“The asteroid is going to hit the earth after only a few hours. Scientists are still unsure about where will the asteroid fall. For safety reasons, we strongly recommend residents to stay home and close the windows, so that the shock wave will not hurt your eardrums. Now, Let’s turn the channel to professor Paign, a professor who has been ……”

I turned down the channel. People’s speaking now became mussy shuffling sounds, humming around my ears. Driving home, focusing on the passing pedestrians and monotonous streetscape, I let out a breath. 

“What about the rents? Could you manage to pay the bill two days earlier?” Asked Jack, who was sitting as a copilot, playing his phone, focusing on a silly card game, popularizing the whole country in only a few days.”

“Maybe. But it is obvious that it’s easier for you to get those extra money. Superexcellent employee, uh?” I answered back, “Are you sure it is sensible for a freshman to ask for salary?”

“Hey, no time for quarreling.” Jacked murmured, “The thing is, we have to pay the bill two days later, and our employer will not pay us a single cent.” He stopped, “and the rent, will cost us an arm and a leg.”

I kept silent. Everyone knew that it was an economic downturn. People were losing their jobs, and it was likely that we would be the next one. It was still light outside, but cloud was filling the sky. Everything was losing its color. 

“……so, it is assumed that the asteroid is made of metal, probably precious mental. Therefore, it is hard for the asteroid to vaporize in the earth’s atmosphere. Plus, I strongly recommend that people who live downtown evacuate, because according to the latest calculations, there is more than an 80% chance that this meteorite will land in the park ……”

“Wait, you mean, precious metal?” Jack jumped up from the chair, but immediately caught by the seatbelt, hurting his nose. “So, is it possible, I mean, to get a piece of asteroid, so that we could sell it at a high price?”

“Don’t be silly.” On the other side of the road, a car speeded behind us, heading downtown. I pay full attention to avoid crashing into the crazy driver. “No one will be able to catch the asteroid. We will pay it with our life.”

“It is not the case.” Jack answered with confidence, “It is possible, I mean, possible, for us to get a piece of debris of the asteroid. The debris is probably made in silver, or even gold, and we could pay for our rent.”

“Oh, would you pay the rent with your life?”

“Do you know what will happen if we cannot pay for the rent?” Jack asked. 

Silently, I agreed with him. He was right. We would be killed by the freezing weather. We would be kicked out of our cozy bed, lying on the street, feeling temperature going away from our chilling body. We had no other choice. We had to catch the asteroid—or at least, some pieces—with our hands. 

Without hesitation, I turned the car around and turned the radio back on. Without knowing the exact time when the asteroid would hit the ground, I put my foot on the gas heavily. The car trembled, and rushing towards downtown. 

We all assumed that everyone who lived downtown would be scrambling to get out. However, I was wrong. Our journey back was not very smooth. I would not describe the highway as “crowded”, but still, some cars were rushing back with us, and some, were even faster. 

“Crazy!” Jack exclaimed, “Are they going to catch the asteroid, just like us?”

“No idea.” I replied. A huge truck rushing over us, whistling loudly. “The truck must be overspeed.”

The night falls, and not a while, we arrived at the park downtown. The downtown area had lost its usual buzz. Street vendors had already taken refuge, and there was no light in the Windows of residential buildings. “……The asteroid is going to hit the ground within thirty minutes. Again, we advise residents in the lower city to evacuate as soon as possible to prevent unnecessary loss of life and property……”

I looked up. The meteorite is clearly visible from the ground. Bright yellow flashes make the deep blue night sky as bright as day. It got bigger, bigger, bigger……

Ashes were blown up from the street, creating a foggy world. Then, fire alarm started to ring, with orange fire coming out from the fog. I just felt a pair of big hands pushing my head down. “The announcement of the broadcast is inaccurate! The asteroid has landed! Get down and cover your ears!” I couldn’t see anything but the world of dust that filled my vision.

All of sudden, the car window shattered, breaking into shards of glass, streaking across my sight. I felt a sharp pain in my hand—the glass had definitely cut the back of my hand. Then, through the palm of my hand covering my ears, there was a deafening bang. There is no doubt that if I had not covered my ears, I would have lost my hearing.

I looked upwards. A shiny, firing piece was flying towards me. It was a piece of asteroid, I thought. However, it was burning, and obviously I could not catch it with my hands， so I decided to  pick it up when it cooled down. “Hey, Jack, I think we found a meteorite. We’re going to be rich!” As I was shouting, a figure rushed out of the fog and reached out to pick up the splinter.

We didn’t even know there were people fighting over meteorite fragments with us. “Stop! That’s our piece!” Jack was the first to react and rushed out of the car door, shielding the meteorite with his arm. Then his arm began to burn. Jack started screaming. “Please call an ambulance…… ” I shouted. However, it disappeared, leaving a thick smoke and a twisty human body.

Two days later

In the empty room, a TV was performing the news. “…… The man who tried to collect meteorite fragments were seriously hurt. He believed that the meteorite was made of precious metals. His arm was badly burned. However, in fact this meteorite is made of copper…”