10 Minutes To Impact “I warned you! I won't warn you again!” Michael
shouts through the small retractable slide that serves as a peep hole on the shelter door.
Despite being several inches of solid steel, the rhythmic pounding of a sledgehammer on
the other side can still be heard inside the small shelter. Outside that door, a man
sweats profusely as he hammers away at the locking mechanism to the shelter door.
“C'mon, there's more than enough room!” “I told you weeks ago to prepare, I told you
there'd be no room with us here. I can't be responsible for you and your family, I won't be
responsible!” Michael shouts again through the peep hole, the man pounding outside the door
can't see Michael's hands clutching the old thirty-ought-six. The barrel's large for a rifle,
but small enough to fit through the peep hole... “I've got my family out here, public shelter's
all full up! Where we supposed to go?! Let us in!” The rhythmic pounding continues, the hammer
pounding away at the locking mechanism keeping the underground shelter protected from whatever
may happen outside in the next ten minutes. “Robert. Get... away... from... this... door... I won't warn you again...” The pounding
continues, the warning ignored. Michael turns to look behind him, nodding at
Alexandra, his wife. “Cover Lily's eyes. Lily, darling, cover your ears.” The eight year old girl
does as she's told, her eyes wide with panic as her mother clutches her close and puts her hands
over her eyes. Michael then looks at his older son, Luke, and simply nods. The asteroid still
hasn't hit yet, but the old world died hours ago as panic set in when the general population
could no longer find appropriate shelter. At sixteen years old, Luke was old enough
for what was coming next. He had to be. Luke nods at his father. Michael lifts the rifle to the peep hole and
sticks the edge of the barrel out the other side. He doesn't have to aim, his target
is so close it's impossible to miss. Bam! The rifle thunders inside the small, cramped
shelter, amplifying the retort to a painful degree. Luke gasps, face white with terror,
but he holds his tears in even as they threaten to squeeze out of the corner of his eyes.
Outside the door the hammering has stopped. Michael pulls the rifle back inside the shelter,
grim determination on his face. He spent years in the service fighting in the deserts of both
Iraq and Afghanistan. This isn't his first kill, but this one- it's just plain wrong. This was
his neighbor. Two months ago he was borrowing the portable grill for a family camping trip. But that
was the old world, before news of the asteroid. Outside the door there's a single, soft sob, and Michael presses an eye back up against
the peep hole. Standing twenty feet down the underground corridor his grandfather had dug
during the start of the Cold War is Carol. “Carol... I'm... I'm so sorry. Carol, listen, I begged him to stop. I- we just can't. We don't
have enough room and I've got two children. You knew, you knew! For weeks you know
we wouldn't be able to fit you in!” Carol stands in shock, tears streaming from her
eyes as she gazes down at the body of her husband. “Carol. Carol! You have to go, darling. You have
to go and you have to find somewhere to shelter. Find a home with a basement or a parking garage
somewhere or... Carol, you have to hurry! Please.” She doesn't reply. Instead,
she slowly turns around and walks back up the twenty feet of stairs
leading back up to the outside world. Inside the shelter, Michael sighs and slumps back
on the wall behind him. The rifle nearly falls out of his hands, but he pulls himself together.
This is not a time to be weak. If they were going to survive what was coming next, if anyone
was going to survive, they'd have to be strong. Michael joins his wife sitting
on the floor and kneels down, gently pulling Lily's fingers out
of her ears. “Shhh, it's ok baby that's it. You don't have to plug your
ears anymore. Everything's alright.” “Daddy, I heard a gunshot.” “I know, baby, I-” “-dad was just warning off Mr. Trucker is all.”
