The Last Resort

Last Resort

The earth is dying. We have not been able to grow our own food for the past ten years, and we have nearly consumed everything left on earth. I’m not sure we can make it another ten years. Something has to start growing or there will no point in fighting off death anymore. Those thoughts repeated in Elizabeth’s head, she was starting to hear death knocking at the door for her and her two daughters. She had been insanely repeating the behavior of opening and closing the pantry door, each time counting the number of canned goods, and each time expecting a different number. But only eight cans remained and no amount of counting was going to change that. Even if she didn’t eat, she would only be buying her daughters a week, nine days at the most. That only meant that they would just die at a slower rate. She couldn’t bear to have them go through a harsh death like that, she would rather put an end to them herself than let them die in that kind of way. She was already splitting her own rations in order to give her daughters more, but now she had nothing left to give. She was fatigued and had frequent piercing pains in her side, she was starving herself, and her body couldn’t take any more of it without shutting down. She had to face the fact that they were all going to die soon if they stayed in this house. She looked around their little wooden home, with its holes and cracks in the walls, it’s leaky roof, and broken windows. She placed her hands on the walls, that act was enough to make the paint chip and fall off, but she wanted to give it thanks. “Well Velma you have given us a good five years, but we have to leave you.” When they found the house, the first thought in Elizabeth’s mind was that it looked like a Velma, the house was sturdy enough and seemed determined to protect them, plus the name made her laugh, They had gotten lucky enough to find this home, it was secluded enough for them to be at a safe distance from other people, but it was close enough to a water source. It supplied them with years of protection, now she had no option but to take her daughters away from that very protection. She took out the three backpacks that she kept at the bottom of the pantry, she hoped they had enough supplies to last them on their week journey to an unknown place called the Community. The radio had been announcing that it was only place left where food existed, and from the coordinates the voice repeated, it would take them four days to get there, if nothing went wrong. All she could think as she packed up her family was, please don’t let anything go wrong. She took out the eight canned goods, three cans of meat, three cans of corn, and two cans of fruit cocktail, and divided them between the backpacks. The rest was what she figured they could carry from the house, a flashlight, a compass, empty bottles to fill with water, three small blankets, the reminder of her first aid kit, one extra piece clothing for each of them, and just in her own backpack she placed a gun with nine bullets in the clip. The three remaining bullets were wrapped in a cloth and placed in the oldest daughter’s backpack. Each bullet had one of their initials carved in it, and they were placed in a bag labeled, “the last resort,” before placing them in the cloth. She finished packing and now had to explain to her daughters what was happening. She called for Eve and Edith to join her by the front door. She handed them their backpacks and instructed them to follow her outside. She walked them to the end of the driveway giving them distance from the house she was about to separate them from. She struggled to find the words that they would understand, she desperately wanted them to hold on to their innocence, but she knew innocence had no place for what they were about to do. The pressure built up and the words just eventually got blurted out, “were going to die if we stay here.” Eve being the oldest immediately grabbed her sister’s hand, she knew Edith might to start crying. Edith at the age of four may have been too young to understand everything that was happening in the world, but she understood what it meant to die, and knew it was not good. Eve being five years older felt she needed to speak for the both of them. “Why can’t we stay here anymore, we’ve been safe here.” Eve said it as a question but she really meant it as a statement. Eve wanted to stay. Elizabeth didn’t have the words that would give Eve comfort in leaving, but she had something that could better explain things than any words she could ever say. Elizabeth took the chain from around her neck that held a heart shaped locket at the end of it, she opened it and placed it in Eve’s empty hand. She hoped Eve got the answer she needed from the locket. Eve looked at the locket and gazed upon a picture of a little girl sitting on a swing that was hanging from a large tree. Eve had never seen a tree before, the earth started dying shortly after she was born and it quickly became barren before she had grown old enough to form any memories of it. She had never knew before this moment that such a thing could exist. Elizabeth didn’t want to burden them with stories of what the earth used to be, it would be too cruel of a thing to do to them. But now Eve needed that knowledge in order to understand why she had to survive. “It’s a tree Eve, it’s something beautiful and strong that grew on earth, I believe it still can.” Eve never wanted to stop looking at the collage of greens on top. They were like green clouds that had fallen from the sky and was gently planted on top of the branches that were stretching out to catch them. The wide brown trunk reminded her of their home, it was providing the leaves a safe place to stay. Eve was holding her tears back for the sake of Edith, but after she found out what a tree was, she couldn’t stop that single tear drop from falling onto the heart shaped locket. It was now hers to keep. Elizabeth wiped away the remaining tears that were running down Eve’s cheeks. She embraced her with a hug, pulling her in until she had Eve as close to her chest as she could get her. She whispered in Eve’s ear “the earth will come back to us, we just have to survive long enough for the miracle to happen” The locket showed Eve what she had to fight for, and those words just gave her another piece of assurance. Eve waited until her mother released her from the hug, and then she grabbed Edith’s backpack and helped her slide her arms through the straps. Eve looked at her mother, and reached out her hand inviting her to come with them. “We’re ready to leave now mom, and we’re going to survive.” Eve wanted nothing more than to be able to touch a tree. That was going to be her miracle. Elizabeth had never been so proud of her daughters, they had grown up in this short moment. She looked at Eve standing up straight and strong, exuding confidence and fortitude, Elizabeth was now wearing the heart shaped locket around her neck. Elizabeth grabbed Eve’s hand and placed the other one on Edith’s cheek, “my daughters are ready to go.” She knew now that they were capable of taking care of themselves. Edith had listened to all of their words and had not cried once, and Eve had found the hope she needed to help them survive on the journey they were about to take. Elizabeth handed Eve the compass, “we have to head East.” Eve pointed in the direction they needed to go and together they were holding hands as they took their first steps towards the unknown. They had walked for three hours when Edith demanded to get a horseback ride from her older sister. Eve was happy to give her that moment of joy, things were okay now, but even she didn’t know how long that would last, they may have very few chances at joy so they would use every opportunity. Elizabeth offered to carry Eve’s backpack so it wouldn’t interfere. Elizabeth waited until the girls were having too much fun to notice her. She reached into the compartment that she placed the wrapped up cloth in. She threw out the two bullets that had her daughter’s initial on them, and quickly wrapped the cloth back and placed it in her own backpack. They didn’t need a last resort anymore, but she still needed hers.