I leaned my head back and looked at the stars, and oh, what stars they were. The warm wind blew gently through my hair. I settled myself back against the reassuring chest, laying my head on his shoulder. My hand found his, and I smiled. I was at peace at last.

The stars were too bright. I knew this. The wind was a little too warm for late autumn. Our refuge, our sanctuary, had at last been breached. But I just snuggled a little closer, and again smiled.

There were only couple hundred people left on this side of the world, and they were all lying in the field around us. Some, like Eric and I, just sat in the long grass and waited. Most of the others ran around in a panic, shouting. I didn’t hear a thing.

Eric ran his hands through my dirty hair, murmuring in my ear. In the distance I heard something; a soft whistling sound, getting louder by the minute. Eric began to hum, drowning the sound out. I recognized the tune and started singing along quietly. But the sound just got louder, and I had to raise my voice. The people around us stopped to listen to our song. Eric started to sing too, and my clear voice clashed with his. I didn’t mind.

I saw him turn his head to look behind us, then I glimpsed a bit of panic in his eyes, quickly hidden. He reached out and gently lifted my chin toward the sky. I happily looked at the stars, those bright diamonds, drops of silver.

The end was near. People were screaming now, screaming in terror. Eric wrapped his arms around me, and together we looked to the heavens.

Years we had fought to stay alive, and now we were together. We would always be together.

The time had come. Our fight was long. Now we just had to look at the stars.