The Day it Ended
The sound of muted chatter reached Kile’s ears as he reached out slowly towards the bright yellow parcel in front of him. Grasping it gingerly he placed it in the small basket he was carrying and swore slightly under his breath as he read the numbers on the small handheld device in his hand.
“Damn!” He swore to himself quietly. The numbers kept ticking up, that wasn't good. There was a limit to how much he could take. If he wasn't careful he could go over his allotted limit and that would mean all kinds of nasty things.
He shuffled along after the mass of other people trapped in the large warehouse-like structure he was in. He thought about the war and what it was doing to people, the economy was crashing, the general population was scared.
As the faint sound of beeping made its way through the mass of grimy humanity to his ears, he perked up and looked ahead. There was a scanning station ahead. He would need to pass through it with his package if he wanted to leave the structure. He checked his pockets to make sure he had his identification on him, the last thing he needed was to get caught out without it.
The line shuffled forwards slowly as the mass of weary people shuffled inexorably forwards, the beeping of the scanning station became louder as he closed in on its position. Pretty soon he was at the small station, he placed the yellow parcel from his basket on the worn out looking conveyor belt. With a slight squeal of worn out gears, the belt moved the precious package towards the worn out looking woman behind the counter. Her hair was messy and her clothes were rumpled, she looked as if she hadn't slept well in weeks. He could believe it, he probably looked just as bad.
He looked at her small worn name tag that said ‘Hello, my name is Dina’ and he turned to her with the best smile he could muster and stated. “Hey there Dina, how has your day been?”
The woman stopped with her hand resting on the package as she scrutinized him for a moment before answering tiredly “I'm doing fine hun, how about you?”
He waved a hand towards her nonchalantly and responded “Oh as well as can be expected. Everythings getting worse but I'm hanging in there.” he finished with an awkward chuckle. The woman responded with a raised eyebrow and scanned the package.
She looked at the dusty screen next to her and squinted slightly before turning to him and saying “A week's worth of basic freeze dried provisions. That will be two hundred and thirty five dollars please.”
Kile stood straight and said in surprise “Two hundred and thirty five? Last week that was only two hundred and ten dollars… what happened?”
The woman sighed and said impatiently “Sir, I don't make the prices, now do you have enough or not?”
Kile muttered under his breath as he pulled out his credit identification card and handed it to the grumpy attendant. The woman scanned it in and handed it back. As he stuffed it into his pocket she tsked and said “Looks like you're six dollars short hun. Do you have another card?”
He shook his head and looked around before leaning towards her and whispering “I might have some cash on me.” the woman's eyes widened and she looked at him in a more interested way.
“Cash huh” she said quietly. “Alright, hand it over then.” she said with her hand outheld.
He looked at the man behind him who was starting to look a bit impatient before he pulled out some wrinkled bills from his pocket. The cotton and linen bills were heavily crumpled and worn from age, but they were still a valid form of US currency. The Federal banks had stopped issuing paper money a few decades ago in lieu of a cashless society, but there were still people that dealt in cold hard cash if one knew where to look. The outbreak of the US/Chinese war had halted most of those underground cash transactions however and now, eight years later, it was even more rare to see.
The woman took the five and one dollar bills gingerly and looked at them closely before she smiled. “They look just like I remembered from my childhood.” she mused, she smelled one of the bills and then nodded. “These are real all right, where did you get these?” she asked him.
Kile shook his head and said “I can't tell you that, you know that.” she just nodded and waved him along as she handed him his package of meals. He grabbed it gratefully and proceeded towards the exit of the grimly lit building, he could feel eyes on his back and he sped up slightly.
Soon he was at the exit, the doors shuddered open as he approached and he walked out into the parking lot of the store. The sky was gray and the air slightly humid as he walked to his old car. It was an old diesel burning model, not one of the new hydrogen cell powered ones. There was something about not having to rely on government handouts for the fuel to drive that he and his family liked about the old car.
Kile reached the small gray vehicle and opened the trunk to put the package away when his cell phone started to buzz frantically at him. Sighing and closing the trunk, he answered the call and was surprised to hear his mothers panicked voice. His mother had been through it all, the civil war, the second great depression, and the Luna disaster. But she sounded truly spooked.
He listened to her for a minute before he asked “Wait, what is this about the war? What happened?” he asked. The United States had been at war with China since May of 2120, it had seemed to be going well from the information he had been hearing.
His mother took a calming breath and he heard her say again “I said there are reports of nuclear detonations, it's the end.”
He shook his head, nukes? There was no way that anyone was actually dumb enough to go that far, it would mean the end of life as they knew it.
