The Last Day on Earth

She jumped at the knock on the door. She sprang up and raced down the stairs, pausing to look through the peephole, then threw open the door. Jess was standing there, hair on end, grocery bags in hand.

“Hey, come in.”

Jess followed her into the kitchen where she dumped the bags onto the table. She pulled out two bottles of wine, a packet of Tim Tams, a bag of grapes and three blocks of chocolate.

Lucy reached up into the cupboard and pulled down two wine glasses.

“Pour. I can’t do food right now.”

Lucy leaned on the bench and watched as Jess opened the bottle of red, and poured two large glasses. A couple of drops spilled as her hand shook.

“Mitch home?”

“Nope.” Lucy shook her head. “Haven’t heard from him.”

Jess handed her a glass, and they both took large gulps.

“Crazy, huh?”

“Yep.”

Lucy put the wine down, rubbed her face and let out a huge breath. She looked at her friend. Jess’ short hair was standing on end and Lucy soon realised why. She kept running her hands through it, something Jess usually only reserved for exams or before big dates or job interviews. Or finding out that there was a massive asteroid heading towards your planet.

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, Jess.”

“This is crazy. Where’s Bruce Willis when you need him?”

Lucy spluttered on the sip of wine she’d just taken.

“Bruce Willis?”

“Yeah, you know, that movie where there’s an asteroid coming to wipe out America and Bruce Willis and Jennifer Garner’s husband save the day and Arwen cries a lot.”

“Right… you mean Liv Tyler?”

Jess nodded. Celebrity names had never been her strong point.

“Don’t think I saw that one. How do they save the day?”

“They blow it up. Or something. I can’t remember exactly, I saw it when I was a kid.”

“Could they do that? Blow it up I mean,” Lucy asked.

“No, I don’t think so. I don’t know. I remember reading a while ago that the force needed to actually blow up an asteroid that size is like a bazillion times bigger than any of the bombs they’ve ever made. And anyway, even if they did blow it up it would just mean hundreds of smaller big chunks of rock hitting us, and not all of them would burn up in the atmosphere. They’d still do a hell of a lot of damage.”

“What about… I dunno… rockets or something to steer it off course?”

“No idea, Luce. How long do you think they’ve known?”

“Who? The government?” Lucy asked. Jess nodded.

Lucy thought for a moment before answering. She took her wine and one of the blocks of chocolate over to the couch and sank down. Jess trailed after her.

“Probably awhile,” she sighed. “The only reason we know right now is because those two NASA people spilled the beans.”

“True. Do you think they’ve got shelters or anything?"

“Probably,” Lucy shrugged. “Not like it’s going to help us though. If it’s as big as they say it is…”

“Yeah — bigger than the dinosaurs. That’s not exactly reassuring. But things survived back then right? I mean, we’re here today as living proof.”

“Yeah. But, it was mainly little scavenger type creatures. The original mammals were tiny. Obviously a few crocs survived. And sea creatures.”

“I reckon some people will survive. Some of those post-apocalyptic novels will be coming true,” Jess said.

“Those frogs that bury themselves in the desert and wait for the next rains would survive I bet. It would be interesting to see what rises from the ashes…see what the next stage of evolution looks like…”

“Yeah, but you won’t be around to see it.”

“Bugger,” said Lucy.

They both laughed and drank more wine.

“What are you going to do?” Jess asked.

“What do you mean? Doesn’t seem like much we can do other than hope they pull off some miracle.”

“No, I mean, between now and then.”

“Oh…” She hadn’t really thought about it yet. “Guess I won’t be going to Spain after all. Damn it! I’ve wanted to go to Spain since I was a kid.”

“There’re lots of places I want to go… but I was thinking more practically. You’re not going to stay here are you?”

“No. Claire emailed me just before, she told me to go to the farm.”

“Your sister’s got the right idea. I wonder how long things can keep going for? I mean, I’m not going to work tomorrow, are you?”

“Hell no.”

“See, our jobs don’t matter so much. I mean who’s going to miss an accountant or an insurance call centre worker? But I’m going to miss being able to go to the supermarket, or being able to call the police or fire brigade or go to the hospital, or catch the train. Really, if I don’t want to spend my last weeks on earth working, why should I expect a policeman or bus driver or checkout chick to?” said Jess.

“I… I hadn’t actually thought about that. Shit. We gotta get outta here.”

Jess nodded grimly.

“The sooner the better.”

“Where will you go? Your dad lives in Frankston.”

Jess shook her head. “Didn’t I tell you? He moved back to his parents’ farm in Gippsland a few months ago to help out after Grandpa had a stroke. I’ll go there.”