2.7 Decades After the End of the World

We found Reyna about a week after Luka died. Luka was Layla’s boyfriend. Layla’s my sister. My name isn’t that important. It’s Fae, but it’s not that important.

Luka died in a shootout with some raiders. Well, it was less of a shootout and more of a shooting. We only had six bullets between the three of us. Those were in Luka’s pistol. See, we’d been staying at La Palmera before that. It was an old shopping mall turned shantytown. It stood proud for twenty-something years, a shining beacon to all those in need of a safe place to rest their head. We had a mayor, a fledgling economy. Decently clean water, plenty of old books to pass the time. Armed forces patrolled the perimeter 24/7 ensuring us enough safety to close our eyes and rest at night. I was born a year after everything fell apart, so the wasteland’s all I’ve ever known. I have a few faint memories of those first few years. We lived on the border of death. Forever hungry, forever scared. I watched Mom and Dad kill for us, never blinking an eye. It’s just what you do when you’ve got kids, I guess. We lost Mom along the way, but Dad didn’t let it phase him. He just got stronger. Then we came here, and everything was alright for a while. I mean, it’s not like everything was alright. Food was still hard to come by, the fear of attack by raiders was ever present. Not to mention the smell. But we weren’t fighting just to survive anymore. Me and Layla had space to breathe. Dad finally fell apart, and he hasn’t been the same since. I think he really did die along with Mom. He just couldn’t give up until he knew we were safe. We were still alive though. No such thing as safety as long as you’re still breathing.

We’d gone a couple months without attacks from raiders. We got cocky. We thought we’d finally taught them their lesson, finally shown ourselves as a force to be reckoned with. We were idiots. I really had faith in Palmera, the people, the walls. I thought whatever happened, we’d tough it out. If a column came crashing down, we’d fix it. If someone got killed, we’d honor and avenge them. Things are never quite that simple.

I was lying in bed reading Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions. I didn’t really get all the references to pre-bomb society, but it seemed a lot like ours. Seems like things have been falling apart for as long as things have been around. There’s no such thing as stability, no true happy ending. Except for us, of course. Here, 27 years after small-dicked men blew us all into hell, we finally found it. Safe from the outside world, safe from the horrors within. We’d done it. We won. Then the ground shook, the walls fell, the fires rose. The screams.

Ends up the raiders only left us alone for so long because they were collecting enough guns and bombs and hate to tear us to shreds once and for all. I’ll never really understand why they do it. Might makes right in this world, I get that much. If you’re strong enough you can take whatever you want from us little people. Our food, our clothes, our books. Anything you could possibly desire. La Palmera would’ve made a great base for those bastards. But they couldn’t take it from us, so they destroyed it.

We weren’t the only ones to escape. I don’t think so, at least. At first our group was us five, our dad and my best friend included. We lost dad on the way out of the mall. My buddy Nate a few days after that. Then it was just me, Layla, and Luka. We found an abandoned gas station to hide out in. It had been looted long before we got there, but it still had a few things worth taking. Some magazines, dirty and clean. Anything to take my mind off the world around me. A bottle of liquor in the manager’s office, stashed away under heavy paperwork in his desk. We drank and we cried, we screamed and we sang. We fell asleep empty, no resolution for our once-again broken hearts. Just the knowledge that we had to wake up in the morning and do it all over again.

Then we woke up and did it all over again.

Gunshots, Jesus, can’t we just catch a break? We’re all awake now, scrambling to our feet before we remember to stay low. Brrrap-ap-ap-ap-ap. Semi-automatic. So excessive, so unnecessary. They’re raiders, they’d be lucky to find a brain cell between the bunch of them. I never found out how many there were. We were asleep in the manager’s office when they came. No clue how they found us. Maybe they just figured, this place is pretty close to that mall we just destroyed, there ought to be some stragglers here. Maybe they’re not so dumb after all. There was a window in the office, thank God. Luka tried to open it, couldn’t. He stood facing the window, put his hands on the desk to steady himself, and smashed the window open with his boot. They know where we are, gotta go right now. Layla jumps out the window first. The door opens as I’m halfway through. I turn around and Luka screams, “GO!” He shoots at them, holds off the inevitable for a couple more seconds. Me and Layla run. We make it out alive. That night we sing to Luka, wherever he may be now.

