Lee Kerr - Welcome to the Apocalypse

Larry is distracted by the flash of something black in the corner of his eye, as he watches Agent Flinch walk past with a machine gun dangling from his shoulder and another one in his hand. ‘It’s been an honour, Mr. President,’ he says, as he offers Larry one solitary nod before he joins his fellow agents and a scattering of marines at the vault door.

He knows what’s coming; he’s preparing for the end. Larry wishes more than anything that he wasn’t here, that he wasn’t the one with this enormous burden. He wonders that if he was still at home with David would they already be dead by now. That would be a blessing, he thinks.

‘Mr. President, I have David on Line One for you,’ a voice says from somewhere; it’s hard to hear through all the frantic shouting.

He looks around, wondering where the voice came from but he can’t see anyone looking at him. He clambers around his desk, pushing folders out the way to find a phone that works, but he still can’t see it.

General Phillips suddenly appears with an arm outstretched and a phone in his hand. He still manages a smile as he hands it over. ‘Suggest you make it snappy, Mr. President.’

He grabs the phone, nodding back to Phillips, liking him more by the minute. ‘David?’ he says. ‘Where are you and are you okay?’

‘Larry, is that you?’

‘Oh David, it’s me. I can’t believe I finally got you. Where are you?’

‘I thought you were dead. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. They attacked the neighbourhood so I fled and found some other survivors. We are holed up in an empty police station, but I’m not sure how long we can last.’

Larry laughs as he wipes tears from his eyes. ‘I knew you were alive, I just knew it.’

‘It was touch and go but I’m okay and I’m coming to get you,’ David says, his tone so smooth and calming, despite all he has clearly been through while hunting for his husband and rescuing anyone he found still alive on the way.

‘David, that’s not going to be possible, however much I want you to rescue me.’

‘Don’t be stupid, just tell me where you are and I’ll be there,’ he says, fulfilling every possible aspect of the hero Larry knows him to be.

Larry doesn’t say anything, mainly because, selfishly, he wants to tell David exactly where he is, and demand that he fights every possible monster until he is in his arms again, however impossible that may sound.

‘Larry, something is happening, isn’t it? When I got this phone call it said to hold for the president. No offence but I didn’t expect it to be you. I thought it was the president calling to tell me that you were dead, although I wondered if he would really have the time for that sort of thing.’

‘Well, it’s a funny thing, but I might just have gone and got myself the presidency.’

‘You’re in that Washington bunker aren’t you? I’m coming to get you.’

‘Ninety seconds until we lose total world satellite coverage,’ Lopez shouts.

‘It’s now or never, Mr. President,’ Phillips shouts, having taken up position with his boys at the vault door. ‘It turns out the lurkers aren’t that bothered about white things, but people survived better in Alaska because there are far less of them in the snowy mountains. It seems once a group numbers only a handful, then they aren’t that interested in us.’

Larry nods to Phillips, trying to take it all in. David is still asking him a lot of questions. ‘No, David, it doesn’t matter where I am. What matters is that you listen to me very carefully because the end of the world is almost upon us, and although I want nothing more than to spend it with you, that isn’t going to happen.’

‘What do you mean?’ David asks.

Larry takes a deep breath as he wipes his glasses. They are so dirty and he wants to be able to see properly, to think clearly. ‘Although this will probably be my end, it doesn’t have to be yours. I’m faced with such a difficult decision and I don’t know what to do.’

‘Don’t do anything until I get there,’ David says. Larry hears nothing but calm determination in his voice, despite all the obstacles he would face.

Larry doesn’t answer when he is distracted by banging on the vault door, as the judder against the metal announces the reality of what approaches. He looks at the general and then at Agent Flinch, into those very special eyes he shares with David. As the brave few prepare for the end Larry can only smile, feeling thankful that he was at least able to speak to David at this final moment, and that he’s far enough away to perhaps survive and create a new life.

Hearing the first gunshot, he suddenly jolts forward. He looks at the main door but it’s still holding strong. He hears Lopez shouting and looks over to see a body lying on the floor near her, a pool of blood forming around its head. She is shouting at the others, all of whom have guns to their heads, telling them not to give up so soon, to wait at least until the beast gets in.

Larry puts the phone close to his face, like he wants to whisper what he never thought he would say. ‘David, do I plunge the planet into a nuclear winter in the hope of a recovery in a few thousand years, or do I do nothing and hope for our survival tomorrow?’

He doesn’t answer at first and in the absence of a reply from the person Larry trusts most, all he can hear is Lopez shouting. She throws a tablet across the room as she moves towards him. ‘Do your duty and do it now. It’s your destiny!’

‘Larry, are you still there?’ David says.

‘Yes, I’m still here but probably not for much longer.’

‘Well, could you please ask whoever that squawking woman is in the background to be quiet for just a moment? I’m really trying to think.’

He laughs, wiping tears from his cheeks. ‘That isn’t going to happen, because she wants me to do something very important. It’s now or never, and if I make the wrong choice, the repercussions will be felt for literally thousands of years.’

‘Nuclear weapons?’ David asks, seeing no need to ask any more.

Larry nods but doesn’t answer him. He looks down to the button. It seems so small and insignificant and he wonders if it’s what they wanted all along. Maybe they do surface every few thousand years and attack humanity, or maybe this is the first time. But what if mankind using its deadliest weapon on itself is exactly what happens every time? Larry wonders if this is perhaps a cycle that has continued for many millennia. Maybe, just maybe, he is here to break that cycle?

‘My dearest Larry, only you can make that decision, because you are there and you are a good man. Why shouldn’t it be the best of us who are burdened with this decision?’

She is getting closer to him now, her dark eyes blazing into his as he hears the soothing tones of the one he has always loved. ‘The fate of the world will be in your hands for less than 60 seconds!’

‘I give the vault door half that time,’ Phillips shouts.

Larry looks at the general and all the people standing next to him. He holds the phone close to his ear, as close as he can get to David. ‘I don’t want you to come find me, David. I want you to fight until you get to the place where I think you will be safest. It’s your turn now, and the human race will endure because I’m passing this responsibility over to you. Take as many people as you can find and head deep in the Alaskan mountains, cold and covered in snow. Look for places that are white and cold, because that might just help. You will gather and hunt, build and grow, because I know you are capable of all this.’

‘But you’re not in Alaska.’

‘Go there, or anywhere that’s out of the main cities and as remote as possible. Don’t come to the bunker because we are about to bury many of those bastards in a thousand tonnes of concrete. They’re attacking now, coming to take me and everything that we know, but the more we spread the word, the more we tell people that we are a race which should be aiming for the stars, the more we stand a chance of doing just that.’