With three times as many planes circling now, there’s no place to traverse that’s one hundred percent safe. It’s evident we’re all thinking the same thing by the way we’re surveying our surroundings.
“I think we should walk along the median,” Masaru recommends.
I have to agree with him. With all the bare acreage around us, hopefully the planes will aim there, instead of where the cars and people are when they land or run out of gas. There’s just so many of them though. One would think there are no other airports. Are there? We don’t know about California, maybe all these planes were headed there.
I throw my backpack over my shoulder and the three of us head west. The snow is already deep—maybe over a foot, so we step in the tracks of the security trucks.
I hate being cold! So do all these other people obviously because most of them have climbed back inside their cars.
My freezing fit is distracted by a woman on the eastbound side of Pena, who is screaming obscenities into her phone. The next thing I know, she has hurled it at me. I duck and it flies over my head.
“Sorry!” she yells.
I wave to her, accepting her apology.
Thank God I keep everything. If I weren't wearing my old ski jacket, I’d be dying about now. I almost threw it out, trying to condense things for less space in my college apartment, but something told me to hang on to it. I also almost just wore a sweatshirt on the plane like I usually do, adding the layers from my checked suitcase before I leave the airport. But this time, I had an urge in my gut to keep the heavy jacket with me. Thanks Universe!
We step to the right of the median as an ambulance with its siren roaring, moves fast in our direction. I guess it’s heading for the airport. Seems like a big mission for one ambulance crew.
Up ahead, cars are turning around from the eastbound lane to the westbound lane, but they have no way to wedge in, so the median is quickly becoming a parking lot.
“That’s not going to be good,” Ben comments on the jam.
I think if we can just make it to the interstate we’ll be good. Surely, someone driving down I-70 will be heading into Denver and there has to be better resources there.
Only eight or nine miles, I’m guessing. I wish I had my snow boots, but at least I’m not stuck in flip flops.
I look at Ben’s feet. He’s wearing red Converse—they look brand new. How had I not noticed those before? I had worn them, my mom had worn them and I’m pretty sure grandpa had worn them. They’ve been around forever. Unfortunately, they aren’t going to be too friendly for the journey in the blizzard. Strange how I never apparently look at anyone’s feet unless it’s relevant.
Masaru is wearing boots made of soft leather and fur. This guy grows more and more interesting by the minute. And he has some sort of weird wisdom like he always seems to know what other people are thinking.
We traipse along through the brutal snow. I walk in the track on the left and Ben leads Masaru along the track on the right. I’m kind of glad everyone has gotten back inside their cars. I don’t think any of us wants to explain what we’ve seen in the past couple of hours.
We’ve just about made it to the main rental car lots, when we see a man up ahead standing on top of the cab of his old Ford truck. He wears a coonskin hat and his beard is brown and full. He’s bundled up in a wool-lined coat and looks like he’s more ready to go hunting than pick someone up at the airport. What covered wagon has this guy stepped out of?
The hunter guy pulls out a pair of camouflage binoculars and observes the airport. I know Ben must be crazy to get his hands on those. Yep. There he goes.
“Sir?” Ben hurries toward the truck. “What’s your name? I’m Ben.”
I can’t stop the giggle. Even with everything else that’s going on. He definitely has a thing about organizing the people he meets.
“Edgar,” the burly man answers without looking down from the binoculars. “Come on up.” He sounds like what I might expect Paul Bunyan to sound like.
Ben hops up onto the tailgate and then climbs up on the cab with a hand from Edgar. That’s when something that sounds like a sonic boom throws them both to the ground.
I wait for a monster explosion at the airport, thinking the whole thing is probably about to go up, whatever’s left of it anyway. Nothing. Cold silence.
“Ben!” I call out to him. “Are you okay?”
He wipes the snow from his face. “I’m okay.” He has landed in a four-foot drift of snow on the shoulder of the outbound lanes.
Masaru helps Edgar up off the ground and I pull Ben out of the drift. He doesn’t weigh much, but he’s pretty wedged in there. I give him a tug and stand him up, and then wipe the snow off of his back.
“Thank you,” Ben says, brushing the rest of the loose snow off the front of his coat. “What do you think that was?”
Edgar pulls the binoculars from around his neck and hands them to Ben. “Want to take that look now?”
Ben gladly takes the binoculars from Edgar and climbs into the back of the truck and up on the cab. While he is doing that, Edgar grabs a rifle and an axe from the cab. I decide I like Edgar. Wherever we’re going to go, he should come with us.
“Edgar, did you happen to hear anything else on the news? We heard California might-”
“It’s gone,” he confirms before I even finish. “Biggest earthquake ever. Blew the scale right off the Richter. They think the impact of an asteroid caused it.”
I think my heart stops. California is gone—just like that? What about the forty million people that live there?
Ben holds the binoculars steady as he peers through them. He scans the airport grounds from left to right. “I don’t see anything, at least anything that we haven’t seen already.”
