Humanity's end was sudden and unknown. It was nothing like anyone imagined. No aliens, no robot uprising, no sun exploding, no mega meteor, no nuclear destruction, nothing of the sort.
Humanity ended in an exceedingly strange way. Some called it divine retribution and succumbed to it, while others focused and directed all their funds to escaping it.
To describe "it" is hard. "it" was a strange goop like thing that seemed to have a mind of its own. It left a strange red slime in its wake that dug deep into the ground and caused it to disintegrate, bit by bit.
Not to mention its hostility to any and all things that drew breath and its mind numbing speed of asexual reproduction.
Many had theories on the creature's origins-some blaming the gods, as mentioned before, others blaming certain countries, and others even blaming aliens.
Truth be told it was none of those things. Sure it was a consequence of human action, but nothing created in a lab or born due to pollution. It was something more. Something of a higher dimension, and it was looking for something-someone.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
[In a highly secure room suspended above point nemo]
An unnamed physicist adjusts his glasses and wipes his sweat stained, stress marked forehead, looking carefully at the strange, clearly hastily built machine before him. It is connected to the walls of the room using wires, cables, and pipes that pumped strange liquids and monstrous amounts of electricity into it.
The physicist turns to the television behind a window of bulletproof glass behind him. A speaker in the corner of the room relays the broadcast's sound to him.
"*murmur* *murmur* One fifth *bzzt* the human pop- *clank* wiped out *murmur* one hour." A teary eyed news anchor spoke through the rusty connection.
The connection cleared up for a moment as the anchor spoke once more "*sob* It trully seems like humanity will end here to-."
The unnamed physicist interrupts the anchor in a hazy, tired voice. "Alexa, turn off the television. It's doing wonders for my panic." The television turns off, and the physicist stabilizes his shaky hands.
"It's okay. It's all okay. Even if you messed up, it's all gonna be over in a few hours anyway." he murmured to himself.
He looks warily past the jumble of cords and wires at a lever on the wall. The lever that held the fate of all of humanity, and then at the strange machine before him. It had a screen on it that displayed the word "charging" and the digits "92%".
The physicist lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding and muttered "well what's the point of worrying about it now. the only thing I can do is wait and pray..."
He thought for a moment and spoke once more "Alexa, open the door to facility #000, I need a shower."
The view past the bulletproof glass shifted from a viewing station with a television to a bedroom, to a theatre, to, finally, a bathroom, after which a seamlessly connected portion of the wall pops outward and slides to the side.
"Ahhh what a joyous convenience."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
[USA, Florida, a particularly religious town]
A group of five soldiers sit on a curb and stare at the group of civilians that knelt at the edge of the village in a line, hands clasped together in prayer to their god.
One of the older soldiers coughed to grab the attention of those kneeling.
"Please reconsider this. Treasure your lives, you could have a long one ahead of you"
No response was given by any of them.
Another one of the soldiers-a younger one gritted their teeth and yelled out in rage.
"WE'RE OUT HERE, READY TO GIVE OUR LIVES TO PROTECT YOU AND YOU CAN'T EVEN BE BOTHERED TO PROTECT YOURSELVES??"
The soldier started to make his way to the line, only to be stopped by the first soldier.
"Let's just sit here and wait. What would you even do? We're just here as test dummies. You know that. Let's just calm down."
The second soldier teared up a little, realizing for perhaps the first time that his life was actually in danger.
"Here, let's all have a couple of drinks." says the first soldier, feigning cheeriness.
The teary eyed soldier, steeled through only a couple months of training away from home broke down in that moment. It was like watching a paper bag crumple, losing any semblance of its former shape, never to truly regain it again.
The first soldier-the elder one looks at the younger soldier with pity and darkness in his eyes.
"Hey boy." he said, as kindly as his time withered and battle scarred soul allowed him to.
"We, the soldiers of this country, are sworn into our line of work for one thing and one thing only." He said, steeling his voice.
The young soldier looked at him, his gaze unsteady, and the rest of the group watched on in curiosity and a sort of morbid sense of unity in the face of demise.
"It is to protect this country-more specifically, to protect the civilians that reside in this country."
murmurs of agreement spread through the group and the face of the young soldier flushed a little.
A moment of silence passes.
The sound of a helicopter passing overhead is heard.
A swift autumn breeze whooshes in from the forest to the west-the direction the line of fanatics was facing.
"Boy. You are no soldier." Said the older soldier.
The younger soldier's face flushes a little more.
"You are just a civilian. Just a child." He continues.
"And we soldiers-we protect civilians. We protect the people- the young, the old, the wise, the strong. Anyone who wishes to be protected will be protected."
"So don't worry son. Don't any of you lot worry. I will protect any and all of y-" his voice sputtered out toward the end of his sentence, and so did his body.
The young soldier yelped at the sight before him. The rest of the group of soldiers backed off in fear, readying their weapons.
The old soldier had disintegrated into a small pile of blood red dust.
Screams started to then erupt from the line of fanatics, as they started to disintegrate one after the other. Slowly. Painfully, they let out screams of absolute terror and pain as their bodies found themselves in forms impossible to exist in.
The soldiers attempted to shoot those strange black blobs that seemed to have simply popped out of thin air-the cause of this strange phenomenon. Some dissipated into the air, and others simply took the attacks with no change in shape or damage.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
[In a highly secure room suspended above point nemo, 5 minutes before the prior occurrences]
A strange sense of dread fills the physicist as he immersed himself in his tub of water. No-this wasn't dread. It felt like something more. Like he knew something awful was about to happen.
The unnamed physicist was not a religious man nor was he a spiritual man, but at dangerous times like this, unknown senses can save many a life.
He quickly jumps out of his tub, yelling "ALEXA, STERELIZE AND CLEAN PLEASE. AND ALSO OPEN DOOR TO EXPERIMENT #000!"
He quickly puts on his clothes-a long sleeve shirt, a pair of jeans, and a lab coat with an uncharacteristic amount of pockets.
The wall slides open once more, revealing the strange device, which now flashed a bright green.
"Charging Complete"
"Ready For Transport"
The physicist carefully moves to the lever, moving in a swift and practiced manner past all the wires and pipes.
"Alexa test probabilities" he says, eyes flickering left and right. "actually, run test 'Final' please."
a robotic voice emanated from the speaker in the corner "Commencing test 'Final'"
A minute of tense silence passes, the physicist's hand closing in on the lever, ready to flick it at a moment's notice.
The robotic voice spoke again.
"Test complete."
"likelihood of success is 40%"
"DimTrav-018 is ready to go"
The physicist felt a sudden, sharp pain on the back of his neck
"Program:surviv-asist has been implanted"
The physicist flashed a dangerous but shaky smile and pushed on the lever.
"Here goes nothing at all!"