It started out as a normal night. Tommy Oliver and his girlfriend, Kimberly Hart, were in the field, watching the stars. They were doing a joint assignment given to them by the head of the astronomy club, Mr. Scott.

“Hey, Kim,” Tommy said, “Check this out.”

Kim came over and peered into his periscope. “So? I’ve seen the big dipper, like, a thousand times.”

“Yeah, but look at the ‘star’ at the bottom,” Tommy said, “I don’t think it’s supposed to be there. I don’t even think it’s a star.”

“Nah,” Kim said, “That’s just Crixis, the bottom star.”

“How are things going over here?” Mr. Scott asked.

“Good.”

“Yeah, I heard,” Mr. Scot said.

“Mr. Scott, can you take a look at this?” Tommy inquired.

“Sure, Tommy,” Mr. Scott said. He looked into the periscope. “That’s just Crixis, the bottom star on the big dipper. Why?”

“I don’t think it is,” Tommy said, “I don’t know what it is, but I don’t think its even a star.”

“Hm, you may be right,” Mr. Scott said, “I’ll call up to the observatory, and have them check it out.” With that, Mr. Scott turned away and started for his cellular telephone.

“It’s Crixis,” Kim said.

“No, it’s not,” Tommy said.

At the observatory, William Cranston was miserable. His wife, Trini, had left him, taking their daughter with her to Los Angeles. He shook off the feelings and picked up a packet of photos and coordinates. He sits down at a computer and starts to type the coordinates in. A comet appeared on the screen.

“Now, where are you going in such a hurry?” he mused. He started up the program that projected the possible trajectory of the comet. When he saw what was on the screen, his face fell. It said that the comet was on a collision course with Earth. With that, he picked up a cellular phone and started dialing. He explained part of what he found to the person on the other end, and then hung up.

He quickly left the building and got into a vehicle outside. He started down the road, all the while, trying to call the second number he was always supposed to in case of an emergency. He started swerving, going on the other side of the road. A big truck was coming through. He dropped the phone, and when he bent down to pick it up, his vehicle started going on the other side.

The driver of the big truck blew his horn, and Cranston sat up. He tried swerving, but the big truck hit him, knocking him off the side of the road. The car blew up just a few minutes later.

A year later...

Kat Hillard is a television reporter. She was sitting at an outdoor restaurant, listening to her mother babble about her new remarried father. “How does it feel, having a step mother only a few years older than you?” Kat was taken aback by the frankness of the question.

“She’s okay, I guess,” Kat said, “I just wish that you two were still together. I mean, look at you. You’re always alone, and miserable.”

“Don’t give me that,” Ms. Hillard said, “I maybe miserable most of the time, but I’m not alone. You’re always here, after all.”

“I know,” Kat said, “Well, I’ve got to be going. Don’t want to be late getting back to work and all. You know how it is.”

“I sure do,” Ms. Hillard said. Kat gave her mom a kiss on the forehead, handed her some money to pay for the bill, told her to keep the change, and left. A little while later, she was sitting in the board room, listening to a meeting.

“And someone see what that new Rittenhouse scandal is about,” chairman DeSantos said, “We’ll need a reporter to get the information.”

“Sir,” Kat said, “What about me? I could do it.” The chairman nodded.

“That being done, let’s break for lunch,” chairman DeSantos said.

They all got up and started leaving the room. Kat followed Ms. Kwan out of the room. “You’ve got ambition,” Ms. Kwan said, “But a little too much enthusiasm.”

“Thanks, I think, Ms. Kwan,” Kat said.

“Please, call me Trini,” Ms. Kwan said. Kat followed her into a room nearby, where a little girl was waiting.

“Mommy,” the little girl cried, rushing into Trini’s arms.

“Have a nice day, sweetie?” Trini asked her daughter. Her daughter nodded enthusiastically. “Sweetie, I’d like you to meet someone.” She motioned to Kat. “This is Katherine Hillard. Kat, this is my daughter, Aisha Cranston.”

