The Last of the Living Read online

  The Last of the Living

  Chapter 1

  April 19, 2026 9:35 PM Eastern standard Time.

  International Space Station

  "Astronaut Amy Takahashi reporting to NASA," said Amy as she brought up Houston on the screen.

  "We read you loud and clear Ms. Takahashi," said the voice of Mark Halperin from ground control. "Our satellites have detected a strange anomaly approaching the Earth."

  "An anomaly? What type of an anomaly?"

  "We are not sure but it seems to be some new type of phenomenon. We seem to be picking up what looks like a huge cloud of debris heading rapidly towards Earth in all directions."

  "Repeat, did you say a cloud?"

  "It seems like millions of tiny objects are heading towards the Earth and could potentially represent a threat to the station. It is our recommendation that cosmonaut Andropov immediately return to the interior of the station. We also feel that you can better observe this phenomenon up close from the safety of the interior. We don't know quite what this is but we will give you more information as we receive it."

  "I will get him on the line immediately; this is astronaut Takahashi signing out." Amy immediately called up cosmonaut Andropov. "Anatoly, do you read me?"

  "This is Anatoly," said Anatoly. "I read you loud and clear. I have already received communication from ground control and I am getting ready to come back inside. Unfortunately I was unable to complete repairs on the communication antenna, and if that fails we could potentially lose all communications with the ground."

  "I am aware of that but this is too much of a risk and we can't risk you being out there with this cloud of debris heading towards us. If communications fail we will just have to fix the communications array at another time, one problem at a time."

  "I read you and I am heading back towards the airlock right now, Anatoly out."

  "What do you think this strange new phenomenon is," said astronaut Maria Gonzalez as she floated towards Amy, her long black hair floating right behind her.

  "I don't know but I am definitely worried. They said millions of objects are heading towards us, an entire cloud of debris."

  "What could it possibly be? Do you think perhaps a satellite exploded somewhere in orbit?"

  "I don't think that that would be able to explain the entire cloud of debris heading in our direction. A satellite exploding would be something that we would probably have an immediate explanation for and it wouldn't leave a cloud of debris that large. From the data that is being sent out from ground control right now it appears that the debris cloud is large enough that it could end up bombarding the entire Earth."

  "The entire Earth?" Maria looked out the porthole and then looked back at Amy. "I don't think that there is anything that we have put into space that could create a debris cloud that large."

  "That's what worries me. But that is why when you decide to sign up to become a space explorer you have to always be prepared for the unknown. Who knows, maybe this will end up being exciting."

  "Exciting?"

  "As long as it doesn't strike us we will have a front row seat to an entirely new phenomenon. That is something worth seeing I think."

  "I just hope that it won't pose any direct danger to us."

  "This is Anatoly here," said Anatoly as he immediately came back on communications. "I think we might have a problem here."

  "Repeat," Amy said.

  "I think we might have a problem here."

  "What's wrong?"

  "That cloud of debris seems to be approaching much more rapidly. I can actually see it coming from the distance. Whatever it is it is large. What the hell?"

  "What is it?"

  "I see lots of things whizzing past and heading rapidly towards the Earth."

  "Let me see," Amy said as she turned back to the porthole. As she looked out through the porthole she could see the Earth below and what seemed like a meteor shower bombarding the entire upper level of the atmosphere.

  "What the hell is going on here?" Maria asked as she floated over to join Amy. "Do you think it is a meteor shower?"

  "If it is it is a very large meteor shower. The entire atmosphere seems to be lighting up and flashing."

  The two of them continued to look straight forward as the field of debris started to increase rapidly both in quantity and speed. It seemed like there were huge flashes in the sky all over the surface of the earth.

  "This doesn't look good," said Maria.

  "No it certainly does not," said Amy. "Anatoly better get his ass in here quickly."

  That was when they were interrupted by another call. "This is Anatoly. I am in the airlock now. It is very crazy out there. Are you seeing this?"

  "We are seeing it," said Amy. "But I am not quite sure we believe it."

  Amy and Maria went to greet Anatoly at the airlock and help him get out of his space suit.

  "Don't you ladies worry about me," said Anatoly as he laughed. "I can get undressed on my own; you don't have to be here, unless of course you want to." Anatoly winked at them.

  "We really should be monitoring this phenomenon as it could represent a danger," said Amy.

  Maria nodded. "And it also might be the most amazing thing we see in our lifetimes."

  Maria and Amy went back to view the phenomenon and could see that in the short time they had been gone in the airlock the bombardment continued even more rapidly, with the atmosphere of the Earth lighting up as though there were some type of a major storm going on across the entire planet.

  "Boo!" Anatoly said as he floated up behind them and grabbed them on the shoulders, causing them both to startle and float to the side.

  "Jesus Christ don't do that," said Maria.

  "Sorry I could not resist," said Anatoly as he continued to laugh and patted them both on the back.

