A whistling sound pierces my ears and I know the end has come. Slowly it rises in pitch. It's far too late to do anything about it now. The world will come to an end for most of humanity in a few moments. Many of the survivors will be deaf. It's better than the alternative. The alternative being your brain turned to mush through a whistle. How did we come to this anyway?
My body shakes uncontrollably now, trying to fight off the end in a losing battle. I no longer hear the whistle. My hearing is gone now. I close my eyes and try to draw back on old memories. Ahh, I remember how we got here. The world needed something better than nuclear warfare to kill each other. With many countries now protected with missile defense systems, it was this or poison gas. This was somehow seen as more humane.
I open my eyes and look out into my backyard. I'm going to miss this place. My vision goes, red, no doubt a blood vessel has burst in my eye. I close my eyes again and try to steady my breath. Death should take me in a few moments. I wonder what would have happened if I didn't quit. I could have stayed and sabotaged the project. I didn't have to just give up because it was unethical. There were ways I could have stopped it. Maybe I shouldn't have rushed to a decision so fast. That's my biggest regret in life. I rushed into everything. Perhaps in my next life, I'll be a patient man.
I grow impatient waiting for death and open my eyes again. Still seeing red, I don't see the end of the world. I have no doubt people close to the epicenter of the sound are dead, but I may have been far enough to avoid death. I suppose this is my chance to redeem myself. Time to rebuild the world. I better learn sign language.
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