Impact
ATAR
“Calm down my friend” says Torom to me as black fumes escape from my body. Even my advisor Leocyn doesn’t dare approach me. I could kill everyone when I’m in this state.
I can no longer control the madness that is taking over my mind. It eats away at me more and more every day.
“We must visit the last inhabited planet in the solar system. This is my last chance. Nelseron! Enter the coordinates in the onboard computer.
“Yes, sir!”
This is my last hope, this planet called Earth is my last hope...
I am the King of my planet Furia. My species is specific because each being has a soul mate that is destined to him since his birth. It is impossible to go against his destiny. Only, it can happen that his soul mate is on another planet. This seems to be my case since I have been looking for her for more than four-three years now. As a king, my soul mate must bring me wisdom and serenity. Without her, I can fall into madness and that is exactly what is happening to me.
LUCILE
The virus that traveled with the meteorite has decimated over 99% of the world’s population. Tanos’s finger snapping is like cat’s paw next to it.
I saw my family, my friends, our neighbors die. A quick death with no treatment possible.
The virus arrived with the meteorite that hit the Earth over a month ago now.
The media warned us a few days before the impact, perhaps to avoid the general panic. However, it did happen as soon as the information was made official.
“We interrupt our program to inform you of a special flash. We have learned a few minutes ago that a meteorite is currently heading towards the Earth. The collision seems inevitable. NASA informs us that the impact will occur in four days in the Atlantic Ocean. The meteorite being larger than the state of Wyoming, its impact will generate a tsunami devastating all coastal cities. Residents are therefore asked to leave their homes without delay. However, NASA cannot comment on the impact on the fauna and flora. The future of the human species remains uncertain. May God keep you” The presenter finishes her speech with tears in her eyes.
I remain open-mouthed in front of the television. I don’t think I can process what has been said. Are we going to die?
“Are we going to die? What the fuck...what are we doing?” I ask my husband.
“Where’s Bruce Willis when you need him?”
“Shit this is not the time for your dumb jokes right now!”
“I don’t know. I don’t know Lucile. Do you want to go see your daddy?”
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what to do.”
When we hear news like this, our brains don’t think too much. We want to be with the people we cherish the most and spending time on the road can be a waste of time but that’s my daddy.
We decide to stay in our house and to see what will happen. Fortunately our house is very far from the coast so we don’t need to evacuate, just like my dad.
The day after the announcement, I rushed like everyone else to the supermarkets to stock up on everything. I also watched several videos on survival. It’s stupid because we never get interested in this nonsense until we are confronted with a possible end of the world.
We regret a lot of things; why I didn’t do this or that.
The three days passed quickly. The fourth day, day of the impact, everybody is outside on the sidewalk looking towards the sky in which we distinguish a huge mass. I never thought I would live to see this. I hug my two boys and my husband hugs us too. There is a dead silence outside. My heart is racing, will we survive? Tears stream down my face just thinking about it.
“Why are you crying mom?” my youngest son asks me.
“For nothing my darling love”
“Wow, look at the big rock!” he shouts with joy
“Yes my heart, it’s a big rock”.
“But no, it’s a meteorite!” my eldest son replies annoyed.
We didn’t talk too much to our children about what might happen after the impact. As soon as the announcement was made on TV, everyone was stopped dead in their tracks except for essential jobs as during pandemia COVID-19.
We didn’t want to scare them by telling them what we had absolutely no control over. I don’t know if that’s the right way to go; to be honest or to hide the truth from them?
The impact happened and the ground shook under our feet a few moments after the impact. The street is dead silent. One of the neighbors turns on his radio for news, which comes after several minutes of unbearable waiting.
“The meteorite hit the Earth and the wave generated leveled all the coastal cities. This is confirmed by satellite images. It seems that the earth’s crust is not affected. Specialists confirm that the human species will survive this impact”.
Immediately, cries of joy resounded everywhere, people shouted and cried. We are going to live!
Yes, the meteorite spared the human species but not the virus that was with it. The climatic conditions of the Earth have awakened it and it has spread like wildfire. Researchers were overwhelmed by its virulence and contagiousness. At the beginning, people thought they had caught a flu, hospitals were quickly saturated, people were dying at home because of lack of space. No treatment could be found in time.
I don’t know why, but I am the only survivor in my neighborhood. I lost everyone I loved.
One month after the impact, the streets are deserted, the infrastructure is completely at a standstill. It’s like an episode of The Walking Dead, except there are no living dead. There are only dead people, empty houses...
I left my house because it was too hard emotionally. I could imagine my children sitting on the couch having breakfast in front of the television. Every day I was moping. My husband was right, what’s the point of staying alive if you’re going to be alone from morning to night. Madness can quickly take over.
Deciding I had to move on, I packed up and headed for a larger city in hopes of finding other survivors.
On the way to town, my car ran out of gas “Well, it had to happen...” I think aloud to myself.
I decide to continue my journey on foot, I don’t have much choice anyway.
While walking through the plains, I hear horses neighing. Most of the animals were spared by the virus, they were lucky at least...
I head towards a stud farm with several stalls for horses. I have always loved horses. I did some summer riding camps when I was younger. When you are on a horse, you feel a sense of freedom.
The horses are beautiful but they are starting to go hungry because no one comes to feed them anymore. One of them is called Star, like the horse I fell from in the colony. Star had quite a temper, not to say a bad one.
However, by caressing the muzzle of this horse, this one does not seem so temperamental!
I was about to resume my route when the horse gave a violent blow of hoof in the door of its box. I turn around and see him blowing loudly.
“What?” I ask him. As if he could answer me...
I turn around again and he gives a second kick with his hoof.
“Okay... what do you want? Do you want to come with me?”
His whinny makes me think that this horse is far from stupid.
I look around and see everything I need to get him ready. It’s like riding a bike, it doesn’t get lost, does it?
I prepare the horse with the bit, the rug and the saddle. The horse doesn’t say anything. I climb on the saddle and there I go with Star. It’s like a feeling of freedom. It makes me forget my pain for a moment.