“Nice to meet you, Aisha,” Kat said, holding out her hand. Aisha shook it and smiled shyly.

“You too, K-K-K...” Aisha tried, but couldn’t manage her name. Well, she did look to be only three or so.

“Kat,” Trini finished for her.

“Kat,” Aisha said, “I tried to say your whole name.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” Kat said, “Well, I’ve got to get to work on the Rittenhouse scandal. See you two later?” Trini and Aisha both nodded, and Kat headed for the elevator. Downstairs, she met a camera man at the van they were going to be using.

They got in and headed down to some docks. There, they found the ex Senator about to cast off. “Senator Rittenhouse,” Kat said, “Can we have a few words with you?”

“Sure,” he said. He motioned to a little girl, his daughter from the looks of it, and she went inside.

“Why did you leave office, sir?”

“My wife,” he said, “She’s very sick, and I wanted to be here with her, and my daughter especially if my wife happens to die.”

“What about Ele?” Kat asked.

Rittenhouse had began to move away, and then looked back. “Turn that off,” he said, motioning to the camera man. Kat hesitated. “If you want to talk to me, turn that thing off.”

“Do it, Zack,” she said to her camera man.

“I know everything,” Kat said.

“You might think you do, but you don’t,” Rittenhouse said, “Not about Ele. Now, I’ve got to be going to see my wife, who by the way really is sick. If you don’t mind...”

“Thank you for your time, Senator,” Kat said. Rittenhouse nodded a farewell. Kat and Zack walked back to the news van.

Kat was talking about it the whole way back. “Ele must be a mistress or something,” she said, “Though I believe him about his wife, that must be where this ‘Ele’ comes into the picture.” All of a sudden, the van was surrounded by three cars, one in front, one on the side, and one behind. They had no room to get in front of or behind the car beside them. The car behind them rammed into them.

“Geez,” Zack said, “All right, all right, I’ll follow you.” He motioned that he wasn’t going anywhere to the cars. The one in back quit bumping into them. They followed the car in front around a corner and to the side of the road. Once there, someone got out of the car in back and came to Zack’s window. Zack rolled the window down.

“This is a matter of national security,” the man said, “Please follow us.” Kat and Zack both nodded, and the man walked back to his car. They followed the cars out of the little alcove and down the road some more.

A little while later, they were led to a tunnel. They waited a few minutes, and were shocked when President Adam Park came walking up to them.

“Ms. Hillard,” he said, with a polite nod. “Mr. Taylor.”

“Mister President,” Kat said, “Why were we brought here?”

“For national security,” the president said.

“I know the truth about this Ele,” Kat said, “That Senator Rittenhouse just used his sick wife as an excuse.”

“You don’t know everything,” the president said, “Not about Ele, at least. Now, I’m going to have to ask you to sit on this for a week. We’re going to announce it to the world then. Can you?”

“I don’t know,” Kat said, “Maybe a couple of days, but...”

“Just a minute, Mr. president,” a secret service guy said, as he walked up. He took the president over to one side and whispered something to him.

“All right,” the president said. He walked back over to Kat. “Can you sit on it for about twenty four hours?”

“Yeah,” Kat said, “But I want exclusivity.”

“In other words,” the president said, “You want the first questions?” Kat nodded. “I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise you anything. Is that good enough for you?”

“I guess it is, because I can hold you to your word,” Kat said.

“Then you’re free to leave,” the president said, extending his hand. “It’s been a real pleasure, Ms. Hillard.”

“You too, Mr. president,” Kat said, shaking his hand. Zack kind of insisted on shaking the president’s hand. They left a few minutes later. When Kat got back to the office, she went over to her computer. She logged on, and typed the word ‘Ele.’ She misspelled it several times, and therefore didn’t get any results. She finally put in E.L.E., and a web page came up. There were a lot of talk about the dinosaurs extinction, but three words caught her eye the most.

Extinction Level Event.

She met her father for lunch. He brought along his new bride. They tried winning her over with a gift. She got into an argument with her father on whether or not he should remarry her mother, and she stormed out.

