2013
By: Billy P. and Robb M.
On February 27, 2013, it could be possible for the world to end. This is all caused because of a weakened gravity force in the Solar System. This is a story of a father, a son, and their fight to survive the end.
Tehran, Iran - February 27, 2013
“????? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ??? ???? ????? ????? ??? ???.?? ??? ????? ?? ?? ???? ????? ????? ????? ???? (It has been reported that the sun is being weakened by the loss of gravity. We don't know what is going to happen next.),” the newscaster says on TV. The Iranian that is watching the TV turns it off and walks outside. A few minutes after he walks outside, an outburst erupts in the streets.
“??? ?? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ???? ???! (A section of the sun is coming at us!),” a man nearby yells. “???? ?????! (Take cover!).”
The Iranian immediately sprints back to his home and turns on the TV.
“????? ?? ????? ??? ?? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?? ????? ????.??? ????? ?? ?? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ?????! (Iran is going to be hit in nearly three minutes. All who want to live must get out of here!),” the newscaster says. The Iranian runs back out of the door and looks up into the sky.
“???? ????!??? ??????! (Holy crap! It's the sun!)” the Iranian yells. Just after he says this, Iran is destroyed when the piece of the sun hits it.

New York, U.S.A. - February 25, 2013
Logan Smith is working on a computer with a look of bitter resentment on his pudgy face.
“I hate my job,” Logan mutters to himself. When Logan is almost complete, his phone rings. He answers it. “What is it, Dad?”
“I just wanted to check on how you were doing. You know, the world’s ‘spose to end in two days,” said the elderly John Smith.
“Dad, have you been watching Tru TV again?”
“Oh, I love that channel, but no, I have not. I have been studying this theory that I developed with my good friend, Dr. Richtofen, for years. Other scientists have even mentioned that the gravity within the sun is weakening. This could be the end, son. By the way, did you record Saturday Night Live for me?”
“Dad, you said yourself that it’s just a theory.”
“Well, nevermind, it’s a fact now. Did you hear what I said before? Other scientists have proven that the sun is weakening! You can’t just ignore this fact!”
“You’ve been watching Tru TV haven't you?”
“No! This is a serious matter! You could die! Besides, I already have tickets to go to Germany.”
“What for?”
“They have known about this longer than I have.”
“Dad, seriously, just go to sleep or something. Make sure you don’t watch Tru TV before you go. Bye.”
“No, wai-” John says as Logan hangs up.
Logan sighs and goes to sleep.
New York, U.S.A. - February 26, 2013

Logan is woken up by his ringing phone.
“Hello?” Logan asks in a groggy voice.
“Logan, it’s me, your dad,” John says.
“What do you want? It’s two in the morning!”
“Look on the news right now! Astronomers are saying that the sun is producing more solar flares than usual.”
“Dad, the news won’t be on at two in the morning and besides, you know how many times they said the world would end?”
“Logan! Just turn on the TV! It’s important!”
“Fine. Just hold on.”
Logan walks to the TV and turns it on.
“It has been reported from various astronomers around the globe that the sun is emitting very large solar flares. Several of them have hit Mercury and Venus. They are getting very close to the Earth. All of you watching should take this seriously. Thank you,” the newscaster reports.
Logan starts to talk to his dad again.
“Okay, Dad, what do you want me to do?” Logan asks.
“Son, you need to come to my house right now. Take whatever you need,” John answers.
“Okay, I’ll be there in the morning after I go to the doughnut shoppe.”
“Alright, bye.”
Logan wakes up at 11:00 and packs a bag full of necessities. He walks down to the doughnut shoppe that is underneath his apartment. He sits down and eats his doughnut. The news is on in the shoppe.
The newscaster says, “An earlier report has been confirmed. A very large solar flare is going to hit Earth next. Astronomers predict that this flare will make contact with Manhattan, New York. If you are in the New York state area, you need to evacuate now!”
The doughnut drops from Logan’s hand, and he sprints to his car outside. He starts it up and drives to his father’s house in Brooklyn. When he arrives, John runs out of the house and jumps in Logan’s car.
“Are you okay, Dad?” Logan asks.
“No, the news just said that the solar flare is approaching Manhattan very fast! We need to get to the airport!” John says.
“Which one?”
“JFK Airport. Step on it!”
Just then, the solar flare strikes Manhattan creating a giant crater and a massive earthquake.
“What was that!” Logan yells.
“I believe that was the solar flare,” John replies. “Earthquake! Drive! Drive! Drive!”
Behind them, the ground is starting to separate as Logan floored it.
“It’s spreading! Go faster!” John yells at Logan.
“I can’t! This is as fast as it goes!” Logan yells with furiosity.

