I struggled dizzily to my feet; I had to cling to a tree to balance myself. I squeezed my eyes tightly to make the dizziness go away. Good, the light was still there. The ground was hard and the sharp twigs and thistles hurt my feet, so I stopped and looked around the tree to see if I could find my shoes or a coat, or anything to get a little warmer. Nothing. As I walked, small things came back to me. It was odd that I remembered that I had a dog and was worried about him. Then I remembered my first name, but not much else.
The terrain was getting steeper and when I got to the crest, the light was so bright I had to blink a couple of times to steady my vision. Below me was a flurry of activity. There were strange looking vehicles, and strange looking forms—not exactly human but not animals either. And then it all came back to me in a horrible flash—today was the day the earth was destroyed.
I remembered that these creatures came and destroyed everything and were taking a handful of survivors. I remembered that’s how I lost my shoes and some of my clothes—escaping from them. I hid and watched as they marched about 100 humans onto their ship—knowing that once they took off, I’d be the only one left on earth.
Then I heard my dog bark—and it came from that ship. I didn’t think, I just ran as hard as I could toward my dog! As I got close, two of the creatures grabbed hold of me and dragged me onto the ship. They threw me onto the floor, and I cried out my dog’s name. He came bounding out of the crowd of people and jumped onto my lap. I heard someone say, “I wonder why they let a dog onboard?” Another said, “Probably for testing, like us.” I closed my eyes tight, and held my dog tighter, and felt the space ship start to move. At least I wasn’t alone.