfully taken over Australia. My brother was drafted to fight there. He’s gone. But we don't even have his body. They take all the dead from the battlefield and use them for... something. No one knows what, exactly, but it makes it hard to have closure.The world is pretty much going to be split in two. NATO is changing its name to ARCADIA and taking over power from each individual nation. I don’t even know what half of these shitty acronyms mean anymore; all I understand is that the US is now a state of some massive multinational organization. But in reality, this is all just fun names for killers and warmongers.Graduated college. Met a girl there. She’s nice, really nice. Her name’s Autumn. I think I’m finally in love (I’ve never loved before). I don’t know what to do. What should I do? I’m scared, poor, and in love. The American Dream, am I right? Or, I guess, the ARCADIAN Dream?

Entry 12 - August 9, 2031

Put the ring on her finger. I did it last night. On her birthday, too. We’re just too happy together. Her ring was not diamond, as there are no more available to the public. They’re being used by the military for a superweapon or something. The damn thing was just a plain gold ring.Talking about the world, things are VERY apocalyptic. I don’t know if I, in good conscience, can bring kids into this world. Twenty-five years old and I already have to think about that. It’s a bit scary. I just have this feeling that the world will not get better. I’m actually still rooming with my dad (Autumn hates me for that).OCEA is now OCEANIA. They’ve practically colonized the entirety of Asia and Australia. Europe and North America have strengthened their alliance. South America is trying to join ARCADIA. Africa seems to be the only continent left that hasn’t taken sides or been taken. But I’m not sure how long that is going to last.

Entry 13 - February 28, 2033

Goddamn it. I won’t go into too much detail, but I’m having a kid. Oh, for the love of God, I’m having a kid. I probably should have paid a bit more attention in health class.I’m not ready for fatherhood. I’m still barely ready for adulthood. It was only a few years ago when I thought the end of the world was near. Maybe I was right. For all the good that has come, there has been so much bad. Almost too much bad.There has been talk of peace treaties between ARCADIA and OCEANIA. Both sides are hurting more than they'll admit. We’re practically in a war of attrition right now. It’s like WWII mixed with the Cold War mixed with the fact that both sides have more nuclear weapons than they know what to do with. And now I’m meant to bring a child into this world!I love Autumn, I love the idea of having a son or daughter, but I hate the world right now. She’s actually out right now with a bunch of her other barely pregnant friends. The government really doesn’t want us to have kids, but they can’t force us not to (for now). I just hope our rations can stretch for a third mouth to feed.

Entry 14 - May 22, 2038

Left it in a drawer again. I’ve got a wife, kid, and house… well, apartment… well, a place to live. Everything is hard to come by. Poor Noah. Oh, yeah, my son's name is Noah. It’s a bit Biblical, I know, and I'm not particularly into Eden and all of that, but it was Autumn's father’s, and he died from COVID back in 2021.I’m not sure where life is going right now. I’ve got this quote stuck in my head. It’s from Einstein, I think. “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Shit, if that does not strike fear into you, I don’t know what would. I feel like that is exactly where we are going right now. The Earth is literally in half, and the sticks and stones are becoming ever closer.

Entry 15 - September 12, 2042

Is the world stable? No. Is my family stable? No. Am I stable? God no. I won’t lie, I haven’t eaten in 3 days. Been giving it to Noah and Autumn.In a speech mirroring President Kennedy’s back in the ’60s, the ARCADIAN "president" John Oswald announced something insane: we are going to race OCEANIA to Pluto. We are sending two of our own out there to beat their ass. And they are doing the same, drafting anyone with the slightest semblance of qualification. Though I doubt those astronauts will come back. Thank God I miss that mark, my medical history not meeting their strict quota, but for the ones who don’t, my condolences. It seems that the world is actively shitting itself.I’d say money is tight, but there is no money. Everything, and I mean everything, is going to or will go toward the war effort. Food, water, wood, plastic, metal; you name it, and it's out there on the frontline, probably lodging itself into someone as I write. Right now the fight is concentrated around The Congo. The Americas and Europe against Russia, the entire continent of Asia, and colonized Australia, fighting in the middle of Africa. History's gone almost full circle, beautiful lives ending in the birthplace of humanity. It's all for land, for resources, for exploitation, for ego, and the common man is suffering at the center of it.

