Note: About a year and a half ago, I was in colledge and I was bored out of my mind in one particular computer class. Thus that boredom spawned this little work. I wrote this short story about the end of the world. It wasn't until recently that I found it in an old floppy disc and I decided that I couldn't let it go to waste. Some of you may be more used to the Ace Combat Fanfiction I've done and currently worked on. But, a change of pace was needed. Though I wish there was a place for more generic fiction on this site instead of being in the Misc. pile. I wrote this totally off the cuff, no research, no planning. Just whatever came into my mind, I just wrote it down. So, I hope you enjoy it!
The Meteor Man
The day and time seemed irrelevant to Harvey Washington. Many people knew what day it was: December 28, 2014. It was a freezing midnight somewhere in Kansas City. It was somewhere around midnight and no one cared. Harvey didn't care. He only cared about what this day and the days after it would represent: the end of the world as anyone knew it. However, Harvey Washington was one of the few lucky ones; he had a chance to survive this shattering of the world.
His mind was focused on the past and all the happiness and devastation that came with it. All around him in the real world, however, lay one chaos, anger and anxiety. The chaos was the scene itself followed by the anger of the vicious crowds kept at bay by a fence. But these were people who could not accept the end of the world. The reasonable ones were already trying to find some place to hide from the coming doom. At least they were trying; these resentful people outside the fence were angry and rightfully so. It was nothing but possibly death or life in a shattered, cold world for them.
The anxiety came from the lucky few ones who were gathered in a parking lot. All around was the scene of helicopters, tents, and authorities with guns; some had windbreakers with the variety of many combinations of dreaded three initials on them. Others wore camouflage fatigues with high powered guns to hold the vicious crowd at bay. There were spotlights and doctors, people in white coats checking the lucky ones for diseases or any other ailments. They had spent all day processing the lucky ones and soon the inspectors and protectors had to leave as well, having been promised a place to survive the coming apocalypse. Only nine people were left, and Harvey Washington was one of them.
His heart and mind had been shaken by what he'd seen and witnessed in the last three days alone. When his contingent got that letter, so many things happened that it had become a blur. But he was alive now.
Washington had accepted the world's end weeks ago. Some denied it up until this very day. But even now, so few denied the obvious. These people who clamored helplessly at the fence were among the foolish. Because what the nine people in this makeshift compound knew more than anything else was one simple fact. One simple fact that all except for a few delusional knew to be true. One simple, brutal, horrifying fact…
The Meteors were coming.
The government tried to stop them. They knew the stones from space were coming. They tried and everyone knew it. The reasonable gave them the credit they deserved. The U.S. Government tried their best. It was only a few years ago they saw the onslaught of speeding rocks from some area in the galaxy. No one cared where they came from…they just came on with a vengeance. It seemed so painfully orchestrated. There were thousands of them; large comets and small asteroids were being brought by some unknown force to planet Earth. Maybe a distant planet had exploded.
Regardless, the only thing to do was to try and stop them. The government kept it quiet for as long as they could. But it was impossible in the age of the internet and advanced electronic media. Then panic broke out as soon as people could no longer dismiss it as a hoax. How could they not? One tiny meteor, traveling at Mach 3, struck Times Square. The government prepared and prepared with diligence. They did not want to repeat a certain hurricane debacle in 2005. But this situation was like the movies. It was not as easy as it looked.
They stopped the largest ones and many brave astronauts from around the world gave their lives to ensure the human race wasn't threatened. But in the end, it was all for naught. There were just so many of them. They were like a mass of vermin. They were like swarms of killer bees or fire ants. It was impossible to swat all the meteors down. Blowing up the big ones ended up creating smaller ones.
Some places were hit when the remains of the first massive asteroids hit. Iran, parts of Siberia, and India were hit. That removed all doubt. But the rest were far away…but on the way all the same.
Now they were bearing down on the Earth, poised to deliver a million near-simultaneous gouging wounds. Nukes and A-SAT missiles were sent to stop them…but still they came on. But as futile as these preventative measures were, they had bought the Earth much precious time. Conflicts were stopped, hatreds were forgotten for as long as possible.
But when all hope faded away, chaos reigned.
Considering the destructive capabilities of the stones from space, a harsh, but necessary decision was made by the leaders of the world. To save only the finest minds would have been selfish. So these same fine minds selected people at random from a query of hundreds of thousands of people. Each selected had to have met a series of reasonable qualifications. For example, the query included the following: they had to have no specific mental disorders, no arrests for violent crimes, no sex offenders, and had to be under the age of forty five.
