The Warm War

“There’s a beautiful wonderous world outside these walls, you know. One day soon you’ll get to see it,” Aaron said as he looked down at his small five-year-old daughter with a convincingly warm smile.

“But when daddy?” she persisted.

“Soon sweetheart, you have to keep eating your food and growing up so you can be strong and healthy. The world is beautiful, but it will prove to be a challenge,” her father answered.

“What’s a challenge?” she asked with a puzzling look on her face.

“Don’t worry you’ll see what I mean soon enough.” Aaron then looked at his wife, “I’m off to go hunting for food, angel. I won’t be long.”

Dyanna glanced back at him worriedly and nervously uttered, “You know I always worry. Please be safe and hurry back soon. I love you.”

Aaron kissed his wife on her forehead. “I love you too. And you too Eva. Daddy loves his girls very much.” He then kissed his daughter goodbye. “You two stay safe now, and Evalynn listen to your mother while I catch up with grandpa.” Aaron stood up and grabbed his gear to head outside.

“Don’t forget the lucky love locket daddy,” she reminded her father.

“Of course not, love bug. Never.”

I stepped outside the bunker after climbing up from the ground and sealing the door. I oriented myself to my surroundings. I was now in untamed barren ground where anything could happen, outside my safe base. Hypervigilance mode. A dark green pestilence of decay was on its way. Truth is, you can never truly be ready for everything life throws at you… The day seems like it was yesterday, and here the world was thinking Covid was a disaster. Little did they know twelve years later there would be one hundred times the chaos and destruction, nothing close in comparison.

It happened on Friday November 12th, 2032. The aroma of cloudy thick smoke infused with death; it was the apocalypse. My father and I were on our way from Live Oak, Florida to Ashville, North Carolina to have one of the best father-son weekend trips yet. My father has had a passion for hunting for as long as I could remember. I had been with him on hunting trips locally, but never this far. I didn’t really enjoy, nor did I often partake on the killing of animals, but we always did eat what we hunted. I’m grateful now more than ever for the hunting experience and skills I’ve garnered throughout the years as a result of my father’s passion. I would have never imagined how vital the skills I learned back then would become to my survival, especially my family’s, now more than ever.

On our long drive from Live Oak to Asheville we were talking about how we would set up camp when we arrived in Ashville in the evening. We were both ready for a weekend getaway after the rough work week. I was so grateful to be able to see my father so happy and excited. He had been wanting to go hunt in North Carolina for what feels like forever. Looking outside the window and observing, I pondered on the vastness of the world and how much more real it seems when you’re travelling. So much land and space between cities, full of wonderous nature surviving each and every day through instinct, thriving. I’ve always prided myself in having utmost respect for our planet. It’s the most priceless valuable treasure we could ever be a part of; there’s simply nothing else like Earth. Little did I know, the events that were about to transpire would change these exact observations about the world’s beauty, in an instant.

I vaguely remember the time, it was 4:24 pm when I last looked at my phone before falling asleep and waking up from what felt like a nightmare, although I couldn’t recall anything about it. If I would’ve known I would be waking up right into another much worse nightmare, I would’ve preferred to stay sleeping. All of a sudden, the radio stopped playing music and our phones lost service. It was a bit strange, yet we continued our journey, and nothing appeared to be abnormal. About twenty-five minutes later we had to stop to put gas. We had arrived in Athens, Georgia where we realized there was in fact a general panic in the street, and the gas stations were completely full of people waiting in long lines.

“Dang it, what the heck is going on?” my father questioned.

At an instant, we knew something was wrong. The weather was changing and there was sufficient commotion around to make you start thinking that something really awful had just happened. We got in line to attempt to refuel the vehicle. Some people said they felt some shaking about half an hour ago when things went wild with the electronics. I overheard some strangers discussing the situation.

“Could it be an EMP?” one stranger asked.

“I was on the phone with my sister who lived in Little Rock, Arizona when the phone line was abruptly cut. I’m extremely worried because I heard a loud noise followed by the start of a scream, then nothing. No one here has service,” said another desperate voice.

All of a sudden we all heard the sound of wailing sirens and everyone driving on the street came to a complete stop to listen.

“All citizens of United States of America, the U.S. government has initiated a Defcon 1 status and nuclear war is imminent in your area. Please remain calm and seek shelter the soonest you possibly can. Please be considerate of others. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill.”

The announcement continued, but I zoned out entirely. In a moment it felt like I had been transported away and frozen in time. My mind didn’t want one more second to pass by if it meant imminent destruction for our world. Thoughts poured in like a flood about everything I’ve done in my life, all my good times, and the bad. My happiest moments, along the times I regretted the most. Was I ready to accept death? I came back to my body and regained consciousness.

“Dyanna!” I cried out. “We need to go back now!”

“Did you hear the last part of that announcement? You seem perplexed! They’ve confirmed our country has been hit three times by H-Bombs, thermonuclear weapons! We’re doomed!” my father exclaimed.

