It had been an unusually dark spring. Maybe it was the aliens.

Springtime in Cascadia is slightly warmer rain than in winter, as well as more sunbreaks. The temperatures usually were in the high teens. However, this spring, there had been few sunbreaks, and the temperature seemed content to hang around ten.

However, the dark spring had done little to stop those inevitable few days in May where the sky clears and the temperatures soar to almost thirty. Everyone always cheered up and soaked in the precious vitamin D while it lasted, before the spring enveloped us once more until the end of June.

Those inevitable days had had a more pronounced effect on people this year. In the face of annihilation, we'd thought we'd seen the last of summer. It was unknown if we would make it to July, and so even the government relaxed a bit as to allow us a last day in the sun.

I was at work, work being one of the many large platforms rising around the Sound Area. The one in particular that I worked as was ringed by the trees that had once marked the green opening of the park. Instead, they marked the site of a large railgun, aimed at the sky. It was a slightly awkward location, for if the railgun pointed too far to the east, it'd slice off the tops of some of the Bellevue skyscrapers, but it was one of the few open areas around.

It was also unfortunate for me, those skyscrapers to the east. Had they been to the west, they could have been shading me from the intense sun beating down on us all.

"Tom, you got the temperature?" An older man, one of many coworkers, asked me.

"Yeah... Just shy of thirty."

"Fahrenheit please?"

"You're not that old, are you?" I joked. Looking at him, he did look older than I'd realized.

"Approaching sixty man."

"Right, okay, fine. It's..."

"Eighty Five" The Throne chimed in.

"Eighty Five" I repeated to him. It was evident he didn't take advantage of the augmentations. He was probably regretting it now.

"Eight five, Jesus Christ! Never had to work out in this shit before."

"Yeah, well I don't think we've had to fight against aliens before either."

"Yeah, yeah. When're you off?"

"Fourteen hundred." My AI overlord informed me.

"Apparently, two."

"You lucky son of a bitch. I would kill to take a dip in the lake right now."

"Well" A smug smile crossed my face "Guess where I'm headed?"

"Not for another half-hour you're not." The Throne reminded me.

"Come help me lift this thing." he said, changing the subject. He motioned towards a metal component that had to be attached to the doom cannon in-progress.

Because the government paid bus drivers, like the rest of us, in food and water, bus fares had become nonexistent. This thought was crossing my mind as the bus made a crossing of its own, this one being over the interstate bridge connecting Bellevue to Seattle by way of Mercer Island. Most people took their early days off to go home and get some much needed rest, but today, I was going to live a little.

I had a date I was meeting at Alki. We'd planned for a coffee somewhere in the city, but when we saw the weather forecast, we decided to have a go at what could be our last time in summer weather.

The girl was someone I'd met at my last labor assignment. I'd previously been told by The Throne to go carry materials on construction sites, and that's where I'd met Sam. She had also been a uni student when the broadcast happened, and much like me, she'd been forced to delay her study to work. She'd been the only person there who was my age, and therefore the only person who understood how hard it was on me to have to leave school. We'd talked a bit and exchanged numbers, before we were reassigned elsewhere.

My new assignment in Bellevue, where I helped with designing defenses as well as helping with manual labor, was much nicer than Sam's new assignment, which was manual labor in the mountains somewhere.

"Rainier Avenue Overpass Station" the bus' electronic voice said aloud. I was jolted from my thoughts and looked around as some of the seats on the bus exchanged passengers. The vague smell of sweat still persisted as the seat next to me was filled by a black, athletic looking guy in his mid twenties. He looked extremely familiar.

"Excuse me, has anyone ever told you that you look like Luke Freeman?" I asked him. He looked at me, and his eyes brightened a little.

"Still recognizable, eh?" he asked. I realized then that he was the actual Luke Freeman.

The bus pulled back onto the interstate as we continued talking. "What're you up to these days?" I asked him.

Luke told me that after the government had suspended professional sports for the time being, he was assigned to work just like everyone else. He had fallen out of practice since he had so little time for football now. He'd lost a lot of his wealth to the increased taxes, but didn't resent anyone for it.

All walks of life were truly affected by the alien threat it seemed, as even footballers had been reduced to the same manual labor that Sam and I, as average people, had been.

"My greatest regret is not going to college. I'd kill for one of those nicer assignments up the ladder." was the last thing he told me as the bus pulled into the underground bus station. The platform was buzzing with people as I departed the bus with a farewell to Luke.

I began making my way back up into the blazing heat to find the next bus that would take me to Sam.

Clearly, we were not the only ones who had thought to go to Alki.

The beach was crowded, and the still frigid Puget Sound even more so. I found a clear spot between two of the bonfire pits and set down my bag, from which I produced some towels to lay on.

I took in the scene around me. The people on the beach, the trees and shops of Alki behind me, and the majestic Puget Sound in front of me with the rising Olympic mountains beyond. I had to hold back a tear as I realized that this may be the last time I ever set foot here. My phone beeped as it received a text, distracting me from the scene that was nearly evoking a sob from me.

S: Almost there. Wru?

I responded.

Me: Look around the third bonfire pit down from the volleyball nets

S: Kk, see u soon :)

I returned my attention to the sights and sounds around me.

Several minutes later, I was confused as someone decided to lay on the second towel I'd set up next to mine. That confusion turned to happiness when I realized that my new neighbor was Sam.

"Hey!" I said, giving her a playful shove.

"Nice towel." she responded, looking at the pink layer between my back and the sand.

"Thanks. Knit it myself."

"Really now?"

"Of course not."

My eyes went towards her, from her almond-colored hair to her dark, pine-colored eyes, and then to her T-shirt.

"You're going to have fun waiting in the line at the changing room."

"I can't be bothered really." she rose and began trudging towards the water. I got up to run after her, but running in sand wasn't what I'd describe as easy. She got to the waterline and made it about two steps past before jumping back.

"What happened? Find a jellyfish?"

"Fuck it's cold!"

"It... may be chilly."

"Wha... oh you bastard." I then learned that the puns were enough to allow someone to ignore the eight degree water temperature and swim out anyways. I tip-toed in, before saying 'fuck it' and joining her.

We both huddled together as we watched the sun set behind the Olympics.

"Tom?" she asked

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we'll survive the war?"

"What makes you think we won't?"

"Don't be stupid."

"I prefer the term optimistic."

"Whatever."

"Why do you ask?"

"I just... wonder if we'll get to ever do this again. The sea, the sunset..."

"If this is the dusk of humanity, then I guess as all the politicians are saying, don't go gentle into that good night. Because I suppose if we fight, maybe we'll live to see another sunrise."

"Actually, that quote can be attributed to Dylan Thomas." The Throne cut in. I mentally told it to shut up, and it obeyed.

"That was deep."

"I guess."

"It's just hard, to deal with the fear. And yet I'd rather die under a setting sun then live in some bunker."

"Me too."

We both sat in silence for a while more. At last, the final rays of the sun disappeared.

"You wanna come home with me?" Sam asked.

"I have to work tomorrow."

"I know, just... please?"

"Sure thing." I responded. She grasped my hand, and we interlocked fingers.

[Meta] I tried to get across how hard it may be to deal with inevitable destruction and the like, as well as having to carry on with normal life as you do some things for what's potentially the last time. I thought it came out okay, but criticism is very much appreciated.

Also, because words can't do it justice,

https://imgur.com/a/2zXAe

Pictures I took at Alki in August of last year, though I wrote mostly from memory.