It's been two weeks since the bombs fell.
Life has been completely changed. I hope that my mother and brother made it into the vault on time. Getting out of the church was difficult. Luckily a basement window was broke and I was able to make it out with a few scratches. But the most pain was from being thrown against the foundation from the shockwaves.
I've been busy sorting out the garbage from our home. I'm finding photos burned or broken toys from Richeys room. As I was sorting through everything I notice that the basement door was open. After father died, mom never went downstairs that was his place. I crept downstairs my heart jumped into my throat when I saw that everything that my father had left behind.
There was all his old rewards, clothes and projects that he was working on. I walk further into the back of the room and see that there's a safe. The door was wide open most of the contents broken. One thing that stayed safe was my father's burial flag. I immediately remove it from the safe and wipe any grime away. There was some rips in it due to the items in the safe. I made sure to take this with me. After looking around the basement a little more I find a stimpack that my father was saving in a box. I went back up the stairs and left home.
I went back to the church to set up a makeshift camp. I kept hoping that they would open the vault door but I knew that was impossible. Once the vault had sealed it had also determined my fate, I wish I could see my mother and my brother again. The church had became a safe haven for a few people and myself in the coming weeks. In times of hardship you see the strong and the weak. Some people had formed gangs and would terrorize groups that try to survive. Most of us had to take shifts to make sure people wouldn't come take what we had stored. Luckily for paranoia that the chinese would come most people had stockpiled weapons. Each of us had something to help protect us. But that didn't mean we couldn't protect ourselves from radiation poisoning. Children and the elderly became sick. Tt was hard to make sure they had water and food but rationing was putting a strain on us. Soon most had passed away, it was hard on some of younger people as we had to take care of it. Once you buried enough bodies you become numb.
Some of the refugees decided to move on to DC to see if there was somewhere safer despite some of us asking them to stay. We set up recon team led by surviving soldiers to look for food and water. We learned how to boil water and food cooked thoroughly. We knew that it was still not safe but it's what you need to do to survive
It was early on Christmas day. The air was still filled with the smell of burning buildings even though most of the fires went out days ago. Where there would be snow was dirt. I stood at the cemetery where my father was buried, I sat in silence looking at his plot. Over the years the engravings on his stone was wearing away. I thought about the day before dad left for Anchorage. I failed him I was supposed to make sure Mom and Richey was ok now I don't know if they died or made it to the vault. I thought coming here would help like it did so many times before. I would talk to dad, I dreamt that he would appear and give me some advice about what to do. But in this moment I was completely abandoned. No parents no brother no friends no one. I got back up an wiped off my jeans.
I headed back towards the church to go start my shift. I know I wasn't the only one some of these people have seen their loved ones pass on in front of them. Some like myself never knew what happened. Most didn't get accepted into the vaults due to not having enough money or status to reserve a spot. We got ours because military and government got first pick in most areas. I got back to camp and I headed to the camps leader to grab my pick of weapon. I took the next shift due to nightmares so sleeping was out of the question most nights.
"Hey kid" I looked over and saw that an older refugee coming to sit next to me outside of the church "hey" I said in a husher tone. "Who is your team?" "I'm sorry?" I looked over at him confused "My team?" "Yeah! Baseball. Come on you must have paid attention before this disaster?" he joked "No not really, my dad took my to a Red Sox's game when I was younger" "Good man, your father. Not the team that I would've chosen but thats none of mah business" "Oh yeah?" I turned towards him with a slight grin "Who is your team exactly?" "Oh 'bout the greatest team on earth son, Chicago cubs!" as he threw his hands up in the air. "You see boy. The world is dark now but there will always, be a little good in everythin." He turned around and I heard glasses tinking. "How old are you?" "I'm 17 sir" "well" he paused a moment thinking "What the hell..here" He handed me a bottle of Gwinnett Lager. "If the world didn't go to shit I wouldn't be offering otherwise. Buh it looks like you can use a drink" I grabbed the bottle from his hand and looked at it. I never had beer or liquor and no one did in my family even when my father was alive. I went and took a sip out of it and immediately spit it out. "Yea, tastes like piss at first, but you'll get used to it" I took another swig still was awful but he was right I needed it.