“Second asteroid?” I ask. It has to have been. We’ve heard numerous planes crash and none of them shook us like that. A chill runs down my spine, which I’m surprised I even notice, as cold as I am. If Australia and California have vanished from the strike of the first asteroid, what’s going to happen now?
The wind is brutal, cutting through my skin like a knife. I move in toward Masaru and Edgar, the three of us now huddling in a small circle to keep warm. Unfortunately, we won’t all fit inside the cab of Edgar’s truck.
Masaru points to one of the rental car offices. “Let’s warm up in there.”
Ben is still gazing through the binoculars.
“B-Ben, s-see anything yet?” I call up to him. My teeth are chattering.
“No,” he says climbing down from the cab of the truck.
Trudging through the deep snow, we cut over to the rental car office. I can’t wait to step inside and defrost. I’m pretty tough, but I hate being cold, and living in Florida the past year, my blood has thinned for sure.
We’re about to open the door to go inside, when Ben climbs up the ladder on the back of the transport van. “I want to take one more look,” he explains because we’re all staring at him.
“Okay, we’ll be inside,” I say quickly, as I open the door. When we walk in, the blast of heat I had so longed for was missing. The lights were off. No power. Of course. It’s still warmer than outside.
“We’re not renting any cars right now,” Jeff, as I see by his name tag, says.
This guy certainly isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Does it look like we would be trying to rent a car right now?
Sensing my annoyance, Edgar jumps in with a response. “Thanks, Jeff. We were just hoping to warm up...if that’s okay.”
“Suit yourself, but probably going to lock up here and head home in a bit.”
I look out the window at the never-ending line of cars that have probably not moved in hours. “Good luck with that.” It is a little strange the cars trying to exit haven’t moved.
“Claudia? Claudia?” I hear Ben call for me. “Claudia!”
I look out and the binoculars are glued to his face. “Claudia!”
I run out the door. “Ben, what is it?”
“I think you better take a look for yourself.” It’s the only time I’ve seen him nervous.
I climb the ladder and step up on top of the van. Ben practically throws the binoculars at me. “Hurry!”
I look through them, gazing at the airport. Dozens of planes have landed or crashed around the outskirts. But that’s not what he was looking at. Something has completely freaked him out.
Then I see it—the massive wall of water moving toward the airport from the east. Water? It’s probably a minute from swallowing what remains of Denver International. I’d guess it’s less than five minutes from swallowing us.
Desperate, I look around for the highest point. It’s the roof of another rental car office about a hundred yards west.
“Ben! We have to get to that roof,” I say pointing over to it. We climb down from the top of the van and run inside.
“Come on, we have to go!” I warn them.
“What’s happened?” Masaru asks.
“The water is coming,” is all I can say.
“We’re all going to be underwater. We have to hurry!” Ben adds to the chaotic excitement. He ushers Masaru out the door and points him toward the other building. “That way, Masaru…over to the roof. Go!”
He looks at Jeff and then turns to me and raises a brow.
I think he is waiting for my approval. “Jeff, you’re welcome to come with us.” I can’t just leave someone to die on purpose.
Unless, they’re stupid. He declines my invite, “Thanks, but I have to close up the shop.”
I’m a little relieved as I have a feeling stupid people will get you killed in the situation we’re now in.
Edgar holds the door for me. Wow, wouldn’t have expected him to be the chivalrous one, especially in the chaos. “After you, Miss.”
I exit the building and race after Ben and Masaru, who are already a good twenty yards in front of us. Edgar follows close behind.
I trudge through the snow as fast as I can. When I look back, the wall of water devours the entire airport. I stop to take a quick glance through the binoculars. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t just seen it with my own eyes. For a few seconds, there’s nothing left above water, except for the flight towers and antennas. When the wave is finished, the snow peak rooftops and the second floor of the airport protrude from the water.
“Claudia run!” I hear Ben yell and refocus myself. He’s already made it to the building. He climbs up the back of the shuttle parked nearby and springs up to the roof of the rental office. Masaru is fast behind.
My heart is pounding and my lungs are frozen from inhaling the cold. I scale up the back of the shuttle and jump up to the roof. Edgar lands with a thud beside me. We all made it. Hopefully, it will be enough.
The four of us stand on the roof, staring in disbelief as the water wall creeps eerily toward us. Cars were flipped over and washed away by its force. Pena Boulevard is vanishing.
The raging water rushes toward the other rental office where Jeff is. I never saw him leave. Too late now, the office is completely submerged.
The four of us join hands as the water approaches. I hold my breath, waiting to be swamped by the wave coming at us. I squeeze Ben’s hand extra tight. It feels like I’ve known him forever.
I close my eyes and hear the swishing of the water flowing by us. I’m waiting for that cold wave to roll over my head. Maybe the water is so cold that I’ll be numb in seconds and won’t feel any pain.
That cold wave of water hasn’t come yet. It should have. I open my eyes and the water is just a few inches below the roof. Masaru and Edgar both just shake their heads in disbelief.
Ben smiles. “We made it.”
Back where the airport used to be, debris is floating all across the top of the water. Are there any survivors? I watch helplessly, as two planes that appear to have run out of gas, dive into the ocean. One after the other, they explode on impact.