A couple of days later, Kat was walking into a press conference. “Hi, Ms. Kwan,” she said, recognizing the friendly woman. “Oops, I mean Trini.”

“Hi, Kat,” Trini said, “I didn’t know you were supposed to work this too.”

“I wasn’t, but...” At that moment, one of the secret service guys came over.

“Ms. Kwan,” he said, with a polite nod to Trini. “Ms. Hillard, right this way. I’ve got a specific seat for you.” He led her to sit near the front of the room. He explained a few things to her, and then left.

President Park came in a few minutes later. Kat could see his wife, Tanya in the doorway to the right, waiting for him.

He went straight to the podium. “Good evening, ladies and gentleman,” he said into the microphone, “A little over a year ago, two scientists discovered a new comet. That’s the good news. The bad news is that one of them found that it is on a direct collision course with Earth. The two scientists, Thomas Oliver and William Cranston, died in a tragic accident on the way to reporting the comet. In light of their being the firsts to discover it, we’ve decided to name the comet, ‘Oliver Cranston.’”

Tommy was watching the special announcement, along with his family. “They’re talking about you, Tommy?” his mom asked.

“I guess so,” Tommy said, “But they’ve got their information wrong. I’m neither a scientist, or am I dead.”

“We’ve also been working with the Russians and several other big power nations to make the world’s largest spacecraft,” the president said, “Called the Messiah. Hopefully, it’ll be able to destroy the comet long before it gets to Earth.” He motioned to a television set a foot or so away from him. On it, five astronauts were standing at attention. “Captain Andros, why don’t you introduce to your team, and tell us about what they’ll be doing on the ship?”

“Yes sir,” Andros said. He motioned to an older man standing right next to him. “This is TJ Andrews, the navigator.” TJ nodded, and Andros motioned to another young man down the line. “This is Carlos Vargas, chief medical.” Nodded a young Asian girl. “Cassie Chan, weapons expert.” Another young lady. “Ashley Hammond, assistant to chief medical.” A young Russian man. “Sergei Kravenoff, XO.”

“I wish you luck for when you lift off next week,” the president said.

“Thank you, sir.” With that, the TV went blank. The president went on to discuss the Messiah spacecraft.

“Now, the floor is open for questions,” he said. Several reporters raised their hands, but the president ignored them, looking directly at Kat, who hesitated before raising her hand. “Ms. Hillard.”

Kat stood up and announced her name and television station for the reporters. “Sir, why was this kept classified for over a year?”

“Good question,” the president said, “We didn’t want the public to panic, and if they had known about the comet before we had the preparations made, there would’ve been.” Even though her question was answered, Kat stayed up for a few minutes. The president called upon her again. She asked two more, slightly embarrassing questions about the Rittenhouse scandal and again about the classification of the comet. She finally sat down after he answered her third question. After a while, the press conference just kind of broke up.

Tommy was still sitting with his parents after the press conference. The doorbell sounded. “I’ll get it,” Tommy said. He got up and headed for the door. When he opened it, Kimberly was standing outside.

As usual, she got right to the point. “They were really talking about you? And Professor Cranston, from the astronomy club?”

“I’m the only Tommy Oliver, far as anyone knows,” Tommy said with a grin. “As you can see, the news of my death has been severely exaggerated.” Kim laughed and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him. Behind her, Tommy could see several of the neighbors coming towards the house.

The next day, Tommy was talking at a school assembly. “And Professor Cranston was using our photos,” he said, “On his way to report it, he died. Things were kind of messed up in Washington for a while there, I guess, and they thought that I had died along with him.” He took a question from a young lady, and answered it with ease. A teacher called upon a friend of his, who said that he was so famous, he was going to have more sex than any guy on the planet. From the stage, Tommy could see Kim getting teased about those comments by some girls around her.

The next day, the astronauts were having a party. They had all been told off by TJ the following night about their inexperience in real life missions. While they had a lot on their minds, it didn’t stop them from having fun. They said goodbye to their families, except for TJ, who couldn’t get a hold of his sons.