We talked about our lives before the bombs and what we had planned for the future. "I knew yer father by the way" He slurred a little bit. "Good man, he helped me get my cah out of a ditch when my boy crashed it." he threw the bottle behind him "Keep the memories, they will be the most precious thing you have now." His eyes were glistening I wanted to ask about his son but was too afraid to ask. "What 'bout your mum?" He said straightening out "Did she make it?" "to be honest, I'm not quite sure. I was at the corner store when I heard about the bombs. When I made it home no one was there I ran immediately here to see if I can make it into the vault. But I got here as soon as it closed." he looked back at me with sorrow in his eyes "I'm sorry boy, I pray that they made it" "I do too."
The rest of the night was filled with drinks as others joined as we sang Christmas songs all through the night. It was the most peace we had and the last peace that would happen in a very long time.
A few weeks have passed by and we started to run low on food. Sargent Henson, the leader of our refugee group had set up a team to go out and look for more food. I had volunteered I didn't want to stay back and wait. We started preparing the weapons that we had most were automatics and hand pistols. But we also made some out of the wood and nails. One of the bigger men in our group even made a sledge hammer out of a block of cement. We had been given orders to head to the nearest grocery store and start there. With any luck we may be able to find more cans of food and some other supplies.
We started out and we were quiet, most of us started out as civilians never held a gun in our life until now. I took out the piece of my fathers flag and tied it around my head, it was hot this late into January. Due to the bomb it never got below 60 degrees. Some areas were even hotter and we tried not to venture into those areas. We got to the store and Clint stopped "Listen, let's try not to be heros in here. If there is any bad signs we need to get out fast, everyone understand?" We all nodded and started to head in. Some of us headed towards the back to look for medical supplies and the rest went up and down the aisles.
I decided to head to the loading dock at the back of the store. Most of the doors were off the hinges due to the bombs shockwave. I entered the back area looking through some of the trucks I stopped
what was that?
I prepared myself in case there was someone else in the room. I walked out of the back of the truck trying to investigate the noise. "Find anything?" I shot off a couple of rounds in the direction of who spoke, "Woah! Woah! It's me! It's michael!" he ran off to the side "Oh shit I'm..I'm so sorry" I almost killed him. He stood back up clutching on his chest. "Holy fuck Charlie" "Look I said I'm sorry it's your fault for scaring me" "Yeah well my bad..Did you find anything?" he asked looking through more boxes.
"No, it looks like this place was pick clean." I looked towards the other side of the room "Hey look at that, it's a freezer!" We both started to walk towards the freezer to see what was in it. But soon after we walked in we notice that a few of the boxes moved.
We both looked at each other about tell each other to go check it out "You go!" I whispered. He mouthed back "fine" watching him walk towards the boxes he stopped and lowered his gun and look back at me. "Its fine Charlie, and look there are boxes of food here!" he started to bend down to look through the boxes that is when I saw a giant cockroach on the wall "What the fuck is that!" I screamed "Michael move!" Michael looked up at the wall and screamed. He tried to run back towards the door, I tried to shoot at it but it disappeared.
"What the fuck" Michael yelled "What the fuck was that?" I was in disbelief "I'm..I'm not sure, where did it go?" "I don't know and I don't care. Let's get this food and go!" We gathered what we could find which was a few unopened boxes of cans of beans and some other foods that can be used. Even a whole box full of fancy lad cakes. We got back to the camp in the church and put everything away for rationing. We also set up a hunting group to go up into the wooded area further away from the blast area, It should be safe we thought.
A few of the men had hunting equipment and prepared for a few days. We set out late in the night so we can get to the old hunting spot in the morning. It was a group of 4 of us when we left. Being in the woods it was almost like nothing had happened. Trees were still standing with green leaves and it was quiet. Peaceful, it was the most normal feeling since the bombs fell. We still couldn't drink the water due to radiation. We set up our spots in a little clearing and went about with setting up hunting spots. Our goal was to find bigger game but we would settle for anything smaller.
We finally got our camp set up and decided to light a fire and get some drinks out. We all sat in silence until one of the men named Bill took out a old hand held radio "Lets see if we have any news" he smirked. For a few minutes all you heard was screeches and static. Then we heard a faint sound of a station he stood up and tried to adjust it to get it more clear.
here we have…...yes that's ri-...well now time for so-...
