Tonight, The World Dies

Rachel tossed a pile of sticks at Charlie’s feet and sighed. He looked up at her and nodded once, thanking her silently for the small task. She sat down in the patch of grass, watching as David and Anthony fumbled with hanging a canvas tent in between two trees. Jane stood a few yards away, smoking a cigarette and watching the empty field as the sun sank below the horizon.

Charlie knelt down and arranged the sticks into an orderly clump. Rachel turned to watch his hands work quickly but fiercely at the task. He struck a match, and in an instant, there was a fire beginning to crackle.

“Where’s your brother at?” asked Charlie, sitting back.

“He was stationed in Fort Benning,” Rachel said.

“In Georgia?” Charlie said.

Rachel nodded.

“Hate to tell you this, darlin’,” Charlie sighed, “but there isn’t anything left of Georgia. Coasts were the first things hit.”

“He’s alive,” said Rachel.

“It’s...it’s doubtful, but we’ll help you look for-”

“He’s alive,” Rachel snapped. “I spoke to him not two days ago. I don’t know where he’s at, but he’s alive.”

Charlie nodded and said, “If that’s what you believe, then we will help you find him.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m crazy,” said Rachel. “You don’t know me, and you don’t know my brother. He’s alive, and I’m going to find him.” She played with a patch of grass by her foot and continued, “Haven’t you ever had anything to keep you going? Haven’t you ever believed in something so strongly you know everything is going to turn out alright?”

Charlie was silent. He shook his head and flicked a stick into the fire. The fire snapped a bit, and Rachel turned away from Charlie. Jane put her cigarette out in the grass and advance toward Charlie and Rachel.

“Let’s lighten the mood, shall we?” Jane snorted. “Antonio! Got that tent up yet?”

Anthony took time out from tying down the canvas to flip Jane off. She smirked and sat back against a boulder. Lyle sat down between her and Rachel, and he pulled a canteen from his backpack.

“Let’s all relax, shall we?” he said. “This is the first night of the rest of our journey. No need to be angry on the first night, right?”

Rachel nodded and said, “Right. We should get to know each other.”

Anthony sat down beside her, David on his right side, and said, “Okay, so what? Should we like...say where we’re from or something? What we did before all this?”

“I’ll start,” said Jane. “I’m from Las Vegas, originally from Ely, Nevada. I was a waitress at a bar.”

“Nudey bar,” snorted David.

Jane gave him the evil eye, but he laughed.

“Well, I’m from Riverton, Utah,” he said. “I worked construction on houses, tiling and floors mostly.”

“Same as me,” said Lyle. “Me and David, we’re basically brothers. Been hanging together since high school.”

David nodded in agreement.

“I’m from Indian Hills, Nevada,” said Anthony. “Born and raised. And I worked as a phone operator for an insurance company. It’s basically the most boring job you can have, but I was saving up to buy a house for my mother. She raised me, and she was very sick when all this started. She was...she was a great woman.”

Rachel put her hand on his, and he nodded to her. She said, “I’m from Kentucky, but I’ve been living in Denver for the last five years. I was a scientist, basically closed off from the world, studying the plants and animals on the mountains.”

Everyone looked to Charlie. He bit the inside of his cheek, threw a fistful of grass into the fire. He never took his eyes off the flames.

“Sacramento,” he said. “Marines.”

He stood and walked to the outpost by the edge of the field. Everyone was silent, watching as he lit up a cigarette and took a deep drag. Rachel stood and followed him.

“You don’t have to tell us everything, but you could at least let us in a little more,” she said.

“You don’t want to know about the things I’ve seen,” Charlie grumbled. “Why don’t you just mind your own business?”

“I would like to get to know the people I am traveling with,” Rachel replied. “That includes you.”

“Look, if we don’t find your brother by the time we get to Kansas, you’re on your own from there,” Charlie said. “We’ll help you as far as Kansas, but that’s it.”

“I don’t know what bitch pill you took this morning, but it certainly doesn’t help the group if its strongest member can’t even open up to the others,” said Rachel.

She turned and left him, but he never took his eyes off the horizon. Rachel sat back down beside Anthony and didn’t say anything. He put an arm around her shoulder, and though she didn’t really know him that well, she let it rest there and even leaned into him.

Charlie slung a rifle over his shoulder and walked toward the woods.

“Where are you going?” asked Jane.

“For a walk,” Charlie mumbled. “Stay here.”

Nobody rushed after him. Nobody needed to. They knew he would be alone for awhile, and by the morning, he would have returned silently to start another day. Nobody protested; they just watched as his silhouette disappeared against the tree line.

David roasted a pot of beans over the fire and portioned them out to each of them, leaving some for Charlie if he ever came around. Nobody said a word for the rest of the night. By the time it was dark enough to turn in, only Jane, David, and Lyle went to the tent. Rachel and Anthony stayed by the fire, with Rachel dozing until the fire finally went out.

It was morning by the time they all realized that Charlie never came back to camp.