A few days later, the television stations cut into their regularly scheduled programs to show the astronauts lift off to meet up with Messiah. They went to the comet. Most of the astronauts went out onto the comet’s surface. They set the explosives, but weren’t able to get back before the sun came up on the comet’s surface. They lost one crew member, and another was hurt. Once safely away, they blew the comet up. A big force wave hit the Messiah, knocking out their transmissions to Earth and damaging the ship pretty bad.

A few days later, President Park was addressing the nation on television from his office. Kat, who was knocked down to anchorwoman for not telling anyone that she knew about the comet before the press conference, was bringing attention to the president’s speech.

“Ladies and Gentleman,” he said, “I come to you with a heavy heart. The Messiah has failed. Instead of one, huge comet hitting the earth, there are now one still pretty big one and a smaller one. One is roughly six miles long. The other is roughly one and a half miles long. We’ve been able to predict where the comets will strike. The smaller one, the Oliver comet, will hit the Pacific Ocean. It will cause a big wave, a tsunami if you will, to be washed inward. New York City, Virginia... all of those will be the first to be hit. Washington will be hit by the wave approximately five hours after the smaller comet hits.”

The president hesitated. “The bigger comet, the Cranston,” he continued, “Will be no less than the extinction of everything on the planet, or a extinction level event. The dust and debris from it will cover the planet. Plant life will last a few weeks. Animal life... a couple of months.”

“Ever since the comet was first made known, we’ve been preparing,” he continued, “We’ve been working with the Russian government to make some specially made Titan missiles, to try to knock the comet off course. The bad thing is that they can’t be effective unless the comet’s only but a few hours away. We’ve also been making tunnels all underneath the ground. It can hold one million people. Those people will live in the tunnels for two years, until the dust and debris from the comet has disappeared. We like to call it the Ark, because we’ve also put seeds, seedlings, and things such as that, as well as animals. The other nations of the world have done the same. There will be no profiteering. Any business that’s caught making big money off of the comet will be prosecuted.” He went on to tell about a few other, smaller underground shelters that will be holding a bunch of people. “There will be a lottery like drawing a few days before the comet is scheduled to hit. The details are being forwarded to news stations as we speak. Thank you.” With that, the crew shooting at the White House signed off.

Kat had to compose herself before going on with the announcement. “And we now have the details of the lottery. Eight hundred thousand people will be selected by social security number to meet up with another two hundred thousand, who have already been pre-selected. Those that have been pre-selected: famous scientists, artists, etc. will be flown to the ark. People over the age of fifty, if they haven’t been pre-selected, will not be included.” She also went over the plans for the launch of the Titan missiles before signing off.

Tommy, Kim, and their respective families were sitting in Tommy’s living room, listening to Kat. Tommy and Kim were side by side, and during the broadcast, Tommy had slipped his hand into Kim’s. All of a sudden, the phone rang. Tommy’s mom answered. “Hello? This is she.” She was quiet for a moment. “All right. Thank you.” She hung up the phone. “We’ve been pre-selected.” That had been expected seeing how famous Tommy was, after being the first actual person to discover that the comet was on a collision course with Earth.

Kim’s dad stood up and started for the door. “Where are you going?” Kim’s mom asked.

“To the house,” he said, “Who knows? Maybe we were pre-selected too.”

Knowing the unlikeness of that, Kim went over to her mom, who wrapped her arms around Kim. Kim started crying.

A few days later, Kat was walking along the shores of a lake with her mother. “I feel so bad,” Kat said, “Knowing that I’m pre-selected, and you won’t even be considered to go.”

“Don’t be,” her mom said, “I’m happy, knowing that you’ll live.” They hugged and headed for home.

Tommy was heading for Kim’s house, going at an almost literal break neck speed. When he got there, he found Mr. Hart working on a motorcycle in the garage. “This is a beautiful bike, sir,” Tommy said, “All of the kids in the neighborhood are wanting one just like it.”

Mr. Hart laughed and started towards the front of the house, adjusting some metal bars on the windows as he went. “Help me with these, would you?”