Luke is quick to interject. His father nods his approval at him. Then, he turns his attention to
the shelves of supplies and equipment behind him. “Luke, go on and fetch that old radio, will you?” Luke nods. The radio’s practically ancient at this
point, something his grandfather stashed away down here in preparation for the end of the world. It
picks up both AM and FM, and runs off batteries- which they have plenty of. With what the experts
on tv have predicted happening, it's likely that radio will be the only means of communications
left very soon. Then again, with what the experts on TV have predicted, Luke's not sure there'll
be anyone left to communicate with at all. He shakes those thoughts away and cranks the
radio on, immediately picking up a station still broadcasting. Whoever is on the other
end has obviously chosen not to seek shelter, probably figuring there wasn't much
point in it. There's many like him, millions of people crowd the streets
of every major city in the world just... waiting for the end. Some of them
never bothered to try and seek shelter, some- like Mr. Trucker and his wife- were
simply unlucky and couldn't find any. “-is believed to be sheltering
underground somewhere under the Rocky Mountains along with his cabinet
and most senior members of government. The mountains are largely made of very tough
granite, and it's believed by some- well, hoped- that it'll afford at least some protection
from the asteroid impact. It all depends of course on exactly where the asteroid hits.
Predictions have swung back and forth since discovery of Aester-2022, with some believing
it will strike directly on the coast of Spain, and others sure it will strike a few dozen miles
off the coast into the ocean. In that event-” Michael grabs the radio from his son and turns
the tuning knob. He knows precisely what'll happen in either event as it's all the media
talked about for the last four weeks since the discovery of Aester-2022. Regardless of where
the asteroid lands, humanity will go exticnt. And yet, here he was, huddled with his family
in an old Cold War shelter his grandfather dug with his own two hands. What else was he
supposed to do? He'd heard reports of families taking the easy way out as soon as two weeks
ago but... he couldn't stomach the thought. If there was a chance, he
was going to fight for it. The knob finally lands on another station. “-this very troubling time. Friends, I don't
know what happens next. I don't know if this is judgment day for us all, the end of times, or
any form of the apocalypse. Whatever your faith, all I hope is that you have lived a
good, happy life. And with one minute and thirty eight seconds until impact, I leave you
with this: should any of us pull through this, my hope is that we forget the things that
made our world evil- war, hate, prejudice- and never forget what made our civilization great:
love, respect, and empathy. Amen, and goodbye.” “...amen.” Michael whispers to himself
as the station goes off the air, his eyes locked on the door. He cranks the power knob and turns the radio off, seating himself between his wife and his son.
Little Lily is still in her mother's arms. She's been brave ever since the family packed into the
shelter an hour ago and hasn't even cried once. Michael kisses her on the forehead and
then turns to kiss his son on the forehead. He puts his arms around his family and
pulls his wife close for a quick kiss. “Everyone, go ahead and close
your eyes. Open your mouth to equalize the air pressure and plug your ears.” IMPACT A massive asteroid the size of Rhode Island
smashes into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Its collision course with the earth puts it on
a very shallow angle, resulting in it starting to penetrate our atmosphere somewhere off
the coast of Portugal over the Atlantic. The asteroid physically compresses air in front
of it, creating a superheated shockwave that rides just in front and below the asteroid.
