Jack knew the end was coming. He leaned back in his recliner and fired up a cigarette, flipping through the channels on his small TV which sat across the room. He was determined to find a station that was still on the air that was not broadcasting information about the storm.
After running through the channels twice, he gave up and hurled the remote at the screen in disgust, shattering the glass and sending a shower of sparks drifting to the carpet. “Damn it!” he yelled and took a long drag of smoke into his lungs. Cradled in his lap was his .357 Magnum. The only remnant of his old life. Before last night, he thought it would rust forever buried in mothballs and too small clothes in the depths of his closest. Now he held it again in his hands, though it brought him no comfort.
Jack heard, before he’d lost interest, enough speculation about the storm and what was causing it to know a simple man like him had no hope of ever understanding the bugger and he didn’t give a rat’s ass. The storm had came from seemingly out of nowhere beyond the cometary belt and made its way towards Earth. A giant wall of fire engulfing all in its path. Over half of the world and everything in the solar system beyond had already felt its fiery embrace.
“Fiery embrace,” Jack muttered aloud, stifling a laugh. It only looked like a giant fireball from the outside, according to the scientists. The robotics probes the world governments had launched into it had sent back pictures of the cities already inside it before they had stopped functioning. Pictures of untouched cities that looked normal in every way except for their complete lack of life. No one could even guess what had happened to the people who were inside it. They were just gone.
Jack knew he had prepared himself as best he could. He had made a run to the stores before the mass panic got too bad and stocked up on enough beer and cigarettes to waste an army. Jack had also picked up a box of ammo for his .357. Inside his pockets were several extra sets of rounds to go with the loaded gun.
For the first time in years, he was glad that Sue was gone. It seemed so long ago since the wreck out on I-40 that had taken her from him. She’d been on her way home from another late night at the school writing her lesson plans and setting up her room for the next day. She had loved her job so much. That was when a drunk named Walter Wiggins had taken everything from him in a matter of seconds as he had cut by Sue doing 80 mph in the turn on Hall’s bluff and sent her car careening off the road.
The thought of Sue made Jack lumber over to the fridge and pop open a beer. He could swear he smelled her hair even now. The clean and freshly washed scent of her head as she crept into the bedroom after work and laid her head on his chest as she had done so many times before. Not the charred and burnt stench he’d smelled at the hospital as they had covered her skinless face with a white sheet. He could still see the blood seeping through the thin material as they hauled her away. Her funeral had been a closed casket one with good reason.
Jack downed the bottle in a long gulp and opened another. He was alone now and the storm was coming.
The Magnum felt good in his hands. It reminded him of his days as a cop. Being a cop had meant almost as much to him as being a teacher had to Sue. Still he didn’t regret what he had done. The look on Walter Wiggins’ face was priceless as he had caught the man pulling into his own driveway hours after Sue’s death. Walter had staggered out of his car and ran for the front door of his house and Jack’s police cruiser had pulled in behind him. Walter had been so afraid of getting another ticket and losing his license. Jack had caught him easily and shoved him to the ground, pressing the barrel of his .357 to Walter’s forehead. Jack had smiled as he pulled the trigger and watched Walter’s brain matter explode from the back of the drunk man’s head, staining the gravel.
Jack walked over to the window and looked out from his apartment at the fire in the sky. It was less than a mile away and creeping towards him. The streets below were empty except for a few abandoned cars. Everyone else had fled the city, hoping to put a few more moments between them and the storm. It would catch them though. There was nowhere to run now.
Jack noticed there were still lights on in the church across the street and wondered if a few of the faithful had stayed to wait on the end and pray together. Had Sue been alive that is where she would have been waiting on Jesus to take her home to heaven. Jack knew only Hell awaited him. He’d never believed in a God. Not with all the things he had seen everyday on the force and certainly not after what had happened to Sue. No God who loved humanity could ever have let her die that way after the life she’d lived.
He continued to stare as the fire raced over the city. It burned over his window, giving off a bright glow but no heat. Suddenly the room seemed to swirl as the storm took him, reality itself folding and distorting. Jack blinked and he was no longer in the apartment. He stood in an open field surrounded by rolling hills of green grass that glistened with a gentle morning dew. The sun shone bright over head smiling down on him. “Jack,” a voice called from beside him. Walter Wiggins sat on a rock near him smiling. “It’s good to see you again. It’s been too long.”
Walter appeared just as he had that night in his driveway. He wore a blue T-shirt soaked in his own blood and tattered blue jeans. Walter smelt heavily of drink and decay. A jagged hole torn in the flesh of his forehead from where Jack’s bullet had entered. Jack jerked up his Magnum, leveling it at Walter’s chest as Walter got to his feet. The meadow they stood in echoed with thunder as Jack fired again and again. Chunks of meat and bone flew from Walter’s body as the man toppled over to the ground and spasmed as more bullets still ripped into him until Jack’s gun clicked empty.
Jack felt a hand on his shoulder, warm and gentle. He turned to see Sue standing behind him. Unlike Walter, the scars of her death were gone. She looked more radiant and beautiful than ever. Her eyes met his and he saw that hers were wet with tears. A man stood beside in white robes glowing brighter than the sun. An aura of peace seemed to emanate from him.
Walter got to his feet walking toward the three of them. “He still hates, just like me.”
“Yes,” the man in white said sadly, “He does.”
Sue sobbed openly and turned away from Jack as he moved to embrace her. Jack fell to his knees as he realized where he was, tears welling up in his own eyes. “Forgive me!” He screamed. But Sue and the man were gone, only he and Walter remained.
Walter walked over and helped Jack to his feet. “It’s time to go home, Jack.” Jack watched as the grass around them dried up becoming brown and brittle. Clouds covered the sun and a new wave of fire swept towards them.
“You son of a bitch!” Jack raged, pulling himself away from Walter. “You’ve taken her from me again!” Jack lashed out, his fist striking Walter’s jaw so hard his own knuckle shattered under the blow but Walter didn’t move or acknowledge the attack in any way.
“Jack, I took her the first time, but this time you were all on your own.”
Tears bled from Jack’s eyes as he stared at Walter. “Why?”
“Because, Jack. You’re like me more than you know.” Walter turned to watch the fire streaking towards them. Jack screamed as it swept over them. This time as it engulfed him he howled in pain as his flesh melted and bubbled. But he did not die, this pain was endless and eternal.