Science Fiction // Novella
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This is how the world ends. Not with a bang, or a nuclear war, or a plague, or even Yellowstone erupting. No, it ends with the Earth's inner sun burping massive amounts of radiation into our atmosphere. So where does...
Main theme: There's a certain beauty in death and destruction.
Summary:
Sem foresees a radioactive storm approaching. The small community he lives with takes shelter, but a woman is missing. After the storm has passed, they find her outside clinging to a note. Though still alive, she's dying from radiation poisoning and unable to communicate.
After reading her goodbye letter, they grant her wish for death and swiftly end her suffering.
The woman's suicide affects the entire community and people are losing hope fast. Sem knows more storms will come and decides to have a talk with the leader of their camp, Eli.
Eli realises their situation is escalating from bad to worse and that their way of living won't last much longer. They need to relocate. The entire camp packs up their stuff and leaves for the coast. The boats they normally use to fish are not meant to travel long distances, but they manage to make it to the shores of Antarctica safely.
They search for a new place to set up their camp and run into another group of survivors. After initial doubts, both see use in teaming up and they merge. The new camp is located high above sea level, granting a spectacular view over the once frozen lands. The sight of the fertile earth and animal life, along with renewed access to clean water and fresh food, lifts everyone's spirits.
With the help of old and new community members, Sem turns an old look-out post into his new study where he can investigate the weather patterns. To ensure his knowledge lives on long after his death, he starts to teach what he knows to two teens.
One night they are awoken from their sleep by a series of earthquakes. Everyone runs outside and a few buildings collapse. The leader of the camp they merged with tries to calm everyone down—these things happen a lot there.
Sem starts to track the earthquakes as good as he can, but he lacks proper equipment. When the ground shakes on an almost daily basis—stronger every single time—it becomes hard to keep morale strong. Sem is injured during one of the quakes, and due to being in recovery is unable to predict an oncoming storm. His two students discover it just in time to get everyone to safety, gaining high praise from the entire community.
After recovering, Sem goes up into the mountains with both students tagging along. They sit and talk as they watch the sun set and the stars come out. He tells them how proud he is of how they managed to save the camp, but to avoid being overly sentimental he quickly turns to point out constellations. Then the ground starts to shake again and Sem notices something move in the distance. He takes out a small telescope and discovers something...
Word count: 467
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Old and new cover:
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So yeah, I stuck to the same idea, but made sure it was a cover for just the story-to-be :)
Credit goes to NASA for the pictures used ♥ (the background in the old cover is my own creation)
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