How I Learned to Love the Apocalypse

“So, the apocalypse. That’s a thing now.” Ray broke the half hour of silence after our group hug.

“Yeah.” Geoff sighed. There was another bang outside, the windows on the front of Jack’s house shattered.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Michael exclaimed, jumping backwards to avoid the glass that fell at his feet. We made a collective, though unspoken, decision to turn the TV on to see what was going on. That’s what they do in all the disaster movies.

“Still works. Awesome.” Geoff sighed with relief. “How is the fucking power not out yet?”

“Luck.” Ryan supplied.

“-- officials are warning everyone to stay indoors and away from windows. The use of earthquake survival methods is encouraged. Watch out for flying debris and make sure you conserve your food and water.” The reporter said from what seemed to be an underground bunker.

“She won’t tell us what the bloody hell is going on!” Gavin shouted.

“Shut it, fuckass. She’s getting there.” I shushed him.

“Scientists are saying that the dramatic increase in meteor crashes is due to a larger rock that is thought to have partially broken up in the atmosphere. This meteor was supposed to land in the pacific ocean, causing possible tsunamis, but was not supposed to cause this much damage. Many groups are calling this the apocalypse or end of the world, but astronomers and geologists are assuring the public that this is just an increase in meteor crashes that will subside shortly. Once again, stay in--” The TV cut off and the lights flickered off.

“Fucking great.” Geoff scowled.

“I’ll get candles.” Jack walked off to the kitchen. Ryan followed him, grabbing as much food as he could to take to wherever we were apparently going to go.

“I say we move to the basement.” Michael suggested. “At least there’s no windows down there, so no glass to shatter.”

“But if the house collapses, then we’ll be buried alive down there.” Ray pointed out.

“There’s a part of my basement that the house isn’t on top of. It’s not that big of a room, but we could probably all fit in there comfortably.” Jack said, bringing over ten candles, six flashlights, seven boxes of matches, and four lighters.

“You have a lot of shit to make light with.” Geoff began checking out the supplies.

“I like to be prepared.”

“We should probably start taking this shit down to the basement. I can only carry so much food.” Ryan said, his arms filled with most of the things he found in Jack’s cupboards, which was mostly junk food. I grabbed the light-up things and a cooler I was handed as Jack showed me the room we’d hopefully be surviving in. He was right, it was small.

“Cozy.” Ray remarked, bringing down three cases filled with water bottles and a dozen bottles of beer. Michael was behind him, carrying most of the junk food that was found. After that, Geoff came in carrying canned food, some ramen noodles, and a camping stove. Ryan had a first aid kit, blankets and sheets, a crank radio, and the rest of the non-refrigerated food. Gavin brought pillows, a fan, all of Jack’s clothes, a handgun, and a baseball bat.

“In case of zombies.” He added. Finally, Jack came in with a sleeping bag, a rope, and the refrigerated food that didn’t have to be cooked. That included a lot of ice cream.

“Okay. Everybody make yourselves at home, I guess.” Jack said, shutting the door behind him. We investigated the room after lighting a few candles. A bookshelf, two black leather couches facing each other, a couple of shelves housing random knickknacks. The room couldn’t have been more than eight feet wide, eight feet long.

“Welcome to my reading room.” Jack said, plopping down the last of the items. The guys all sat on the couches, though there wasn’t enough room for me as well. I ended up sitting on Jack’s lap. He was kind of like a pillow, so it wasn’t too bad. After a bit of silence, Geoff got up and began passing out beers to all of the guys. He stopped, thought for a moment, then gave me one as well.

“It’s the end of the world, you might as well have one.” He reasoned.

“I propose a toast.” Michael said. “To the apocalypse. May we all live through it.”

“To the apocalypse!” We all repeated, taking a sip.

“As far as apocalypses go, there’s no one else I’d rather be stuck with.” I added.

“This is top. I quite like this apocalypse thing.” Gavin smiled.

“You like this? Millions of people are probably dying and you like it?” Michael pointed out. Poor Gavin… never could phrase things correctly.

“No, no, that’s not what I meant I just… this.” He pointed at the room we were in. “This is the good part. The people dying part bloody sucks.”

“That’s better.”

“So what the fuck do we do now?” Ray asked no one in particular.

“I guess we can listen to the radio…” Geoff suggested. Ryan began cranking it. It was a bit fuzzy, but we could make out what the newscaster was saying.

“Breaking news. Icelandic volcano Hliafåbjreïsnrye has erupted, covering the area in ash and dust, killing thousands. Also occurring currently besides the widespread meteor crashes, a tsunami is heading towards the coasts of Long Island and Manhattan, brought on by a random ocean earthquake.”

There goes my house. I thought to myself.

“Scientists have discovered a large chunk of the original meteor is heading for Southern Montana and is due to create a crater approximately two kilometers in diameter and impact with twice the force of an atomic bomb. Tremors may be felt as far away as Texas. As many as twenty earthquakes have hit California in the past hour, all of them over 5.0 on the richter scale.”

“Jesus Christ…” Geoff sighed. “This is definitely the apocalypse.”

“Maybe the Mayans were a year off.” Gavin suggested.

“Shut the fuck up, more shit’s happening.” Michael said.

“… England is mostly underwater at the moment, having been hit by several tidal waves. Earthquakes have shattered parts of the polar ice caps, sending them floating towards Canada. Most of Europe and Asia has been bombarded by the meteors so heavily that no reports can be received from there. It is assumed many are dead or dying. Japan no longer exists, as it’s now underwater. The largest chunk by far is set to hit Africa and may be massive enough to send dust into the atmosphere. Scientists say that it may be enough to create another ice age, but cannot be sure. This has been Howard Lancas--” There was a loud boom, then static.

“I think we might have heard him die.” Ryan said.

“Yep.” I agreed. We sat in silence for a bit again.

“You think we’re going to survive?” Jack asked.

“I hope so.” I answered.

“Shit’s really going down outside.” Michael said.

“Yeah.” Geoff replied. At least we were safe… for now.