Azimuth

Zenith was at work when the news broke. He and all his co-workers squeezed into the break room, crowding around the TV. Everyone was quiet, their faces twitching in anticipation, ready to cry or laugh, like they were waiting for the doctor to tell them how the surgery went. There had been something about it on the radio this morning when he was driving to work. Something about light being bent by a massive object passing through a distant system. By the time he got into work it had become much more than that. Everyone was constantly checking their phones and talking about the latest updates and rumors. A few people had gone home early and some hadn’t shown up at all. Around noon everyone stopped what they were doing to listen to the latest update together.

The object, which had been traveling so quickly it caught astronomers by surprise, turned out to be a rogue black hole. It was slingshot through space at unimaginable speed after being ejected by the center of the Milky Way. Apparently it was going to pass close enough by to take our entire solar system with it on it’s journey, wherever it was going. As it passed by it would feel like a plug had been pulled and we were the water. The southern hemisphere would be the first to go and the north would follow seconds later. Scientists estimated it would arrive just before midnight.

--

Nadir liked not having a job, it was like he had found a solution that was so obvious to the struggle most people had overlooked it. It allowed him to look at all the minions waking up early to shave and shower, with a detached nonchalance, like he was watching a sitcom where the characters hadn’t realized their plan was doomed to fail yet, but he, the viewer had known nearly the whole episode. He liked sleeping all day while outside his window everyone competed in a prizeless race. Rushing from one weekend to the next, clearing hurdles until their legs gave out.

It was always a bit strange waking up at night hardly remembering the day before, but today was a different strange. The stars and moon offered no light. Hardly anyone was out and those who were all seemed to be hurrying off to do something urgent, like they had slept in and were making up for lost time.

He turned down a familiar alley, it was completely dark for some reason. It was never this dark. He put his hand along one wall and made his way forward slowly by memory. It gave him a jolt of nervous excitement moving ahead into the darkness like this. He dragged his feet so he wouldn’t trip over something. Even though he couldn’t see he kept his eyes open, opened them wider in fact than normal, though still he saw nothing.

A voice, little more than a whisper called out, “Are you going to the Den? I want to go too, but I’m lost.” The voice was erratic and desperate. An older man Nadir thought, though it was difficult to be sure. Nadir paused wondering if he should say anything or just keep going.

The old man continued, his voice raspy and wavering, “Please, can you help me, it’s the only thing I want, to go and have a drink while I still can, I don’t know what else to do and I want to be around people.”

“You can follow me,” Nadir said, almost cutting the man off. He didn’t know what to make of the old man, but it made him uncomfortable hearing someone so emotional. He continued forward with new footsteps following close behind. He kept feeling along the wall, made a right and went straight. In the darkness between buildings he looked up to see if he could find any stars, still nothing. Soon he felt a railing and made his way down the steps beside it. When he reached the bottom of the fourth step he knew the door of the Den was in front of him. He reached out blindly until he felt the cold rusted metal knob. He took a breath and went in. 

--

Zenith walked out of the office and looked up at the sky. Puffy white clouds floated lazily overhead, drifting east towards the mountains where they would bring one last rain down on the pines. He wondered if they would make it. They were moving so slowly, they must not know what was coming. He made up his mind then. He was going to the mountains too, one last race. He would get to the mountain and he would face the end on his terms. Looking down on the world with a front row seat.

Before he went to his car he looked west, to the sea, to where the clouds came from. He saw something disturbing there. A thick black fog was winding it’s way into the city. It moved through the skyscrapers, fluidly naturally, like a shark effortlessly flicking it’s tail carrying it’s huge cartilaginous body malevolently forward. As the fog trickled forth shapes seemed to protrude from it, puffs of smoke like mushroom clouds after an explosion. They were an even darker Stygian black than the cloud, from which they ventured only briefly, before coalescing back into it, leaving the nearby structure shimmering like the steel gray edge of recently lit charcoal. Then the fog began to rise and as it touched the dumbstruck populace, still gaping, stupefied and unbelieving, it changed them.

--

Nadir was taken aback when he opened the door and the lights dimmed enough for him to see. The Den, whose entire patronage consisted of a few regulars, even on a busy night, was nearly overflowing with activity. People he had never seen before, in suits, work uniforms, students with backpacks, looking as out of place as a deer carried out into the ocean by the surf. But here they were, in a world that had only ever existed on the border of their own. A sign that they passed by when taking a shortcut to their next appointment. A world they knew only through hearsay, where a giant mythological beast might come up from the infinite darkness below and swallow them whole, and only a stroke of luck could shift the tides and carry them back to shore. What were they doing here?

Nadir forgot about the man who had been following him, he went to Meredith the bartender and asked her what the hell was going on tonight. She gave him a sideways glance as she handed a drink to a stranger. Meredith had been working here for as long as Nadir had been coming, she was a tough old lady with skin like the canvas cover of a weathered drum that had been stretched and cut too many times. “I can’t believe you haven’t heard,” she said. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve been asleep since Sunday, I’m only out of the house now because I ran out, what’s going on?”

“It’s the end of the world hun. We’re the only place still open. Something real big is coming through our neighborhood and it’s gonna take us away. These folks plan on being halfway gone before it gets here, you know get a nice buzz going, it’s like when you have a spoonful of sugar with your medicine.” She forced a thin smile and continued. “Though I suppose the medicine still tastes just as bad after the sugar.”

--

Zenith couldn’t stand wasting time, especially since time was more valuable now than it ever had been before. He drove for hours with the mountain fixed firmly in his sights. The highway was completely empty, nothing but flat roads and clear skies the way he was going. The mountain stood proudly like a serene old man, fixed firmly where he was supposed to be. With his great green sweater of Christmas trees and hair white with wisdom. If he could get there, from that vantage point he would be able to see it all clearly, to take it standing up was his last wish.

