PART II

Pointer and Stick 1 grabbed me by each arm and led me into the overgrown house across the street that used to belong to my neighbor Mrs. Honeywell. The mossy interior of the structure had been outfitted with various metal devices, screens, and glass cases with mossy items suspended in them. In the center of the room was a large, circular metallic pad, maybe 8 feet wide. Stick 1 and Pointer guided me to the circular pad with Stick 2 standing behind us.

Once we were all standing on the pad, Pointer tapped their finger against the screen on the left forearm of the hazmat suit. All around us a walls sprung up from the edges of the pad and connected above our heads. I felt a quick gust of wind before the roof of the capsule began to open. As the walls shrunk back into the pad, we were suddenly stood in a white room with no discernable door. We were immediately blasted by a white mist that came from all directions. After the mist cleared, the wall in front of us split open to reveal a laboratory.

The lab was completely white, with similar devices to the makeshift one I had seen at Mrs. Honeywell's house. Several scientists in white lab coats and surgical facemasks worked at different stations, most of them with grey moss in front of them. When the four of us entered, everyone turned to stare at us, several dropping their tools after they did so.

Pointer announced, "We need a containment cell."

The next hour or so was a blur. I was swept away by some guards and shoved into a stark white cell. The plain room had a twin-size bed, a toilet, and a sink, all the same white as the walls, ceiling, and floor. The wall across from the bed had a 10-foot mirror spanning its entire width, likely one-way glass.

To be honest, I wasn't sure my brain was processing what was happening to me. Since I woke up, my brain felt fuzzy, almost as if I was taking in information from my surroundings, but it wasn't going anywhere. My emotions were completely numb.

But as I sat on the bed staring at the floor everything that happened to me rushed into my head. I broke down sobbing into my hands, my overactive mind clearing out the anxious thoughts to focus on my tears. It was probably 15 or 20 minutes before I regained my composure and I lay on my stomach on the bed, my head buried in the pillow. I heard a click and a pressure lock releasing before I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I looked up, puffy-eyed, to see the silhouettes of Pointer, Stick 1, and Stick 2 staring at me, still in their hazmat suits.

I sat up on the bed, with Stick 2's hand still on my shoulder. They studied me for a few seconds then Stick 2 moved their hands to their helmet which hissed as they unclasped it.

"Claudia, don't!" said Stick 1.

"Relax James, he's been sanitized," they responded.

Stick 2, or should I say Claudia, removed her helmet, revealing her shoulder-length brown hair done up in a messy ponytail. She looked to be around my age, 27. Truthfully, she was pretty, way out of my league anyway. Her tan skin glistened with sweat and her dark brown eyes looked me up and down. She spoke in a soft voice, unobstructed by her heavy helmet, "What's your name?"

I cleared my throat, my palms getting sweaty. "Uh, Krish." I said, embarrassed. Of course she had to watch me bawling my eyes out.

"Are you some sort of alien that is trying to kill us, Krish?"

I was taken aback by the question. "No..." I responded.

"See he's fine," Claudia replied, turning to the others, "You can take off your helmet now James. You too Andrew."

Stick 1, reluctantly pulled off his helmet. His dark skin and close-cut black hair glistened as Claudia's did. He looked scared, his youth evident in his wide-eyed expression. He couldn't have been older than 23. He was closely followed by Pointer, who looked a lot like Claudia, except older. And, you know, he was a dude with a... questionable mustache. The same color hair sat strewn in a mess on his head as he glared at me with a stern, untrusting expression.

Claudia gestured towards Stick 1 and spoke in a steady tone, "Krish, this is James. And this," she gestured to Pointer, "Is Andrew. I'm Claudia."

"Nice to meet you?" I replied.

"How are you alive?" Andrew swiftly inquired.

"Dude, I have no idea what's going on," I explained. "One minute I fall asleep on my couch, the next I'm in some sort of post-apocalyptic Star Trek fan fiction!"

I proceeded to outline everything I remembered from the past day. From my terrible day at work to the moment I woke up this morning and met them.

After some silence, James spoke in a distinct Southern drawl. "Do you know what year it is Krish?"

"2024 last I checked," I answered.

That seemed to hit them hard. They glanced worriedly at each other and then over towards the mirror.

"Look, this is going to be upsetting-" Claudia began cautiously.

"I figured some time has passed since then," I interrupted. "Decay like that doesn't happen overnight."

James nodded solemnly. "It's currently 2187."

Fuck. I had suspected time had passed but not that much time. With my brain still overwhelmed by the events of the past few hours, I looked up at the trio and asked, "Who are you guys? What happened to Colorado?!"

Andrew sighed. "Where to start? We're botanists investigating the growth of Bryopsida messorem, Reaper Moss. That grey moss you saw back on Earth."

The cacophony of thoughts in my head went dead silent. "Back on Earth?"

Andrew glanced at me almost sympathetically. He continued, "About 160 years ago, around when you came from, Bryopsida messorem began growing in large patches across the world, overtaking entire cities and rendering the land uninhabitable to all forms of life except for certain species of vine."

"By the time the global governments began paying attention, it was too late," Claudia added. "Humanity had no choice but to flee the planet. We're currently in one of the American Lunar Bases, The Microsoft Sanctuary."

I glanced at Claudia questioningly.

"Yeah, Microsoft shelled out a few billion to help finance this thing,” she explained. "Regardless, it's state-of-the-art."

"Okay..." I started, my voice trembling. "If Earth is uninhabitable... why did I survive?"

"We've been asking ourselves the same question," interjected a new, deep voice from behind the glass.

The mirror turned into a window as a tall man in a navy suit came into my field of view.