Save Kate

“We can't stay here any longer. Nobody is coming. The food is almost gone. We need to go.”

She did not respond. She hadn't spoken to him since it happened.

“Kate, pack up. Your brother in Idaho. He's got that big farm. He's gotta have food right? Maybe they didn't get... maybe it didn't... maybe they're okay.” He didn't know what to say and he doubted anyone was okay. All he knew was that to stay was to die.

Kate stood, never looking in his direction, and walked to the cupboard near the cookstove in the cabin. They had fled to their neighbor's cabin in the mountains nearly two weeks before, hoping they would be there. It was obvious nobody was coming. No help was on its way. 'Where would it come from?' he thought. Seattle was gone. They had barely made it out, themselves.

She slammed the cupboard shut, pulling Ben from his haunting thoughts of the last three weeks. Kate rummaged through her pack and pulled out her phone. She tried turning it on but all she saw was her own reflection on the black screen.

“Babe, it hasn't worked since the beginning. Forget it.”

She threw the phone back into her pack and fell to the floor, hugging her knees and began to sob. Ben approached her, unsure what to say. “I love you. You're gonna be okay. Things will be okay. We'll always be together. Nothing will change that.”

Both of her hands reached up and clasped the heart-shaped locket that hung from her neck. Hands together, tears streaming from her eyes, Ben thought she might have been in the middle of a desperate prayer. He gave her all the time she needed. Eventually, she got to her feet, still clutching the locket in one hand, and put her few things in her pack, and crawled into her sleeping bag.

'We can leave tomorrow,' Ben thought. He lay down behind her and put his arm around her waist, hoping to bring her some comfort. He doubted he even could. He wanted to say so much. He wanted to tell her that she was strong and that she would make it. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him. He had told her so many times over the past two weeks and she seemed not to hear him. 'I love you,' he said simply.

“Ben.” She whispered it so quietly he was sure it was not meant for him, but herself.

'She hasn't forgotten me,' he thought. He wished she could feel the love that filled his heart for her. He wanted so badly to help. To protect her. To fix the whole world, just for her. But he could not. All he could do was stay with her, watching over her as she slept. And so he did.

He did not sleep. As he lay there next to her he thought of the road that lay before them. 'What happened to the rest of the country? How do we get to the farm? Will they take us in?' he thought. The city had descended into anarchy within days of being cut off from the rest of the world. Gangs had occupied large swathes of the city, hoarding food, and supplies. Each night they heard more and more gunfire. Desperation changed the people. Neighbor turned against neighbor. 'It's a good thing we left when we did. They're all gone now.' He recalled the bright light that lit the sky over Seattle one day after they had left. It lit the night sky like sunrise and faded slowly. The rumble that followed confirmed his fears. Nuclear war.

He prayed all through the night for her. She was his whole world, his reason for existence. 'Save Kate. Save Kate,' he repeated over and over again in his mind.

As the sun rose over the mountains the light shone dimly through the dirty windows of the small cabin. It was enough for her. Her eyes opened but she remained. Ben got up and sat on the edge of a chair near the door. “We should get going.”

Minutes passed in silence. Eventually, she sat up, reached for her pack, and pulled out a granola bar, one of the last. She ate it slowly, then placed the wrapper in the wastebasket.

The irony of keeping the cabin clean at the end of the world made him smile. 'It's not the end of her world,' he thought. It gave him hope. 'She hasn't given up.'

Ben watched her roll up her sleeping bag and pad and pack them away. She laced up her boots and zipped up her jackets. With an effort, she strapped on her overloaded pack, walked to the door, and grabbed the knob. She stopped, bowed her head, and furrowed her brow. He could not tell if she was crying praying.

“You can make it. You are strong. I'll be with you the whole way. I'll always be with you.” He willed her to hear her but knew she could not. She would never hear his voice again. But he hoped a piece of her could feel him, and that it would give her strength.

Kate's free hand reached up and clasped the locket he had given her so long ago.

“Yes, sweetie. I'm here.” Hope swelled within him. 'Can she feel me?' he thought.

Her eyes opened. And then the door. “Ben... Stay with me, Ben,” she whispered, and walked out the door, into the new world.