He tried to reassure her as he said “Mom, mom, calm down. There is no way that's possible. It has to be some sort of disinformation, you know you can't trust everything you see on the internet.”
“I know that Kile.” she said pensively “But this wasn't just from the internet, it was on the news. They don't tell stories like this without some sort of confirmation.” she started to wail again.
He sighed and told her calmly “Well if it is true mom you're going to be okay. There is no way the Chinese would care about a little town like us. We will be okay.”
She seemed to calm at his words and finally she told him “Okay, you are right, you always are. Oh my smart little man…” she began but he cut her off.
“Oh c'mon mom, stop it, you know I hate that.” he said only half seriously. She chuckled and he smiled in spite of the grim situation.
“Okay Kile, make sure you call Kaitlyn before you head home, she is probably worried too.” his mother told him. He smiled, his sister was a worrier indeed.
“I'll give her a call mom, don't worry.” he said as they hung up. He looked at his phone for a moment before leaning his head back. It was stressful every day, but news like that was the last thing he really needed.
He opened his phone keypad to call his sister when his phone screen suddenly went black. He jerked slightly as a series of harsh tones emitted from the speaker while a series of hazard symbols popped up and a message started to scroll across the screen accompanied by a synthesized voice.
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“LONG RANGE BALLISTIC MISSILE THREATS DETECTED, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.” He stared at the message as it repeated several times, looking up in shock he saw that others around the parking lot were also looking in disbelief at their devices. He slumped against the trunk of his car, what was he going to do, should he call mom back? He was completely lost.
Just as he was debating whether or not to hop into his car and try driving home, a nearby voice called out to him “Hey, did you get that alert too?”
Kile turned and saw a man approaching, middle aged and having a distinct, if slightly worn, dad look to him. Dusty cargo shorts with sneakers and a plaid button up shirt.
“I did, what should I do?” Kile started to say before the man waved a hand.
“If it's a false alarm then don't panic, that's the last thing you want to do. And if it's not a false alarm, well then son, panicking isn't going to help either.” the man said calmly.
The manner in which the man spoke helped to calm Kile internally and he took a deep breath as he asked “Who are you?”
The man laughed jovially and held out a hand while saying “My name is Fredrick Jeebs, retired US army. Believe me when I say, I'm not as calm as I look.” Frederick finished with a nod of his head.
Shaking the man’s hand, Kile introduced himself “Kile Brunswarth, I work at the convenience store on the corner of 11th and Washington.”
The man nodded and said “I know the one. How you doing?”
Kile shuddered and leaned back against the trunk of his car. He looked around briefly. The parking lot was mostly unadorned, just a few rusty lights scattered around to light it at night. Most of the cars parked were older electric or hybrid models, but there were a few of the newer hydrogen cell cars as well. The ground was pocked asphalt and there were small weeds clinging to life in some of the more damaged areas. All in all it was a rather run down and shabby looking place, but it was home.
“I'm still a little shocked, I guess. The war, the death. I have heard terrifying things from the news, chemical weapons, superbugs? Why is it happening, what can be worth so much death…” he finished in a slightly haunted voice.
The man sighed and said “I won't pretend to know all the answers. As for why, it's all a show of power. Both sides think they are right and that they are the only ones allowed to be right. But in all reality they are both wrong. There is a peaceful resolution to this, but the government won't even consider it. Believe me, I have been asking myself those same questions for longer than you have been alive, I recon.” Fredrick finished.
Kile just nodded, only half there. His heart was still pounding in his chest and his palms were sweating. He knew he was reacting strongly to what was happening, but fuck, it might be the end. “I don't know what to do, and my phone isn't working.” he said as he tried to dial his mother again.
The man shrugged and said “Well, you can talk to me lad. I'm here if you need.”
Kile looked at the man, he was standing there in his ridiculous outfit, arms spread wide. It was so ridiculous to him at that moment that he started to laugh, he laughed till it started to hurt, then the laughter turned to tears as his resolve started to break down. He felt a hand pat him on the back as Fredrick said “It's okay, let it all out Kile. it's going to be okay.”
Kile stayed that way for another minute before he spit and stood straight. “Thanks…” he mumbled without looking at the man. He was a little embarrassed he had broken down in front of a complete stranger like that, but what was he supposed to do?
“I used to have a son like you.” the man started. Kile looked at him but remained silent, not trusting himself to speak but not wanting to silence the man's story.
The older man took his silence for approval and continued “He was about your age when the world ended for him. His wife and young child were killed in a terrible accident that he was partly responsible for, he survived but the guilt tore him apart. He, he ended up killing himself. That's the day the world ended for me, every day since has been borrowed time for me. That's the real reason I'm so calm.” the man finished.