The noise went back to static "god dammit" he sat back down in frustration. "I hoped that this would work all the way out here" He put his head in his hand. Another man spoke up. "Well, if we could hear that then there has got to be a tower around somewhere." "We can stay an extra day and go looking for it tomorrow. What do you think Bill?" I asked as I stood up to grab another beer.
"That's crazy. If we stayed an extra day that could mean death for us" trying to get the radio to work again. Another man named James spoke up this time. "But it could mean more supplies and food depending on where they are" he looked over to Bill. "Plus we got to start moving around who knows what will happen if we stay" "I guess you're right" sighed Bill. It was starting to get late and everyone could feel it. We all tucked into our makeshift tents and fell fast asleep.
It was about 4-5 in the morning when I woke up. Crawling out of my tent I see that another one of our group was up making some coffee. "Morning Clint" I grunted sitting down on a log "Morning son, want some coffee?" I nodded and grabbed a cup, the smell of coffee brought back happy memories. It reminded me of times when my mother would make breakfast on a Sunday morning and it would wake me up. Someone yelling in the distance snapped me out of my day dream. "Wut in the hell" Clint stood up to find out what was happening. I go to wake up the other two so we can all be prepared. One of the other men walked out of his tent and Clint looked over to him. "Everyone rea...James, why in the hell do you not have any pants on?" Clint said looking at the waking man. "I sleep in my boxers always have" James was turning the safety off his gun.
A younger man starting running up to us and we all had our weapons at the ready. The more he got into view the more we recognized him.
It was one the younger boys in the camp he was bleeding. We all lowered our weapons and ran out to meet him. "Jeremy what's wrong" Bill got there first and started to check him to see what had happened. Jeremy stood there with his eyes wide open. "the boys in shock, get him by the shelter and cleaned up" Clint yelled we walked back to the camp and sat him down. Clint tried putting a blanket on him and he shrugged it away. James was cleaning him up to see where the bleeding was coming from but couldn't find any, it wasn't his blood. "Jeremy?" James was putting the blanket back on him "You need to tell us what happened." "Why do you keep trying to put this blanket on me?" Jeremy ripped the blanket off of himself and through it behind him "You're in shock?" "That doesn't mean I need a blanket! Give me something hard to drink!" James looked at Bill worried.
"Before we give you anything I need you to tell me what happened" Jeremy looked up at Bill. Tears started to form on his face "Last night we were getting ready to secure the church..the church. But another group of people came and they took everything. A few of us..of us tried to hold them off till the rest can get away but we couldn't." he started trailed off. "James, get the kid a beer" Bill bent down to get level with Jeremy "Kid, did anyone else make it?" Jeremy shook his head. "Not that I know of, as soon as the sarg went down I left to find you guys." James returned with a open bottle "I dont think everyone made it out." he took a swig of his drink and clenching his jaw as it went down. Clint was getting red in the face.
"Your telling me that you ran when everyone else was being murdered?" he stood up and walked over to the kid "why did you run away? Why?" he looked at Jeremy clenching his hands. "I didn't..I didn't mean to, I wanted to find you and let you know what happened so that you didn't go back to it." Bill looked at Clint "don't be too hard on the kid, it's awful with what happened but he did the right thing." he handed him another beer "Well looks like we need to come up with a game plan." he walked away to go pack up the tents. "We can't go back or risk getting killed and I've survived this long I don't plan on walking into death." I went to my tent and starting packing up "Well I guess we can start looking for that signal right?"
We didn't even bother going back to the main camp. The five of us packed up and headed east trying to find the signal from where we heard the broadcast come from. We stopped at a gas station so we can pick up a map and see if we can find more supplies. There was only a few cans of soup and some more beer and liquor. "Not much for being healthy" James joked grabbing a case of liquor. "We need to find a way to get real food." said Bill looking at a map trying to pinpoint where we were located. "there we go, this looks a bit familiar" He pointed at the cross section that we believed we were at. "The only radio tower that I can think of is located outside of DC." Bill traced his finger along the roads "Ah, yes there. This radio station was being used by the 2nd infantry. I remember making a few deliveries there." We decided to head back down towards Frederick and make our way down to DC.