Entry 16 - July 4, 2045

I’m just sitting on the couch crying, just as I did in the pandemic, missing something. I don’t know what. I have love, I have education, but outside of that, I have nothing. No one has anything. Curfews are in place now. Noah can’t go to school anymore. I live in the Goddamn United States of America, and my child can not go to school! You see how it failed us all the way back in 2020? Are you that idiotic enough to do it again? Oh, the all-encompassing ARCADIA is here to save my day? Stop the shit. There is no news, just lies. There is no food, just hunger. Each year they grow more and more crops to feed hungry soldiers, sucking nutrients out of every square inch of soil they plow, yet "We The People" live either in a fiery hell or a cold one, covered either in soot or rain, starvation and malnutrition taking over. You can't even let your kids play in the snow anymore, because it's impossible to tell if it's that or your neighbor's ashes.Mom’s house got washed away. The Cape is finally beginning to flood. They say that what was supposed to happen in two hundred years is happening in the span of twenty. It’s all gone.Noah’s now what, like nine? Damn. NINE! I mean, I’m only getting older as well. Though this is not the world I want to get old in. It’s barely one I want to die in. I would never go happy if I knew this was what was being left behind. That is, if there’s any world left.

Entry 17 - January 6, 2047

“ARCADIAN Space Agency Director Geo Oswald announces today that lead engineer of The Crunch Initiative Claren Smith will be teamed with botanist and pilot Tim Buchanan as Arcadia’s brave astronauts going to the outer Solar System.”That was what I was greeted with this morning. We all were, actually. It was put on every channel in the known universe. OCEANIA has yet to say anything, though it is suspected their selections have been made and are in active training.I’m sure those two men are shills, scared shitless, or both. Not sure. Even though they were drafted, I think their families are getting “compensation;" an eye for an eye, you know. It's probably like one extra ration a week or something. I know I would do anything to let my family live a slightly better life. Luckily, when your job is a journalist, you don’t run the risk of being forced into space. That is, not yet. But you are tasked to tell some of the most heinous lies I’ve ever seen. Maybe I’m the shill?

Entry 18 -  August 12, 2048

I don’t even know who I am, where I live, what my purpose is. I work my ass off in a factory every day making shells for the military. I wasn’t even fired as a journalist. I literally got escorted out along with a dozen others at my office and told to never show our faces again. The top 1% sit high on their pedestals, not having to endure a second of the pain we do, demanding what we do and where we work. Bastards.Autumn is trying to homeschool Noah, but it’s not going well. As he’s gotten older, I've noticed something off about how he learns. We can’t afford to bring him to a doctor or get him analyzed, so who knows? Maybe I’m reading into things a bit too hard. If I were a kid right now, I would just want to cause trouble and be with friends. Who the hell wants to sit down and learn when you know that the end could be around the corner? I was right all those years ago about not wanting to bring a child into this world. It just hurts that it’s worse now.

Entry 19 - December 24, 2049

Apparently, it’s Christmas. There’s no snow. Not sure how, but it’s almost 130 degrees out. I’m not kidding. Everything’s burning. People are hungry. Soldiers line every street in every town in every state and nation across ARCADIA. Walk outside and you're dead, from either heat or bullets. For all the wishes I have made on Christmas, this is the one time I need them to come true. For Autumn, for Noah, and, for the love of God, myself.

Entry 20 - March 1, 2050

I don’t think we have long. Those Tim and Claren bastards stopped communicating with ARCADIAN control; something knocked their ship out. They are not on any sensors anymore, only the OCEANIC craft. Our government is screaming at theirs, and thanks to the terms of the deal, if they make it first to Pluto, we’re gone. But if there was foul play, they're gone. I suspect we're all going. Hands are poised over big red buttons, and who’s going to punch it first, no one knows. But I know something’s wrong; we all do. And all we have left is fear.I’m not going to work anymore. If these are our last days, we need to be together. I can’t let my kid know this is it, but I want to be with him if it is. This is just so effed up, man. In two weeks, no, two days, our world could be a fireball. And no one would know until those sirens sound. But by then, it’s too late.I don’t give two shits about anything else right now: not this journal, not politics, not those astronauts. I’m going to shut the hell up and hug my family. This is the end. I’m pretty sure it’s happening. It’s happening.