I mustered all of my strength and looked up at my father straight in the eye. “We were always going to die. Let’s just do what we can in the meantime. What can we do? We need to get the heck back home!”

My father looked at me bravely and said, “Let’s head right back immediately.” A tsunami of worry conquered the city and people started panicking heavily. We looked around, in a hurry now knowing we had a long way to go to get back home and an unknown amount of limited time.

“First thing’s first, let’s get the gas,” he said. Luckily we made it this far on one tank. We waited a while for our turn and I was trying to figure out a way to communicate with my wife.

“No luck.” Then suddenly, an epiphany. “The heart shaped locket!” I gasped. I began to rummage through my backpack to get the locket and put it in my pocket. “This is staying safe with me,” I thought. Dyanna gave me the locket as wedding gift for me to hold onto. It has endless sentimental value to me. I can vividly recall her promising me that her love for me would always be with me until the end of time. For a brief moment, a slight smile escaped my face. Despite all this madness, I needed to make sure I didn’t lose this. After refueling we were on our way back home. We would soon encounter many obstacles along the way, like an unimaginable amount of traffic due to the panic, and a shortage of resources like food, water, batteries, and other survival supplies. Good thing we already had the survival gear we needed for our hunting trip.

We eventually made it back home, although we did have to prioritize our belongings and take what we could carry. We had to end our journey back on foot since vehicles all over the street became abandoned in a frenzy of chaos and we came across a blockade. We ended up having to walk some of the way back, but we were pretty close to my father’s house thankfully. Dyanna was supposed to stay there while we were gone to take care of the dogs. Funny story, she didn’t even think about going down into the bunker my dad and I built as a side project for fun because she thought it was a joke all those years. As soon as I saw her I hugged her as tightly as possible, kissed her forehead, and asked if she was feeling alright. She was naturally startled and worried, as were the dogs. I promised her everything would be ok, but there was no time to waste. We gathered our belongings and immediately went to the underground safe base. This was a functioning shelter with all the survival provisions we would need for a while. Here we were in the bunker underground, though I never thought I would have to actually utilize it in my lifetime.

Fast forward to some months later and we understood more about what caused the doom and gloom. It wasn’t just a hydrogen bomb, it was biochemical warfare. New advanced technology we didn’t know about, at least publicly. Whatever caused the explosions were a combination of the destructive power of an H-bomb with electro-magnetic pulse effects, and a new type of radiation virus. This radiation virus was the most concerning part for us survivors, but of course it’s what we had the least information about. Fast forward years later to the present day, and we know a few more details. We now know it’s a deadly virus in the air that can penetrate through different surfaces similar to how radiation itself behaves. Our local report updates state the radiation virus has kept spreading from ground zero externally toward an unknown radius, and the worst news is that there’s no known stop to it spreading. Despite all the new information being shared, we still didn’t know who was behind the attack.

These days we found ourselves taking one day at a time, trying to make it to the next. Not much about the spreading radius is known yet, so until then I’ve had to be painfully careful when stepping outside. I also am fully equipped with my survival gear whether I go hunting for dinner or on a simple supply run. My equipment includes a protective hazmat suit and mask, extra filters for the mask, medical equipment, weapons, ammunition, tools, survival gear, my bible, a geiger counter, some MREs, and of course my lucky love locket. I left the one of the refueled ATVs near some palmetto bushes around the hidden bunker doors in case Dyanna ever needed it. I always provided her the estimated coordinates of the area I’d be hunting or gathering supplies as a safety measure. I was on my way to meet up with my father who left earlier to sit on top of a seat ladder tree stand and be on the look out for animals to hunt.

On my way to the rendezvous location I observed how everything appeared so easily abandoned. Suddenly, I heard something and dropped down. Prone on tall grass, I could smell a distinct stench of something between a rotting carcass and a strong odor of burning fumes. I heard a gurgling sound as if a person was trying to communicate without the ability to dispose of excessive fluids that were built up in the mouth. That’s when I saw it for the first time. A deceased human body with signs of major decay standing on two feet and somewhat aware of its existence. There were small shiny patches on the skin, like new skin healing a wound. I quietly tried getting a better look at the grotesque sight of the skin bubbling up and peeling off, only to be replaced with a new silver scale-like scab. As I focused my vision and wondered if my imagination was playing tricks on me, I observed closer and noticed the new layers of skin appeared to be metallic.

I just had to take a moment to study this. What I concluded from my observations was that this radiation virus’ side effects somehow decomposed human bodies causing major decay around the body, but also covered this decay with metal skin. I was terrified at the thought of what this could mean. What if this side effect continued until the bodies were fully covered in metal? The world seemed more dangerous now and I could no longer contain my heavy breathing as it was fogging up my mask. The sun was starting to set and the sky’s light was dimming. This distorted distraction directly caused my tardiness. I should’ve met up with my father and been back in base by now. I began to walk backward to head back with a stealthy approach. Then all of a sudden I heard my name!

“Aaaarroonnn…” Gurgled the abomination as it turned its head slowly and proceeded to make direct eye contact with me with its bright glowing green eyes.