"Well this is nice bud."
Cassius "Cash" Andromedus was watching the beautiful display of lights in the sky with his dog, Opie, as the apocalyptic event hurtled towards the planet. Opie's head was resting on Cash's thigh while Cash was petting his back. The German Shepherd had been with Cash for nearly a quarter of his 25 years of age. Opie was getting old and was gradually developing hip issues but never let that keep him from following Cash everywhere. The two were inseparable, partners-in-crime, the epitome of man and his best friend.
Opie had been there for Cash when no one else was and shared a bond that was deeper than most. Cash's past girlfriends were often jealous of the connection the two shared. It's not like Opie wasn't accepting of them, they just weren't able to fit into the bond. Opie did often 'accidentally' kick them off the bed while he was "sleeping" but who's counting?
As Cash was thinking this, Opie made a 'huff' sound expressing that they were indeed accidents. Opie somehow knew exactly what Cash was thinking which wasn't an odd occurrence but other people certainly found it uncanny. Cash laughed.
"Hush turd, you've done it to every lady that got into my bed". Cash ruffled Opie's ears earning a bite in return. Both man and dog shifted their gazes back to the sky. The shifting light display was beautiful to behold but depressing in reality. The world was ending.
Governments across the globe had done everything they could to prevent or remove the inevitability of the massive meteor flying towards the planet but everything had failed. Nukes had been launched, massive lasers were built, decades old enemies united to combine resources to build anything that could give us a chance.
But nothing worked.
A month ago, the President of the United States held a conference that aired to over three billion people at once. Opie and I sat on the raggedy couch in the living room of the shitty apartment I was renting with our eyes glued to the TV screen. It was the largest audience that has ever watched something at the same time in the history of television. The President addressed not just the American People but the entire world. He raised everyone's hopes stating that the newest weapon created to stop the apocalypse was guaranteed to work.
"The Department of Defense along with public and private space sectors have combined efforts to create a missile we're calling the Spear of Hope," the president said.
"Agencies have combined to make a missile that contains the remainder of the nation's nuclear missiles as propellant for a kinetic strike". That's what everyone was told about humanities last chance. What my brain translated that to was that the best we could come up with was a really hard telephone pole being propelled by a bunch of nuclear explosions to go really fast to break a big rock. I may not be the smartest, but it didn't seem like a good plan.
The president and his committee were recorded live as the missile was launched. They cheered and shook hands with one another as they watched the rocket leave earth's atmosphere. The president was shown stoically standing in the control room as they watched it start its nuclear detonations to reach an astronomically fast rate of travel. People all around the world were holding loved ones and waiting with bated breath.
And then the rocket exploded with its first detonation.
Before the live broadcast was paused, the camera captured the moment the president's facial expressions changed from stoic determination to slack-jawed shock and despair.
There were quite a number of suicides that day.
The president and his elites never bothered to release statements or guide the country after their most recent failure. Instead, they locked themselves in their bunkers and bid the public good luck. Obviously, pandemonium quickly followed and law and order were thrown out the window. Cash and Opie had to defend their home several times from cocky criminals thinking the man and his dog were an easy target. They quickly realized their mistake when they were met with sharp teeth and a Colt .45 with no zig-zags to share.
A few weeks ago, two teenagers kicked open the door to Cash's apartment and found him in his underwear sitting on the couch with a large German Shepherd next to him. Cash and Opie were in similar states of disaster, Cash was wearing boxer-briefs with a grease-stained wife -beater trying to set a new record on the number of beers consumed in an hour while Opie was blowing bubbles in his water bowl (which was filled with beer) with pieces of what looked like, pepperoni, stuck in several places in his fur. The two may have looked like an easy score but as soon as the door was open, Cash reached into his drawers and pulled out his 'gat, drunkenly aiming the pistol at the open door while Opie slowly stood up, his hackles rising, ready to launch himself at the stunned fools. The teenagers took one look and ran as fast as they could. Whether that's because Opie and Cash looked and smelled like death or if they were actually intimidating is unknown but they both like to think they scared them away with one look. Cash got up to close the door and immediately faceplanted, not realizing how drunk he was, while Opie was struggling to reach for one of the pepperonis stuck to his rump.
Back to the present, Cash and Opie watched the impending end of their lives on the rooftop of their apartment center together. The meteor itself was visible now as it hurtled towards them. They sky itself looking like it was burning as the meteor slowly pressed into the atmosphere and caught fire.
"We had a lot of fun didn't we." Cash said.
Opie sneezed in agreement and put his head back on Cash's lap, whining while looking up at him.
Cash let a tear loose when he heard and felt Opie's whine.
The meteor was seconds away from impacting the earth's crust. At least their deaths would be painless.
"I love you bu..." Cash was in the middle of saying his goodbyes to Opie when all of a sudden, Cash noticed the meteor wink out of existence. It was massive and consuming the entirety of the sky and then just disappeared. Before he could say anything, a game-like display forced it's way into his vision.
RESIDENTS OF EARTH WELCOME TO THE MULTIVERSE
YOUR PLANET, AND THUS YOUR LIVES, HAVE BEEN SAVED FROM CERTAIN DOOM BY THE SYSTEM
IN EXCHANGE, YOUR PLANET AND YOUR LIVES WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO THE MULTIVERSE
INTEGRATION WILL RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE PLANET AND YOURSELVES
ALL LIFE WILL NOW BE CRYSTALIZED TO ALLOW CHANGES TO BE MADE
...INITIATING CRYSTALIZATION...
"What in the fuuu..." was the last thing Cash could be heard saying before everything froze.