Love Eternal

Silence. Silence is all that remains now, and it reminds me of the day the bombs went off. The walls of the shelter were thick enough to block out the screams, but you could still hear the pounding on the thick, steel walls as people begged to be let in. To be saved. Pleading to be given at least one more day on this now forsaken planet.

I will never forget that fateful day. I was on a date with my wife, Celeste. We were celebrating our Third wedding anniversary and her recent launch of her new business, focusing on putting together unique, romantic evenings for couples looking to change up their dating life. She had a huge heart and loved to help people. That is what I fell in love with first, her selflessness.

We had just finished dinner at her favorite steak house and decided to take a walk down by the harbor near the park which was her favorite place to watch the sunset. The Park was lit up with string lights and the fountain was bubbling over the concrete pineapple design. The sound of flowing water from the fountain battled the sound of the waves lapping on the break wall and was accompanied by the occasional seagull call. We decided to sit at her favorite park bench and exchange gifts as we looked out over the water. For me, she got a nice gold wristwatch and a bottle of my favorite cologne and for her, I got a palette of makeup from her favorite artist and a gold heart-shaped locket with a picture of us from our wedding day during our kiss at the altar at the end of the ceremony. She looked at me smiling with tears in her eyes and gave me a kiss and a big hug before we decided to go get dessert from our favorite gelato place a few blocks away. As we stood up, she looked at me and said,

“I love you.”

We turned to walk out of the park and as we turned away from the water, we heard it. At first it sounded like someone had shot a mortar firework into the air but as we turned around to look at the sound of the noise it looked like a rocket had been launched. Not a minute later, the sirens started. We ran to the nearest bar to see what was going on and through the windows on the screen of the TV I saw it. All the nuclear bombs around the world had been launched, all heading to major cities around the world, Including ours. We backed away from the windows in shock and started to run to the car so we could get out of town to the bomb shelter. Everyone was panicked and it was like a scene out off a movie. I could see the panic leave and the heartbreak set in on Celeste’s face. After about 25 minutes we were on the edge of the city at the shelter. The sky was full of trails from the bombs. I put the car in park, shut it off and we jumped out. As we shut the doors was when the first bomb went off. It sounded like a rifle blast, and we could see the plume coming from the center of downtown. We ran for the door and managed to shut it behind us as the power of the blast chased us in setting off car alarms from the force of the air. We were safe.

My name is Leon, and I am a survivor. I have been in this shelter for 98 days, I think. I have not seen the sun since the bombings and after a while the days all started to blend together. Sleep is hard to get after the bombings because every time I close my eyes, I have nightmares. Nightmares of the bombs, nightmares of the people we left outside to die. Nightmares of people we once loved. The only way I have been able to figure out what time of day it is is based on the food they are serving for meals. At first the meals were delicious, and we were eating like we would any other normal day but as the days continued and our fresh supplies ran out, we were forced to eat whatever we had or whatever the scouting teams could get their hands on during their patrols.

I used to work in the kitchen for the first few weeks after the bombings. I realized very quickly that we all must carry our own weight around here to keep the shelter functioning. Kitchen duty was what I was assigned to because I used to love cooking. The things you could do with food always amazed me and seeing the meals I was serving brought everyone joy. After a while as our fresh supplies started to run low so did my interest in cooking, so I decided to join a scouting team. Tomorrow is the day of my first patrol, and I am nervous. My team leader, Rocky is very cold and does not say a lot. All I can figure is he must have seen some messy scenes to make him that way. I remember when he first got into the shelter and was full of jokes but after time, just like my interest in cooking, his sense of humor faded. I tried to get onto a scouting team earlier, but they said that my skill set was better served in the kitchen. I have no idea what I am going to run into out there, but I am going to show them that I was made for more than cooking that slop.

