San Antonio, Texas, 06/13/2076, 16:30

“It’s been a long seventy-six years of struggling,” Dr. Donald Gates wrote rapidly in his journal. “It all started 2012, and my invention worked. The meteors of 2012 may have crushed buildings and squashed towns, but my invention saved my building. The fire may have burned away plants, animals, and nature, but my invention saved my garden and two pets. The things that everyone called pieces of the Sun that fell from the sky may have burned away the last of our population on Earth, but my family and friends are still here. My invention worked, but does this now mean we get the planet all to ourselves? Did the entire population truly die off in the years, or are they living somewhere secret just like us?” He closed his book and walked back into the house. He had a large house, back before the disaster he was a well-known scientist, selling his inventions that could completely solve anything.

About a week before the incident, Dr. Gates told the entire town about a vision he had about 2012. “Nonsense, Dr. Gates, you must be working too hard,” the mayor said. “But it’s true. I’m telling you, we need to get some safety. Luckily for us I’m working on a….” The mayor stopped him dead in his tracks. “Look…..Don……you’re a trusted scientist and have been very useful to our towns. In 2010 there was that drought, and you made that tool to get water from almost any living thing. However, most of your tools backfire. With the drought tool you made, some people tried extracting water from animals, nearly killing our entire population of livestock. How can we say you aren’t lying, or aren’t just stressed? Sure, okay, we’ll use a lot of our money in the town’s budget to improve our safety, but what if it doesn’t happen? We would’ve wasted a lot of our money and our town would be in great debt. Do you understand?” Dr. Gates, a little disappointed, nodded, and left without a word.

The day of the accident, about an hour before it happened, Donald got all his family and friends to come into his house, and stay the ground-level room only. Quickly, he turned on his machine, and a big, green, sphere covered his house. An hour later, it happened. Meteors fell from the sky, and the people ran for shelter, and the buildings caught on fire, and soon bits of fire came raining down from the heavens.

Now, sixty-four years later, Dr. Donald Gates, age eighty-six, is one of the only people out of nine to survive the attack. They are still currently guarded by the shield, for who knows if the air is breathable, and things like that.

“Grandpa,” one of the two grandchildren, Andrew, said. “We’ve been in here too long. Can’t we please at least check if the air is okay to live in? Can’t we at least check the outside?” Donald hated to make his grandchildren upset, but didn’t want to risk losing them. “I’m sorry, Andrew, but no.” The other grandchild, Brianna, came over next to them. “How long are we going to stay in your house, Grandpa? There’s an outside world that we can discover, but we don’t dare discover it. It’s like what I learned in home school, Neil Armstrong was the first man to step foot on the moon. But what if he didn’t? What if he just landed there and didn’t step out because he was too afraid of slipping and falling?” Dr. Donald Gates was surprised at his granddaughter’s statement. “Maybe I could try inventing something,” he said in his head. “We’ll get out of the house soon, Brianna,” he said. “I promise.”

Continued with Chapter Two, coming soon.