Interlude

March 13, 2050, 7:38 a.m..."Sir, it's time. The bombs have been sent. We expect impact within minutes.""Status on the bunkers?""Almost full.""Do the civilians know?""The ARCADIAN Alert System has been turned on. They know what is coming.""I can't believe this is it. I can't believe we're the ones ending the Goddamn world.""Well, if those OCEANIC bastards never shot down the Discovery!""Kid, you know that's just hearsay, right? We have no idea if they did. But it did spin one hell of a story!""What are you talking about, Mr. President?""The ASA has intel that Buchanan and Smith were likely hit by rocks in The Belt. They're dead either way, but so is the OCEANIC team. It was all a decoy; no one was ever making it to Pluto. I just didn't expect the propaganda to actually lead to all of this!""Why are you telling me this?""It's the fucking end of the world! WE all knew it was coming. You may be the last to learn.""So it was all a lie?""The entire war was a lie! What were we even fighting over?""Democracy! Safety from the barbaric OCEANIA! Freedom!""Open your eyes, my boy. Did the people ever live such a life? Your parents, your friends? No!""This is a lot to take in.""You're not on Air Force One for nothing. Hey, can you get the little one here a drink. Something strong.""Right away," she responded."Anyway, when are these bombs dropping?"The assistant lightly gulped. "7:45.""Well, look at the time." He peered down at his diamond-encrusted watch. "In five, four, three, two, and..."The first bomb dropped. An OCEANIC city was obliterated in seconds.Three more nukes followed. Then ten. Then one hundred.Retaliation ensued.Every major center around the globe was destroyed in an hour. One. Single. Hour.Billions died in a fiery hell. Thousands of years of human history—gone.Once bustling cities were flattened; a once green Earth was now a wasteland.Life ceased to exist.The calm before the storm was a warning; everyone saw it, yet no one acted.But the human story will continue to live, its heart still beating out there. And perhaps, The End had not come. Maybe it was just a gateway to a new beginning….

Day 1 - Survival

A mountain of rubble, a sea of radiation. Skyscrapers now bare their steel skeletons.Singed shadows covered whatever stood; blackened human remains displayed, scattered on the barren walls.The few structures that lasted the blast stood still, awaiting imminent destruction. Those who survived had little time to find safety, that is if there was any.Skepticism of war raged on before the first blow, but no one was ready for it to come. Whoever was alive only had mere days to find salvation.In the rubble, in the piles of ash, laid a man; scarred and bruised, burned and charred, but alive, which was the most important part.There he was, the last human on the surface of the Earth: groaning in pain, rolling in agony. No hospitals existed, no medical personnel could help; he was stranded.The dusky days became inky nights, the stars covered by acid clouds and the moon offering little light.All he could focus on was survival, though that was far-fetched. Nothing was left for him, no one to help soothe the pain.Eventually, his mind got the better of him, slowly passing out and waiting for the morning sun, or at least whatever was left of it. Day 2 was on the horizon.

Day 2 - Panic

“Why must I be in such pain!” The muddled voice of the man surrounded the desolate area. “Please, just let me die! Please!” He had healed a bit over the night, some of the wounds scabbing over, but his body was still heavily damaged.The once blue sphere of yesteryear was now replaced with a reddish haze and darkened shadows. Solely three cycles of the weather lasted: semi-clear skies, ash flurries, and acid showers.The man continued to lay still, in pure, unbridled pain, and panic soon set in.“My mom, my dad, my wife, are all gone,” he cried. “My sweet, sweet children; my existence, it’s all gone.”Small puddles of tears balled up near his eye, them drooping down the side of his seared face and into the blistering ground below him.He was alone, the boiling day slowly simmering him further and closer to his demise.Sirens still sounded, but began to wane as time continued. They stayed as a constant reminder of what had happened, their blaring screech ringing in the ears of the man, adding to his terror.But as the evening turned to darkness, life only got worse.

