Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

by John Joseph Adams

One thing Bailey realized in writing the story is that the world is ending for someone every minute of every day. He says, "We don't need the destruction of entire cities to know what it's like to survive a catastrophe.

On the day the world ended, Wyndham didn't even realize it was the end of the world—not right away, anyway. For him, at that point in his life, pretty much every day seemed like the end of the world. This was not a consequence of a chemical imbalance, either. It was a consequence of working for UPS, where, on the day the world ended Wyndham had been employed for sixteen years, first as a loader, then in sorting, and finally in the coveted position of driver, the brown uniform and everything.

End-of-the-world tales typically make a big deal about such things, but Wyndham's curiosity will never be satisfied. Unfortunately, neither will yours. Shit happens. It's the end of the world after all.