The End

Michael guides his three little brothers, Joshua, Lucas and Caleb, through the rubble of the toppled city that used to be St. Louis. His little sister, Caroline, clings to his back as the group of five navigate their way across the broken roads and gaping sink holes that now occupy the land where the Gateway Arch once stood. The city is destroyed. No signs of life can be seen. The countless earthquakes, tornadoes, and solar flares torched and ravaged every city across America. Nearly eighteen hours ago Michael found his best friend Toby. The squad is now traveling and surviving together.
* * *

Michael is only seventeen and the oldest surviving member of the Stokes family. The parents of the five children were struck by a drunk driver and killed on impact the night of Michael’s tenth birthday. That night, Michael pledged to care for and provide for his siblings for the remainder of his time on earth. Jodi, a close family friend, volunteered to take in all of the Stokes children, and she loved them like they were her own.

The tragedies started when scientists discovered a shift in the earth’s gravitational pull, shortly after the first solar flare hit and other disasters soon followed. Each new wave of destruction seemed to be worse than the previous. Eventually all systems of warning the public were destroyed and government could no longer do anything to help.

Six months before the unexplainable disasters began to happen, Jodi was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, and her condition rapidly declined. Once “the happenings” started, the five Stokes children and Jodi knew they had to leave Albuquerque. They also knew that Jodi was too weak to travel. Michael, Joshua, Lucas, Caleb and Caroline set out and gathered supplies. They gave all of it to Jodi, which she refused as they had suspected. Michael managed to convince her to keep a few essential items. The five youth kept the rest and left the next day. They found a bus that seemed to be the only one in the city still operating. The driver said it was heading west, but he didn’t know how far they would be able to travel. The Stokes children climbed aboard and tried to stay calm, even though they knew Jodi wouldn’t last more than a week without them.
* * *

After almost two days aboard the large Greyhound, the driver announced, “We have arrived in St. Louis. This will be the final stop, we can’t go any farther.” Michael directed his siblings to gather their things and get off the bus. He promised them all that everything would be fine, and he attempted to believe it himself.

The five stepped off the bus and expected to see some of the city still standing, but were shocked when their eyes gazed upon the heaps of rubble, ash, and bodies. Nowhere in sight could an undamaged image be seen. Every building, tree, road, street sign and anything else that once existed in the city was in a mangled state somewhere between dilapidated and destroyed. Michael attempted to shield the eyes of his siblings from the grotesque scene, to preserve what little hope remained in their fragile hearts and minds. He realized that he had failed when he saw the large salty tears beginning to fall from little Caroline’s eyes. He swept her up in his arms and did his best to comfort her.
“Michael? Michael is that you?” said an unrecognized voice with no visible source. Michael glanced around trying to find the unknown speaker. Moments later, his eyes fell upon a tall, lanky, goofy-looking kid that he immediately recognized as Toby, his best friend who had moved to Texas the summer before their freshman year of high school.
“How are you, man?” asked Toby, “ It’s been forever.”
“Yeah, It has. I’m good. What about you?”
“I’m ok. Been on my own for the past few days, though. I used to have some pals that I hung out with, but they…they’re gone,” stammered Toby. “I left my family about a month after we moved. They were holding me back.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. So…where have you been staying? It looks like there’s nothing left of St. Louis. It’s farther gone than Albuquerque.”

“A few buildings are still standing, especially downtown. If you want to, you guys could come stay there with me until you leave.”

“That’d be great. I was planning on moving all of us to Chicago. I overheard some guys on the bus saying it hasn’t been touched by a single storm. Not even the trees have been knocked down. We should all go!” proclaimed Michael. The group that now contained six began walking in the direction of downtown. Michael and Toby started talking and couldn’t stop. They had been apart for so long and couldn’t believe how much they had missed in each other’s lives.

They reached the hotel that Toby had been staying in and went inside. Toby lead them to a room on the fifth floor where he slid a key in to a large gold-colored lock and twisted the oddly shaped piece of brass that he held in his hand. The door popped open, and they all ventured inside. Toby gathered some blankets for them, and, even though it was only 6:00, they all curled up and went to bed.

The next day, Michael awoke with the sun. He shook Toby awake and said, “Hey, where can we get some food? The last of our supplies ran out on the bus.”