Day 3 - Ideas

The man's body had healed even better; the excruciating pain gradually stopping, gradually ceasing. Though radioactive winds from larger population centers began to seep into the area.By that point, he had gotten over the cries. He was ready for the end. Unfortunately, though, that was not the idea the universe had for him.The agony continued to spread across his body. “I need to get up, I need to move around. I need to find safety from the winds.”Steadily, he began to lift his limp limbs from the soil.“Come. On. Grrrr. Come on…” he loosened the Earth’s grip on his forearms.“Ahhh, shit that hurts. That really hurts. Damn.”The man continued to struggle in pain, the movement discouraging a quick recovery.Time persisted, just as it always has, and soon, it became dusk. Yet again, sleep overcame his struggles, and a brief slumber was on its way.

Day 4 - Failure

“Food… food. Water. I need water.”Starvation was starting to take hold, the urge and need for substance, his stomach churning; survival was becoming harder and harder.He failed multiple times to lift himself. No matter what he did, his weak body couldn’t support itself. Muscle was already starting to deteriorate; his skin healing, but getting increasingly pale, comparable to tissue paper.Nothing worked; he was stuck in a spiral. Large amounts of feces and urine surrounded him, permeating every aspect of what was left of his body.Everything he tried, failed. Everything he had dreamed of, halted. The doors of opportunity were slowly closing. Death was near; the end was inevitable.

Day 5 - Savior

Dawn struck, the sun rose promptly, and a mysterious figure stood over the man. It was tall, translucent, and shimmering in the morning’s musky mood.“Hello, my dear friend. How are you?” it inquired.The man slowly woke up. “What? Huh? Who are you?”“Ah, friend, why it looks like you need some help? Is that correct?”“Why yes! Yes, I do! I have nothing, no one. I need a savior.”“A savior, you say?” the individual questioned. “I can help you with that… for a price.”“What price?” the man demanded.“What do you desire the most?”“My life back; my family, my home, my everything.”“That’s the want of every human,” it stated. “If you begin to believe in me, in what I say, I can help you. But you have to do as I say. That's the price.”“Yes, yes! I’ll do anything.”“So do you agree, do you consent?”“What do I have to do?” he probed.The figure smiled. “You shall see…”Suddenly, the eerie silhouette's soft, clear hands began to glow a purple shade. It began to rotate its wrists, hovering its palms over the broken man. Slowly, information started to seep into the man's head: a garden, a family, a life.“Oh my,” the man exclaimed. “What… what is all of this?”“I’m giving you a chance at safety, a chance to see the life you could have,” it replied.“What? How?”“Go to Eden, and there, you will receive salvation. Believe in Eden, and you will see what you want.”“Eden?” the man asked. “Eden?”“Find Eden and all will make sense; it’s only a small distance away, a quick journey indeed. You need to believe in something; faith is the only thing that will save you. And there you will get what you want, my child; then you can collect your prize.”The mystic illusion whisked itself away, escaping the presence of the man. He fell unconscious, going into a deep daze.

Day 6 - Plan

The man woke up again, staring into the misery above.Hunger ravaged his stomach still, feeling like an infinite pit of emptiness.Now only one question remained in the man's head: Eden.“Eden, Eden. What is Eden? Where is Eden? And who in the hell was that guy?”The man contemplated everything he was told, every detail he was given. But the sparse segments he obtained led to no satisfactory conclusion.He only had one plan: to stay alive, to think of Eden.“The only thing it told me to do was wait, that it was only a short visit away. But I can’t get up, my body is simply too weak.”That was it, that was the plan, that was his goal. Only so much could be done, and all he could do was begin to hope; to begin to believe in what he was told.

