Adam woke up and looked at the clock. It was 7:38 am. He had thought about this day, and the next, for some time now. It was July 19th, 2036. Four years ago this date would have meant nothing to him, although if he thought about it he might have thought it would be his last summer before college. But that wouldn't happen. Ever since February 4th 2033, when president Mason made his announcement. Mason said that an asteroid was heading towards Earth, and it was scheduled to hit on July 20th 2036. Mason always said that they were doing all they could to divert or destroy this asteroid, but they had to take measures, just in case. Six million Americans would be taken to special arks, to ensure the survival of the human race. Back then Adam figured he'd probably be okay. He was 14 then, young and arrogant enough to figure he'd make it into one of the arks, or they'd stop the asteroid altogether. But the asteroid was still on its way, and six million people might be enough to save the himan race, but that was less than two percent of the nation's people. Still, Adam had made it this far. Society collapsed and he had learned to adapt. Civil war came, and Adam fought for the loyalists. He had also fallen in love during this time, with Claire. She had helped him become a born again christian, and was willing to forgive his past sins. Adam and Claire made a vow, if they weren't both chosen by the final lottery, they would both desert, and spend their final days together. Then Picard, their commanding officer, learned of their plans. They thought he would have them executed, other C.O.'s would have. But instead, Picard gave them the keys to this house. In the early days after 2/4 Picard built this house for himself and his wife, he planned for the two of them to survive impact. But Picard's wife died, and he reenlisted in the army. He must have figured if he was going to die he could at least die serving his country. But the fortunes of war worked out differently, because Picard was still alive. He decided he didn't want to live much longer without his beloved, he could give this house to two young lovers who could live for love. But fate seemed to have a dark sense of humor these days. On the route to this house Claire suffered an apendicitis attack. Four years ago, she could have just gone to the hospital, everything would have been fine. But there were no doctors around, the best were probably taken to arks, the rest no longer cared enough about human life to try. Why waste their time saving a life if there was less than one week until the world ended? Ofcourse that was also academic, they didn't even find doctors here, Adam even tried to read about apendectimies while operating. But he was no doctor, and Claire died. Adam buried her, said a prayer and a eulogy, then he continued to this house. Suppossedly this house was built to withstand impact, had enough supplies to last for decades. It required maintenance to grow more food and stay in repair, but Picard built this to last. It was in the woods, and looked dilapidated. It reminded Adam of something from a V.C. Andrew book, the kind that must have been beautiful in it's day but was long past its prime. It was designed to look this way so that it wouldn't attract attention from looters. But Adam wondered, had Picard lied to him and Claire? Perhaps he knew this house wouldn't last but wanted to at least give them hope for a little while longer. Perhaps it was built to last, but maybe the company who built it scammed him, made some money while they could. Or perhaps they made it to last, but there was only one way to know for certain, and Adam was about to find out. He had made it here the previous day, now there was less than 24 hours until impact. This world had perhaps seen its last sunrise. One way or another, this would be where Adam died.
.
Adam finished his breakfast, Picard had at least been telling the truth about there being enough supplies to last for decades. Picard must have gone to great lengths to hide all of this. He had heard rumors on Osaze, formerly named Egypt, of the government breaking open the ancient pyramids and giving the people the honey that was buried inside. Adam knew that the scientists said how honey never spoiled, that the honey in the pyramids was as good as anything they could have bought at the grocery stores. Still, people woud have to be pretty desperate to break open ancient sacred tombs and steal honey that was thousands of years old. But many people really were that desperate after 2/4. Adam knew that fairly soon, this entire world would be covered in snow, including the woods he had walked through to get here. He hadn't had much of a chance to explore, just had to get here before it was too late. But now, today would be his final chance to appreciate this world. He hadn't seen anyone in these woods, no desperate straglers, not living anyway. There were dead bodies, people who must have thought there would at least be food and water in the woods. But there were few animals left, people hunted the animals to extinction because they no longer had reason to care what animals went extinct. There would be no delicate balance to worry about after July 20th. Adam knew he couldn't venture too far, he had to be back before nightfall. But this would be his last chance to be outside, he could give himself one last day.
.