From this, the major world powers (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, France, China, and Germany) selected the "chosen ones" on a forty five/fifty five percent ratio respectively between 300 and 500 males and females. With them they could bring no more than three members of their family or friends provided they met the qualifications. That proved difficult for some, and that led to some chaos.
Each selected person was given what became known a "Silver Ticket"; in the U.S., it got its name from the stock of paper it was printed on. It was merely a letter indicating their passage into "Paradise One through Five", one of the five deep underground shelters in areas not to be hit by the Meteors as best as NASA could figure. There was no name on it, simply because there was no time. As long as one had one, they could get in no questions asked. Chalk it due to understandable sloppiness as the shelters were only finished a few weeks before the coming doom.
But Harvey Washington had his ticket. Harvey spent the weeks leading up this wondering, why him? The protests came from the fact that so few were chosen. But the problem was simple logistics. The effects of the meteors were to be devastating to not only human life, but animal life and the atmosphere.
Now the day before the onslaught arrived, and Harvey had mixed feelings about leaving a world that had been so good to him behind. He took a somber look back at the clamoring people at the fence. He shuddered as he thought of the brutal incident hours earlier when he and his contingent arrived here. The fact that hurt most of all was that the good people that were left behind had already accepted their fate. And one of those good people had saved his life; a person that wasn't even chosen, and didn't care. He'd been able to get him and wife and his kids to the gate just as the deadline loomed. They were alright, but he wasn't concerned about him at the moment.
His mind was on the past. All around him was the scene of chaos. The clamoring people at the fence were shouting all kinds of curses, racial epithets, and death threats. Then…it began. The first meteor was on its way…
"We got incoming, northwest of us! 30 miles!" one of the windbreakers said.
In the distance, a loud sound could be heard. The ground shook with ferocity. Most people believed that was one of the bigger ones. But it did nothing to disperse the crowd at the gate. Now things had become even tenser. Everything was becoming a blur in the mind. One of the soldiers ran past him, a higher NCO of some rank ran to one of the federal windbreakers.
"What's your status?" said one of the soldiers to one of the white coats."We've got one more group!" said the female white coat."Then get them done so we can get the hell out of here!" said the soldier.
Washington could only think about the past. He looked back at the crowd. He saw their faces…but it was not the faces of the angry people he saw once before. It was the faces of those he'd left behind. He couldn't focus. Only grief and regret filled his mind.
"Harvey! Come on!" said a familiar female voice.
Harvey snapped back into reality but he was slow to grasp it. His wife was tugging him along, holding a baby boy that looked nothing like his mother. The pre-adolescent girl was also tugging at him. They were almost pulling him, almost as if they understood the dazed, shell-shocked look their loved one had. They were pulled inside a white tent were some of the doctors and windbreakers were already packing it up. All Harvey had to do was let the female white coat punch his ticket so the Washington quartet could be on their way to a safe haven.
Inside, an officer was talking to a variety of computer people who were manning the stations. Harvey could clearly see maps of places on the globes. Harvey's group was taken to a single desk apart from the area of computers. In the other area, one of the officers was demanding to know what was going on.
I want a full status report!They're coming much faster than we thought sir! Chicago just took a direct hit!
Where do you want to start? We've got hits from Madagascar to Kiev, sir!
Moscow is gone. Volograd just took a direct hit as well.
Mexico City has taken a few hits; but no major collisions. We have one in Manhattan, direct hit in the Soho region.
The last of the evacuations in Sydney is underway.
Harvey knew from the media reports that the meteors would almost hit west to east. But it seemed God had a different, faster plan. Again, Harvey was off in Never-Never Land, and Maggie Ashby-Washington was getting a little impatient.
"The ticket! Give her the ticket!" Maggie shouted.
Harvey snapped out of his mind's thoughts and said, "Yeah. Here you go."
The rather attractive white cloaked woman took the "letter of survival" from Harvey's shaking hand. Harvey looked at the woman's ID badge. He couldn't make out her first name, but her last name was Vilma. She was either Italian or Spanish in heritage. Vilma looked at Harvey and his group with some skepticism. She shook her head and stamped the letter with a red inked seal. She gave it back to with a strange look. Perhaps it was the first time she'd seen this kind of a menagerie of a family.
