Too Little, Too Late

I had missed the end of humanity.

The thought pierced into my gut, and in that moment, I had almost forgotten that the shuttle was running out of oxygen and headed toward certain death. Through the weathered glass, I could faintly trace the edges of Earth as it glistened amidst fading flames.

The sons of b*****s had finally done it. The global wars for oil faded as we “went green”, but it wasn't long before we turned to wars for food and water once there were enough of us. Of course, we would've fought over sunlight if we could've militarized the shade.

I let out a disheartened laugh, unsure if I was losing my mind or simply coping. Maybe both. Still, there was a dark and undeniable humor in the way things turned out.

I never wanted to take up the mining gigs, but I had the piloting skills, and enough backbone to get the job done. Not much else I could do these days, I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger in battle and I didn't know s**t about tending to the wounded and sick.

I replayed the mission briefing. It was over a month ago -- I think -- but it feels like a lifetime. “Just another standard run, Hollins, it's a patriot's duty”, the captain had maintained, furling his stupid wooly eyebrows and gritting his teeth. I would have slapped him this time if I had known how things were going to turn out.

Here I thought we'd be bringing back enough resources to carry over for a few more months before I had to fly offworld again; now I'm wondering if my friends and family were disintegrated immediately in the blasts or if they suffered a longer fate.

A few unanswered distress calls, a collision with an unmanned ship, and now the spoils of our mission were scattered in orbit or burning up in the atmosphere. I glanced back toward the wreckage of my ship, She looked unfamiliar, her features mangled into a metal abstraction that served as nothing more than a drifting graveyard.

I thought I had been lucky to get out of the ship in time, but maybe the rest of them had it easy; all I can do now is watch as my emergency shuttle is dragged into the gravitational pull of the dying Earth, until those nuclear flames reach up and swallow me.  

Author's Note

First short story, just messing around. Inspired by the One Sentence Flash Fiction Challenge on http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/09/26/flash-fiction-challenge-one-amazing-sentence/

Reviews

[Myle Rent]

i see, i can imagine the disastrous fate in your story. i only thing is it's a bit lacking well maybe because you were just messing around as you have said. but with this alone i can imagine a full fiction story =). nice, i hope you'll write more.