"We had been traveling for a long time; the impending danger was drawing ever closer until it finally struck: the dreaded day since the fateful prediction that we had prudently decided to heed. We were correct and we had gotten lucky.
By this point in time, we had lived through disaster, pain, anguish, famine, rising seas, droughts, plagues…and that was not even the half of it. I do not understand how we are still living. How we have not been obliterated. The human race has somehow managed to survive. We were proud of that, and felt an increasing sense of hope. That is, until last night.
We have lost track of time and can only guess how long we have been traveling: weeks, months, years. We can only guess. However, we did know it was coming; Yuioharo's predictions had not failed yet. We knew, yet we were not prepared for the end.
The camp had been set up for the night. I was caring for my daughter, Amethyst, who is sick with a fever, though it has thankfully reduced considerably since last night. The fever worries me. I cannot bear the thought of losing her and being left behind; besides, she is so young…but that is another story.
Suddenly, while I was caring for her, I felt it: that sense of unease and foreboding that we have often experienced in this damned world: when all the noise stops, when the air is still, when the animals cease to make noise, when your breath is stuck in your throat, and even when time itself seems to have stopped. It is that feeling that prompted me, along with, as I was soon to find, many others in my camp, to exit their tents and stare into the sky, which was still faintly glowing violet and the first stars of the night had barely begun to invade the dome above the grassy plains which we have called home for the unknown length of time we have been here.
Suddenly, the earth trembled and through the clouds burst a light so bright I could barely stand to look at it. I, along with many of my companions, came to the same and only then logical conclusion: the sun was falling. This was the end.
People either began screaming, calling for loved ones, or else were too stunned to move at all. A few people fell on their knees and prayed to a god that most believed had abandoned us centuries ago. Children cried. Couples swore love vows to one another. Others proclaimed love to each other, forgave each other, or held on to people they barely knew, just to be reassured that if they were going, they would not be alone. There was one man so frightened by the prospect of pain that he took a swig from a small bottle and, within seconds, took his last breath. I had witnessed scenes like this many times before. I watched with barely a thought in my head. I turned slowly back to the tent; time seemed to be on my side. I walked to Amethyst's side and took her hand.
"Daddy, it's time, isn't it?" Her amber colored eyes were not full of the fright I had expected, but had an undisturbed, even a bit unsettling, look instead. "You're coming with me, right Daddy? And we'll see Mommy and Dustin soon. And Uncle Marx. And Poppy and Nanna. And even my puppy."
I looked at her, "We will all be together soon. I promise. We will go together." I felt sad for her, so young and naïve. She had never experienced life and she was going to be ripped away from earth so soon. Too soon. I would not cry. I could not cry. I had to be strong for my treasure. But, I cried anyway, for her and our fellow humans. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back against the pillow and smiled, "Good."
The entire earth shook with such a force that I knew the impact had happened and it would all be over soon. The screaming stopped, as people took in what seemed to be their last moments of life. Amethyst looked at me. "Here we go."
But, we did not go. We, somehow, miraculously survived; the prediction had again been true. It is dawn. We are continuing to travel east and find the surviving Australian Colony. We will preserve the human race, start from scratch, and rebuild from what is left of the world. Here we go."
Excerpt from The Diary of Jackson Gallagher, 24 A.L.