It wasn't really a blood family; but a family nonetheless. Vilma thought it just looked odd. Vilma remembered her days at Cal-Berkeley in those tough psychology graduate courses. It had been a few years since, but she missed those old days. Of course, Berkeley took a hit a few weeks ago, one of the coming signs of the apocalypse. Her home was all but gone and all she had left was her work. One thing Vilma knew well was how to interpret people from just looking at their mannerisms and clothing.
Harvey was an African American man in his late twenties, and a well spoken one at that. He seemed to be the emotional center of this group; a calm individual who simply did not have a violent bone in his body. Maggie was a taller, blonde haired Irish looking woman of near equal age; she was also someone that had a dual sense of femininity and toughness. She was a woman who didn't take shit from anyone.
The girl couldn't have been any more than fourteen, yet looking nothing like her mother or father with her black hair green eyes and lanky stance to her. The pre-adolescent girl had extremely long arms. The baby looked nothing like her mother with black hair and narrow blue eyes. But they were not locals by birth. Harvey and Maggie had distinct New York and Boston accents. But they must have had vested interests in this place since father and "daughter" shared identical blue Kansas University coats.
The last thing this Vilma said to Harvey before they prepared to leave was: "Just head out of the tent to your left and just stay low to the ground."
Harvey was a bit taken aback. This woman had the look of someone who had been worked like a mule all day. She was obviously exhausted, but still maintained a bit of patience. She wasn't like the others, who enthusiasm had been sucked out of as if by monsters. Harvey secretly hoped she survived the end of the world. If only there had been more people like her…
"Thanks. Okay, come on, let's go." Harvey said in rapid succession.
Harvey had suddenly realized the situation he was in. As he was led out with the others in tow, the loud sound of helicopters could be heard. Harvey looked back inside as everyone began to pack up computers and devices.
"Alright, shut it down. Pack it up, let's go!" said one of the military officers.
Harvey looked around and saw the choppers winding up. Some of them were taking off. Tabitha, the teenage girl, looked around frantically. Her skin had so many goose bumps that if she had any more she'd almost look like a leper patient from Lourdes.
"Is one going to hit us?" said Tabitha. Harvey looked in her eyes. She was shaking from the cold and her own fear.
Tabitha was Maggie's kid from a teenage pregnancy. One thing about having a thirteen year old teen at twenty nine was that at least Maggie could keep up with her interests. But popular culture did not matter at this point. Popular culture was about to vanish from the face of the Earth. Maggie thought Tab would have a problem with Harvey in her life, seeing as though father figures came and went in her life. But Tab got along well with Harvey. It was almost serendipitous that all three shared a passion for basketball; hence the KU coats and Maggie's Celtics-logo sweater. Not that there was going to be much basketball left after the world was danger of total annihilation.
"God, I hope not. Don't worry; we're going to be fine." Harvey replied, patting her on the head.
"I wonder which one we're going on?" Tab asked, having changed her tone a bit. He looked at all the choppers, not to keen on aviation.
"I guess now is not a good time to say that I'm afraid of heights, okay?" Maggie said with a laugh.
"I guess it's better than being smashed to shit by falling space rocks, no?" replied Harvey.
Speaking of the devil, in the distance there was another flash on the horizon. But this one seemed closer and the roar was deafening.
"I cannot believe this kid isn't crying yet." Maggie said, holding the child in her arms. This kid was named Didier, and how Harvey found him was an entirely different story altogether.
"He's a brave kid…like his real parents were. He's smart too. He knows what's going on."
Harvey looked to the left and saw another family huddled to the ground. He didn't know who they were as they were ahead of the group to Harvey's left. They arrived late as well and had checked in before Harvey's contingent could learn anything about them. They looked like a traditional upper middle class family.
The man of the upper class group looked to be a typical doctor or lawyer or something of that nature. The wife was Asian, obviously from her litheness and square forehead. Harvey could see her teeth chattering; it was twenty degrees outside. The boy looked no more than ten, but he was scared out of his mind. Harvey noticed his gaze and his visage. His face looked white as a ghost. His mother was just as scared. Even though they were the lucky ones, they were still scared of the future. Harvey looked to his left and saw a Middle Eastern couple. He actually learned their names…sort of; Chandra and Samir. But their last names were impossible to pronounce; not even for a self-proclaimed polyglot like Harvey Washington. They ran some corner store in the city. Harvey felt bad for them because they were the hard working ones who had carved out some kind of a life in this dog-eat-dog country. They had to leave their parents behind, their business and most importantly, the terrible backwards culture of Iran.
