Happiness at the End of the World

Meet at our tree.

For months, that’s been our plan. We know that eventually the time will come to evacuate the city and head into the mountains. The news reports have become more and more dire; the world is ending. Everyone knows it. The last of the shuttles departed almost a year ago. Truly, I can’t believe we’ve lasted as long as we have.

The nerve of those people! The government. They know best, of course. Can’t populate a new planet with a bunch of homosexuals. So, they leave us behind. Some of our gay and lesbian friends pair off so they can breed, but James and I can’t do it. It doesn’t feel right to us. Call it principle, call it stupidity. We aren’t about to go back into the closet to save our lives. We prefer to spend our last few weeks on Earth out and proud. As God intended.

So. The apocalypse. If and when the city collapses and we aren’t together, James and I are to make our separate ways to a specific tree in the Greco National Forest, six hours away. The plan. We hate it but know that our lives depend on it. We understand the risk. The planet is dying. Without a doubt. Sinkholes have opened up across the planet, swallowing whole cities in one gulp. Millions had already died by the time the shuttles left for Jupiter. The devastation is total. Global warming, of course. We ignored the warnings for centuries. Our reckoning has arrived.

Finally, in December, it happens. The last city standing, our home, the final outpost, collapses. I feel the rumble before the warning klaxon rings out. James is out scavenging; I am reading Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown for the fourteenth time. I grab my go-bag full of rations and supplies and hop on my dirt bike Gracie. We have souped her up to run on solar power, so no need to worry about gas. My baby girl Gracie. My savior. I hit the road out of town like a bat out of hell, except this time, the metaphor is literal. Hell is about to swallow my entire life.

Hour number one on the road to Greco. There are maybe 100 of us left in the city. Most of our friends have decided to embrace the Collapse when it comes. Henry and David plan to scale the tower and ride the building down in an epic blaze of glory. Alice and Romy are going to swim out into the middle of the river and see where it takes them. Michael, Nathan and Christopher prefer to spend their last moments in bed, making love one last time. Everyone has their own plan for the end. Ours is the tree. We think that maybe – maybe – the Forest will be spared from the Collapse. It is a long shot, but it is a risk we are willing to take.

Hour number two on the road to Greco. The last of the government has deemed the Forests unsafe for human life. There are too many Barkers roaming about. The Barkers are mean, ugly creatures that popped up after the experiments trying to cool the planet before the inevitable failed. They are a mixture of stone, deer, and wildflowers. They are terrifying. They are going to save us. We figure that if the Forests are off limits, we might have a better chance of scavenging whatever has been left since the Barkers took over. It is a dangerous plan, but it is all we have. We want to spend our last days together at our tree. If we are to cross a Forest full of Barkers to get there, so be it.

Hour number three on the road to Greco. The tree. Our tree. We’d been there once in the before-times and twice since the Collapses started. We’d gone camping in Greco many times before, but we found the tree on our last trip before the end of the world began. It is an enormous tree, with thick, sprawling branches and a tall, straight trunk. We saw it from across a field. Standing alone in a deep valley, it vibrated with good energy. It was under the tree where James asked me to marry him. He’d inherited his mother’s heart-shaped locket after her passing years earlier. He’d worn it around his neck since the day she died. And he gave it to me after I said yes, of course I’ll marry you.

I’ve worn it around my neck since that day at the Greco tree. One of two possessions I hold dearly; Rubyfruit Jungle is the other. A gift from my sister. The heart-shaped locket, a novel, James, and me, at the end of the world. Doomsday, party of two.

Hour number four on the road to Greco. Almost there. I’m starting to see some stray Barkers roaming around. I’m shocked. No one has seen them this far from the Forest before. They’ve spread. I carry on.

Hour number five on the road to Greco. I’ve encountered a hoard of Barkers. If you keep quiet and remain low to the ground, they’ll let you pass. I push Gracie as far as I can, and then leave her under a pile of branches. I mark a nearby tree just in case we need to return for her.

Finally, hour number six on the road. I’m here, in Greco National Forest. I make my way quietly through the valley until I reach the tree. It’s surrounded by Barkers, of course. They’re just grazing, but the sight is unnerving. I touch the locket, pray that James is safe. I approach the tree carefully, making sure not to disturb the Barkers. They can’t see me, but if I make a sudden move, they’ll attack. I tread lightly. I pick up a rock from beneath the tree’s roots and toss it as far as I can across the field. The Barkers scamper away. I am safe for now.

Day Two: no sign of James. I’m worried. We hadn’t planned for this. Meet at our tree. That’s it. Simple. And yet...

I can hear the rumbling of the Collapse getting closer. The Barkers have left; they’ve gone towards the sound, the fools. Meanwhile, I’ve burrowed myself beneath the tree’s roots. I’m not sure if James is coming. Will he arrive before the Collapse? Will he arrive with the Collapse? Is this the end? I have a heart-shaped outline in my palm from squeezing the locket so tightly.

As the roar of the Collapse gets closer, I close my eyes. I want to be brave, but without James by my side, it’s difficult. We’ve been through so much together. A deafening roar, then: silence.

“Alex,” a voice whispers. It’s James. He’s found me.

“Baby, I’m here. Open your eyes.” I see his face and the world goes dark.

xx