At last I reached the top of the snow-covered mountainous hill. I grabbed the top of the summit and used the last of my energy to pull myself up. With my legs still dangling over the side, I twisted my lower half until my whole body was finally on the top of the snow. I wanted to rest, but I knew I couldn’t. At this point I was so exhausted that I had to summon the last of my adrenaline just to stand. How tired I was, and the strong evening chill made me feel faint. My knees shook and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. I took several deep breaths as I felt beads of sweat drip from my forehead. I took another deep breath and used the slight burst of energy to wipe away the sweat. As I looked down at my palm, my vision began to blur. Suddenly, all the strength in my body left and I collapsed onto my knees in the snow.

I took one last deep breath and saw it come out of my mouth like smoke. I had no idea just how long I sat there. Maybe a few moments, maybe a few minutes, there was no way to tell. The sun wasn’t even visible anymore due to the sky being blanketed in dark grey clouds. I clutched my elbows and shivered. There were no sounds anywhere, not even a faraway echo. I closed my eyes and held my breath for a moment to slow my heartbeat. I couldn’t even form coherent thoughts I was so lightheaded. In fact, a strong tingly went through my whole body as if I were taking a bath in cotton.

A loud rumble above caused me to instantly open my eyes. It sounded like thunder and clacking train cars. All of a sudden, the hill rumbled underneath me. I couldn’t tell if it was just the hill that was shaking or was it the whole area. Black clouds swirled above the wooded area below in a circular motion as if they were forming a tornado. The vortex was enormous. Maybe it was miles across, I didn’t know for sure. More clouds were pulled into the vortex as it twirled faster and faster.

Once more, I took another deep breath and mustered up the strength to stand. I started to make my way over to the other side of the hill. There had to have been just a few inches of snow on that hill, but when you’re so tired that it takes all of your being just to stand, then there may as well be several feet of the white stuff. Several times I fell on my knees and landed face first in the snow. I coughed and gaged as I spat out snow and dirt. I glanced up as the sounds of the rumbling became louder. At the center of the vortex, the clouds began to open apart. In the center was a gigantic, black-colored hole. I gasped and opened my eyes wider. The clouds had not revealed the blue that was the sky, but an empty black void. My sense of time was off, but it couldn’t have been night so soon. The grey clouds over the horizon were still illuminated so it had to have been evening still. But why was this black hole appearing in the sky amongst the clouds?

‘Now what?’ I thought. A few moments later, the dark void slowly began to glow brightly. It unleashed a bright yellow flash that seemed to light up everything. I had to shield my face from its intensity. It was almost as if the sun had returned and made up for lost time. Moments later, the bright flash died down and was replaced by a simple glowing yellow that filled in the void. Rays of light broke through the darkened clouds and shined upon the snow-covered landscape. The snowy woods illuminated brightly with a golden aura.

I force myself with nothing but willpower and adrenaline to stand back onto my feet. I finally made my way to the edge of the hill and stared outward at the snowy, wooded landscape below. In the distance the area was littered with the bleeding bodies of the dead. Their blood painting the snow a darkening red. It was horrible what happened to them. As I stared at them from above all I could do was think of brief glimpses of what happened. Crows, buzzards, and vultures were everywhere pecking at the corpses ripping the already disfigured bodies to shreds. The birds all looked mutilated and diseased. Some of them had their feathers falling off, and their skin underneath was decaying. As some of the birds pecked away at the bodies, they vomited violently causing their own insides to hang out of their beaks.

The sound of nearby flapping and a caw caused me to jump. I screamed and fell back on the ground. A lone, undisfigured crow landed beside me twitching its head rapidly. It spread its wings and cawed loudly. I could feel my heartbeat speed up. The cookies and soda I consumed earlier jumped back up in my throat. In the moment, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if the bird wanted to attack me or what. I didn’t want to provoke it, but I couldn’t help but feel myself tense up. Knowing what these little bastards have done I couldn’t hold in my anger.

“Get the hell away from me!” I shouted. I grabbed a handful of snow and flung it at the bird, which made it fly away. I watched the bird fly for a few moments before falling onto my back. As I laid there staring at the grey clouds above, I took more deep breaths. My heart continued to race rapidly but I did feel it begin to slow a bit. “I never want to see another goddamn bird,” I said to myself.

In the sky, white colored balls of different shapes suddenly appeared from all around that shined like light bulbs. They rose toward the big yellow hole in the clouds.

‘What the hell are those?’ I thought. I waited several moments until I was certain that a small amount of energy had returned to my body. Even still, I struggled with all of my might to stand. I looked outward and saw that the balls of light were coming from the bodies below. As the birds ripped them apart, the orbs came out and floated upward into the sky where they met up with the bright yellow void. I felt my jaw dropped. Suddenly, a sharp pain shoot through my head.

“What the hell is this? Shit! Not again!” I shouted. I grunted and grabbed my head with both hands. The pain felt like a strong migraine moving from my body up to my head. I staggered and shouted at the top of my lungs which echoed through the area. It was the same pain that I had recently grown accustomed to, though that didn’t make enduring it any less daunting.

I fell back onto my knees and collapsed face first in the snow. My head twisted to the side just enough to let me get a glimpse back up at the sky. There was no getting back up. I didn’t have any more energy. Not to mention that it felt like a burning anvil with nails on the bottom was sitting on top of my head. I glanced upward and noticed a ring of light forming a few inches above my head. All of a sudden, the pain in my head stopped and it felt as if some of my energy had returned. I didn’t know what happened, but I sat up on the ground. I reached up to grab the ring of light, but my hand passed right through it. Was this thing responsible for the sudden burst of energy in my body? My attention gravitated back to the sky. The balls of light nearly filled the sky as they continued floating upward into the massive hole.

“What is this? Why is this happening?” I said to myself.

So many things happened but I didn’t know why. I lowered my head and stared at the snow. What happened to us? How did we all get here? I didn’t know what to think about or even how to think. There was a huge blank in my mind. A heavy feeling dropped into the pit of my stomach. Who knows if it was the wind or not, but I felt a strong cold shiver go down my spine. I tried thinking back to before all this started but I had trouble focusing my thoughts. Everything for the most part seemed to be going right until all of this started.

But now I was here, in this situation. I didn’t know what would happen next. Would I be the next one to die? Would I end up like the others? My body shivered in anticipation. I closed my eyes. Even while attempting to remember back to what happened yesterday, I couldn’t help but to say the first thing that came to mind.

“Oh my god. Please let this be a dream.”