Momo, The 930-Foot, Multi-Colored, Slightly Less Hairy Worm

If you haven't read Part 1... head here! (Then again, it may not be ENTIRELY necessary. Let me know if you've read both, just one, and what you thought!)

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It was the involuntary shivering, the numb toes, and the cold sting on the cheeks… that’s what clued Kimmy in to the fact that things were changing dramatically.

She’d been riding on the back of Momo, the 930-foot, multi-colored, hairy worm for… oh, who knows how many days now? Since she had started counting it had been 282 days. But she hadn’t been in charge of counting the whole time. Byron was in charge of counting back when there were only four of them left riding Momo’s back.

514 days that Byron had counted once it had gotten down to four of them… and all the way up until he jumped. No one kept track before that point, and no one had kept track after that point. But when Matthew jumped, leaving Kimmy to be the only human left aboard Momo, also leaving Kimmy to presumably be the last human left alive as Earth had long since been uninhabitable… Kimmy eventually decided to start counting again.

She was alone and didn’t have much else to do. She needed something to occupy her time. Sightseeing was an activity that could only be done in spurts. Momo moved at such an incredible pace that Kimmy would get dizzy if she tried to keep her eyes on all the sights. And that was no way to see the sights anyway.

Kimmy had always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower… but her and Momo passed by it faster than she could even say Eiffel Tower. She really only saw the top. She would have to remember to appreciate the architecture of the base the next time they passed by.

But all this time riding Momo’s back, the temperature had been quite comfortable. The earth was unbearably hot, contact with the surface exploded a human life. Somehow, perhaps due to the wind whipping by at unreal speeds, the temperature balanced out.

Now, Kimmy sat on an orange portion of Momo’s multi-colored body, eating a carrot. She played with some of his coarse hair... which had been shedding and falling out... lifting it up, stroking his smooth skin underneath. His skin possessed a comfort beyond silky. Wait, was he a silk worm? Kimmy rubbed the palm of her hand back and forth on a smooth spot. Momo squealed with glee… and Kimmy felt cold.

Quite cold.

In all this time on Momo’s back she had never felt anywhere near this cold. Something whipped by in the air at eye level. Kimmy snapped her neck back to see what it was but couldn’t find it. Of course not, not at this speed.

Kimmy munched on her carrot. Luckily, she’s not the type of person to tire of foods. And she had a broad range of food she enjoyed. But this was getting redundant. Nothing but carrots and potatoes for 215 days now. And even back then, the only addition was turnips. And, of course, she hadn’t seen a parsnip since around the time Qasim leapt off Momo.

Not that she ever got many of those. Qasim hogged them all.

Kimmy hadn’t checked her surroundings in a bit. She scanned to her right, nothing but ocean water. It lapped quietly as they rode through it. Momo squealed as they transitioned onto the land. Brown and beige dirt whipped by. Kimmy recognized the terrain. They were approaching the Grand Canyon. That was one sight she loved to see. She craned her neck and peered off the side of Momo.

There it went… a bit higher than usual. Or were they lower than usual?

Curious.

Kimmy kept paying attention over the next few days. Each time they passed by sights she had observed before, whether natural or man made, she kept a close eye on them. Without fail, each time they passed by, Kimmy noticed how each sight was higher than it normally would be. Or, again, was it that Momo and her were much lower?

Another root vegetable flung up from the dirt beneath Momo and landed on one of Momo’s red portions of his back. Kimmy pulled herself up off his orange, hairy skin and traversed his wide back as they tore across what was once the United States. She approached the root vegetable and sat down next to it.

Why did it look different?

A parsnip!

She hadn’t seen one in so long! She instantly tore into its skin with her teeth. Sweet parsnip heaven!

Another root vegetable flung up out of the dirt beneath and soared over Kimmy’s head. It landed on a blue portion of Momo’s back well behind her. She couldn’t tell what it was. No matter. She currently had her hands on a parsnip. The unidentified root vegetable in question would have to wait. Probably just another potato anyway.

