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We parked the pickup. A cliff stretched out before us, and below it, the Pacific Ocean. We had reached it. The end.
Right on a vertical slab, there was a wooden door with an infinity symbol where a door number would be.
The door opened, and Michael and Andy stepped out. They were beat up bad, worse than we were. We had a few cuts and burns, but Andy was missing a foot. Just. Wow.
“Josh, Chris!” Mikey said, running to us. He hugged both of us, and Andy hobbled along on the rusty crutch they had put together. He joined the hug.
I turned East, and the others followed suit. The storm was coming hard. It would kill us, I knew.
“Do you think there are any survivors out there?” Andy asked. He had kept his optimism through Hell.
“Maybe. Humanity has survived everything so far.” I knew we’d have to go back the way they came, but I decided to stay at this cliff. If I would die, I’d die living. Going through that door, it just seemed so weak.
“Look,” Chris said, pointing West. The sun was setting. The end of the day was the end of our lives. How fitting.
“It’s… Wow.” Andy said.
Mikey shed a tear. He knelt, and started sobbing. Men sobbing sounds ugly. Not like women sobbing, where they’re high pitched and sad. Men sobbing are low and whiney. Andy knelt down to embrace him. I looked over at Chris.
“Was it worth all this?” Chris asked.
“Would you have rather not seen Mikey and Andy again?” I asked.
“I don’t think so. I love them, but… We’re gonna die.” He started twitching. I held him, and he cried silently until he was tired of being sad.
We all watched the sun set. Eventually, the sun was completely down, but the sunlight lingered.
“Are we dead?” Andy asked, flatly.
“I don’t know,” I said. The Storm was nearer. It would dissolve the land we stood on, and it would whip us up in its wind. Some billionaire was happily protected by his Absolutely Safe Capsule. I wondered if he’d ever live again. Probably not. The butlers would die before earth was habitable, and he’d never wake up. But he’s safe, and that’s what matters.
“I wanna know something,” I said, knowing damn well we’d never get an answer.
“Why are we scared? Why does life matter so much? We know there’s life beyond, and after these wars are over, leadership and order will make things peaceful. Why do we want to live?”
Mikey said it was self-preservation. A whole lot of bullshit coming from someone who left death to see us again.
Andy said he wasn’t scared of death.
Chris didn’t know.
A cinder block landed beside Andy. The Storm was within rubble-launching range, now.
“Who wants to go swimming?” I asked. Chris said okay. Mikey said he didn’t want to die drenched. Andy said he’d keep Mikey company if the Storm came while we were swimming. Besides, with an amputated foot with mere bandages over it, he couldn’t do much swimming.
Chris and I jumped off the cliff, into the ocean. It burned our eyes and it burned our noses and it was pain and it was real. Fish swam around us, panicked by the Storm. I felt sorry, but you can only feel so sorry for fish.
Chris’ hair clung to his head like seaweed. My curls stretched out under their own weight. I looked up at the cliff, and realized there was no way back up.
“Hey, Mikey! Andy!” I yelled. They showed up at the edge.
“I just realized there’s no way back up, so, can you stay there?” I asked. They didn’t leave. I looked to my side, where Chris was, and he swam up and hugged me.
“We’d hug y’all too, but,” I didn’t finish, because the distance between us said it all.
I didn’t want to say it, but I did want to. God, how are those words so hard to say? I’d said it to plenty of girls things never went anywhere with. When you mean it sincerely, it’s so hard to say. Another question I’ll never get an answer to.
“Hey, guys?” I said, loud enough for the other two to hear.
“I love you all.” No one responded, but I felt their return in the silence.
The silence lasted a few minutes, which felt like seconds and hours but certainly not minutes. The Storm emerged over the cliff, right when Andy shoved Mikey and himself off the ledge. Mikey cursed him out, but shut up when Andy hugged him.
“I- Ah,” He paused, “This salt water, it…” I’m sure tears fell between the water droplets returning to the ocean. I wanted the Storm to hurry up. I wanted to just let us live this last moment together, and free Andy of this stupid pain. Andy swam over to hold us all, and it became a cheesy group hug. But, since we’re all dying anyway, who cares about being cheesy?