It's not the end of the world as we all have heard at some time or another but what if it really is? If we take a moment to think about it, what if the end of the world is coming? Like, as in coming soon, real soon. As it is said, all good things must come to an end sooner or later, right? Planet Earth is not exempt from that statement.

Our not so peaceful or serene piece of rock which in itself is nothing more than a mere speck of universal dust, has its limitations and the day will more than likely come when we as a civilisation will exceed those limitations.

We can already see those limitations, yet we are doing very little to force change. Extraordinarily little is being done to improve or look after the world we call home. Right now, we are simply prolonging the inevitable, if we are even doing that. The day may soon come where change will be forced upon us and then the thing or question will be, will we have enough time to do anything about it? And the most likely answer will be ... no.

Some food for thought: ... in 1974 the world population count of living people arrived at four billion for the first time in history. In 2011, the population count of Planet Earth surpassed seven billion and in 2021 the world's population comes ever so close to doubling what it became in 1974 as it closes in on the seven billion nine hundred million mark, scary huh? ...

***

Date: May 26th, 2086.

Location: Open military installation thirty-seven miles south of Kabul, Afghanistan.

'Sir, radio reports a major storm approaching, with probable impact on this area being between ninety minutes and two hours. Orders are to clear out, get civilians indoors, find shelter and wait it out.'

'Roger that soldier, get preparations under way.'

'Yes sir.'

Cormack Rhodes and Andre Michaels command separate military units and their paths just so happen to cross at this particular location. They had come up the ranks together only to be parted by promotion, the same promotion they both took advantage of to ensure their paths would cross in this place at this time.

At this particular moment, the two men stand next to one another inside a large open-ended tent. The day at their location in general, and up to this point, had been a peaceful one and one without incident.

The morning had been bright and warm with only a slight cool breeze flowing, though by the time this shared moment had come to be, morning had become afternoon and that slight cool breeze had most definitely picked up, lifting numerous large swirls of dust and sand along with it, effectively ending a somewhat lengthy period of calm.

'This is your area and your call' speaks Andre, 'we are at your disposal, feel free to use my unit in any way you need.'

'That would be of great help to us. There still is quite a bit to get through here and as you heard we have next to no time at all in which to get it done. There is a village twenty minutes south of here. One of my men can give you the co-ordinates. If you would like, you could take our interpreters and get locals indoors. We will catch up with you as soon as we can and take shelter ourselves. With all this end of the world talk we keep hearing about, we are long overdue a biggie storm wise, so be safe.'

'No problem my friend, catch you soon.'

The two friends follow a firm griped handshake with a salute and Andre leaves the tent. After gathering those under his command, Andre would soon set off. It would and did only take a little over twenty minutes for Andre, his men and the additional translators that go with him to make it to the village which had been spoken of.

Upon arrival, the translators begin to tell the locals of the impending storm though these locals mostly all appeared to be a little overactive, more so than what Andre's unit would be used to coming across and it was proving to be a difficult task to get anyone, let alone everyone, inside and out of the way of any potential harm that nature may bring.

An older lady wearing a dark burqa, approaches Andre. She removes her head scarf, grabs Andre by the arm and begins speaking loudly, quickly and in a language of which Andre could not speak or understand. She speaks so loudly that it almost is as if she were shouting or coming across in a manner that has her appearing angered.

'Madam, I need you to calm down and head indoors.'

As Andre moves on, the older lady follows, attempting to move in front of him while continuing and harassingly speaking, distracting Andre.

'Madam, I do not understand you, please calm down.'

Still pressing and speaking loudly, the lady points upwards and over to one side. Andre attempts to make out as to where the lady was pointing. One of the translators also becomes distracted by the older lady's voice. Looking back towards where Andre and this lady happen to be, the translator would try to make sense of the apparent ramblings.

'Swipe... swiping ... swiper ... snipe ... oh crap, sniper ...' her words now louden. 'Sir, get down.'

The translator's warning came too late. One shot has been fired and its projectile hits Andre in the upper torso, towards and slightly below his left shoulder, a spot uncovered by his protective clothing. His body twists upon impact and he falls to the ground almost immediately. The fall itself may have taken only a split second to occur but to Andre, the time between being hit by a bullet up to the point of finding himself on the ground, oddly seemed to pass in a kind of slow motion, almost like as if an eternity is passing in an instant or more so an instant taking an eternity to pass.

