“T-MINUS 20 MINUTES BEFORE CATASTROPHIC COLLISION!” blared the system.

“Did you hear that Rodriguez!” I yelled down the corridor. It had been three months since the meteor had been detected 900 million kilometers from Earth. The Mars-sized meteor had somehow avoided detection from satellites for the last hundred years. Now it was headed straight for New York.

From down the corridor, I heard “Yes sir. The missiles are fully functional and should provide ample energy to eliminate the threat.” Dotted all around the Earth were missiles that could annihilate cities in an instant. Once the news had spread of the meteor, countries across the Earth had begun to build the strongest warheads the world had ever known. There were 3,968 in total. One of them, the Black Death, would produce the equivalent of 50 gigatons of TNT. 

T-MINUS 10 MINUTES BEFORE CATASTROPHIC COLLISION

            “I think it's now or never.” We can’t afford another minute. Is everyone ready?” 

            “China is ready and waiting to fire,” one replied. 

            “Russia is ready and waiting to fire,” another went. 

            “The U.K is ready and waiting to fire.” One after the other more countries responded. Canada, France, Brazil, South Africa, Australia and more were ready. 

“Well now is a better time than ever. In exactly 2 minutes we must all fire our missiles. I wish you all the best of luck and I thank you all,” I said. 

I prepared to fire the missiles. 10, 9, 8, 7...

T-MINUS 5 MINUTES BEFORE CATASTROPHIC COLLISION

…2, 1. FIRE! 

            All 1,058 of our nukes zipped through the air. In only 30 seconds they had reached their target along with their allies. Blinding light filled the night sky.  

Threat eliminated. Meteor ZG-4589 destroyed.

            The room roared. There were screams of relief and tears of happiness. 

“Alright it’s not over yet,” I said. “Get back to your posts and make sure city damage from meteorites is kept to a minimum. Then we can party and mayb…”

THREAT DETECTED. METEOR HEADING FOR EARTH. 98% DESTRUCTION EXPECTED. T-MINUS 1 MINUTE UNTIL COLLISION.

“No there's no way. The missiles should have destroyed it all!” I thought to myself. The live feed clearly showed a meteor. But… something had changed.

30 SECONDS UNTIL IMPACT.

 “Everyone get into the damm bunker. You know the protocol. RUN!” 

Panic filled the room as everyone raced to the bunker. The room was unlocked just as the meteor had made contact.

*******************

When I finally came to, I found myself surrounded by colleagues. The soot-covered air brought new darkness upon the Earth. Some devices had been salvaged. I checked the survival rate. Only .0001% of the population was alive and I was a lucky one. But in this hell, was I really lucky? 

“How am I going to survive?” I pathetically said to myself as I dragged what was left of

my body across the barren wasteland that was once New York. 

I trudged over to the bunker. “Can’t stop,” I muttered to myself. As I opened the door my legs collapsed, and I fell. It seems that my leg had sustained damage in the blast. Fortunately, a first-aid kit was conveniently placed near the entrance and I got to work. My legs stung as I threw a bottle of alcohol over my wounds. I quickly bandaged up and started to make my move. I went over to the communications device to see who was left.

“…to send out teams to find survivors,” I heard a familiar voice.

“This is General Smith of the U.S coming over. How are you doing Sarah? Status?” I blurted out to Canada’s captain.

“Oh, hey Mike. Can’t believe you survived. You must be the only survivor in hundreds of miles. Are you ok?”

“So, what do we do. Got to keep moving right? Can anybody tell me what the hell happened with the meteor?”

“If I may,” replied Sam, captain of the South African team, “but it seems that you are the only one that can tell us now. As we fired, a lot of debris was scraped off the meteor. However, it was not destroyed. There is now a thick layer of ash covering the Earth. Our satellites are useless. You are closest to the impact. I suggest you try and survey the situation.”

“Alright. However, I would like to request teams to my position. I expect that you all received less damage than the U.S. I might need assistance in analyzing the meteor.”

“Rodger that and good luck.”

“Try to stay safe and report back if anything sketchy happens,” said Sarah.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine don’t worry. I wish you guys the best of luck too. Let’s try and fix this mess.”

As I disconnected from the call, I threw myself back onto a chair. I quickly got up and darted around the room getting everything I would need for a few hours. Masks, food, water gloves, and anything else I could fit in a bag. I threw the mask over my head and started a trek to the meteor. It had veered off its initial course and made its impact with New Jersey.

Hours later I arrived at the site. I sat down and grabbed a banana and some water from my bag. As I began to refuel, I heard some rustling a few meters ahead. Instinct led me behind some rubble. Perhaps a wild animal lurking around? I thought to myself. No, it can’t be. Everything must be dead around here.

I sat for a few minutes until I again heard more movement. As I peeked over the rubble, I saw him. It was Rodriguez! I rushed over to him as I said “Hey! What are you doing over here? Why did you leave us all back there?” As he turned a black void emerged in his eyes as he leaped onto me. Throwing me some 5 feet away he started to bash me mindlessly.

“GET OFF!” I screamed.  He clawed at me while he drooled over me like an animal. This wasn’t my Rodriguez.

BAM! I was ready to do anything to fix this situation. I threw off his body and crawled over to the meteor. His lifeless body lay there. The darkness was swept away from his eyes as he began to utter his last words.

“Get away sir.”

Something scurried across the floor and entered the meteor. Just then it began to glow.