2038

“We are relying on luck to keep us safe from major asteroid impacts… But luck is not a plan.”

- Richard Binzel, MIT Astronomer

2035

“In breaking news tonight, NASA has confirmed of an asteroid that is set to hit earth in just three years. NASA has not yet confirmed the size of the meteorite but astronomer, Lionel Carrington had this to say, ‘it is true we have discovered a mysterious asteroid about 90 million miles away that is expected to intercept earth by the year 2039. Please rest assure that in cases like these, the likelihood of it actually hitting our planet is very slim. Asteroids tend to burn up before reaching the Earth’s atmosphere or divert away from our planet’s path before collision is made. We have joined our forces with scientists all around the world to maximise our knowledge and understanding of the meteoroid, so we can better plan how to protect the people of earth.’ Again, that was NASA’s astronomer, Lionel Carrington.”

Loud conversations of heated debates started echoing through the bar that was silent only moments ago. Some people even ran outside to see if they could see the asteroid that was plummeting towards earth. Those are the people who wouldn’t survive. Others didn’t believe it. They pinned it down to the same myth of the 2012 end of world theories. Not that I blamed them. I sat alone, on a bar stool that didn’t stand sturdy, staring up at the TV as the news went on to report other things that suddenly didn’t seem very important anymore. Something kept gnawing at me though. I couldn’t bring myself to believe that a group of renowned scientists didn’t know the size of a meteor headed for earth. The mere thought of that made me feel uneasy. I stared at the window at the people gathering in the street until a flash of light rebounding off something shiny blinded me for a few moments. As I looked around to see the culprit, I noticed a young girl, about nine-years-old with a silver heart-shaped locket hanging around her neck. Her innocent amber eyes locked with mine for just a second but long enough to bring me a sense of calmness, peace and hope.

2038: One year after collision

They lied to us. They knew exactly when the asteroid was going to hit earth and the damage it would cause. They knew people would lose their minds if they believed the world was going to end. It was two times the size of Mt. Everest and hit Hawaii. It obliviated Hawaii the moment it hit the Earth’s very mantle. Debris flooded the Earth’s stratosphere and so began the chain reaction. The Ring of Fire was activated, a tsunami a kilometre high and travelling at the speed of 2000 kilometres per hour hit every pacific coast line in a matter of hours from impact. The arctic ice melted, and sea levels rose by fifty metres. I was lucky, I lived in the Blue Mountains in Australia and I survived as I watched the cities below the mountain range fill like a bathtub and kill millions of my brothers and sisters who could not reach higher ground in the time they were given warning. Most of the islands cease to exist. I hear there are captains who sail on the new sea and find nothing where life once existed. They all disappeared. Five billion humans ceased to exist within 24 hours of the initial contact. Another billion souls were lost in the past year. That’s what the scientists estimated. We’re living in a nuclear winter. Our earth’s axis tilted by 11 degrees they said, meaning South America and I think Canada are our new poles. I’m not even sure anymore. I’ve stopped listening to the radio broadcasts. I’m living my life to fight for survival. Everyone I knew is gone. A group of us travelled west across the Nullarbor Plain to reach Coober Pedy. We’ve been living underground ever since. We’ve established a way of living. We can grow vegetables, we can build fires to keep warm and we’ve become the new cave drawers. We mark the names of the dead into the rock and then burn their bodies. There’re stories that people have resulted in cannibalism, but our group has not. Almost two years ago, I was a 24-year-old retail worker with the dream of becoming an actress and now, I’m burning the bodies of the dead and fighting for survival on a planet that is dying. I had a video camera I used to record our stories for people to find once the planet began to heal, so then they would know of our history but eventually all the batteries ran out. It was so they would know of our devastation. Our loss. Our suffering. Our strength. Then I had a terrible thought… what if no one comes after us? What if we are the last of the human race and this is the end of Earth?

