Carrie leaned against the railing of the bridge, haloed by a bright lamp that had to have been installed not more than a month ago. She stared into the sky, trying to pinpoint with her naked eye the trajectory of that which would be not just her undoing, but the world's. She knew it was coming - they all did - and yet, it was still too dark to see. Nevertheless, it was only days away.

In the brush surrounding the bridge, she could hear the crickets chirping, and the cicadas buzzing further off. There were a lot of insects around these parts, and she was familiar with most. As a child, she came to this very spot to hunt for ladybugs. She came back when she was older to share her first kiss with the star quarterback from her high school. She returned here to burn the photos of that failed relationship. She arrived here days ago to end it all, when she found out the meteorite was on its way.

Like the trajectory of the celestial doombringer, it was hard to pinpoint why she was still here, why she hadn't taken that leap. The drop was steep enough. She knew that if she landed right, it would be her curtain call. Maybe it was her family that anchored her. Maybe it was a deep, gnawing fear of death. She chuckled quietly to herself, pondering the inescapable. It was going to happen at some point, regardless of whether or not she wanted it. Maybe it was something else.

Something rustled in the bushes, just then. A deer, Carrie thought, but she turned to look anyway, only to be met with glowing eyes that peered at her from the shadows. She froze in place, her muscles too tight to move. A deep, shaking breath filled her lungs as she watched the eyes get closer and larger, the light of the bridge revealing the face of a gigantic moth creature. Walking on human legs, it approached the middle of the bridge and paused, turning its head to the same sky Carrie looked at moments before. It walked to the railing, grabbing onto it with its segmented arms. As it watched the sky, its wings lightly fluttered and spread open only partway.

For a while, Carrie didn't move, afraid to earn its ire, but a peculiar motion from the creature caused the fear to leave her body. The moth creature lifted its arm and pointed to the sky, its wings rubbing together to form clicks and chirps as it turned to look at her. Carrie looked back into the sky, watching the stars flicker.

"You understand what's happening, don't you?" she asked, turning to read the moth's face.

The creature nodded.

"Are you..."

Carrie hesitated to ask the question. It was hardly more than rhetorical, but an opportunity like this would never come again.

"Are you scared?"

The creature paused, then slowly nodded again. Carrie could see the nervousness in its movements. Carefully, she stepped closer, and with each advance, her ears became more aware of the roaring ambience that was starting to build, and that was when she realized why she couldn't see it: it was going to hit the other side of the world first. She would only see the wave of fire that would come to claim her and the creature.

Down below, she watched the city of Point Pleasant become engulfed in flames and destruction. Even from here, Carrie could hear the frantic screams of a lost people, doomed to extinction. They needed an outlet for their uncertainty and fear, and violence was that outlet.

"Why are you here?" she asked the moth creature. "Why did you choose to show yourself to me?"

The creature responded by moving closer, lightly pressing its fuzzy body against her arm. Carrie looked down and smiled. "Ah," she lamented.

"I s--"

A deafening, thunderous, world-shaking crack exploded through the atmosphere. The ground suddenly shifted back and forth, as if an earthquake just made itself known. Carrie felt herself losing grip on the bridge, only to be caught within the creature's arms. She looked up at it, eyes wide in horror before she scrambled to her feet and back to the railing, watching the horizon grow alight in a brilliant orange. As the temperature suddenly scaled to sweltering heights, she looked to the creature and mouthed several words, her voice taken away by the overwhelming blare of death's trumpet sounding the end.

The creature took Carrie into its arms and hugged tightly, staring at the quickly-approaching blade of fire that eviscerated all in its path. Carrie, thankful not to be alone in the moment, shut her eyes tight.

Her hearing was the first to go. All else followed.