Free The End by Justin Chiang Page A

continuously anyway.  Nobody had gotten out of any of the vehicles yet.  She finally gave in when nobody had rushed to the accident and trotted towards the school bus tentatively, afraid of what she might find.  There were no sirens, no screams, no screeching tires, just the blowing wind. 
    She feared the driver was unconscious or dead and the children were trapped or worse they were all dead as well.  She quickened her pace but when she arrived there was nobody inside—just a bus driver’s uniform.  The medical supply truck was, of course, also empty.  Eventually she returned to her own vehicle and made her way past the wreck and further west but she would find only more of the same.
    Her story is very much like the other survivors, full of chaos and the sudden bewilderment and disbelief that come over you at the brink of the end of the world.  Even now, several days later, she couldn’t believe the things that she was seeing. It had taken more than a day to reach as far as Birmingham before she abandoned her old gas guzzler in the city and she still hadn’t seen a single person.  This fact alone was debilitating.  Anna had lived alone most of her adult life.  Now well into her 40’s she had grown to enjoy her solitude but this was a bit much. 
    Curiosity is human nature, we crave knowledge and when facts aren’t readily available we look to others to provide insight and opinions. It’s why going to the movies without friends feels awkward because at those action filled moments when you look to your left or right you’re looking for confirmation, you’re looking for someone to reaffirm that what you just saw was in fact as awesome as you think it was.  And when the world ends you look for confirmation that it did, in fact, end and you didn’t just go bat shit crazy all of a sudden.
    This and more is what Anna is pondering as she sits atop the Double Tree Hilton in downtown Memphis having made her way to the rooftop overlooking the silent smoldering landscape below.  She can just make out what’s left of the Pyramid Arena building, the tail of a large plane sticking out its side is still smoking. 
    She remembers a real estate conference she attended at this very hotel a few years before.  She’d gone to an after party intent on networking but found herself once more sitting alone at the bar not talking to anybody.  She remembers how awkward she felt trying to strike up conversations and ultimately giving up and going back to her room.  Now she’d give anything for those awkward moments back. 
    She’d spent the better part of day four in the hotel, resting, dining in the event center, and snacking on the sundry items in the lobby pantry.  Memphis was the second large city she’d stopped in now looking for signs of life and still nothing.  Anna shut her eyes and let the wind blow her auburn locks about her head. 
    More than once she pictured herself plummeting off the rooftop to the streets below and yet something was preventing her from doing it.  What that was she couldn’t quite figure out just yet but it was the same compelling force that had led her north west since it all happened—towards what?  Anna stood up and began walking towards the rooftop entrance.  Maybe she’d stop moving and just stick around for a bit.  The hotel had more than enough to accommodate her for a while.  Hell it even still had electricity and hot water.  That morning she’d run a bath and made some gourmet coffee in the lobby then cooked up an omelet in the industrial kitchen.  Maybe she’d go for a swim or hit the gym—She’d always wanted to try out the free hotel gym’s but always avoided them in the past afraid of others judgment.
    Just as she reached the entryway Anna stopped in her tracks.  Something was different.  There was a sound, a low roaring sound.  Not like an air conditioner snapping on or even the hum of a backup generator.  No this was very distinctly a car engine and it was