“Hey Gemma, that cockroach is back again!” I raced to where my name was being called feeling a slight sense of happiness. “Greg! You’re alive,” I scooped the brown winged insect into my hand, “hey buddy, I thought you were never coming back. Don’t scare me like that!” Two years ago, I would have screamed and stepped on something like Greg but when life is lacking, you tend to value even the smallest of a living soul. We don’t really see any type of life form anymore. Most animal species are extinct now, that includes fishes and insects. The ones that have survived are trying to fight for survival as much as the rest of us, and just like us, they have to adapt to the new world too. I met Greg about three months ago when things really felt devastating. More people died, less life on earth, less food and less chance of survival and then one day, a day I was contemplating putting a bullet through my brain, I found Greg. He ran onto my shoe and by him doing that, I found strength. I found a reason to fight. How could I be one of the last remaining people on this planet and just throw it all in like it was all for nothing? So, this little disgusting insect that I once would have stepped on and squished with my shoe was now the reason I didn’t stick the gun in my mouth.

“They’re expecting another million deaths by tomorrow evening,” Neil was our protector. Our group’s leader. He was older than us and he was wise. He was extremely knowledgeable and he never sugar coated anything. Unfortunately. “Do you think anyone will come for us?” Currently, we are located near the centre of Australia. The only ground to exist besides the mountain ranges that weren’t washed away. What was once a big continent is now a small island. There’s not many of us left. Most of Australia’s population lived along coastlines and they were the first to be killed. We’re stranded in the middle of the South Australian desert and we’ve emptied all the stores in a 200-kilometre radius. If it wasn’t for the Aboriginal People, we would have died. They’re the ones who took us in and showed us the way of living before their land was colonised. We’ve learnt all kinds of skills from them. Jarrah was the first of the Aboriginal People who found us. He took us in and lead us west to Coober Pedy. He knew that living underground was the only viable option to keep us alive. Him and his tribe moved on about six months ago. There’re stories that float across the open land of him saving many of us. Without him, we would be in the percentage of lives that have ceased to exist.

2039: Two years after collision

It’s the year. The year the asteroid was supposed to hit earth. I wonder if we had been given that extra time, if we would have made value of it? Would we have believed that the world was really going to come to an end? Would we prepare and move to the centre of our countries or to higher ground metres above level? Would more of us have survived? I haven’t seen Greg for over four months. We’re all tired and we’re hungry. We’re furious. There’re reports that all the important people were moved to Mars. I remember it being in the news about colonising Mars and we all made a joke of it but what if they actually knew? What if this was their exit strategy all along? They knew and left us here to die while they made a new earth. A new home. Greg is gone. My family is gone. My dog is gone. My friends are gone. There’s only eight left of us in the group. Last year we had twelve and the year before that we had thirty. This is definitely the most inhumane way to die. We’re not heroes. We’re not the people who are going to form new life and repopulate the planet. We’re sitting ducks. We’re playing a game of Russian Roulette but there’s a bullet in every chamber. We know what’s coming to us. I used to believe in the after life but now I’m not so sure. What life form is there to come back to now? And if earth is destroyed, does that mean heaven no longer exists? I’m terrified of the now and I’m terrified of what comes after. But I don’t think I’m strong enough to keep going any longer.

Everyone is asleep, so I tip toe over their snoring bodies and make my way to the cave’s entrance, passing the lit camp fire that keeps us warm. I grab Neil’s trusty rifle that sits by the entrance and check if it’s loaded. One bullet. That’s enough. Two years ago, I had never fired a gun and now my very last thing on this earth will be shooting myself with one. I’m not the only person who has thought about this or done this. There’s been plenty of suicides. No one wants to be living in a world that is dying.

I cock the rifle quietly and look back before I make my way out of the cave and that’s when something catches my eyes, reflecting from the flames of the fire. Almost blinding me. I’m intrigued now, I want to know what it is before I kill myself because there’s only been one thing that shined in my eyes like this. But it couldn’t be. Could it? I gently put the safety on the gun before walking over to the shining object that lay beside the pit of the fire. It is. The silver heart-shaped locket buried shallowly under the dirt. I then pick it up. It used to hang around the neck of a little girl with amber eyes. I know I should be sad, but she was never a part of our group. I never saw her again after that day in 2035 so finding her locket didn’t make any sense to me. I wrap the angelic necklace around my hand and then look back at the rifle I left near its original home, I then glance down at the necklace and remember the little girl and then I recall the way I felt that time I looked into her eyes. This wasn’t a coincidence. Suddenly all my fears and suicidal thoughts vanish. All I can focus on is this locket that sits in the palm of my hand and I finally feel hopeful. For the first time since that day, I feel a sense of hope again. I’m going to fight this. This is not the end of my life, this is not the end of my world and this is not the end of my story.