Hopeless for You

Absently staring at the American flag tacked up on the wall, I thought back to the day everything ended...

~

2018, Battery City, California. It was noon, a beautiful day. I was with my wife and three kids, playing at the park. The twins were taking turns on the slide, Jamia was pushing Miles on the baby swing set, and I was playing fetch with our dog Sweet Pea. Everything at that moment was so perfect, it was almost hard to believe that that was the day our world ended.

"Daddy! Come here, look at me!" I heard one of the twins, I think it was Lily, call for me. As I turned, that was when the Earth shook so violently, everything around me blurred almost to nothing. The rumble deafened me, I almost couldn't hear my family calling for me. I whipped around behind me to see what they'd been seeing. A large black cloud enveloped the city, heading right for us.

A hand viciously grabbed my arm and shook me. I turned to Jamia, my wife, trying hard to read her lips. Ash fluttered around us along with scattered debris.

"We need to move!" Jamia shouted, covering Mile's face from the falling ash. Cherry and Lily pulled at my leg.

"Take the kids and run!" I shouted to her. "I'll be right behind you! GO!"

Jamia kissed me quickly. I kissed her back and my kids and stood as they ran at a head start.. After they got a mile ahead, I ran behind them through the woods. I suddenly tripped, falling forward with my hands thrown out in front of me. Twigs snapped and stabbed me hands. My mouth hit the ground, causing my teeth to clamp down on my bottom lip. I scrambled to my feet, determined to keep running.

I lost track of my wife and kids. The cloud of smoke, ash, and debris caught up with me. My knees gave in and I accepted my fate in the moment. All I could do was lie down and die. Ash and smoke filled my eyes and lungs in a rush. No matter how much I tried to cover my face with my shirt or hands, I still inhaled it.

Debris of wood, metal, and possibly body parts fell on me and around me. A heavy weight crushed my ankle on impact. I cried in pain, filling my mouth with more ash. I hacked and coughed and spat.

I gave up on trying to kick the weight off my ankle and screaming for help. I closed my eyes. My mother always told me when I was child that if I saw a monster in my room, I was to close my eyes and count to 17. And it'd all go away.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Everything went eerily silent and the explosion of wind eased. I kept my eyes closed and continued to count until sleep overtook me.

When I opened my eyes, the flag stared back at me. I huffed a sigh and rolled off of my bunk, landing on my feet. Everything outside was buried under dust and rubble. Dead shrubs, roadkill, cicadas, and buzzards. The only other people I know now are my three close friends, Dr. Death, and Show Pony. Together we formed a gang, an alliance, promising to help each other stay alive, stay sane, and don't trust anyone that looked too suspicious to the others. Korse had spies. And he'd give anything to have us Exterminated.

This was war. A battle deciding whoever came out alive was to change the world to his heart's desire.