[ WP ] Write about a city where everyone believes that they are the only survivors of a recent apocalypse , and how they are proven wrong .

The pain radiating across my face was excruciating. I rolled over in bed and clutched my nose, squeezing shut my eyes in an effort to stop the tears from flowing. I the throbbing in my nose was so bad that I did not even notice the rattling of the glass and rumbling outside my window. I cautiously pulled my hands from my nose and cracked open my wet eyelashes to check my hands – no blood. I sat up in the darkness of pre-dawn and took stock of what happened. The shelf above my bed had come unhinged, and with my limited night-vision I noticed books strewn about all over my room. I sighed, still gently rubbing my nose, and figured the wall finally had enough and threw the book at me. 
 
 *RUMBLE* 
 
 In the distance, it sounded like thunder rolling across the plains. The sky briefly lit up with a ferocious grey-white light and died down again. Moments later, the windows rattled again, followed by a gentle shaking of the small cottage I called home. I pushed the rest of the books off my bed, rolled over, and went to sleep. Thunderstorms were no reason to lose sleep. 
 
 The gentle lapping of the sun at my eyelids woke me up later that morning. I slowly stretched and bid good morning to the sun. Still coming out from my sleep, I wondered from afar what happened to my alarm. It had been a while since I had woken up before the alarm. I rolled over to my nightstand and shifted the alarm clock so I could see the time. The digital face was unyielding; none of the glowing green numbers were there. I starting growing uneasy, which jolted me unwillingly out of my sleep and caused my anxiety to rise. A couple of slaps against the clock proved that it was still not working. I glanced at my automatic watch on the nightstand and shot out of bed. I was already an hour late to work! The rest of my morning was much of the same; lights were not working, the fridge had gone out in the night, and my coffee was not ready. I rushed through my morning routine and ran out the door and down the street to work. 
 
 Running to my job at the main store, it finally dawned on me that most of the town was already out on Main St. I slowed to a walk and tried to process what was going on. Then I heard the shouting, “ Everyone please come down to the school so we can talk about what happened last night! Make your way to the school, we will have a community meeting in 30 minutes. ” The town mayor disappeared inside the school doors. What was this all about? 
 
 I work in a town with a population of 200 people ( approximately 60 families ). You know everyone, everyone knows you. You know their routines, their quirks, who to avoid, and who to befriend. I moved here 6 months ago to escape the big city life. I wanted some seclusion and solitude ( but not a hermitage! ) to try to get a better understanding of what life was all about. A small town with a negligible population looked as good a place as any to stop and dwell on the meaning of existence. I was not well known in the town, preferring to keep to myself, and was recognize many of the store ’ s customers out on the street at the same time. 
 After gathering in the school ’ s gym, the mayor finally address the crowd. 
 “ Folks, we wanted to get everyone together to talk about what happened last night and this morning. Most of you know there was some kind of thunderstorm last night. What many are figuring out now is that our electronics don ’ t work. ” He paused to hold up his old Nokia phone. 
 
 “ As you can see, I cant even get this thing to turn on. The power in the town is out, and none of our cars seem to be working. I don ’ t want anyone to panic, but we will figure this thing out. ” 
 
 All I could think about was how, immediately in that moment, I decided that life was all about being social and enjoying people ’ s company. And how now was a great time to start getting to know my neighbors better, in anticipation of what was to come. I started to wander around the room to try and make some friends. 
 The rest of the day went by in a blur. Parts of the day stood out in my mind. 
 
 “ We don ’ t have any television or radio signals. Even Tom can ’ t raise anyone with his SW antenna, its only static. ” 
 “ All the hard lines in town are not working, we cant even call out! ” 
 “ Who is going to eat all the food in my fridge!? It is going bad and we don ’ t have any more ice! ” 
 
 The more people talked about what had happened, the more it was evident, no one was able to get access to the outside world, and no one was coming. A day passed, then two, then a week. The town settled into a routine of sitting around hoping for things to change for the better. Rumors started swirling around that this was the Rapture, the end of days. Our weekly shipment of fuel came and went with no sign of delivery. The stores supplied dwindled with no hope of restocking them. As supplies ran down, the townsfolk got more and more cheerful. It seems the discussion of the Rapture was taking hold; everyone expected that when the last of our worldly good ran out, we would all be transported to a place of everlasting peace and prosperity. 
 
 Being a city man, I thought everyone was full of shit. But I knew better, I kept quiet and smuggled long-lived goods back home every day to my small room. I was going to squirrel away until I could figure out some way to return to civilization. I recalled that the nearest bus ran through a town that was a good 6 hour drive away, and would require quite a bit of planning to get there. I thought everyone was nuts; who in their right mind believed it was the end of days? It had to have been a mistake, someone somewhere in the government wrote the town off as a margin of error calculation and the next thing we knew we didn ’ t exist to the outside world. 
 
 By the end of a month, I knew it was time to go. I had saved up enough ratios to make the 400 mile trek to civilization. I had to get back to life, knowing that there was some purpose to living, if only to just be alive and enjoy each day on its own. The town had grown even more delightfully oblivious to their impending doom. Everyone was happy not having enough to eat. Each neighbor would talk to the other saying wondrous things about how Heaven would be amazing, and how they would shortly have no want for anything. I wanted to get the hell outta the town. They had started holding sit-in vigils on the main street every night, discussing the reality of being the only town they knew of that had survived the Rapture. How they were blessed and chosen and had lived good lives. It was ironic watching the town waste away while they planned for life in the next world. 
 On the morning of the 6 week anniversary of the Rapture event, I had made up my mind. I was ready to leave the town. The last of the food had been depleted, and the townsfolk were starting to become delirious from malnutrition and starvation. I had waiting out long enough for something to change, but in the end no one was willing to accept the truth. Once again, with the early morning sun breaking through the clouds, I set out from my small room determined to either make it to civilization or learn to live like a hobo on the roads until I found something that looked like humanity again. Starting at the congregation on the main street one last time, the stillness was pierced again by a faint rumbling in the distance. People slowly raised their heads off the street, peering into the distance to try and ascertain what was happening. A low cry started from somewhere in the crowd, it ’ s the Ratpure ’ s end! Finally an end to misery on Earth! I shook my head and started walking off toward the horizon. To my surprise, the rumbling was growing louder. A low cloud was forming on the horizon, in the direction of the old highway which ran by the town. I took out a set of smuggled binoculars and peered in the dust cloud ’ s direction. A strangled cry gurgled from my throat. It was a convoy of military trucks! I turned and shouted at the towns folk, “ You idiots!! We are not alone! We are not alone! ” 
 The stunned congregation stood up and moved to the side of the road. In time, the convoy passed into town and stopped. Bewildered men in fatigues stepped out of the enormous trucks. They told us that they were informed no one lived in this town anymore. They told the us that they had been conducting nuclear tests in the area and the EMP blast must have knocked out all comms with the town, including cell phone towers and landlines and the power grid. They told us that the town was spotted while doing satellite imagery analysis and someone thought it should be checked out. They told us that the trucks were here to take us to the closest city, some 6 hours away outside the fallout zone, where we would be checked out and given a place to stay, courtesy of government imminent domain. 
 And that is the story of how I survived the apocalypse and the Rapture.
