My Last Days

ENTRY #1

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance I’m dead, or maybe just gone. I wish I could tell you what I mean by “gone”, but I have no idea what happens to the ones who disappear. I found this empty notebook at the last house I visited, so I’ve decided to start keeping a log, or a diary of sorts, in the hope that if someone finds it, they’ll have an idea what’s happened. Not that I even know what happened, but I’ll do my best to explain.

Four weeks ago, the world ended. At least I think it was four weeks. That’s just a guess, since it’s hard to keep track of the days when it’s dark all the time. When I say dark, I mean an eerie twilight that never ends. I don’t think the soft orange glow that covers everything in sight is from the sun. More likely it’s from the fires that rage all around me. If the rest of the earth looks as bad as this, I think it’s safe to say the planet is burning.

I am, or was, a truck driver, and I was a long way from here when this all started. Actually, I was almost in Chicago. Everything happened so fast, with no warning. I was driving down the highway, probably not more than a few miles from the city, when my truck died. One minute it was working, and the next it was dead for no clear reason. Not just my truck, but every vehicle on the road. People panicked and didn’t know what to do. There were so many accidents. Nothing too serious, but that was just the start.

Like most people, as soon as I got my truck stopped, I pulled out my phone to see what was going on. It was as dead as my truck. Everyone else seemed to be having the same problem, as I could see many people wandering around holding phones with blank screens, trying to find anyone with a phone that might be working.

Within minutes, everyone had forgotten about their broken phones. All attention was focused on the sky, which was rapidly turning from clear and blue, to something unnatural and dark. Clouds appeared out of nowhere, and they were the blackest I’ve ever seen. The whole situation was incredibly surreal, with the only sound coming from a few whispered conversations nearby. Other than that, it was almost like watching a movie on mute, or standing in that creepy silence during a power outage. It didn’t last though.

The silence was broken by the loudest noises I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s hard to describe, but it was similar to thunder. It definitely wasn’t thunder, but that’s the closest noise I could possibly compare it to. This noise was more artificial, and dozens of times louder than anything I’ve ever heard in my life. There were people crying, people collapsed on the ground, and people with blood coming from their ears. I could see all of this happening, but I couldn’t hear anything. There was only a steady, high-pitched ringing in my ears that blocked out all other sound.

I’ll spend tomorrow thinking of a way to explain what happened next, so that’s it for today. Time for some rest.

ENTRY #2

I’ve finished another day, or maybe night, of travel so I guess now’s as good a time as any to make another entry. It’s been days since I’ve seen a road sign, but I feel like I’m getting close to my destination. The dread of what I might find when I get there is starting to outweigh the potential relief of finally arriving back at my house. What are the chances of my wife still being there? Did she survive the attacks? We live outside the city, so that’s what continues to give me hope.

The last place anyone would want to be right now would be in a city. I guess that’s where I should continue my story. Like I said before, I was near Chicago when it all started. So, picking up where I left off; people were in shock, in pain, confused, unable to hear. That’s when the ships appeared. In the distance, directly over Chicago, an enormous ship slowly descended from the clouds. The ship seemed to be a giant black sphere. I might not have even noticed the ship, blending in with the black clouds above it, if it wasn’t for the smaller black spheres surrounding it. Those little ones had bright lights shining down like spotlights towards the ground. Slowly, everyone around me was starting to look towards the ships. No one knew what to do, so we all just stood and stared in awe. We continued to stare as the smaller ships began spreading out, moving away from the bigger ship. One of those ships was coming towards us, and the awe quickly became panic when we saw what the ships were doing. The lights, or whatever they were, were leaving trails of fire and destruction wherever they passed. The ships were following the roads, destroying all paths into and out of the city.