“Yes, sir,” Tommy said. When he finished, he noticed Ms. Hart on the porch behind him, sewing something. “Ms. Hart..”

“Kim’s on the hill,” Ms. Hart said.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Tommy said. He hopped on his bike and zoomed towards the hill, his and Kim’s favorite place, especially to make out.

When he got to the top, he found Kim at the base of their tree. From where he was standing, Tommy could almost make out the place on the tree where he and Kim had carved their initials into the bark. “There you are,” he said, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why weren’t you in school?”

“Dad said that I didn’t have to go,” Kim said, shrugging indifferently. “Said that there was no need.”

Tommy hesitated, and then started to get something out of his shirt pocket. Kim was looking at him, mystified. He held out what was in his hand. It was two rings.

“If we get married,” he began, “You’ll be considered family, and can come with us.”

“What about my family, Tommy? They’re not your family, even if we do get married. I can’t just leave them.”

“Hey, I’m the ‘famous’ Tommy Oliver,” Tommy said, “I talked to some guys in Washington, and they can come, too. Please, Kim? This is the only way you can survive.” To make it official, he got down on one knee. “Will you marry me?” Kim hesitated.

“Yes,” she finally said, throwing her arms around his neck. “I will marry you.”

The next day, the president once again addressed the nation from his office. He was in a bad mood. “Are we on?” After getting confirmation, he continued. “I come before you with a heavy heart. The Titan missiles have failed. They hit the comet pieces, but did not deflect them enough to make a difference. The comets are still on a collision course for Earth. I’m sorry.”

Two days later, Tommy and Kim were standing in front of a minister. It was a small ceremony, with just their parents and Kim’s little brother Justin. “We come here today to join these two in holy matrimony. If anyone here has any objections to his marriage, let them speak now, or forever hold their peace.” No one spoke, so the minister went on. “Thomas Oliver, do you take this woman to love and to hold, to forsake all others, through sickness and through health, until death do you part?”

“I do,” Tommy replied.

“And do you, Kimberly Hart, take this man to love and to hold, to forsake all others, through sickness and health, until death do you part?”

“I do,” Kim replied.

“The ring, please.” Tommy took out the second of the two rings he had presented to Kim and slipped it on her finger. “By the power invested in me, by god and the state of Virginia, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride.” Tommy grinned and swooped in for a very passionate kiss. So passionate, in fact, Kim felt her knees almost literally turn to jello.

Kat’s mother was almost literally destroyed. She put on a dress, put on make up, and then overdosed on sleeping pills. She was found dead by a neighbor.

Kat was in the TV room when she got a call. “Hello, MSNBC,” she said, “Yeah, that’s my mother.” She was quiet for several minutes. She finally hung up the phone, with tears running down her face. She ignored the other people in the room and left, sobbing.

About ten minutes later, she was at the morgue, collecting the jewelry that her mother had on when they brought her into the morgue. She walked out, tears flowing freely down her face.

She was sitting on a bench in the rain outside when her father pulled up. “You’re too late,” she said, “I’ve already taken care of everything.”

“Kathryn, please get in the car,” her father said, “You’ll catch your death out there in the freezing rain.” Kat hesitatingly got up and started for the car. “Please? I need to talk to you.”

Kat got up and started for the car. “I don’t care,” she said, “Why don’t you go to your new wife?”

“I can’t,” her father said, “She left. She went to her mother’s.”

“Well, now you know how it feels,” Kat said, “When mom died, I now feel like an orphan.” She straightened and started walking around the car, ignoring her father’s pleas. She hailed a cab, aware of her father getting out of the car and starting around the back of the car.

A military bus pulled up to the house. Tommy, Kim, and their families were waiting with their bags. “Tommy Oliver?” one of the men that got out said.

“That’s me,” Tommy said. The men started taking their bags, while Tommy brought Kim closer to him. “This is my wife, Kimberly. We have a marriage license.” He handed the license to the man, who looked at them both a little skeptically.

