The next few months

Same as every other day Tom frantically waves his hand over the brewing coffee to prevent the smoke from giving away his position, granted it does nothing about the smell but after months waiting for the sky to fall one learns how to make compromises on what constitutes proper, necessary life preserving measures and what is just a hassle. All the other undesirables ask him to brew the coffee far away from the church since they don't trust Tom's risk assessment skills and are perfectly aware that he smokes a cigarette right afterwards. They don't resent him, nobody resents anybody anymore, people slowly started to let go of any moral imperative once the imminent doom was undeniable. “In 32 years I’ve never drank coffee without sugar, and now I don't even know if I would use it if I had it" reflected Tom as he lit up the second half of yesterday's cigarette and took that first hit. "damn that feels good" he thought as he waved his hand again this time over the cigarette smoke. Tom was convinced that today was it for him and regretted a little that he won't get to see the pretty lights, but he had to try and see her, ideally to see the big event by her side or just to say goodbye as a worst case scenario. Worst case scenario? who was he kidding there was no guarantee that Gaby was even alive, after all Faunatia is notoriously filled with crazy people who ride alligators for fun. Once his shrine to the vices was covered with dirt Tom fitted his backpack and started to make his way to the Church.

- "Tommy the traveler!" -greeted him Shean as soon as he saw Tom walking up the stairs to the altar to make his way into the makeshift basement.

- "You're on guard duty again?" - asked Tom knowing full well there were only five men who could guard the refuge.

- "You know how it is, God doesn't rest, today is the big day isn't it?" - Shean said with a slightly saddened look on his face

- "Yeah, just gotta pick up a couple of things and I'll be on my way to fight the cultists"- Tom replied feeling the guilt and sadness that come with the knowledge that he was abandoning them, he was one of the five people able to guard the church.

In these times people made a point of not being sentimental, it is common knowledge that everyone was gonna suffer the same fate no matter what, it seemed silly to pain over the inevitable just because it came a bit sooner for one person or the other. "Sorry they're gonna miss it" was the only expression uttered whenever someone died since "The Big Flash" four months ago. Everyone knew that the really big one was close but nobody knew exactly when since all broadcasting stopped about the same time as civilization did, the second one however was not gonna take just satellites and the power grid, this time all life on Planet Water was marching towards extinction. Well, nobody knew except Tom. six months, three days and four hours left according to the mechanical timer that ran inside Tom's heart shaped locket. The timer could be off by a couple of days since Tom had to make really quick calculations before leaving the military base where the project was being developed, but no more than that.

Tom walked inside the church basement to pick up his knife avoiding the looks of all the refugees who silently resented him. Tom was not too sure that spending your last few days in a humid dark basement was a lot better than getting caught by the cultists. If you were protecting your family maybe it made sense but most people in the church were young and spent their days making love and hugging each other. Packing his knife Tom made his way to the Church's exit and saw Shean waiting by the entrance with a boring look on his face and looking at the sky. A drunk Shean told him one night that he really had no hope and didn't really care about anything other than surviving long enough to see the second "Big Flash", his family is from Europe and he knew he wouldn't see them again and couldn't call them so the event was the biggest thing to look forward to for the rest of his life, he guarded the church exclusively because of all the end-of-times-sex between now and then.

-"Six months and three days until the pretty lights Shean" - Tom said, confessing the secret timeline for the first time as he showed him the timer inside the heart shaped locket.

-"Yeah right" - said Shean - "how the hell would you know that"

- "I worked on the Sphere" - tom replied, not knowing if Shean would immediately murder him - "It was actually my doctoral thesis and it would've worked if it wasn't because the moneybags decided to cheap out on the materials"

- "You're only alive because I don't believe a word you're saying, and because I know you won't make it past 81st street" - said Shean visibly not amused by what he thought to be a joke.

- "October 6th to October 9th, look up and smoke some devil's grass, a dying man has no reason to lie" - Tom said as he walked into the bushes and got lost between the trees.

- "Sorry you're gonna miss it" - said Shean when Tom couldn't hear him.