Day 99: I woke up to my alarm at 04:30 this morning after another restless night. Rocky said he wanted to talk to me before we went on patrol, so I needed to wake up early to go meet up with him. I got up, got ready and put my boots on. Before I walked out of the room, I made sure to put the heart shaped locket around my neck under my shirt. I walked to the staging area to meet with Rocky and when I got there, he was already geared up ready to go. He looked at me with sincerity and said,

“Look, I know you miss her, but we have a job to do. Ok? Don’t let your emotions get the better of you out there or you will not survive.”

I could not get any words out, but I looked back at him and nodded to let him know I understood and continued to get ready for patrol. After about thirty minutes everyone was accounted for and were ready to go. We walked out of the staging area into the decontamination center between the staging area and the door and to the door of the shelter.

When we opened the door to the shelter, I was not prepared for what I saw. The city was in ruins, cars were left abandoned all over the road and nature had started to take back what it rightfully owned. The buildings that still stood had walls covered in moss, the roofs were caved in, and people’s belongings were tossed about everywhere. The grass was starting to come up through the cracks in the street, even small saplings had started sprouting up again. The sky was a dark gray and you could smell the rain that was coming. The thing that really got to me though were all the bodies. I froze in place and started feeling weak in the knees when I noticed all the people who were not as lucky as we were, but I pulled myself together and kept moving as we made our way towards downtown.

Rocky told us to keep our head on a swivel and be ready for anything, so I tried to keep my senses attuned to my surroundings but part of me was keeping an eye out for that familiar face. I hoped she was still alive That she survived. We made our way into the city and started combing through the buildings for survivors and gathering supplies for the shelter. Rocky and his best friend David were leading the way as we left our third building and then everything got messy.

People were not the only ones affected by the radiation; animals were affected too. Some of them died and some of the stronger animals mutated. In this case they were wolves. As Rocky and David walked out of the third building, making jokes about some of the personal things they had found, they were jumped by a pack of mutated wolves that stood about six feet tall. Rocky was able to just barely escape the one that leaped at him, but David was not so lucky. We managed to get them to run before attending to David’s wounds. We decided we needed to get him back to the shelter as soon as possible so we had to cut our patrol short. Rocky wrapped David’s leg in a bandage to try and stop the bleeding before he lifted David up and tried to help him walk. As we made our way back, the radiation started to make David weak so Rocky had to carry him. I was given David’s pack to carry, and the rest of the team was on lookout to make sure nothing else tried to take us out before we made it back. We were about 200 yards from the shelter when I saw her.

Her blonde hair covered her face, and she was sheltering herself as to protect what looked like two little kids who had been separated from their parents and were unable to make it to the shelter in time. I dropped mine and David’s pack and started to cry as I brushed her hair off of her still, lifeless face. I held her body and did not want to let go. I remembered all the fantastic times we had spent together and the life we were supposed to live happily together until death did us part. I remembered our wedding day and all our friends and family, and I remembered that day. The day when the world ended, the day my world ended. Had she just stayed in the shelter with me she would still be here, but I know she would not be happy. When she heard the pounding on the door, she knew what she had to do. She kissed me passionately, told me she loved me and then walked back out the door to try and help as many people as she could. The reason I loved her is the reason I lost her.

When I finally got myself together, the team was gone. Rocky had gotten David inside and the other team members had grabbed our packs so they could start the decontamination process on the supplies. I got back inside, went through decontamination and as I was putting my gear away was confronted by Rocky. David died from radiation poisoning in the medical bay. I went to my room and tried to rest. As soon I closed my eyes, instead of nightmares I was greeted by Celeste’s face the last time I saw her alive. I was overcome by extreme loneliness and knew what I had to do. I got dressed, put on the heart-shaped locket, and walked out of my room. The next team had already left for their patrol, so I slipped through the staging area, the decontamination area and out the door. I found Celeste and kneeled down to hold her as the air stung against my tear-soaked face. I sat with her as everything slowly faded to black and when the patrol team came back, they saw us. A couple, together and in their hands was a gold tarnished heart-shaped locket.