Steven Kalio stared at the rapidly cracking sky and felt…nothing. That wasn’t right, was it? To feel nothing when the world was ending?

He should be scared, or angry, or…something.

But he couldn’t muster up the effort. The numbness wouldn’t let him. His parents' deaths had been what kicked it off.

Isolation had made the problem worse. His close friends had all moved out of Anchorage to the Lower 48, and he just hadn’t put in the effort to make new friends

And after a year of classes that didn’t interest him, he had realized he didn’t even want his major anymore.

By the time he realized his numbness was almost certainly a bad thing, he had been too apathetic to care.

It had been a nice night, so Steven had gone for a walk, and now…

The dark sky warped, then lit up with a bright flash of purple and blue. It looked like the northern lights but across the entire sky. The lights spread over the mountains, and he could see more light rising from the other side of town. That had to be coming from the inlet.

Surely his shell of apathy would crack at this. What he was seeing was impossible, totally impossible.

…So why couldn’t he make himself care?

At least it’s a pretty apocalypse. Was all the reaction he could manage.

The ground started to tremble. An earthquake too?

Screams sounded out from all around him, but the shaking quickly subsided.

Alaska was no stranger to earthquakes, and that was a short one. But combined with the shifting, multicolored sky?

People started running, or at least shuffling, in a panic. The weather had been terrible the last few weeks, warming up to 40 degrees before dropping back to high 20s. Which meant the sidewalks and roads were icy death traps.

People started falling, which only added to the panic.

Steven figured he should go with the crowd. He didn’t know if they were all about to die or not, but he didn’t want the UAA campus to be his deathbed.

He helped a few people up off the ice. He preferred to never go on a walk without ice cleats.

A man clipped his shoulder as he ran past, sending Steven to the ice. The guy he had just helped up glared at the retreating man and shouted, “Asshole!”

Steven climbed to his feet and brushed off his stinging hands.

The man nodded to Steven. “Thanks. I shouldn’t have tried to run like an idiot. I just…”. He trailed off as he stared at the sky. “What good is running even going to do? What’s even happening?” The man's sharp features sunk along with his shoulders.

Steven shrugged. “Dunno. Figured I’d just follow the crowd.”

The man glanced at him and opened his mouth. A second, much stronger earthquake cut him off.

The ground shook, nearly sending them both to the ground. Steven had enough traction with his cleats to stay standing, but the man didn’t. He staggered off the walkway and over to the snow.

The trees shook, causing the built-up snow to slough off. The ice under him cracked, and more screams tore through the night. Steven tuned them out, focusing entirely on keeping his balance.

After fifteen seconds of shaking, the ground finally stilled.

“Shit! I should have just taken another fall.”

Steve glanced at the man's legs. The snow was partially iced over and wasn’t as wet as it could have been, but the man's jeans were still wet up to the knee.

Dangerous, assuming that the glowing sky didn’t kill them soon, wet denim would suck the warmth from your body in a hurry. And while it was relatively warm at 29, that was still below freezing

“Let’s follow the others. Standing around isn’t going to do us any good,” Steven said.

They followed the now distant crowd, Steven making a mental checklist as they walked.

They needed to get inside. That should be priority number one. After that… well, he wasn’t sure.

“You’re awfully calm,” the man said after a minute of careful speed walking.

Steven shrugged. “You seem rather calm yourself.”

He laughed. “No, I’m freaking out. My brain just can’t decide on the best way to panic, so it’s settling for calm right now. You actually look calm.”

Steven studied the man. He hadn’t paid much attention to his looks before, but since the nearest building was still a few minutes away, he took a second to look him over.

He was tall and lanky, with pale skin, a thin blond beard, and short light brown hair. He obviously hadn’t planned on being outside since he was in nothing but jeans and a T-shirt.

“My name’s James, by the way. And thanks for helping me up.” At the word ‘up,’ James' eyes flicked towards the sky, which had grown even brighter as they walked.

“No problem,” Steven said, his own gaze lingering on the sky. It really was a beautiful sight.

He glanced ahead. They were close to the campus bookstore, which would at least be warm for James.

Why are you focusing on helping James? You don’t know him.

Steven considered the thought for a second. Why not? It’s not like I have anything better to do.

He paused mid-step. Is the sky getting brighter?

An instant later, a bolt of solid purple slammed into the ground nearby with a low Vruummm.

The two men didn’t hesitate, immediately running for the nearby building. The distant crowd mirrored them.

The two of them almost fell, but they managed to make it to the store without eating it or getting blasted with a column of light.

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“Please be open,” James panted.

Steven could see that it was, but it wasn’t about to stay that way. A group of students were moving a shelf in front of the door as they ran.

For a second, he thought they would be shut out, but the group paused just long enough for them to make it through the door.

Vrrrruuuummmm.

The second they made it through, more light strikes slammed down, one of them hitting the doorstep.

The group finished blocking the door, but none relaxed as the lights continued to flash down. It didn’t seem to affect the things it hit, but that didn’t make it less strange.

The room smelled like cleaner and sweat and…fear? Did fear have a smell?

Steven shook away the thought and took in the group of students while he caught his breath.

They were a pretty ordinary bunch, with an even mix of fit to not.

The three students carrying the shelf all went into the fit category. Two men, one woman. And while all of them were somewhat muscular, the man in the middle looked like a damn superhero.

Tall, with dark brown eyes, broad shoulders, and a square jaw, his campus hoodie looked like it was struggling to contain his bulk.

“We need to move the shelf!” James shouted, snapping Steven’s eyes back to the door.

More students were rushing towards the store, their legs pumping over the slick ice as purple and blue pillars crashed down around them.

“No.” The brick shit house said, his voice deep and smooth. “We don’t know what those lights do. I’m not moving the cover before we do.”

