Prologue

The day was almost out and Cirio had already patrolled most of the town. He hadn't discovered much, it was all in ruins, just like the rest of the cities and towns he had explored. The world was a dead place; the earthquakes had all come so suddenly, ripping through everything, leaving nothing standing. Next came the winds, they swept everything away, leaving only dust in places where enormous metropolises once stood. There were some places, like this one, that had been spared too much damage, but still, it is unlikely that he would find anything alive.

With a small grunt, Cirio lifted himself off the ground where he had previously been sitting, adjusted his airplane goggles and started to walk. He cherished his goggles more than anything; they had been a gift from his daughter, Jamie. Flying had been his passion, and she had known that, but now it was a simple dream, one he could no longer hope to come true. A small tear slipped down his face as memories coursed through his mind, all of them containing his beautiful daughter and his wife, Karyn. They had both been killed when the first earthquake swept through town, a walloping magnitude of nine in an area where earthquakes had never touched. Their home collapsed on top of them, the rubble crushed the life out of them slowly and painfully, Cirio could still hear their screams echoing in his head. He would have died too, if he had not been outside in the backyard, cooking away on the grill. It had been Jamie's birthday, so he was making her favorite, grilled pineapples.

               The ground trembled slightly beneath his feet, an already loose light post crashed to the ground in front of him, drawing him out of his head. Small shakes like these still rumbled through the world every once in awhile, but none of them came close to the egregious power of the first. With a deep sigh, Cirio stepped over the lamp post and headed for the last building in town that he had not entered, the elementary school. It was a pitiful thing, even in its grandeur days. In the past, the town couldn’t have contained more than 500 residents; so naturally, their school was very small-scale and not at all good-looking. Letters that once spelt "Little Drop Elementary" now lay on the ground or hung by a single nail. The doors were supported only by a few hinges; one of them had fallen to the concrete. Cirio spied a small skeleton beneath it but dared not look to see if it was a child.

               He stepped inside, dust hung in the air, clinging to his clothes as he walked through it. Every once in awhile he had to wipe his goggles clean so he could see clearly. Wayfaring through each classroom one by one, finding countless bodies, some decaying; some picked clean by God knows what, Cirio made his way to the back of the school. The last room he went to was the cafeteria, a picayune place that shared its space with the gym, so on one side of the room were tables, and on the other was a basketball hoop. His footsteps redoubled loudly in the empty room, pounding in his ears as he walked to the kitchen in the farthest corner.

               The creaking sound the unused door made could make any man’s skin crawl, but the sound he heard afterwards scared him even more. A small whimper could be heard from inside the fridge, so he made his way towards it, cautiously. He pulled out a pistol and held it in one hand, opening the door with the other. He peered inside and saw a young girl; she couldn't have been older than eight, huddled in the back, surrounded by countless empty containers of food. Her curly brown hair has a bedraggled mess upon her head; her small blue eyes looked up at Cirio in shock. She looked so much like his daughter that he had to do a double-take, but was disappointed to find it wasn't her; he had to remember she had died. Even so, a smile split his face; at last, one of them was alive. "Hello, who are you?"

               The girl crouched even lower to the ground, fear written plainly all over her face. "J- Jessie," she replied shakily.

               "Well, Jessie, I am here to help you." He held out his hand and gave her another friendly smile.           

               Gingerly, she got to her feet and grabbed his hand. She gave him a shy smile and followed him out of the fridge, out of the kitchen and into the gym; her want for human companionship shrouding the ever present reminder of stranger danger. "Come on now," Cirio led her to the outside and down the broken streets, never once looking back at the school, or at her. After a few minutes of walking, they reached a Harley Davidson bike. It looked freshly polished and ready to go, and it was. Cirio pulled his helmet off the bike handle and put it on Jessie's head, "Okay, Jessie, you're going to sit in behind me, and I am going to take you someplace safe." With a small nod for permission, Cirio put his key in the ignition and started up the bike. The loud rumbling that erupted from the engine could have woken the dead, so to speak. With a smile on his face, Cirio sped out of the small town of Little Drop, leaving it behind in a matter of seconds.

               They drove on unmarked paths and broken roads, making their way into the middle of nothingness, towards an unknown destination. Jessie wrapped her arms around Cirio’s chest and squeezed tightly, scared to death of moving so fast. Cirio did not ease up, the excitement flooding through his body gave him a rush of adrenaline, 'I found one alive, I found one alive, da da, da da.'  Giddy with happiness, the drive seemed to take only a few minutes, when really they drove for hours, heading straight into the desert. Without any warning, Cirio came to a sudden stop, spraying sand everywhere. He jumped off the bike, helped Jessie down and led her a little ways away towards a large boulder. He pushed it aside with ease, revealing a large metal door beneath it. Next, he pulled out a large key from his pocket, stuck it in the key hole, unlocking the door. The weight of the door made it nearly impossible for anyone to open it, but after a few moments of struggling, he managed to open it enough for them to get inside.

When the door slammed shut behind them, there was no light inside until he lit a candle. He walked around a few corners into a small room that had a metal door that led into yet another room, Jessie trailing behind him all the while. "In there, my sweet, you will find a room just for you," his voice was soft and kind. She gave him a small smile and opened the door. The room was pitch-black, so Cirio went inside first, encouraging her to follow.

"Stay here just a moment." He walked back out and shut the door, leaving Jessie alone in the dark. He pulled out his key once again and locked the door behind him. Adjusting his goggles, he sat in a chair and closed his eyes. Then the screams started. The young girl hit the door repetitively, begging him to let her out, that she was being hurt. Of course, he knew that already. The creatures he kept inside had been starving for days, and at last, he had found something to feed them.

Reviews

[Richard Patrick]

It is well written, you have given us the view that things are not very positive. Than again, the reality of a nuclear war. Is something, we should never allow to happen. Our rulers should have been given a visit to the nearest shrink. In that they think, it is a good thing to build a bomb. I think we should get together and talk out ouf differences, not doing this with them. We should go back to the peace movement of the sixities is something should strive for. Make peace not war.

[Obscured by the Shadows]

Agreed, war is only good for one thing: death, and that in itself is no good at all.