The End of All Things

Prologue

New Zealand

Lines of children stand inside the chain link fence of their school, bored, confused, and hot. A boy scuffs his feet in the dirt, making a cloud of dust that causes girls behind him to squeal in protest.

Jacob stands with his bottom lip jutting out and his barely noticeable blonde eyebrows pulled together in annoyance. One of the hovering teachers said he has to wear his backpack, even though it's nearly as tall as his five year old body and it's weight makes him feel like he's going to fall over all the time. He shifts grumpily from foot to foot, not understanding why they're being forced to stand out here under the blistering sun. The bell unexpectedly rang ten minutes earlier and everyone was ushered from the classrooms. Jacob's class had been singing a song, it was fun. He's not having fun anymore.

His teacher tries to start it up again, to settle the fidgeting youngsters. "There was an old lady who swallowed a cat! She swallowed the cat to catch the mouse, she swallowed the mouse to catch the spider, she swallowed the spider to catch the fly..."

Her nervous voice is drowned out by booing from the older kids and she hangs her head, ignoring the sympathetic looks from her older colleagues as she scans over the list in her hands, pretending to double check that all the kids from her class are present.

"Miss Matilda, what's going on?" a boy in front of Jacob asks, drawing out the words.

She smacks a condescending smile on her face. "Like we told you before Tom, all your parents are on their way to pick you up and take you home."

"But why?"

"I'm sure your parents will explain it all to you, but there's nothing to worry about." Her mouth twitches. 

Moments later, the first car skids into the parking lot. A flustered woman gets out and runs to the school gate without shutting the driver's side door.

"Mum, what's wrong?" An older girl steps forward, a puzzled look on her face.

"Abbey, get in the car. NOW!"

Jacob cranes his neck to see more cars spew into the parking lot, one by one at first, but then they seem to come all at once. He's getting more scared than bored now as each of his peers are taken away by their parents, who have to come right up to the gate and sign a form to collect them.

Finally, after almost half the school is gone, he sees his mother exchanging words with a teacher and he pushes through to cling to the hem of her top.

"You okay, baby?" She seems distracted, guiding him away toward the car after handing a pen back to the teacher.

"What's happening?"

"We're going to go visit auntie Claire and uncle James!" she says, like it's something fun - which it normally is, but her smile is taut and there's wrinkles between her eyes where it's usually smooth.

They navigate the busy lot until they finally get to her shiny blue car.

"But why, though? It's not even been lunch time and I wanted to eat the sandwiches you made but I left my lunch box in my cubby and I-"

"No more questions!" Mary snaps at her son, picking him up and buckling him into his car seat. They usually have time to let him try and do it himself, but not today.

His face crumples and he watches her get behind the wheel. Her shoulders rise and fall as she composes herself before turning.

"I'm sorry to growl sweetheart, but mummy has to concentrate on her driving now, okay?"

He nods, but his pouting lip wobbles with the effort of not crying.

"I'm sure your auntie will have something for you to eat."

Twenty minutes of driving later and any thoughts of his mother's anger have left Jacob's head. While the car crunches up the gravel driveway of his aunt and uncles farm, he watches the lambs bounding through the spring grass from his open window.

There's more cars parked outside the house than usual and his mum is quick to pull him from his seat and march him to the front door. Jacob has a grin plastered on his face, ready for an assault of hugs from Auntie Claire, but instead he's greeted by the sound of sobs.

The loud sounds are overwhelming and his eyes dart around the room, trying to establish what is going on.

His mum takes one look at the distraught crowd in the lounge and pulls him through the dining room to the kitchen. With speed only a mother has, she pours orange juice into a plastic cup, slaps some ham and cheese between bread, and adds it to a plate with cookies and an apple.

Jacob winces at the loud noise the plate makes when she sits it on the table with his drink.

"Sit." Mary directs, pointing at the chair, and then moves back into the kitchen. She fills a glass with water and takes a sip before pouring the rest of it in the kitchen sink.

"Mum?"

Her hands are shaking as she smooths her top. "You stay in here, okay?" She barely looks at him before rushing off into the lounge, closing the door behind her.

He feels uneasy, but his grumbling tummy knows there's food. He climbs up onto the dining chair to pick up one of the chocolate chip cookies and starts gnawing at it. There's weird sounds coming from the lounge. Crying and angry voices, he's never known adults to act like this before. He can hear the TV too, but the loud voice is muffled and he can't make out the words.

Scoffing down the food and jiggling in his seat he accidentally reaches for his cup of juice too fast and his hand knocks it, sending it over the edge of the table.

"Uh oh." He wipes crumbs off his hands onto his pants and gets down to inspect the damage. The liquid is rapidly fading into the carpet and he could probably pretend nothing happened, but instead he makes his way toward the lounge door, drawn by curiosity more than his concern for the floor. 

No one notices when he pushes it open and slips inside, looking for his mum. There's people he hasn't seen before staring at the TV. Only one person is sitting down, Uncle James. He's still wearing his farm clothes and he's slouched forward with his head in his hands, which have dried mud on them.

Jacob's shocked to see Auntie Claire in his mum's arms, sobbing violently. 

"Rylee is there!" Her voice is hoarse, but loud. "We talked to her just last night, she's there and now she's dead!"

Rylee? He thinks of his cousin in confusion... She died? His eyes sting with tears and he puffs out his cheeks, weaving between the adults to stand in front of the television. There's a bright red banner at the bottom of the screen with words running across it, but Jacob instead stares at the footage. It's shaky and kind of hard to make out, but it shows an ocean. He frowns, why are they crying about the sea? But then the camera is jerked upwards, to something even more confusing. It looks like a city in the distance... but it's on fire. A shiver zips down his back and his tummy is beginning to churn uncomfortably.

"N-Y-C..." he mumbles the letters he sees on screen, wondering what they mean.

Claire's cries are too loud to hear the speaker properly, so instead Jacob stares at the words with intense concentration. One catches his eye as it slides past with a string of others, and it makes him think of a spelling book at school. He always thought the accompanying picture was funny, a cartoon mouse holding a... He tilts his head and slowly spells it out. "...B-O-M... Bomb."