Frederick looked like trash. Most buildings were still intact but due to the bomb. Any of the older building was destroyed. We passed by a museum that was intact and decided to camp there for the night. I decided to stay up and keep watch as I couldn't sleep, the museum was serene. But sitting by myself my thoughts came back to me. I thought about my mother and brother I hoped that they were safe and happy. The thought of never seeing your family again is something that will always will hurt. I only hope that the pain will fade in time, I hope I still have time left. You never know now if one day you will make the wrong turn and then your done. After the bombs had gone off groups of people turned into raiders. They would destroy anything that laid in their paths. Protecting yourself became first priority. Back at the church Sarg would show us how to use a gun then practice taking one apart so that we knew how it worked. Those of who were good at it got to go on food runs while the rest stayed back. We were not a big group so I'm not sure on how the raiders found them. I don't know how much time has passed but Jeremy had woken up and started to make coffee. "You know we have a big trip ahead of, are you sure you don't want to sleep?" You can tell he was worried "No I'm ok, will need a few cups of joe though, but tonight your taking watch"
"What in the hell is wrong with you two. It's still too early" Clint woke up but turned back around and started snoring away. I looked over to Jeremy we was trying to hold in the laugh. "Well he's gonna be upset once he realizes we need to be going again" I said taking another sip of my coffee. "When everything was normal did you ever come to this museum?" he asked as he stood up to look at a few of the photos. "I was in foster care so I never got to go anywhere." You can tell by the look in his face that this was history that shouldn't be brought up "How old are you?" I asked as I stood up to come join him.
"I'm only 14" "How did you survive when the bombs fell?" "To be honest I don't know. We went out to the lake that day and I wondered off and found a cave." He went to go look at another case "Next thing I knew I heard screaming and didn't leave the cave. I'm not sure how long I stayed there but the echoes of what was happening outside made me froze." "Lucky the cave didn't collapse on you" "Yeah you're right but sometimes I wish I did die. This new life is hard" there was tears gathering in his eyes "Jeremy, don't say that kind of stuff. Its hard but we will make it through, I promise." I patted him on the back and turned back towards the little camp that we had. I don't know if it was because he reminded me of Richey or if this kid needed someone to look out for him. The words that came out of his mouth were gut wrenching.
We left the museum that morning we finally ended up in Friendship Heights. We found somewhere we can hold up for a little while Bill went back looking for the radio tower. We were far enough away from the center of DC that we wouldn't bring any trouble. We were still close enough to go venturing if we needed supplies. Clint decided to set up noise detectors around the property. James was able to fix a generator that he found and got a fridge running so we can put our supplies there.
We all sat in silence. "Well Bill, how far away is the radio tower from here?" James asked to break the silence. "We should be about a mile or so away from it" Bill stood up to go look outside of the window. "Has anyone tried turning on the radio to see if we can get more information?" Clint spoke up next "We shouldn't go in blind" we looked at each other hoping one would volunteer. "Well shit, who has the radio?" James looked around "Here it is" James tried focusing it on the tower again.
Attention...If anyone is there...My son he is injured and we are out of supplies…
"Well that's definitely not a trap" James said sarcastically as he turned off the radio, "Yeah but what if it's not?" said Jeremy "what if someone is in trouble?" We all looked at each other trying to figure out a plan "James, Charlie, and bill you all will come with me." Clint pointed at each us. He will stay here and watch the apartment" he said looking at Jeremy "What? No! I want to go!" Shouted Jeremy "Out of the question, you will stay here" Bill agreed. Jeremy wanted to fight back but he knew that it wouldn't be any good so he folded his arms and went silent I went to go sit by him. "If any of the alarms go off make it to the roof and lock the door" I handed him the pistol that I had. "Only use this in a emergency and shoot to kill" Jeremy took the gun and nodded.
We left the apartment as the sun was setting. We found the radio tower an hour outside of Friendship Heights. Clint stopped us and nodded towards the station we all looked and saw that there was a light turned on. "Listen, I'm going to go ahead and make sure its safe. If you hear gunshots I want you to run, don't worry about me" he whispered and we all nodded in agreement. Went to go hide behind a truck that was in the road. Clint moved over to the radio station, we saw him moving towards the front entrance and get back down low. I never cared for Clint but my heart was racing hoping he would be successful. He stood up and tapped on the window and held his hands up.