“I told you to upgrade from a Prius!”
As Logan crosses several intersections, he notices houses, cars, trees, and telephone poles careening into the gaping hole behind them as the ground continues to spread apart. Skyscrapers are falling to the ground, creating obstacles for Logan to go around. Finally, they are within a mile of the airport.
“It’s just a little further to the airport,” Logan rejoices.
“Good, because the hole is catching up to us.” John says. “It should stop soon.”
Logan pulls into the busy airport. Civilians are screaming and frantically running to their planes. The ground is still shaking violently and breaking apart.
“Let’s find a plane, quick!” John says as he runs off into the airport.
Logan follows behind. When they enter the airport, John and Logan don’t stop for security or give anyone a ticket. Half the airport is in ruin because of the oncoming earthquake.
“This way!” John yells and points toward a hallway.
“We’re going to Germany, right?” Logan asks.

“Yeah.”
When they reach the end of the hallway, Logan and John see that another approaching gap in the earth is coming towards the direction of the jet.
“Oh no! We’ll never make it in time!” Logan says.
“Maybe we will if you hurry up! Let’s go!” John replies back to Logan.
John and Logan barrel their way towards the jet and reach the entrance. They enter the jet.
“Do you know how to fly, Logan?” John asks.
“Not really. I’ve only flown planes on a plane simulator. I get bored at work.” Logan says.
“Well, that will have to do. Get into the cockpit, and I’ll meet you there in a moment.”
“Okay,” Logan says as he sits in the pilot’s seat.
Outside, the crack in the earth is approaching the jet very quickly. Logan tries to start the plane, but it doesn’t turn on.
“It’s not starting, Dad!” Logan yells with frustration.
“Try it again! The gap is getting closer!” John replies.
Logan tries to turn the ignition again, and he succeeds. The plane immediately comes to life and lurches forward.
“Yeah! It’s working!” Logan says with excitement.
“Good, now get it up to speed and take off. I believe that the jet needs to be at 150 miles per hour in order to take off,” John says.
“Really? That’ll take forever!” Logan says as he starts to speed up the jet.
“Hurry up! The ground’s starting to break up behind us!”
“I’m trying!”
As Logan reaches 80 miles per hour; the back of the plane nearly falls into the gaping hole behind them.
“Logan! The plane is about to fall into the depths of the earth!” John says.
Logan doesn’t respond as the plane reaches 110 miles per hour, now the tail end of the plane is scraping against the asphalt runway.
“We’re running out of runway space, Logan! Are you almost to the speed you need to be at?” John inquires.
“Yeah, I’m at 135 now. I’m going to take a chance!” Logan yells over the thunderous sound of the engine.
Logan brings back the steering wheel of the plane, and the nose springs up into the air along with the tail end.

“Yeah! We’re up in the air!” Logan triumphs.
“Good job, Son! Now, which way is Germany?” John asks.

“Well, I don’t know. I thought you knew.”

“I planned on a pilot taking us here, but under the circumstances, we couldn’t have one help us.”

“Oh, well, is there a map or something around here?”

As John fumbles around in the cockpit looking for maps, Logan notices a small TV on the ceiling of the cockpit.