Moving at over twenty thousand miles an hour, it lights up the sky over Portugal and
very quickly crosses over into Spain. The shockwave is so intense that as it flies
over Spanish cities, thousands of people who couldn't find shelter or decided the impact
simply wasn't survivable, are all knocked down to the ground by the force of the passing
asteroid. As the massive space rock nears Madrid, the shockwave below it is so intense that people
are knocked down with enough force to kill them. About thirty four seconds after first
making contact with the uppermost layers of the atmosphere, the asteroid slams straight
into the foot of the Pyrenees mountains that separate Spain from France. Predicting
the impact location of such a massive, fast moving object was always difficult, and the
best estimates have been hundreds of miles off. In the first nanosecond before impact, the
massive superheated air in front of the asteroid immediately incinerates any plants, animals,
or humans within half a dozen miles. The air is so compressed in front of
the gargantuan rock that it actually smashes into the rocky terrain with enough
force to melt it to lava a few inches deep. Then the rock itself actually strikes. In an instant, the asteroid and half a
mile wide, three hundred feet deep area of rock are vaporized. Then the shockwave and
heat, reaching temperatures as hot as the sun, melt rock in the impact zone
down to a half-mile deep. The shockwave propagates through the
ground faster than the speed of sound, and completely tears apart any living
thing caught in its path for several miles. The mighty Pyrenese mountains
themselves are shattered by the impact as a crater a hundred miles across quickly forms,
splitting the mighty mountain range nearly in two. The shockwaves continue racing out and hit
the first major population centers within a minute of impact. Buildings, vehicles,
and people are absolutely annihilated by the force of the shockwave, torn to
shreds and tossed about like rag dolls. At about the same time, a massive plume of molten
rock shoots up into the sky from the center of the crater. Trillions of tons of molten lava fire
up into the atmosphere and even beyond it. In space around the earth rocks from the impact have
already been flung with enough force to eventually leave earth's orbit. Some will end up catching
up with the earth again in a few thousands or millions of years. Others will float forever in
the void between planets inside our solar system. Still others will end up crash landing on
Venus and Mars, escapees from a dying earth. The massive lava plume comes crashing back down
to earth, too hot to be chilled by its flight into the sky, and washes over an area dozens of square
miles wide. Anything that might have somehow survived the shockwave of impact will now be
bathed in fiery lava as it rains from the heavens. The shockwave continues to propagate out
across Europe, leveling cities all the way out to Portugal in the east and Paris in
the west. In the English Channel and the Mediterranean sea massive tsunamis half a
mile high build up and speed out at several hundred miles an hour. The water will reach
all the way to London itself in the north, and destroy the entire southern mediterranean
coastline of Africa. It'll even reach all the way to Turkey, where its seaside communities
will be flooded with waves three meters high. Tens of trillions of tons of vaporized
rocks are picked up by hurricane force winds created by the impact and spread
across the upper atmosphere. This will turn the air poisonous across
all of Europe and northern Africa, but trade winds will eventually bring the
poisonous atmosphere as far as the east coast of the US and the Middle East. By then it'll
be more of a health hazard than a deadly threat however- but for Europeans without breathing
apparatuses their next breath could be lethal. Billions of tons of molten rocks hurled up into
space now start to make their way back down again. This meteor rain of half-molten lava will
reach all the way to Asia and the United States, starting massive fires across every continent
on Earth except for Australia. Millions will die from this deadly rain as it smashes into
cities and towns as the deadliest form of hail humanity has ever witnessed- the fires will
kill anyone who survives the crushing rain. 28 Minutes After Impact It starts with a slow tremor, and then suddenly,
the shockwave of the impact hits the family shelter with enough force to physically pick
up and throw the family around the room. Lily screams as she's hurled out of
her mother's arms, but it's over in an instant and nobody is seriously hurt.
Michael calms the family as best he can, he's prepared them for this and
they all know what comes next. The shockwave of the impact circles
the earth and hits them again. The second time though it was much
milder, simply rattling the contents of the shelf for a bit before passing on. It'll
circle the earth three or four more times, losing exponentially more energy with each
pass but still detectable on seismometers. The first rock falls with a thundering crash
somewhere above and about fifty feet south of them. Michael does the calculations and figures
it must have hit somewhere around the back of the house. The shelter is about thirty five feet from
the back porch, dug twenty feet into the ground. He's pretty sure they're safe, but
as more impacts are heard and felt, he becomes seriously concerned about
being buried alive. He has no idea, but it's raining mountains over the American
east coast- the Pyrenees mountains specifically. “Everybody hang on to each other!” He shouts as
he grabs on to Lily's hand and pulls her close, then hugs in his wife and Luke.
