Chapter 25

'Thank you.' Alyssa said as she stood up to her feet slowly. Conor just nodded and helped her up.

'Let's keep walking- and be warier this time. I don't think this place will let us go through so easily.' Conor said. Alyssa didn't say or show any reaction.

'Where did you find the axe?' Alyssa asked.

'Oh- I don't know it was just lying on the road. I thought maybe it could help to kill.' He said.

'Yeah- thank you again.' Alyssa said. She was so grateful she wasn't dead already.

'To be honest, I didn't expect you to be there. Thank god nothing happened to you.' He said.

'Says you, look here what happened- I'm covered in weird animal blood.' Alyssa said and chuckled. Conor couldn't help but let out a grin.

The pair kept on walking and walking, occasionally conversing about random topics throwing caution into the air. They had completely forgotten about the incident that happened barely fifteen minutes ago.

They crossed roads and streets. They even had to walk across a shallow creek. After a long while, they finally reached the edge of a huge field. A field that didn't seem to have any ends. It looked to be extending all the way to the horizon.

Now back cautious, Conor went into the long plain and Alyssa followed suit. Out of the blue, a lizard came jumping out of a bush and missed Conor by inches. Alyssa yelped and Conor was taken aback.

'Be careful, there could be more.' Conor said. Alyssa came over beside Conor and walked with him slowly. After a while, they both found sticks on the ground, which they picked up to use as a weapon. Conor realized it would have been better if they had the axe.

They walked on and on until they finally reached the end of the field. Conor was very surprised to see the end of it and Alyssa was speechless.

'I…I thought… The field looked larger though-' she said.

'I know, I know- Let's go now.' Conor said and helped her up to the small ledge in front of them.

After Alyssa was on top, Conor let go of her arm and turned around. Directly ahead of them, the mountains of the horizon were rising up and just turn into dust.

A loud voice boomed suddenly and both Conor and Alyssa were shaken. The voice said it clearly- it wanted the outsiders to be eliminated from the place.

The terrain in front of Conor flew up high and came back crashing as if it were being folded- just like how he saw in the dream. He turned around to bolt for the field but Alyssa held his arm and refrained him.

There was a lot of noise chaos. Amid all that, Conor didn't expect her to act like this.

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!' he screamed.

'TRUST ME, IT'LL BE FINE- DON'T RUN.' Alyssa said. She pulled at him harder and they both fell to the ground. Conor faced upwards and saw the earth come crashing upon him. He closed his eyes, waiting to be buried alive- except that it didn't happen.

A bright light showered his eyes. Conor stood up slowly. He looked around. All around him, he could only see hot masses of molten rock and burning landscapes. People were running around trying to save their lives. The sky was coloured a bright crimson.

'This is your answer.' Alyssa said. 'I figured it myself- it just makes sense.' She continued. Conor was looking confused and baffled.

'You see, in modern cultures, flying mountains that turn to dust is seen as an omen- an omen for the end of the world.' Alyssa said. 'Also- we now take dreams more seriously too so when you said you saw these things in your dreams several times, I reconsidered the research.' She continued. Conor looked at her with disbelief.

'I checked all the math and paperwork and I really was right. There is no hope for us.' Alyssa said as she sighed. 'As long as humans exist, survival will be very hard. People will always be selfish, will always go out of the plan. Accidents will occur and the plan we all created at NASA will get compromised.' She continued.

'Humans will continue having children and restart overpopulation until nature can't meet our demands- and that'll just bring us back to square one. With climate and famine issues.' Alyssa explained.

'But- how do you know there's no hope at all?' Conor asked uncertainly.

'I don't know. But I know the plan we worked on won't be effective. It works by making sure that the population follows the rules strictly without messing up even once. You tell me, how is that even possible?' Alyssa said. Conor came to realize things.

'What do we do then, we have to give them an answer. People at NASA will demand for answers.' Conor said.

'I suggest we tell nothing to them. Let's lie and tell that this mission to the realm was a fail. We get home, lay low for a week or two- and then… we'll have to kill ourselves.' Alyssa said.

'What?!' Conor exclaimed.

'We must do it, Conor. We don't want to cause a panic among the public. Let them live happily for some while. If they know what will happen, there will be unnecessary chaos. If we die, nobody else will know what will happen.' Alyssa explained. Conor went speechless.

'Promise me, we meet at Old Niagara in a week. We will jump off the cliffs together.' Alyssa said. Conor nodded. Together, they got up from their sitting position and started walking towards the hole location, passing through rubble and dead bodies.

Conor couldn't help but shed his tears. He couldn't believe all this was happening. He couldn't believe that the only home of the humans was going to die.

They arrived back at NASA after the long walk to the hole and the chopper ride. Conor tried to act as if nothing had happened and lied about everything during the mission report session. He couldn't tell if the officials had bought his lie. They didn't seem to show any emotion other than disappointment.

Both Conor and Alyssa were dismissed with orders to come back to the lab within three days to resume research. Both of them stood up and left the room whilst looking at each other, knowing very well this would be the last time both of them would be walking down that corridor.

Conor drove the car out of the parking lot and sped towards his home with tears flooding in his eyes.