In two days, every single living cell on planet Earth will be dead.

You have one chance, Mark Fischbach.

~~~~~

I didn't get any sleep last night.

I kept having flashbacks of my past and I kept seeing that horrible vision of the bloody knife.
I almost felt a sense of relief when I looked over at the alarm clock and saw that it was time for me to get ready for work.
I had to go into work today. I had this feeling deep inside of me that I had to go to work, no matter if Amy and Penny protested me doing so.
I had to go to work.

As I sat up in bed and let out a yawn, I looked over and saw that Amy and Penny were sleeping together. Penny must've had a nightmare sometime during the middle of the night and asked if she could sleep with Amy and me. I really don't know why I don't remember this happening . Perhaps that it was because my mind was too preoccupied with all the flashbacks and the haunting vision to focus on what was happening in reality.

Nonetheless, I gently placed a kiss on both my wife's and my daughter's forehead before I forced myself to get out of bed and drag my exhausted body to the closet. I slowly and carefully opened the closet doors so that they wouldn't let out a loud creaking and run the risk of waking Amy and/or Penny. I then searched through my clothes until I found my work uniform. Once I found it, I took it off of the hangers and began walking to the bathroom in order to get dressed.

*****

After I finished getting ready for work, I left the house and was immediately blinded by the sunlight. I closed the front door behind me and stood on the porch as I allowed my eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight. After a few moments passed and my eyes had become fully adjusted to the sunlight and to being outside, I could clearly see that the Earth had changed so much over these past few days. The grass had turned brown and many plants and trees had died. I looked up at the sky and saw that it wasn't a bright blue color like it would've been on a clear sunny day. Instead of a bright blue color, the sky was a gray color. The only source of bright color came from the sun, which somehow managed to shine brightly, despite Earth's deteriorating state.

I found myself looking for the morning newspaper, only to discover that it was nowhere to be found. After a few moments of searching the entire yard for the paper with no success, I came to the conclusion that there was no morning paper at all. After coming to that conclusion, I pulled my car keys out of my pocket before unlocking my car and opening the door. I sighed as I sat in the driver's seat before closing the door behind me and buckling in my seat belt. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I started my car, trying to prepare myself for whatever awaited me when I arrived at work.

*****

As I was driving to work, I took notice of how I was the only person who was actually out driving. Normally, I would feel relaxed by this since I usually enjoyed being the only person out driving while I was on my way to work. But now, since the Earth is dying, I felt a sense of dread and even depressed when I saw that I was the only person out driving. Seeing one person walking around outside did absolutely nothing to assuage the sense of dread and the feeling of depression that I had.

When I arrived at work, I parked in my reserved parking spot and took my time getting out of my car and walking to the building. As I was walking to the building, I prayed for the first time in a very, very long time. I wasn't exactly someone who was religious or someone who felt comfort whenever they would pray. But, nonetheless, I prayed to a higher power that I didn't even know if I actually believed in or not that I would see my boss or at least one of my co-workers when I entered the building.

My prayers weren't answered.
Upon entering the building, I could see papers scattered all over the floor and the board that depicted the downfall of the company I worked for via a red line tilted on its side and almost completely falling off the wall.
"Please tell me that there's at least one other person here." I whispered to myself as I began heading towards the hallway that led to where my lab was located. "There has to be at least one other person here. I can't be the only one in this entire building."

I felt my heart sink down into the pit of my stomach where I saw "Sorry" written on the wall in what appeared to be blood.
"You!"
John's growling voice caused my attention to shift from "Sorry" being written on the wall to his tall figure standing just a few feet away from me. He was holding a bloody knife in his right hand and his right wrist had various cuts on it that were seeping blood, a sign that he had made the cuts very recently. Because of this, I came to the conclusion that he must've been the one who wrote "Sorry" on the wall.
"This is all of your fault Mark!" He continued growling at me with a look in his eyes that showed that he had fallen completely over the edge. I felt chills run throughout my entire body when his eyes met mine. "You'll pay for this!"
At that moment, he began running towards me with the knife pointed directly at my chest. Despite the fact that I had gotten little to no sleep over the past couple of days and I had been overly exhausted during that time, I suddenly felt a new surge of energy run throughout my entire body as I felt my heart pounding in my entire body. A huge rush of adrenaline kicked in once John was close enough to me to where I could quickly tackle John to the ground before he was given the chance to drive the knife through my heart. I successfully managed to keep him pinned down so that I could take the knife from his hand before I kicked him and punched him hard enough to leave bruises all over his body and to leave him with two black eyes.