Kile looked at the man completely mortified. “What a horrid story, that's terrible.” he said before adding quickly “I'm not upset that you shared it, I guess I'm just wondering, why?” he asked.
Frederick sighed and scrunched up his features in an indeterminable way. He leaned back on the trunk of Kile’s car next to him. He stared off into the far distance for a while before he answered, a slight breeze stirred the air between them as the man spoke “I guess I feel like someone else needed to know. And If it really is the end, then, well. You might be the only one I have the time to tell.” he finished somberly.
Kile blinked, he wasn't sure how to respond to that. This man he hardly knew, walked up to him and was speaking to him as if they were old friends. Kile smiled, it was nice to be honest, people could be so distrustful, hateful, mean. It was refreshing to meet a person that seemed to just want to hold a decent conversation.
“Well, that's true I guess, but where do we go from here? I have to get home.” he told the man.
The man nodded and asked “Which way are you going?”
Kile raised his arm to point towards the city outskirts to the north when the northern sky was suddenly lit by a brilliant flash of light. Kile’s eyes widened as his overloaded brain tried to make sense of the stimuli his eyes were feeding it.
“Whaa, wha…” he started to say as he began to panic, but he felt a firm hand on his shoulder and looked to the older man next to him.
“Don't panic. That's not going to help.” Frederick said.
Kile nodded numbly and looked back to the ominous orange glow that lit the horizon. A gust of hot air washed over the land from the direction of the blast. “Why would they hit us here, there is nothing here…” he said.
Frederick shook his head sadly “That's not true, there are a series of nuclear defense sites in the mountains to the west, that's probably what doomed us. Fucking government and their need to place those damn sites everywhere.” The man finished darkly.
Kile started to look around, there were others in the parking lot that were panicking and speeding away from the blast, Kile started to move but was stopped by the man again.
“Let go of me, we need to go.” he shouted.
Frederick shook his head and looked up “There's no point. It's going to be alright lad, the suffering is almost over.” he said, gesturing up.
Kile looked up and gasped. He could see the white plume of something falling through the air above them. He squinted and was shocked to see the long form of a missile plummeting towards the ground at incredible speed. He turned to look at Fredrick and asked “What was the point of it all, why even fight?”
Frederick just shook his head sadly and told him “We fight because we have no choice. And now the fight is over. And so are we.”
Kile felt a sense of peace wash over him, it was a little surprising but he recalled some of the events from his past that always seemed to make him smile. His twelfth birthday, the time he won first place in a robotics competition in high school, his graduation day, mom had been so proud of him. He smiled despite the events washing over him and looked to the older man.
He held out his hand and said “I see, thank you Fred.”
Frederick smiled and took his hand as they looked up together.
The long range ballistic missile detonated five hundred meters in the air as it was designed to. The four kilometer ball of roiling plasma expanded almost instantly and vaporized the store, the parking lot, and everyone in it.
The blast ripped trees from the ground by their roots, the wave so terrifying in its power as to shatter buildings over ten kilometers away. The blastwave from the explosion expanded out, faster than the speed of sound and more powerful than a hurricane. Everything in its path was torn asunder and cast to the searing wind. The heat set the nearby forest ablaze almost instantly and the great mushroom cloud rose into the sky. Forks of lightning flashed inside its fiery plasmatic interior as the hot, supercharged air vented its fury on the ruins below.
As horrific as the scene was, it was just one of thousands of similar such blasts that blanketed the entire eastern seaboard of the continental United States. But the US had gotten their own in return.
China burned in the fires of nuclear armageddon as previously stealthed MAD class submarines unloaded their apocalyptic payloads in response to the atrocity. When the smoke eventually cleared the world was forever changed. The sky wept toxic tears to see such slaughter. Billions had perished in a single afternoon, the world was blanketed in darkness and the smoke and ash filled the skies and blocked out the sun. The subsequent nuclear winter would last nearly a decade and result in the extinction of almost thirty percent of all life on Earth, but Humanity persisted.
Hiding underground in shelters and under the sea in submarines, many hundreds of millions managed to survive the fires, but those who did struggled with the cold. Humanity had paid a heavy toll for its stubborn pride, but those responsible would never be held accountable for their folly as they were purged in the first minutes by the fires of justice.
Man had perpetrated the gravest injustice upon themselves and their world, but they were tenacious creatures, they would survive. It would be two hundred years of struggle but Humanity would eventually fulfill its cosmic destiny. They would soar through the stars on wings of light and the future would be theirs forevermore.
End of Story