I’m looking at Mrs. Nguyen, who’s holding these sweet baby girls who just happen to be the same age as Cathy. And I’m wondering if it would break her heart if I stabbed them.
“What are you people, the sultans of petroleum?” Jules asks.
“My husband prepared a year ago. They should have chosen us. We deserve to live,” Mrs. Nguyen says.
“Honey, take the children into another room,” Mr. Nguyen says, and Mrs. Nguyen starts to reach for the boy in Jules’ arms but I stop her.
“Let me get this straight—My parents got four tickets? They kept three and sold mine, to you, my teacher, who’s supposed to be a nice guy? Mr. Role model? Mr. Don’t Let The Devil Out?”
Nguyen nods. “I meant to give it back to you. But I’d been hoping to acquire more, for the rest of my family,” he opens his arms to signify his wife and three kids. “The clock ran out.”
“That’s really sad for you guys. As long as you’re giving them away, you got another ticket for me?” Jules asks.
“Please put the knife down, Thomas,” Mr. Nguyen says. “I’m very sorry. You know I am.”
I’m looking at Jules and the boy in her arms. She kisses his cheek, because it’s human nature to love children. But not for nut jobs like me, because all I’m thinking about is murder.
She turns to me. “Put the stupid knife down, you psycho! You’re freaking me out.”
• • • •
We leave with eight gallons of gasoline and my ticket. It’s more than enough to get me to Offutt. Jules helps me carry it to the back seat of Nguyen’s Kia. They’ve also packed a lunch for us, white bread peanut butter and jelly. Because Jules is a mess, she’s already forgiven them. She hugs Mr. Nguyen, his wife, and his kids good-bye.
“Should I drop you off with your family?” I ask once we’re on the road.
“I don’t want to die with them. I’ll go with you as long as this goes,” she tells me.
Which won’t be long. There are four checkpoints between here and Offutt, and you need a ticket to get through every one.
Through static on the AM dial, a scientist is talking about how gravity’s all messed up because of the asteroid. My crank-phone has stopped getting reception. We’ve got twenty hours and six hundred miles to go.
I stop at the hospital first.
“Wait in the car,” I tell Jules.
“What’s your plan, Sherlock?”
“I need to finish something.” I shut the door and leave her in the warmth, then jog to the entrance. I grab a scalpel. That legless guy is in the same bed. There aren’t any doctors around. Just that same janitor, scrubbing those same floors.
“You hurt my friend,” I say to him.
The guy smirks. He’s still got glitter on his cheeks. His stump rots in the corner. He was scared yesterday, but now it’s funny. He’s one of those.
I want to cut him up. Take my revenge on Jules’ behalf. That way I’ll have done right by her. I won’t feel bad about leaving her to die in this town that she hates.
“You think you’re so special,” I say. “But that doesn’t excuse you.”
I’m not getting through to him. His smirk is horrendous. I squeeze the bandaged stump until the scab breaks open along with the stitches. Blood oozes. He writhes. Now is the time to slit his throat. Now is the time to be what I was always meant to be. Important.
But I’m not thinking about puppies and skinned people or all the bad things anybody’s ever done to me. I’m trying to let the devil out, and I realize Nguyen wasn’t a genius after all, because there’s no devil in there. There’s just fucked up me, and I’m nauseous.
I let go and I’m walking backward. “It’s coming,” I say. “And no one loves you.”
• • • •
We make it to Offutt. The checkpoints were abandoned by the time we passed through. It’s a wonder my ticket didn’t get stolen all over again. Makes me almost believe in God.
A storm is brewing—everything seems especially light.
We reach the final checkpoint—Offut. Here, there’s lots of soldiers. I get an idea. Maybe it’ll work.
They don’t necessarily believe my story, but they pass it up the chain. We get to the final line. I can see the elevator to salvation about five hundred feet ahead. It’s iron, with linked chain pulleys. It goes down three miles, where there’s enough self-generating fuel to last 10,000 years. There are 200,000 people and fifty miles of tunnels down there. These are the facts we’ve learned from the crowd along the way.
“This is my sister, Alison Crawford,” I tell the manager. He looks like he hasn’t slept since 2010. “My father stole her ticket and gave it to his girlfriend. That’s why we’re so late. We were looking for it. He’s inside.”
The manager starts talking on his CB. He tells us to wait in a holding tank with a few thousand other people. Some of them are crying, some are sleeping. Most are too nervous to stand still.
You’d think they’d riot, but in the end, we’re all lambs.
I work on my letter, this one right here that you’re holding.
The asteroid in the sky is bigger than the sun.
It’s minutes to impact.