Harvey was almost glad when Tehran took one of the biggest hits back when the first meteors struck. It was during this time that Harvey was almost glad to be alive in the face of his doubts. Around him was the melting pot of America. America was represented by all the people here. White, Black, Asian, Irish, Iranian, whatever the hell Didier was…
Here, there was no difference in race except the neologisms. Here there was no prejudice, no anger, simply the fact they were alive. Everyone was in it together and none of the "-isms" mattered anymore.
He simply nodded at Samir; who merely nodded back with a smile. Of course, Samir wouldn't care about anyone else but his family. He was just happy to be alive.
"Hell of a time to send an apocalyptic meteor shower, God." Maggie said, shivering. She had tiny little Didier underneath as many blankets as she could. One of them was a warming blanket she stole from a ransacked retail store two days ago. She only prayed they wouldn't make them wait long.
Harvey then let his mind wander again. He thought about all those people he was leaving behind. But he thought mostly about one person. It was one person who changed it all. This person changed everything that occurred in these last three hectic days. But therein laid the tragedy; Harvey could not figure out if this person deserved to be on the way to safe havens or die with possibly the rest of humanity.
He looked at the scrambling personnel all over the place. He could see the fear in their movements. In the rear, he began to hear gunshots.
"What's going on!?" Tabitha shouted, scared and clutching her mother's side.
"God, I hope those crazies aren't trying to break in!" Maggie shouted. She was worried now. She suddenly wished she still had her piece but they wouldn't let her take it here. Then again, she was forgetting that there were men with guns to fulfill that role for her. Though she could only think about what the world would be like after the meteors came.
Indeed they were. Of course, Harvey did not even need to look to know that. He wasn't even fazed by it. The others were scared out of their minds. So many places were filled with anarchy after the deathly news came down. The U.S. tried to keep order where they could…but it was a fruitless attempt in most places. Both Harvey and Maggie hoped their hometowns avoided direct hits…but that was the only pipe dream they held on to.
Suddenly, a soldier ran up to them, signaling them that it was time.
"Okay! Keep your heads low, and don't stop running! Go, go!" he said.
As they ran, there were more distant flashes, but these were closer. The roar of the crashing sounds, the inevitability of instant death and the heat of a million suns were the reality of each impact. Harvey thought about that person the person that should have been here…but was not. Though, there was another person that entered his mind. It had been only hours since it happened, but it
"Harvey! Come on!" Maggie shouted to him.
Harvey shook his head and solemnly entered the Blackhawk helicopter. As he sat down next to Maggie and Tab, they all strapped themselves in. He found himself sitting right across from the yuppie couple. He wanted to ask them what their names were…but he couldn't get his brain to make his mouth say the words that he wanted. One of the soldiers slid the door on the helicopter closed. Maggie looked a bit unsettled as the helicopter took off.
A sigh of relief came over the group…mostly. The only thing Harvey could think about was all those people he'd left behind. Some at least went without seeing the end of the world. Maybe they were more fortunate. Then his thoughts shifted to that of the one person he couldn't figure out if he belonged or not. It was all so wrong. He looked into the distance, and then looked back at Maggie's form; her head stooped on his shoulder. Her tough exterior melted away now. Tabitha had taken Didier and Didier was still silent. It was amazing. Maggie, Tabitha and Didier were okay.
But Harvey could only think about that person: his brother.
But his brother's actions started all of this. But he seemed repentant when it all went down. But it was too late. There was no place in Paradise for him. Then again, he wouldn't have even had a chance if he hadn't destroyed someone's life for that stab at Paradise.
Demetrius…damn you. Why did you do something that fucking stupid? How could you? What a waste.
Soon, the world would end. But at least Harvey Washington would see the world after the meteors came down. They came down all around the globe, destroying everything in their path. The lucky ones had only to wait out the destruction and the inevitable climate change for about five years. The meteors came on with a vengeance, smashing everything as predicted; from west to east. And that was the end of the world as they knew it…but everyone in the chopper was still alive.
It seemed like a happy ending. But it wasn't a happy ending. It wasn't even an ending. It was a continuation of something that had occurred since the start of life itself: the idea of survival. The only thing Harvey could do was think about all those terrible things that happened for his chance at life to be even inaccurately described as a happy ending. The story didn't start when the meteors came down, or when they were first known by the public. The story started in prison nearly five years ago. It was a place where both brothers suddenly found themselves.
