The Day Before

I drank two whole bottles of water, and ate plantation chips that expired the 9th of November. I fed Dash some beef jerky. With a can that conveniently floated by, I let him drink some of my bottled water. After a while of just sitting on the hot pavement, I decided to take action.

I dumped the messenger bag in the inner tube along with the makeshift paddle. Dash jumped in and waited eagerly for me to plop it into the water. I dragged it over to the ledge, pushing it off to have it float in the water. I had a steady grip on it, making sure it didn’t float away with the waves.

I counted to ten and jumped in, Dash growled then settled down, easily losing his footing in the inner tube. I put him inside the messenger bag so he wouldn’t poke a hole in the material. I took out the paddle and began to paddle my way to my right, trying to find a building that had roofing or any form of civilization. After a while, I noticed the tube kept going in circles making me dizzy. But I was still going somewhere with it, so I let it be.

The sun was still up in the sky, when I found the library. It was just one floor, since the other floor was deep underwater, with a blasted hole through the side. It was big and shady-- just what I needed. I paddled over to the library’s hole, making sure I paddled onto the carpet. I jumped out and quickly gripped the inner tube. I hauled it onto the carpet and dragged it over to the intact wall. I carefully picked up the messenger bag and dropped it next to the inner tube. The paddle dropped near my feet and I place it inside the inner tube. Dash popped out of the messenger bag and trotted over to some fallen bookcases, sneakily doing his business. I put a hand to my forehead and looked around. It was dark, mainly because some bookcases fell over the only window.

The hole was the only thing that permitted light and air inside the impacted building. Dash barked loudly, the noise bouncing off the walls. He kept barking until I saw him, his ears were up and he was trying to scratch at something. He was near a metal beige desk, it was toppled over, one of it’s legs were broken off. I picked up the object that Dash was barking at, turning it over and over in my hand.

It resembled a recorder and I pressed the red button, assuming that was the play button. And I assumed right. A man’s panicky voice suddenly filled the silent library.

“Day One:

I found this here, recorder, hoping I can--”

As much as I wanted to know about the finding of his precious recorder, I fast forwarded the play.

“Day One of the end:

It’s been raining really hard and I found this here, library. It has about two floors. It’s big in structure and nobody seems to be in here. Of course it’s in use, it just seems as though nobody is working to protect it. Nobody seems to take the end of the world seriously, but then again, it’s always been like that. Hurricane Piper seems to be a Category 5 hurricane, but they’re slimming it down to a four. I think this is much more than a Hurricane. It can’t be affecting Australia and Central America, plus New York all at the same time.”

I fast forwarded this one, too, quickly becoming curious. A hurricane? I never remembered anything of that sort happening. All I remembered was Hurricane Katrina and all the harmless hurricanes that came after that. I never remembered a hurricane in the category 5. And the end of the world? This guy must have been nuts.

“Day Eight of the end:

The flood’s been tackling the 1st floor of the library. I broke into all the vending machines that were on that floor, quickly giving me 2 or 3 weeks of food. I’m set for life! Most people have been evacuating to America’s heartland: Kansas. Everybody’s safe and dry up there. But, guaranteed, not for long. Meanwhile, people are stuck in their homes, without air conditioning and such. Most of their homes are supposed to be underwater and flooded out, but, some manage. I’m too scared to look out of a window, ‘coz there might be dead bodies floating ‘round.”

I was about to skip when I heard a big explosion. Some murmured yells, then, some static kind of words.

“…Bye, my friend--”

After that, I didn’t hear anything and the library was back to being silent. I looked down at my hands, just noticing that I couldn’t remember anything from over a week. Now, it wasn’t just a day before. My head started to hurt, trying to process all of this. Dash whimpered and he came towards me, his head low. I patted the top of his head absentmindedly, not knowing what else to do. End of the world, flooding…it didn’t make sense. If it had to do with the polar ice caps, then maybe it would be plausible, but it just didn’t seem to fit together.

After a while, I heard from the other side of library; where the hole was, a motor. To clear things up, it sounded like a boat. I quickly snapped out of my reverie and made my towards the hole. I picked up Dash and placed him inside the messenger bag. I was standing right in front of the hole, a direct target.

The boat made it’s way over to me, it’s reckless driving conjuring up screams from a passenger. With a sharp turn, the motor died off to a humming. A boy with a buzz cut turned his head over to me. He gave me a sleazy look, his chin sprouting hair. He wore a flannel shirt, which was tucked in to his pants. His only other passenger was a girl with Blondie hair, it looked like it was supposed to be straightened, but due to the given circumstances, it wasn’t. She wore a bathing suit-- only a bathing suit. She also wore a cowboy hat and peered into the water.

“Well, hello there, babe.” he said with a wink, earning a glare from the girl.

I waved at him, unease clouding my mind.

“You seem to be of the Hispanic-short-female breed.” he said, looking at me up and down.

“What?” I said confusingly, ignoring the short comment. I was average height, thank you very much.

“Y’know, breeds. The one’s that the Government let live?” he said with a drawl, his lips stretching into a smile.

“…Breeds? Are we dogs or something?” I mumbled the last part, but the Blondie girl laughed, a high pitched laugh.

“Silly girl, no. We’re the ones the Government wanted. The special ones.” Her eyes lit up with passion and respect, the boy scowling. I was deeply curious about this breeds situation, but I can tell this was a biased opinion.

“…Government?” I asked curiously.

“Yep, the big men up there.” He pointed upwards, “Y’know, the people who let us live. The world is going to be made anew. We gonna by used for…” his sleazy look grew, but he never told me. I was going to say something when he spoke first, changing the subject.

“Anyway, what’re you doing here? Need a lift?” he said the last part a bit too enthusiastically, as if I already said yes. I noticed that this guy would get with anything, so for this question I took my time.

“I’m okay, sorry.” I said, backing into the library.

“Wait! C’mon, you won’t live for much longer, the Government wants us to go up to Washington, says there’s something for the one’s who make it!” he said hurriedly.

I bit my lip, trying to stall for time. I wanted to learn more, but not with this guy. I needed to make up a lie, and fast.

“I-I’m sorry, my…brother. I’m waiting for him. He went out last night to look for some people. Maybe you’ve seen him?” I said, trying really hard to sound considerate and truthful.

The Blondie girl’s eyes softened, “Oh.” was all she said.

He gave me one hard look and then gave up. “Alright then, if that’s what’cha really want.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned the ignition on. With a rumble, they made another sharp turn and I carefully stepped away from the waves it caused.

I walked over to the messenger bag, ready to praise Dash for staying put when I heard a real terrified scream and then an explosion. I quickly looked out of the hole, but I was too far away.

I grabbed all my stuff and threw it into the inner tube. I hurriedly dragged it out and jumped in. I wasn’t thinking about getting a night’s rest or letting my arms heal from all the paddling.

I just wanted to find the source of the explosion. After a few more dizzying spins, I saw the remains of the boat that the sleazy kid and his Blondie were in. I quietly paddled on, Dash began to growl when he saw the backs of the girl and the kid.

They were floating, but bleeding. I saw a stray limb and I turned away. I hated horror movies and the fact that I’ve already seen three carcasses of a human body didn’t ease my mind. I didn’t want to risk turning them over so I paddled along. I saw an oar near the kid’s head and I politely picked it up.

“I’m sorry.” I said as I used it to paddle away. Even though he freaked me out to no end, I still felt sympathy for them.

“So, I guess I’m not sleeping tonight.” I murmured to Dash as I paddled my way up North.