“Hey, look at this, Dad! It’s a TV! Now, we can find out what’s going on on the surface,” Logan says with excitement.
“Good, turn it on, go to the news,” John replies.
Logan turns the TV on and goes to the news.
“Most of you know that various parts of the sun have begun to detach themselves. Well, these parts are starting to collide with many different planets. These collisions are causing different planets to wander from their orbits. When they wander, they collide with other planets. Unfortunately, Mercury has collided into Venus. This has caused a chain reaction. The next collision will be with Earth. Luckily, the impact won’t be nearly as horrible as someone might suspect. The atmosphere of Earth will stop some of Venus and Mercury, but not all of it. You can expect this collision to be in the next couple of hours,” the newscaster says.
“Did you hear that, Dad?” Logan asks.
“Yes, yes I did. We need to get to Germany very quickly, or we might not live to see tomorrow,” John replies.
“If we have enough fuel, we should be in Germany in nearly ten hours.”
“Ten hours! In a couple of hours, a huge collision is going to take place!”
“I can’t help that problem. All we can do now is hope that we won’t die up here.”
Three hours later, the newscaster starts to speak again, “We have just received news that the collision will take place over North America and the Atlantic Ocean. Astronomers believe that this collision will take impact any minute now.”
“Dad, we are over the Atlantic Ocean right now,” Logan says.
“Well, we can’t do anything about that now,” John replies.
“The jet’s fuel is three-fourths gone now, by the way. We still have seven hours left until we land.”
“Is there anything nearby where we can land?”
“Well, the radar is picking up an island nearby. It’s called Graciosa. Dad, is there an airport there?”
“Let me check on one of these maps over here,” John says as he checks over some maps. “Yes! I found it! It has an airport, too, Logan!”
“Okay, good. Let’s land there then. We should be there soon,” Logan says.
Just then, a monstrous boom sounds above them, and the Earth is sent careening through the solar system. While this happens, chunks of Mercury and Venus hail down all around them.
“What was that?” Logan asks.
“I believe that was the collision the newscaster was talking about,” John responds.
The newscaster on TV starts to talk again, “The collision has just occurred and massive earthquakes are expected to follow. We can expect more collisions to follow this one. This second collision may be even more harsh than the first. Astronomers expect the moon to fall off its orbit, sending it into Mars. Even the asteroid belt is expected to turn into an enormous amount of meteors that will eventually destroy Earth’s atmosphere. This means that anything can come into contact with Earth. The next collision will take-”
The newscaster falls silent and static takes over. Logan and John sit in silence as they take in what is about to happen. They both know that the United States has just been destroyed. Logan tunes to a different station, but doesn’t find one.
Two hours later, the radar locates Santa Cruz. “Hey, Dad, that island’s coming up,” Logan says.
“Okay, how far away are you from the landing strip?” John asks.
“Radar says about 25 miles.”
“Alright, you better start dropping now.”
Logan adjusts a few knobs and levers, and the plane starts to descend. As the plane descends, Santa Cruz becomes visible, but the view is not good. Nearly half of the island is covered in lava from the once active volcano.

“Dad, are you seeing this?” Logan inquires.

“Yeah, that’s horrible. But, do you see the landing strip?” John says.

Logan squints at the island, and he sees a long stretch of asphalt. “I see it! Lava is approaching it though. Once we land, you have to be quick.”
“Okay, I’ll try. See if you can find any survivors, they could come with us,” John says.

Logan is now within five miles of the runway. He is skimming across the water as he pulls back the accelerator and deploys the landing gear.

“I’m going way too fast!” Logan cries. He kills the engine, hoping that the jet will slow down. The jet scrapes across the ground, and the landing gear is ripped off with a bang. The dashboard on the jet starts to beep.

“How do we land now!” Logan yells with frustration.

“Well, just give it your best shot. It’ll be a lot harder,” John replies calmly.

The jet, now scraping against the asphalt of the runway, is decreasing in speed. It finally comes to a halt in the middle of the runway.

“Wow, that was strenuous!” Logan joyfully exclaimed.

“Sure was, but now we have to find a different plane. The landing gear is gone and the bottom of the jet is done for. With all that dragging across the ground, the bottom is actually gone,” John said.

“Okay, you find a plane, I’ll search for survivors. Doesn’t look like we have much time, Dad,” Logan says as he points towards the lava-stricken part of the island.

“I will. Hurry up though.”

Logan runs into the terminal and yells, “Anyone here?”

A loud voice echoes throughout the building, “I’m here! I’m here!”

“Come to me, sir!” Logan yells.

