Tonight, The World Dies

“Mary!”

There was another sickening crack outside.

“Mary, get in the truck now!”

Jason Abbott threw the last of the shotguns into the bed of his 1971 Chevy pick-up. A woman ran outside from the nearby house, a bag on her shoulders and a bag in her arms. Jason tossed a tarp over the top of his gun collection and anchored it with a few rocks the extra tank of gasoline from the garage. The woman, Mary Abbott, climbed into the passenger seat of the truck.

Jason jumped in and started the truck. The second it was in gear, he took off like a bat out of hell. The blast would be here any second, and there wasn’t a moment to lose. He couldn’t afford to lose his wife. After all, he was losing everything else.

Mary watched behind them as the enormous cloud rocketed skyward. Her mouth dropped open, and she said, “Lord have mercy.”

“Lord don’t care no more, Mary,” Jason said, taking ahold of his wife’s hand as their speed picked up to seventy miles per hour. “He’s giving those who deserve it a second chance at life, and He’s gettin’ rid of everyone who don’t.”

Mary looked back at him and said, “This isn’t His doing. This is man’s-”

“Man’s through God,” said Jason. “Now you just try to relax, and I’ll get you somewhere safe. Don’t you worry, Mary. It’s just you and me now.”

She stared, horrified and scared, at the mirror, watching the cloud of dust behind them grow. Her heart raced, and she clutched the bag closer to her chest.

Jason pressed harder on the gas pedal as the truck reached ninety miles per hour. It wouldn’t go much faster than that, he knew, but he couldn’t help wanting it to go faster. His mind was barely keeping up with his body. He didn’t know why he’d taken all of his guns with him. His only thought was that they might come in handy for hunting, and maybe some protection would be nice.

He glanced in the mirror. The cloud was growing closer. Houston was destroyed, and so was their normal life. He squeezed Mary’s hand, and she looked at him. Their thoughts connected.

“Jason, what are we supposed to do?” she asked. “Where are we supposed to go?”

“We’ll find somewhere,” replied Jason. “Don’t worry, alright? We’ll...we’ll get to Florida. How does that sound?”

“I’d like to say it sounds nice,” sighed Mary. “Given the situation, it’s the best we can hope for, I suppose.”

“Think of it like a vacation,” said Jason. “Don’t think of it like running. It’ll getcha nowhere.”

Mary nodded and said, “Alright. Whatever you say.”

“I love you, Mary.”

“I love you too, Jason.”

---

The truck slowed, and Mary jolted awake next to Jason. Jason pressed slowly on the gas pedal, but the truck was low on gasoline. He cursed under his breath as he put the truck in park and shut it off.

“Stay here,” he said.

Mary didn’t say anything. Jason looked around; they had stopped in the middle of nowhere. The air was thick and hot, strange weather for the middle of a February night in Texas. He walked around to the back of the truck and pulled the gas can from the bed.

Mary glanced out the window in the mirror. The storm was far behind them, but she wasn’t sure they had escaped the worst of it. Something in her gut told her this wasn’t over. She pulled her heavy jacket tighter around her.

There was a soft thud.

“Shit,” came Jason’s voice from outside.

“Is everything alright?” asked Mary.

“Stay there,” said Jason.

Jason had dropped the gas can, startled by a noise behind him. He turned to find what appeared to be a corpse standing beneath a tree, its teeth covered in blood. Its face was mangled, and its skin was a grayish pink. Jason pulled a handgun from the pocket of his jacket. The corpse began to stumble toward him.

Mary, from the truck, muffled a horrified scream as she noticed the thing moving in on her husband.

At first, Jason wasn’t sure if he should shoot or get back in the truck and drive away. He had never seen one of these things before. It swung one of its arms at him, though still a few yards away. Jason aimed his gun at the heart and took a shot. The corpse stopped, but it did not fall. It snarled at him and continued its agonizingly slow journey toward him.

Jason shot again and again, but the corpse did not fall. It was almost upon him when he aimed between the eyes and pulled the trigger. The thing dropped backward, unmoving.

Shaking slightly, Jason put a little more gas in the tank before sealing it up and loading it back in the bed. He took one more look at the corpse before hurrying back into the truck and starting it.

“What the hell was that thing?” cried Mary.

“I don’t know, Mary,” replied Jason. “We’re stopping at the next house or hotel or whatever shelter and staying there, though. That’s our safest bet.”

“And what are we supposed to do if one of those things comes back again?” asked Mary.

Jason turned to her and said, “Look, we’ll figure it out when we get there. For now, we just need to get to shelter and bunker ourselves down. It’s just you and me now.”

Mary nodded silently, her mind still jostled from the encounter. She looked down at her lap and began silently reciting a Bible verse she’d memorized years ago. Jason never took his eyes off the road.

---

Jason pulled the truck up to a farm house. He could see a city destroyed in the distance, and he estimated they were a twenty minute drive from Little Rock, Arkansas. He shut off the engine and turned to Mary.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll search through the house and make sure it’s safe, but you gotta help me.”

Mary nodded and got out of the truck with Jason. He handed her his hand gun, and he took a hunting rifle from the bed. He nodded to Mary, and she followed him.

Jason gave the front door a shove, and it creaked open. He flicked on the light and looked around. So far, nothing looked out of place. There were stairs directly in front of him. To his right was a kitchen and dining area, and to his left was a living room. These rooms were devoid of all family photos and mementos, as if someone had packed them all away. Jason shut the door and locked it behind them.

“You look around down here, and I’ll go upstairs and see what I can gather from that,” he said.

Mary nodded and began turning on every light in the house. That thing had scared her into thinking there could be more of those at every turn.

Jason stepped cautiously up the stairs. He flicked on the light to the hallway and took in his surroundings. He walked through each of the three bedrooms and the bathroom. There was nothing in this house, he determined. He turned to go back downstairs when he heard a scream.

“Mary!” he gasped and practically jumped down the stairs.

He found her in the downstairs bedroom, backed into a corner with a child corpse approaching her slowly. He aimed at the child’s head, and Mary ducked down as he pulled the trigger. Blood spattered on the floor as the thing fell.

Jason stepped over it and crouched down next to his wife. He pulled her head into his chest as she sobbed.

“I’m sorry,” she blubbered. “It was laying on the bed and I didn’t know what to do and it started coming toward me and-”

“Shhh,” comforted Jason. “It’s alright. I’ll take care of it now. Don’t worry about it.”

He lifted his wife off the floor and brought her into the living room. He left her crying as he went back to the bedroom and picked the small boy off the floor and carted it outside. He set it gingerly down in the grass near a small tree and nodded to it.

On the way back inside, he loaded his arms full of guns and brought them inside. He set them just inside the front door, and Mary looked at him from the couch.

“We’re going to need all of those, aren’t we?” asked Mary.

“Yeah,” was all Jason said.