Welcome to the apocalypse

by Lee Kerr

  Right on cue, Lopez, who has a habit of creeping up on people, appears next to them. ‘Look at how much the human race has moved forward in the past hundred years. Before 1900 we bumbled through a few new advances, invented the wheel and agriculture, discovered electricity and learnt to use it for ourselves, but imagine what we have achieved in the last fifty, twenty and even the last ten years. Do you really think that it’s possible for so many technologies to just be invented in such a short space of time?’

  Phillips is nodding away now, smiling at everything Lopez says. ‘We found out properly about the creatures a hundred years ago and ever since then we have done all we can to prepare. Think about the space missions, nuclear fusion, miniaturisation, the internet and many more – all these came from our ancestors. The day we found out about them was the same day we found all the knowledge that has shaped the last century, and the last two decades have seen the most significant advances. Why do you think we have been such a hurry to get to the moon, or create weapons of mass destruction without this knowledge?’

  ‘The lurkers seem to hibernate until something awakens them. We are lucky they didn’t attack dead on the turn of the millennium, because we would never have been prepared.’

  Larry sits back down in his chair. ‘We aren’t really prepared now, are we? Perhaps if we had told the population of the entire world and got everyone working together on this purpose we could have done much more.’

  She stands next to him and then gently rubs behind his ear. ‘You are a nice man, too nice for this task that has fallen upon you. You fail to understand that the human race can never work together and will always rely on the few to do the work of the many. And while humanity has kept itself busy putting dogs on leads and plants in pots, there have been a few who have looked ahead, who have prepared us for the next millennium and the wars that haven’t even been written yet.’

  Larry looks up to her, wanting to argue, but not knowing where to start.

  ‘Humans are wired to be individuals, thinking their own life is the centre of their world and therefore that the universe revolves around them. Before the turn of this millennium we consciously leaked the many predictions of our doom to the many inhabitants of the so-called developed world, believing that this would be the dawn of the attack. It never came and that’s a good thing, but look at how few even took heed of the warning. Telling people of the specifics would have made no difference but it might have forced an attack earlier, and we needed time to prepare.’

  ‘And what did the extra 15 years give us?’

  ‘It gave us the time we needed to prepare for what we believe to be the tenth destruction of the human race. We have left our clues, passing down the knowledge from our ancestors, having made our own additions.’ She looks down at his chair, her gaze finding the red button that sits next to him. ‘They didn’t have this on the dawn of the last attack. It was only an idea, formed shortly before the fall of what we call the Roman Empire. It’s something we have taken and shaped into a devastating weapon, sacrificing many of our own kind to ensure that it is as deadly as it can be.’

  General Phillips is still with them, seeming mesmerised by all that Lopez has said, and when she mentions the nuclear weapons he nods and looks down at the button like it is the juiciest snack imaginable, like an oasis in the desert of despair. ‘Our time has come to destroy more of them than we ever did before. When they go back into hibernation our numbers will start increasing again, so that in another thousand years we will be ready for a fight that they cannot win. Perhaps they will not even turn up for it and maybe we will have left for the stars by then.’

  Larry shakes his head, doubtful that this could ever be possible. ‘What if they don’t go back and hibernate? What if we anger them so much that they hunt us down to the last human and wipe us off the planet for good?’

  Both of them shake their heads in unison; after the months and years of preparation they refuse to believe this could even be possible. ‘You don’t understand. You haven’t seen all the evidence.’

  ‘Then show me,’ Larry says. ‘Help me to understand that pressing this button is the correct thing to do, because right now it sounds like I will be killing more humans than lurkers.’

  Lopez turns to Phillips. ‘I knew he wouldn’t have the backbone to do this. Why appoint another President when we have everyone we need down here?’

  ‘You know why,’ the General says.

  She shakes her head, looking at Larry. ‘Judgement is upon us and you must do what is right for the future, not what is right for you or for the present. Do not look to the past and do not think of love, friends or any other selfish notions. We have no time for them down here.’

  He wonders how anyone could not think of love at a time like this. As Lopez starts shouting commands and General Phillips moves towards the bunker doors Larry shouts out to anyone who will listen. ‘I need to call David.’

  *****

  Larry sits in his big chair, looking down at that red button. It haunts him more than the evil outside that is threatening to get into this place and tear the remains of the American government to pieces. People rush around him, shouting things to each other about which countries are now in range, and which allies are synced and able to fire in unison, all this planning leading to the ultimate firework display that will signal the final performance for planet earth. Lopez is standing in front of several screens, emotionlessly shouting orders.

  Larry is distracted by the flash of something black in the corner of his eye, as he watches Agent Flinch walk past with a machine gun dangling from his shoulder and another one in his hand. ‘It’s been an honour, Mr. President,’ he says, as he offers Larry one solitary nod before he joins his fellow agents and a scattering of marines at the vault door.

  He knows what’s coming; he’s preparing for the end. Larry wishes more than anything that he wasn’t here, that he wasn’t the one with this enormous burden. He wonders that if he was still at home with David would they already be dead by now. That would be a blessing, he thinks.

