It was long past dusk when a blistering gale of wind shattered through the suburbs of Pennsylvania. Many residents were long asleep when the wind blew down homes, buildings, and even the most resilient street lights (the ones that had bursting trash cans surrounding them, anyway). Almost no one survived except Carlos, who was struggling to survive in the singed Pennsylvanian air.

“Can anyone help me?!” gulped Carlos. He had been playing with his little brother, Arman, when the wind thrusted him - and most of the water in the pool - airborne. It had been a peaceful night originally with sedge warblers singing their tunes to the outcast of the moon-lit Delaware State Forest. Carlos had been wondering about the park’s misnomer since he believed it was in Pennsylvania. Nonetheless, Carlos had nothing else to think after the wind blew past. “Hello?! HELP ME!!!!!” Having beige-colored skin clearly wasn’t a benefit as the bright flash subsided while trash and litter plowed over his body.

“You okay?” asked Nevaeh, who was definitely not a person who could lift Carlos up. “I think it was just a dream, Carlos. Nothing’s happening yet.” Nevaeh was clearly worn out from helping innumerable amounts of survivors in the basement of some underground basement in Pittsburgh. “Do you want any food or water?”

“How long have we been here?” asked Carlos.

“About a few minutes. I’ll go get you some water,” replied Nevaeh. Carlos pondered the events leading up to the wind-rush. Mind rushing, Carlos stood up and promptly banged his head against the dull-green slant protruding from the mainly persimmon-colored tube-like structure. As like the town before the bang, unsanitary litter and liquids were strewn all across the center aisle as he came tumbling down. Shaking off his headache, he stumbled around until he collapsed at the foot of some sort of red, squeaky door. “Hello?”

“Yes? Carlos!” responded a delightful voice, which turned out to be Xavier, who was definitely not also in ripped rags of clothing from head to toe. He had been Carlos’s friend for the past 15 years, but they were mainly split since Xavier ran some secretive agency in the Federal Government. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah; I’m just shaken,” was all Carlos could muster before he fell back into unconsciousness, mind empty.

***

“GET OUT OF HERE!!” was blared all over the crackly announcement system throughout the truck-sized tube of gloom and doom. As if the event was planned, the lights shattered into shards of broken glass.

“Carlos! We have to get out of here!” exclaimed Xavier. “I guess I’ll carry you out.”

Carlos had been dreaming of hot-red race cars tearing up the cleaned roads of Philly like a hurricane blowing down a well-nested tree when the roof of the tube suddenly came crashing down to smash shut their only chance at exiting: that wooden red door. “We’re doomed, aren’t we?” All of a sudden, the tube jerked up, tumbled, then smashed into the ground like a meteorite making its mark on the surface. The whole tube crumpled and split open into the inhospitable atmosphere. Although the air was made safer by nanotechnology, the machines weren’t a creature to praise. “It could’ve been worse, right?”

“Definitely,” replied Carlos. Carlos, traumatized by the tube’s tumbling, scanned the murky red horizon. “There’s a group of escapers there!” They soon galloped over the destroyed, gray ruins of the wrecked city. Broken windows and crushed bed frames were strewn all across the landscape, along with the common fast food box and plastic bag. The others wandered on through the same burning disaster site as Carlos and Xavier caught up, hands waving. “Hey!”

“Don’t follow us,” was all the group said in unison before they drew out some sort of advanced weapon. The weapon glistened with purple flares of energy and light as it drew closer towards Carlos and Xavier. “We’ve always been more powerful.”

“What did we do to you?” asked Xavier. Being the brave one was clearly not the best quality in the mid-war apocalypse as the weapons pointed straight towards him.

“Nothing… except wasting 40 seconds of our time. Our creator marched us here, and now, we have nothing left except these things.” The group raised their weapons and pointed them towards the sky. Soon enough, they wandered off waving their black flags.

“What are they talking about? At the Atlantic Ocean, there’s nothing more than salt water!” cried Xavier. After all, Pennsylvania’s coast still had salt water compared to other states of the crumbling Unified States. “What creator?”

“I’m not sure. They’re so confusing,” said Carlos. “Recently, the News Department has been inundated with numerous questions about the health and stability of the world after The Bulletin changed the clock to one second. Politics and other news is just too chaotic to follow, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It really is.” Suddenly, a purple laser blast skimmed past Xavier’s forehead to crash into a building with a spectacular explosion.

“What was that?!” yelled Carlos.

“Hey… stay away from the coast. That’s where we live,” shouted back the mob. Carlos became uneasy about the onslaught of threats and odd behavior from those creatures.

“What’s happening at the coast?” asked Xavier.

“I’m not sure, but I’ve heard that S.P.A.C.E. Corporation is building some sort of mega-ship to leave Earth. They might be going there, but I believe that there’s room for at most two more people,” explained Carlos. Looking around, he saw huge plumes of natural gas sputtering out of broken valves and pipelines. “We have to go south around five miles. We’ve got to beat them!”

            “We will rule!” The mob had grown to an enormous size, and the members of the group also seemed to be untouched by the force that destroyed the city. “Leave this garbage mess behind! Bring back Waste Corp!” they chanted into the distance. As they chanted this, a train was barreling around them towards some sort of station. Both Carlos’ and Xavier’s eyes were poised as it decelerated to a stop.

“Line 8A heading toward final stop: SPACE Central Research & Development Center; departing station in 30 seconds,” played the damaged speaker. The train appeared intact, but there was no safe way to find out without hopping on board.

“Get on it!!” declared Xavier. “It’s our only shot at getting there before them!!” Hands sweating, they sprinted over smashed cars and radiation-ladened bricks towards the glowing vehicle.

