Carrying Capacity

Prolog

      She supposed she should be evaluating her life, praying, or crying with the rest of her family. But  Kye couldn't. She was doomed to die within hours, minutes even. Not just her, the entire human race. She knew she should feel something, but  she didn't. She was empty. Empty expect for one memory that keep playing in her mind over and over again.

     She has been sitting in her high school agriculture class, staring at the pattern of her fake wooden desk while twirling her shoulder length brown hair instead of taking notes. She never took notes, not that her teachers noticed, her pencil was always flying over the page, doodling. Kye had a gift of blocking out whatever dribble the teacher was spitting out that day. But  that one day had been different, she been dimly aware of the topic. Carrying capacity. The maximum number of a species that an environment could support; when the birth rate equals the death rate. Every single species would eventually reach their carrying capacity. She remembered her teacher saying that it was easy to think that nothing could ever stop the human race, after all most people didn't like thinking about a planet Earth without humans. Humans could out smart mother nature to a degree, but in reality all the modern conveniences only delayed the inevitable. Kye supposed that the carry capacity of humans was once more noticeable; there weren't always the seemingly infinite resources like she had now. But the most unsettling part of this film that keep playing  in her mind was that she could clearly remember thinking that maybe life had been better then, fairer. At once time people had to fight to stay on top. And it was that thought that made her numb.

     With  a jolt she realized her face was wet with tears, but they were not her own. She turned her head to see her 10 year old sister resting her head on her shoulder. Hope was sobbing silently, her body trembling. Kye felt  she should say something, but what was there to say? They were going to  die, but at least they would be together. Her parents we in the corner of the small concert bunker, sitting there with stoic looks upon their face. They would be strong until the end, so why would they not help her  with Hope?

     Kye felt her sister shift positions and turned again to look at. Looking into Hope’s eyes she saw not just fear, but a kind of pleading innocence that she herself hadn’t felt in years. Hope didn’t deserve this, no kid did. But Kye felt that she did, this was her  punishment for thinking that humans had it all too easy. This was the price she had to pay.

     With a long, low roar the ground began to tremble. The Earth had finally reached destruction mode. After years of fighting for rapidly dwindling resources on a dying planet, people no longer cared if their bombs did more harm than good. All life would be wiped out, and sooner rather than later. With a loud explosion the walls of the room began to give way, and Kye stood up, roughly pushing her sister to the floor. She couldn’t just sit here and watch her die. She would welcome death if it got her away from the pain of her family. Kye took a final glance at Hope’s small form, her blond hair acting like a halo in the dim, dust filled light, and stood ready to die.

     As Kye sank down to her knees,  praying she wouldn’t have to wait long for the end, everything stopped.  The screaming, the shaking of the ground, the last of the rubble finished crashing down to earth. She felt her world slipping into blackness and wondered for a moment, but just a moment, if this was what dying felt like.