For all his intelligence, wit, and respect, Harvey Washington was a flawed man. He did have the harmless yet, idiosyncratic quirk of calling people he never cared about by nicknames. He never called his loved ones nicknames. That was why he called all the doctors "white coats" and the government officials "windbreakers". But other than that…
He once had a weakness to certain recreational drugs. It was nothing major. He never let it destroy his life. However, Harvey had never heard of anyone destroying their life because of a little cannabis. Now his brother had a cocaine problem. But, Harvey had spent his life trying to keep his nose clean of the law…even if he was technically on the wrong side of it.
It was sometime after he had to leave KU in the wake of that cheating scandal, a probe that brought down three dozen students. Harvey maintained his innocence but…he couldn't quite…sway the academic board and he was gone. At least he was in better shape than his brother. His brother had fallen into the nasty realm of street life. It was the life that Harvey wanted to avoid. But, they were still brothers. And both brothers found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people in the wrong car with the wrong dope…
Harvey and Demetrius…just like they were both doing six and ten months in jail. Though Harvey found out most of the stereotypes about prison were false. Well, considering his prison sentence was in a minimum security prison as he was a first timer and had pleaded guilty to possession and one other stupid charge. His brother got off easier than he should have. He was a "repeater", and thus got a longer term. But he still got off too easy.
Neither of them got along anyway. It was just one night and things went to hell. Now it was one night again and things were definitely going to hell. No, that was an understatement. The world was already in Hell.
Harvey remembered those tense days leading up to this inevitable end. It was just far too dangerous to go outside. As the date of doom approached, Western Civilization began to collapse. People were rioting and looting like crazy. The quaint town the Washington family stayed in had become completely unsafe. It was totally out of character, but the chaos touched everywhere and there was only one thing to do: don't go outside.
The small neighborhood in which the family lived had been a tight and closely knit group of people in about eight houses. Everyone watched out for everyone else and everybody knew everything about everybody else.
There was the Camino and the Quinn families who lived next door on the left and right of the Washington couple. Across the street were old Norma Jean and her granddaughter. But old Norma Jean died because of all the stress. Emergency services were all tied up around the county. Many had abandoned their posts…and many more were tied up with the rioting in the cities. It was damn sad too.
Harvey, Leelee, Fred, and Maggie all tried to breathe life back into that sweet firebrand of an old woman. But he thought as she passed on she may have been pissed off for trying to bring her back…only for her to have one more menthol cigarette…
It was near tragedy for Leelee, Norma Jean's teenage granddaughter. She'd been through enough in her life having escaped her parents' terrible meth laced self-destruction. Leelee was lucky though as she hooked up with the lucky Silver Ticket holding newlyweds, Laura and Cory, and had already passed through the Pearly Gates into Paradise.
But for Harvey, he had to actually get to Paradise. Harvey could see a few meteors coming down. The fear was they'd be destroyed before they got to the shelter…whatever the hell it looked like.
But his brother was what ate at Harvey. His brother could have turned his life around like Harvey did. But Demetrius was still tied to the old street life. Harvey had taken his mother's advice just before she passed on…and moved the hell away from New York. He just picked a place on the U.S. map…and found himself back in Kansas. It was one long bus ride there.
Then, it was just him and Maggie on that Greyhound bus; each wondering what the hell the other was doing way out this way. Harvey couldn't remember what he said…but he had done something right because he made an impression on her as she had made an impression on him.
And the rest was history.
But, his brother was always getting into some trouble back home. And occasionally, he ended up out Kansas way, looking to bond with his brother. But Demetrius and Harvey never got along. Harvey made a dumb choice once and regretted it; to that end, he stayed the hell away from his twin brother.
But, Harvey always seemed to attract trouble… his brother was the main reason. He didn't go to the wedding, which was really nice. There weren't a ton of people there. The planning was easy. But, like Demetrius usually was, he'd show up all sanctimonious about what he believed…an expert after the fact.
Demetrius was utterly incredulous and pissed off that his brother, a self-respecting black man, would go off and marry some stupid white woman with a kid. What sense did that make? Demetrius always said it was dumb ass move by Harvey.
