The Ends of Earth

Chapter 3

He lay on the gym floor, his hands behind his head and his legs crossed. He began to think.

"There were billions of people on this planet, there's no way that I am the only person left here. Surely other people had a reason to stay as well."

The background ambiance of the rain made the silence a bit more bearable, his thoughts weren't as loud. He sorted through memories of his childhood, then through memories of Bo.

He cried some.

Slept some.

He messed around with the dials on the radio but was continually met with static. Frustrated, he went back to sleep but was abruptly woken by the sound of silence.

"The rain." He walked toward the door and took a breath before opening it. He was not met with the same acidic fate as last time. Just the sound of nature, but the air burned his nose. He looked around as if he was on Earth for the first time, something felt different, but he couldn't quite tell. He pulled the list from his back pocket. He knew where to get most of the items, so he decided to start with a grocery store collecting some food that would last a while. He walked down the washed-out streets. You could see small circular patches on the ground where the rain had left its mark. He tried not to take many deep breaths; the air still burned his lungs.

The warmth of the sun engulfed him as he walked, he took his time despite the fact that the thought of death was eating away at him. An empty planet was ahead of him, behind him, underneath him, above him, it was all around him. He felt peaceful despite the rock.

The boy opened the door and was greeted with the same metallic jingle as before. That was the first greeting he had in a while. He contemplated whether or not to greet the bell back.

"I'm going insane already"

"Hello to you too, bell."

He looked down at his earth covered boots, then back up again. All the shelves were still stocked, a few items had been moved here and there, but other than that it wasn't abnormal. It could be the familiarity of certain places that kept him sane. Even if he was trying to beat death he could shop in the comfort of nostalgia. The wheels of the shopping cart still have the same aggravating screech. With each step the floor still lightly stuck to his feet. The bottom corners of the shelves were still dust filled. The lights didn't give off the white buzz as before. The lights no longer worked. He looked at his list then looked around the store. He did this a few times.

"Water."

He pushed the cart toward an aisle that contained water.

He grabbed as many gallons of water and single packs as he could fit in the cart. He went to the medicine aisle and grabbed the essentials like ibuprofen, Tylenol, and a few other over the counter medicines that could come in handy. He pushed the cart toward the check out, he grabbed the scanner.

"Wait a minute. Oh yeah." He laughed. "I don't have to do this anymore." He pushed the cart out the door and the bell said goodbye. He pushed the cart out into the street and began walking. As he walked, he continued to think about his future plans for the bunker. He felt peaceful once again, despite the rock hurling towards his planet. He could feel the sun beaming down on his face, he soaked in the energy.

He placed his right foot on the bottom of the cart and used his left foot to push off the ground. He propelled down the street. Once he reached his desired speed, he put both feet up, crouched a bit and gilded forward. He did this over and over again until he felt the cart roll over something that was not the same consistency of the ground. He could feel it smush under the wheels of the cart.

He looked at the wheels and saw them covered in a green goopy substance. He stood frozen looking straight out in front of him. He turned around and walked in the direction the smush came from. Still clueless as to what it could be. He examined the ground, and the mystery was solved. A nauseating feeling saturated his body.

"What in the world?"

It was a spider; it had become one with the pavement its contents still slowly seeping out. But this wasn't a normal spider, it was massive. Stretched out, it was a little longer than the boy. This spider was too large to be native, he'd never seen a spider that large he didn't even know they existed anymore.

He pulled the camera from his backpack and took a picture. As gross as he thought it was, he still found amazement in it. He walked back toward the cart. He looked down at the spider covered wheels and scrunched his face in disgust once more before continuing his trip. He began toward the hospital.

Each step filled him with dread.

His heart began to sink again, not all the way to the ground this time but still low enough to drag him along. Once he reached his dreaded destination he didn't enter; he was just motionless.

He walked towards Bo.

"Tomorrow, I'll go tomorrow."

VIDEO DIARY 03:

I've noticed some things have started to change. Things seem off.

I walked outside and the rain, it burns now, it's acidic. And it burns your lungs even long after it stops raining.

I went to one store and started to collect some rations as well as medical supplies. I guess a pro of having a sick sibling all your life is that you gain somewhat of an understanding of medicine and what they do.

I'm worried about the ever-expanding hole in the ozone layer. it's letting in radiation. I think it might be affecting the animals.

Well at least I know it affected that spider I crushed in the street today. (his facial expression changes as he pictured the flattened spider.)

I know for sure that spider was not native to the US.

It scares me however, if the animals are already that large because of the radiation how will the animals be affected 1 or 2 months from now...If I even make it that long.

Or guess more importantly how it could affect me.

That makes gaining access to radiation protection material even more urgent.

Man, I still can't get over the thought of an even bigger spider than I saw today.

If there's one thing this dying planet doesn't need, it's enlarged animals that are scary as their normal size.

Like imagine a giant rat just chasing you down the street, absolutely not. I would remove myself from this planet before that rock could even lay a finger on me.

The hospital.

Something about the hospital just makes me feel uneasy.

Maybe I'm just not ready to go back to the place where my sister died.

It still hurts a little if I'm being honest...or maybe...maybe a lot.

I don't understand why, it's been a few days, and I have other important things to distract me.

I have no good reason to still be stuck on it but...but I am. And I hate that, I hate that I can't just move on.

I'm just going to keep messing around with this ancient radio that I found.

There has to be someone left behind, there just has to be.

There's just no way I'm the only person who had a reason to stay.

For now, I've had no luck reaching anyone.

I'll update you when I'm met with a different voice because the one I keep hearing is all static and I can't understand what they're saying.

*Recording stopped...*