The Great Light

Run, run - don’t stop, never stop. My life I’ve always been on the move. I heard that the world used to be safe, but that was years ago. It hasn’t been habitable for a very long time. 

~~~

People didn’t know what was happening at first. It started with summers becoming longer. Where before they might last for three months, they stretched to four, five, and then six - a full half of the year! They thought that maybe the world was warming. Then scientists detected that, rather than it being “global warming”, as they had originally thought, it was actually climate change. And almost as soon as that discovery was made, it seemed as though the Earth responded. Winters became colder, so bitter that they were lethal. All months of the year were killing the human race with their extremes. 

Most people buried their heads in the sand, refusing to see the damage we were doing and what would come to pass. Having almost certain doom always looming was demoralizing, it was understandable that they didn’t want to face it head on. Heartbreakingly, maybe it wouldn’t have happened if everyone had changed their actions. Instead, though, individuals blamed corporations and corporations claimed that they were just giving the consumer what they wanted. It was a nasty cycle, unwittingly designed to be our perfect downfall. There were some outliers, some who tried to stem the damage. But not enough - not this time, not this crisis. 

Then natural disasters became worse, more frequent. Tornadoes ripped across the country. Tsunamis destroyed coasts. Earthquakes tore the ground open.

Then the acidic rains started to fall and drove everyone inside. Most water, previously lifegiving, became deadly. Every day, around the globe, it poured down. 

One day a roar went out across the land, my parents said it was heard round the world. It was the first sign that the dinosaurs were back. No one knows how it happened, theories ranged wildly. One claimed that the acid pulled some deep memories out of the clay, and with those came the dinosaurs. Other extinct animals also came back. All the ones that could kill us, that we had conquered in order to ensure our survival. The creatures were powerful, deadly, invincible. The rains didn’t seem to impact these beasts, so by default they had free range while we were locked inside. 

Humanity thought over time the rains would abate, that Earth would heal itself. However, even without our influence things seemed to get worse, as though we had passed a tipping point and there was no going back. We had pushed the planet too hard, for too long. 

I don’t remember any of this, I was too young. When it happened, I was probably only three. The first memory of my life is of the calamity, the Great Light. A blinding flash (so bright it seemed as though it could be heard, tasted, felt) seared across the sky. It lasted maybe ten seconds and took with it everyone and everything - all except the garage of my house where I’d been playing with my Mom. 

We had some photo albums in the garage, pictures of what Chicago used to look like. Where before we had lived right in the city, now it looked as though it had never existed. Everything was gone. 

~~~

I grew up on the run. It wasn’t safe to rest anywhere - if we stayed somewhere too long the beasts would find us. We learned that the hard way, over many close calls. 

Finally, when I was 16 the rains stopped. Now we could be more strategic, instead of fleeing just for survival we could look for other people. We knew it was fruitless, but it gave us a goal, something to live for. 

We went across the U.S. and up to Canada, then down to Central and South America. Over time, the natural disasters were also dwindling. Which made it easier to explore, to keep searching for any other survivors. We thought if we found a structure still standing - any building, parking lot, shed - that would be a sign that there might be others like us. We never did, there was so much beauty in our travels, but never a sign that our race had ever even existed.

~~~

The day it happened, some part of me knew. I woke up with a deep, terrifying dread coursing wrenching my gut. I begged Mom that today we just hunker down, not go anywhere. The night before we had made our beds in the hollowed out innards of a giant tree. It was cozy and even without the somber premonition I was loath to leave. I suspect that deep down she sensed what was coming too, but it’s possible that she felt ready. I was 20, we had been living in this brave new world for 17 years. I knew it was harder for her since she could remember what life was like before, she could recall my Dad and sister. Whereas I had never had an earlier memory then the deadly, blinding light that destroyed the world. 

We left the tree at her insistence. I gave it one last look over my shoulder as we trudged away. I’ve never been able to get back and it has maintained a mythic quality in my mind, a beacon of safety.

We heard the noise at the same time. The roar, prehistoric and yet very present. We started sprinting, we had encountered dinosaurs before but never this close. We pushed bushes, branches, insects out of our way. Brambles scratched our arms and faces but there wasn’t time to take care of those or even feel them. Smaller animals raced in front of us, equally terrified by the giant predator at our backs. The monster was gaining, even more so as we began to slow down, our bodies simply unable to maintain the speed that necessity demanded. 

My Mom came to a stop.

“What are you doing?!” I gasped, panic roaring through me.

“Go!” she screamed. “Keep running!”

I tried to stay but she gave me a push, a final look and then turned back towards our pursuer. Sacrificing her life so that I might live.

~~~

That was about eight years ago. I’ve been alone for so long. I kept searching for a while, but I knew it was futile. I’m the last person. 

I can’t run anymore - I’m tired, so exhausted it feels like a part of who I am, part of my soul. I’m finally giving up on finding my way back to the tree, instead, I’m going to hike back down to South America. In our travels we passed a gorgeous cave, I’m going to make my home there. This will be my last adventure.

~~~

Six months in and I knew that I had to be close, but all the landscape looked the same. I was going in circles - fairly certain I was seeing the same tree over and over. Burbling sounds came from my right and I raced towards it. A stream, maybe that can lead me towards the cave!

A cracking sound, as though of a branch breaking, caused me to fly behind a tree. Heart beating so hard I swear it could be heard for miles, I slowly peaked around. I needed to know what predator I was up against. Should I take off sprinting, climb a tree, or face it head on?

My brain didn’t comprehend what I was seeing at first - it looked like a shock of auburn fur but it was long, wavy and cascading. What sort of animal is that?! Fear coursing through my brain, panic making time slow down. I didn’t know how to protect myself against a beast that I’ve never seen before. I stayed stock still, the tree camouflaging my location.

It’s gait is funny too. The animal bends down at the stream and I realize that I do know what creature this is - it’s another person! 

I take off running directly towards her - I’ve searched my whole life for this! She turns at the last second, sees me and the next thing I know I’m flat on my back and she’s standing over me. I try to speak but I’m winded and my voice is so disused nothing comes out.

Her eyes widen and she sits back, realization dawning for her as well. Our words tumble over each other. I learn that she was born shortly after the Great Light. That her parents died when she was only 12, they left to forage for food and never returned. She waited for them for two years, hoping that maybe they’d just been lost, that they would find their way back.

~~~

It’s been twenty hard years since the day we found each other. We’ve never seen anyone else. We’ve stopped searching, struggling just to survive in an uninhabitable world. Maybe there are more people out there and possibly one day humanity will return, but it won’t be because of us. For us, our friendship is enough, it has to be.