"I'm so thankful for everyone who has survived alongside me up to this point, but there are many, many people who deserved more time than they were given."
-Beatrice Blume

ESTHER

Thank goodness Tempest was taught how to drive pods back in our time, because it didn't take her long to figure out how to drive a car. Once she had the hang of it, we made our way out of DC, up north to Pennsylvania, to Hicksmon. 

"What are we going to say?" Tempest asks from the driver's seat. 

We are parked across from a field where, in our time, Hicksmon buildings have been built, but in this time, it's full of tall corn. To our right, just outside my passenger side door, is the house where my mom Eleanor grew up. Down the road to the left is the farmhouse where my biological family, the Hicks family, lives. 

"I just want to meet them, I think," I say, feeling far too nervous now. "Don't you just want to meet your grandfather Drew and his parents?"

We pulled up this far on the street, because when we pulled onto this road, we spotted Drew playing in the front yard and got spooked. He looks just like Tempest's dad Ian, but small. 

Tempest swallows hard. "What if Yuri and Neo don't stop the end of the world? Shouldn't we warn our families?"

"They did alright on their own," I start, but stories my mom used to tell me about growing up in the apocalypse creep into my mind. "They lost my biological uncle and my mom's mom. We could. We could warn them."

"Go ahead," Tempest says.

"Aren't you going to come with me?" 

"I think I should just talk to my grandpa. I don't think we should get too involved in this world."

"Okay. Do you want me to come with you then?" I ask.

"No, I think I need to do this on my own. I think we should both go on our own, and get out of here as quickly as possible."

I nod. "Then let's go."

We both open the doors and head in our different directions, Tempest back down the road to meet her grandpa and great-grandparents, and me up the walkway to my mom's childhood home.

I feel my heart beating in my throat and my mind goes blank. What will I say to them when they answer the door? I'm not sure, but I am sure of one thing: I'm excited, because this is my family. I ring the doorbell.

After a few moments, it opens.

A woman who looks just like my mom opens the door with a smile. "Can I help you?" she asks.

"Hi."

She seems confused. "Hi."

"Mommy, mommy, mommy," a little girl squeals from behind her. "Is it for me?"

The woman, my grandmother, moves to the side to lift a running, princess-dressed girl into her arms. My mom.

"I'm not sure, my love," my grandmother says. "Is there something I can do to help you?" she asks again.

My mom looks at me with wide, innocent eyes, and my heart breaks for her. Her mom will be dead in four days, and look at her. She's so small, so in love with my grandmother. 

"Yes," I say, hatching a plan. "I'm here to speak to Mrs. Hicks."

"That's me, I'm Meredith Hicks."

"Hi. My name is Esther Valencia, I'm a recruiter for the University of Pennsylvania. The dean is interested in speaking to you about a possible transfer."

"That's... so strange, but exciting. I wasn't aware this was how UPenn head-hunted. Do you always show up at the professors' doorsteps?"

"Only for the most interesting professors. Are you available for a phone interview in four days?"

"On Saturday?"

"Yes, on Saturday. Could you be at home for a phone interview that day?"

"I was planning on stopping at the school and holding office hours, but I can certainly cancel. What time?"

"I will call you around midday with the Dean, so I don't want to give you an exact time. Just make sure you are home."

"Can't I give you my cellphone?"

"That's fine, but you should be at home so you're not distracted."

My grandmother laughs. "This is all so strange, but I don't need many excuses to stay home with this little one on a Saturday. Thank you, Ms. Valencia."

"You're welcome. We will be in touch. It was extremely nice to meet you. I feel very honored."

She laughs again. "Okay, now you're just buttering me up. I will talk to you on Saturday, at my home."

"Talk to you then," I say, and she smiles one more time. 

My mom waves goodbye. Then the door closes, and I have to immediately turn around so they won't look out their windows and see me crying.

I can see why Tempest wanted to do this alone now. Meeting people who are dead now--well, in my now--and seeing people I know to be much older and hurt by time and war as innocent children is difficult. It feels like a piece of me is exposed and open to the elements. I can't go back into the car now, not just because Tempest is still down the street and I can't drive, but because I don't want my grandmother to see me crying in the car in front of her home. 

I decide to walk towards the farmhouse where my biological family is. This one feels less personal, but equally important. I wipe the tears from my cheeks as I approach the porch. The front door is open and only the screen door separates me from the inside of the home, where I see Beatrice, my biological grandmother, reading a book on the couch.

I knock and Beatrice looks up. "Mom, someone is at the door," she calls.

A woman with long dark hair, whose face is thinner than Beatrice's but otherwise is another spitting image of the woman I know, appears from the kitchen directly in front of me, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Hello, are you here for produce?" she asks.

I take the opportunity. "Yes, I am."

"I'm so sorry, we don't have any available today. We sold the rest from the weekend this morning. You could come back on Saturday."

"Actually, I can't on Saturday. I actually have something to ask, sort of random."

"Okay?" my biological great-grandmother says.

"I heard around the... farmer's market... that your husband is a prepper."

"Oh, yeah," she says with a smile and a roll of her eyes. "He's kind of kooky with that stuff."

"I'm a prepper too, and I was hoping I could ask about what sort of medical supplies your husband has prepared."

"Uh, sure, hold on," she says, and then turns back toward the inside of the house. "Lance, someone is here to talk to you."

In a few moments, my great-grandfather comes to the screen door. "Hello?"

"Hi, I have a question about your prepper stuff, specifically your medical supplies."

"Oh, okay, sure. Who did you say you were?"

"I'm just a girl from the farmer's market, but I'm trying to get into prepping too."

"Okay. So what did you want to know? Like, what medical supplies I have?"

"Medicines, actually. What sorts of medicines do you have in stock?"

"I have a few first aid kits, so whatever medicines are included in those."

"I read that you should have things like antibiotics in your kits."

He sort of chuckles at this from behind the screen door. "Sounds like I should be asking you the questions. You're right though, I should have antibiotics."

"Maybe you should get some this week just in case, and then at the farmer's market this weekend, I can show you my kits and we can compare."

"I don't think it's that urgent."

"You never know Lance. You never know when you're going to need resources for the end of the world. That's why we prep."

He nods. "Yeah, you're right. Okay, you're right, I'll go and get some antibiotics. I read that people get them from pet stores, the fish antibiotics."

"Yes, that sounds like what I read."

"Okay, well, I'll see you at the market, then."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tempest pull up with the car.

"Bye Lance," I say to my great-grandfather.

"Bye now," he says as he closes the door behind him.

With tears in my eyes, I make my way back to Tempest in the car.

"Did you do what you could to help them?" she asks. 

"Yes. I hope they listen."

"Yeah. I hope so too," she says, and we drive off.

"What did you say to your family?"

"I just thanked them a bunch and ran off. Not my smoothest moment."

"But I'm glad we came."

"Me too."

"We could go home now, you know. I have the portable FTL drive," I say.

"No," she says, her eyes on the road. "I want to try to convince Neo and Yuri to come back with us, one last time."

"As long as we're out of this time by Saturday."

"Let's hope," she says.