The End of the World Running Club: A Dystopian Survival Thriller About Endurance and Redemption

by Adrian J. Walker

The truth is I was tired of it all. I was tired of the clamor and the din of a world that made less sense by the day and a life that had me just where it wanted. The truth is that the end of the world, for me at least, came as a relief.

The past is a foreign country, someone once said. They do things differently there.

But it wasn’t an escape. It wasn’t a return to a simpler life; it was a version of a simpler life. A version that replaced cholera, dysentery, freezing winters, lost harvests, frequent stillbirths, domestic violence, incest with underfloor heating, solar panels, and plump trust funds. It was just another decoration: wallpaper, not a return.

“We live on a rock. A rock that’s flying through a place filled with other rocks. It was only a matter of time, wasn’t it? We spent all those years worrying about what we were doing to it, scrubbing our tin cans for recycling and installing things to catch rainwater…” He turned to the window again. The blocks of gray light were fading to darkness, but the rain still pounded the glass. “Seems to me we should have been spending less time worrying about the yard. More time trying to find the gate.”

I feel as if my soul has woken up from a deep, dark sleep and that, as long as I keep moving, as long as I keep running, it won’t go back. I don’t know where we’re going. I don’t know what will become of us or where civilization will end up. But I know where I’m going, and that’s good enough.