Many people froze in terror, while others ran. I ran. I ran as far from the road as I could before the trail of fire arrived. As the light flashed by, something like a shockwave knocked down anyone who had made it off the road. Once the light had passed, nothing living remained. Or, more accurately, nothing human remained. I wasn’t the only one to escape from the road, and as the people scattered nearby began to slowly stand up and survey the destruction, we realized that the ship had left more than just a fiery path behind. Walking among the wrecks of burning vehicles was a group of three… people. Things. Aliens. I hesitate to use that word since it seems so unbelievable, but I don’t know what else to call them. They seemed human in shape, but much taller. I have no idea what they actually look like because they were completely covered in some sort of black suit. A flight suit? A space suit? I have no idea what its purpose was. They had guns though. Not crazy laser guns like you’d expect from all the movies and TV shows. These guns shot some sort of bullet that attached itself to people rather than kill them. All of the survivors who had stood up were easy targets, and anyone who got hit was paralyzed. They just stood there, motionless. I myself remained motionless, but I hadn’t been hit. I was smart enough to stay laying in the tall grass.

As soon as the three black suits had progressed far enough down the road, I ran for it. Part of me felt bad abandoning the people who were stuck there, frozen, but there was nothing I could do for them. I had no idea what to do or where to go, so when I made it to a nearby forest area, I stopped to catch my breath. I could still see the burning road and all the paralyzed people off in the distance. I watched in disbelief, telling myself this couldn’t be real. I knew I should keep moving, but I couldn’t look away. I’m glad I kept watching though because at least I saw what they do with people. The small ship with the burning light had started moving back towards the city, but it had slowed down, and the light had changed. I watched, and as it passed over the frozen people, those people disappeared. I can only assume they were taken alive for a purpose, or why go to the trouble of catching them?

ENTRY #3

Another day of endless walking and hiding. I’m close now. I could be home in a couple of hours if I kept going, but I just can’t. I need to rest. The journey is exhausting enough, but the constant fear of every noise, or even the smallest thought of something in my peripheral vision, is taking its toll. I’ve seen surprisingly few ships since my first encounter, but I know they’re out there. I can hear them, and I can see the results of their work every time I come across a destroyed road or town.

After that day near Chicago, I had three thoughts. First, I had to get home and find my wife. Second, I had to avoid cities, towns, or any populated area. Third, I needed to find out what the hell was happening. I repeat them in my mind like rules to guide me. I’ve almost finished number one, I’ve managed to follow number two, but I still don’t have a clue about number three. I’ve stopped at every farmhouse I’ve come across, looking for people, and testing the radios and phones. I do know that absolutely nothing electronic works anymore. I’ve found a depressingly small number of people along the way. Some run before I can even talk to them, and the ones that are brave enough to talk to me don’t have any more information than I do. No one knows what’s happening. I have so many questions that I feel will never be answered.

Who are these people in the ships? Where did they come from? Why are they doing this? Is this happening all over the world? What happens to the people who disappear? Chances are good that I’ll be asking these questions until the day I die, which, given the present situation, could be fairly soon.

Anyway, I’ll be home tomorrow. I need to sleep for a few hours and then I’ll keep going.

ENTRY #4

I’m home. It’s not good.

The nearby highway was scorched, but the gravel road leading to the house seemed untouched. That gave me a small moment of hope, but I’ve searched the house top to bottom, and my wife is not here. I want to believe she made it somewhere safe, but there was nowhere she could have gone that was any safer than this. The car is still here, so she had to have been here when this all started. Deep down, I know she’s gone. I don’t want to admit it, but the evidence is here. The only thing I’ve found, the only clue left, was her locket she wore around her neck. A little heart-shaped silver locket with a picture of us inside. I found it lying in the gravel, not more than fifty feet off the highway. She wore it everywhere. She never took it off, but there it was, sitting in the dirt, broken.

I don’t think anyone will ever read this, but who knows? At the very least, maybe someone else on a journey like mine will come across this and find some of the information helpful. As for me, even if I’d found my wife, I can’t say this is a world I’d want to live in. Without her, it’s not even a choice. I know what I have to do. I’m going to leave this journal on my kitchen table, take my wife’s locket, and start walking straight towards the nearest ship I can find. One way or another, I’ll be with my wife.