The drive to work was somewhat boring to be honest.  Miles of road passed under the tires of my 4Runner as I drove away from the rising sun.  There was little to no traffic on the roads, which was kind of strange but understandable given that every now and again the emergency warning system would scream over the radio that the President would be addressing the nation shortly.  Internally I scoffed, as the majority of politicians had done little more than screw the people over during my lifetime.  Should he want to make a speech, I'd at least pretend to pay attention.

Nearly an hour passed by the time I finally got into Fairbanks proper.  It was nothing like you saw on TV, as the shows usually showed the more run down sections of town instead of the majority of the hundred year old city.  There was a reason I didn't have TV after all.  If it was something worth watching, I could always stream it or buy the dvd.  Not that it matters now I guess.  Bare streets drifted by as I pulled off the Richardson Highway and onto Airport, enjoying the solemn quiet of the town.  A few more turns and I was in a straightaway to the courthouse.  Old houses and new construction flanked the road and gave the city a strange flavor.  Still, it was home.  A moment longer and I was pulling into the employee section of the newly constructed State courthouse.  It was a large concrete and slate building with far more windows than were necessary in the arctic conditions we were subject to.  Either way, I didn't pay the fuel bill, so whatever.  As I climbed out of the truck, I remembered to grab the somewhat hefty pack off the passenger seat and pull it onto a shoulder as I closed the truck.  Time to get to work.

I wish I could say working for corrections was interesting every day.  I wish I could say something interesting happened at work that day, but when the the whole "speech to America" turned out to be a "keep calm and we'll tell you something later" statement, the day got boring.  In the end, I got sent home after a few hours.  The judge didn't need a bailiff today, and practically nobody decided to show up for any of the other services we offered at the court.  Either way, overtime pay was good, even if it was only a little bit.  Before long, I had gotten back on the road to home.

About a half hour later, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and a feeling of foreboding filled my gut.   With my mirrors clear and hardly any traffic, I just continued to drive for a moment longer before a dull screaming began to fill my ears as light poured into the windows.  It felt like the truck was being yelled at by the gods themselves.  It was all I could do to force myself to look straight ahead and push the gas pedal to the floor, making the truck scream as it accelerated.  In the distance, a pair of small mushroom clouds slowly rose from the bases near town.  Stunned to silence, I just drove.  There was nothing I could do, as going back would be nothing more than inviting death.  I just hoped Rebecca made it to her home in Texas safely.

Silence reigned for the first few days.  My cell phone never rang once through the entire time, and nobody I called picked up.  The phones either rang unanswered or gave me errors about being unable to complete the call.  Truthfully after a blast like that, I was surprised that the stupid thing still worked.  After a while I just gave up on calling people.  I did go out a few times and try to brave the roads, but after driving places I felt were safe and not seeing a soul, I gave up on trying.  Someone had to have survived, but I couldn't find them.  It was too late in the season to try to make it south to warmer climates, so my mind eventually turned to survival as the weeks turned.

Like most people in Alaska, I was thankfully well stocked on pretty well everything, including food and the necessities to preserve it.  During the first week, power failed so I had to resort to charging my phone and tablet from a solar panel, relying on a few guides I had saved for hunting trips.  Knowing the cold was coming, I spent as many days as possible shared between hunting, fishing, and chopping firewood.  Water wasn't really an issue because the house was sat on top of a well head.  Still the lack of storage options annoyed me at first...

Sighing, I closed the notebook and tossed another now useless pen into garbage.  Apparently the cheap Bic pens will work great until the end of the world and then fail you.  The next time I ran into town to search for supplies I'd have to make sure to grab extras.  They hadn't been high on the list of priorities, but pens were useful.  Mentally, I added them to the list as I groaned while getting off the couch.  Over the last few months, the weather had dipped sharply as winter neared.  In that time, I salvaged what I could from town, never once coming across a soul.  A plethora of books filled one side of my office, their topics ranging from survival to fiction to keep me company.  After a week of hard work, I ended up with drum after drum of diesel fuel to feed to the small furnace that worked in tandem for the wood stove.  All in all, for the end of the world I wasn't doing too bad, other than being all alone.