James spun on him. “Come on, man!” He threw his hands up and took a step closer. “This shit hasn’t been going on for ten minutes; we can’t be in a ‘fuck you got mine’ mindset this fast!”

The guy scowled and took a step toward James. “This is exactly the kind of time we need a ‘fuck you, got mine’ mindset! The sky has turned into something from a movie and is raining down beams of light! I’m not taking chances!”

Steven wasn’t sure what a shelf was supposed to do against the magical skylights, but just the idea of safety was something people would cling to.

You ran inside too, that’s clinging to safety.

“It’s every man for themselves once shit hits the fan. We found cover first. We don’t need to open it up and endanger ourselves!”

James looked like he was about to throw hands, which, considering he was at least fifty pounds of muscle lighter than square jaw, that would end with him getting his ass beat. So, Steven decided to speak up.

“They’ll just break the windows if they get desperate enough. Shelf isn’t going to do much.”

Square jaw scowled. “The windows are thick. They aren’t going to shatter easily!”

“We also don’t know if the shelf will actually protect us from anything, so blocking the door off isn’t going to do much-“ a high-pitched scream cut through the night, the sound so desperate, so raw that it rode over everything else.

They all spun to the windows in time to see a bull moose slam into a student.

People who didn’t live in places with moose often underestimated just how dangerous they were.

They might see the occasional picture or two and think, “Hey, that’s a northern deer, right?” But that really didn’t do the spiteful bastards justice. Alaskan moose can be over 7 feet at the shoulder, average 1,500 pounds, and run up to 35mph with enough strength to plow through snow like a truck.

Top that all off with the fact that moose will end you for being in the same postcode as their babies or just looking at them wrong, and you have something that you should be scared of.

The student got hit with over a thousand pounds of pissed-off moose and went flying. It was pure luck on their part that it was the animal's shoulder that clipped them instead of its antlers, but that didn’t stop the horrified gasps from around the room.

Terrified from the crashing lights and quakes, the moose rampaged towards the other students.

“Cover will definitely help against that, “ James yelled, moving to the shelf. It had taken three people to move it in the first place. He didn’t have a chance of moving it on his own. But he looked like he was about to try anyway.

Square jaw turned to him, his face hard. But before he could do anything, he was cut short as a third quake hit.

Immediately, Steven knew this one was different. This was no gentle thing. It was a furious shaking that immediately threw him and others from their feet. It was like being on a ship during a storm, and after only a few seconds of violent shaking, he felt his dinner threatening to come back up.

More screams, crashing, brilliant flashes of light. The taste of apples.

Wait, apple?

Steven managed to roll onto his hands and knees in the chaos. The rumbling grew worse as the tiles cracked and the ground rolled like a wave, sending people tumbling all over again.

How long is this going to last?

The quake stretched on, every second feeling like an eternity as the world trembled and broke around them.

This will break through, surely? Steven thought. But as the quake passed the minute mark, all he felt was a sense of mild exasperation. This thing just wouldn’t end!

He knew that wasn’t right. He had been terrified of earthquakes, and he should be damn near catatonic from fear, not…nothing.

The ceiling cracked as another blinding flash of light slammed down. Steven felt a wave of cold on his back, heard another, louder scream, then everything went black.

~<>~<>~

He couldn’t have been out long since Steven came back to himself in a faintly shaking store, the remnants of the quake fading as he slowly pulled himself to his feet.

He could still hear screams outside, and a quick glance told him the sky hadn’t returned to normal. Alright. The world is still ending.

Another glance around told him he was the only one left in the store.

Where had everyone gone?

Another scream sounded out, this one just outside the store.

Steven started towards the door, which he only now realized had been blown open. What had happened? He couldn’t have been out for more than a minute, could he?

He stepped out and was almost struck by a bolt of light. Well, those certainly hadn’t slowed down.

The source of the scream was the brick shit house himself. His group of three was desperately trying to keep a car between themselves and the moose.

It’s still here?

That was… well, it wasn’t that odd. With all this chaos, the animal was likely just as scared and confused as the rest of them. Unfortunately, it had picked violence as its go-to response.

Well, the group had made their own bed. “Every man for himself” were their words. Irony didn’t usually strike quite that fast, but the sky didn’t usually rain down bolts of purple, so who was really keeping track.

Steven started to turn away but stopped.

Just then, he had…he had felt something. Underneath his shell of apathy, something was smoldering, trying to break through.

He turned back to the group.

The moose kicked the car and bellowed. Blue frost sprayed from its mouth, quickly covering over half the car.

…Well then, that was definitely a good reason to leave.

But Steven’s feet didn’t budge.

“When shit hits the fan, it’s every man for himself.”

Steven turned those words over in his head as the group of three continued their game of keep away.

They made him feel…something. Anger?

No, that wasn’t quite it.

…If he left them now, he would be proving them right. It was every man for themselves when shit hit the fan. They had certainly made their own bed, but the thought of letting them be right, even in such a roundabout way as letting them die, it filled Steven with…with what?

It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t sadness. The moose bellowed and slammed his antlers into the car, causing the vehicle to slide a foot to the side.

Steven scowled as that emotion continued to burn away at him. It was stubborn and spiky. It was…spite. Yes, that was it. Their words, their belief filled him with spite!

Every man for themself? Bullshit.

Humans hadn’t clawed their way to the top of the food chain with that mindset. It was the polar opposite.

Their intelligence, combined with their cooperation, had pulled them out of the Stone Age. It was the reason they weren’t still living in caves banging rocks together!

And the selfish mindset Brick shit house spouted filled him with enough spite that his feet refused to move.

Are you really considering this? Throwing your life away over something this petty?

Steven paused, his breath fogging in the night air.

“What the hell do I have to live for anyway?”

…

Steven charged the moose.