The End of the World and Other Signs of the End of the World - ONC 2021

Juliet: Attempt #3

August woke me up at six in the morning. I thrashed around a bit, trying to remember where I was, and then it all came flooding back. 

I'd died. Again. We'd failed. Again.

I reminded myself that the more we knew about what was going on, the more likely we'd be to solve it. And we had a plan that we knew would work. We just needed someone to listen to us.

This time my parents were home, and they were a little surprised I didn't scream at August to get out. 

My sleep could wait. The end of the world couldn't.

I remembered to pack a water bottle. The past two days, the heat had severely dehydrated me. 

I hugged my parents goodbye, too. I didn't know if I'd ever get to hug them again. They didn't know what was going on, but they hugged me back and made me promise to use sunscreen. I swore I would, and they left.

"Okay," I said, as we started walking towards the bus stop. "What did we do wrong last time?"

"Rob. Let's avoid Rob and the suits," August suggested.

"True, true. That was a big problem. And we're getting there even earlier today, so that's good."

"Yeah, the window will be wide fucking open." August sounds pissed. Sure, I refined the plan and fixed all the logistics, but it was his baby. Watching it be thrown in his face yesterday was painful.

August and I usually worked like that. He'd have all the ideas, wild, fantastical ideas that would never work, and I fixed them. I made them real. 

I hated that they hurt him. I'd told Dr Thompson as much when she'd told me they hadn't gone through with it.

"How could you do this to him?" I'd said. "He could be doing anything else to live out his last day, but he chose to be here. To save you, to save all of us. And you all have the audacity-"

She'd cut me off there. "It wasn't my choice, Juliet. They need the resources for other projects."

I'd been shocked. "What other projects? The world is fucking ending!"

And then I realized. I realized what the other projects were. I realized that we were dealing with rich, powerful men who would do anything to stay that way, even kill off the entire planet.

It still stung, even though I knew what game we'd been playing.

We'd been going by the rules. That was our big mistake. We'd shown them our entire hand, told them we had an ace, and then were shocked when they beat us with a joker.

We couldn't do that again. We knew things they didn't, and we had to keep it that way.

By the time we reached the bus stop, we had a pretty decent plan. Finding Dr. Thompson was our main objective.

"Shit." August patted his pockets. "I don't have any paper to copy out the plan."

"Don't worry. I brought a whole stack." I'd gotten used to packing enough supplies for two when we started our internship. Auggie was never prepared.

We boarded the bus and found seats. My phone rang, but I immediately declined the call.

"Was that Rob?" August asked.

"No." I rolled my eyes. 

Auggie raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. 

"Okay, maybe it was. And maybe I don't like him. I think I'm justified - he left us to die last time, remember?"