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Clarence always loved the sound of dirt being moved. Every layer of soil made its own clean cracking noise. The bottom of the pit was…
Carol woke up with a jump. The alarm must have gone off over an hour ago, and she had slept throughout. She could hear her…
Carol woke up with a jump. The alarm must have gone off over an hour ago, and she had slept throughout. She could hear her children scurrying around in their rooms, probably oblivious to what time it was. Carol jumped out of bed, threw on her most rugged work suit, and took off for her kids.
"Did you eat?" She screamed at them, more in a panicked then from actual rage. The response was a quick, sheepish head nod, and startled faces
"Good," she sighed. "Why didn't you wake me? You two know that we can't be late for this."
"We thought you needed more sleep," her oldest son, Noah responded. "We heard you thrashing around several times last night."
"You did? Why were you awake yourselves?"
"You kept waking us up." Devin responded. "Everytime I fell asleep, I heard another bump. Noah said it was you kicking the wall."
"Yeah, sorry about that." She muttered. "It was a rough night for me. I couldn't stop thinking about what we have to do today. Look, we gotta get going now. Go get your bags, and meet me by the door."
The kids grabbed two duffle bags a piece, as Carol got hers. She made a quick stop at the kitchen to grab a meal bat, then went for the door. The family made their way outside. They could hear a large commotion coming from one of the main domes connected to their living quarters. Other than them, there were only a few people left trying to leave the residency dome.
"I'm going to miss New Rio." Noah sighed, trying to choke back his emotions.
"Me too baby."
"Which settlement are we going to now." Devin said. "I really liked New Paris. It had a great playground."
"We're not going to another settlement sweetheart." Carol answered. "We are leaving the planet. New Terra isn't safe anymore. We're going to try to get back to Earth."
"I've always wanted to go to Earth. What's it like?"
The family made their way to the outskirts of the large crowd. It was as unorganized, and disorderly as you'd expect. Most of the ships had already taken off, and it was obvious that not everyone was making it onto the next one. Carol wasn't a scientist, or a politician, but she hoped her job as a botanist would secure her, and her children departure. She wasn't anywhere near high priority, yet she saw plenty of general labourers, so she had some hope of making it off world. All she needed was to make her way to the front of the crowd.
"Hold on tight." She yelled to her kids, as she started pushing her way through the people. No one really fought her, but most people didn't want to give up their place. A few even tightened their stance. A display screen above the entrance bar displayed the word, engineers. Carol saw that, and immediately panicked.
"We missed our boarding time." She screamed to her kids. "We need to get up to the front."
The three of them pushed their way through the restless crowd. Carol could tell that trouble was brewing, bit was hoping that the mob of frightened people would remain civil till her, and her kids were safely on the rocket. Her hopes were dashed when she noticed the first person running for the boarding hatch. Several other people charged for their place on the craft before it was full.
Carol, and her children were only meters away from the checkpoint. She could feel the force of the crowd pushing her forward. The security officers had already fled through the boarding hatch, leaving the mob uncontrolled. She knew that they only had a few moments to make it to the ship, yet she was stuck being pushed around the same spot by the struggling people. Knowing what needed to be done, Carol made a quick decision.
"Run" she yelled, while throwing her kids forwards. "I'll meet you on the ship."
She watched as her children disappeared in the swarm of people fleeing the imminent destruction of their home world.
The doors to the ship started to close. Even though she was still stuck, she was glad to know that her kids had made it onto the ship. Carol inched her way to the thick glass wall of the hallway, and braced herself for a change in the current of the crowd. After about ten minutes of watching the ship, the thrusters fired, and it took off for the stars. She was relieved that her children were safe, but she still had to make it off the dying planet.
After the crowd mostly dispersed, Carol took out her compad, and changed it to the news application. Very few updated had been made since last night, since most of the programmers had left the planet early. The only thing she could find was a list of every shuttle launch, the time, and of course the progress of the coming void. She studied the take off schedule, and could only find a couple that were still docked. The closest was in New Washington, and she had just enough time to make it.
Carol started off towards the tram system. New Washington was three settlements away, nothing she could do on foot since suiting up to leave the domes would take twenty minutes alone. With the teams scheduled for every ten minutes, she had just enough time to make it. All she needed to do was to get to the team before the next one left.
