CHAPTER FIFTEEN
IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
One hundred Qadarian tankers continued to fill their tanks with water. Each tanker could hold a million gallons of water.
When their tanks were full, they left the earth and positioned themselves near the moon.
While the Qadarians remained quiet to the groups, they still listened to their conversations. They heard the North American cube talk about who they would save if they could. They heard similar conversations in the European and African cubes.
Because those in the cubes cooperated fully with their captors, the captors granted them one final wish. As the humans slept, the Qadarians traveled the planet and transported those chosen by the humans to the respective cubes.
The Qadarians chose not to let those in the cubes know. They wanted to make it a surprise.
The surprise wasn’t just for those in the cube. The twenty-four who were transported to the table woke up in shock.
“Where are we?” Rhonda Wilkes asked.
“I don’t know,” Yukio Miyake replied. “I remember going to bed at home. How did we all get here?”
The rest of the newbies introduced themselves over breakfast.
Knowing they only had hours to live, Chloe decided to skip her morning run. Instead, she went straight to the table.
Marc woke up in bed with Cassidy. When he saw her, his heart filled with regret. Even though she would never know, he betrayed his fiancée.
On the other hand, Travis woke up in bed with Jessica. When he saw her, his heart exploded with joy. He spent the night with the woman of his dreams.
Travis and Jessica walked to the table hand in hand, as did Benjamin and Tracy. Marc and Cassidy walked together as well. The rest walked to the table one by one.
When they got to the table, they were surprised to see their loved ones. Those with family ran to them and hugged them.
Wayne walked up to a young boy. “Are you Caleb?”
“Yes.”
“I’m your grandpa Wayne.”
They tried to catch up on lost time.
When Marc saw Patrice, he quickly ran toward her, or rather away from Cassidy.
“Who is this you came here with?”
“I thought I’d never see you again. You know I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Who is she?”
“She’s nobody.”
“If she’s nobody, why did you walk here with her?”
Marc knew he had to confess. “She wanted to have sex before we died, and she wanted to have it with me. I told her how much I loved you. The only reason I did it was…”
She slapped him across the face and walked away.
“Patrice! Let me explain!”
She didn’t want to hear any kind on explanation. She felt betrayed, and nothing he could say could fix her broken heart.
On the other hand, Travis couldn’t wait to show off Jessica to Noah. He did do the proper thing and not go into great detail about how they spent the night.
Christian walked up to Vanessa. “Remember me?”
“No. Can’t say that I do.”
“I asked you out, and you told me ‘Not if you were the last man on earth.” Well, the earth is going to end today. Would you like to spend it with me?”
“Well, you’re not the last man on earth. No.” She walked away.
The newbies told the twenty-four what was going on outside the cube. They told them how the Qadarians attacked the humans. They told them why the earth was really being destroyed.
As they were reacquainted with those they chose to save, Levi spoke to the group.
“Good morning. As you can tell, we have chosen to reunite you with those you talked about yesterday. As we told you yesterday, today is the last day for your planet.
“However, after much discussion with our commander, we have decided to spare your lives. From what we have gathered, you are not the same as the others.
“You will be brought aboard our ship just before your planet will be wiped clean of all life.”
A beam engulfed the cube. As it rose into the air, it also began to shrink. Only the cube shrank; the people inside did not.
A few minutes later the cube was small enough to fit inside the ship. For the first time since their imprisonment, a door opened to allow them to step outside.
When they stepped out, the original twenty-four got their first look at the Qadarians. Their initial reaction was one of shock, then acceptance. The sight of them was too much for Helen to deal with. She had a heart attack and died shortly after leaving the cube.
The soldier in Brody told him to attack the Qadarians. His family, his country, his planet was under attack, and he had to defend them. Then, he turned to his wife. What would he gain by taking them on single-handed? He calmed down and joined the others.
The aliens escorted them to their temporary living quarters. Families stayed together. Travis and Jessica stayed together, as did Michael, Twyla and the twins.
Marc wanted to stay with Patrice. He was begging for her forgiveness, but she was having nothing of it.
Everyone else had individual living quarters. Inside were beds and a machine that could create any food they desired.
As they were settling in, the tankers were in position, all on one side of the planet, the side facing away from the sun.
The tankers used the beams they used to drain the oceans, only in reverse. Instead of pulling, it pushed. One hundred beams were shoving Earth out of its current orbit and moving it closer to the sun.
As it did, temperatures gradually began to rise. First, the plants started dying. Then, the water that remained on Earth began to boil, killing the fish.
The goal of the tankers was not to push the planet into the sun, just far enough out of orbit to kill the planet. The beams were turned off after seven hundred thousand miles and left Earth to drift.
Death was not immediate on Earth. It was a slow, painful death. With water supplies dwindling, dehydration was the most common cause of death, followed by heat stroke.
While billions were facing imminent death, about three hundred humans total were whisked away. Within minutes, every last Qadarian ship had left the solar system.