Behind him the fog covered the city and it’s people. He imagined the fog was a monster, infecting everyone it touched with hysteria. Driving them to the ground, kneeling or laying on their stomachs pounding the sidewalks and crying out in anguish or clenching their fists and beating their chests like wild animals trying to intimidate it, to dumb too realize that their fear induced displays would have no effect. Perhaps others would succumb to the fog altogether, take one deep breath and crumble like stale bread to be swept up and away, joining the writhing smoke on it’s march towards death.

--

Nadir didn’t usually drink, he preferred a poison that took less effort, but Meredith said everything was on the house tonight. As he drank he overheard conversations people would have been embarrassed to have yesterday. A couple saying that they should have gotten married, a man begging a woman for one last affectionate moment, people dancing and singing with the unabashed freedom of children who haven’t been taught to feel ashamed yet. Looking around it was like a kindergarten without teachers. The place wreaked of sweat and beer and when he his closed his eyes the music, voices, and clatter of glasses blended together into a discordant cacophony of sound like the children had taken up instruments and begun an impromptu orchestra. When he finished his drink he nodded thankfully and walked around the bar to a door leading to the basement.

His footsteps were heavy and the groaning of the wood underfoot proclaimed his arrival to the two native inhabitants. On a sofa eclipsed by a cloud of smoke sat two identical looking young men Nadir knew well. They smiled their identical smiles like his coming meant they’d just won a bet, then waved for him to join them. He sat between them in silence for a minute passing a cigarette as they shook their heads and exchanged incredulous looks.

“What do you guys make of all this?” he asked without looking at either one.

Between coughs the young man on his right managed to say, “I think, ough, I think it’s all bullshit man. There’s nothing really happening out there. If there was they woulda seen it coming a long time ago, ough, they woulda sent some missiles or something, nuked it into smithereens. It’s some tactic to scare the idiots, so we won’t get angry when they ask us to pay more taxes or somethin.”

To his left the twin shook his head, “Nah man, it’s real, ough, it’s nature you know, like a hurricane or earthquake. There’s nothing we can do, ough. Best to just accept it and get on with enjoying what we’ve got left, anything else is a waste of time.”

Nadir sat silently, half listening, imagining the different possibilities playing out. “Man I can’t think straight, I just woke up and came here like it was a normal day, and now, I don’t know what the hell’s going on, it still doesn’t feel real.” He laid back and closed his eyes for a minute.

“Hey Nadir,” Nadir leaned forward snapping out of his reverie, there was an open hand in front of him holding a pill. “This is the best place to be man, trust me, it’s all gonna feel really real in a minute. You’re gonna want this.” Nadir’s throat was dry, he took the pill and swallowed it, it hurt a bit going down but he quickly started to feel better. His throat was still dry but it didn’t bother him anymore.

“What is it?” he tried to ask, but the young man to the right didn’t seem to hear him, he just kept looking ahead. Nadir turned to the left, “Are we gonna start to feel it soon?”

The head turned slowly like everything was underwater, “Ya it shouldn’t be long now.”

The right head turned too and asked, “Feel what soon?” Their voices were muffled and cartoonish.

The left head responded, “Everything I guess or nothin.”

--

 Zenith drove as far up the mountain as he could, the road ended beside a log cabin. A young man sat on the front porch reading. Zenith parked and approached. The man had short black hair and a kind pale face. He looked up from his book, not annoyed by the visitor, just patient and inquisitive.

“Going for a hike sir?” the young man said, looking up placidly.

“Yes, I’d like to get to the top as fast as possible.” he thought about asking him if he knew what was going on but decided against it.

“The most pleasant views are often along the slower trails.” He turned and walked back towards a display bookshelf and took a brochure. “But, if you just want a challenge then this should get you to the top the fastest.” Zenith came forward and took the brochure. Thanking the man he quickly turned and began his ascension.

--

Nadir was starting to feel it. At first it was like an itch, then it was like something was in his eye, then he felt a tug on his shoulder. “I think I’m starting to feel it.”

The left said, “Maybe it is real because I’m starting to feel it too. Oh man, it’s like somethings trying to take me away.” Nadir could feel The Den warping. Like a giant vacuum was pulling them all and they were in that one last moment before the scales tipped and they were rocketed away into the filter. “Oh man, I don’t like it. If it’s really true then that means, that means it’s all over. Not just for us for everything.”

The right said, “No, this is right, this is what should be. We’re going where we belong man, back to the start. It’s natural don’t you feel it. Like mom just came to pick us up from baseball practice. No more fear no more anxiety, just enjoy the ride home.”

The Den felt like it was about to come apart, screaming from above, wood splintering, Nadir wondered if he should hold on to something, but what was the point. He was afraid but only in a distant detached way, like he’d tricked himself into believing this wasn’t real. Like down here in the basement nothing could really get to him. This was a place for forgetting after all, for avoiding trouble and spanning time. All sound ceased simultaneously and he felt his body lifted up off the couch. Then like he was launched from a cannon he began somersaulting upwards. This would all be over soon, just another trip.

--

From the top Zenith looked down. The Earth was being ripped away from him. Like the mountain was a surfboard and he was trying to stay upright on top of it as it dissolved under waves of acid. Then a series of explosions like the cracking of a great shell shook the ancient granite beneath him. The most powerful earthquake in history was ripping the world to pieces. They fell away like bits of a broken cookie. The air was thin too thin to take a breath.

Zenith felt the starlight above return. He didn’t know if his eyes were open or closed, he could feel only a tingling sensation all over his body. The floating nebula of dust, debris, and everything he’d ever known mixed into a sphere so unintelligible he couldn’t recognize any of it and in an instant it was gone.