“There should be some in the cabinet by the T.V,” replied Toby sleepily before he drifted off once again.
Michael walked to the cupboard and pulled out everything he saw. He ate a little himself and set the rest aside for the others. The gears in his head began to turn as he pulled out the map in his backpack and started to plan a route for the group to take to Chicago. The thought of reaching a safe haven brought a smile to his face, the first that had crossed it in months. He knew that they would stick to the most frequently traveled roads to reach their final destination. The swarm of six would never split up. They would save as much supplies as possible and, above all else, they would never look back. This is a skill that Michael had developed over the years. He trained himself to forgive, forget, and keep moving forward.
Caroline was the next to wake. She made her way to Michael’s side, taking care not to disturb her brothers. She climbed her way into Michael’s lap like a delicate spider monkey and gazed in to his deep hazel eyes. He could barely hear the little squeak of her voice as she asked, “Where are we going next, big brother? I don’t like it here. It’s scary!”
“I know, honey,” said Michael, “but everything will be ok. I promise. I won’t let anything hurt you. We are going to Chicago next. Do you know where that is?” Caroline shook her head side to side indicating that the answer was no. “It’s a big city way up north, and none of the storms have been there. It’s safe! There is a big lake by the city that is really cold this time of year, but we can put our feet in the water. We have to be careful though, because sometimes the waves get really, really big!” The look on Caroline’s face told Michael that she didn’t mind how cold the water got or how big the waves were, she just wanted to have fun, and Michael yearned to give her the chance to be a kid again.
Michael and Caroline’s brothers began to wake up, as did Toby. Michael explained the plan that he had formulated to get all of them to Chicago, and Toby said he knew where they could find a vehicle to drive there. The three young boys, Caroline and Toby had some stale bread for breakfast. Everyone gathered all that they could carry and stepped out the hotel room door.
The building began to shake and creek. All six of the youth clustered in the doorway to wait out the tremors that were moving the earth. The quaking lasted a lifetime. Pieces of the ceiling began to crash to the floor around them, and Michael used his body as a shield to protect his family. Once the earthquake had ceased, they all sprinted down the stairs like mad men and out the front door to avoid being in a building when the after shock hit. For a few moments, everything was silent. One small tremor shook the street. Then, the world became still. Nothing else rumbled or creaked, and the group ventured on. Toby led the way and stopped a few blocks later in front of a parking garage that was unharmed and somehow still standing. “Isn’t it amazing?” asked Toby. “This parking garage isn’t damaged, but I bet every historical site around the country is completely gone.” No one spoke. Toby glanced at the group, then ventured into the eerily unharmed structure.
Not a single open parking space could be seen. “Things just keep getting weirder and weirder,” thought Michael. Toby explained that this parking ramp belonged to the office building next door. Unfortunately, the building had collapsed during the first round of earthquakes, and no one had survived. For a few moments, no one spoke. They just continued to walk in silence. “Hey! Here’s a van that we’ll all fit in,” exclaimed Lucas.
“Looks good to me,” said Michael. Toby nodded in agreement. Toby went around to the driver’s side and pulled a lock-picking kit out of his pocket and in seconds had the door open. Michael couldn’t be sure about Toby’s past. He knew that he was a good person, but this instance brought doubts to his mind. He shrugged it off and helped his siblings into the vehicle as Toby climbed into the van and proceeded to hot-wire it. More doubts flooded Michael’s mind. When all members of the group were safely in the vehicle, Toby backed up and drove the van out of the dimly lit edifice. He skillfully maneuvered the van around the heaps of trash and broken cement. They made their way to the interstate that Michael had planned to take. In minutes, they could see the sort-of-city fading away in the rearview mirror.
* * *

The cluster had arrived in Chicago after an extremely uneventful drive involving very few stops. Most of the time in the van was spent sleeping. They found a vacant parking spot and exited the vehicle. The city was as pristine as they had heard. Not a single tree, vehicle, street or building had been disturbed by the disasters. It seemed as though a protective shield had been placed over everything within the city limits. It was the safe haven Michael had been hoping for. All six members of the group could live a happy, healthy, and peaceful life here. Caroline, Lucas, Joshua and Caleb would get to be kids again. Everyone was caught up in the glory of the city, taking in its beauty and admiring Willis Tower. “Chicago must be a sort of Utopian society,” thought Michael. They had not seen anything so perfect in far too long. Michael began to notice the lack of people. He had assumed that with the excellent condition of the metropolitan area, everyone would be going about their daily lives like they would have before the tragedies started. “Everyone must be scared. That’s all it is. Tomorrow people will be out and about,” stated Michael to no one in particular. “Hey Carrie,” bellowed Michael, “should we go to that beach I told you about?”

The little girl bounced up and down in excitement. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes!” she shouted. Caroline pushed all of her traveling companions to the van, where everyone climbed in and the group once again went on their way.

They navigated their way to the beach without a map or any idea of the city’s layout and piled out of the van. No member of the group could contain their joy at seeing the massive Lake Michigan. It was the closest any of them had ever been to seeing the ocean. Everyone kicked off their shoes and sprinted towards the water in a parade of ecstasy and freedom. They spent hours on the beach splashing, playing, and throwing rocks into the icy water. The group was visibly worn out by dusk. Michael and Toby decided they should drive back to the heart of the city and find a place to spend the night. Tomorrow, they would search for a more permanent residence. The four children of the group complained, but did not push the issue of staying.

“Hey, what’s that?” questioned Joshua. Everyone peered up and saw what looked like a wall of water moving towards them.

“It looks like a tsunami,” said Caleb.

“That’s impossible,” stated Michael, “this is Lake Michigan, not the Atlantic.”

“I dunno, man. Looks pretty serious to me. Let’s get outta here,” said Toby in a slightly shaky voice. Michael agreed and helped his siblings cross the vast beach. He glanced back and saw the mysterious thing moving closer to them with each passing second. “It can’t be a tsunami,” mumbled Michael, “unless there’s sucha thing as a lake tsunami.” He rushed everyone to the van, but he was too late. The wall of water had reached the shore. It pursued them like a predator after its prey. The water swept across the desolate, sandy beach and reached the van as the last Stokes child was climbing in. The frigidness of the water stung the skin, paralyzed the muscles, and forced the oxygen from the lungs. The last thoughts to cross Michael’s mind were: they got to be kids again.