As Carol walked to the station, she looked up to the sky. There was nearly anything visible up there. Three of the four satellites that generations before were used as the staging ground for colonization, were completely missing. She studied the horizon, and saw nothing but the black void of the edge of the universe slowly approaching. No one was able to give an accurate estimate on the speed of its collapse, but she could tell that the planet of New Terra did not have much time left at all.
The streets had turned into something resembling a riot. Carol was close to the tram, but everytime she thought she found a safe route, another group showed up to destroy whatever they could. She was less afraid of the unruly people, and more just wanted a clear path. Before long she gave up, and tried pushing her way through the crowd.
"Hey girly, where ya going?" Yelled a man from the group. He was dressed in an engineer's jumpsuit, and holding a large wrench.
"Hey, I asked you a question." He said more forcefully to Carol, when she continued through the mob. "Come back here. Let's talk for a little bit."
Carol shoved her way past two men beating on a trash deposit shoot, then started running. She could hear the man behind her yelling for her to stop. The tram was close by but it was about to leave. She risked a glance behind her to find the man still chasing after her. He was a good way behind her, but was quickly starting to gain.
The stairs to the station were in sight. Carol raced up them, but then felt a hand grabbing at her arm. She twisted around as she fell down. The engineer was grabbing at her while working his way towards her. Instinct took a hold, and she reacted by kicking the man in his groin. He released her, giving her enough time to get to her feet. Carol was about to continue attacking him, but heard the sound that signalled final boarding.
The door slid closed, right after Carol entered the car. She could see the engineer walking towards
The moving vehicle, then giving up. She slumped down in a chair, letting the relief fill her. She was safe from the more immediate threat, but she still needed to hurry if she wanted to survive for long.
The tram took much longer than Carol remembered to reach each stop. The void looked like it was matching the speed of the vehicle. Every meter it moved, was another noticeable chunk of the horizon gone. It was a race against time, with a chasm of nothingness standing in for time itself. When the tram reached New Washington the edge of the universe was so close it was visible in the distance.
Carol hopped off the tram, and pointed herself in the direction of the launch pad. She checked the streets as she ran, but other than the debris it seemed to be empty. The thought of her home filled her head, but she quickly purged the thought of New Rio being gone. All she could do was focus on her escape, and with the launch pad quickly approaching it looked like she would get that chance.
She was halfway down the walkway until she realized how empty it was. She expected a cluster of people pushing their way past the rest of the refugees. Instead she found it as deserted as the rest of the settlement. Carol ran to the blast door, and frantically pressed every button she could, but the door wouldn't open. The view screen was displaying a red lock icon, with the words "no access".
Carol was flooded with emotions as the realization of her situation hit her. She wasn't able to leave on the ship since it wasn't operational. She thought about trying to find another ship, but the sight of the coming void told Carol that her time was up. All she could do was pull herself together, and wander around till it finally engulfed her.
Almost an hour went by till Carol found a place to stop that reminded her of home. It was the garden for this settlement, and was full of beautiful fruit trees, and plants. She was happy to find a peaceful place like this for her final moments. Carol knew that she didn't have long, since the void was close to her. Most of the buildings in the dome were gone, and even the light seemed to be vanishing. All she could really do was admire a lilac bush that she found.
"There you are."came an eerily familiar voice from behind her. "I've been looking for you ever since you left me in New Rio. I'm not going to die without having a little fun first."
Carol spun around to see the engineer standing on the other side of the garden. Her instincts told her to flee, until she noticed the wall of black slowly approaching her from the route she was going to go. Frantically she looked around for an Avenue or escape, but found only that she was trapped between a monster, and the uncaring void.
"Well baby," the man growled as he quickly approached her. "Are you going to let me have my fun, or will I have to take it?"
Carol shrieked as the man lunged at her. He grabbed at her waist, as well as her neck, but she was able to dodge before he landed. A quick back hand connected to her face, sending her backwards, but not knocking her down. The man tried to grapple again, this time landing a hand on her shoulder. Carol twisted, while pushing him away, and sending him head first into the black wall of nothingness that had crept ever closer during the fight.
Carol walked backwards, expecting the man to run out of the wall more enraged than before. She felt a mix of relief, and dread when he did not. She knew what it meant, that she could still run, but would be at the end of the dome, and engulfed without any hope. With a calming realization, Carol did all that she could. She found a rose bush, then sat down facing it, enjoying the fragrance of the flowers.
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