Six Days - The Gift

It’s so very quiet. There is almost no sound except the wind sighing through the trees around me. The birdsong has stopped. There are no dogs barking. No lawn mowers. No cars. Nothing. Who would have thought? Six days could end everything. We've gone from the greatest strides of human kind, the first full time habitat off earth had only just started to operate on Mars. Now we're on our way back to the stone age.

Six days ago I read about the virus in Africa on the news on my tablet over breakfast. We chatted about it. It was horrible but it was so far away. What could we do? It seems new and so far incurable. It first infected the curious who went to see the giant crease in the earth where the rock ripped through the dirt. Did the rock bring the virus? Why did that rock come to earth? Lancing through the atmosphere like a huge fireball skipping across the ocean to come to rest in Africa. Why didn't we know it was coming before it ripped through the air?

Within days we read the virus had spread to Europe and in response Australia had closed its borders. This seemed pretty extreme at the time.

Later in the week the first evacuated Aussies arrive home on planes and go into quarantine just in case. Apparently they’ll be allowed out if they don’t show signs after a few days. The virus runs its course extremely quickly so they’ll soon know.

Life seemed pretty normal at first, the crisis seemed over. The weekend passed uneventfully. I went to work but many people weren’t there and traffic was very light. Maybe people are just staying home. I went home early when I found out the virus had been reported here.

That night my family became infected, but so far I’m ok. This is unbearable. Why is it taking them and not me? I don’t understand. We went to the hospital but there are thousands there. It’s incurable. All that can be done is sedatives and pain-killers. I've started to write this journal. I need to tell someone my story. I guess I'm just feeling mortal.

Watching the people you love die before your eyes is unimaginably awful. Why isn’t there a cure? Why can’t we do anything? I can’t stand being helpless like this. I’m still ok physically but emotionally I’m just fucked.  The worst part is the hallucinations, when she's lucid occasionally my partner announces how beautiful it all is. Everything is so bright and it feels so good. She says it hurts so much to come back, to leave the brightness. Their bodies are on fire. So hot to touch and tingly like tiny electric shocks. They've gone quiet now, still breathing but not responsive.

Today my family are gone. I spent the entire day burying them. I had to give them this last respect and love. It's only been six days since the rock came to earth.

It's been a week now. I’ve kept things running as best I can. The power went a few days ago. Nearly everyone is gone in town. I broke into the hardware store and took a generator but I knew I couldn’t stay at home much longer. There is no water, only what we had in the small tank. I still go into town to get food, I’ve slowly moved most of the tinned and dry foods home with me. The fresh food is already gone. If I’m to survive I’ll have to grow it. The dogs went with the humans but the cats have survived. They’re hungry.

...

I thought I'd continue this journal, it will keep me sane. It's so lonely. I’ve moved into a farmhouse and live there now because it’s got water tanks, a dam and a fuel tank. I used their tractor to dig a hole and bury the farm family and everyone else I could find nearby. I’m so glad they died outside in the paddock. This house doesn’t stink. There is no one else in town anymore. I’m alone.

...

I’m now convinced there is no one else anywhere. I’ve driven into the city looking. There is no communication. No way to find out if there are people further away without going there. Every time I go out I have to be careful. The cats are now hunting in prides. They’ve taken over. Wouldn’t those #caturday fanatics be impressed now?

...

I'm pretty comfortable now. I’ve migrated all the dry and canned food I can find in town and nearby houses into the farm shed. I’ve taught myself to drive trucks and brought three fuel tankers of diesel here that I found in during my scavenging runs. I have power and warmth and it should last for ages.

...

Months later... It's been a while since I've written in this journal, I've had nothing to say until now. There are others! I’ve seen lights moving around in the town tonight. I’m not sure what to do. Should I go meet them? I decide to turn off everything and wait and see. Disaster brings out the best and the worst in humans. I don’t want to meet the worst. I'm afraid.

...

I've had a fever the last few days. I know I've not got much longer so I don't care if they come now. I just want comfort, I want it to be over.  I'm using the lights again and am running the air conditioning I'm so hot.

...

They’re here. They are what I feared. I write this entry in this journal knowing it will be my last. I’m bleeding pretty bad. They didn’t even talk to me, they just shot me and started taking the things I had gathered. I managed to get back inside. I can’t stop the bleeding. They’re ignoring me.

...

Wait! It's so bright I nearly can't stand it. My body is on fire. My mind is racing trying to understand. I'm changing, I have to concentrate to think and to write this. I must tell those who are left. Someone will find this. I understand now, the rock, it was a gift. A gift launched by the ghost of their civilisation.

They'd been watching us for a very long time, they'd seen we were like them. In the end they were perched on the next evolutionary step. An uplifting. Before going on they decided to bestow the same on us when we were ready. Our arrival on their planet signalled our minds were mature enough to make the journey. The rock was launched automatically, and undetected from Phobos making the journey across the blackness moving slow enough to go unnoticed but fast enough to be unstoppable. An unstoppable gift. We weren't asked.

I can feel everyone, all those I thought dead are here and more, I can feel them,  the Martians. I've learnt that they received the same gift arriving just as their planet was running out of water and the end seemed near. They're here too, the gift givers....