Soon enough, a man walks up to Logan and says, “Hello. Who are you?”

“I’m Logan Smith. You?”

“I’m Aleksander Richtofen, also known as Dr. Richtofen,” the doctor says.

“Hey, you’re the scientist who worked with my father, John, way back when!”

“Are you talking about John Smith?”
“I am, but let’s talk about this later. We have to get out of here!”

Logan and Dr. Richtofen run outside where lava is flowing 100 feet away from the terminal. John is filling up the new plane with fuel.

“It’s almost d-,” John says as he recognizes Dr. Richtofen. “Aleks! I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“Well, here I am. Are you almost done? Looks like that lava’s gettin’ closer.” Dr. Richtofen says as he looks at the lava pouring into the terminal.

“Get inside, now!” John yells as he jumps inside the plane.

Logan and Dr. Richtofen run into the doorway while John starts the engine.

“Logan, take charge,” John says.

Logan jumps into the seat and asks, “Dad, did you make sure that you put the plane in the direction of Germany?”

“Is that compass pointing toward the Northeast?” John asks.

“No, it’s pointing towards the Southwest.”

“Then the plane is not pointing towards Germany.”

Logan sighs with irritation as he pulls forward. When he reaches the end of the runway, he turns around so that the plane is facing the Northeast. Lava is now covering half the runway.

“I can’t use the runway, this is going to be rough!” Logan says as he turns to the North and pulls the accelerator forward. When Logan reaches 100 miles per hour, he starts to pull up. The nose lifts off the ground, but the tail doesn’t. Lava pours into the back of the plane, melting the back wheel and part of the rudder. Before any more damage is done, the plane takes off into the air. Once the plane is at 10,000 feet, Logan turns the plane towards the direction of Germany. Everyone can now see the island, covered in dark red lava.

“Wow,” Dr. Richtofen says quietly.

“Yeah, this is horrible,” John adds.

“We still have five hours to go,” Logan says. “Someone, find a news channel so we can find out what’s going on.”

All of a sudden, Dr. Richtofen yells, “Eine deutsche Schimpfwort! Everyone, look at that tsunami!”

“What did you just say?” asked Logan.

“The tsunami?”

“No, what did you say in German?”

“Oh, a German curse word.
“Which word?”
“I literally said, ‘a German curse word.’”
“Oh, okay. How’s that news channel coming?”
Silence blares through the airplane. Finally John talks, “I found one! It’s in English, too!”