He'd call Maggie all kinds of nasty words right to her face…but Harvey gave his wife credit. She never touched him. He knew that took a lot of self control not to kick the living crap out of Harvey for his ungrateful words. Maggie had a lot of crappy relationships and been forced to kick a guy's ass every now and then that dared touch her in the wrong way. Harvey knew she wanted to kill Demetrius once. Maggie could have too.
But Demetrius was dead now and thus, it was a dead issue. And thankfully, it wasn't Maggie who did him in. Like Demetrius always would…he'd get himself into trouble. And he got himself killed.
And that was what drove Harvey mental now. Some would argue he got what he deserved; but in reality, so many others were desperate to survive the end of the world.
That desperation was the reason Harvey had to save an infant he retrieved from a dying woman's arms…
As the long helicopter ride continued, Harvey thought about the past three days. The family had been boarded up in their house for days, running out the clock until they could leave for safety. And that wasn't even a guarantee given how dangerous the world had become. It was one thing to get the ticket; it was an entirely different affair to actually make it there safely.
So they traveled down a road to the city, and then it happened…the crash. They were rear ended by a speeding sedan of some type. A year ago, this would have been a rather annoying, costly and possibly incident. Now, it was an extremely disastrous incident. As he checked to make sure everyone was alright, Harvey wanted to have some choice words for the people in the sedan. That was before the gunshots rang out. What was a disastrous crash had turned into a life or death situation. Harvey ran and Maggie jumped out, grabbing Tabitha and jumping into the ditch in which they crashed. No one wanted to get involved really.
They'd killed the occupants of the car…and had stolen their tickets. An act which was deplorable obviously…but that made what happened next all the more shocking.
There were voices shouting and Harvey remembered he heard the unthinkable. He'd thought he'd heard his brother's voice. So Harvey did something tactically unwise; he poked his head out…but his timing could not be worse. His brother was there…and happened to turn his head at the right time…
And everything jumped off from there. What became a simple journey to Paradise became a fight for life. Shots were exchanged, a holdup…and suddenly, his brother and his thugs…or rather friends, ran off with Harvey's ticket. It wasn't as if Harvey didn't resist; however that gigantic bodyguard-built gangbanger going upside his head with a nine-mil…was enough to convince them otherwise. All their hopes were going down the drain…or so it was thought. Maggie summed up her feelings in two simple words: Fuck that.
The chase was on. Harvey, smart and gifted as he was, was rather familiar with the street life from which he'd escaped. The hellish countryside served as a vicious battleground already. The chase for the ticket was underway. Luckily, they encountered another traveling group of ticket-carrying acquaintances from their neighborhood. So they stuck Tabitha with them, and chased after Demetrius and his thugs.
It was bad enough that everyone was losing their sanity due to the unavoidable end…but to deny fellow humans a chance at survival was just cruel and unacceptable.
But despite the brawn and strength he had with him…Demetrius was just dumb like his buddies. He never once considered that his brother knew all his tricks and how he thought.
So the showdown occurred unexpectedly in a gas station. Harvey, having left Maggie in the government held area to recover from a brutal encounter with ruthless rioters, was merely filling up the car, following a lead from a friend. The owner had a ticket of his own…but was considering giving it away. The poor forty year old man's wife had died in all the chaos of this collapsing world…and he had no one else to take with him. So now he intended to watch over the store his father had built until the bitter end. The only thing he had left was his kid, which was with another couple.But almost in an ironically and horribly unexpected moment, Demetrius walked through having heard about it. There were no words outside curses thrown…and a battle began. When it was all said and done, the thugs were dead and Demetrius had fled…dropping some of the tickets he'd left behind. Luckily…Harvey found their ticket. Harvey was certain he'd shot his brother…but he was still alive. However, when he found his ticket, there was the ticket of another couple…and the ticket and envelope were both covered in blood.
Given what he knew about Demetrius and what he had done…it was clear that he'd killed the couple. But one disaster became another. The owner was hit and dying. When he learned that the names on the ticket and the ones to whom he'd left his son…he asked Harvey for the unthinkable. He wanted him to take the child to safety if the worst had happened.
Sure enough, the house was covered in blood. The couple had been shot and the woman was barely alive…but she had bled to death holding that child; a child name Didier.
When Harvey returned to Maggie they rushed for the Pearly Gates, ticket in hand. However, both Maggie and Tabitha were a bit shocked at the fact that Harvey returned with a kid that wasn't even his. But truth be told, it was better that this kid was here. It somehow mitigated all the horrible things surrounding them.
