Silver History

Her heart thudded the inside of her ribcage as she booked it through the once crowded streets of Boston. Ragged men and women scattered here and there on the streets watched as this cross-country national champion raced away from her pursuers. It had been a long time since the world had collapsed after a global pandemic, and it had been even longer since she had run any significant distance as she was at that very moment. Fifteen years ago in her prime, Eudora would have escaped these guys on her tail without thinking twice about having to breath properly. Now the harsh New England winter’s air attacked her lungs like shards of ice.

“Get back here with that, you mouse! And maybe we’ll let you live after we beat ya!” The voice echoed through the streets accompanied by unintelligible threats made by the rest of the hooligans chasing the girl with fading pink hair.

“Fat chance, morons! How about you try to keep up?!” Eudora looked behind her shoulder, only to realize that the group hot on her tail was steadily gaining on her. This was not what she had hoped would happen. Her only chance now was to outmaneuver the goons and try to escape down one of the side streets. Without hesitation, she hooked a right down an alley way. Breezing by dilapidated buildings once teeming with the bustle of city life and noise used to be unsettling. Now it was just a baseline for life after the fall of humanity.

Respected men and women became savages overnight once the populace was threatened with extinction. No one knew why the virus worked the way it did. You first felt fatigued and drained of all ambition. It made people stay home to try and sleep it off. When that did not work, the virus convinced your brain that you were not hungry. When the masses started to die of self-induced starvation, the government finally started to investigate what was happening. When the death-tolls finally started rolling in, it was too late. The elderly was dying at exponential rates. Within months, nearly ninety-five percent of the older generation were gone.

Eudora is one of the few that by pure coincidence had antibodies that help her fight it off when she finally did catch the sickness. The whole teenage demographic seemed to be left untouched while parents withered away in their homes. The sickness seemed to adapt for a time only targeting younger and younger people as the population began to shrink. It was not long until Eudora noticed the people, she had started attending college with, slowly disappear. That now seemed like a distant memory that liked to pop up from her subconscious at times like the one she was in now.

She zig-zagged through the road strewn with empty vehicles and garbage. The sounds of dozens of feet echoed off the brownstone neighborhood they all had made it to. This was finally familiar territory to Eudora, and she knew exactly where she was. She hooked a left, a right, another right, until she was doubling back in the direction she had come. Her ears picked up on the sound of the thugs going in the direction she had come from only two turns before. She had made her escape.

Eudora crouched down behind a rusting black sedan to finally catch her breath and recover what little strength she could. She peered behind the bumper in the direction she had come from to see if any of the group tailing her was wise enough to catch on to her game of cat and mouse. After a few minutes went by, she was satisfied that she was alone. She stood up brushing off the few leaves that had stuck to her knees.

This whole endeavor had been over one small little thing. Eudora looked down at her fist and began to peel away her dirty fingers to reveal a polished silver heart attached to a thin chain of the same material. It was a locket. The cold trinket in her hand was the last piece of history that someone she cared about had kept from their past. The locket had been brutally ripped away from them during a raid on the small band of survivors they traveled with. It meant nothing to the raiders, but it meant everything to that one person.

Wind blew quietly across her face as she walked down through the empty streets. Occasionally another person would appear only to quickly realize they were not alone and slink back into the shadows. The air was crisp and reminded Eudora of the times she prayed for snow so she could experience a snow day. Snow days rarely ever happened in Massachusetts, but when they did, Eudora relished every moment that she could of them.

It was not long until she found herself standing outside of Boston’s South Station. A few years ago, this building was surrounded with pedestrians trying to make their way to their trains and construction workers who labored on the unfinished tower that rose from above the station. The big project that started even before Eudora was a thought in someone’s head. Following the side of the station, she took the stairs that lead up to the platforms in the rear of the building.

Forgotten relics lined a few of the tracks. Train sets that had been left abandoned when the collapse happened. Giant steel tubes that used to transport thousands to the likes of New York and Washington D.C. now sat stagnant, never to grace the North-East Corridor with their presence ever again. Eudora found the one she was looking for on track seven. She made her way halfway down the platform before turning to knock on the door at the rear of a corroding café car. A weathered face appeared and looked out of the window from inside the vestibule.

With a clink of an emergency handle and the hiss of what little air was left in the train’s reservoir, the door slowly slid open. The short lady standing before Eudora was fifteen years younger than she looked. The last few years had been a burden on the few survivors that made it through the great sleep. For some, it was harder for than others.

“Where have you been! I’ve been so worried about you!” Eudora slipped past the small woman and turned to go deeper into the café car. With a thud of the door closing behind her, the lady followed the younger girl inside.

“Mom,” Eudora started as she plopped down behind one of the many tables lining the sides of the steel tube, “you don’t have to worry about me. I can fully handle myself out there.”

“I can’t lose you to those monsters out there,” Eudora’s mom droned on as she sat down in front of her. Eudora was not paying too much attention.

“I have something for you,” Eudora said interrupting her mom midsentence. She held out her hand and placed the locket on the table in front of her mother. Suddenly silenced by the realization of what she was looking at, Eudora’s mother picked up the metallic heart. She opened it and looked at the fading picture inside of her parents looking back at her as they held a baby in their arms. Her father had been slowly losing his hair after he turned thirty and was grinning from ear to ear. Her mother had a smile that would have lit up a room. They held the baby in their arms, showing off their most prized possession. This was the last bit of memories she had left of her parents before they succumbed to the pandemic many years ago.

Tears began to well up underneath aging eyes as they gazed down at the picture. She was wearing a small smile at the thought of having something so small as this back into her life. Eudora’s mother did not think she would ever she see the strongest people she ever knew again. But the small object in her hand was a testament to the fact that she was proven wrong.

“Where did you find this?” Eudora’s mom wiped the tears from her face as she looked up at her daughter. She closed her hand around her heart so that she would never lose it again.

“Well, I punched a guy in the throat and snatched it when he was struggling to breath,” Eudora started, “I don’t think he knew what hit him.” The mom let out a soft chuckle.

“You know, your grandfather would have absolutely adored the woman you’ve become,” her mother said as she rose from the table. “He was a Marine before I was born you know. He would have admired your tenacity. Your grandma though,” she continued as she put her locket on around her neck, “would not have condoned such violence.”

“Why’s that?” Eudora got up to follow her mom over to where a stew was simmering over one of the cafes heating elements. The aroma filled the area with hints of canned beef and broth.

“Your grandparents were extremely opposite from each other,” her mom filled a bowl with the brown sludge that they had available to eat and handed it to her daughter. It wasn’t the best that they had, but it was something to ease their rumbling stomach for a while. “Your grandma was a peaceful and loving woman. Always there and available to talk when I needed someone. She often would kick your grandpa under the table when we went out to dinner to prevent him from voicing his opinions.”

“Your grandfather though,” Eudora’s mom continued as they both sat back down at one of the tables, “was a gruff man that hated most people. But he also had a strong moral code and believed that everyone deserved justice. Which is why your grandmother would prevent him from talking. He got a kick out of ruffling peoples feathers.”

“I wish I had gotten to know them better,” Eudora said before shoveling a huge spoonful of stew into her mouth. “You know, before they went to sleep.”

“I do too,” Eudora’s mom replied. “I do too.”