We couldn't see the other person but Clint lowered his arms and motioned for us to come over. When we approached there was a older women and a younger man. Clint spoke up "This a refugee family, they stopped here due to an injury. Bill lend them a stimpack" Bill looked through his pack. Once he found the stimpack he handed it to Clint "Here you go ma'am I hope this helps" he pushed it through a gap in the window. The woman on the other side looked cautious but grateful. She went to the back room and came back out a few minutes later. "He will be better now, thank you stranger" "No, need to thank us. Trying to survive just like you" Clint smiled at her. "We are set up a little down the way in an apartment complex if you want to come?" the look in the women's eye went from skeptical to happiness as she thought about it. "Yes that would be great, Can you help us with getting our stuff?" Bill and James came around to gather the young boy. "Ma'am?" she looked back at Clint "My name is Georgia" she smiled "I'm Clint and this here is Bill, James and Charlie"
She looked at us "Are you all related?" James scoffed "Oh god no, imagine if I was related to Clint?" "Watch it boy, I remember when you were just a little tike with skinned knees." He looked back at Georgia "He's a smartass." "That's what you think old man" James yelled out.
We got back to the apartment and Jeremy let us in "Who is this?" he asked Bill "Jeremy this is Georgia and her son Jacob" he turned towards Georgia "Didn't you say you had a daughter?" "Oh my, I forgot that I asked her to go look for food at the grocery store down the street." She froze in fear "Someone needs to go get her!" I stood up and got my bag "I'll go" "I'll go too" James spoke up.
Clint looked at us both "Alright, be safe out there." We headed back out after walking in silence for a while James spoke up. "What were your plans before the world went to shit?" "Well, nothing. I planned on joining the army. I was going to fill the paperwork that same day." I smiled a little bit "I guess god changed that plan" I looked back towards him "What were you doing?" he had stopped and it looked like he was thinking. "I graduated from high school the year prior, nothing planned out. I was going to take over my dads mechanic business." "Do you thinks she set us up and we are going to get jumped?" I asked James "She might've you never know with people these days"
We finally arrived at the store where Georgia directed us too. It was a smaller store so we felt a little bit better. Upon approaching the store we heard screaming both James and I looked at each other and ran inside. It was dark when entering the building but we can hear yelling coming from the back. James motioned to move forward. We both have our weapons at the ready we came to a door where the yelling was coming from. We opened the door to find a man standing over a young women. We started moving forward to try and catch the guy by surprise as James moved he kicked a can.
..tnk tnk tnk...
It all happened within a few seconds I looked over to James and then back up to the strange man. He started charging for us and that is when James hit him with his board.
The man dropped to the ground hard and the woman came up and shot him three times in the head. After she was done with him she looked up at and pointed the gun "Who are you? I got here first!" we both dropped our weapons and James spoke up first. "Listen before you do us in we came here on the request of your mother Georgia." She still didn't put her weapon down and after what felt like hours she put the gun down. "Is something wrong with her and how did you find her?" "We listened to a radio station and we found your mom and brother. We gave him some medicine and took them back to our camp in Friendship Heights." After a few minutes she lowered her gun and headed back to the back of the store. She returned with bags of items. "Here you can help me carry all this back then."
On the way back to the apartment she walked in front of us. I must have been staring for too long cause James elbowed me in the ribs. "You might burn a hole in her ass cheek if you stare too hard" he joked.
She turned back around looking at me and I felt my face go red. We got back to the apartment around what seemed to be midnight "My child! I am so happy you are safe!" Her mother held onto her and then immediately checked to make sure she was okay. "Ellarosa, your not hurt are you?" "No momma I'm fine thankfully for?" James looked confused "Oh that's right we never told you our names. I'm James and this is Charlie." I still couldn't stop staring. I never seen anyone more beautiful, her hair was jet black with long curls her skin was smooth and tan. The girls I grew up with were nothing compared to her. I felt another sharp pain in my ribs it was James telling me I was staring again. I could tell she felt awkward "Well thank you for helping my family, where would we be sleeping?"
Clint came through the door. "There is a room that wasn't closed off a few doors down if you guys want to set up there." "Whatever we have is yours as well, by chance do you know the area well?" Bill asked while getting a bed ready "Yes we lived here for a few years" "That's great! We need to know where to get ammunition or at least equipment to make them." Clint looked at Georgia "Day time is a lot more safer than night around here. Best go in the morning for supply gathering." "Sounds like a deal" James clapped his hands "Lets get some rest so we will be prepared for tomorrow"
The next morning after breakfast we set out to look for ammunition's and any other supplies we would need. Georgia's son Jacob was still healing up and so they both decided to stay back and Ellarosa came with the rest of us. She showed us the back ways to different shops and on how to avoid raiders in the area. The DC area was as devastating back home if not worse. She told us how the bomb hit the white house and it was dangerous to go around it still. We arrived at a shop that sold weapons we were lucky to find that it was not completely ransacked.