Before I could dip into depression again, I decided to go hunting, hoping the slim morning light would do me well.  Considering the winter snows would lock me into the cabin soon enough, something big to keep over the winter would be a good plan.  And I knew exactly what I was going to get.  I had been keeping an eye on a bull moose that had moved into the swamp down the road, watching it get fat and complacent with no people around.  It was about time for that behemoth to end up in my freezer.  As I passed piles of books, clothes, and other items found on my searches, eventually I came to the large gun safe I kept in a corner of my office.  It was more of a man cave really, as an entire wall was dedicated to my reloading and maintenance equipment for the firearms.  After so many years of owning it, the smooth operation of the dial comforted me.  At least some things people made still worked.  Despite the abuse, the safe still looked nearly new in the gloom, its dark surfaces still somewhat polished.  With a twist of the handle and a dull squeal, the bolts in the door retracted to show a good chunk of the items I accumulated over the years.  

With little more than a pause, I grabbed my faithful Ruger out of the safe, along with extra ammunition and my ever present revolver.  On a thought, I pulled out a little .22 pistol in case there was a grouse or anything else small and tasty on my path.  Food is food and all that.  I grabbed a backpack on the way out, along with some rope coiled by the door and headed out, my hand crossing the runes on the threshold as always.  Just outside the door lay a slightly bloody old sled that had carried many a critter during my hunting trips.  Rifle on my shoulder, I picked up the sled and headed down my somewhat overgrown gravel driveway and toward the swamp.

I had found the moose exactly where I remembered it bedding down.  For a little bit, I watched it, waiting for the perfect shot as I couldn't afford for it to get away.  The weathered but near indestructible Ruger lay cradled between a branch and the body of a birch tree as I watched through the scope at the large creature.  My breathing was slow and deliberate as I gently pushed the safety forward with a soft click.  The cool metal of the trigger met my finger, caressing it tenderly as I readied myself for the work to come.  At least was supposed to come until the bull's head snapped upright in a shower of water and plants it was eating.  I knew something was wrong when the moose's hackles rose sharply and ears started to swivel as it looked around.   That's when I heard it.  Cracking of twigs and leaves being crushed under foot, soft panting noises in the brush across the swamp from me.  The moose tried to break free of the water and run but it was already too late as the wolves burst out of the brush toward it.

That was my big red flag to get the hell away.  I yanked the rifle off its resting place and took off running.  I could always come back for the sled.  On my first step, a root caught my foot and pitched me forward causing a chain reaction.  As I grabbed a nearby spruce to recover, the impact forced the rifle in my arms backward into my face.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

Mentally, I was about pissing myself as I stood back up, quietly trying to get away while the wolves tore into the moose behind me.  It's bellows of pain were louder than mine, I hoped.  Hopes that weren't enough apparently as a pair of howls erupted from the brush not too far away.  All I could do was run.

"Fuck... Fuck... Fuck..."

My feet slapped the ground as I pushed myself harder and faster than I ever had in my life. I could hear them gaining on me, the little bastards were enjoying the chase.  The whole while, my pack was slamming into my spine with every step, but getting away was the only thing that mattered as one of the wolves streaked by my left side.  They were trying to herd me.  Thrashing of bushes on my right alerted me to the other one flanking me.  I barely had time to pull the rifle to my shoulder before it was in front of me.  Reflexively, I mashed the trigger and made the 30-06 roar as it pushed me to the left.  By random luck, the wolf was pitched into the dirt in a shower of blood as the heavy bullet tore through it.  One down, one left to get away from.

As I neared the house, I remember that I locked the door on my way out.  I was screaming at myself in my mind, while the remaining wolf nipped at my heels, harrying every step.  The insane idea of getting on top of the 4Runner came to mind.  It was really the only thing I could work with at the moment, so I aimed for the black vehicle and pushed just a little harder.  It wasn't enough, as pain erupted through my leg as a powerful set of jaws clamped down on my thigh.  As the wolf thrashed against me, I'm pretty sure I was screaming.  I'm pretty sure I punched it in the head a few times as it let go when I hit the ground between the truck and the cabin door.  

