Нэнси Кресс - The End Is Nigh

“This is my sister, Alison Crawford,” I tell the manager. He looks like he hasn’t slept since 2010. “My father stole her ticket and gave it to his girlfriend. That’s why we’re so late. We were looking for it. He’s inside.”

The manager starts talking on his CB. He tells us to wait in a holding tank with a few thousand other people. Some of them are crying, some are sleeping. Most are too nervous to stand still.

You’d think they’d riot, but in the end, we’re all lambs.

I work on my letter, this one right here that you’re holding.

The asteroid in the sky is bigger than the sun.

It’s minutes to impact.

A guard comes back. I can’t believe he’s still doing his job. They all are. “Nice try. Your parents are real beauts,” he says. “They sold their baby’s ticket for better sleeping quarters.”

“Cathy? Where is she?” I don’t know how I missed her. But I see her in an old woman’s arms. And then I’m holding her, pressing baby bunny into her fat little fingers. I’m crying. Cathy is squeezing my face. I love her so much.

“Let us in,” I beg.

“One ticket. One person,” the manager says. “I’d do it, but then I’d get shot and the elevator would lock. The last men down are the guards. I gotta take care of my own skin.”

Jules is crying and trying not to. She’s still in that stupid cat-suit. I hate her, I really do. I give her my ticket.

“Naw,” she says.

“Take it.” It’s funny. I finally feel like a hero.

“I love you,” she says.

“I know,” I say, like Han Solo. “Sorry about the toast thing.”

The manager puts his arm around Jules and takes her to the elevator. The elevator won’t go. They walk back to us, and I’m kissing Cathy so my lips warm her forehead.

“They changed the code,” the manager says. “Dealing with overflow. It has to be the person whose name is on the ticket.”

“I’ll take care of Cathy. You go,” Jules says. Her eyes are those same dull marbles. Like her whole life has been a disappointment.

I break the ticket. It’s just plastic.

On his last trip down, I give the manager my finished letter. Cathy’s sleeping in my arms. Jules is leaning into me. For once, she’s not trying to kiss me. She’s calm. And I think: This is my family. So I look to the sky, for the most beautiful night in three billion years.

And you, dear reader, are my witness. The survivor-hero of this story. In ten thousand years, your dirt-blind, rodent species of monsters will study this document, and wonder what all the fuss was about love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Langan is the author of the novels The Keeper and The Missing , and her most recent novel, Audrey’s Door , won the 2009 Stoker for best novel. Her short fiction has appeared in the magazines Nightmare, Cemetery Dance, Phantom , and Chiaroscuro , and in the anthologies Brave New Worlds, Darkness on the Edge ,and Unspeakable Horror . She is currently working on a post-apocalyptic young adult series called Kids and two adult novels: Empty Houses , which was inspired by The Twilight Zone , and My Father’s Ghost , which was inspired by Hamlet . Her work has been translated into ten languages and optioned by the Weinstein Company for film. It has also garnered three Bram Stoker Awards, an American Library Association Award, two Dark Scribe Awards, a New York Times Book Review editor’s pick, and a Publishers Weekly favorite book of the year selection.

Agents: John thanks his agent Seth Fishman, who supported this experiment and provided feedback and counsel whenever he needed it, and also to his former agent Joe Monti (now a book editor who he plans to sell lots of anthologies to), who was very enthusiastic about this idea when it first occurred to him, and encouraged John to pursue his idea to self-publish it. Hugh likewise thanks his agent Kristin Nelson for all of her support and for constantly playing out his leash.

Art/Design: Thanks to Julian Aguilar Faylona for providing wonderful cover art for all three volumes of The Apocalypse Triptych, and to Jason Gurley for adding in all the most excellent design elements that took the artwork from being mere images and transformed them into books . These volumes would not be the same without them.

Proofreaders: Thanks to Anthony Cardno, Kevin McNeil, and Bradley Englert. Any typos that made it past them are on us.

Narrators/Producers: Thanks to Jack Kincaid for producing (and narrating some of) the audiobook version of this anthology, and to narrators Tina Connolly, Anaea Lay, Kate Baker, Mur Lafferty, Rajan Khanna, James Keller, Lex Wilson, Ralph Walters, Roberto Suarez, Norm Sherman, Folly Blaine, Scott Sigler, and Sarah Tolbert for lending their vocal talents to the production.

Family: John sends thanks to his wife, Christie, his mom, Marianne, and his sister, Becky, for all their love and support, and their endless enthusiasm for all his new projects. He also wanted to thank his sister-in-law Kate and stepdaughter Grace who had to listen to him blab incessantly about this project as it was coming together, ruining many a dinner. Hugh thanks his wife Amber, who co-edits this wonderful life they have together. His chapters would be boring and lonely without her.

Readers: Thanks to all the readers and reviewers of this anthology, and also all the readers and reviewers who loved Hugh’s novels and John’s other anthologies, making it possible for this book to happen in the first place.

Writers: And last, but certainly not least: a big thanks to all of the authors who appear in this anthology. It has been an honor and a privilege. As fans, we look forward to whatever you come up with next.

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Armored, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, and The Living Dead. He has been nominated for six Hugo Awards and five World Fantasy Awards, and he has been called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare, and is a producer for Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Find him on Twitter @johnjosephadams.

Hugh Howey is the author of the acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel Wool , which became a sudden success in 2011. Originally self-published as a series of novelettes, the Wool omnibus is frequently the #1 bestselling book on Amazon.com and is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller. The book was also optioned for film by Ridley Scott, and is now available in print from major publishers all over the world. Hugh’s other books include Shift , Dust , Sand , the Molly Fyde series, The Hurricane , Half Way Home , The Plagiarist , and I, Zombie . Hugh lives in Jupiter, Florida with his wife Amber and his dog Bella. Find him on Twitter @hughhowey.