“Departing in 10 seconds… closing doors now. Stand clear of the closing doors,” said the train. Just as the door was about to seal shut, Xavier and Carlos slipped through the shrinking gap between the doors into the cabin. The cabin appeared to be badly damaged by fire, but it was totally nothing to worry about. “Departing now. We are expecting to arrive in one minute. Here’s an announcement from the operator: ‘We… can’t… no!!! [static]’.” The static seemed to continue for what felt like hours. “Thank you for using the Philadelphia State Rail System.” At this point, the research center appeared to be almost blown down by the immense, scorching winds. However, a massive ship loomed on the horizon. “Line 8A recalled to repair station. Disembark immediately,” warned the announcement system. The doors opened into a red sky with lavender-colored clouds fuming into the air. Fleeing from the crumbling train, Carlos and Xavier ran up what seemed like a million flights of stairs to be greeted by a hailstorm of purple streaks of light flashing past them.

“You will never escape or beat us!! Get them off there!” ordered what seemed to be the leader of the fanatical group. After the order, blinding flashes engulfed every part of the vehicle. Before Carlos and Xavier were struck by the powerful laser streaks, they saw a gaping hole before they could reach the main door of the ship.

“We got to jump!” recommended Carlos. “It’s our only shot!”

“Ready? One… two… three!” pronounced Xavier as they both leapt in unison. As they slid into the ship, Xavier was struck by one of the streaks. “Carlos, can you take care of my family? They’re at the moon base.”

“I’ll do my best,” muttered Carlos. Afterward, Xavier lost his grip on the side of the ship and plummeted 400 feet to the base of the launch complex. Carlos located a flashing-red switch similar to those found in the basement of buildings to control electricity. Unlike those, this switch had an ominous message in an odd font: Break glass and pull down to escape.

“Here we go…,” Carlos spoke to himself as he took the plunger attached to the base of the enclosement and smashed it into the glass, which broke into millions of pieces as it shattered. Carlos then pulled down on the switch; it suddenly clicked into place as if a phantom had done most of the work.

“SPACE Experimental Ark Vehicle One… evacuation protocol started… autopilot enabled… departing in ten seconds,” declared the computer in the ship. Soon enough, Carlos limped into a seat in the middle of a circular control room. The interior was unusually sterile with a massive display panel hanging up on the roof of the dome-shaped roof. The desks also lacked any trace of switches, gauges and anything that could have obstructed or confused their users. Only a touch-sensitive screen remained, which was covered in text in the font Carlos loathed: Comic Sans. All of a sudden, the ship lurched upward. As it went up, he observed the fireball engulfing the mob he fought the ship for. Soon enough, the immense forces squeezing Carlos down into the seat knocked him unconscious.

“Max-Q observed… Main Engine Cutoff… Stage Separation… Secondary Engine Start,” woke Carlos up from his three-minute slumber. Although he was awake, he was struggling to maintain his consciousness. “Translunar orbit insertion starting…,” pronounced the computer.

            “Ahh!” screamed Carlos, who didn’t have the biggest problems like trying to find the food stores, which the ship totally had. Carlos glided through the now-weightless cabin, hands drawn. Carlos,

“How could this happen to me?!” cried Carlos.

“I’ll explain,” said the ship’s computer.

“What…?” asked a bewildered Carlos.

“SPACE’s Darwin Satellite System detected a set of alien craft landing into the planet’s atmosphere. However, an electromagnetic pulse destroyed our remaining satellites, but large radiation plumes were detected at the poles,” staggered the ship’s computer. Carlos began to wonder how SPACE managed to build a computer with such a simple voice and odd quirks with trillions of dollars in government funding. “I do have a plan, though.”

“Huh?” Carlos was startled by the sudden sound.

“SPACE had a plan for humanity, but it meant for many more people. Without more, the human species can’t be saved,” spoke the computer. Carlos’ stomach sank deeper into himself. “However, before the end, we found a habitable world only a few hours away.”

“Really? If so, then we should go!” exclaimed Carlos. Buckling up, Carlos sat down into one of the pristine foam seats and stared upwards. The ship lurched forward with tremendous speed, and as the starlight warped into a blur, Carlos fell into a slumber.

***

“Are we there yet?” stuttered Carlos.

“We have arrived.” The computer then projected a set of flowers and fireworks onto the magnificent screen. Just as the ship gracefully touched down into the lush forest, Carlos opened the door into a world of wonder. Filled with red songbirds fluttering past tall emerald trees, Carlos marveled in the pristine environment.

“It’s much cooler here! I’ve never felt air this cool outside!” Carlos, clearly impressed with the preserved world, leapt over many rocks to find many little organisms that fluttered away with his glance.

“It’s only 70°F and Earth was only 120°F,” spat out the computer. Carlos danced upon the flowering plants beside him. “You should get some water. We’ll both need it to survive.”

“Both? I thought that I only needed water!” argued Carlos. Carlos was conflicted on where to find suitable quantities of water. “Oh well. I will be back.” Carlos galloped over several mounds of stone and soil before he reached a glistening stream. He scooped up water into the same, old plastic bags from Earth and hurriedly ran back. Gliding into the spacecraft, Carlos opened the panel labeled “Computer Processor - DO NOT OPEN.”

“It’s the end of the line for you,” uttered Carlos as he forcefully slammed his fist into the blinking, warm core of the computer. The intricate silicon circuit boards disintegrated into tiny shards of solace as they plunked the base. Liquid hydrogen from within the computer quickly volatilized into gas as the constant whirs of the ship came to a halt, lights flickering.

“My work’s done here,” muttered Carlos as he closed the door for the last time. As he galloped throughout the forest for food, it was no longer important to return to the ship.

-Michael Wong