"Now, what was that you said about me paying for all of this?" I asked John, feeling quite proud of myself since I successfully managed to defend myself.
John groaned in pain as he slowly stood up. I prepared myself for him to attack me again, but calmed down once I realized that he was in too much pain to actually attack me. "Yeah, yeah, whatever Fischbach. I wouldn't get so smug if I were you. You may have won this round, but you won't win the next round. You can count on that."
"Whatever you say John." I couldn't help but let out a laugh as I watch John limp away from me as he began heading towards the exit. "Hope you have a good rest."
"Like I said, I wouldn't get so smug if I were you!" John shouted as soon as he reached the door. As he successfully managed to open the door after struggling for a few moments, he added, "I'll be the one getting the last laugh! Just you wait and see!"
I was about to reply when he slammed the door behind him and quickly limped away from the building.
"Oh thank God." I chuckled. "I thought he'd never leave."

After I grabbed the keys to my lab from the drawer where all of the keys were stored, I began heading towards my lab. As I was walking to my lab, I couldn't help but feel a sense of loneliness. Since John left, I was now the only person in this building. A part of me hoped that I would see Ryan and get to have a light-hearted conversation with him, something that I was once very annoyed with or that I would see Jim and hear him yelling at everyone to get back to work and to quit slacking off. Even though Jim's nagging would still annoy me, I would much rather hear that than the dead silence of this empty building. I sighed as I unlocked the doors to my lab before putting the key into the pocket of my lab coat and slowly opening the double doors. As soon as I stepped into the room, the lights came on and I shut the doors behind me. As I looked at my surroundings, I realized that, despite the fact that this lab had been my place of work for years, I felt like I was stepping into an unfamiliar room. I also felt like I was a brand new employee at my company all over again and that I was being shown my lab for the very first time. I wasn't exactly sure why my lab suddenly felt like a strange and unfamiliar place to me because there wasn't anything missing and everything was where it was meant to be. Nonetheless, I pushed my feelings to the side and immediately got to work trying to find the cure that would save the entire world.

*****

"Goddammit!" I loudly cursed as I saw the big red "X" on my screen for what felt like the millionth time today. "And to think I was sure that that would actually work!"
For the first time since beginning my work, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was currently past the time that my shift would be over. Deciding that it would be best to head home since Amy and Penny were probably worried sick about me, I began cleaning up my work space.

After I finished cleaning up my work space and locking up not only my lab, but the entire building as well, I began heading out to my car. As I was walking out to my car, I pulled out my phone to see just how many phone calls I had received from Amy throughout the entire day.
I was very surprised to see that she hadn't called me once throughout the entire day.
My surprise was soon replaced with worry as I realized that this was extremely out of character for her.
If I were to leave the house without telling her, she would immediately call me upon realizing that I was gone and ask where I had gone with a very concerned tone in her voice. It didn't make sense that she wouldn't even call me once to see where I was, especially given the situation that we were currently in.

As soon as I reached my car, I quickly unlocked my phone and found her in my contacts list. After I found her in my contacts list, I tapped on her name before I tapped on her phone number. My hand began to tremble as I placed my phone up to my ear, hoping with every fiber of my being that she would pick up my call.
"Come on!" I muttered, frustration and fear lacing my tone as I listened to the phone ring repeat over and over again. "Please pick up! You have to pick up!"
I felt my heart starting to pound in my chest when the phone stop ringing and play Amy's voicemail.
After listening to Amy's voicemail, I took a deep breath before I began leaving her a message. "Hey honey, it's me. I was just calling to check on you to make sure that you were doing okay and to tell you that I'm on my way home from work. I'll be home soon. I love you."
I let out a sigh as I hung up and put my phone back into my pocket.
"Please tell me that nothing's wrong." I whispered as I got into my car. "Please tell me that everything's okay and I'm just worrying for absolutely no reason at all."

*****

As I parked my car into the driveway, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. I felt like something terrible was waiting for me when I went inside and I had no idea why. Nonetheless, I pushed my horrible feeling to the side and got out of my car before locking it.

"Honey, I'm home!" I called out as soon as I entered the house. Almost as soon as I went inside, I noticed that there was something terribly wrong. All the lights in the house were off, which is something that is extremely out of character for both Amy and Penny. I placed my hand on the wall and felt around for the light switch since the fact that it was nighttime made the house even darker than it already was. Once I found the light switch, I turned on the light. When the light turned on, I was met with the sight of an empty living room.
"Amy? Penny?" I called out for my wife and daughter worriedly as I began heading towards the staircase. "Where are you guys at?"