Those Andre had come with take cover quickly and the locals including the loud older lady all scurried to get indoors. The sniper at this point or at any other point could not be seen. As for the sniper's motives and what he or she was hoping to achieve? Take your pick; any number of reasons could be possibilities. With all that is happening in the world and to the world, who knows what motivations inspire what actions?

There isn't much left in the world to rebel against, it doesn't even matter that armed forces no longer belong to individual governments or to individual countries and it doesn't even matter that they work for the people of the world for their own safety; there is always some force other than that of nature to oppose any good intention. Then there are also certain things, certain events that have a need to happen.

It wouldn't be long before Cormack would catch up to and come to the aid of his friend and fellow commander. With the weather already having begun to worsen, Cormack and his unit medic would help Andre to move to what they thought would be a safer location, a location hopefully out of the way of any immediate threat.

A darkening sky accompanies the strengthening wind and the now falling rain. Andre may be wounded and caught within difficult surroundings, though he is still breathing and still conscious. It was more than obvious that he is hurt and hurt badly. Unit medics more often than not, have their work cut out for them.

The falling rain had begun fairly lightly though quite soon became heavy and the sky darkens accordingly and in equal measure to this rain. Cormack and the doctor move from their crouched positions to stand in an attempt to move Andre once more; there was a most definite need for all three of them to get indoors. The two uninjured men have hardly got into standing positions when another shot would be fired.

This time the shot fired came Cormack's way, grazing his left shoulder. He only allowed this to affect him momentarily for he, along with the doctor, would soon get Andre into a nearby building and all three men would remain there together for the duration of the incoming storm. Unfortunately, and to great dismay, the storm proved to be one with which Andre would not be able to outlast.

It doesn't matter how bleak anything gets, when light attempts to fight an approaching darkness, darkness instinctively fights harder. Sometimes both sides set things in motion early on in an attempt to gain an advantage, then one thing leads to another.

In the U.S city of Portland, Maine, a girl in her early teens sees the events from afar occur as she sleeps, unaware that the events taking place within her dream are actually happening in a place twenty minutes south of Kabul, Afghanistan and are happening at the exact moment as her dream is ...

                                *********************************************

... This is Planet Earth, home indeed to well over seven and a half billion members of the human race. It is a magnificent world, as far as we know the only world of its kind. It is our home, our place of residence, our small but significant part of the universe and it is being destroyed little by little, piece by piece each and every single day.

There will come a time, maybe not in our lifetime, but the time will certainly come where this forever shrinking planet of ours will no longer be able to sustain life of any kind. Sad thing is that it is us, all seven and a half billion plus of us who are responsible for the daily destruction of a uniquely magical corner of the universe. It is a matter of time, not as much as an if, as so as to a when this ticking time bomb will count down to zero and self-implode.

Imagine for a moment if you will, that the time has come. The time is now. The end of the world is nigh. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunami's, floods, volcano eruptions and the likes are all common everyday worldwide occurrences. Small countries have been evacuated and abandoned. For so many, life has become an intense struggle just to survive. Life is a battle, where the masses are left resorting to live in makeshift shelters while relying on the charity of others for survival on a daily basis.

Unfortunately ... charity is no cure, for the world-wide sickness is terminal. The cancer known as mankind has brought the world to its knees. There is no turning back. There will be no remission. When a tumour is malignant the only course of action is to remove or eradicate it. When the world we live in is that malignant tumour then there is only one thing that can be done.

Yeah, the only treatment, the only course of action is to leave this world behind, leave the only home that mankind has ever known and move on, go find a new world on which, if such a world could possibly exist, we can get to start all over again.

***

The future is so often thought of as being uncertain, no matter how well we prepare for it, no matter how well we attempt to set up our own future. Strange as it might sound, sometimes the future visits the past to present us with roots to be lain in that past so today can be as it is, so tomorrow can lead us ... home. There are times we may be sent to set in motion what needs to occur so we can get to be where we need to.

When the future chooses those with which it needs to affect the past to save the present, who then are we to dismiss such a thing as nonsense and not do what needs to be done. At a time when Humanity is coming together, more out of necessity rather than of choice, some things do become clear. One person in particular, someone as quiet as a mouse and invisible to most, may have a larger role to play with the present, past and future existence of all Mankind.

At a time when borders have become blurred, race and creed have become one, and all of Humanity for the most part at least, has decided to put differences aside, we all will have to step up ... for the very place of all origin has forsaken its inhabitants and it will be up to those forsaken to bring about a future ... a new future ... a new world ... one which reaps the benefits of the roots the future had placed in the past ...