The family clings to each other as the deadly rain of ballistic rock
missiles washes over their community. 6 Hours After Impact It stopped raining rocks half hour ago, but
Michael wanted to be cautious. Now... well, he supposes there is nothing to do but survey the
damage. He passes Lily off to his wife and nods at Luke. Reflexively he reaches for his rifle and
shoulders it- he's not really sure why though. Maybe in case there's other people desperate
enough to try and take his shelter away from him and his family. However, after hours of it
raining rocks he doubts anybody caught out in the open could have survived. Or anyone sheltering
in buildings without basements for that matter. He opens the peep hole on the door and looks
out of it- thankfully the tunnel leading to the outside hasn't collapsed. He was worried
about that, and had stuck two shovels inside the shelter just in case. The door itself
takes significant effort to push open- made worse by the fact that his dead neighbor's
body still lays where it fell six hours ago. As the pair emerge from the shelter, Michael
closes his eyes. He almost doesn't want to look. Seeing what remains will make it
all too real- the end of the world. But he opens them as acrid smoke hits
his nostrils and makes his eyes water. What he sees is nothing short of complete,
and utter devastation. A fiery, burning hell has come to earth, his former suburban
neighborhood completely unrecognizable. It had promised to be a bright, sunny summer day
as the family headed to the shelter at 8:30 am. Few clouds in the sky, but not enough to compete
with the gloriously rising sun. Michael's mind reels from the sight of it all- the sky above
now is black and gray from massive plumes of ash rising up across the entire American east coast.
But the clouds are weird, they look like ripples on a lake and are moving quickly across the sky
to the west. The upper atmosphere is in absolute turmoil even hours after impact, and in a day ash
from burning cities in Europe will reach America. Michael has no way of knowing
if he'd never see the sun again, though many scientists had predicted as much. The family home is nothing but ash. The
fires were so intense that they had burned everything but the concrete foundation and
rock fireplace. The intensity of the flames had thankfully made them short lived though,
and the area around the shelter opening is relatively safe. All over the ground lay shards
of obsidian, globs of molten lava that had risen high enough into the atmosphere to cool before
impacting the ground and bursting like bombs, shredding anything- and anyone in the
vicinity with razor sharp obsidian shards. In the distance where the city skyline
used to be visible all that Michael and Luke can see are the skeletal remains of a few
large buildings jutting up into the skyline. It’s difficult to see more than that due to
how thick the smoglike conditions have become. Coughing and choking, the two quickly
decide to head back underground. Michael whispers a silent thank you to his
long-dead grandfather for the foresight to install an air filtration system in what was
supposed to be a nuclear war fallout shelter. 1 Week After Impact There are still batteries for the radio, but
Luke hasn't bothered to turn it on in days. There would be no point, nobody was transmitting
anything anymore. For two days after impact they could still pick up transmissions from
the west coast, which had been far less pummeled by the initial impact. However, all
of North America is in flames now from the massive wildfires which run completely unchecked
across the continent. The fires have run straight through major cities, and the notoriously
dry west coast went up like a tinderbox. Before the last radio station went down they had
relayed a transmission from somewhere in Europe, possibly Germany. Incredibly, somebody
had survived the initial impact event, but the news wasn't good. Hundreds of millions
killed in the impact alone, an estimated 1 billion dead across Europe and Africa from tsunamis, the
shower of impact debris, and the global wildfires. The air outside the shelter is still not safe to
breathe without a respirator. It’s choked with ash and toxic vapors given off by the burning of
trillions of tons of various building materials and other chemical products that make up our
cities. The shelter's air filtration system works overtime, and Michael thanks his grandfather daily
for having the foresight to install it. Without a doubt though, anyone not inside a shelter with a
similar system is dead by now. Michael's thoughts sometimes turn to his neighbo rCarol... but he
chases those thoughts away as soon as they appear. There's six months worth of food and water in the
shelter. It's cramped, uncomfortable, and a bit claustrophobic, but the family has no choice. It's
simply not safe to go outside yet. So they wait. Three Months After Impact Michael takes in a gulp of air. It's not fresh
by any means, but not immediately toxic either. At least it no longer smells of cooked flesh.