Kimmy savored every bite, unsure she would ever get another parsnip. Momo squealed as he transitioned back into water. The sound of the waves splashing beneath was loud… but it was calming. Kimmy felt at ease… even though she felt freezing. Even more so now.

More sounds of waves crashing against Momo’s sides. Momo’s heavy breath of enjoyment. And then a high-pitched shriek of sorts!

Kimmy looked up just in time to see something white fly past her head. Something a bit larger than her head.

What was that?

Kimmy looked behind her, now finished with her parsnip. She eyed the vegetable laying suspiciously on Momo’s blue skin. She stepped briskly in the brisk cold, determined all of these occurrences were related. This root vegetable, the closer she got, the stranger it looked.

Once close enough, Kimmy realized, it was a rutabaga! She had never seen a rutabaga this entire time on Momo’s back! Not since before the end times. Before the earth began to heat up uncontrollably.

This had to mean something. Kimmy pulled her one and only hoodie tighter around her body. It stunk. But it was warm. And it was cold out here.

After another two days, dozens more squeals from Momo, three more parsnips and five more rutabagas, the wind stopped whipping so hard… the sights stopped passing by so quickly… the temperature warmed. More and more, less wind, more warmth, slower speeds.

Momo was slowing down. Which he had never done. Momo slowed more and more. Kimmy could actually stare out into the world without getting dizzy and sick. Kimmy was certain this would result in her death. The heat, or something, would get her. Kimmy munched on a rutabaga like a rabbit, teeth working rapidly, certain this was her last meal.

Momo came to a complete stop. The air was… warm. But nice. Momo laid in a humongous divot he had created in the earth. In fact, all around them were long trails of divots from his paths he took circling the earth.

Momo let out a different sounding squeal and swung his head back lazily. Kimmy wasn’t sure why, but she felt like that meant she should dismount his body. She leapt off the side and landed in the soft dirt that Momo had ripped through for years and years. The dirt was cool to the touch, unlike the burning heat it possessed when Kimmy last touched it.

And sprouting up all around her… root vegetables of all kinds! Plenty of rutabagas, in fact! She plucked one from the dirt. She went to grab another when a gopher suddenly burrowed its tiny little head through the dirt, snagged the rutabaga, and yanked it back down below.

Kimmy had assumed all animal life had died when the humans all died. There were gopher holes all around her. Perhaps the animals that lived beneath were able to survive!

A high-pitched shriek startled her. She craned her neck towards the noise to see something white flying right at her! She ducked unnecessarily and a white bird soared past her!

“Birds?!” The first word Kimmy had spoken in months.

Her throat was dry and sore. She coughed in pain. Momo turned his head back towards her and let out a soft squeal.

Underground animals managed to survive. And birds as well. And now… here stands Kimmy… able to survive. Momo… it must have been Momo. Something about what he did… the divots he made in the earth… releasing the heat?

Or was it just the absence of humans? Eventually, the earth made its way back to being hospitable. In the distance, a few animals burrowed up from underneath the dirt. Though they were not burrowing animals. Not all. Kimmy saw rabbits, turtles, squirrels, raccoons… they were smart enough to go underground.

It appears no humans were this smart. Kimmy felt sad, the earth made it… but no humans made it through the worst times to be able to witness this. Only her.

As more animals burrowed up from underneath the dirt, and more birds soared past, Kimmy smiled. She realized that the important thing was not whether or not humans made it, the important thing was that the earth made it.

The earth would live on. From the looks of it, many animals would live on. And Momo. Momo squealed, apparently aware that Kimmy was thinking of him in this precise moment. Momo mysteriously came about as the earth was on its last legs. Momo came by, no legs, but 930 feet of multi-colored, hairy, planet-saving goodness.

And he was completely still for once.

“Momo, are you just going to hang out here?” Kimmy asked.

Momo let out a happy squeal.

“Me too.” Kimmy said. “I think I’m going to eat. Do you want to eat? Wait, what do you eat?”

Momo squealed again.

Kimmy had no idea what that squeal meant. She looked at his face and saw clumps of dirt fall out from behind his lips.

“So, you’re good with dirt?”

Momo squealed, mouth wide open, and then happily jammed his face into the ground.

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