Once I reached the staircase, I turned on the light before heading up the stairs.
I really wished that I hadn't turned on that light when I reached the top of the stairs when I saw what was waiting for me.
"Oh my God." I whispered in horror as I was met with the sight of Amy lying outside the bathroom. She was lying in a pool of her own blood and the blood stained the area where her body was lying and the bathroom door.
"Amy?" I asked quietly as I kneeled down next to her body. I knew for a fact that she was long gone, but there was still a part of me that hoped that this was just some horrible nightmare and that I would wake up to see that she was sleeping soundly beside me.
I felt tears forming in my eyes as I gently picked her up and held her in my arms. I didn't care that I was getting blood all over my clothes as I held her. All I cared about was that I had come home to find my wife lying dead in the hallway.
"Penny!" I whispered as I realized that my daughter was nowhere to be found.
I carefully set Amy down where I found her before I walked over to Penny's room. Not even bothering to knock on the door first before I did so, I opened her door and turned on her light.
Like earlier, I wished that I hadn't turned on the light when I saw what was waiting to be discovered when I did so.
"No! Not you too!" I cried out in horror as I saw my daughter lying in her bed, completely motionless. The area near her bed, her blanket, and her motionless body were all covered in blood.
I felt my entire body begin to shake as I forced myself to walk over to my daughter's bed and pull her blanket back.
I broke down crying when I saw her face.
Her face showed that she did not have a peaceful death. In fact, her face showed that she had the exact opposite of a peaceful death. The various wounds on her body showed that she had tried to save her life, but whoever had committed the heinous act of taking her life away proved to be much stronger than her.
"I'm so sorry sweetie." I whispered as I felt tears rolling down my cheeks as I carefully picked her up before allowing her head to rest on my shoulder. "If I had stayed home today, I could've saved you."
I barely managed to exit her bedroom due to the fact that I was trembling so badly and the fact that I was crying my eyes out. As soon as I stepped into the hallway, I noticed that there was a trail of blood that led from Penny's room to the bedroom that Amy and I shared.
"I'll be right back." I murmured as I carefully laid Penny down next to Amy. "I have to go check something."
Ignoring the fact that I was completely and utterly insane for talking to my dead daughter, I walked over to my bedroom to find that the door was open. Knowing that something horrible awaited for me when I entered that room, I closed my eyes and wiped my tears away before I drew in a deep breath before I forced myself to stop trembling so badly. Once I managed to calm myself down at least a little bit, I opened my eyes and entered my room.

When I entered my room, I saw John hanging from the ceiling by a rope. A noose was wrapped tightly around his throat and a small pool of blood was lying underneath his feet.
"You selfish bastard!" I yelled at him as I found myself reaching into my pocket for the knife that I had stolen from him earlier. After I managed to find it, I pulled it out of my pocket and approached his body. Once I was close enough to him, I drove the knife into his stomach. "How the fuck could you do this to me? What made you think that it was okay for you to kill the two people that meant the most to me?!" Tears streamed down my face as I slowly removed the knife from his stomach and watched as blood seeped from the wound that I had made. "You're such a coward! You knew that you would have to face me when I came home so you took your own life so that you could avoid that!" I then drove the knife through his chest. "If you were alive right now, I'd make you fucking pay! You had no right to mercilessly slaughter my own family, you piece of garbage!" I quickly removed the knife from his chest and didn't bother to watch the blood spill from the fresh wound as I drove the knife through his right shoulder. "I hate you! I fucking hate you! I know that the fact that Earth is dying is all my fault but you should've taken all of your anger out on me! Amy and Penny had absolutely nothing to do with all of this! It's all my fault!" As I began removing the knife from his right shoulder, my entire body began trembling and I lost balance, falling down on the ground a moment later.
"It's all my fault." I whispered, beginning to sob as the trembling of my body grew worse. "It's... all... my... fault..."

*****

"I'm sorry." I whispered as I finished burying Amy and Penny beneath the tree that just outside our house. Penny had always loved this tree, even when she was a toddler. She would always tell me to watch her as she climbed the tree and when she wasn't doing that, she was asking me if I could build her a treehouse.
I wish that I had built that treehouse for her.
"I'm a terrible husband and father." I continued to whisper as I stared at the wooden crosses that I had built to mark where Amy and Penny were buried. "Neither of you deserved to have me in your lives. I couldn't even save you from John. I was wrong to go to work today. I should've just stayed home. I just... I just wanted to see if I could actually find the cure. I just... I just wanted to see if I could be a hero."