  ‘Mr. President, I have David on Line One for you,’ a voice says from somewhere; it’s hard to hear through all the frantic shouting.

  He looks around, wondering where the voice came from but he can’t see anyone looking at him. He clambers around his desk, pushing folders out the way to find a phone that works, but he still can’t see it.

  General Phillips suddenly appears with an arm outstretched and a phone in his hand. He still manages a smile as he hands it over. ‘Suggest you make it snappy, Mr. President.’

  He grabs the phone, nodding back to Phillips, liking him more by the minute. ‘David?’ he says. ‘Where are you and are you okay?’

  ‘Larry, is that you?’

  ‘Oh David, it’s me. I can’t believe I finally got you. Where are you?’

  ‘I thought you were dead. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. They attacked the neighbourhood so I fled and found some other survivors. We are holed up in an empty police station, but I’m not sure how long we can last.’

  Larry laughs as he wipes tears from his eyes. ‘I knew you were alive, I just knew it.’

  ‘It was touch and go but I’m okay and I’m coming to get you,’ David says, his tone so smooth and calming, despite all he has clearly been through while hunting for his husband and rescuing anyone he found still alive on the way.

  ‘David, that’s not going to be possible, however much I want you to rescue me.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid, just tell me where you are and I’ll be there,’ he says, fulfilling every possible aspect of the hero Larry knows him to be.

  Larry doesn’t say anything, mainly because, selfishly, he wants to tell David exactly where he is, and demand that he fights every possible monster until he is in his arms again, however impossible that may sound.

  ‘Larry, something is happening, isn’t it? When I got this phone call it said to hold for the president. No offence but I didn’t expect it to be you. I thought it
was the president calling to tell me that you were dead, although I wondered if he would really have the time for that sort of thing.’

  ‘Well, it’s a funny thing, but I might just have gone and got myself the presidency.’

  ‘You’re in that Washington bunker aren’t you? I’m coming to get you.’

  ‘Ninety seconds until we lose total world satellite coverage,’ Lopez shouts.

  ‘It’s now or never, Mr. President,’ Phillips shouts, having taken up position with his boys at the vault door. ‘It turns out the lurkers aren’t that bothered about white things, but people survived better in Alaska because there are far less of them in the snowy mountains. It seems once a group numbers only a handful, then they aren’t that interested in us.’

  Larry nods to Phillips, trying to take it all in. David is still asking him a lot of questions. ‘No, David, it doesn’t matter where I am. What matters is that you listen to me very carefully because the end of the world is almost upon us, and although I want nothing more than to spend it with you, that isn’t going to happen.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ David asks.

  Larry takes a deep breath as he wipes his glasses. They are so dirty and he wants to be able to see properly, to think clearly. ‘Although this will probably be my end, it doesn't have to be yours. I’m faced with such a difficult decision and I don’t know what to do.’

  ‘Don’t do anything until I get there,’ David says. Larry hears nothing but calm determination in his voice, despite all the obstacles he would face.

  Larry doesn’t answer when he is distracted by banging on the vault door, as the judder against the metal announces the reality of what approaches. He looks at the general and then at Agent Flinch, into those very special eyes he shares with David. As the brave few prepare for the end Larry can only smile, feeling thankful that he was at least able to speak to David at this final moment, and that he’s far enough away to perhaps survive and create a new life.

  Hearing the first gunshot, he suddenly jolts forward. He looks at the main door but it’s still holding strong. He hears Lopez shouting and looks over to see a body lying on the floor near her, a pool of blood forming around its head. She is shouting at the others, all of whom have guns to their heads, telling them not to give up so soon, to wait at least until the beast gets in.

  Larry puts the phone close to his face, like he wants to whisper what he never thought he would say. ‘David, do I plunge the planet into a nuclear winter in the hope of a recovery in a few thousand years, or do I do nothing and hope for our survival tomorrow?’

  He doesn’t answer at first and in the absence of a reply from the person Larry trusts most, all he can hear is Lopez shouting. She throws a tablet across the room as she moves towards him. ‘Do your duty and do it now. It’s your destiny!’

  ‘Larry, are you still there?’ David says.

  ‘Yes, I’m still here but probably not for much longer.’

  ‘Well, could you please ask whoever that squawking woman is in the background to be quiet for just a moment? I’m really trying to think.’

  He laughs, wiping tears from his cheeks. ‘That isn’t going to happen, because she wants me to do something very important. It’s now or never, and if I make the wrong choice, the repercussions will be felt for literally thousands of years.’

  ‘Nuclear weapons?’ David asks, seeing no need to ask any more.

  Larry nods but doesn’t answer him. He looks down to the button. It seems so small and insignificant and he wonders if it’s what they wanted all along. Maybe they do surface every few thousand years and attack humanity, or maybe this is the first time. But what if mankind using its deadliest weapon on itself is exactly what happens every time? Larry wonders if this is perhaps a cycle that has continued for many millennia. Maybe, just maybe, he is here to break that cycle?