Whatever toxins still linger in the air, there's nothing he can do about it as the shelter's
air filtration system broke down a week ago. Staying in the shelter is no longer
feasible, and he calls down to the family. “Luke, go ahead and bring your sister and mother
up.” They won't have to pass the remains of their former neighbor, Michael had personally removed
those himself on one of his solo trips up top. This is Lily's first time out of the shelter
and she coughs profusely as she breathes in the slightly toxic atmosphere. Michael
frowns, but there's simply nothing he can do for her. He'd like to go and find
some masks or respirators- anything, but there doesn't seem to be anything left to
scavenge. The fires have claimed everything. Maybe there’s something
deeper into the city though. “Honey, stay here with Lily.
Maybe try... I don't know, maybe we can make some kind of above ground
shelter?” Alexandra nods slowly then looks around dejectedly. What kind of shelter can she
possibly make when there's just nothing left? But she quickly recomposes herself,
this is no time for defeatist attitudes. “Luke, you and I will head into the city,
maybe we'll find... I don't know, something.” Luke nods slowly. Michael feels
the futility in his son's gaze, but they have to at least try. Surely the
fires couldn't have consumed everything. The hike into the city is more difficult
than expected. The two have to climb over the molten slag heaps that are all that remains
of vehicles caught out in the open after impact. Most of what's left is ash though, with
here and there a surviving support beam sticking out of the remains
of homes and small buildings. Visibility has improved, but not by much.
Michael can see a few miles ahead to where he knows the downtown area of the city
starts, and the skeletal remains of the tall buildings that used to rule its skyline
are now gone, collapsed in on themselves or knocked over by the massive windstorms that
rocked the planet for days after impact. Every mile that passes Michael
keeps hoping that he'll spot- something. He's not sure what. Just anything.
Some sign that civilization has survived. But each mile brings more disappointment. He knows where the major shopping centers are by
memory, but nothing but ashes and ruins remain- the fires have completely gutted even the
largest of the big box stores. Humanity has never seen fires on this scale, only the dinosaurs
before them saw the horrors of a planet on fire. After a few more miles Michael
stops, sighing dejectedly. “Hold on, son. Let's just... let's just go back.
There's nothing out there. Nothing at all.” Luke doesn't reply, he merely nods
in agreement. He's too tired to keep going and much like the rest of the family,
doesn't even believe there's a point anymore. That night the family has their first dinner
outside, but they can't even see the moon above their heads due to the cloud cover. Dust and
debris has circled the world and will remain aloft for years- maybe as much as a decade.
The loss of sunlight has already cooled the world a few degrees, and the wind bites with extra
chill despite it being the middle of the summer. The world won't descend into an ice age as
commonly feared, but it will fully counteract the effects of global warming and drop global
temperatures by several degrees for years. The family is quiet as they eat, each lost in
their own thoughts. They can't remain where they are, but though none of them will admit
it, there really isn't any place to go either. There are no 'safe zones' from an extinction level
event, and though they'll set out in the morning for the west, heading towards the far mountains
and the national park at their foothills, they have no idea that nothing but
matchsticks will be waiting for them. The fires have killed over half of the
vegetation on the entire planet, and what remained has been dying for months from lack of
sunlight and the effects of extreme acid rain. Their only hope is to find pockets of
civilization that haven't been consumed by fire. Maybe there they can find more canned goods to
survive off. But, eventually, those will run out or go bad, and there's no knowing if either
will happen before sunlight hits the earth again and plants and trees return or not. There's
various doomsday seed vaults around the globe, and well planned long-term survival shelters where
a tiny population of humans have survived impact. In all likelihood, humanity won't go extinct
as predicted. Will it ever be what it once was though? That is doubtful. What's been
lost is incalculable, and even if humanity rebuilds it'll have scores of lost knowledge to
rediscover. Once it tries to move to a second industrial revolution it'll discover that all
of the easy gas and oil which fueled our modern world has already been greedily sucked up by their
ancestors. Is there enough left for a civilization to grow advanced enough to mass-produce
renewable energy technologies? Doubtful. For Michael and his family though,
all that matters is tomorrow, and each day looks a little bleaker than the last. Now you need to watch “Can You Survive A
Nuclear Winter (And Other Nuclear Stories)” Or, have a look at “What Would Happen
If Russia and the US Went to War”
