(song: "This Town" - Kygo ft. Sasha Sloan)

Yesterday it was deer, today it's bovine. Herds of cows plow across the roads and I have to turn the car completely off the road and onto the grass just to avoid some of them. A spray of dust and rubble fly up against the sides of our windows and my tires voice their displeasure with being an off-road vehicle.

      Serena hugs her belt tight against her and winces as we're jerked around in our seats. I spot a gap between the herd and press down harder on the gas to try and make it before it's too late. My car rattles and shakes when it tries to go over 80 mph and I silently beg it to not give up on me. We just manage to make our way through and once we're back on the road and past the cows it feels like relief.

      Well, until we see what's ahead.

      The major highway into Salt Lake city was just up a few miles ahead of us. It was packed with cars and police. It looks like a few buildings in the outer circle of the city had been struck and a fire broke out. Everyone is desperate to leave the city, but due to congestion, roadblocks and abandoned cars, they are stuck on the highway. Some families are trying to run out of the city on foot. The meteors still are raining down and while most are burning into ashes, each is reacted to like a potential deadly missile.

      "Is that road the only way to get to the southern part of Utah?" I ask Serena.

      She studies the map with a critical eye and shakes her head. "It's the only way. The only other option is to go back north an hour or two and take the road through Wyoming and go down."

      I regret falling asleep. My dad tried to warn me and I blew it big time.

      I look back at the cattle farms. There's lots of dirt roads, they're all private and there's no telling where they lead or what might happen if we take them, but it's a do-or-die situation.

      "I have an idea. We'll head south on the private roads and my dad's a welder, he always leaves me with a bunch of tools in the trunk. We can cut fence wire if we have to and keep going until we merge into a back road that gets us past Salt Lake City."

      "It's going to be harder to get gas now. Do you think we'll make it to Texas?"

      "We have to. No matter what it takes."

      There is a toolbox my dad leaves in my car for emergencies and days like this I'm glad that he is so mechanically gifted—a skill he passed down to me as well. I pull off the road and retrieve the wire-cutters from a bumblebee colored bag. Serena joins me outside and I hand her a pair as well. We begin cutting the barb wire fencing until there's enough space for my car to get through.

      Serena rations the food we have and offers me an oreo from her bag of snacks. I eat it and take a single sip of water. I'm hungry and thirsty, but who knows when we'll be able to get more food?

      I'm back in the driver's seat and we venture onto private property. It's a big risk, especially when the world might be descending into chaos. Farmers would be more likely to shoot first and ask questions later.

      Another sonic BOOM from behind us in the distance. It's like a monster taunting and chasing us down south in a wave.

      My nerves are shot and my adrenaline is at max. I've never driven so fast for so long ever.

      I feel warmth on my hand.

      Serena rests her palm on top of my hand against the steering wheel to comfort me. I take my left hand off the wheel and hold hers. Mistake or not, I'm really glad she's here. I think I would have gone crazy by now if I'd been alone.

      "Everything's going to be okay, I promise," she says to me.

      "Hey, it's my job to make useless promises, not yours," my voice is much shakier than I expected it to be.

      BOOM in the distance.

      Her fingers squeeze mine to keep me focused on her. "You've kept them so far."

      After a solid hour with sounds echoing in the distance and a spray of dust in our wake we reach another fence we can't seem to get around. I stop the car in front of it and we get to work trying to cut the wires again.

      "Okay, stop right there!" A voice warns us and follows it with the cocking of a shot gun.

      Serena and I spin around immediately and lift up our arms high above our heads and drop the wire cutters. Standing a good ten feet in front of us a man in his 50's with salt-and-pepper hair and dirty jeans. He looks like he might be ex-military from his stature and the way he holds a gun.

      "What the hell? You two are just kids. Where's your parents?" He lowers his gun slightly.

      "We're trying to get to them. They're in Texas," I say and my voice breaks a little.

      "Right, sure and I guess it means nothing to you to break the law then, hm?" The man finally lets his gun hang down at his side, but his grip to it is still firm. "How we're gonna handle this, is you two and going to come with me down to the sheriff's office. He'll sort you out and get you back home."

      Serena lowers her chin to try and look as non-intimidating as possible. "No disrespect, Mister, but the sky is literally falling. I think the sheriff has a lot more to deal with than just two teenagers cutting fences."

      "Do you know what humans are without following the law? Animals." He waves his gun around to gesture towards the pastures around us. "We'd all just be running around, stealing, killing and sexing like any other wild beast. So, young-lady, yes. Even when the world is falling apart, upholding the law is what keeps us humane—"

      He continues to ramble. I'm afraid of the man in front of us—the stranger waving a gun at two unarmed teenagers—but I'm scared of what I see happening behind him even more. Balls of fire moving at the speed of a rocket on a path right towards us.

      Are we just animals in the end? Serena says we are, and this guy with the gun seems to think so. So what is worse: trying to move and getting shot, or not moving and being hit by a fireball?

      I look at Serena who stands beside me. She trusts me, she put her life in my hands. I can't let it end like this.

      Impulsively, I grab hold of Serena and spin her into my arms and the both of us fall to the ground together. I turn my back towards the man in the vain hopes that if he shoots us the buckshot only wounds me. I feel her fingers dig into my shoulder and her body try to protest me protecting her. The man yells and then there is heat and a blinding white flash of light.

      BOOM.

      My ears are ringing. The ground shakes under my body. Rocks fly, the debris of dirt, trees and bush limbs shatter all around us.

      BOOM.

      More shaking, followed with heat.

      BOOM.

      My head feels light all of a sudden, it's harder for me to concentrate. Why do I feel like sleeping?

      Serena's arms wrap around me, she squeezes me so tightly and then everything feels numb. I feel nothing. There's just the ringing, the darkness and the vibrations. Soon even those are gone.