OT: The End...

[AgentZero]

...of a new story! Or rather, the beginning of a story about the end. Err... There's a .odt attached with all the proper formatting for those of you with Open Office (zipped because Shrapnel doesn't like .odts ), otherwise, here you go!

PROLOGUE
cshhhrrk!

“...unbelieveable! We're standing on a ridge, in the valley below us there are creatures of dark and light, angels and demons, if you will, locked in mortal combat in a colossal battle that stretches as far as the eye can see. To the east, there is some sort of entity too bright too look at, and to the west, another entity that is, for the lack of a better explanation, too dark to look at. The armies of most of Earth's nations are all represented here. Most are fighting on the side of the angels, on the side of God, I suppose, but a good number are helping the demons. Whether this is a choice, or they've somehow been corrupted, I don't know. We're going to try-”

cshhhrrk!

“Andy, our cameraman is dead. We were trying to get a better view of the battle, when some spectre-like figure charged past on a horse and slew him. I'm now going to try to get around-”

cshhhrrk!

“Um, this is Stewart. I'm um, the sound operator. I don't know if anyone can hear me, I can barely hear myself over the screams, explosions and who-the-hell knows what else... Robert and Andy are dead. A skeleton on a horse got Andy, and Robert was trying to get a better view of the action when a blast of energy from one of those, um, angels, I guess, vaporised half his head. The camera seems ok though. I'm not going to try to get a better look, though. That just gets people killed so-”

cshhhrrk!

“I'm back. Camera battery died. I had to crawl to the truck to get a new one. Ran into one of those demon things on the way back. It sniffed at me a bit, but didn't really seem interested, and ran off. Um, hold on. Ah... Something seems to be happening. Some very large men are coming over the north ridge. They seem to be fighting bigger men... The bigger men seem disfigured or deformed. Or, um, both. Some of them don't really even look human anymore. I'm going to poke the camera around this rock to see if I can get a closer picture, one moment... Damn, it's noisey...”

“Ok, you can all probably see it now as well as I can. One of the biggest things over there has a big flaming sword, and no one seems able to stop him. He's holding the sword in the air now... Everything around him seems to be igniting. The flames are spreading fast. I'm getting out of here, those flames will reach me in a few minutes.”

cshhhrrk!

“Holy mothershhhk! Something just decapitated the giant! I think it was a meteor! They're raining down all over the place! Holy shhhk! Where'd that come from? There's a woman, um, blue. She's at least ten storeys high. With six arms, and a massive sword in each. She's carving a swath through everything. Angels, demons, humans, it doesn't seem to matter to her, she's destroying everything! I don't think anyone will be able to stop-”

cshhhrrk!

“Ladies and gentlemen it's all very quiet now. There is an ominous rumble in the air, but it is faint, and all else is silent. Someone, I don't know who, set off nuclear warheads on the battlefield. I can see at least nine mushroom clouds behind me. There could be more, but there's so much dust swirling around I can't see very far. I think everything is dead. There's a charred thing back there that looks like the six-armed woman. I don't know what happened to the bright thing and the dark thing, they're just gone. There were nuclear explosions quite close to where they were, maybe those destroyed them? Ha! Nuke God. There's an idea.”

cshhhrrk!

“Sorry, battery gave out again. I'm hiding in an abandoned car now. I hear the sound of wings flapping, and I don't much feel like getting caught out in the open by any survivors. Something is coming into view... Um, it's a black figure, a demon I suppose, much bigger than the others. And... There's an angel with him, also much larger than normal. They're not fighting though. They seem to be... Yes. I can't believe it, but as you can see for yourselves, they're holding hands. I haven't the foggiest notion what's going on here. I'm going to switch the camera off now, to save the last battery. I should make it to the top of the mountain by tomorrow morning. We set up there last week, there's really quite an incredible view from there. You can see wide, green, rolling hills, little ponds and lakes, and no less than three major cities. It's quite incredible, so I want to make sure I get to show you all one beautiful image after all this carnage.”

click.

“Ok.. huff.. I'm almost at the top now. Whew... It's quite a climb... huff... Almost there... The view though the view is ama- What? It can't be! No. NO!”

cssshhhhhhhhh......

“This is Station 250, to any receiving Station, please respond.”

“This is Station 250, to any receiving Station, please respond.”

“This is Station 250, to any receiving Station, please respond.”

“This is Station 250, to any receiving Station, please respond.”

“This is Station 250, to any receiving Station, please respond.”

“This is Station 250, to any receiving Station, please respond.”

“This is Station 250, to any receiving Station, please respond.”

“Station 250, this is Station 339 responding. Your signal is very weak, over.”

“Roger Station 339. Please provide coordinates and we will attempt to boost our signal towards you, over.”

“Roger Station 250. Ahh... That's a negatory on coordinates. Something got in here the other day and our GPS unit now has a hole in it the size of your fist, over.”

“Roger Station 339. What is your geographical location, over?”

“Ahh... Station 250, if you point towards Los Angeles you should hit us, over.”

“Say again, Station 339, did you say Los Angeles? We've been told there's nothing left over there, over.”

“Confirmed, Station 250. Los Angeles is gone, but we're not in LA. But if you aim your signal in that direction, we'll get it.”

“Understood, Station 339. Realigning antennae now, standby.”

“Station 339, antennae realignment complete, do you copy, over?”

“Confirmed, Station 250, it's like you're sitting right beside me, over.”

“Heh, glad to hear it, Station 339, what's your status, over?”

“We've got a good sized population, eight to ten thousand, maybe. An Army battallion passed through here a while back and we convinced them to stay, so we're well protected. What is your status, over?”

“Similar, Station 339. We've got maybe ten or twelve thousand survivors, and plenty of provisions. Maybe we could arrange a trade for some of that military protection though, since we're a bit short in that department, over.”

“Roger Station 250. I'm not authorized to make such decisions, but I will pass the idea along to the right people. Must sign off now, the generator is running low on fuel, over.”

“Acknowledged, Station 339. We've got plenty of fuel we wouldn't mind trading for some soldiers. Before you go, I have a question if you don't mind, over?”

“Go ahead, Station 250, over.”

“Roger Station 339. You said to point our antennae towards LA to increase reception, but I never said where we were. How were you aware of our location?”

“Roger Station 250. You'll find out soon enough. Station 339 out.”