In Japan, a massive wave hit the coast, then swept over the entire island. Tens of millions drowned in a single hour. As the wave receded, the corpses stood to their feet. With perfect synchronization, they organized into ranks, and marched into the sea with their expressionless faces locked ahead.

A blizzard hit Dubai, dropping the temperature until anyone outside was frozen in place. Ice completely covered the skyscrapers, and snow turned the ground white. The entire city was made silent, save for the laughter of a child echoing through its still streets.

A massive dog prowled the east coast of the United States, and a lidless eye appeared over the skies of Germany. Insects swarmed across Africa, and a monster with knife like fingers stalked the rooftops of Sidney.

By the end of the first day, billions were dead.

By the end of the week, humanity was all but extinct.

***

So this is it. The apocalypse.

I know I should feel something more about this, but everything is just… grey. I’ve been running on adrenaline and short terms goals ever since I arrived in this universe, but now those are wearing off and I feel empty. I had a dream. I was going to save Lisa, and we could live together in peace. But I failed, and since then I’ve just been drifting, letting whatever events come by guide my course. First I wanted to escape the Eldritch Department. Then I wanted to stop the Quiet. Now I’m trying to reach Fort Worth. I don’t really know why I’m doing any of this. It’s as if I’ve switched into a default “What would the hero of a story do” mode, and have been following that without any real thought into what I’m doing or what will happen afterward.

Flint’s taken charge of this road trip to Texas. Normally I’d try to take the lead, but I’m not feeling it this time. Given my string of failures, I don’t think I’m up to leading anything. And Flint does make a good leader. He’s clearly grieving, but he hasn’t let that get in the way of his judgment. The rest of us haven’t quite managed his degree of emotional stability. Miles has gotten really quite and doesn’t say much anymore. And our newest member, Ed, is a nervous wreck. Might be because he’s the only one of us who didn’t know about the Fears prior to this starting.

As for our trip itself…. The scenery’s been doing a pretty good job of mirroring my mood. The sky is covered in smog. Everything we pass is dead. All major cities have a Tower rising above them, creating an expanding canopy around the world. We haven’t seen a single other living person, but the dead are so numerous that the entire world smells like rotting bodies. It’s hard to understand the scope of it all. We’ve seen so many mountains of corpses that you start to feel like this can’t possibly be happening. That there’s no way so many people could be dead, but… they are. They’re all dead.

And it’s all my fault.

This is all my fault.