A guard comes back. I can’t believe he’s still doing his job. They all are. “Nice try. Your parents are real beauts,” he says. “They sold their baby’s ticket for better sleeping quarters.”
“Cathy? Where is she?” I don’t know how I missed her. But I see her in an old woman’s arms. And then I’m holding her, pressing baby bunny into her fat little fingers. I’m crying. Cathy is squeezing my face. I love her so much.
“Let us in,” I beg.
“One ticket. One person,” the manager says. “I’d do it, but then I’d get shot and the elevator would lock. The last men down are the guards. I gotta take care of my own skin.”
Jules is crying and trying not to. She’s still in that stupid cat-suit. I hate her, I really do. I give her my ticket.
“Naw,” she says.
“Take it.” It’s funny. I finally feel like a hero.
“I love you,” she says.
“I know,” I say, like Han Solo. “Sorry about the toast thing.”
The manager puts his arm around Jules and takes her to the elevator. The elevator won’t go. They walk back to us, and I’m kissing Cathy so my lips warm her forehead.
“They changed the code,” the manager says. “Dealing with overflow. It has to be the person whose name is on the ticket.”
“I’ll take care of Cathy. You go,” Jules says. Her eyes are those same dull marbles. Like her whole life has been a disappointment.
I break the ticket. It’s just plastic.
On his last trip down, I give the manager my finished letter. Cathy’s sleeping in my arms. Jules is leaning into me. For once, she’s not trying to kiss me. She’s calm. And I think: This is my family. So I look to the sky, for the most beautiful night in three billion years.
And you, dear reader, are my witness. The survivor-hero of this story. In ten thousand years, your dirt-blind, rodent species of monsters will study this document, and wonder what all the fuss was about love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Langan is the author of the novels The Keeper and The Missing, and her most recent novel, Audrey’s Door, won the 2009 Stoker for best novel. Her short fiction has appeared in the magazines Nightmare, Cemetery Dance, Phantom, and Chiaroscuro, and in the anthologies Brave New Worlds, Darkness on the Edge,and Unspeakable Horror. She is currently working on a post-apocalyptic young adult series called Kids and two adult novels: Empty Houses, which was inspired by The Twilight Zone, and My Father’s Ghost, which was inspired by Hamlet. Her work has been translated into ten languages and optioned by the Weinstein Company for film. It has also garnered three Bram Stoker Awards, an American Library Association Award, two Dark Scribe Awards, a New York Times Book Review editor’s pick, and a Publishers Weekly favorite book of the year selection.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Agents: John thanks his agent Seth Fishman, who supported this experiment and provided feedback and counsel whenever he needed it, and also to his former agent Joe Monti (now a book editor who he plans to sell lots of anthologies to), who was very enthusiastic about this idea when it first occurred to him, and encouraged John to pursue his idea to self-publish it. Hugh likewise thanks his agent Kristin Nelson for all of her support and for constantly playing out his leash.
Art/Design: Thanks to Julian Aguilar Faylona for providing wonderful cover art for all three volumes of The Apocalypse Triptych, and to Jason Gurley for adding in all the most excellent design elements that took the artwork from being mere images and transformed them into books. These volumes would not be the same without them.
Proofreaders: Thanks to Anthony Cardno, Kevin McNeil, and Bradley Englert. Any typos that made it past them are on us.
Narrators/Producers: Thanks to Jack Kincaid for producing (and narrating some of) the audiobook version of this anthology, and to narrators Tina Connolly, Anaea Lay, Kate Baker, Mur Lafferty, Rajan Khanna, James Keller, Lex Wilson, Ralph Walters, Roberto Suarez, Norm Sherman, Folly Blaine, Scott Sigler, and Sarah Tolbert for lending their vocal talents to the production.
Family: John sends thanks to his wife, Christie, his mom, Marianne, and his sister, Becky, for all their love and support, and their endless enthusiasm for all his new projects. He also wanted to thank his sister-in-law Kate and stepdaughter Grace who had to listen to him blab incessantly about this project as it was coming together, ruining many a dinner. Hugh thanks his wife Amber, who co-edits this wonderful life they have together. His chapters would be boring and lonely without her.
Readers: Thanks to all the readers and reviewers of this anthology, and also all the readers and reviewers who loved Hugh’s novels and John’s other anthologies, making it possible for this book to happen in the first place.
Writers: And last, but certainly not least: a big thanks to all of the authors who appear in this anthology. It has been an honor and a privilege. As fans, we look forward to whatever you come up with next.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
John Joseph Adams is the series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Armored, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, and The Living Dead. He has been nominated for six Hugo Awards and five World Fantasy Awards, and he has been called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare, and is a producer for Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Find him on Twitter @johnjosephadams.