Is amazing how religious extremist people have a gift for creepy order during chaos. The streets controlled by the cultists of the rapture which pretty much was the entire Mannahata island and most of New Amsterdam looked almost like there was still a thriving civilization inhabiting it, sure if you got caught without the mark you would be tortured until you join the cult or be killed if you were to be label an undesirable but other than that the city looked somewhat functional on the surface. The street signs had been removed of everything which the extremists found profane and the once thriving “city of sin” now looked like a sterile monument of concrete deprived of everything that used to make it special. Space Square's abandoned stairs remained cluelessly aimed at a spectacle of light and posters that were no longer there. As to be expected from those who live by dogma, "the mark" that the cultist gave its members was done through a poorly crafted iron bar with a crack shape at the top that was supposed to represent the rapture, it was heated and applied to the arm to form a burn that looked like an ugly scar with no discernible shape, not a great supply of graphic designers among the ranks of fanatics it seems. Tom had made a rudimentary mark on his arm that could pass as the real thing from a distance but not from up close. Luckily for him, besides a couple of dirty looks from some members of the "Templar" militia, the armed branch of the cultists, he managed to reach his apartment with no issue. It was intact just as he had left it, lots of "sinners" lived in his building so the prude members of the cult probably refused to see the interior of some of them. Tom went to his bathroom to grab the keys to an abandoned car that waited for him under a thick layer of hay, debris from fallen trees and farming equipment in a barn just outside of the city. As Tom took the keys from under the detached toilet he froze in fear as he heard the clear sound of his cellphone ringtone which resonated like a tornado siren inside the empty apartment and the deafening silence of the city. "How is this even possible" thought Tom, all satellites and electricity went away with the Big Flash, even if they didn't it was impossible that the phone had kept its charge all these months.

"H..Hello?" - answered Tom, convinced the cultists were on the other side of the line.

"5 months and 25 days Tom, how are you spending them?" - replied a voice

"Who is this, how are you even calling? .. Are you with Project Re-Birth?" - asked Tom, attempting, unsuccessfully, to walk all the paths that could have led to this conversation.

"No Tom, you have 2 options either think you're crazy or surrender to the idea that this doesn't have to make sense" - said the voice - "Either way I will take you to her"

"Who.. where are you taking me?" - replied Tom completely deprived of all ability to reason

"To Gaby, you are on your way to her right? I know where she is and I will lead you there safely"- replied the voice and immediately added - " you should get out of the apartment now, they heard the phone too and are walking up, take the fire stairs'' - said the voice before a click that clearly indicated the call had ended, Tom never told anyone about the barn not even Shean, he thought he was proper crazy and almost understood the cult crazies that were now very audibly near his door. Tom slipped through the window and down the stairs, no crazies, "I'll make it to the street he thought"

Tom could not believe how desolated everything was when he made it to the farm and walked cautiously towards the barn. He breathed a sigh of relief once he realized the old 76 impala was still there, he cleared the debris and turned on the car, it works. The phone rang again.

- "Hello? who are you" - asked Tom almost begging

- "That's a very complicated question Tom. Just drive, you can make it to North Elizabeth before you need gas again, I put some extra in the back" - *click*

Tom had seen humanity through some stuff, the October 11 attacks against the Continent Trade Center Building in the heart of Mannahata, the complete loss of confidence in the United Provinces Government and the subsequent takeover of the country by corporations, but in his journey from New Amsterdam to Faunatia he saw the real face of humanity as it made peace with its destiny, only now the circumstances pulled their true nature out of them.

A tall man with a beard prepared to weld in the final piece of his makeshift bunker after saying goodbye to his wife and daughters who were now inside, a tear rolled down the man's face who knew the bunker wouldn’t work, but clung to the irrational hope that he may save his family.

- "I'll do it, go back in with your family"- said Tom grabbing the soldering iron as the orange glow surrounded them.

- "Thank you" - said the man to the stranger as he walked inside the bunker with no time to even question the gesture.

- "Don't worry Faunatia is beautiful this time of the year, or maybe is the imminent flash, either way, I prefer to watch it alone, hug your wife and your kids it won't be long now" - Tom replied handing him the heart shaped locket with a timer that had just 6 minutes left in it and soldering the final piece of metal before he heard Gaby’s voice inside saying "who was that? his voice sounded familiar".

The sky got so bright Tom could see the bones in his hands as if through an x-ray, the phone rang and he answered.

"I never wondered whether she would want to see me, this was never about me was it?"- Tom said as he picked up the phone.

"I knew you were a good guy" - said the voice, as humanity took his final breath and disappeared forever.