  The three of them floated there staring through the viewing port as the entire atmosphere of the Earth continued to light up with explosions. They all floated there transfixed for they didn't know how long until they were interrupted by an incoming message from ground control.

  "This is Amy Takahashi," Amy said as a hazy picture came up of Mark Halperin. "What the hell is going on down there?" The picture began to jump and Mark's voice came through in a crackle. "Mark, can you speak up, you're not coming through clearly."

  "Entire sky," she heard Mark say through the crackling. "The entire sky is lighting up."

  "Is it a meteor shower?" Amy asked.

  "Nothing is striking the surface of the earth," said Mark. "It seems there are lots of upper atmosphere explosions and it's giving the earth a major light show, but so far no disasters have been reported."

  "But what is it?" Maria asked.

  "We were hoping that you would have a better idea of that," said Mark.

  "The station is collecting data and hopefully the analysis will give us a better idea of what this is," said Amy. "But right now we are just as much in the dark as you. We also were unable to successfully repair the communications array and we are worried that it could fail."

  "You will have to wait until whatever this is has completed," said Mark. "It is far too dangerous to risk sending Anatoly out again under these conditions. Unfortunately we have no idea how long these conditions are going to last, whatever it is though it is a totally global phenomenon."

  "Yeah, we can see that," said Amy. "It looks almost like the Earth is being invaded."

  "Are you talking about extraterrestrials," Anatoly asked. "Little green men."

  "Well it doesn't seem like we are being invaded just yet," Mark said with a laugh as he began breaking up more. "But it does seem that whatever this is has produced a strange effect on the atmosphere. We are beginning to get reports th
at the sky is turning red all over the world and some have reported a mysterious red dust seems to be raining down all over the place."

  "A red dust?" Amy asked.

  "Yes, a mysterious red rain across the entire world," said Mark. "A couple of people are trying to catch it on their tongues like snowflakes."

  "That's insane!" Amy shouted. "They don't even know what it is. It could be poison for all we know."

  "We are advising people to stay indoors but you know how people are. The entire Internet is going crazy. There are reports from every region of the world. This phenomenon appears to be totally global in scale with not a single region left untouched. We still have no idea what it is or whether it is dangerous but I suppose we will know soon enough." That was when Mark started coughing very loudly.

  "Are you okay?" Maria asked.

  "I just have a really bad cough," said Mark as he continued coughing. The three of them could hear in the background it sounded like a large number of other people were coughing as well.

  "Mark is everything okay?" Amy asked. She received no response so she said it again. "Mark, what is going on down there?"

  "Communication appears to be breaking up," said Anatoly as the image on the screen started becoming extremely static and soon the signal was lost altogether.

  "We have to get him back online," Amy said. "I hope that this isn't a problem with the communications array."

  "Unfortunately that is probably very likely," said Anatoly as he tried to get the signal back. "But perhaps it's just atmospheric interference and when this thing, whatever it is, is finally over hopefully we will be able to get back on the line with Houston.

  "I guess all we can do is wait," said Maria.

  "I hope that that is all it is," said Amy as she continued looking at the Earth as it was being bombarded. "But I have a bad feeling about this, a really bad feeling."

  Chapter 2

  Amy frantically tried to raise ground control but all she got was static.

  "This does not look good," said Anatoly to which Maria nodded in agreement before frowning.

  "Do you think the communication array has gone out completely?" Amy asked.

  "I was unable to fix it in time," said Anatoly, "but it hasn't completely failed yet, although our current situation does not make me very optimistic. Maybe I should go back out there."

  "In these conditions!" Maria shouted. "You would have to be crazy."

  "I think anyone would have to be a little bit crazy to come up here," Anatoly said with a small laugh that barely hid the tension.

  Amy shook her head. "She's right, there is absolutely no way you can go out there under these conditions. That would be a suicide mission. We've just got to hope and pray that none of this debris hits the space station. If it breaches the walls then we are really in trouble."

  "So what do we do now?" Maria asked.

  Amy looked at her computer screen. "I am going to continue trying to contact Houston. Hopefully it is just atmospheric interference and not the communication array failing. But whatever is causing this we have to find out and fix it. In the meantime I think the two of you should check all of the systems and make sure that everything is running smoothly."

  "What about the phenomenon?" Anatoly asked. "I don't think we should be ignoring that."

  Amy shook her head, causing her long black hair to float around her face, which she brushed out of the way. "It's not going anywhere and we are monitoring it nonstop. But our main concern should be getting the communications back up and making sure that none of this debris hits the space station. Although if it's going to hit there isn't really too much we can do about it."

  "I guess we might have to go to the escape craft and make a crash landing in the ocean if that were to happen," said Maria.

  "Not exactly the ideal time to be doing that," Amy said. "Under these conditions I wouldn't want to have to attempt that. But depending how we are hit we could all be dead before we can even contemplate that action."

  "Well that's sort of a downer," Maria said.

  "I am just being realistic here. But let's get to work as we have a long night ahead of us I think."

