Chapter Text
Maxwell wasn’t surprised when he heard about the world ending. There was no fear or dread, but the world went still. Earth felt completely desolate. Instead of staying inside, he grabbed an umbrella and headed out. If everyone was advised to stay inside, then barely anyone should be outside.
He was right about that. Nobody was around besides him. This was a lot better than he thought it would be. It felt great not having anyone to bother him. All of the noise had always bothered him.
It was better this way, for him at least. Might as well live a little before death. The rain was pouring, as if a flood was starting. “What the hell are you doing out there!?” He glanced over at where the voice came from.
A man stood in the doorway of a home. Maxwell only gave him a shrug and kept walking. He didn’t know where he was going, but he’d get there. The rain blocked out most of the noise. Including some of the people trying to get him back inside.
There was no point in trying to drag him back in. They were all going to be extinct eventually. It’s how the world works. At least, Earth to be specific. The next thing he knew, someone was walking next to him.
“Genuinely, why are you out here?” He turned to look at him, only to see the same man from earlier. Though, he could see him in full detail now. He was strange, that was for sure. It didn’t really matter to him.
“I want to do this, so I’m doing this.” “Don’t get existential on me, why did you decide to do this?” For a moment he didn’t know how to answer. It was a hard question in the first place. There was no concrete explanation for his actions.
He only knew one part of it. “I'd rather be surrounded by nature than in my home right now.. for some reason.” The man scoffed and glanced over at him. “Well, looks like the opposite based off what I'm seeing.” He motioned over to an airplane flying overhead.
Maxwell only looked at it before looking in front of him and continuing to walk. There was no point in caring about that. He usually cared a lot about his image. For some reason he didn’t today. Well, the reason is self explanatory.
“Who.. are you in the first place?” “Maxwell, but Max is fine.” It was as if everything was fine. A normal day in April. They walked into an area with a lot of trees.
They’d get lost if they went too far in. So, that is exactly what they did. Maybe it was the only thing they could do, besides weep about not being able to do things. Better than what everyone else was doing. “What about you?”
They sat down to watch everything around them. “Hernandez, I don’t have any other names.” “..That’s cool, Hernandez.” That was the last thing they spoke to each other before complete extinction. At least, that’s what they thought.
Something was wrong, because it went completely quiet. There were no crickets, not even a single cicada. Maxwell looked over at the other in confusion. Then, they both heard a loud bang. Something had clearly happened, they just didn’t know what.
The rain had stopped all of a sudden too. Hernandez got up and went the way they came in. His curiosity was getting the better of him. “Dude, you might want to see this!” As soon as he said those words, he was instantly nervous.
His grip on his umbrella tightened and he tensed up. He shook his head before getting up. His own footsteps were freaking him out. As soon as he reached Hernandez, his sense of dread worsened. The neighborhood he lived in was gone.
All signs of life ceased to exist. Only the ground remained. Somehow, the forest still stayed the same. It wasn’t completely silent anymore. “Everything’s gone.”
“This is absolutely insane!” Maxwell only stared at the sun coming over the horizon. It was still the same, yet so different. This was really the end. Maybe something new would come from this.
“Well.. I’m glad we’re alive.” Hernandez only nodded in agreement. If they stopped walking they would’ve died right there. One of them refused to go out like that, and the other would’ve loved to do it. An introvert and an extrovert.
They were complete opposites of each other. Now, the two were stuck together without anyone else to bother. Only the paranoid one went back into the woods. He didn’t want to deal with the dread and terror. In fact, he really wanted to throw up.
“Maxwell, we can’t stay here.” “You can’t, but I sure can!” As soon as he was leaving, he was being pulled back. The next thing he knew, they were out in the open. There was a lot of vast nothingness. However, the amount of trees didn’t change.
It was as if it solely focused on the human race. Maybe they just got transported into a universe? Hernandez checked his phone, it was still on somehow. “There’s clearly powerlines, the question is where they are..” Suddenly, he heard a sigh.
Maxwell snatched his phone without hesitation and sent out a help message on every social media platform he could think of. “It might be a while before somebody answers, but we might as well.” They both decide to just sit down. There was nothing else to do anyway. “Wow, a new beginning eh?”
He just nodded and stared off into space. “I’m surprised I’m not being.. awkward, usually my brain forces me to shut up by now.” After a moment he turns back over to the extrovert. “Yeah, what do you think they’ll call this new era of the world?” Hernadez thought about it for a moment.
Instead of answering, he just shrugged. He didn’t really know at all. Though what Hernandez did know was that it was a new world.