Every inch I dragged myself toward the door was agony.  I could hear the wolf circling on the other side of the truck, yipping and barking for more of it's kind to come and feed.  This was not good.  Either way, I crawled and dragged myself toward the door trying to get away.  My fingers were raw from clawing at the concrete, gory streaks across it until I managed to get on the stoop of the door.  Clicking of claws on stone alerted me that the wolf was so very close.  Shaking hands drew a skinning knife off one of the backpack straps as I brandished it like an idiot as the wolf lunged.  I tried to block it with my free hand, but it just ended in agony as the wolf easily chewed into me.  Pain and rage flowed together as I did everything I could do.  I trashed my mangled hand, in the wolf's jaws, trying to grab a hold, while I tried to stab with the other.

Agony flowed through me as the beast tore into me with claws and teeth, eventually lunging at my throat with a snarl.  My arm useless, I did the only thing I could do.  Just as it's teeth closed around my throat, my knife slammed into the wolf's chest.  One after another, I rained the blows down on the animal until it stopped moving with a weak whimper.  As I lay back against the door, spattered in blood, mangled and torn, it took me a moment to realize that it didn't hurt anymore.  I could see rivers of blood dripping down my chest, matting the grey fur of the wolf that lay on my lap.  My vision was slowly fading as the wolf's dull eyes glared at me.  As the darkness took me, a crazy thought came to mind.

"Why are the runes on my door glowing?"

Elsewhere in the multiverse...

Twilight Sparkle was arguing with an unruly mint colored pony.  It seemed that she wanted to prove that the "hooman" things from her mythology books were real.  She had reams of papers floating around her while the young Alicorn refuted her again and again.

"Lyra, why do you insist that these creatures are real?  There is no evidence anywhere in Equestria that they do?"  She just looked at the Princess like she had grown another head."Its simple really.  I just know they do.  You have a few books here that even reference them!"  Twilight really wanted to facehoof at the sheer stubbornness and insanity of her friend, but she understood wanting to prove yourself all too well.  "I assure you, none of my books have anything on humans in them, not even the tomes on magic.  Please Lyra, let this go," she said with a sigh."Well, there is one thing you could do to prove it to me.  You are the one who is the element of magic you know."

"Lyra, why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret even listening to you.  I'll make you a deal.  I'll try to summon something that fits whatever description you have of a human.  When nothing happens, you have to admit that humans are not real.  Deal?"

The mint pony looked down for a moment, contemplating what she was told.

"Deal.  I already have a list of features ready if you want to see it!"

A ream of loosely bundled notes and sketches were thrust under Twilight's nose.  "You want me to read all that for a simple spell?  One page Lyra.  One page is all."

After a moments fumbling through the stack, one crudely written page was presented to the irritated pony.

"This one.  This one has everything important about humans.  What they eat, what they look like, everything."  After a quick glance to the page, Twilight sighed and closed her eyes, not believing what she was about to do for a clearly insane pony.  

A small breeze overtook the library, fluttering pages in open tomes as the lavender librarian focused her magic, drawing it out into the universe and feeling for something, anything, or nothing to end this crazy plot.  Naturally, she was completely oblivious to the mint pony who was staring at her intently, a grin on her face as if she knew what was going to happen.  As if her crazy theories were about to be proven once and for all.

Everything stopped as Twilight gasped and opened her eyes.  Radiant white spilling forth, as if she contained the heart of a runaway sun.  White and purple flames flickering around her form, slowly burning a ring into the soft floor of the library.  The brightness grew and grew, feeding on itself.  A roaring noise coming from seemingly everywhere came from the library, rising in intensity to a crescendo as windows all across Ponyville began to crack and break.

A wave of white magic tore out across the town, with the library in its epicenter.  Ponies dropping everything and scrambling to get away, only to be overtaken, but left otherwise unharmed.  It did not escape the view of a certain solar Princess however.

With a soft sigh, Princess Celestia closed her eyes for a moment.  When she inhaled again, she was standing behind her prized pupil, who was slumped over, gasping for air from exertion.  Shock spreading across her face as she surveyed the seen before her.  Just as rapidly as the blood of the creature spread across the floor, filling every groove in the floor, almost as its essence wanted to paint a crimson flower.

"Twlight Sparkle, what did you do?!?"

Life in Ponyville just got a lot more interesting.