Adam ventured out with some supplies. These woods seemed beautiful, hard to believe it would all be gone soon. He saw the remains of an old fence. It had a sign which read "Private property. No tresspassing." Adam didn't even know if this was from his house, or another. Perhaps the warning sign told looters that there was something worth taking, maybe Picard's trick of looking worthless actually worked. There was a stream near here, a small one, and now it had more mud than water. Was this another consequence of February 4th, or just some good old fashioned pollution. Adam hadn't been here before 2/4, he couldn't begin to guess on that. These woods were eerily silent. One of the few benefits of a post 2/4 world had been that everything happened so quickly, he didn't have much time to contemplate his sins. But like just about everyone else Adam had sinned. The first was Eve, his childhood sweetheart. Adam had a crush on Eve before he even knew what it was. But at first she was more interested in that idiot jock, whose name Adam couldn't even remember. Then the president made the annoucement that they would all probably be dead in four years, and Eve found comfort with her childhood friend. They were each other's first kiss. It seemed impossible to believe that those days, when they were all given a death sentence, that he now looked upon them as the good old days. Israel and Pakistan had become allies, people were coming together, and it was a pretty good excuse to cut loose once in a while. But, like everyone else, Adam was still scared, and he became angry. Once he lost his temper and hit Eve. Adam was more ashamed of himself for that than anything else he had done. He was so ashamed that he left to work on the arks, and there he met Claire. She told him that Christ could forgive all sins, if only he asked. This sounded pretty good to Adam, and he certainly feared Hell. So Adam became a born again christian, but he still had his doubts.
.
As Adam stood alone in these woods he remembered the war, the killing. Adam remembered the faces of those he killed, or at least the faces he had seen. He deliberately tried not to see their faces, but sometimes that was unavoidable. Adam reminded himself that everyone he killed was an enemy soldier, it was kill or be killed, and his side was the right one. Ofcourse, that's what the enemy soldiers thought too. But they were human, under different circumstances they could have even been friends. It was ironically during this was, that he saw Eve again. It had been almost two years since they saw each other, long before the war. Now one was a loyalist the other a collectivist. One was a born again christian the other was a muslim. Things had certainly changed since then. Adam knew, Eve was no less human than the other collectivist soldiers, and now they were suppossed to be enemies. But they couldn't bring themselves to kill each other now, they even hugged and cried in each other's arms. He let her go, even gave her directions to a P.O.W. camp she could turn herself into. Adam hadn't seen Eve since then, he wondered if she was even still alive. Not likely she could have made it into the arks, especially since she'd fought for the losing side in that war. But still Adam could hope and pray that she was alive.
.
The sun was getting lower in the sky, it was the last sunset these woods would ever see. This day out had been harder than Adam anticipated, his memories were flooding back to him faster than expected. Still, if he didn't take the time to appreciate this last sunset, he would regret it forever. So he looked on until the sun dissapeared, and appreciated that last little light left until it too was gone. Then it was dark, and scary. Adam began making his way back to his house, he was certain it was near. But his fears were getting the better of him. He knew he should have watched this sunset from the porch. He had less than nine hours before impact. Time was three and a half years seemed like a long time, it was a long time to have to wait. Now, Adam would give almost anything to have a little of that time back. At least there was a partial moon tonight, that provided Adam with a little bit of light. But it wasn't much, and the darkness made him remember the war, what he did to Eve. Finally, Adam came to the muddy stream. He tried to get his bearings, and remember how he had walked here from the house. Here was where all his cub scout training would pay off, hopefully. Adam wasn't 100% certain this was even the same muddy stream he had seen in daylight, but it was the best he could do right now. By his best estimation he had seven, maybe eight hours, before impact. Maybe the sun would rise before impact, maybe not. If so, he might have enough light and time to make it, but for now he tried getting to the house on his own. Finally he saw the house, he had made it. It was past 11pm, less than six hours before impact. Adam went inside and activated the lockdown. Noone else could get in unless he let them, he was safe. All he had to worry about now were the bad memories, and the fear that this house wouldn't actually survive the mountains of snow that were about to come. That was what Adam would have to live with for the rest of his life.