  ‘My dearest Larry, only you can make that decision, because you are there and you are a good man. Why shouldn’t it be the best of us who are burdened with this decision?’

  She is getting closer to him now, her dark eyes blazing into his as he hears the soothing tones of the one he has always loved. ‘The fate of the world will be in your hands for less than 60 seconds!’

  ‘I give the vault door half that time,’ Phillips shouts.

  Larry looks at the general and all the people standing next to him. He holds the phone close to his ear, as close as he can get to David. ‘I don’t want you to come find me, David. I want you to fight until you get to the place where I think you will be safest. It’s your turn now, and the human race will endure because I’m passing this responsibility over to you. Take as many people as you can find and head deep in the Alaskan mountains, cold and covered in snow. Look for places that are white and cold, because that might just help. You will gather and hunt, build and grow, because I know you are capable of all this.’

  ‘But you’re not in Alaska.’

  ‘Go there, or anywhere that’s out of the main cities and as remote as possible. Don’t come to the bunker because we are about to bury many of those bastards in a thousand tonnes of concrete. They’re attacking now, coming to take me and everything that we know, but the more we spread the word, the more we tell people that we are a race which should be aiming for the stars, the more we stand a chance of doing just that.’

  ‘Stop this nonsense and tell me what’s happening.’

  Larry watches as the door is ripped away from the white walls and the lurkers enter. The general, Agent Flinch and the bravest of men fire everything they have, but it does very little to stop this newest and perhaps final onslaught. Larry turns to Lopez, who continues running towards him, no doubt determined to do what he might fail to do. Everyone else is screaming at the beasts as she is screaming at him, but he doesn’t hear what she is saying. He lifts up the glass cover, his hand shaking, as the red button flashes and presents itself to him.

  ‘David, I love you with all my heart and I always will. That love has guided me this far and I won’t let it change what I know is right. Knowledge is our greatest asset and our collective determination our biggest power, so please spread the word.’

  David answers back – of course he does. He tells Larry he loves him and that the decision he makes will be the right one. He tells him that Larry’s ethos that a job should be done properly, or not at all, will help him lead the humanity down the right path.

  But David cannot see what is happening, cannot understand just how little time Larry actually has to make this big decision. Doing something or doing nothing are equally important, and as Larry hears David’s voice, he sees his own reflection in Lopez’s eyes, as she leaps over chairs to get to him. He already knows that she will never make it in time, never be able step in and do what she believes is right, because although she’s near to him, one of the lurkers is just as close, yet it’s far more deadly than she could ever be.

  He sees it now, the face of his judgement – its body is covered in scales and fur that lines its back. Its eyes are as red as the blood that flows through his veins, and this creation from the depths of hell is charging at him like he’s the most important man left alive. Larry has always wondered about his end, about what would happen afterwards; he just never expected that everyone would meet the same fate at the same time as him. His life has always been his own, his decisions so small and limited to such a tiny part of a bigger realm he never bothered to ask about. He knows he’s not alone in having these thoughts, but he also knows he could have done much more, and now it’s too late because this world of so many individuals has come to an end, and everyone is fighting just to exist.

  He can still hear David talking, as he looks at the woman and then the beast, both of who seem to see the best and worst in him. And so with one shaking hand above the button he closes his eyes and says out loud, for all to hear, ‘welcome to the apocalypse.’

  The end… Hope not!

  If you look on Wikipedia there are 153 detailed accounts of what would happen at the end of the
world (as of May 2015), ranging from 66 CE through to 2013 AD. There are a further 15 future predictions, with the next one being September 2015 (if this book got published and you’re reading it from a cave, or a zombie shelter, then best of luck to you) And then 2020 seems the next most exciting end for those of us who are still hanging around. If you’re interested then take a look on Wikipedia for yourself (just search end of world future predictions). I was especially intrigued to see that the Doomsday Argument says that we have about 9120 years left as a human race (that’s not too bad, is it?), whilst another prediction says the earth will run out of carbon dioxide in about 500,000,000 years, give or take a millennium or so.

  So, hopefully we have a little bit of time left before we all get wiped out, but we may never really know when our end is coming. And what should we do with this remaining time, however long it is? Should we reach for the stars and spread mankind across the galaxy, ensuring our future survival as we suck dry a few more planets? Maybe we’ll discover spiritual enlightenment and all transcend to a higher astral plain, or maybe we’ll download all our brains into a very big computer and become some sort of crazy collective, all talking at the same time, hoping to somehow be heard through all that noise?

  Maybe someone knows the answer and maybe no one does but more importantly, what will you do with the unknown time that you have left?

  THANKS :-)

  I start as always by thanking Laura O’Toole and Rose Hicks for reading my work, offering their thoughts and above all just believing in me. Without both of you I don’t know where I would start each time I embark on the crazy idea of writing another book.

  Thanks to all my friends who gave me encouragement, support or even the odd distraction. All of these things mean so much. And finally, thanks to anyone and everyone who has supported me so far, either through buying my books or simply passing on a good word. It’s all appreciated!