Harvey looked back though…and saw his brother chasing him in a car. He jumped out, still not having quite recovered from the gunshot wound. He was screaming and cursing at Harvey. Demetrius was standing almost incredulous at the fact that his own brother was leaving him behind. He'd be smashed by the meteors like so many others.
Harvey could never quite figure out exactly what Demetrius was thinking then. He'd let his friends lead him down a road of death and destruction. And he was angry now…angry that Harvey, a man who wasn't anywhere close to being perfect was chosen to live. Hell, Harvey had been to jail too.
But, the desperate display of emotion could not have come at a worse time or place. Harvey thought Demetrius was determined that if he wasn't going live…no one else would have the chance either. But, as he pulled out the gun to try to kill his own brother yet again…a dozen camouflage wearing military personnel replied in kind. Harvey shouted at him to stop his insanity. But…it was to no avail.
Demetrius was dead before he hit the ground. And that was his story.
Harvey had no time to fill in the massive holes in the entire sordid story. He realized he'd drifted off to sleep and now the helicopter was landing.
"Look at that!" said Chandra, looking at the sky. The sky was lit up with fire. The meteors were on their way in proper. It seemed almost beautiful.
"Let's go! Get inside!" said one of the soldiers, urging on the survivors. They were somewhere near the Rocky Mountains. Harvey had no idea what had happened since he'd slept most of the way. But it didn't matter now. They were all lead through the giant cold metal doors that served as the entrance to the shelter. At the very end was a gigantic elevator.
"Strange…I never thought you had to go down to get to Heaven." Maggie said.
Harvey took a short look at the horizon but no flames could be seen. Despite his anger and regret over shooting his brother in the altercation, there was nothing he could do now but live for the people that cared about him. It had been a wild time on this Earth, and now would never be the same again.
"And I guess Hell's up in the clouds." Harvey said.
The lucky few were shepherded into the bunker. The bunker's interior was colder than it was outside for some strange reason. All around this place was an icy, metallic setting that just seemed depressing on an unimaginable level. The soldiers on the outside were pulling their personnel inside the bunker…but the helicopter pilots did not follow. And it was Tabitha who was the first to notice it…
"They're not coming?" the girl asked.
Harvey didn't even respond. Maggie didn't either. Maggie replied with only a forlorn look. They did not speak because they did not need to. For the first time, the Asian woman that was with the group spoke.
The woman spoke in an obviously melancholy tone. "There must not be enough room for them."
Harvey turned away from the sight at the doors to the elevator closed. He was tired of the questions of why. It was what it was. And now it was the end of life as they knew it. The closing elevator door spoke for them…and the long way down only added to the end of the argument. There were no smiles on the faces of those who were inside the elevator. It was a long way down; a long, icy way down.
There was worry, as a few violent shakes made the ride eventual; a clear sign that the meteor were smashing into the planet. The elevator stopped for a few minutes…but everyone breathed easy when it started moving again.
Tabitha was still holding Didier, and it was amazing that kid was as calm as he was. Perhaps he knew. Perhaps he knew he'd be safe. Looking at the two, it gave Harvey and Maggie both some measure of hope. They should have had plenty of it already. However, looking at the baby and their girl made them think less of the now. The future would be alright.
The door opened to the white tile floors and darkened areas of the shelter below, and it was the same cold temperature as before. Harvey was the last to leave the elevator. In a snap decision, he no longer thought about the world he left behind…but the world he entered. It was no different from the day he left New York for good. He never thought about the old life then; why would he think about it now?
The thoughts about his brother and the Old World passed away. The only vestiges of that world were the people in this shelter. He took the final step off the elevator and entered another transformation. One by one, he kissed the members of his family: Maggie, Tabitha, and now this Didier kid. They were all Harvey had now. For the hundred or so civilians inside, they only had each other.
That night, the Old World ended. Whole cities were destroyed; meteors hit the oceans and caused massive flooding and countless people died. Forests were burned to ash and plains became like the surface of the Moon.
There was no telling how long the survivors would be inside the shelters. But there was hope now. Someone had to rebuild the world after it was gone. That was what gave everyone hope. That was what gave Harvey hope: the kids. Whatever was left of the world…they would shape as their own. Though there wouldn't be much left to inherit. However, the story of this apocalypse was their own; the ending would be theirs to write. Harvey decided to leave the past to himself…and the future to the kids he brought with him.
The End