Day 7 - Possibilities

After a night of questions, the man only managed to further irritate himself. The deserted lands around him were worsening and increasing in severity.Waves of extreme heat and dust covered the landscape. High levels of radiation pierced through the man, slowly killing him.Different possibilities of what Eden was like ran through his brain. He couldn’t focus on anything else, those thoughts overwhelming his clouded mind.“Is Eden a paradise? Is it hell? Did I make a deal with God, or a deal with the Devil? What if they lied, what if they have nothing for me?”There were too many variations flowing through his head. “Every single one could be true, or none. I’m playing a game of chance. But what do I have to lose? Nothing.”Nothing else flooded his head. Nothing else was available. The only thing left was the hope that it was real.And for the last time, the dark days turned into empty nights. The man posed motionless on the ground. Eden was near.

Day 8 - Eden

“Hello, my son,” a booming voice uttered. “Welcome to the place of your dreams!”The man continued to be on the ground, but this time was not surrounded by the rubble of a once prosperous city. Instead, he sat on a glistening white floor, illuminated with a minuscule amount of ambient light.“We greet you with open arms, my child. Now awaken.” The mysterious figure was back, and this time, it was larger than ever. At its command, the man rose from his rest.First, he lifted his head, slowly uncurling himself from the fetal position. The man cautiously opened his eyes, blinded by the vivid colors of the chamber he was now in.“W-W-Where am I? Where did you take me?”“Why, can you not tell? You have made it, you have made it to Eden.”“I have? This is where you wanted me to be?”“Yes, now I have completed my job, my task. My lord, wherever you are, I have done what you required of me, I have saved humanity.”“Lord? Job? Saved humanity?” The man looked up toward the spiritual being. “Who exactly are you?”“As I said before, in Eden, all things will make sense. Eden is the next stage of human evolution; it’s an eternal fortress of prosperity, where life can continue for you and everyone who has believed in Eden. I am merely a pawn in a much greater game, sent to ensure your transcendence at all costs. Death is just a bridge to another world.”“Does that mean… I’m dead?”“Yes, that was the price for salvation: your life.”“And your job was to bring me here? Why not just kill me, or tell me to kill myself?”“I can’t interfere; all I can do is watch it happen, and help you reach it safely.”“Then what is the purpose; why even tell me to come here, why did you see me?”“To give you a chance to trust something. You were nearly dead, but chose to believe. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have made it here. Belief is the most important aspect of life, but you lacked that in the condition you were in before. You gave up. Though, when I told you sanctuary was possible, you began to have a sense of faith."“I didn’t want to lose hope, but I thought all was lost. Everything I ever loved was gone; my home was destroyed. You saved me from that.”“You're welcome,” the being stated, “you were my last priority. My last mission has now been fulfilled; you live forever here in Eden.”“So I can do whatever I please? I can be who I want, be with those who have gone? I no longer suffer?”“Isn’t that the ultimate prize?”“That’s a lot to uncover.”“Well, you have the time, that’s for sure my youngling. Now go off, find those who also believed; enjoy the bliss as it lasts, before it becomes a burden.”“Will do so!”“And remember, this may seem to be The End, but it's really just the beginning; the beginning of something truly special. The start of the real human story…”