Layla’d been holding onto this locket for Luka. He was scared he was going to die. He was scared because he loved Layla so much. He knew he’d do anything to protect her. He never said it to her, but looking back at it all now, I think he always knew how it’d end for him. So she had this locket of his, heart-shaped with a picture of a woman inside. Luka told her where to go if he ever bit the dust. She knew where to go, sorta. She knew which direction the general area was, at least. That was enough. We figured we’d figure it out from there. We walked for about a week. A day in we passed through a small camp of people. We explained our plight, and they were more than happy to give us a few days’ food and water. More specific directions to our destination, too. You’d be surprised how many kind people there are nowadays. Everyone knows what it’s like to have their entire life uprooted, to lose everything they care about in an instant. So we survived off that for a few days. Then we barely survived for a few more days. Then we met Ren.

Once we made it to the beach we knew we’d be alright. Just a few more miles to go, we’re both running on fumes but we’re running nonetheless. Layla was getting weak, so I held her up as we wobbled forward. Walking through sand is a million times harder than walking on any normal surface. It sucks you in, so every step is a struggle against the sand your foot is buried in. Then you take a step only to immediately bury it in more sand. Just as we were preparing to lay down and die, we saw him. Far in the distance, standing right at the edge of the horizon. He’d been watching us, he had to have been. Tall, slim, dressed in all black. Not the typical beach-attire, but it’s not your typical beach. Not like it gets sunny anymore anyway.

We kept going. We didn’t know if he was going to help us or kill us. Either way, he was our savior. Our last hope for any kind of release from the pain we were in at the moment. We kept walking toward him, and he stayed right where he was. Silent, stalking, still. We kept going. Thirty feet away, I can see him more clearly. Long black hair flowed from a face wrapped in cloth. Twenty feet away, I could see two heavy guns strapped to his sides. AK-47s. Ten feet away, I can see red eyes and brown skin. That’s all I could see. The rest of his face was wrapped in dark fabric. Well, he let us get this close. Here goes nothing.

“I’m Fae, this is my sister Layla.” I paused, waited for him to respond. He just stood there, arms crossed, waiting for me to continue. I cleared my throat.

“Um, we were told to come here. There’s supposed to be a safe place somewhere around here. I think. I hope.” He looked us over.

“Who told you this place was safe?” Not exactly friendly, I thought, but at least we’ve got a dialogue going. Layla was getting close though. She couldn’t handle any more conversation. She needed food, water, even just a few seconds to sit down. Layla dug in her pocket and fished out the locket. Silver and dull, she held it out for a few seconds and dropped it in the sand. I watched the man’s eyes widen. Then I watched Layla fall into the sand herself.

His hands went to his guns, but he didn’t lift them.

“...Where did you get that locket?”

“Her boyfriend, Luka.”

“Where’s Luka now?”

“Dead.”

His eyes fell to the ground.

“I see.”

He walked over, knelt down, and picked up the locket with care. Then my legs gave out, and I plummeted face first into the sand.

I woke up to a crackling fire. It wasn’t spiraling out of control or consuming everything in sight, though. It was contained in a fireplace. Brick. Brick house. I looked around. I was laid in a red recliner, Layla in a green one to the right of me. Her eyes were already slightly open.

“Hey, Fae-Fae.” She was still alright. We were still alright. I couldn’t help smiling.

“Mornin’ Lilac.” We were sat to the left of the fire. Across from us were two more recliners. The one closest to us was empty. A greyed old woman sat in the other. Standing behind her was the man we’d met earlier.

“So you were friendly after all,” I said. His pupils flicked to the corners of his eyes.

“Oh, don’t mind Ren,” spoke the old woman. “He’s not so good with other people. Could you make us some tea, Hon?” She turned her head to look at him. He hesitated for a second, then walked off.

“Ren’s not blood, but he’s family. A little protective of me, is all.”

Her voice had a soothing cadence. I was already relaxed. Now this is a home, I thought. But she wasn’t the woman in the locket. I looked over at Layla. Finally safe, she had barely started to process the week’s events. Her eyes were sunken and dead. She’d be alright, but I’d have to do the talking for now.

“So who’s the girl in the locket?” I may have said this too aggressively, but the woman responded with kindness.

“Luka’s sister, Olivia. He left us before she did. Probably thought she’d still be here to take this locket…” She smiled as she thought of Olivia.

“Those damn raiders…”

“No, no raiders. Pneumonia. I’m Reyna, by the way. Luka’s mother.” I’d already figured that, but I thanked her anyway. She told us we could stay as long as we liked, and I happily accepted the offer. A comfy home, a mother figure, an overprotective older brother. We were almost like a real family. I knew we couldn’t stay there forever, though. Something would come along eventually, someone would burn her beachside home down. But for the moment, everything was alright. For just a little while, we could have our almost-happy ending.