“Unbelievable,” Masaru mumbles under his breath.
“That must be the Atlantic,” Ben utters matter-of-factly, answering the question on the top of all of our minds. “What else could swamp this place like this?”
“But, if that’s the Atlantic-” I don’t finish. If that’s the Atlantic, Florida is gone. My family, Ben’s mom, everyone east of here…gone.
We are alive though. Now what?
As if something has called for our attention, we all turn and look to the west, watching the Atlantic engulf everything in its path for miles. We’re stranded on a rooftop island in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of winter. We may have made it through two of the asteroids, and I don’t know how many crashing planes, but now we are probably going to die of hyperthermia—unless the third asteroid kills us first.
Our silent shock is broken by splashing coming from the other side of the building. I move to get up to check it out, but Edgar stands up first. “Wait here, I’ll take a look.”
He goes to the edge of the roof and kneels down, rushing to help once he sees what waits in the water. “Here take my hand,” he shouts to someone down below.
He lifts a medium-sized wooden trunk up onto the roof. It tumbles over when he throws it to the side. Leaning down, he extends his hand out and pulls a small woman up onto the roof. She looks to be at least sixty. She darts to her trunk and turns it over, right side up.
“Careful,” she scolds. It’s something important to her. “Always knew the stuff inside might save a life, didn’t know the trunk itself would.” And then she chuckles, or cackles would be more accurate.
“Are you all right, ma’am?” Edgar is polite as a southern gent.
She’s soaking wet, but doesn’t appear to be cold. Weird because I’m getting colder just looking at her.
“Yes, I’m quite fine, dear. Thank you for helping us out,” she replies wringing out her gypsy-like skirt.
Us? I only see her.
She opens the trunk and a pigeon hops out onto her shoulder. “Oh, Bernie, it’s going to be too cold for you out here.”
Inside her trunk, she has a variety of dark glass bottles and beacons. Are those darts? There are all sorts of oddities inside. Ben will have a hay day. I can already see the glow in his eyes as he quickly surveys the contents.
“What’s your name,” Ben asks, staying in character.
“Elsie. Elsie Grey. What’s yours?”
Speaking of grey, the sky has been grey under the dark particle cloud all day, but night is setting in on us now. It looks like we’re sleeping up here—out here.
“Benjamin Willoby,” he says. “But you can call me Ben.” He must like her, so I will too—even if she does have all that weird stuff in her trunk.
“M-m-my n-na-name i-is-” I’m so cold, I can’t speak.
“Her name is Claudia and she’s my friend,” Ben finishes for me and then pulls a blow torch out of his pack. “Elsie, we’re going to need to burn that tonight. It’ll keep us warm.”
Thank God, Ben! Great idea.
“That’s a horrible idea,” Elsie snaps. “What about all my stuff inside? What about Bernie?”
“You can take your stuff out. We’ll all freeze to death tonight if we don’t,” Edgar adds, “including Bernie.”
She looks at each one of us dead in the eyes. Taking Bernie from her shoulder, she places him inside her wet coat. “Guess I do need to dry out. Old woman like me, I could be freezing to death and I wouldn’t even feel it.” She nods for Ben to take her trunk. “You can set my stuff anywhere over there,” she directs him toward the center of the roof.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ben agrees politely. “And thank you,” he adds before carrying the trunk away. It’s made of cherry wood, so it should burn for a little while at least. Sad we have to destroy it. It’s beautifully carved and looks like it might be as old as her, if not older.
Ben torches the trunk near one of the corners of the building. That way if the roof catches fire, we should be able to contain it. Edgar, Masaru and I go over to the edge of the roo
f to catch any floating debris that we can add to increase our flame.
The five of us gather around the warm blaze, huddling close together. The chill still runs up the back of my neck now and then, but I don’t think I’ll freeze to death - at least not tonight.
Just as that thought crosses my mind, a body floats by strapped into an airplane seat cushion. The woman is ghostly white and there’s a thin layer of ice forming on her.
Are we the only survivors? I look around for any motion in the water. It’s eerie how quiet it is.
It’s late and we’re all starting to doze off here and there, although no one can really sleep. We stare in silence at the flames and at the full moon, which lights up the mysterious blackness of the water around us.
Suddenly, I think I see something hit the moon. I wipe my eyes to clear my vision. I’m so tired—I’m probably just starting to see things.
Ben catches me staring. “Did you see that, too?”
“I saw it,” Elsie interjects.
“Me, too,” Masaru adds.
Edgar snores away. He didn’t see it.
We stare in disbelief at the huge black spot on the surface of the moon. It wasn’t there just a few seconds before.
The third asteroid has missed us. I exhale a deep breath and the tears begin to stream down my face. The true reality of the day has hit me. My parents are probably dead. My brother most likely didn’t make it either, nor did Ben’s father. Our lives have been turned upside down, changed forever.
Thank you for downloading End of the World—The Dark Days series, Episode 1. If you enjoy this story, please be sure to download Dorian Lennox--The Dark Days series, Episode 2.
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