Hugh Howey is the author of the acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel Wool, which became a sudden success in 2011. Originally self-published as a series of novelettes, the Wool omnibus is frequently the #1 bestselling book on Amazon.com and is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller. The book was also optioned for film by Ridley Scott, and is now available in print from major publishers all over the world. Hugh’s other books include Shift, Dust, Sand, the Molly Fyde series, The Hurricane, Half Way Home, The Plagiarist, and I, Zombie. Hugh lives in Jupiter, Florida with his wife Amber and his dog Bella. Find him on Twitter @hughhowey.
COPYRIGHT
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE END IS NIGH
© 2014 by John Joseph Adams & Hugh Howey.
Introduction
© 2014 by John Joseph Adams.
“Break! Break! Break!”
© 2014 by Charlie Jane Anders.
“Houses Without Air”
© 2014 by Megan Arkenberg.
“Shooting the Apocalypse”
© 2014 by Paolo Bacigalupi.
“Goodnight Moon”
© 2014 by Annie Bellet.
“Heaven Is A Place On Planet X”
© 2014 by Desirina Boskovich.
“System Reset”
© 2014 by Tobias S. Buckell.
“Removal Order”
© 2014 by Tananarive Due.
“This Unkempt World is Falling to Pieces”
© 2014 by Jamie Ford.
“In the Air”
© 2014 by Hugh Howey.
“Wedding Day”
© 2014 by Jake Kerr.
“Pretty Soon the Four Horsemen are Going to Come Riding Through”
© 2014 by Nancy Kress.
“Love Perverts”
© 2014 by Sarah Langan.
“The Gods Will Not Be Chained”
© 2014 by Ken Liu.
“She's Got a Ticket to Ride”
© 2014 by Jonathan Maberry Productions LLC.
“Enjoy the Moment”
© 2014 by Cryptic, Inc.
“Spores”
© 2014 by Seanan McGuire.
“Dancing With Death in the Land of Nod”
© 2014 by Will McIntosh.
“The Fifth Day of Deer Camp”
© 2014 by Empty Set Entertainment.
“The Balm and the Wound”
© 2014 by Robin Wasserman.
“Agent Unknown”
© 2014 by David Wellington.
“BRING HER TO ME”
© 2014 by Ben H. Winters.
Cover Art by Julian Aguilar Faylona.
Cover Design by Jason Gurley.
Ebook Design by John Joseph Adams.
COMING SOON:
THE END IS NOW & THE END HAS COME
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading THE END IS NIGH. If so, be sure to keep an eye out for THE END IS NOW (September 2014) and THE END HAS COME (March 2015), volumes two and three of THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH.
Famine. Death. War. Pestilence. These are the harbingers of the biblical apocalypse, of the End of the World. In science fiction, the end is triggered by less figurative means: nuclear holocaust, biological warfare/pandemic, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm.
But before any catastrophe, there are people who see it coming. During, there are heroes who fight against it. And after, there are the survivors who persevere and try to rebuild. THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH will tell their stories.
Edited by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams and bestselling author Hugh Howey, THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of apocalyptic fiction. THE END IS NIGH focuses on life before the apocalypse. THE END IS NOW turns its attention to life during the apocalypse. And THE END HAS COME focuses on life after the apocalypse.
Visit johnjosephadams.com/apocalypse-triptych to learn more about THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH or to read interviews with the authors. You can also sign up for our newsletter if you would like to be reminded when the other volumes of the TRIPTYCH become available.
ALSO EDITED BY
JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS
If you enjoyed THE END IS NIGH, you might also enjoy these other anthologies and magazines edited by John Joseph Adams.
• Armored
• Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy [Forthcoming, Oct. 2015]
• Brave New Worlds
• By Blood We Live
• Dead Man’s Hand [Forthcoming, May 2014]
• The End is Now [Forthcoming, Sep. 2014]
• The End Has Come [Forthcoming, Mar. 2015]
• Epic: Legends Of Fantasy
• Federations
• HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! & Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects [Forthcoming, Jul. 2014]
• The Improbable Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
• Lightspeed Magazine
• The Living Dead
• The Living Dead 2
• The Mad Scientist’s Guide To World Domination
• Nightmare Magazine
• Other Worlds Than These
• Oz Reimagined
• Robot Uprisings [Forthcoming, Apr. 2014]
• Seeds of Change
• Under the Moons of Mars
• Wastelands
• Was
telands 2 [Forthcoming, 2015]
• The Way Of The Wizard
The End is Nigh (The Apocalypse Triptych) Page 43