“All right,” he said, “Let’s go.” Her bags were gathered as well. When Kim noticed that her parent’s bags weren’t being loaded, she mentioned it to Tommy.

“What about her parents? Check for the Hart’s.”

The man searched every page of the list that had H. “I’m sorry, but they’re not on the list,” he said. He actually did sound sorry. While the man, Tommy, and Tommy’s parents argued about whether the Harts should go, Kim turned tearfully to her parents.

“I’m not leaving you,” she said.

“Listen to me,” her father said, “You’ve got a new husband. See if you can take your brother with you at least, and go.”

“I’m not leaving,” Kim said. Tommy heard her and went over to her.

“If you’re not going, I’m not,” he said, “I don’t want to leave you, beautiful. We just got married. We haven’t even had a honeymoon.”

“She’s going,” her father said, “Don’t argue with me, young lady.” He took her by the arms and shook her gently. “Go on and live.” The army men came up and started pushing Tommy towards the bus.

“If you’re going, then get on,” one of the men said.

“I’m not going,” Kim yelled.

“Then, I’m not going without you,” Tommy said. Before he could say another word, though, his father pushed him onto the bus. He started to get on, then looked at Kim and her parents.

“We’ll work it out when we get there,” he told them. It was obvious that it was hard on him, especially leaving his son’s new bride. He climbed on the bus. The bus started off, and Kim raced Tommy to the back of the bus, sobbing. Tommy, inside the bus, started crying. He sat down once Kim was out of his line of sight, sobbing himself.

Meanwhile, Kat was at a board meeting. They had drawn straws, and several people weren’t going, including Trini and her daughter.

“Kat, your father’s here.”

“Thanks,” Kat said. The man who was talking to her walked away, and Kat’s father came in a few minutes later, with some kind of package underneath his arm. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to show you to show you something,” he said, “To show you that you’re not an orphan.” He opened up the folder he was carrying. There were several pictures in it. They were of him and here, taken when she was little. “These were taken when you were five years old. Do you remember them?”

Kat shook her head. “I was only five years old,” she said, “How could I? Where was mom?”

“Behind the camera,” her father said, “There wasn’t anyone else to take the pictures, and she insisted. You know how she is, or actually how she was.” Kat nodded and looked at him a bit coldly. “Well, I’ve got to go. Getting out of town and everything. You can keep them.” With that, he gave her a kiss on the forehead and left the room.

Tommy’s miserable the whole way to the ark. He hated leaving Kimberly behind, knowing that she would most certainly die.

“It’s just not fair,” he said, “We finally got married, and now I’m going to be a widower for the rest of my life already.” He then came to a decision.

They got to the ark in early morning. People were outside the gates set up, pleading with the guards to let them in.

Once they pulled up, a man got on the bus. “I’m the leader for section orange 2-4,” he said, “Remember that, because it’ll be your home for the next two years. Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the orientation auditorium.” He started back down the steps. Everyone followed him off of the bus. Once outside, everyone followed him towards the tunnels. Part of the way there, Tommy slows to a stop.

“Tommy, come on,” his mom said.

“I’m not going,” Tommy said, giving her a hug and kiss. “I’ve got to go back for Kimberly. I can’t live without her, mom. I’ll end up killing myself within a few days if I leave her to die. If we die, Kim and I deserve to die together.” Both of his parents could see that he had his mind set.

“Here,” his father said, giving him his watch, some of the money in his wallet and several other things of some value.

“What are you doing?” his mom demanded.

“Giving him something to trade for a trip back,” his father snapped back.

“That’s enough dad,” Tommy said. His father gave him a big hug.

“Be careful.”

“I will,” Tommy said. He started backing away. “I love you.”

Kat was hurrying through the building when she stumbled along Trini and little Aisha. Trini explained that they should be here, since the roads are jammed and Aisha liked that room the best of the entire building. Frustrated, Kat picked up Aisha and started for the stairs, Trini right behind her.