Epilogue

3 Months After The Departure…A craft entered the orbit of Earth, tiny compared to its destroyed body and barren soul. In it, two humans sat, guiding their ship toward the planet. But to their surprise, what once was had now vanished; their home, destroyed.“What the hell happened?” one of the men said.“The Earth, it’s a total mess!”“What did we miss on this damn mission? Three months pass and Earth is gone!”The two astronauts looked at each other, squished by the tight interior of their cabin.“Well, that explains why we couldn’t talk to mission control,” one said plainly.“Shit. Holy shit.” The man turned around in a panic and quickly started scanning the space around them, spying for any signs of human activity.The captain looked out the window of their capsule, staring at the sphere below.“It was once so beautiful, so magical.”“It sure was,” said the other man at the radio.“Did you get anything yet?”“Kind of, but the signal is faint.”“What’s the source?”“I’m not sure; let me try to pinpoint its location.” The man took hold of his headphones, looked down at his monitor, and attempted to discover the precise source of the message. He twisted a few nobs, pushed a couple of buttons, and honed in on the signal.“I’ve got it! It's the space station, the International Freedom Station!”“What’s the message?”“Just a series of short ticks and long taps.”“Let me hear that.” The more experienced pilot floated over to the post. He put on his pair of earbuds and listened.“Three short, three long, and three short. And it repeats.” The man looked out the window again. “It’s a Goddamn SOS!”“I knew that. Do you think anyone’s on the station?”“If you knew that, then you wouldn’t hold your hopes out.”“We should head there, anyway. It’ll be loaded with supplies.”“If what I think happened, happened, then we’ll need everything we can get.”The two men sat back in their seats and set course, matching their orbit with the station. Smoothly and swiftly they reached their destination, though instead of life, the place was dead; no lights, no movement, nothing.“That’s not a good sign,” one of the men quipped.“I’m not surprised. The war caused this poor station to be a battleground of ownership. It’s been empty for months.”“Didn’t you spend some time here?”“Long ago, my friend, back when I thought our world was the only.”“The habitation systems are probably down, then. But it’s nothing a reboot won’t fix.”The pilot directed the ship toward a connector in the starboard section.Similar to a football field in size, the station spanned many yards across the darkness of space around the crimson Earth. Like many before, the International Freedom Station was constructed of different modules, a display of national flags and symbols covering its white and silver exterior. A large, cylindrical build allowed it to have vast arrays of solar panels, their glaring blue hue absorbing energy exponentially.As the ship neared the docking bay, its computer system locked onto a target and aligned itself. Inch by inch, their destination came ever closer. And within seconds, they were attached, little arms grabbing hold of small notches in a ring surrounding the exit.“Docking Successful,” their computer screen read.“Ha, great!” the pilot screamed.The men unstrapped themselves from their seats, quickly bolting to their spacesuits.“Damn, these things got really beaten up, didn’t they.”“That’s what happens when you battle on an asteroid,” his underling responded.“Very funny. Now let’s get into this station.”A lever sat on the side of the door,  heavily banged up with deep dents covering its dull exterior. But with enough brute strength, they opened it, entered the airlock, closed the hatch behind them, and matched its pressure with that of the larger vessel.“The pressure is too low. I think you were right.”“Well, they didn’t ask an engineer to come on this mission for nothing!”“You’re saying that like we did this willingly.”“I was fine with going to Pluto. I did not agree to meet an alien, battle an evil queen, return to a destroyed Earth, and learn that everyone I loved is likely gone.” “I don’t think that was part of the draft description.”“It wasn’t…” he responded, his voice strained as he looked his partner in the eye. “It wasn’t at all.”“Oh, bud, we’ll make it through this. I know we will. Okay.”“Okay.”The men were in agreement, and soon, opened up the hatch into the station. It was dark inside, empty and cold. A sea of items floated around endlessly; laptops, books, food packages, and more. Both entered cautiously, turning on their flashlights and steering through the mess.“Well, I think we’re alone,” the engineer said.“Let’s scrap this thing for everything we can.”The men got to work, the pilot investing time into every nook and cranny, finding groves of vacuumed-packed food and dozens of sealed plant seeds in the greenhouse. He examined everything he could, saving what was possible. Water was also a necessity, as to which the station's sanitation station for waste seemed to produce an excess of.The other man plugged his computer into the faulty electrical system, attempting to discover and troubleshoot any issues. It appeared that the main circuit breaker was overloaded, and, with the quick flip of a switch, power was yet again delivered to the station.They soon came back together, confident with their discoveries.“At least that wasn’t a total lost cause… thankfully,” one of the men said.“We got plenty out of it, that’s for sure. The station’s on, we have resources for the next few months, and if we play it smart with the greenhouse, we could last for years.”“So now what?”“I’m not sure. This is not what we signed up for.”“You’re telling me!”“We should cannibalize the station to assist the ship's restoration; it is our lifeboat. But we can survive here, too, and maybe find others on Earth. That’s the best option.”“Things are slim, but our best bet is here.”“Then it’s settled. You get on the repairs, and I’ll get on working with the greenhouse and water supply. This is our new home; this is the last residence of the human race.”The two men got to work. They knew the journey ahead would be challenging, but worth it. Nothing is more important than life, than believing in salvation.And soon, the men would get what they wanted: a place for humanity to thrive.
You can continue to read this story in The Asteroid War, released on August 8, 2022, exclusively to WRTN.