“Good, anything that’s important to us?” Logan asks.
“Yeah, listen.”
“Alright, everyone, in exactly two minutes the asteroid belt, which will soon turn into a meteor storm, is going to make contact with Earth. Unfortunately, this is going to destroy every layer of Earth’s atmosphere. After these meteors destroy our atmosphere, another collision is expected to occur. This one will include Mars and its two moons and our moon. All of these together will form a cluster so large it will be about the size of Earth. You can just about imagine what will happen next,” the newscaster says.
“Kind of sounds like what we studied a while back, John,” Dr. Richtofen says. “Didn’t think it’d be this bad though.”
“I know,” John agrees.
Right after John says this, horrible banging, scraping, and smashing sounds blare throughout the sky.
“It’s happening. The atmosphere is deteriorating!” Dr. Richtofen yells with fear in his voice.
This is true. Up above, massive meteors are annihilating the atmosphere. The only thing anyone on Earth can hear is the horrible sounds of Earth being destroyed little by little.
After three hours of meteors striking Earth’s atmosphere, the sounds finally ceased. Now, all was silent except for the deep hum of the plane’s engine.
“Two hours to go everyone!” Logan says excitedly.
“That’s very good to hear, it’s awfully quiet out here though,” John says.
“Yeah, it is. TV on?”
“Yeah, volume’s down though. I’ll turn it up.”
The newscaster, very frightened, starts to talk, “This may be the last time I talk to you. Astronomers have just stated that the planetary cluster I’ve been talking about is going to strike what’s left of North and South America, most of Asia, and all of Australia. This is going to happen in the next hour. If you didn’t know already, Berlin, Germany is hosting a space shuttle launch sometime tomorrow. If you are allowed to board, this shuttle will take you out of Earth. I would advise you to go there.”
“Well, it seems like we are going to be okay. Hopefully,” Dr. Richtofen says.
“Maybe. Do you think the force of this planetary cluster will affect us somehow?” John asks.
“I don’t think so. I know one thing for sure though, it will cause major earthquakes and tsunamis. The tsunamis could hit the plane because of how huge this cluster will be.”
“Wow.”
One hour later, all three of the men onboard could hear something hurtling through space.
“Look at that thing!” Logan yells while pointing at the massive object advancing towards Earth. Then, a colossal boom, so loud that words cannot explain it, screams throughout Earth. This giant bulk forms a gargantuan crater on the surface of Earth. In fact, this crater made Earth half its original size. Nearly half a second after this collision, tsunamis form and achieve a height of 12,000 meters. Tsunamis are already heading toward the plane’s way.
Dr. Richtofen noticed the tsunami first and yells, “Hey! Watch out for that, Logan!”
The wave approaching them skimmed the bottom of the plane, shattering some windows.
“Oh my God! That wave was huge!” Logan yells with surprise. “How is Germany going to survive that?”
“Well, Berlin is a lot further inland of Germany. It should be fine,” Dr. Richtofen says.
“Oh, then it should be fine. We’ll be landing in an hour; we’re just flying over Wiesbaden, Germany now.”
“John, find an airport we can land on in an hour,” Dr. Richtofen says to John.
“I found one! It’s Berlin Tegel Airport,” John says.
“Sounds good; let’s land there,” Logan says.
An hour later, Logan approaches the airport. The radar shows a green blinking dot resembling the airport.
“We’re here!” Logan says happily.
Logan flips a series of knobs, levers, and buttons. Then, he dips the nose of the plane towards the ashen asphalt waiting for his landing. Logan pulls the accelerator all the way back, and then he deploys the landing gear.
All of a sudden, a voice yells, “You do not have clearance to land here!”
“Who’s there?” Logan asks.
“This is Berlin Tegel Airport, you cannot land here!”
“Well, I’m sorry, sir, I’m already within a mile of the landing strip. I can’t pull up!”
“I see. We will abort takeoff here.”
“Thank you!”
Logan kills the engine to slow down even more. The front wheel makes contact with the runway, then the two rear wheels touchdown. The plane slows to a stop. Logan, John, and Dr. Richtofen get up and run out the door.
A German military police officer approaches them and says, “What are you doing here?”
“We just want to get to safety in Berlin,” answers Logan, John, and Dr. Richtofen simultaneously.
“Well, I was told to stay here and help any survivors get to Berlin Hbf, a train station, so you may board the train to get to Cologne, Germany.”
“How will we get to Cologne?” inquired Dr. Richtofen.
“We’ve got a truck, and since you’re probably the last survivors I’ll see, I will come with you to Cologne.”
“Okay, let’s get moving.”
The Military police officer jumps in the truck and starts it up.
“Good thing this still has some gas,” says the MP officer.
“How long ‘till we get to the train?” asks Logan.
“Roughly 20 minutes,” replies the MP officer in a grim tone.
After twenty minutes of silent riding, the short wave radio in the truck begins to give off static.
“Come in, is anyone there?” the MP officer asks.
“Bernd Wolfgang here, what do you need?” Bernd Wolfgang says.
“I’ve got three people here with me, and they want to go to Cologne via train.”
“Go to the Berlin Hbf, it’s closest.”
“Alright, thank you.”
The radio falls silent as the MP officer pulls out of the airport and onto the road leading to the train station. After 20 minutes, the truck pulls into the Berlin Hbf train station.
“Here we are. Go into the station and tell them we need to go to Cologne,” the MP officer says.
Logan, John, and Dr. Richtofen run into the station and get a train ready for them all. The MP officer runs after them and into the train waiting for them.
“I’m going to tell the conductor to get this thing moving, you guys stay here and listen to the news. It might be grim.” the MP officer says.
Logan turns on the TV and flips to the news. Luckily for them, it’s in English.
“Hello, everyone. I’m sure you all know that something big hit Earth hours ago. Well, we just received news that after it hit us, the Earth was sent in the direction of the sun. It’s going quite fast, about 30 million miles per hour. It’s a good thing that we can’t feel anything, but Earth will strike the sun in about four hours. So, if you wish to live, please go to Cologne, Germany. Other stations may have given false information saying it was somewhere else, but I assure you that it is Cologne,” the newscaster informs.
“Hope we make it in time,” Dr. Richtofen says.
“Yeah, it would be a shame if this were all for nothing,” John replies.
The MP officer comes back as the train lurches forward. He says, “Good news! The conductor says that he won’t be making any stops before we get to Cologne. This means we’ll be there in about three and a half hours.”
“That is good news. The news guy said that we’ll be hitting the sun in four hours,” Logan says.
“I see. We won’t have much time when we arrive. Let me check my GPS system here. It might take awhile to get to the German Aerospace Center,” the MP officer says as he gets out his GPS. He punches in a few buttons and then says, “Got it. It’s going to take 20 minutes to get to the space center. That only leaves us ten minutes to board!”
Everyone falls silent and stays silent for the next three and a half hours.
February 27th, 2013
The train stops in Koln Hbf, a train station, in Cologne, Germany.
The conductor comes over the intercom saying, “Cologne, Germany.”
“Okay, lets get out of here.” John says as he runs out the door and into the station. Everyone else follows him, and they find an empty car. Everyone jumps into the car except for the MP officer.
“This is a federal offense, John! Get out now!” the MP officer demands.
“Well, I thought since this is the end of the world, no one will really care about their car!” John retorts.