  Maria went to go check to make sure all the systems were operating while Anatoly continued to monitor the phenomenon.

  "Still no luck," Amy said as she hit her computer in frustration. "I am thinking that we probably shouldn't even attempt any more communication until whatever this phenomenon is is over. If we still can't raise NASA after that then we might have to try again to fix that communication array before it fails, if it hasn't done so already. How is the phenomenon doing Anatoly?"

  "I think that you should come and take another look," said Anatoly as he pointed out the viewing port.

  Amy floated over and looked to see that the bombardment was continuing at a very steady rate. "It looks the same as before."

  "Yes, seemingly, but I have been studying the computer data and it has detected a very clear pattern, come take a look at this," he said as Amy looked at the computer screen. "It seems like it is a random bombardment but the computer has been tracking the field of debris and it actually seems to be hitting the earth in a direct and orderly manner so that it is equally distributed over every inch of the planet."

  Amy was silent for a moment before saying which she thought they were both thinking. "Are you saying that it looks as though it's targeting?"

  "As crazy as that sounds, yes. The pattern shows something much too orderly to be any type of meteor shower. It appears to be intelligently controlled."

  "But who on earth could be perpetrating such an attack?"

  "I am not quite sure that any nation on earth is causing this attack. I don't think any nation has that capability."

  "So what exactly are you implying here?"

  Anatoly raised his eyebrow and nodded.

  "Don't tell me you think that it's aliens!"

  "The pattern in which it is striking the Earth is not random at all. It definitely looks like it is an act of intelligent control. We already know that there doesn't seem to be any nation on earth, who has the capability of such an attack, and the debris is coming at us from all directions, plus we have no idea from where it originated from."

  "But aliens, seriously? There has to be another explanation."

  "That is what I thought. But there is more than just the pattern."

  "More than just the pattern?"

  "Yes, look at this," he said as he pointed to the screen as it zoomed in showing what looked like perfectly round capsules.

  "Am I seeing what I think I am seeing?"

  "Unless we both have some visual impairment, then yes, you are. These are not meteorites. Whatever they are they appear to be artificial structures and when they hit the atmosphere they are designed to explode and scatter over a very large range. It seems as though that is what is coating the earth with this mysterious red dust."

  "Hey guys what's happening," Maria said she came up behind them and put her arms around them, causing them both to startle.

  "Don't do that!" they both shouted simultaneously.

  "Sorry, I couldn't resist." Maria started laughing but realized that they both looked very serious. "Oh no, what happened?"

  "We have something to tell you and I don't know if you are going to believe it," Amy said. "I would get comfortable; this is going to be a very long night."

  Chapter 3

  April 20, 2026 5:37 AM Eastern standard Time.

  After much debate the three of them decided that they needed to get some sleep as there was nothing they could do about their situation until the morning. They each took shifts observing the phenomenon but didn't sleep all that much.

  "Wake up!" Anatoly shouted as he shook Amy and Maria awake.

  "What is it?" Maria asked as she rubbed her eyes.

  Amy and Maria got out of their sleeping quarters and followed Anatoly to the viewing port. "Look," Anatoly said as he pointed at the earth.

  The three of them floated ther
e staring at the scene in front of them. The bombardment had stopped.

  "It's over," said Amy. "Have we heard anything from NASA?"

  Anatoly shook his head. "Unfortunately communications seem to be out completely even now the bombardment has stopped. It does seem like the communications array has failed."

  "Of all the times for it to fail!" Maria shouted.

  "But there is more," said Anatoly. "I think you should get a closer view."

  Anatoly led the two of them to the computer that was linked to their Earth observation satellites. He zoomed in on the city of Houston and they could see that there seemed to be smoke coming up from the city.

  "This is not good," said Amy.

  "It gets worse," said Anatoly. "I have been scanning the entire planet and most of the world's major cities have gone dark and have thick clouds of smoke rising from them. Zooming in closer on the highways it appears all of them are clogged up with crashed cars. There also appear to be airplanes crashed down all over the earth. Every single flight on Earth seems to have crashed over the course of the night."

  "We are being exterminated," Maria whispered.

  "Let's not jump to conclusions," said Amy, although she could clearly feel her pulse and heart beat rapidly rising.

  "And which conclusion should we be reaching?" Maria asked, clearly getting agitated as she spun around in the air. "We have just seen the Earth bombarded by what looked like an intelligently controlled attack, and now all the world's major cities have gone dark with big clouds of smoke, and all of the highways are clogged with crashed cars. I think that we can conclude something pretty terrible has happened here, all of our families and friends, who knows what situation they are in right now? I seriously doubt that they were all just smoking too much marijuana!"

  "What about New York?" Amy asked.

  "It is the same as all the other cities," Anatoly said. "The same with Los Angeles and the Moscow, all three of our home cities are in a state of chaos right now. The same goes for Washington DC, London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Beijing and all the other major world capitals as well, not to mention Houston. It's times like these that I could really use a drink."