Meanwhile, in space, the astronauts made plans to blow the bigger comet piece into a million very small pieces. They all knew that it would be their last mission, win or lose. They were getting ready to sacrifice themselves to save everyone on Earth. They sent a message to Earth, telling them what they were going to do, and got the codes to arm the four nukes they had left.

Tommy was watching a television somebody had brought. He was kind of cramped in the back of a truck. Someone had taken pity on him, once he had explained his plight, and let him come along, without needing anything in return.

Once on the roof, Kat handed Aisha to Trini. “She’s going with you,” Kat said, “I’m not going.” She led them to the helicopter. Everybody got in and the helicopter lift off, joining several others in getting away from the city. She then gets in her car and starts for her dad’s summer home, where she knows he’ll more than likely be.

Tommy had gotten to Kim’s house, to find no one there. He grabbed the keys for the motorcycle of Mr. Hart’s and zoomed off. Within twenty minutes, he was zooming between cars and such in a huge traffic jam, checking each car that looked like Kim’s.

He was zooming along when he heard a sudden honking behind him and someone yelling his name. He looked back, to see Kim on the top of her parent’s car, jumping and waving to get his attention. He stopped, killed the motorcycle, and then scrambled off, taking his helmet off. He met Kim about halfway there in a big hug. They stopped for a moment for a kiss, and went back to hugging.

“Why are you here?”

“I just couldn’t go to the ark without you, beautiful,” Tommy said, “I would rather die here, with you, then there, without you.”

“That’s so sweet,” Kim said. Her parents came running up. Her mom shoved Kim’s little brother, Justin, into her arms.

“Tommy, go,” her dad said, “Go to high ground as far away as you can. And take Justin with you.” They started pushing them both back to motorcycle. Tommy jumped on and started it up. Kim tried to talk them into letting her stay, but her mom just put the baby holder around Kim’s neck, along with Justin’s diaper bag. Then, she put Justin into the holder. Her dad gently placed a helmet on her, one he had left in the van several days earlier. Tommy waved goodbye and zoomed off, with Kim right behind him, sobbing.

Kat made her way to the summer house. She was right, her dad was there, just waiting for the wave that the smaller comet piece would cause. She walked up to him.

“I lied,” she said, “I did remember that day. It was a wonderful day.” She looked up at him lovingly. “I’ve missed you since that day.” He hugged her closer.

“It was a very good day,” he said. Just a few minutes later, the smaller comet piece came flying overhead.

Tommy and Kim saw it from where they were, and Tommy put the pedal to the mettle, making the motorcycle go as fast as it could.

The comet piece hit in the ocean, making the expected tsunami. It went washing through New York City, destroying the buildings and even the statue of liberty, and kept going, though not as forcefully because of the make shift water break the skyscrapers made.

Kat and her father stood fearlessly on the beach as the wave came towards them. Kat cringed at the last minute, but it was too late. The wave washed over them.

Kim could hear a loud roaring behind them. She turned and saw the wave coming, tossing cars and people every which way. She just tightened her grip on Tommy’s waist, without cutting off his oxygen flow.

Kim’s parents embraced each other as the wave was almost upon them. They kissed right before the wave hit them.

The motorcycle eventually ran out of gas, so Tommy and Kim took to running. They were both cut up some from the branches hitting them hard on the bike.

In space, the astronauts said their last goodbyes to their families. Andros’s wife had a baby, and named it after him. Then, cutting off all communications with Earth, they flew into the larger comet piece. The resulting explosion destroyed the comet, and with it, the brave astronauts.

Kim and Tommy made it to the top of the hill to see the explosion. Then, they looked down, to see the wave stopping. And then, they turned to each other and met with a passionate kiss.

A few days, they were watching the news from their new house. The owners were said to be dead. They were in their robes. The president was addressing the nation.

“The bigger comet was destroyed,” he said, “At the cost of the team of astronauts that were sent into space. Their families have my deepest condolences. The smaller comet hit, causing massive destruction. But the waters have receeded. We will rebuild. Today, the human race has been given a new lease on life. I hope you live that life to the fullest, especially one certain set of newlyweds. They know who they are. For now, good day.”

The End