We grabbed as much as we can and some easy to carry equipment so we can make our own back at the apartment. The way back was in silent with everyone the only noise we would hear was the creaking of our wagon wheels. "Well this is awkward" James pointed out "I was enjoying the silence." James punched Bill in the arm "Now that's ru-" He looked down to see that he was bleeding from his chest. He dropped down to his knees "Sniper!" Clint pushed myself and Jeremy to the ground "Take cover! Bill! He's done for get to safe-" I looked over to see that Clint had been shot in the head "Bill run!" I yelled as the rest of us ran for cover. We ran to a building that was crumbling away "Charlie! James and Clint they..they" "Jeremy I need you to stay calm" I looked over to Ellarosa "do you know how to get out of here?" She shook her head "How did they find us?" she finally let out.
"They must have been watching us" I was looking out a crack in the wall to see where the sniper was. "I'm not sure how long they have been watching, but it looks like it is only one person." standing back up I went to the back of the building. "We will have to wait till dusk and sneak out the back" I turned back around and Ellarosa was gone "Ellarosa? Jeremy? Where did she go?" "I...I dont know. She was here a minute ago" "Stay here. I'm going to go find her, Look out for bill" I started up the stairs. I finally reach the top floor. I walked outside and saw her at the edge of the building. Her gun pointed towards the top of another building. "Ellarosa!" She looked back to motion to be silent but it was too late she let out a scream, she was bleeding from her arm.
I ran to take cover I cocked my pistol and waited to take aim. But before I could I heard another gunshot. I looked back around and she was walking back toward me "What the fuck is wrong with you!?" I stood back up "How was I supposed to know you were going to run off and play hero?" I yelled back at her "Someone had to! We couldn't stay in the building all day!" "So that gives you the right to go get into danger? You got shot!" "It..would've..been..ok. I shot him he's dead" She tried staying calm while breathing between her words. "Look I'm...I'm sorry. We need to get your wound looked at and Im sure Jeremy has shit himself by now." She nodded in agreement. We got back outside and went to go search the bodies.
"Jeremy go look for Bill" He walked away and grabbed the weapons.
we will have to bury them later
I couldn't believe we lost both James and Clint in the matter of seconds Jeremy yelled from a few feet away "Charlie! Its bill!" Great we lost Bill too I got back up and wiped my hands on my pants and jogged over to Jeremy. "Fucking christ" bill had died from a shot straight in the eye..
I'm so tired of burying my friends..
I felt a hand on my arm "Charlie, we need to get back to the apartment and find a new place, we aren't safe there anymore." Ellarosa let go of me as soon as she told me "Why?" I asked confused. "When I was aiming to shoot the sniper on the roof he looked like he was talking into a walkie talkie. They must have been watching us, I have to get back to make sure my family is safe." I nodded and we took everything that we could and ran back to the apartment. As we got back it looked like some of the raider traps we set up had been disengaged. This made my heart drop "I need the both of you to hide I'm going to go and check." They both agreed and hid in a closet I grabbed Clints shotgun and got it ready.
I walked into the apartment where we gathered earlier that day. Some items have were tossed as if they were searching for something
..raiders were definitely here..
I continued to move into each bedroom our part of the apartment was fine. left to go into her's family side and I felt sick to my stomach I dropped to my knees. The site of Georgia and Jacob was from a nightmare
..How did they do this in the amount of time we were gone...
I got back up and went to go to where they were hiding, I opened the door "Ellarosa.." her eyes widened in fear "No...no you can't tell me" "don't go back there, it would be better for you.." I tried to convince her but she wouldn't have it "I have to see...I have to see it!" she pushed me out of the way as she turned the corner. I heard her screaming I would've gone to comfort her but I didn't want to see the body's again. "I guess we are all orphans, we lost everyone" Jeremy trembled as he said the words I couldn't help but agree "I guess so."