“That makes sense. Well, I’ll let you go this time.”

“Just get in, officer,” John says as the MP officer gets in. “Now, which way to the German Aerospace Center?”

The MP officer directs John to the space station, which took less time than they thought. Once they arrive, everyone jumps out and runs to the seven massive space shuttles waiting for passengers to board.

“Wow!” Logan exclaims. “Those are huge!”

Then, two shuttles blast off into the sky. The MP officer yells, “They’re starting to lift off! We have to hurry!”

Everyone runs as fast as they can to the five remaining shuttles. Then, two more shuttles take off and Logan yells, “Hurry! There’s only three left!”

Right after Logan says this, another two shuttles lift off the ground. Everyone reaches the stairs and climbs them. Passengers already on board the last shuttle yell to them, “Get in! We’re about to blast off!”

Logan, Dr. Richtofen, and the MP officer climb onboard. Suddenly, Logan looks around and yells, “Where’s Dad?”

Someone closes the door to the shuttle. Logan looks out a tinted window nearby. First, he doesn’t see his father, but then a head pops up from behind the metal stairs leading up to the shuttle. Logan cries, “Dad! Dad! Someone open the door! My dad’s still out there!”

No one listens, and the space shuttle takes off into the sky as John is left to die. Logan sees the sun, in all its giganticness, engulfing Earth, melting it. He also sees his father, helpless, burning in the sun. Logan starts to cry for his father. He also yells in anger, “Why didn’t you help him? Why didn’t you open the door!”

Dr. Richtofen comes to comfort Logan, but it doesn’t work. Logan just keeps on crying.

July 14, 2013

After months of traveling through space, astronomers on board find a new planet with everything humans need to survive. With some difficulty, the spacecraft lands along with the other six spacecraft.

The intercom comes to life, “Everyone, we have found a new planet where all of us can live permanently. As far as we know, there are no other life forms here. Luckily, we took animals from Earth, so we will have food. So, in a few minutes, we will allow all of you to get off this shuttle. Enjoy life here, folks.”

As the door opens, one thousand people crowd around the doorway, anxious to get a look at the new world.

“I hope this works out well, living here,” Dr. Richtofen announces.

“Yeah, I guess I do, too,” Logan mumbles.

“I know you’re still sad about your father, but we can’t do anything about that now. I know it’s hard to hear, but you have to get over it.”

“I know that, but it’s hard to just forget about everything, Aleks.”

“Yeah, I realize that. Just try not to think about it, okay?”

“Okay. Let’s check out this new world, then,” Logan remarks as Dr. Richtofen and him walk onto the surface of the new planet.

Year 0000 begins.