The Ends of Earth

Chapter 2

The acidic spade shaped droplets dispersed upon contact with the boy's face.

1 drop...

2 drops...

His eyes shot open. The first thing he saw was the gym ceiling, the white metal beams

extending across evenly overlapping like a checkerboard. A third drop fell between his eyes, this one stung a bit more than the last two. With a deep inhale he sat up and looked around. The timber Wolf's expression hadn't changed, and the wooden planks still had a thin layer of dust over them. He saw the backpack still lying next to the bleachers, the camera still sitting in the small undusted square.

It hit him hard. Hard right where it hurts the most, the gut. The realization seemed to do more than hit him; it beat him up completely, inside and out.

"No."

He couldn't remember falling asleep, gray beams of light shined through the gloomy gym windows creating three yellow squares on the floor in front of him. You could see small particles of dust floating in the light. The rain tapped lightly on the roof with somewhat of a thump.

He used his hands to push himself off the floor. He could feel his bones rubbing against one another as he did so. He rolled his head around in a circle left then right, he winced in pain.

"Hardwood floor is a no go for sleeping, noted."

He walked over to the backpack, his knees cracking with every step. He put the radio and the camera back in the bag and secured it around his shoulders. He made his way toward the door. However, when he stepped out, he was met with prickles of a burning sensation.

"Ow! Ow!" He closed the door and the small bit of light that escaped had vanished.

"The rain is acidic. I have less time than I thought."

He walked through the halls of the school into the first classroom he saw.

"Paper pencil, paper pencil. Paper! Pencil!" Sitting at the desk in the front left corner of the classroom he began to write.

Book on bunkers

Water

Oxygen tanks from hospital

Basic otc. meds and first aid

Clothes

Food to ration

Gas mask + hazmat suits

He tore the paper out of the notebook and stuffed it into his back pocket.

"Now the bunker." He made his way down another hallway past the cafeteria. He opened a set of double doors that led to a long staircase. He made his way down with somewhat of a rush. He was in a long concrete hallway. The walls were gray and granulated. You could hear a bit of an echo while walking down the hall, however that echo wasn't escaping to the surface. At the end of the hall, he was met with an enormous steel door in the shape of a circle. He placed his hand around the gigantic metal handle and gave it a pull then another handle, a twist, a slide, a crank then finally the door was open.

He stepped inside.

"Tornado shelter, asteroid shelter, potato potata." He walked further in. The walls stretched what seemed to be miles; they were circular all the way to the ceiling. The ground, however, was flat. They were a similar gray concrete to the outside. As he made his way down, he was met by another circular door, this one less grand, however it was still heavy duty. Past the door bulbs releasing warm lighting lit his path. He walked a few more meters and was met with two more doors, one on the right and one on the left, less heavy duty than the last door and square opposed to circular. He went to his left first; this door took nothing more than a turn and a forceful slide to open. The light flickered on; the room was empty but still followed the same concrete pattern as the rest of the shelter. He went to the room on the right. It was the same. He took a right and met the end of the hall. In the corner was a generator. Hopeful he ran back to the surface to a supply closet. He found a plastic folded out table and a foldable chair. Holding them both he made it back to the end of the shelter, the table and chair slipping with each step. He unfolded the plastic table and metal chair. He set the radio and camera on top of the table.

The corners of his mouth slightly turned upwards.

"This might work out after all."

VIDEO DIARY 02:

Hi, my name is Oliver Flynn, I'm 17 and I think I'm going to live.

I should probably explain what's happening or what happened since I don't know who's going to find this.

As we know humans have been polluting the Earth for centuries. Once we found out how badly the effects of this were we swore we would change our ways, however we never did. Eventually we succumbed to the effects of our negligence.

However, in the year 2026 project TESS led by NASA was a success, they found a habitable planet. They called the new planet "Iterum" however I like to call it Earth 2.0

NASA launched mission VITA to make it sustainable. The industrialization process was going smoothly and moving much faster than suspected.

In 2036 NASA found an asteroid larger than the Chicxulub asteroid and that one was nearly 9 miles wide. It struck Earth about sixty-six-million years ago, whipping out the majority of the dinosaur population, and about three quarters of all plant and animal species. They named this asteroid Igenti.

NASA launched project DART-2 to knock Igenti off its course but it failed. NASA decided it wasn't worth it to save this dying planet since project VITA was nearly finished.

In 2070 phase 1 of mission RTPV was set in motion. This basically meant all the rich people got off the planet first. Then phase 2 in 2072 for middle class people and more of the essential workers. Then in 2077, phase 3 the phase my family was in. The government said mission RTPV had no space for terminally ill patients or people with severe medical conditions. Families began euthanizing their sick loved ones and burying them, leaving them behind.

My sister was a part of that group. She had terminal cancer; I wasn't going to let my parents do that to her. So, I stayed behind, they didn't care that I stayed, they always made it clear she meant more to them than I would ever mean to anyone.

*Recording stopped...*